"Tang Ju Fulfilled His Mission" is a historical biography in "Warring States Policy Wei Ce IV", which is included in "Guwen Guanzhi", edited by Liu Xiang.
Translation of "Tang Ju Fulfills His Mission"
The King of Qin sent someone to tell Anling Jun, the king of Anling State: "I plan to exchange five hundred miles of land for Anling. Lord Ling must promise me!" Lord Anling said: "It is really a good thing for the king to give us a favor and exchange a large territory for our small territory. Even so, I accepted the fief from the late king and am willing to guard it all the time. Dare to exchange!" King Qin was very unhappy when he found out. Therefore, Lord Anling sent Tang Ju as an envoy to Qin.
The King of Qin said to Tang Ju: "I exchanged five hundred miles of land for Anling, but Lord Anling didn't listen to me. Why? Besides, Qin destroyed South Korea and Wei, and Anling The reason why I survived with fifty miles of land is because I regard Lord Anling as a loyal elder, so I don't care. Now I use ten times the land of Anling to let Lord Anling expand his territory, but he Is it contempt for me to go against my will?" Tang Ju replied: "No, that's not the case. Lord Anling inherited the fiefdom from the previous king, so he protected it and did not dare to exchange it even for a thousand miles of land. Not to mention this mere five hundred miles of land?"
The king of Qin was furious and said to Tang Ju: "Sir, have you ever heard of the emperor being angry?" Tang Ju replied: " I have never heard of it." King Qin said: "When the emperor is angry, the bodies of millions of people will fall and their blood will flow for thousands of miles." King Qin said, "Has your Majesty ever heard of the people being angry? : "When the people are angry, they just take off their hats, go barefoot, and bang their heads on the ground." Tang Ju said: "This is the anger of mediocre and incompetent people, not the anger of talented and courageous people. Zhu Zhu assassinated King Liao of Wu. At that time, the comet's tail swept across the moon; when Nie Zheng assassinated Han Puppet, a white light shot straight into the sun; when Li was about to assassinate Qing Ji, the goshawk flew on the palace. The three of them were all talented people among the common people. The courageous people, before the anger in their hearts has emerged, God will send good and bad omens. Adding me, there will be four people. If the courageous and capable people are forced to be angry, then let two people. The corpse fell down, and within five steps there was blood. All the people in the world must wear white mourning clothes. Now is the time." After saying this, he drew his sword and stood up.
The King of Qin changed his expression, straightened up and knelt down, apologized to Tang Ju and said: "Sir, please sit down! How could it have come to this! I understand: South Korea and Wei were destroyed, but Anling relied on The area with a radius of fifty miles has survived because of your presence, sir!"
Appreciation
The beginning of the paragraph is that after the "annihilation of Han and Wei", King Yingzheng of Qin dominated the world. He didn't take the little An Ling seriously at all. He seemed to disdain the threat of force and tried to defraud An Ling with the lie of "relocating". In his opinion, Lord Anling would never dare to say the word "change", let alone say "no", or "make people say". He would immediately call himself a widower. The princes can only call themselves widowers when they are against their subordinates. This shows the King of Qin's contempt for Lord Anling. "Anling Jun Qi Xu Xiaoren", with the command adverb "qi", vividly reflects the domineering king of Qin. The following article about Tang Ju's mission to Qin is divided into three paragraphs, which are also three rounds of the face-to-face struggle between Tang Ju and the King of Qin.
The first round is the beginning of the struggle. How Tang Ju arrived in Qin and how he paid an audience with the King of Qin has nothing to do with the center of this article. I will not write about it at all, but directly write about the conversation during the meeting. The meaning of the language spoken by King Qin and Tang Ju was completely different from that of previous Qin envoys. "The King of Qin said to Tang Ju," he was already "displeased". At this time, he suppressed his anger and spoke. He was not as "simple and clear" as the envoy of Qin, but he was both pulling and hitting, showing threats in euphemisms, as if he was winning. The speaker's tone: "Why won't Mr. Anling listen to me?" "Now I offer ten times the land to you, but if you disobey me, do you underestimate me?" This is a question. "Qin will destroy Han and Wei, but the ruler will survive with only fifty miles of land." This is purely a threat. The words are not far from the word "little man", but they also say "I regard you as the elder, so I am not wrong" and "I would like to spread the land ten times more than you." The cunning and arrogant attitude of King Qin is self-evident. Tang Ju had already made up his mind and didn't deal with it much. "No, it's not true," his attitude was calm and clear. He refused to give in an inch and argued with reason: "Although you dare not change for a thousand miles, how can you say it is five hundred miles?" Change Anlingjun's "Don't dare to change" into a rhetorical question, and use "thousands of miles" to "five hundred miles" ” proposed, which was far more firm and powerful than An Lingjun’s answer, and did not give the other party any advantage.
