Chapter 8 8. Far-distance and close-attack, Fan Ju formulates a diplomatic strategy

At the end of the Warring States period, the seven heroes fought for hegemony, and the princes divided one side.Due to Shang Yang's reform, Qin's power developed the fastest.At the time of King Qin Zhao, Qin began to plot to annex the six countries and dominate the Central Plains.At this time, it can be said that a hero emerges from troubled times. Fan Ju, a famous politician and military strategist, makes his debut at this time. Fan Ju, also known as Fan Qi, styled Shu, was a native of Wei during the Warring States period.Fan Ju once served as the prime minister of Qin State, and played a major role in Qin's strength and unification of the world.Li Si's evaluation of him is: "King Zhao won Fanju, strengthened the public house, vained the private family, nibbled at the princes, and made Qin an emperor."

How did Fan Ju help King Qin Zhaoxiang cannibalize the princes and achieve a great imperial career?It is difficult for us modern people to know the whole picture of the specific details, let alone describe them one by one like Shu Jiazhen.But the most important thing about it is that it helped the king of Qin formulate a strategy for long-distance friendship and short-term attack.What is long distance and close attack?To put it bluntly, it is to contact distant countries and attack neighboring countries.This was a diplomatic strategy adopted by Qin during the Warring States period. Of course, for Fan Ju, there were some twists and turns in persuading King Qin Zhao to implement this strategy.

The ancients said that heroes have suffered a lot since ancient times.The same is true for Fan Ju. For a while, Fan Ju was always frustrated.For example, at first Fan Ju wanted to make contributions to the state of Wei, but he couldn't see the king of Wei because of his poor family.In order to show off his talent, Fan Ju joined Xu Jia, a Chinese doctor, as a retainer.King Wei Zhao asked Xu Jia to go to Qi State, and Fan Ju went with him.During this mission, Fan Ju won the respect of King Qi by virtue of his eloquence.Unexpectedly, after refusing King Qi's persuasion to return to Wei State, Xu Jia, a Chinese doctor, falsely accused Fan Ju of accepting bribes and betraying intelligence to Xiangguo Wei Qi.

Fan Ju didn't know why Xu Jia would do this.But if he hadn't used a lot of money to bribe Xiangguo Wei Qi's subordinates, he would have died under Wei Qi's torture. Half a year later, King Qin Zhao sent his envoy Wang Ji to visit Wei.Fan Ju's good friend Zheng Anping asked Fan Ju, whose pseudonym was Zhang Lu, to meet Wang Ji.After some conversation, Wang Ji discovered that Fan Ju was a rare talent, and brought him and Zheng Anping back to Qin.It was hard work, because at that time the state of Qin was controlled by the Queen Mother Xuan, the birth mother of King Zhao, and Ranghou, his uncle.Therefore, although Fan Ju arrived in Qin State, he still could not be summoned by King Zhao.

King Qin Zhao summoned Fan Ju after Fan Ju stayed in the guest house for more than a year.Before that, Fan Ju wrote a letter to King Qin Zhao, saying that he had something extremely important to tell. King Qin Zhao didn't know what important words Fan Ju had to say, but his summoning to Fan Ju was of great significance. That day, Fan Ju saw King Qin Zhao coming in a car.He neither greets nor evades, but walks his own way. Seeing this, King Qin Zhao's subordinates told him to avoid it, saying, "The king is here!" Fan Ju replied: "Now Qin has only the Queen Mother and Ranghou. Where is there any great king?"

After hearing this, King Qin Zhao hurriedly got out of the car, and respectfully invited Fan Ju into the car, because this sentence just hit King Qin Zhao's heart. The car moved forward all the way, heading straight for Li Palace. In the Li Palace, King Qin Zhao received Fan Ju with formal guest-host etiquette, even though Fan Ju was modest again and again. Afterwards, the clever King Qin Zhao dispatched all the people on the left and right, but to Fan Ju's surprise, when there were only the two of them left in the palace, King Qin Zhao actually knelt down and begged, "Excuse me, how can you teach me, sir?"

Fan Ju was deeply moved, and said "ahhh" twice. King Qin Zhao didn't know why, so he asked again, and Fan Ju still said "ahhh" twice.Just like this three times in a row. "Aren't you willing to teach me, sir?" King Qin Zhao asked again. "When Lu Shang and King Wen met, he was just a fisherman fishing in the Weihe River. At that time, they were strangers. After that, Lu Shang and King Wen went back in the same car, because they talked deeply. Now, I I am still relatively unfamiliar with the king, and I don’t know what the king’s mind is. Besides, the king is afraid of the majesty of the queen mother, and is confused by the hypocrisy of the ministers. If I talk about it in a big way, the country will suffer disaster; I am isolated and in danger. So the king asked me three times, but I have nothing to answer."

