齊策三

The King of Chu dies, and the Crown Prince is being held hostage in Qi. Su Qin says to the Lord of Xue: "Why not detain the Chu Crown Prince and trade him for the Lower Eastern Territories?"

The Lord of Xue replies: "That will not work. If I detain the prince and they enthrone a new king in Ying, I will be left holding a worthless hostage while earning a reputation for injustice throughout All-Under-Heaven."

Su Qin says: "Not so. If they enthrone a new king in Ying, you simply tell that new king: 'Give me the Lower Eastern Territories and I will kill the Crown Prince for you. Otherwise, I will join with the Three States to enthrone him instead.' The Lower Eastern Territories will certainly be yours."

The affairs of Su Qin: he can arrange to be sent on this mission; he can compel the King of Chu to hand over the Lower Eastern Territories quickly; he can extract further territorial concessions from Chu; he can show loyalty to the Crown Prince while making Chu cede more land; he can make the King of Chu expel the Crown Prince; he can show loyalty to the Crown Prince by making him leave quickly; he can turn the Lord of Xue against Su Qin; he can secure an enfeoffment for Su Qin from Chu; he can persuade the Lord of Xue to treat Su Qin well; he can make Su Qin clear his own name with the Lord of Xue.

Su Qin says to the Lord of Xue: "I have heard that when plans are leaked, undertakings fail; when strategies are not decided, reputations are not made. Your purpose in detaining the Crown Prince is to trade him for the Lower Eastern Territories. If you do not obtain them quickly, Chu's calculations will change, and then you will be holding a worthless hostage and bearing dishonor before All-Under-Heaven."

The Lord of Xue says: "Good. What should we do?"

"Allow me to go to Chu on your behalf and make them hand over the Lower Eastern Territories at once. If Chu complies, you cannot lose."

The Lord of Xue says: "Good." And sends him.

Su Qin tells the King of Chu: "Qi intends to support the Crown Prince and enthrone him. I observe that the Lord of Xue is detaining the Crown Prince to trade him for the Lower Eastern Territories. If Your Majesty does not hand them over quickly, the Crown Prince will double your offer of territory and have Qi enthrone him instead."

The King of Chu says: "I respectfully accept your counsel." And surrenders the Lower Eastern Territories. Hence it is said: he can make Chu hand over territory quickly.

Su Qin tells the Lord of Xue: "Chu's position allows us to extract even more concessions."

The Lord of Xue asks: "How?"

"Let me inform the Crown Prince of the situation and have him petition you directly — showing loyalty to the Crown Prince. When the King of Chu hears of it, he can be made to cede more land."

Hence it is said: he can extract further concessions from Chu.

Su Qin tells the Crown Prince: "Qi is supporting you and will enthrone you. The King of Chu has offered to cede territory to keep you here, but Qi considers the offer insufficient. Why not double Chu's territorial offer and present it to Qi? Then Qi will certainly enthrone you."

The Crown Prince says: "Good." He doubles Chu's offer and presents it to Qi. The King of Chu hears of this and grows alarmed, ceding yet more territory, still fearing the deal will not hold. Hence it is said: he can make Chu cede more land.

Su Qin tells the King of Chu: "The reason Qi dares to demand so much territory is that it holds the Crown Prince. The reason demands keep growing even after you have ceded land is that the Crown Prince is using his position to pressure Your Majesty. I can make the Crown Prince leave. Once the Crown Prince is gone, Qi will have no leverage and certainly will not betray you. Your Majesty can then drive a strong alliance with Qi, and Qi, having no excuse to refuse, will comply. Thus you rid yourself of an enemy and gain Qi as an ally."

The King of Chu is delighted: "I place the resources of my state at your disposal."

Hence it is said: he can make the King of Chu expel the Crown Prince.

Su Qin tells the Crown Prince: "The one carving up Chu is the king himself; you, Your Highness, are merely trading on an empty title. Qi does not necessarily trust your word, and meanwhile Chu's concessions are already paid. Once Chu and Qi complete their alliance, Your Highness will be in danger. Consider this carefully."

The Crown Prince says: "I respectfully accept your counsel." He readies his carriage and departs that evening. Hence it is said: he can make the Crown Prince leave urgently.

Su Qin sends someone to tell the Lord of Xue: "It was Su Qin who advised you to detain the Crown Prince. But Su Qin was not truly acting in your interest — he was really serving Chu's convenience. Fearing you would discover this, he squeezed extra territory from Chu to cover his tracks. Now Su Qin has also been the one to help the Crown Prince leave, and you did not even know. I venture to suggest you be suspicious of him."

