Chapter 7 Chapter One

Lu Buwei entered the stage of history as a successful businessman. "Historical Records Biography of Lu Buwei" said that he was "Yangdi Dajia", and "Warring States Policy" called him a Puyang native.Yangzhai belonged to the state of Zheng, and Puyang belonged to the state of Wei, both of which were well-known prosperous commercial cities at that time.It is very likely that Lu Buwei was born in a family of merchants in Puyang, and he was a merchant in Yangzhai. , Wei, Qin, Chu and other kingdoms can be regarded as a typical "international businessman".Soon, Lu Buwei became famous far and wide for his outstanding talents and outstanding business skills, becoming a "rich family".

However, the status of merchants at that time was extremely low.The style of their clothes has a special sign of humbleness; no matter how rich a businessman is, he cannot ride in a high-end chariot; whenever people mention businessmen, they will regard them as ignorant, shameless, treacherous and cunning villains, and they will fight with criminals, Household equivalent. At this point, I will expand my writing a little bit and explore the historical origin of China's light business tradition.As a means of circulation, commerce is an indispensable bridge and link between production and consumption. It promotes the economic development of the society and makes people's lives more colorful. It should be respected and encouraged, but why is it always discriminated against and repeated? What about restrictions?I think the reasons are as follows: 1. The feudal society based on the self-sufficient and naturally closed small-scale peasant economy does not need the intermediate link of commerce. Even a small amount of commercial activities are controlled by the feudal bureaucrats, and it is impossible for the people Large-scale commercial economic activities occur; 2. Commerce and merchants only produce value, not use value.When a load of millet is transferred to consumers by merchants, the millet will only be lost in a small amount, and there will never be an extra grain. This makes the ancient people who lived under natural economic conditions have a misunderstanding that business is superfluous, and only the most basic The production sector——agriculture is the foundation of the world; 3. Due to the extremely unbalanced regional economic development, especially during the period of frequent wars, commercial profits are extremely high. Ten times as much.For farmers who have worked hard for many years and are still hungry and naked, not only can they not get psychological balance, but it is also an irresistible temptation. "Using poverty to seek wealth, agriculture is not as good as industry, and industry is not as good as business", so they abandoned agriculture and started business one after another.If things go on like this, there will be fewer and fewer people working hard. Isn't the foundation of society facing the danger of collapse?

4. The increasing development of commerce will inevitably lead to fair competition and personal freedom in all aspects of society, which will gradually awaken the consciousness of humanism, and lead the people to oppose the patriarchal clan system of blood, the bondage of the person and mind, the will of the magistrates in the traditional rule of man, and the feudal hierarchy with strict barriers ... In a word, the freedom and prosperity of commerce will inevitably lead to the disintegration of the old social etiquette and laws, and shake the foundation of feudal rule; Isn't it just such a role to idle around in production, but spend huge sums of money on food and clothing?Therefore, they are naturally regarded as treacherous villains who violate ethics and morality; when the Yin and Shang Dynasties were destroyed in the sixth and third weeks, most of the survivors of the Shang Dynasty were relocated. Turn to business.Over time, "merchant" has become synonymous with businessmen.In the Zhou Dynasty, Yin Shang was a clan that was conquered and ruled. In terms of morality at that time, merchants were a group that should of course be discriminated against.This concept has been running through the Zhou Dynasty for more than 800 years. Over time, "merchant" has become a synonym and symbol of lowliness...

Lu Buwei is young, intelligent and strategic, and he has developed the skills of being calm, maneuvering, and doing things with ease in business. With strong financial backing, he is naturally unwilling to be a lowly businessman all his life.Yes, why is the wealth of a thousand pieces of gold not as expensive as a noble?Are businessmen not human beings?Should they be unknown and discriminated against?Isn't it possible to change the destiny and realize the value of one's own life by managing the world, governing the country, honoring the ancestors, galloping on the battlefield, etc.?It is not difficult to imagine that these thoughts must have been accumulated in the heart of the young and wealthy Lu Buwei for a long time, gnawing at his heart from time to time, urging him to forge ahead.In a society that does not treat people as human beings, we can regard it as the awakening of individual autonomy. What Lu Buwei wants to do is to make himself a real human being, a capitalized human being with personal dignity, freedom and equality!

