"Seven Strategies of the Warring States Policy": "A sly rabbit has three caves, just avoid its dead ears." During the Warring States Period, Feng Xuan (pronounced as xuān) said to Meng Changjun, "Only when there are three caves of cunning rabbits can you avoid death." So he made suggestions, did three great things for Meng Changjun, and consolidated Meng Changjun's position. Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms (the 60th time): There is still one wren, and the cunning rabbit still hides three caves, not to mention people.

Idiom story

Story 1

During the Warring States Period, Meng Changjun, the prime minister of Qi, asked Feng Xuan, the doorman, to collect debts from Emperor Xuedi and buy back things lost at home. Feng Xuan burned all the debts on the pretext of Meng Changjun's orders, and the borrowers were very grateful to Meng Changjun. Feng Xuan came back and said, "The sly rabbit has three caves, so we must avoid its dead ears;" Today you have a cave, and you lie without a high pillow. "

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, important officials in some countries liked to make friends with and adopt people with certain skills, be his "door guests" and give him advice to improve their prestige and maintain and consolidate their position. This practice once became a trend. For example, Qi's, Wei's, Chu's, and Zhao's adopted many public guests, which people call "quadruplets". Here, we tell you the story of Meng Changjun.

Meng Changjun's name is Tian Wen, the son of Tian Ying. Tian Ying served as a lieutenant in the Battle of Maling commanded by Sun Bin. Because he fought actively, Qi sealed him in Xuedi (now southeast of Tengzhou, Shandong Province) and called him. After Tian Ying's death, Tian Wen inherited his father's official position and fief, and was called Meng Changjun.

Meng Changjun knows that it is necessary to employ a large number of public servants and win the support and support of many people, which is a necessary condition for gaining fame and consolidating his position. So he looked for talents everywhere, no matter how high or low, as long as he had a skill, he treated them as guests. In this way, his reputation for loving sages spread slowly. Some heroes from other countries, even some prisoners who escaped from prison, came to him, regarded him as their confidant and worked for him.

Once, a man named Feng Xuan came to Meng Changjun. Meng Changjun saw him in rags, sandals on his feet, a sword tied around his waist, and no scabbard. Knowing that he was a poor man, he asked him, "What do you think, sir?" Feng Xuan said, "I am too poor to live. I want to find something to eat here. " "What skills do you have?" "I have no skills." Meng Changjun said with a smile: "Then you can stay first." People in Meng Changjun look down on Feng Xuan because he is poor and incompetent. They arranged for him to live in a poor room and gave him rough meals every day. A few days later, Meng Changjun asked, "What's that Feng Xuan doing?" Answer: "He plays that sword every day and sings while playing; Jian, let's go home. There are no fish and shrimp here. " Meng Changjun felt that he had lost face when he said this, so he let people move Feng Xuan to a medium-sized room and give him fish and shrimp to eat. A few days later, Feng Xuan sang again: "Jian, let's go home, there are no chariots and horses here. It was reported that Meng Changjun and Meng Changjun had a chariot and horse sent. "。 Who knows, not long after, someone came to report that Feng Xuan still sang every day and said, "Jian, let's go home, we have no money to support our family. Meng Changjun was very angry and thought, Why is this poor man so dissatisfied? However, in order to attract more people, he sent someone to send money to Feng Xuan's old mother. Feng Xuan stopped playing and singing.

After a year, he became more and more famous and became the prime minister of Qi. At this time, his public guests already had 3000 people. How much does it cost to raise such a large group of people? Although he made a lot of money, he also felt at a loss. He thought about it, thinking that Xuecheng had released a lot of usury, and the interest had been confiscated for many years, so he decided to send someone to collect it. This kind of debt collection is thankless, and you have to know a set of accounting business. Nobody wants to get Meng Changjun into trouble. Someone recommended Feng Xuan, saying, "This guy is tall and good at talking, but he has no other skills. Maybe he can collect debts. " Meng Changjun called Feng Xuan and said to him, "I am too busy to take care of my husband. Please forgive me. Now please go to Xuecheng to collect my debts. I wonder if you would like to go? " Feng Xuan readily agreed: "OK, I'll go." So I got my horses and chariots ready, packed my bags, took my bonds and set off. When he left, he asked Meng Changjun, "Do you want to buy anything back when the debt is collected?" Meng Changjun said, "You can buy whatever my family lacks."