The Lord of Xue grows furious at Su Qin. Hence it is said: he can turn the Lord of Xue against Su Qin.

Su Qin also sends someone to tell the King of Chu: "It was Su Qin who made the Lord of Xue detain the Crown Prince. It was Su Qin who supported Your Majesty and replaced the Chu Crown Prince. It was Su Qin who secured the territorial agreement. It was Su Qin who, out of loyalty to Your Majesty, drove the Crown Prince away. Now someone has poisoned the Lord of Xue against Su Qin, saying he favored Qi less and Chu more. I hope Your Majesty will take note."

The King of Chu says: "I respectfully accept your counsel." And enfeoffs Su Qin as Lord Wuzhen. Hence it is said: he can secure an enfeoffment for Su Qin from Chu.

Su Qin also has Jing Li petition the Lord of Xue: "The reason you are respected throughout All-Under-Heaven is your ability to attract the world's best men and wield Qi's power. Su Qin is the finest debater in All-Under-Heaven — a talent rarely seen in any generation. If you alienate Su Qin, you will be blocking the path for all the world's persuaders. Those who bear you ill will rally around Su Qin, and your position will become precarious. Su Qin already enjoys the King of Chu's favor. If you do not befriend him first, you are making yourself Chu's enemy. Better to embrace him, honor him, and elevate him — then Chu is effectively yours."

The Lord of Xue accordingly treats Su Qin well. Hence it is said: he can persuade the Lord of Xue to treat Su Qin well.

The Queen of Qi dies. There are seven young consorts, all in the king's favor. The Lord of Xue wishes to know which one the king intends to elevate, so he presents seven jade earrings — making one notably more beautiful than the rest. The next day, he observes which woman is wearing the beautiful earring, and advises the king to make her queen.

Lord Mengchang is about to enter Qin. A thousand people try to dissuade him, but he will not listen. Su Qin wishes to stop him. Lord Mengchang says: "I already know everything there is to know about human affairs. The only thing I have not yet heard about is the affairs of ghosts."

Su Qin says: "I have certainly not come to speak of human affairs. I have come specifically to present ghost affairs to you."

Lord Mengchang receives him. Su Qin says: "As I was traveling here, I passed by the banks of the Zi River. There was a clay figurine and a peachwood effigy talking to each other. The peachwood effigy said to the clay figurine: 'You are made from the soil of the western bank. They shaped you into human form, but when the eighth month comes and the rains fall and the Zi River rises, you will be destroyed.'

"The clay figurine replied: 'Not so. I am soil from the western bank — when I dissolve, I simply return to the western bank. But you are a peachwood branch from the eastern lands. They carved you into human shape. When the rains fall and the Zi River rises and sweeps you away, you will drift helplessly — and where will you end up then?'

"Now Qin is a state enclosed by four mountain passes — it is like a tiger's mouth. If you enter it, I do not know how you will get out."

Lord Mengchang abandons the plan.

Lord Mengchang is at Xue when Chu attacks. Chunyu Kun, serving as Qi's envoy to Chu, passes through Xue on his way back. Lord Mengchang sends people to receive him with full ceremony and personally goes out to the suburbs to welcome him. He says to Chunyu Kun: "Chu is attacking Xue. If you do not concern yourself with this, sir, then Wen will have no means of serving you in the future."

Chunyu Kun says: "I respectfully hear your command."

When he reaches Qi and finishes his report, the king asks: "What did you observe in Chu?"

Chunyu Kun replies: "Chu is very formidable, and Xue also overestimates its own strength."

The king asks: "What do you mean?"

"Xue overestimates its strength by having built a temple to the former kings there. Chu is formidable and is attacking it. The temple will certainly be in danger. Hence I say Xue overestimates its strength, and Chu is truly formidable."

The King of Qi's expression softens: "Ah! The temple of our former king is there!" He urgently raises troops to rescue Xue.

The narrator comments: Groveling petitions and kowtowing entreaties — even if they succeed, the result is thin. A skilled persuader sets forth the situation and explains the stakes so that the listener feels the urgency as if he himself were trapped. Where in this is any need for force?

Lord Mengchang provides for Xiahou Zhang with a four-horse chariot and provisions for a hundred retainers, treating him with great warmth. Yet every time Xiahou Zhang speaks in public, he never fails to disparage Lord Mengchang.

Someone reports this to Lord Mengchang. He says: "Wen has his reasons for supporting Xiahou Zhang. Say no more."

