Chapter 16 8. Retain talents, Li Si's "Book of Remonstrance and Chasing Customers"

In the third year of King Zhuangxiang of Qin (246 BC), King Zhuangxiang died, and Yingzheng ascended the throne as King Qin.Because Yingzheng was young when he came to the throne, all the military and political power was controlled by the prime minister and second father Lu Buwei.At this time, although Qin was already very powerful, the situation was still tense.In order to make the Qin State stronger, the young Yingzheng recruited wise men, and many talents from all over the world came to join the Qin State one after another. Li Si was one of the most representative figures. Li Si was born in the last years of the Warring States Period. He was a native of Shangcai (now southwest of Shangcai County, Henan Province) in Chu State. When he was young, he was a small official in charge of documents.Once, he saw mice in the warehouse stealing food freely, and no one took care of them, so he said with emotion: "If a person wants to make a difference in society, he should be like a mouse stealing food in the granary." You can do whatever you want and enjoy yourself to the fullest. Different status means different privileges in life.” It can be seen from this that in the Warring States period when everyone was chasing fame and fortune, Li Si was unwilling to be lonely and wanted to do something. An earth-shattering feat came.In order to achieve the goal of prosperity, Li Si resigned his official position, went to Qi State to study, and worshiped Xunzi as his teacher.After Li Si finished his studies, he thought over and over again, where should he go to show his talents and get riches and honors?After analyzing and comparing the situations of various countries, he believed that the king of Chu had nothing to do, and other countries were going downhill, so he finally decided to go to Qin to develop.

After Li Si arrived in Qin State, he was appreciated by Qin Prime Minister Lu Buwei.Lu Buwei recommended him to be a small official of the Qin State, and he had the opportunity to get close to the King of Qin. Once Li Si seized the opportunity to write a letter to the King of Qin, saying: "Anyone who can make a career must seize the opportunity. Although Qin Mugong was very strong in the past, he did not achieve the feat of unification. The reason is that the time is not ripe. Since Qin Since Duke Xiao, the power of Zhou Tianzi has gradually declined, and the vassal states have been fighting for years, and the Qin State has taken the opportunity to become stronger. Now the Qin State is powerful because of a virtuous person like the king. The king's destruction of the six kingdoms is like sweeping the dust on the stove. Easy, now is the best time to complete the empire and unify the world, so don't miss it."

Li Si's views were recognized by the king of Qin, who promoted him to be a chief official.Li Si persuaded the King of Qin to send people to various countries to buy and bribe officials with exotic treasures, and to drive apart the monarchs and ministers of the six countries, all of which achieved results.Soon, he was named Shangqing again. Later, the king of Qin made up his mind to unify the six countries. The weak country South Korea was the closest to Qin. Because he was afraid of being destroyed by Qin, he specially sent Zheng Guo, a water engineer, to Qin to encourage the construction of water canals, with the purpose of weakening Qin's manpower and material resources. , Contain Qin's eastward advance.But soon Zheng Guo's purpose of building the canal was exposed, and at this time, other countries also sent spies to Qin as guests.The officials in the court had a lot of discussions about the foreign guests, and they all went to the king of Qin and said: "People from various countries come to Qin, most of them are for the benefit of their own country. Please also ask your majesty to order these people to be deported."

After thinking about it, King Qin thought it was right. Considering the seriousness of the situation, King Qin immediately issued the "Exit Order". At this time, Li Si, who was in Shangqing, was also on the list of being expelled. When Li Si heard the news, he was very anxious, thinking that once the "exit order" was executed, all his troubles would be in vain.Li Si then wanted to unite all the guests and write a letter to the King of Qin, asking the King of Qin to give up the "exit order".However, after going to the residences of other guests to inquire about the news, he learned that some of them had given up on developing in Qin State long ago, and persuaded Li Si: "Once the 'Expelling Guest Order' is issued, not only will there be no opportunities for development in Qin State, but it will also lead to problems. It's a fatal disaster, you should leave earlier."

People do certain things out of self-interest, and it is normal for guests to make such decisions when they smell the smell of self-interest. But Li Si did not give up. He decided to write to the King of Qin again, trying to reverse the situation and let the King of Qin cancel the issuance of the "Order of Expelling Guests".After thinking about it again, he felt that his idea was ridiculous. With his own strength, let alone turning the situation around, even the chance of meeting King Qin was very slim. The "Order of Expelling Guests" was finally issued, and notices of the "Order of Expelling Guests" were pasted on the walls of every city gate in Qin State. The notice said: "For three days, all foreign guests must leave Qin State. The reason is that I will kill you without mercy!"