When Feng Xuan arrived in Xuecheng, the relatively rich came to pay interest, and the poor families who could not pay their debts had long since disappeared without a trace. With the money collected, Feng Xuan bought a few big fat cows and a dozen jars of wine, held dozens of banquets, invited all debtors to drink, and informed them that whether they can afford it or not, it doesn't matter if they can afford it, as long as they check the bonds. On the day of the party, the debtors came and Feng Xuan warmly hosted them. After drinking, Feng Xuan checked the bonds with the debtors one by one and asked about the situation. At that time, whoever can give interest will receive their money; If you have no money at the moment, you will make an appointment to return it; If they are too poor to pay back, they simply take back their bonds and burn them all with torches in front of everyone. The debtor was really surprised and happy. I don't know what's going on. At this time, Feng Xuan stood up and said, "We lent you money in Meng Changjun because we saw that no one had the capital to farm and do business, making ends meet;" Originally, he didn't want to charge interest, but he had a large group of clients to support, so he asked me to charge interest. Now that the bonds have been checked, everything that can be returned has been returned. If there is no money for the time being, the return period is agreed. Please ensure delivery on time. Meng Changjun said that if you can't afford the interest, you don't even need the principal and interest. So I burned all these people's bonds. This is the grace of Meng Changjun, don't forget! " Words, said everyone cheered, are very grateful to Meng Changjun's kindness.

Meng Changjun flew into a rage when he heard that Feng Xuan had burned bonds. He immediately sent someone to call Feng Xuan back and scolded him angrily: "OK, I want you to charge interest. Take the money, kill the cows, buy wine, have a big banquet and burn bonds. What are you doing? " Feng Xuan unhurriedly replied, "Don't worry, son! Please think about it, how can we get all the people in debt without a banquet? If the debtor doesn't come, how can we know who can afford the interest and who can't? Now, if you can afford it, the deadline has been set, and you can hand it in when it expires. What he can't afford is that he still can't afford it in ten or eight years. In his hurry, he simply went somewhere else. What are those bonds for? If you force them, you won't get much money, but you have a bad reputation. Is it worth it? I burned these useless bonds to make the people of Xuecheng grateful to you and praise your good reputation everywhere. Isn't this a great thing? When I left, you asked me to pick out what your family lacked and take it back. I think you have all the treasures, delicacies and delicacies here, but you lack kindness to the poor. So I bought it back for you. " Meng Changjun was speechless-speechless with pain, so he had to say, "Forget it, forget it, sir, have a rest." After that, I was cold to Feng Xuan again.

Later, the phase was abolished, so he had to retire and live Xue's life. When Xue learned of his arrival, he helped the old and brought the young, and walked dozens of miles to meet him. At this time, he didn't understand the value of benevolence and righteousness that Wen Feng bought for him. He thanked Feng Xuan again and again. Feng Xuan said: "The clever rabbit has three holes to avoid death;" Now that you have only one hole, you can't put the pillow very high. Please let me dig two more holes for you. " Meng Changjun agreed and gave fifty cars and five hundred catties of gold. When he went west to Wei, he said, "Qi banished his ministers, and whoever arrives first will make the country rich and strong." So King Hui relinquished his upper position, made Yuan Xiang a general, and sent messengers to hire Meng Changjun with a thousand pounds of gold and a hundred cars. Feng Xuan drove the car back first and warned Meng Changjun: "One thousand pounds of gold is a heavy dowry; Hundreds of cars, this is one of the envoys of dignitaries. Qi and his ministers probably heard about it. Wei made three trips back and forth and refused to go.

When King Qi Gui heard the news, the king and his subjects were very afraid. He sent a teacher to write a letter with 1000 kilograms of gold, two cars painted with literary talent and a sword, and apologized to Meng Changjun, saying, "I was unlucky and suffered from the disasters of my ancestors and gods. I'm sure I offended you by flattering my courtier. I don't deserve your help. I hope you will take good care of the ancestral hall of the former King of Qi and come back to the capital to govern the people of the whole country. " Feng Xuan warned Meng Changjun: "I hope you can ask the King of Qi to give us the ritual vessels handed down by the former king, so that we can worship our ancestors and build ancestral temples in the snow." Feng Xuan returned to Meng Changjun for the achievements of the ancestral temple: "Now that the three caves have been built, you can have a good rest (no worries)."

People who left heard that Meng Changjun had become prime minister again and came to see him again. Meng Changjun was very angry and said to Feng Xuan, "When I lost power, they didn't help me, so they all ran away. Thanks to Mr. Wang's efforts, I was able to serve as Prime Minister again. How dare they come to see me again? If anyone comes to see me again, I will spit in his face and scold him. " Feng Xuan said, "You don't have to do this. You need everyone's support to be prime minister now, but you can't drive away the guests in a rage. Then who will work for you? It's not as warm as you used to entertain them, which also shows that your measurement is great. " Meng Changjun said, "Do I dare not listen to your words?" Thanks to the support of many public figures, Meng Changjun has been prime minister for several years without any harm. Thanks to Feng Xuan's strategy.

The story of Feng Xuan burning bonds shows that usury appeared in the Warring States Period. At that time, with the great development of commerce, money was widely used when buying goods.