Dong Zhifanjing inquires of Xiahou Zhang about this. Xiahou Zhang explains: "Lord Mengchang's status falls short of that of a feudal lord, yet he supports me with a four-horse chariot and provisions for a hundred retainers. I have not a shred of merit to justify this. My criticisms are actually my service to him. The reason he is considered a great man is precisely because I criticize him. I have given my very person in Lord Mengchang's service — how could I merely hold my tongue?"

Lord Mengchang is hosting a banquet. He says to three gentlemen: "I would like to hear how each of you might remedy my deficiencies."

The first man says: "Should any ruler in All-Under-Heaven encroach upon you, I will wash his lapels with my own blood."

Tian Mao says: "Wherever carriages can reach, I will conceal your shortcomings and proclaim your virtues. The lords of a thousand chariots and the ministers of ten-thousand-chariot states — they will desire you as eagerly as if summoning a servant who cannot arrive fast enough."

Sheng says: "I would use the wealth from your treasuries to recruit the finest men in All-Under-Heaven, men who can resolve your doubts and respond to emergencies — just as Marquis Wen of Wei had Tian Zifang and Duan Ganmu. This is what I would secure for you."

One of Lord Mengchang's retainers is having an affair with the lord's wife. Someone tells Lord Mengchang: "Your retainer is carrying on with your wife inside your own household — this is deeply dishonorable. You should kill him."

The lord says: "To see a beautiful person and feel desire — this is human nature. Let the matter rest and say no more."

A year passes. The lord summons the man who loves his wife and says to him: "You have been with me a long time. You have not been able to obtain a high post, and you disdain the low ones. The lord of Wei and I are old friends. Allow me to equip you with carriages, horses, furs, and silk — I hope you will go and serve the lord of Wei."

The man becomes highly valued in Wei.

Later, relations between Qi and Wei sour, and the lord of Wei desperately wants to assemble a coalition army to attack Qi. The man says to the lord of Wei: "Lord Mengchang, not knowing what a worthless person I am, entrusted me to Your Lordship. Moreover, I have heard that the former lords of Qi and Wei once sacrificed a horse and slaughtered a ram, swearing an oath: 'Let Qi and Wei never attack each other in generations to come; should either do so, let his fate be as this animal's.' Now Your Lordship is assembling the world's armies to attack Qi — this is to break your ancestors' oath and to betray Lord Mengchang. I beg you not to set your heart against Qi. If you will not listen to me — worthless as I am — I will wash your collar with the blood of my own throat."

The lord of Wei abandons the plan.

The people of Qi, hearing of this, say: "Lord Mengchang truly knows how to manage affairs — he turns disaster into advantage."

Lord Mengchang has a retainer he dislikes and wants to dismiss. Lu Zhonglian says to Lord Mengchang: "If you take a monkey from the trees and put it in water, it is no match for fish and turtles. Over rough terrain and steep passes, even a thoroughbred is no match for a fox. Cao Mo brandishing his three-foot sword could hold off an entire army; but make Cao Mo put down his sword and take up a hoe to work alongside farmers in the fields, and he would be no match for a peasant.

"Every creature, when deprived of its strengths and placed at its weaknesses, falls short — even Yao himself would be found wanting. Now if you employ someone and he fails, you call him incompetent. If you instruct someone and he fails, you call him clumsy. The clumsy you dismiss; the incompetent you discard. Making people feel rejected and cast out, unwilling to live alongside them — does this not breed enmity and reprisal? Is this not the foundation of trouble in the world?"

Lord Mengchang says: "Well said!" And does not dismiss the retainer.

Lord Mengchang is traveling abroad and arrives in Chu, where he receives a gift of an ivory bed. A porter from Ying is assigned to deliver it, but he does not want to go. He visits Lord Mengchang's retainer Gongsun Shu and says: "I am a porter from Ying, assigned to transport the ivory bed. The bed is worth a thousand pieces of gold. If I so much as scratch it, I could sell my wife and children and still not cover the cost. If you can get me out of this assignment, I have an ancestral sword I would like to present to you."

Gongsun Shu says: "Done."

He goes in to see Lord Mengchang: "My lord, you have accepted an ivory bed from Chu?"

Lord Mengchang says: "Yes."

Gongsun Shu says: "I beg you not to accept it."

"Why?"

