Chapter 27 Su Qin, the champion of lobbyists in the Warring States period

Su Qin was a native of Luoyang in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He was considered a famous debater, and his birth and death dates are unknown.On the stage of history at the beginning of the third century BC, he had an extremely important position.Throughout his life, he carried out frequent diplomatic activities for the strength of Yan, and at the same time greatly influenced the political decisions of Qi, Zhao, Wei and other countries, making preparations for Yan's attack on Qi.He took the theories of various schools of thought and integrated them, lobbied the princes and monarchs, and paid attention to maneuvers and contingency changes. He was promoted as a representative of the strategists after Zhang Yi.

Su Qin was an ordinary scholar at first.As a scholar, Su Qin went to the world to seek enlightenment when he had a little success in his studies. However, in the face of the harsh social reality, he worked hard for several years but returned home in great difficulty.When Su Qin returned home, he was even more broken. His father did not regard him as a son, his wife did not regard him as a husband, and his sister-in-law did not regard him as an uncle.So he stayed out of the room, turned out all the previous books, and read them again. He sighed and said, "my husband has already bowed his head to accept the books, and he can't take honor from them. Even though there are many books, he thinks it!" Later, he got a book. This book called "Yin Talisman" discusses conspiracy theories, which was greatly inspired.A year later, he went west to Qin, and wanted to lobby Qin with the art of Lianheng, but just happened to be punished by Shang Yang, and the king of Qin didn't like lobbyists; so he turned to Zhao and sold his art of combining verticals to Zhao Guoxiang. Still being ridiculed by others; he went north to the Yan Kingdom, on the edge of Yishui, his friends almost abandoned him, after a year of hardship, he finally came to the country, persuaded the King of Yan, and then went south to persuade the other five kingdoms with the help of the King of Yan , united vertically to resist the strong Qin, and was able to admire the seal of the six countries.A few years later, he went to the state of Qi again.

At that time, Qi State and Qin State were the two major powers in the east and Qin State, and the strong Qin State continued to send troops to interfere with other weak countries, which made them very uncomfortable.In order to prevent the Qin people from interfering at all, Su Qin came up with an extremely strange and brilliant idea: If we can attack Qin with the main forces of Qi, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Yan, Qin is not yet a single pole. It is the ability of Qi Qin and others), who are bound to be oppressed so that they cannot hold their heads up.Taking advantage of the depression of Qin State, when the Five Kingdoms and the Qin people fought, Qi State launched a large-scale army to destroy Song Dynasty for the second time, and it could succeed in one go.

This great idea can be said to be the biggest conspiracy in the Warring States Period (this is called "driving wolves through tigers". When wolves and tigers bite each other into a ball, Qi can expand around it arbitrarily).When Su Qin told King Qi Ming about this big conspiracy, both of them trembled with excitement.Who can realize this great conspiracy for King Qi Ming and prompt the Five Kingdoms to attack Qin?Of course, only Comrade Su Qin, the greatest diplomat and strategist in the Warring States Period.So Su Qin was ordered to start his tongue-in-cheek diplomatic journey across the five countries.

Confucian seats are not warm, and Motu is not Guizhou. These two words describe the blind flow in ancient times, and it is also suitable to describe Su Qin.When Confucius traveled around the world, he settled in one place. Before the mat was warm, he rolled it up and left (Confucius mat was not warm).Mozi went out to do business every day, and he didn't light a fire to cook at home, and he didn't come back to eat, so there was no black smoke in the chimney (Mo Tu was not Qian). Su Qin traveled all over the country, he "worked all over the officials of the three Jin Dynasties", and made powerful statements with Wei Guoquanjun Meng Changjun (Xiangguo), Zhao Guopower minister Li Dui (Xiangguo), Han Xuwei (Zhao Jiang) and others.Relying on his keen insight, transcendent imagination, excellent strategy and wit, Su Qin went through a series of diplomacy, and finally made Li Dui, Meng Changjun and others declare the severance of diplomatic relations with Qin and agreed to send troops to attack Qin.South Korea is the weakest country, only Zhao and Wei follow the lead, dare not have their own ideas, and send troops to help.Of course, the Yan people listened to Su Qin more, wiped away their tears, and once again used 20,000 troops to pack food and help the war at their own expense.The armies of the five kingdoms gathered in the Chenggao area of ​​Henan in the Central Plains, ready to attack Qin. "Chenggao" is the Xingyang area north of Luoyang, located at the exit of the "Western Henan Corridor".

In 287 BC, the armies of the five countries marched to the Chenggao area, guarding the entrance of the corridor, as if heading westward.At the other end of the corridor——the Qin people in Hangu Pass began to have cramps in their calves and were forced to give in. Not only did they dare not interfere with the Qi people to destroy the Song Dynasty, but they also "broke money to avoid disaster" with a bitter face.Wen (Wen County, Henan Province), Zhi (Jiyuan District, Henan Province), and Gaoping (Jiyuan District), which were previously occupied, were returned to Wei State, and at the same time, the two places occupied by Zhao State were returned to Zhao State.Qin State suffered a setback of some sort.Su Qin is also famous because of this-not only the Yan State has given Su Qin the title of "Shangqing", the title of "Wu'an Jun", and the status of the prime minister, but also Qi and Zhao also named Su Qin as Wu'an Lord, the title of Shangqing, Because he successfully contributed to the joint attack of Qin by the five countries.This is the story of "Su Qin holds the seals of the six kingdoms" rumored by later generations. In fact, there are at most two seals (of Yan and Qi), plus three titles of Lord Wu'an.The so-called "Wu'an Lord" is a kind of feudal monarch, which means "to appease the world with force" (later Bai Qi was also named "Wu'an Lord").

One can imagine the difficulty of lobbying the Five Kingdoms to defeat Qin, who would dare to easily get into a stalemate with the covetous Qin!So Su Qin used a metaphor to say that when the Yellow Emperor fought Chi You, the Yellow Emperor's neighbor Xi Rong refused to help the Yellow Emperor, because Xi Rong refused to quarrel with Chi You.It can be seen that if I persuade the families of the three Jins to attack Qin, it will be difficult for the Yellow Emperor.The pride is beyond words.The reason why Su Qin did such a difficult thing is because his proposition conformed to the general trend of the world at that time.At that time, the world in China was a situation where the two extreme powers of the East and the West faced each other——Qi and Qin were evenly matched and fought each other.Sandwiched between Qi and Qin is a series of weak countries.If the two powers of Qi and Qin fight each other, it will be a relatively safe international environment for the princes and states caught in the middle.Therefore, the confrontation between Qi and Qin was the common voice of the weak countries in the world at that time.People at that time said: "If Qi and Qin are not in harmony, the world will have no worries."

Therefore, the middle vassal states in the Warring States Period were happy to see Qi and Qin confront each other, the so-called "friendship away from Qi and Qin".Su Qin asked them to jointly attack Qin, which was in line with their desire to "leave the friendship between Qi and Qin", which was beneficial to their own survival and even growth.This is of course more comfortable than "Qi and Qin Xunshan in pursuit of the Three Jins".So Su Qin lobbied for the cause of the Jin Dynasty, which seemed to be light.It has to be said that Su Qin was familiar with the general trend of the world, and chose the right idea to act in the interests of the three Jins, so he got twice the result with half the effort, and successfully promoted the trend of the Five Kingdoms attacking Qin.