King Qi Wei who is good at accepting advice

All successful politicians have extraordinary characters and unique experiences. In the history of Qi, if Duke Huan of Qi is famous for appointing talented people, then King Wei of Qi is famous for being good at accepting advice.

In the early years of the Warring States Period, the emerging power of the Qi State, the Tian family, took Qi Kanggong, the last king of the Qi State, to the seaside and gave him "a city" of land. Later, they even took over this land. In 386 BC, Tian He was named a prince and continued to use the title of Qi. After the Tian family came to Qi, the emerging landlord class took complete control of political power in Qi. In order to consolidate the ruling order of the landlord class and compete with the other six countries for the world, the Tian family also carried out some social reforms after gaining power, which caused a situation in Qi State. Among them, the most accomplished one was King Qi Wei.

King Wei of Qi, named Tian Qi, was the grandson of Tian He and reigned from 356 BC to 320 BC. King Wei of Qi was famous among the princes for being good at accepting advice, and the resurgence of Qi was achieved by King Wei of Qi by accepting advice from a wide range of people and using collective strategies to carry out reforms. It is said that in the first nine years after King Wei of Qi came to the throne, he only spent time eating, drinking, playing, and doing business, and did not care about national affairs at all. All political affairs were in charge of the officials. During these nine years, Han, Zhao, Wei, Lu and other countries often attacked Qi. The state of Qi was often defeated and ambushed, resulting in a situation where "the princes attacked together and the people of the country were not governed". Faced with the country's predicament, King Wei of Qi seemed to be at ease and ignored it. However, people familiar with the matter saw that King Qi Wei was not a mediocre person, and the key question was how to cheer him up.

At that time, there was a minister in the State of Qi named Chunyu Kun. He was very short, but he was very eloquent and humorous. Diplomatic talent. He was very worried when he saw King Qi Wei drinking all night and ignoring political affairs. The politics was chaotic and the country was in danger. But he was afraid of offending the monarch, so he used cryptic words to remonstrate. He said to King Qi Wei: "There is a big bird in our country that has not flown or sounded for three years. King, do you know what it means?" King Qi Wei immediately realized that Chunyu Kun was using the big bird as a metaphor for himself, saying that he Staying in the palace, doing nothing, doing nothing. So he replied: "If this bird doesn't fly, it will be fine. If it soars into the sky, if it doesn't sing, it will be amazing." King Qi Wei began to cheer up. Chunyu Kun also advised King Qi Wei not to drink all night, and explained with his own personal experience: "Extreme alcoholism leads to chaos, extreme happiness leads to sadness." King Qi Wei got rid of his habit of drinking all night.

There are many vivid examples of King Wei of Qi accepting advice, the most famous of which is the story of Zou Ji playing the harp and playing the harp. Zou Ji was a very talented man. When he saw what King Qi Wei had done, he wanted to persuade him to cheer up. But with Zou Ji's status at that time, it was impossible to even meet King Qi Wei, so how could he give advice to him? He heard that King Qi Wei liked to listen to music, so he came up with a plan. One day, he carried a piano into the palace and asked to see King Qi Wei. He said that he was a native of the country, his name was Zou Ji, and he was a piano player. He heard that the king loved music and came here to pay his respects.

King Qi Wei was having nothing to do that day and felt very bored. He heard that a piano player had come. He was so happy that he hurriedly sent a message to ask him to come in quickly. After Zou Ji paid homage to King Qi Wei, he sat down and tuned the strings as if to play, but his hands remained motionless on the piano. King Qi Wei asked him in confusion, "You have tuned the strings, why don't you play?" Zou Ji still didn't play but said, "I not only know how to play the piano. I also know how to play the piano." Although King Qi Wei could play the piano, he could not play the piano. But he didn’t understand the meaning of playing the piano, so he asked him to explain it in detail. Zou Ji started from Fu Qi's piano making, and continued to talk about King Wen and King Wu each adding a string. The more he talked, the more mysterious he became. King Qi Wei understood some of them but not others.