The second round is the climax of the struggle. From a writing point of view, it is the focus of the whole article, so it is written in the most detailed and detailed way. The author writes this paragraph on two levels. On the first level, the King of Qin was angry and threatened. "You have heard of the anger of the Emperor," he openly claimed to be the "Emperor" and did not take a small country and its envoys seriously. "The emperor's wrath laid down millions of corpses and shed blood for thousands of miles." If combined with the background of "the destruction of Han and the destruction of Wei", it is really chilling. Tang Ju said "I haven't heard of it". He was calm and unmoved by King Qin's threats. In fact, he was waiting for the enemy. Therefore, this layer is like a trough between two major wave peaks. On the second floor, Tang Ju first retorted, "Your Majesty, have you heard the anger of Commoner?" He followed the tone of the King of Qin and used "Commoner" to the "Emperor". He really refused to give in.
Then he used two sentences, one positive and one negative, to categorically refute the slander of the King of Qin that "this is the anger of a mediocre man, but not the anger of a scholar". Then the conditions were ripe and the counterattack began. First, use three parallel sentences to lay out the facts that Zhuan Zhu assassinated Wang Liao, Nie Zheng assassinated the Han puppet, and Yaoli assassinated Qing Ji. He also said, "I will conquer the four with my ministers" to knock down the arrogance of the King of Qin, and then use "Ruo Shi "Will be angry" and other five four-character phrases were aimed at the King of Qin like rolling logs and stones, using "two people" versus "millions" and "five steps" versus "thousands of miles", without giving him any time to breathe, and the atmosphere was The tension is breathtaking. In the end, Tang Ju "raised his sword" and pressed the King of Qin tightly. This was even more unexpected by the King of Qin, so the mental defense line was completely destroyed, and he had no choice but to surrender.
In the third round, the writing method was reversed, and Tang Ju was written fictitiously, because the image of Tang Ju was already completed, and writing it again would be superfluous. From "sexing" to "kneeling and thanking", "Sir, sit down, why do you do this", this is what King Qin said at this moment, it is hard to believe that it was the King of Qin who just did it. The King of Qin first mistakenly thought that he could do evil boldly because he was a powerful country. Later, he was forced to do evil because of the situation at hand. He had no skills and had no choice but to do it, which could not change his nature. Moreover, the king's airs could not be completely let go, and the compliment he paid to Tang Ju was obviously exaggerated.
The full text is less than 400 words, and it is well-organized and tactful. Starting from the "change of place" and ending with "kneeling and thanking", the country revolves around the "easy" and "difficult" of Anling's land, through the ups and downs of "the emperor's wrath" and "the commoner's wrath", and launched a war of words. The fierce debate created an image of a mighty and unyielding chivalrous man who acted bravely for justice, embodying the author's ideal of resisting violence; at the same time, it also outlined the ugly face of King Qin's hypocrisy, arrogance and violence, thus illustrating the resistance to the tyranny of Qin and the maintenance of national territory and sovereignty. The power of justice is invincible. This is the spiritual power that enabled Tang Ju to defeat Qiang Qin, and it is also the key to the eternal artistic charm of this article. The article has a tight rhythm, vivid and sharp language, and an expressive tone, showing high writing skills.
Original text
The King of Qin sent people to say to Lord Anling: "I want to use the land of 500 miles to Anling, Lord Anling will give it to me!" Lord Anling said: "The great king favors me, and it is very good to change the big to the small. Although I received the land from the previous king and am willing to keep it for the rest of my life, I dare not change!" King Qin did not say. Lord Anling sent Tang Ju as an envoy to Qin.
The King of Qin said to Tang Ju: "I want to change Anling with a land of five hundred miles, but Lord Anling will not listen to me. Why? Qin will destroy Han and Wei, but the king will survive with a land of fifty miles. , I regard you as the elder, so I don't think so. Now I offer ten times the land to you, but if you are disobedient to me, you will treat me with contempt?" Tang Ju said to him, "No, that's not the case. The king of Qin was furious and said to Tang Ju, "Have you ever heard of the emperor's anger?" Tang Ju said to him, "I have never heard of it." The King of Qin said, "The emperor's wrath caused millions of corpses to be laid down and blood to flow for thousands of miles." Tang Ju said, "Have you ever heard of the wrath of the common people?" The King of Qin said, "The wrath of the common people." ” Tang Ju said: “This is the anger of a mediocre man, not the anger of a scholar. Zhuanzhu stabbed the king, like a comet hitting the moon; Nie Zheng stabbed the puppet of Han. The white rainbow shines across the sun; the thorns are about to leave and the eagle strikes on the palace. These three sons are all men in common clothes. Angry, two people laid down their corpses, bleeding for five steps, and the world was pure. "Stand up with your sword. ?