"The reason all the smaller states have offered you the seal of chief minister is that they have heard you are a man who in Qi raises up the poor and distressed, who preserves fallen states and continues broken lineages. The finest men of the small states all entrust their national affairs to you precisely because they admire your righteousness and respect your integrity. If you now accept an ivory bed from Chu, what will the states you have not yet visited offer you? I, Shu, beg you not to accept it."

Lord Mengchang says: "Very well."

Gongsun Shu hurries out. But before he has left — he is only at the inner gate — the lord calls him back: "You taught me not to accept the ivory bed, and that was excellent. But why are you walking with such a spring in your step, looking so pleased with yourself?"

Gongsun Shu says: "I have three great joys, plus a bonus sword. No one among your hundred-odd retainers dared come in and remonstrate — I alone dared to, that is my first joy. My remonstrance was heeded, that is my second joy. My remonstrance corrected your error, that is my third joy. The porter assigned to transport the ivory bed did not want to go, and he promised me an ancestral sword."

Lord Mengchang says: "Good. Have you accepted it?"

"I did not dare."

"Accept it at once!" He then writes on the gate board: "Anyone who can enhance Wen's reputation, correct Wen's errors, and privately receive treasure for doing so — come in immediately and remonstrate!"

Chunyu Kun presents seven men to King Xuan of Qi in a single day. The king says: "Come now — I have heard it said that one worthy man per thousand li means they are standing shoulder to shoulder, and one sage per hundred generations means they are treading on each other's heels. Now you present seven men in a single morning. Are worthy men really so numerous?"

Chunyu Kun replies: "Not at all. Birds of the same feather flock together; beasts with the same hooves travel in packs. If you search for thoroughwort and bellflower in a marsh, you will not find a single plant in generations of looking. But go to the slopes of Gao and the shaded side of Mount Liangfu, and you can fill carts with them. Every species has its habitat. I, Kun, am the habitat of worthy men. If Your Majesty seeks worthy men through me, it is like drawing water from a river or striking fire from flint. I intend to present more — why stop at seven?"

Qi intends to attack Wei. Chunyu Kun says to the King of Qi: "Han Zilu is the fastest hound in All-Under-Heaven. Dongguo Qun is the cleverest rabbit within the seas. Han Zilu chases Dongguo Qun — three times around the mountain, five times over it. The rabbit collapses in front, the hound falls behind, and both dog and hare drop dead where they lie. A farmer comes along — no toil, no exertion — and takes them both.

"Now if Qi and Wei exhaust each other in prolonged conflict, wearing down their armies and wearying their people, I fear mighty Qin and great Chu will come along behind and enjoy the farmer's profit."

The King of Qi grows alarmed, dismisses his generals, and rests his troops.

Guozi says: "Qin destroyed the army of the Lord of Mafu and besieged Handan. Qi and Wei both aided Qin in attacking Handan — Qi seized Zishu and Wei seized Yishi. Prince Wuji, making the most advantageous calculation on behalf of All-Under-Heaven, killed Jin Bi, led Wei's troops to relieve the siege of Handan, and denied Qin its prize, thus rescuing All-Under-Heaven. This was Qi lending its forces to Wei to save Handan.

"Anyi is the pillar of Wei; Jinyang is the pillar of Zhao; Yan-Ying is the pillar of Chu. These three states sought to share borders with Qin — and Qin attacked Wei and took Anyi, attacked Zhao and took Jinyang, attacked Chu and took Yan-Ying. Qin has overthrown the rulers of three states, absorbed the lands of the Two Zhous, conquered Han and seized its territory — this amounts to half of All-Under-Heaven. Now Qin further coerces Zhao and Wei, drives a wedge through the central states, absorbs Wei's eastern frontier, annexes Wei's territories south of the Yellow River, and cuts off Zhao's Dongyang. Then Zhao and Wei will also be in danger. And if Zhao and Wei are endangered, that is not in Qi's interest.

"The aim of Han, Wei, Zhao, and Chu is to prevent Qin from swallowing All-Under-Heaven and reducing their rulers to subjects. Therefore they concentrate their armies with a single purpose: to oppose Qin. The three states share borders with Qin and feel the threat acutely; Qi does not share a border with Qin, and so the threat feels remote. For this reason the dynamics of All-Under-Heaven compel all states to court Qi. When Qin wins Qi's support, Qin's power becomes dominant in the central states. When Zhao, Wei, and Chu win Qi's support, they can match Qin. Whichever side obtains Qi grows strong; whichever side loses Qi grows weak.

"Qi holds this pivotal position, yet cannot leverage it to dominate All-Under-Heaven. Why? Because those who wield its power have blundered."