As a result, the energetic Lu Buwei, while constantly looking for business opportunities, is also tenaciously and keenly looking for good opportunities to change his life and destiny during his business trips.He must have conceived many plans and captured some opportunities, but he has never put them into practice; perhaps the implementation was unsuccessful, and he failed to enter the historian's field of vision and record. By chance, Lu Buwei met a destitute and desolate king and grandson on the streets of Handan, the capital of Zhao State. This man was named Yiren, who was a hostage of Qin State.Suddenly, Lu Buwei had a flash of inspiration, and a wonderful idea came to his mind immediately: If an agreement is reached with Yiren, I will help him return to the country and help him ascend to the throne of the king of Qin, and he will use the position of prime minister as the prime minister. In return, by that time, I will be under one person and above ten thousand people. Haven’t I achieved everything I have been pursuing so hard?

Just this seemingly inadvertent encounter and flash changed the development trend of Qin State and even China's history! Without extraordinary wisdom and extraordinary wealth, this wonderful conspiracy would not have emerged.However, if there was no turmoil of the Seven Kingdoms War, but a monolithic autocratic and centralized country, there would be no possibility of the germination of this conspiracy, and it was the Warring States Period that provided the soil for its success.Of course, this is also an extraordinary adventure. To achieve the goal, you must have a set of interlocking, practical and careful plans, and you must go through a long period of hard work. If you are not careful, your previous efforts may be wasted.As a successful businessman, Lu Buwei has no shortage of strategies, and he is not afraid of taking risks. Doing business itself has a certain gambling nature and takes certain risks.If you succeed in business, you can become rich overnight; if you fail, you may lose all your money and lose your fortune.However, as long as Lu Buwei thinks of the unfair treatment these people received when they came to do business and the white eyes they cast on him, he will not hesitate at all.

Therefore, Lu Buwei immediately put down the business at hand, and hurried back to Yangdi's former residence to discuss with his father Lu Xin.Lu Buwei's property is shared with his father. Without his consent, it is impossible to have enough financial resources to back him up; without his father's participation, his strategy may be stranded and hindered, and he may have to bear the reputation of being unfaithful and unfilial. . The following is a dialogue between Lu's father and son. See the article "Warring States Policy · Qin Policy Five": Lu Buwei "returned and called his father: "How many times the profit of farming?" Said: "Hundred times." How many times have you won?' Said: 'Countless.' Said: 'Now Litian is working hard, and there is no more food to warm clothes; now the country is established and the king is established, and Ze can be born. May the past be the same.'”

It can be seen from this that Lu Buwei is determined to abandon the "jewelry win" without hesitation, and began to implement his "foreigner win". The first step, of course, is to gain the trust of other people, rather than reach a secret deal, which is not difficult to do. The hostages in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were different from today’s hostages who were seized by violent means such as kidnapping and hijacking to achieve certain coercive purposes. Although they were also the result of coercion by force, in form they reached some kind of covenant through negotiation. , due to the declining trust between the vassal states, each other had to use people as hostages to support their credibility.Most of the hostages are princes and sons, and in some cases, ministers are also taken as hostages.

