Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Taigong Art of War

Zhang Liang obeyed the old man's words and came to Xiapi Bridge in the early morning five days later. That old gentleman must be a wise man! Zhang Liang is so convinced.Seeing through his own attack on the first emperor, in this regard alone, he is already an extraordinary figure. It will definitely be beneficial to meet this old man again—yes, let me ask him for advice! He then came to the agreed place according to the appointed time. Unexpectedly, the old man arrived before him.As soon as the other party saw Zhang Liang, he cursed loudly: "You go back! You are late for the meeting with the elders, what's the matter?"

"I'm really sorry." Zhang Liang knelt down on the spot and bowed his head to apologize. "It's not bad for you to apologize so politely. Well, come back at midnight five days later!" said the old man. The phrase "in the wee hours of the morning" is really vague. Five days later, after the meridian, Zhang Liang came to the agreed place.After the east is white, it is early morning, and it shouldn't be too late to set off at night. Sure enough, there was no one on the side of the bridge. Not long after, the old man walked over slowly.At this time, the eastern sky had just revealed dawn, and the road was still dark, but the old man came with firm steps.

"Hey, you're already here! That's right, very good, very good." The old man seemed to be in a good mood. "I came here to ask Gao Ming for advice." Zhang Liang knelt down again. "Excuse me, excuse me. Let me sit down and talk!" The old man sat down on the bridge. A cock crowed in the distance. The old man looked at his outstretched toes and said, "You said you want to ask Gao Ming for advice, does this mean that you have reflected on your mistakes?" "Reflect on..." "Haven't you enlightened yet? Thinking that killing a person can change the world is a big mistake, haven't you realized it yet? What you have to do is to shake the situation, change the color of the world, and then make that person perish. It is due process, but you are putting the cart before the horse..."

"Thanks to my guidance, I feel that what I have done in the past is futile..." Zhang Liangcheng expressed his feelings frankly. He had no doubts about the old man.Trick him into telling about the assassination of the First Emperor, and then arrest him and hand it over to the authorities—the other party definitely doesn't look like someone who would do such a senseless thing. Zhang Liang had to acknowledge the attack on the First Emperor before he could speak. "Although you haven't reflected on it until now, it's better than not realizing it all the time."

"How can the situation in the world be disturbed?" "The world is so big, it's indescribable... Hey, don't keep kneeling, just sit down with your feet stretched out like me!" "Yes, as ordered." Zhang Liang and the old man leaned together, stretched their feet and sat down. "I just said that the world is so big that it's hard to put into words, right? In order to shake up this vast world, the first thing to do is to recruit talents. Both Lord Mengchang and Lord Yuan are proud of having three thousand diners, but this requires strength. It can be done! This power refers to attractive charm and financial resources... However, recruiting a large number of people without knowing how to employ them will not help. It is a pity that none of the four princes of the Warring States Period knows how to employ people." The old man nodded and said talking.

After Zhang Liang thought for a while, he said, "I don't have the financial resources. Could you ask me how to cultivate the charm to attract others and how to use talents?" "It's up to you to figure it out on your own. All I can do is give you a book about becoming a king's teacher for you to study." The old man said, stretching a hand into his arms. "Historical Records" only narrates this plot in the words of "publishing a book". Books at that time were usually compiled from bamboo slips or wooden slips, so the volume should be extremely large.

It is said that what the old man gave Zhang Liang at this time was "Taigong Art of War".This is a book written by Taigong Wang Lu Shang, the greatest hero in the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, about the teaching of kings, which has been lost now.One said that "Taigong Art of War" consists of three volumes. Books with a large number of words even need to be carried by car, and general books also need to be carried on the back. "Take it out of your arms" is a unique thing. Recently, silk scripts containing "Warring States Policy" and other works were unearthed from the tomb of the Former Han Dynasty in Changsha.At that time, unless there were secret books or secret maps (such as the Dukang map where Mrs. Xu's dagger was hidden when Jing Ke attempted to assassinate the King of Qin), it was very extravagant to use silk cloth as a material for writing.

"Taigong's Art of War" is also a secret book, so it is written on silk and can be placed in the bosom. "Thank you." Zhang Liang accepted it respectfully. "My work is done." The old man stood up and stretched himself. Zhang Liang quickly stood up and sent the old man off respectfully. After walking a few steps, the old man stopped as if thinking of something, and said without turning his head, "You said just now that you have no financial resources and can't use it to your advantage. I think there should be a way to overcome this...you should go to Langye to see Xu Fu. In his hands There are countless amounts of money, all of which were obtained from the First Emperor. If necessary, use this money...you can tell him my name when you see him, and say that the old man Huangshi asked you to find him. I will tell him in advance."

Xu Fu - this name is quite familiar to the Japanese. There are Xu Fu's tombs in Xingu City and Kumano City in Wakayama Prefecture. It is said that Xu Fu's fleet full of virgin boys and girls arrived at the coast of Kumano Beach. This legend was compiled by scholars in the Edo period based on Chinese history books-some people think so. It is a common attitude of modern science not to fully believe in legends, but it seems wrong to blindly deny legends. Take the military book "Sun Tzu" as an example. In the past, some people believed that it was a forgery written by later generations under the guise of Sun Tzu.However, the bamboo slips with almost the same content as we know about "Sun Tzu" were unearthed from an ancient tomb in the early Han Dynasty in Linyi County, Shandong Province.So far, the theory of forgery has been completely overturned.The enlightenment from this incident is: denying all the legends does not seem to be the right thing to do.

