[repost] 32. What are Fan Li's seven strategies for governing the country?

-Xia Tingxian, the first person in China to rejuvenate the country and enrich the family, said in the Biography of Historical Records and Huo Zhi that Fan Li once lamented after reviving Yue State and destroying Wu State that only five of the seven strategies were used to govern the country, and the other two strategies should be used to make a fortune. So he resigned and went into business. What are Fan Li's seven strategies for governing the country and family? This is an interesting question. Regrettably, Fan Li only talked about the topic of "seven strategies" and did not say the specific content. To understand the contents of the "seven strategies", we can only sort out and refine them from the "Fan Li's practice" recorded in historical materials according to the principle of "practice produces theory and theory guides practice". First, strive to develop production. Around 490 BC, he accompanied Gou Jian back to Vietnam from Wu as a prime minister, and formulated a revival plan of "ten years of reunion and ten years of lessons". The main measures taken are: first, reclamation of land, utilization of beaches, development of agriculture, animal husbandry and aquatic products. According to historical records, Fan Li established Quanshan, Lushan, Dolphin Mountain, Jishan, Mashan, fishing grounds, pastures, salt fields, logging fields, tin smelting fields, copper casting fields, pearl mining fields, sword casting fields, handicraft fields and so on within a hundred miles around the capital. In the Preface to the Outline of the Four Seasons of Tang, Han and E, it is said that "breaking ground to repay the humiliation of the King of Yue"-linking breaking ground with the ultimate elimination of Wu's humiliation shows the great significance of developing production. The second is to reward fertility and implement the "ten-year birth reunion". "The strong don't marry old women, and the old don't marry young women; Seventeen women and twenty men, parents who don't marry will be punished; Pregnant women will give birth, sue the government and let the doctor keep it; Give the male a dog and the female a dolphin; Give birth to two children, the official raises one, gives birth to three, and the official raises one. " After the implementation of this policy, the population has increased and the labor force and the army have a source. The third is to exempt the seven-year agricultural tax. The people planted crops enthusiastically, and people from other countries moved to Vietnam one after another, and the population became richer and richer, which laid the foundation for the "ten-year lesson". "Ten years of hard work" has made "the country rich and the people strong". Second, maintain social stability. First, influence and unite people with the monarch's diligent and honest actions. Encouraged by Fan Li, Gou Jian managed to stay overnight, have a taste of courage in the morning, deal with state affairs during the day, or visit abroad. See the sage Si Qi, only use it; See the injured, compensate; Seeing beggars, pay for food; From ruin, cry and mourn; See the tiller and help him; Modesty replaced arrogance; Gentleness replaces irritability; Thrift replaced luxury; Diligence replaced entertainment-all hunting bows and costumes were stored. Many concubines have also been dismissed, and their behavior has played a spiritual incentive role in rallying people's hearts and working hard. Second, according to the "August 3rd Regulation Law" (elaborated in another article), Fan Li balanced the interests of farmers and businessmen through government intervention and mobilized the enthusiasm of farmers for farming and businessmen for business, which not only made agriculture and commerce develop rapidly, but also stabilized the market, people's hearts, society and government. Third, streamline the names of decision-making bodies according to historical records. At that time, the decision-making bodies of Yue were mainly three people, namely Gou Jian, Guo Xiang Fan Li and Shang Dafu Wenwen. The decision-making process is basically that the species of cockroaches put forward specific suggestions after investigation, and Gou Jian nodded and agreed to announce them as national policies, regulations and measures. The seeds are thoroughly implemented and reported to Gou Jian. Focusing on the firm strategy of rejuvenating the country and destroying Wu, seed lily is implemented at all levels and in all links. Gou Jian trusted and released the seed lily, and the great cause of rejuvenation made progress year by year. It is worth mentioning that Gou Jian suffered a fiasco in Huiji and returned to China three years later after Wu Wei's daughter. He absorbed the advantages of people like Li, put down his airs and regarded people like Li as teachers and friends, thus achieving his own hegemony-interpreting the king of "taking teachers as kings" and "taking friends as tyrants". Although a country is a small country, there are only three top managers, and the degree of competence is probably unprecedented. The decision-making body is lean, without constraints and wrangling, and the government decrees are smooth and efficient, which reduces the burden on the people and is also conducive to keeping state secrets and being invincible in the information war. It is naturally the opinion of Fan Li, the prime minister of Yue State, that the decision-making body of Yue State is so capable. Fourth, vigorously enhance the era of military power and cold weapons, "political power comes out of the barrel of a gun." In 494 BC, the State of Yue was defeated and the whole army was wiped out. When he decided to surrender to Wu and sign a peace treaty, Wu did not allow Yue to have a standing army. After returning to Yue State, Fan Li thought that he had to fight decisive