The King of Qin looked at him, knelt down and thanked him, and said: "Sir, sit down! Why is this! I have told you: Hu Han and Wei were destroyed, but those who survive in Anling with a land of fifty miles can only survive." Mr. Ye."
Notes
Tang Ju (jū): also known as Tang Qie, personal name, minister of Anling Kingdom. Fulfilling the mission: It means completing the mission. Humiliate, humiliate, let down.
King of Qin: That is Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng. He had not yet called himself emperor at that time. Envoy: dispatch, dispatch. Anlingjun: The king of Anling Kingdom. Anling was a small country in the Warring States Period, which is now northwest of Yanling, Henan. It was originally a vassal state of Wei. During the Warring States Period, King Xiang of Wei named his younger brother Lord Anling.
Easy: exchange.
It: A particle used to emphasize the tone in a sentence.
Bonus: Give favors.
Although: Even so. Although, even. Of course, this is it.
F: No.
Said: "Yue" means happy and joyful.
Predicate: tell.
Desire: Want.
With: use, used as a preposition.
Qin destroyed Han and Wei: Qin destroyed Korea in the seventeenth year of the First Emperor (230 BC), and destroyed Wei in the twenty-second year of the First Emperor (225 BC).
It: of, particle.
I regard you as an elder, so I don’t care about him: I regard Lord Anling as a loyal and honest elder, so I don’t care about him. Wrong meaning, care.
Please Guangyujun: It means asking Anlingjun to expand his territory. wide, expand.
Source of the work: "Warring States Policy"
Genre of the work: Historical biography
Also known as the work: Tang Ju robbed the King of Qin for Lord Anling, and the King of Qin sent people to call Anling Jun
Creative background
In the 22nd year of Qin Shihuang (225 BC), after Qin destroyed Wei, it wanted to occupy Anling in the name of "relocating". Anling is a small country attached to the State of Wei. Lord Anling was originally the younger brother of King Xiang of Wei.
At that time, South Korea and Wei, which were close to the Qin State, perished one after another. The remaining six Shandong kingdoms of Zhao, Yan, Qi, and Chu had already been cut off by the Qin State in successive years of war and were dying. Anling maintained its independent status for a time after the demise of its suzerain state, Wei. The King of Qin wanted to use deception to take Anling lightly. It is the old trick of Qin Jun to use small lures to catch big fish to defraud others. At this time, King Qin Yingzheng repeated his old tricks. In this case, Lord Anling sent Tang Ju as envoy to Qin to fight tit for tat against the tiger and wolf Qin. This article is a true record of this struggle.
Editor's introduction
Liu Xiang (about 77 BC - 6 BC) was a Confucian scholar, bibliographer and litterateur in the Western Han Dynasty. His real name is Gengsheng, and his courtesy name is Zizheng. A native of Peixian County (now part of Jiangsu). Liu Jiao, the king of Chu Yuan, was the fourth generation grandson. During the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, he was an admonishing official. During the reign of Emperor Han Yuan, he was appointed Zongzheng. For opposing the eunuchs Hong Gong and Shi Xian, they were imprisoned and later released. Later, he was imprisoned for opposing Gong and Xian, so as not to become a commoner. After Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty came to the throne, he was promoted to official position and appointed as Guanglu doctor. He was renamed "Xiang" and was promoted to Zhong base school captain. Zeng was ordered to lead the school secretary and wrote "Bielu", which is the earliest public catalog of books in China. Treat "Chun Qiu Gu Liang Zhuan". Compiled and compiled "Warring States Policy". He also compiled "Chu Ci" and composed thirty-three poems and poems, most of which have been lost. Only "Nine Sighs" is the complete one. The original collection has been lost, and was compiled by the Ming Dynasty into "Liu Zhonglei Collection". Today there are books such as "New Preface", "Shuo Yuan" and "Biography of Lienu". There is also the "Tongyi of the Five Classics", which has been lost. Ma Guohan of the Qing Dynasty compiled and preserved it in one volume. His life story can be found in Volume 36 of Hanshu.