The theory that Xu Fudu came to Kumano should not be completely denied. In any case, Xu Fu is not an ordinary person.Under the pretext of looking for immortals and immortal medicines, daring to defraud the first emperor who destroyed the six kingdoms and unified the world to obtain countless wealth, this is definitely not something that mediocre people can do. Can one succeed in defrauding the unparalleled Yingjie with only greed? ——In fact, Xu Fu is also a person who has ideals in his arms, and in order to realize his ideals, he will not hesitate to bet his life. Not a simple person—that's how the world commented on Xu Fu.

Ordinary scammers would never dare to target such terrifying figures as the First Emperor, but mostly target bumpkins and upstarts, because this is safer. Xu Fu, however, targeted the First Emperor—in this regard, he was a man of ambition. "It may be too abrupt to say this to you when we meet for the first time. To be honest, I did this to minimize the power of the emperor! Weakening the power of the emperor will make life easier for the common people, won't it? ? I very much agree with your attempt to shake the world, because it will weaken the power of the emperor!" Xu Fu said this to Zhang Liang when they met for the first time.He didn't deliberately lower his voice, nor did he look around. Old Man Huangshi must have told him about Zhang Liang.Even so, isn't this attitude magnanimous enough? Xu Fu is such a person. A person who is not even afraid of the First Emperor, who else is afraid of? "How much do you want?" Xu Fu asked. "As many as you want, of course, the more the better." Zhang Liang replied. "I don't appreciate this kind of statement. Every time I ask Shi Huangdi for money, I always give the exact amount! For example, two hundred taels of gold, three hundred taels of gold..." "Then please give me three hundred taels!" Zhang Liang said. "Okay, I'll give you three hundred and fifty taels." It is Xu Fu's style to give more than the requested amount, and it is also what makes him different. "I really envy you..." Xu Fu said enviously after giving three hundred and fifty taels of gold. "Where did you say that? It doesn't sound like someone who gave you money!" "I mean age. If I were your age, there would be many things I would like to do...I want you to do things I can't do." "But, don't you want to go to the East China Sea? That's something I can't do!" "Ha! Ha! Ha! God knows if I can do it. It is true that if you go straight to the Eastern Sea, you will come to an island, but who knows if it is really an island of immortals?" Xu Fu's laughter was very hearty. For the big liar who used the emperor to play tricks, why didn't his laughter have even the slightest haze? Elixir of Immortality—Emperor Shi Huang is more and more eager to get it! This means that Emperor Shi Huang's hidden disease - headache - is getting worse. Approving Xu Fu's request and paying him a huge fee was the year before the Bolangsha incident, that is, twenty-eight years ago.Four years later, in the thirty-two year, when the first emperor visited Jieshi Mountain in Yan State, he ordered a man named Lu Sheng to look for the immortal Xianmen Gao. History books only record Xianmen Gao as an "ancient immortal", and the rest are unknown. The word "Xianmen" is a compound surname, and it is said that its name is "Zigao". The reason why one desires to obtain an immortal is to obtain the immortal medicine held by the immortal, or to know the refining method. In the same year, the first emperor also asked Han Zhong, Hou Gong, Shi Sheng and others to look for immortals. Three years passed with no results. Lu Sheng began to feel timid. As mentioned earlier, the laws of Qin State are extremely strict, and the rule of law is adopted.Even if civil engineering fails, the person in charge will be killed!By analogy, if the search for the elixir is not successful, it will be inevitable to be executed. As an alchemist, he couldn't even find the fairy medicine. The first emperor believed that the reason was that he was not professional enough, that is to say, an alchemist should not arrange everything such as medicine, prayer, bamboo divination, and divination. ——Alchemists are not allowed to combine two skills. The first emperor then issued this order. For the fighters, this was a big blow. Those who specialize in prayer have to refuse patients who come to seek medical treatment; those who specialize in divination are also not allowed to engage in prayer work. ——In this way, wouldn’t alchemists lose their jobs? Alchemists all over the country expressed their dissatisfaction.Lu Sheng then said to his friend Hou Sheng in the same industry: "The search for the elixir has no results - when the emperor knows this, we will be beheaded. It seems that we can no longer perfunctory. It is better to escape than to be killed in vain. how?" "Yes, I am also worried about this matter. Let's just run away!" Hou Sheng agreed, and the two fled together. When he heard the news that the two had absconded, Emperor Shi Huang was furious. The year before last, Emperor Shihuang had ordered that all Confucian poems and books other than those collected by doctoral officials be burned.As for books related to alchemy, medicine, divination, agriculture, etc., the people are allowed to own them.Wouldn't it be against the emperor's grace to give special preferential treatment but dare to abscond! "Investigate all scholars in Xianyang, the capital of the country!" Shi Huang ordered angrily. The censor was ordered to investigate scholars.All scholars either blame each other or slander each other. Scholars criticize each other, and the situation is no different from what it is now more than 2,000 years ago.As a result of exposing each other's wounds, more than 460 scholars were reported for violating the law. The first emperor sentenced them all to "pit" (buried alive). This is the so-called "pitting Confucianism". The eldest son, Fusu, came to admonish him and was also exiled to General Meng Tian who stayed in the north. In fact, among the many sons, the first emperor appreciated the eldest son Fusu the most.He intended for this son to inherit the empire.Fusu was exiled to the northern border in order to have him tempered under the guidance of General Meng Tian. The dissatisfaction of alchemists is just the tip of the iceberg. The world seems to be in turmoil... Shi Huang sometimes feels this way.