battles with Wu State in the future, and decisive battles needed an army that could recruit excellent soldiers. With the consent of Gou Jian, he quietly began to recruit and arrange to teach fencing and other body skills in remote mountainous areas in the south. Some troops were also allocated to cut trees and transport them to the shelter of Beihai (note: Hangzhou Bay) to build construction boats and wing boats, docks and docks, and practice while building boats. Fan Li also hired a "martial arts coach" to teach the troops basic skills, such as fencing, halberd and fencing. This paper introduces the advanced iron smelting and forging technology of Chu State. In wuyue's wrestling, the Vietnamese army can win more with less, which is related to the advanced weapons than Wu Jun. The sharpness of the "Goujian Sword of the King of Yue" excavated by archaeology proves this point. Fan Li knew that the soldiers and horses had not moved food and grass first, and stored a lot of food. One of the measures he took was to "widely accumulate grain" after the agricultural harvest and store the good grain in the caves in Nanshan. Second, merchants bought grain from Wu at high prices and hoarded it-the virtual accumulation of Wu. The third is to borrow food from King Wu in the name of the hunger and cold of the people of Yue. When the grain was returned to the State of Wu, the rice had been cooked. When Wu saw that Yue's grain was full and used as seeds, it could not germinate, resulting in no harvest. It was during the famine of Wu and the exhaustion of Wu Jun that the State of Yue launched a counterattack. Fifth, the real purpose of concealing the truth is to destroy Wu. Fan Li and Wen Zi took covert measures: First, they sent all kinds of treasures, beautiful women and handymen to the State of Wu to be arrogant and angry. The second is to send skilled craftsmen and building materials to the State of Wu, so that Wang can build great buildings and consume financial and human resources. During this period, Yue discovered a towering tree called Shenmu, so he cut it down, cut it down, drew colorful dragon and snake patterns with painters, embedded it with gold and white jade, and sent envoys to float in Jiangbei to give it to Fu Cha. Fu Cha was very happy, and ordered to build a Gusu platform more than 200 feet high, with Shenmu as the pillar. Wu Zixu opposed the construction of Gusutai and the use of Yue Shenmu, but Fu Cha did not listen and went his own way. The third is to build granaries in the south of Huiji City, which are empty but not used, to show the emptiness of the national treasury and confuse the eyes and ears of Wu people. The fourth is to focus on supporting disabled orphans left by previous wars and cover up the conscription (when Wu suspected soldiers, he used this as a prevarication). Fifth, when he learned that the king of Wu was going to attack Qi, he sent an old general to lead 3,000 weak soldiers to assist him, falsely claiming that he was a soldier of the whole country. Fu Cha felt that Yue was a minor worry, so he went north with confidence. Sixth, I learned that the King of Wu wanted to take Hangou (the predecessor of the Grand Canal) to Yishui in the north, Jishui in the west and Jiang Hui in the lake to win the Central Plains, that is, he sent 10,000 migrant workers to help. Focha is very satisfied with Vietnam's move and feels that Vietnam is very loyal. These are the "five strategies" for governing the country. To sum up, we should be wise, politically sober, diplomatically smart, economically prosperous and militarily powerful. This is the basic strategy or experience of the five hegemony around the Spring and Autumn Period. Among the "five strategies", "Ming Jun", especially Ming Jun, is the key. It is necessary to be Ming Jun all the time, not for a while. When Fu Cha was a monarch, he became the overlord. Later, when I became fatuous, I ruined my country and my life. After Fan Li resigned and went to sea, he mainly adopted the following two strategies. VI. Developing diversified business According to historical records, Fan Li was engaged in five major industries at that time: aquaculture, animal husbandry, fur processing, border trade and real estate development, forming a "group company". There is a saying in the business world, don't put eggs in one basket (don't invest money in one project), to prevent the basket from breaking eggs and losing everything. Fan Li's practice may be the source of this proverb. The five major industries are all related to people's livelihood, and the demand is inexhaustible. Even if one industry loses money, other industries can make up for it and remain invincible as a whole. Seventh, the basic idea of speeding up capital turnover is that funds should rush like running water. The main method is to see clearly the quantity of goods, which are surplus and which are insufficient, and to foresee the rise and fall of prices-"You will know the price when you talk about its surplus and shortage." Grasp the law of "extremes meet"-when commodity prices rise to a certain extent, they will develop in the opposite direction, and vice versa-"expensive is cheap, cheap is expensive." According to the situation, buy when the commodity price is low and sell when the price is high-"buy cheap and sell expensive, speed up the turnover". Seize the opportunity, make bold decisions, and treat commodities as dirt when they are extremely expensive; When the goods are extremely cheap, buy pearl jade as much as possible-"as expensive as dirt, as cheap as pearl jade". If the utilization rate of funds is improved, we can achieve "rolling development with Qian Shengqian" and enter a virtuous circle, "three in 19, and get thousands of dollars". Fan Li's thought and practice laid the foundation of "business ethics", as did industrialists and businessmen after Fan Li.