Zhiyao. The picture comes from the internet.
The ancients said: With copper as a mirror, you can dress your clothes; Take people as a mirror, you can know the gains and losses; Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall.
Later people said: history is a mirror.
In fact, there is nothing new in human history. If human beings can really learn from history, they can really avoid many mistakes they have made. However, in fact, it is: future generations mourn it without learning it, and also let future generations mourn it for future generations.
Taking history as a mirror is easier said than done.
After the Qin Dynasty, the history of China has been in an endless cycle. Why? Because you can't learn from history.
Why can't we learn from history? It is because later generations did not really regard history as a mirror, but as a drawing board, and smeared it at will.
There is another situation, that is, later generations take history as a mirror seriously, but due to the limitations of methodology, they are completely ignorant of the summary of history. Now, let's talk about two most famous examples.
Talent trumps virtue.
The first volume of Zi Jian records the story of the three schools being divided into Jin at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. When talking about the reasons why Zhiyao was destroyed by Han, Zhao and Wei, Mr. Sima Guang gave the answer that Zhiyao was "superior to virtue", and this conclusion was widely quoted as truth.
Why did Mr Sima Guang come to such a conclusion? Naturally, because Zhi Yao's talent far exceeds that of the Zhao family, he can only find moral reasons.
However, according to historical records, Zhiyao not only surpasses Zhao Wut-shirt in talent, but also surpasses him in personal morality. To give two examples, Zhiyao and Zhao Wuji each destroyed a country in northern Germany. Zhiyao used tricks similar to Trojan horses, while Zhao Wut-shirt took advantage of his father's death to invite the North German monarch, that is, his brother-in-law, to attend the funeral, and took the opportunity to kill his brother-in-law, seize the country, and cause his sister to commit suicide. Another thing is, after Zhao T-shirt killed Zhiyao, Zhiyao's subordinate Yu Rang tried his best to avenge Zhiyao, while Zhao T-shirt forced his number one hero to pack up and get out. Two examples have fully demonstrated that Zhi Yao's character is far above Zhao Wushan, in other words, Zhao Wushan's shameless is far above Zhi Yao.
Then, since Zhiyao is above Zhao Wuji in virtue and political integrity, why did he finally fail?
Let's look at this problem from a modern point of view.
Zhiyao's performance before stepping down was perfect, perfect and great. However, the problem lies in his greatness, and his advisers worship him, because countless facts have proved that he is better than his advisers. As a result, the counselor lost the motivation and ability to provide advice, and even if he made suggestions, he could not persist, and even if he persisted, he could not change Zhiyao's decision. So when Zhiyao made a fatal low-level mistake, there was no chance to correct and make up for it. It is such an opportunity that Wu Zhao's shirt, who is patient, seized it.
Because * * * is too strong, the decision-making mechanism fails. This is the root cause of the extinction of Zhiyao.
In the history of China, such examples are not uncommon. For example, Cao Cao's Battle of Red Cliffs and Fu Jian's Battle of Feishui. Is it because they are stupid, arrogant, greedy and low in character? Of course not, they are all real heroes, strategizing and winning thousands of miles. Why did they suffer such a fiasco? Because they are too great, the decision-making mechanism has failed.
Sadly, Sima Guang failed to find the crux of the problem, so that future generations could not learn from the defeat of Zhifu, thus repeating the same mistakes.
Be kind and not give.
In Jia Yi's On Qin, when Qin died, it was summarized as follows: benevolence and righteousness are different in attack and defense. This conclusion has been repeatedly emphasized for more than two thousand years.
However, this conclusion simply cannot stand scrutiny.
Before Qin became Qin, was Qin benevolent? In fact, in the whole process of reunifying China, the State of Qin has always been horrible and evil. Why did they finally defeat the six eastern countries with much higher civilization?
What is the relationship between offense and defense between countries and benevolence and righteousness?
There is no doubt that Jia Yi didn't find the real reason, so he had to get the answer from Confucianism. At this point, he is the same as Sima Guang.
So, what are the reasons for the strength and demise of Qin?
In the era of cold weapons, barbarism often triumphs over civilization, and evil often triumphs over justice, which has basically become a consensus. Qin's brutal rule created a brutal army. They regard killing as the only way to live a happy life and use the heads of other soldiers as chips. Such an army is a demon and totally irresistible to the armies of the six eastern countries accustomed to a happy life. This is why the State of Qin was able to unify China.
After the unification of China, the Qin army lost its direction, its head was nowhere to hunt, and its happy life was hopeless. As a result, Qin Jun's morale is low and its fighting capacity is rapidly declining. The people of the six countries could not bear the brutal rule of the Qin Dynasty and rose up against it. This is the reason for the demise of the Qin Dynasty.
In human history, there are countless examples of barbaric conquest of civilization.
Alexander the Great's brutal Macedonian dynasty conquered Athens, the most developed civilization at that time, and also conquered the whole of Greece, sweeping half the world.
Savage Mongolian cavalry swept civilized Europe, destroyed the world's leading civilization at that time-China Song Dynasty, and set back the history of the whole world for hundreds of years.
……
What does all this have to do with benevolence and righteousness? The so-called justice will triumph over evil, but it is a delusion of self-deception.
To learn from history, we must first have a good mirror. Look at the drawing board as a mirror. It is better not to look at such a mirror.
Take history as a mirror and have a pair of good eyes. If you only see what you want to see, but you can't see what you don't want to see, you might as well not see it.
In the final analysis, we should learn from history and look at it with our own eyes.