The guests began to leave the Qin State in twos and threes. The officials guarding the city at the gate of the city checked very carefully. A person who is good at describing the characteristics of characters, describing the guests who go out one by one, only needs to draw a portrait of each guest. Li Si wandered around the street, seeing officers and soldiers with weapons and guest ministers carrying burdens all over the street, he felt a little uncomfortable.He was afraid of being found and interrogated by officers and soldiers, so he returned to his residence. Is it true that my wish has become a fantasy?Is there really no place for me in Qin?Li Si sighed with emotion.In order to vent his irritability, he threw all the things in the room.

After venting, Li Si also calmed down, but felt that the actions just now were a little childish and ridiculous.There are two roads before us, one is to leave Qin and find another way out; the other is to admonish the King of Qin and ask him to cancel the "exit order". He believes that the first one is not feasible. Looking at the current national situation of the countries, Qin is very likely to annex the other six countries. In this way, defecting to other countries is actually seeking death. But the second thing is not easy to do, it is very difficult to see the King of Qin, not to mention that I am going to see the King of Qin as a deported guest, even if I have the determination to persuade the King of Qin.

After thinking hard all day and night, Li Si finally thought of a solution.The next day, he took out all the jewels that King Qin bestowed on him when he became minister, and said to himself, "For the time being, I will give you up to others." He took the jewels to a very powerful minister in the court and begged him to help him meet the King of Qin.The minister couldn't resist the temptation of jewelry, so he agreed. In the afternoon of the same day, the minister handed over Li Si's book of remonstrance "Book of Remonstrance and Expelling Guests" to King Qin. The King of Qin summoned Li Si and asked Li Si, "Can you tell me your opinion in detail?"

Li Si said: "I heard that all the ministers are talking about expelling guests. I think this is extremely wrong." "What's wrong?" King Qin asked. Li Si said: "Once upon a time, Duke Mu of Qin sought talents. He invited Yuyu from Rong in the west, Baili Xi from Chu in the east, Uncle Jian from Song, and Pibao and Gongsunzhi from Jin. Duke Mu of Qin Appointed these five people, merged twenty countries, and dominated Xirong; Qin Xiaogong reused commercial martingale, implemented new laws, changed customs, made the country rich and strong, defeated Chu and Wei, expanded thousands of miles, and made Qin strong; Qin Huiwang used Zhang Yi's strategy, Dismantled the six kingdoms to fight against Qin, and forced all countries to obey Qin; Qin Zhaowang got Fanju, weakened the power of nobles, strengthened the royal power, eroded the princes, and Qin became the emperor. These four generations of kings are all due to the appointment of guest officials, they are right The state of Qin has made great contributions. What can the guest do to the state of Qin? If these four kings also order to expel the guests, it will only make the country lack the wealth and wealth, and the state of Qin will not have the powerful name it is today."

Seeing that the King of Qin didn't speak, Li Si said again: "None of King Qin's pearls and precious jades are produced in Qin, and the beauties, horses, and treasures are all from eastern countries. If you only want things that are owned by Qin, then there are many good things. There is no more. Why these things are available, but Ke Qing has to chase them away. It seems that the king only values ​​​​some things, but he can’t reuse talents. The result is to strengthen the power of other countries, which is not conducive to the great cause of Qin’s unification.” Li Si's words came to the fore, and King Qin began to regret issuing the "Exit Order". He said: "What you said makes sense, thinking about it this way, I really did something wrong."

Li Si said: "It's not unreasonable for your majesty to do this. The 'exit order' can be regarded as a warning to those fake guests sent by foreign countries, so that they will not have any ideas of alienating Qin." King Qin nodded, motioning for Li Si to continue. Li Si said: "Your Majesty is now withdrawing the 'Exit Order'. Those fake guests will definitely not dare to come to Qin again, and the sages who are sincerely loyal to Qin will definitely return positively." The king of Qin said: "Sir, if you think about it this way, I really think so. It is imperative to cancel the 'exit order'." The King of Qin was able to distinguish right from wrong, decisively adopted Li Si's suggestion, and immediately canceled the "exit order".Li Si was still reused and was named Tingwei. Li Si's letter was not only sincere, but also reflected the history and current situation of Qin State, and represented the opinions of people of insight at that time.Therefore, his "Book of Remonstrance and Chasing Guests" has become a historical masterpiece.From an objective point of view, Li Si is a selfish person, but his self-interest is based on the combination of profit-making and Daqin. From this point of view, Li Si's actions are not entirely worthless.