Yiren is the grandson of Lord Zhaoxiang, king of Qin, and his father, An Guojun, has more than twenty sons, and Yiren is only one of the bastard sons.He is not the eldest son, and his biological mother Xia Ji has passed away. Not only does he have no hope of being crowned prince, even if he is ennobled, it is difficult for him to get his turn.The specific time when the foreigner took hostage in Zhao was the twenty-eighth year of King Qin Zhaoxiang (279 BC), while Lu Buwei met the foreigner in 260 BC.In other words, it has been nearly twenty years since the foreigner entered Zhao.In the past 20 years, the Qin State bullied the weak and attacked the Zhao State many times. There was even a tragic tragedy in which Zhao State was killed by 400,000 soldiers in the Changping War.The relationship between the two countries is so bad, it is conceivable that the hostage Yiren's situation in Zhao State is difficult and his livelihood is difficult.According to our speculation, Zhao Guo may have threatened to kill the hostages, but Qin Guo didn't take strangers seriously at all, and Zhao Guo still had certain illusions about Qin Guo, so he was merciful and spared him. Life.Over the past twenty years, Yiren has been floating in this kind of danger and cracks, from an ignorant boy to a young man in his thirties in the blink of an eye.Now he has no women around him, no gold or silver in his pocket, and the people of Zhao regard him as an enemy from Qin and despise and insult him.Yiren is getting older, but life is getting harder and harder.

At this difficult and embarrassing moment, Lu Buwei suddenly appeared in front of another person, which was tantamount to a savior in his life. The stranger had heard of Lu Buwei's name long ago, and also knew that he was very rich.However, in his heart, although he is poor and down and out, he has a noble blood after all, so he behaves quite arrogantly and even a bit disrespectful towards Lu Buwei, who is still a businessman from a humble background.Lu Buwei naturally knew it well, and didn't care too much about him, so he said straight to the point: "I have the ability to expand your family." The stranger smiled mockingly when he heard this: "Do you know who I am? With your appearance as a businessman, you still want to expand my family? I said, sir, you should first expand your own family before you talk about it!" Lu Buwei said calmly: "My family, but I have to rely on the son to make it bigger. "The stranger shook his head and said: "In my current situation, I can't make your family bigger." Lu Buwei said seriously: "First make your family bigger, and then you will make mine bigger. It's not a matter of course. What!" Thinking about it, the stranger felt that his words made sense, so he replied: "Well, I would like to hear, what kind of ability do you have to make my family famous?"

Facing the stranger who listened attentively, Lu Buwei couldn't help talking eloquently. He said: "You must know that the current prince of Qin State—oh, that is, your father—his most favored concubine is Mrs. Huayang. Mrs. Huayang has been Did not conceive and have children, and your mother Xia Ji is long gone. If you worship Mrs. Huayang's aunt, Master Huayang accepts you as a son, you have a mother from no mother, and Mrs. Huayang has a son from childlessness, isn't it? Is it a good thing to have the best of both worlds? Today, your grandfather King Zhaoxiang has been on the throne for more than 50 years, and he is already old and weak. It is only a matter of time before your father An Guojun ascends the throne. Heir—that is, you as the prince. From the prince to the king, this is the tradition and rules that Qin has adhered to for hundreds of years!" When the stranger heard this, he suddenly became enlightened, and was fascinated: "Is there anything more beautiful and better in the world than returning to my hometown, becoming a prince, and ascending the throne? Isn't this what I have dreamed of all my life? Mr. Lu, As long as I can achieve my goal, I will willingly obey Mr. Yi's arrangement." Lu Buwei said: "Scholars die for their confidantes, and women are for those who please them. Buwei can win the trust of the young master, so he should not be shy, give all he has, and do his best, thinking that the young master is running around. It's not too late, we have to act now. Yes. Starting tomorrow, I will buy all the rare treasures in the world, and immediately leave for Xianyang. Using the old friends I made during my business in Qin State, I will try my best to lobby An Guojun and Mrs. Huayang to make the son his heir. From now on, my lord, you should not be depressed and go to teahouses every day to pass the time. You should cheer up and make friends with guests from Handan, envoys from various countries, and famous people, so as to increase your knowledge and spread your reputation. As for the resources you need, I will offer you first. Five hundred gold for expenses." Yiren immediately said gratefully: "Mr. has done his best and helped so generously. If he can ascend the throne in the future, I will order you to be my prime minister and share the Qin Kingdom with Mr. The world is clear, and the sun and the moon can learn from each other. I will never break my promise to Yiren." !" Lu Buwei's departure went smoothly, which was expected and reasonable.