Story 2

During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a man named Meng Changjun in the State of Qi. He likes making friends with writers and chivalrous people very much. In order to often discuss state affairs with them, he always likes to invite these people to stay at home for a long time. There are three thousand guests in his family. Because there are too many people, Meng Changjun divides these people into three grades: up, middle and down! Excellent guests can eat big fish and meat every day and have a car to sit on when they go out; Medium guests can only eat fish and vegetables every day; Inferior guests only eat vegetables every day. Although many people are not satisfied with this, no one raises any objection. After all, people have different talents, so it is natural to treat them differently.

Later, a friend introduced a man named Feng Xuan to Meng Changjun. Meng Changjun asked his friend, "What is this Feng Xuan's specialty?" The friend thought for a long time and said, "It seems that there is no specialty!" Meng Changjun didn't say anything after listening, but he stayed. Meng Changjun didn't pay much attention to Feng Xuan because he didn't think he had any expertise. When the servants at home saw that Meng Changjun ignored Feng Xuan, they thought that the host looked down on Feng Xuan, and all the guests in Feng Xuan were treated.

Feng Xuan is very unhappy and complains every day: "Since everyone looks down on me, I will go!" When Meng Changjun knew about it, he promoted Feng Xuan from an inferior guest to a superior guest and gave it back to Feng Xuan's mother. However, Feng Xuan did nothing. Although Meng Changjun felt very strange, he gave Feng Xuan a warm reception.

One day, he was sent to find Xue to collect debts. Feng Xian asked Meng Changjun what to buy after collecting the debt. The host replied, "You can buy whatever I lack."

When Feng Xian arrived in the snow, he saw that all the debtors were poor farmers. He immediately announced that the debts would be written off in the name of Meng Changjun, and the debt contracts of all households were burned. Xue people think this is kindness, and their hearts are full of gratitude. After seeing Feng Xian, Meng Changjun asked him what he bought for himself. Feng Xian said, "You have everything. I only bought you benevolence." When I learned that Feng Xian had already forgiven Xue's debt in his name, I was angry and annoyed after buying Renyi, but it was irreparable and very helpless.

Until later, Meng Changjun was relieved of his post as prime minister by the King of Qi and went to settle in Xue. This is the value of benevolence and righteousness that Feng Xian bought for him. He thanked Feng Xian again and again.

Meng Changjun asked Feng Xian: Why do you think so long?

Feng Xian said: "There are three caves of cunning rabbits, only its dead ear can be avoided. There is a cave today, and I have to lie down without a high pillow. " A rabbit must have three holes to hide in order to avoid the danger of being chased by hunters. You live in the snow, just like a rabbit with only one hole, which is dangerous! In case Qi Guojun is dissatisfied with you and wants to kill you, you have nowhere else to hide! So, you can't put the pillow on it and sleep in peace!

Meng Changjun: What should I do?

Feng Xuan: Leave it to me! I'll let you have three safe holes and hide like a sly rabbit!

So I went to Liang. He told Liang that if Liang could come and help him govern the country, Liang would certainly become stronger. Hearing this, King Hui of Liang immediately sent someone to invite Meng Changjun to Liang as prime minister with one thousand catties of gold and one hundred wagons. However, Liang's messenger came three times in a row and told him not to promise. The news that Liang sent someone to manage Liang reached the king of Qi. The king of Qi was in a hurry, so he quickly sent someone to invite Meng Changjun back to Qi as prime minister.

At the same time, it is also called to build an ancestral temple in Xue to ensure Xue's safety. After the ancestral temple in the snow was built, Feng Xuan said to Meng Changjun, "All three places where you can live have been built. From then on, you can pad your pillow and sleep in peace. " .

The idiom "Three Caves of a Cunning Rabbit" comes from this story. Literally, cunning rabbits have many caves, which means that people need more shelter and emergency measures to protect themselves.

Biography of Meng Changjun

Meng Changjun is the son of Tian Ying, the monarch of Xue State (the vassal state of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties in the East, now Guanqiao and Zhang Wang Town). After Tian Ying's death, he inherited the title of Gong Xue and Meng Changjun, and became famous as a scholar.

Meng Changjun was born in a bad time. Because he was born on May 5th, it was bad for his parents, so he was abandoned and his mother secretly fed him, so he was saved from misfortune. When he grew up, Tian Ying saw that he was smart, articulate and ambitious, so he turned his worries into happiness and named him Prince. After Meng Changjun acceded to the throne, he recruited all the wise men, whether officials or fugitives, celebrities or mediocrities, and received them warmly. When chatting with the doorman at ordinary times, he asked his entourage to hide behind the screen to record and write down the doorman's home address and living conditions. After knowing it, I was deeply grateful and vowed to serve. People from all over the world come here, and there are more than 3000 diners under the door.