After listening to Fan Ju's words, King Qin Zhao knelt down and said: "Qin is a remote country, and I am a person without talent. It is God's will that Mr. Qin can come to Qin. And I can accept Mr. Teach me, this is also God wants you to help me and not abandon me. Therefore, if you have anything to say, just say it, and don't have any doubts about me." Fan Ju then said to King Qin Zhao with a heartfelt heart: "Qin has Ganquan and Gukou in the north, Jingshui and Weishui in the south, Longshan and Shudi in the southwest, and Hangu Pass and Xiaoshan in the east. A country can have such a good natural barrier. Qin has thousands of chariots and millions of elite soldiers. Judging from the military strength of Qin, no country has so many chariots and such brave soldiers. From the perspective of the people of Qin , there is no country where people abide by the law like you. From the point of view of commanding ability, besides Qin, which other country has the ability to command the princes and unify the world? But although Qin has the idea and ability to unify the world, but these days There hasn’t been much progress in the past ten years, but now Hangu has been locked and closed. This is Qin’s Ranghou Wei Ran’s poor planning for Qin, which led to the king’s decision-making error!”

King Qin Zhao asked: "I'm going to raise troops to attack Qi, and I want to hear your clever plan." Fan Ju said: "It is a very wrong approach for the king to send troops to attack Qi. It is a very wrong approach. Think about it, Qi is so far away from Qin, and South Korea and Wei are separated in the middle. Now we are going to attack Qi. If you send less troops, you may be defeated by Qi State; if you send more troops, you are afraid of domestic chaos. Even if you can defeat Qi State, if you cannot connect Qi State with Qin State, it will be impossible to manage. Therefore, it is better to adopt distant diplomatic relations. The strategy of close attack. In this way, an inch of land is the king's land, and a foot of land is the king's foot of land.

"What is long-distance and close-attack? The purpose of 'distance-distance' is actually a diplomatic deception to avoid making too many enemies. The purpose of 'close-up' is to annex the land of other countries. Close-up, because the At the same time, the conflict of interests will be relatively large, and the attack on neighboring countries can receive the effect of "the inch is the king's inch, and the ruler is the king's foot". Therefore, the strategy of the past and present has always been determined on the long-distance and short-term attack. For example , The land of Zhongshan State has a radius of five hundred miles, and the neighboring State of Zhao annexed it. Zhao State not only gained financial benefits, but also established a strong reputation for itself.

"As for how to adopt the strategy of making long-distance diplomatic relations and close-range attacks, it depends on the situation we are facing. The current situation facing Qin is: Han and Wei are located in the center of the vassal states and are the hubs of the world. If your king wants to achieve some hegemony, It is necessary to occupy Han and Wei first, and then use it as the hub of the world, and then threaten Chu and Zhao. If Zhao is strong, then Chu will be attached to Qin; on the contrary, if Chu is strong, then, The state of Zhao will be attached to the state of Qin. If Chu and Zhao both come to attach to Qin, then the state of Qi will definitely panic, and the state of Qi will definitely humble its words and increase its financial gifts to serve the state of Qin. Therefore, now, it is best The best way is to make friends with Qi and Chu on the one hand, and attack South Korea and Wei on the other. Since the countries far away from us have friendship with us, they will not interfere in matters that have nothing to do with them. If the country is defeated, it will be able to expand Qin's territory and expand Qin's territory. When we merge South Korea and Wei, can Qi and Chu still survive?" After hearing this, King Qin Zhao appreciated it very much. He said happily: "If Qin State can really annex the six countries and unify the Central Plains, it all depends on the master's strategy!" When he went to court the next day, King Qin Zhao worshiped Fan Ju as a guest minister and ordered the withdrawal of the troops that attacked Qi. In order to prevent Qi from forming an alliance with Han and Wei, King Qin Zhao sent envoys to take the initiative to form an alliance with Qi. Afterwards, King Zhao of Qin continued to adhere to the policy of "communicating far away and attacking near", making far distances to Qi and Chu, and in the thirty-ninth year of King Zhao (268 BC), he sent troops to attack Wei and capture Huai (now southwest of Wuzhi, Henan).Two years later, King Zhao sent troops to capture Xingqiu (now east of Wen County, Henan).In the forty-second year of King Zhao (265 BC), King Zhao began to send troops to attack South Korea. He first captured Xingyang, which was located at the throat of South Korea, and cut Han into three pieces. As a result, Han was in danger and had to obey Qin. It is a strategy from near to far like a silkworm eating mulberry leaves.Fan Ju used it to adjust Qin's diplomatic strategy; it was because King Zhao adopted it that Qin became stronger. In the end, Qin Shihuang used strategies such as "distance from far and near to attack" to make far away Qi and Chu, attack Han and Wei, and then advance from the two wings, break through Zhao and Yan, and unify the north; break Chu and pacify the south; finally captured Qi, thus realizing The desire to unify the Central Plains, completed the hegemony of the world, and established the first unified, multi-ethnic, authoritarian centralized state in Chinese history-the Qin Empire.