Chapter 7 King Yanzhao's daughter buys horse bones

Le Yi's ancestor was Le Yang, a famous general during Wei Wenhou's period. According to the records of "Historical Records", Leyang was ordered to attack Zhongshan. After the incident was completed, he was granted Zhongshan Lingshou by Wei Wenhou and settled in Zhongshan ever since.Later, Zhongshan was restored to the state, and it was annexed by the state of Zhao in the period of King Zhao Wuling. The descendants of Leyang lived in Lingshou and became subjects of the state of Zhao. Le Yi was intelligent since he was a child, and loved reading military books.After Zhao Guo annexed Zhongshan, Le Yi was recommended by the villagers and served in the Zhao Guojun. He was appreciated by King Zhao Wuling and was cited as a confidant.In 295 B.C., the sand dunes occurred in the state of Zhao. King Wuling of Zhao was trapped and starved to death.

It was in the state of Wei that Le Yi heard the story about King Yan Zhao recruiting talents. It turns out that King Yan Zhao has taken revenge on Qi State as his primary goal since he came to the throne, "It's not too late to forget to report to Qi State."However, compared with Qi State, Yan State is small, the second is remote, and the third is backward. The gap is very obvious.In order to make the country of Yan stronger quickly, King Yan Zhao put talent strategy in the first place, put down the airs of the princes, opened up doors, respected the corporals, and recruited talents from all over the world.

At that time, there was an old minister in Yan State named Guo Wei (wei).Someone reminded King Yanzhao that Guo Wei had brains. If you want to recruit real talents, you might as well listen to Guo Wei's opinion.King Yan Zhao went to visit Guo Wei and asked him humbly. King Yan Zhao said: "Qi State took advantage of the turmoil in Yan State and launched a surprise attack, which almost destroyed Yan State. We must avenge this revenge. I hope that all capable people in the world will come to Yan State to help us achieve this goal. what to do?" Guo Kui said, "Have you heard the story of a thousand pieces of gold buying bones?"

King Yan Zhao shook his head. Guo Kai said that there was a king in ancient times who wanted to buy a thousand-mile horse with a lot of money, but he couldn't buy it after three years.A servant in the palace took the initiative to invite Ying, and went out with a thousand pieces of gold to find a horse.Three months later, a horse was found, but it was dead.The servant bought the dead horse for five hundred gold and returned to the king.When the king saw it, he was furious and scolded: "What I want is a live horse. What's the use of a dead horse? Besides, do a pair of horse bones cost five hundred gold?"

The servant said, "No need. They wanted to sell it to me for fifty gold, but I struggled to get it to five hundred." "Ah! Why don't you talk about two hundred and five?" The king jumped up angrily. "Think about it, if you are willing to spend five hundred gold to buy a pair of horse bones, this story will soon spread all over the world. Everyone in the world knows your sincerity in buying horses, so why worry about not being able to buy a thousand-mile horse?" The servant spoke very calmly. His tone dispelled the king's anger. Sure enough, since then, there has been an endless stream of people sending horses home.In less than a year, the king bought three real horses.

When Guo Wei said this, he stood up and bowed to King Yan Zhao, saying: "If your majesty really wants to recruit talented people, please start with my old bone, Guo Wei!" King Yan Zhao then built a very luxurious house in Jicheng and let Guo Wei live in it.Moreover, he respected him as a teacher, invited him to sit on various public occasions, brought his officials to condolences every now and then, brought him tea and water, and asked him how he was.This old boy Guo Kui was already on the verge of death, but after being tossed like this, he couldn't help crying, showing a look of death.

Everyone who saw it was thinking, the king is so kind to this half-dead Guo Wei, that is really respecting talents, this is not a joke. After the incident got out, it had a remarkable effect. Scholars and students who came to Yan from all over the country to find a future were like crucian carp crossing the river.After Anyi in the Wei Wenhou period and Linzi in the Qi Xuanwang period, Jicheng became the third talent gathering center in the Warring States Period.Among these scholars and students are Zou Yan, a representative of Yin-Yang School from Qi State, and Ju Xin, a well-known Legalist scholar from Zhao State.And after Le Yi heard the story of King Yanzhao's courtesy to Guo Wei, he also had the idea of ​​going to the Kingdom of Yan to take a look.

It happened that King Wei Zhao was going to send an envoy to the country of Yan. Le Yi seized this opportunity and set off from Daliang. King Yan Zhao had heard of Le Yi's name a long time ago, so he did not regard him as a messenger, but received him as a reception for princes.Seeing the posture, Le Yi stepped back quickly, not daring to accept it, but King Yan Zhao couldn't help persuading him again and again, and then reluctantly sat in the position of the guest of honor. After the two talked for an afternoon, Le Yi decided that a good bird chooses a tree to live in, and a good minister chooses a master to serve. Although the King Yanzhao in front of him is not a powerful monarch, he is definitely worthy of his dedication to serve.So Le Yi stayed in Yan State and served as King Yan Zhao's Yaqing.

With the assistance of Guo Kui, Ju Xin, Le Yi and others, King Yanzhao worked hard and shared joys and sorrows with the people. After more than 20 years of hard work, Yan finally became prosperous and strong.During this period, Yan State also actively expanded its power to the northeast and expanded its living space.Under the leadership of general Qin Kai, the Yan army took the initiative to defeat the Donghu tribe in one fell swoop and opened up thousands of miles of land. There, five counties of Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi, and Liaodong were established. It should be said that by 284 BC, the State of Yan had already made all preparations for revenge against the State of Qi.Domestic soldiers are strong and horses are strong, and soldiers are eager to fight; foreign countries have formed a united front against Qi, and Qin, Zhao and other countries are in harmony; in addition, Su Qin has been lurking in Qi for many years, sending Qi's military, political and diplomatic information to Jicheng continuously, and the Yan army and the Qi army The trend is already well known.

In the spring of this year, Su Qin wrote in a secret report to King Yanzhao: "The state of Qi has been attacking Chu in the south, besieging Qin in the west, and resorting to military force. The savings have been exhausted, the people are haggard, and the soldiers are exhausted. Now we are using the power of the whole country Conquering the State of Song and attempting to subdue the twelve vassals of Sishang in vain. This is just that the King of Qi is overthinking himself. Qi State is already exhausted. If we don’t take it now, when will we wait?”