But what's the use of talking about these empty words? King Qi Wei became a little impatient and said angrily: "What you said is very good and right, but why don't you play it for me?" After hearing what King Qi Wei said, Zou Ji said seriously : "Your Majesty, you are a little unhappy when you see me holding the harp and not playing it, aren't you? No wonder the people of Qi are a little unhappy when they see your lord holding Qi's big harp, which he has not played once in nine years!" King Wei of Qi then Suddenly enlightened, he quickly stood up and said, "It turns out that sir was trying to persuade me with the piano. I understand." He asked someone to take down the piano, and then talked with Zou Ji about national affairs. Zou Ji advised him to reuse talented people, increase production, save property, and train troops to establish hegemony. King Wei of Qi claimed that he wanted to carry forward the achievements of his father Huanhou Wu. He wanted to tell his ancestors about the disgrace of the Yellow Emperor in the distance, and inherit the hegemony of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin in the near future. Later, the state of Qi was revived and became a powerful country in the East.

The emperor who is best at accepting advice

When subjects advise or criticize the king, it is called "admonishment". When a king accepts advice or criticism, it is called "receiving advice." The emperor who was best at accepting remonstrances in the history of our country was Tang Taizong Li Shimin. Li Shimin (reigned 627-649) was the second son of Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty. In 626, he launched the "Xuanwu Gate Rebellion", killed the prince Li Jiancheng, forced Li Yuan to abdicate, and became emperor, with the reign name Zhenguan.

When Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty came to the throne, although the Tang Dynasty had been established for ten years, due to the brutal rule of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and the destruction of serious wars, the social economy was in dire straits. However, not long after Tang Taizong ascended the throne, the social economy was restored and developed. A situation emerged where politics was relatively clear, social order was relatively stable, and the country was gradually becoming stronger, making the Zhenguan period a "prosperous age" in China's feudal history. One of the important reasons why Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was able to achieve such great political achievements was that he was good at accepting advice during the early and middle periods of Zhenguan.

Tang Taizong once said. I loved bows and arrows when I was young. Later, I used bows and arrows to rule the world, but I still couldn’t really understand the quality of bows and arrows. What’s more, how could I understand everything in the world? This shows that he has a certain degree of self-awareness and admits that he does not know everything and is omnipotent. Based on this, he clearly realized that if his ministers concealed evil and promoted good to him, blindly obeyed and flattered him, "then the country would be in danger and could be left alone." In order to stabilize his rule, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty warned his subordinates: "If the emperor violates the rules, the ministers must speak out." And he indeed adopted many correct advices.

For example, in 630 (the fourth year of Zhenguan), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty planned to build the Qianyang Hall in Luoyang. Zhang Xuansu said to Zhang Xuansu that before the country had recovered its strength, your fault for doing so was greater than that of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, and you would even receive the same punishment as Jie and Zhou. In response to such sharp words, Tang Taizong not only did not get angry. , and accepted the opinion, ordered the postponement of construction, and rewarded him heavily. Another time, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty wanted to sentence a man to death for forging his qualifications. Dai Zhou, the young minister of Dali Temple, firmly opposed it and believed that he should be sentenced to exile according to law. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was very angry when he was contradicted. Dai Zhou still argued with reason, saying: Laws are the basis for the country to win the trust of the world, and the emperor cannot kill people out of anger. As a result of the argument, Tang Taizong was convinced and praised Dai Zhou for enforcing the law impartially. As for the minister Wei Zheng, who was known for his "outspoken remonstrance", he often argued with Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty to remonstrate with the court. Sometimes his words were fierce, which aroused Emperor Taizong's anger. However, Tang Taizong was able to realize afterwards that Wei Zheng tried his best to admonish him in order to avoid his mistakes. Therefore, he accepted Wei Zheng's criticism and advice more than 200 times, and compared him to a mirror that could correct his own mistakes. When Wei Zheng died of illness, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was very sad and cried bitterly: "Use copper as a mirror, you can straighten your clothes; use ancient times as a mirror, you can know the rise and fall; use people as a mirror, you can know gains and losses. ... Today Wei Zheng died (cu, death) Pass away, then you will die in one mirror!"

Because Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty encouraged remonstrances and was willing to accept them, the courtiers at that time generally spoke out and dared to remonstrate. Minister Pei Ju was originally a favorite of Emperor Sui Yang. Because Emperor Sui Yang brutally refused to remonstrate, he flattered Emperor Sui Yang in every possible way. He also came up with some ideas for Emperor Sui Yang such as an expedition to Goryeo, which was harmful to the country and the people.

But during the Zhenguan period, the same Pei Ju was able to dare to remonstrate and fight. He changed from a sycophantic (Ning Ning) minister in the Sui Dynasty to a pure minister in the Tang Dynasty, and he was completely different from the previous one. The fundamental reason why Pei Ju made such a big change was that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was good at accepting advice.

Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, tried to maintain his ruling interests