Chapter 46 The Source of Despotism: Han Fei's Discussion on Law, Technique, and Power

In 234 BC, when the Qin army captured Yanmen and Yunzhong, one day Yingzheng called Li Si into the palace, pointed to a thick stack of bamboo slips on the desk and said, "Have you read these articles?" Li Si opened it and saw that the title of one of the volumes was "Solitary Anger"; another volume was titled "Five Beetles"; another volume was titled "Say Difficulty".He hastily scanned the bamboo slips, and said to Ying Zheng, "I have read these articles, and they were written by my fellow apprentice, Han Fei." Ying Zheng sighed deeply: "If I can get to know this person, my life will not be in vain!"

Li Si said: "Your Majesty wants to see Han Fei? That's his honor. The servants will immediately write a letter of credence, and your Majesty will stamp it, and ask the King of Han to send him to Xianyang." Ying Zheng said, "I'm afraid King Han will not let such a talent go." Li Si smiled: "As far as I know, Han Fei is not taken seriously in South Korea. He has written to the King of Han many times to ask for reform, but he has not been accepted. At this moment, he is sitting on the bench at home!" Ying Zheng also smiled: "Then write a letter quickly, in case the King of Han comes to his senses one day and wants to reuse Han Fei, it will be a great disadvantage to Qin. This person's article is worth 100,000 troops. The widow should make good use of him."

When Li Si heard this, a trace of anxiety flashed in his eyes. At that time, King Han Huanhui had passed away, and his son Han An was in place. If we look back at the history of South Korea, we will find that this country is really lackluster.Among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, Qin, Chu, Qi and other great powers are self-evident. Wei State has a century of hegemony, Zhao State has Hufu riding and shooting, and even Yan State has a glorious history of Le Yi breaking Qi.Only South Korea is like a bowl of lukewarm boiled water, which makes people tasteless.During the entire Warring States Period, South Korea never rose to prominence, and its history of the Warring States Period was a history of being invaded.By the time Han An came to power, the area of ​​South Korea had shrunk greatly, the country was poor and weak, and the situation was very dangerous.

As a son of South Korea's official family, Han Fei really wanted to change this situation.He stuttered since he was a child and was not good at words, so he wrote his thoughts on bamboo slips and wrote to King Han Huanhui and Han An many times, hoping that South Korea could reform and become stronger.However, these letters all disappeared without reply.Disappointed, Han Fei inspected the history of the past and present, and wrote articles of more than 100,000 words, including "Lonely Anger", "Five Beetles", "Shuo Lin", "Internal and Foreign Reserves", and "Shuo Nan".

In the history of Chinese philosophy, both Han Fei and Li Si belonged to the Legalists, and Han Fei was even considered to be the master of the Legalists in the Warring States Period. Theoretically speaking, Legalism is divided into three schools of "law", "skill" and "potential", each with different views. The "Shi" faction, represented by Shen Dao, believes that power is the most important factor in politics.Shen Dao is a native of Zhao, roughly the same age as Meng Ke, who once gave lectures at Jixia Academy.In Shen Dao's thinking, power is the absolute authority of the ruler.The ability of a king is not necessarily higher than that of others, but because he has authority, he can kill people, bring people back to life, make people rich, make people poor, make people noble, and make people cheap, so he can make others serve him.

The "shu" school is represented by Shen Buhui.Shen Buhui is a native of Xinzheng. During Han Zhaohou’s reign, he served as the prime minister of South Korea. He advocated that the monarch “play” with politics through superb means, so that all his subordinates will surround the monarch, and let the monarch act arbitrarily, which is what we often say. It's the wrist. The "law" school, represented by Shang Yang, advocated the formulation and promulgation of clear legal provisions and strict implementation to achieve the goal of ruling the world. Han Fei advocated the combination of law, technique and force.

He pointed out that if the monarch does not understand power tactics, he will be easily deceived by his subordinates, and if his subordinates are not restrained by laws, they will easily cause chaos. The two are indispensable, and both are tools for the emperor to rule the world.He analyzed Shang Yang's gains and losses in governing Qin, and believed that Shang Yang had strict laws, generous rewards and heavy punishments, which made Qin a prosperous and strong state. In addition to controlling the skills of his subjects, the monarch must also have power.Han Fei wrote: "If there is no authority and strict laws, let Yao and Shun go from house to house to propagate policies and persuade the people, and they will not be able to rule three families."

Therefore, only when the law, art, and power are used together, can the country live in peace and the people be safe, thus achieving the career of an emperor. Han Fei further pointed out that the monarch does not need special talents and noble morals to govern the country by means of usage, skills, and power, nor does he need to set an example by himself or rule through personal charm as Confucianism advocates. In other words, in a country ruled by law, there is no need to advocate any moral construction.Clinton can pick Lewinsky without affecting his exercise of the powers of the President of the United States; Putin can divorce his wife without adversely affecting his political future.

Han Fei knew that his theories were difficult for most princes at that time to understand, because it was difficult for others to reach his height, so he wrote a special article "Say Difficulty". The so-called difficulty means that lobbying others is very difficult. He wrote: "The difficulty of lobbying does not lie in convincing the other party with the knowledge I know, nor in whether I can express my thoughts correctly with eloquence, nor in whether I have a strong aura to persuade the other party. Difficulty The difficulty lies in trying to figure out the other person's mind and make your own words conform to his mind."

Simply put, it is one thing to understand the truth yourself, but it is another thing to let others understand it.You can't think that others will accept it just because you understand the truth, but find a way to simplify the complicated truth and induce others to accept it in a way that others can accept and in a language that others can understand. Therefore, in Han Fei's article, there are many wonderful fables.One of them reads:- There was a rich man in the state of Song. The wall of his house was damaged by heavy rain.His son said: "If you don't fix it quickly, I'm afraid it will attract thieves." The old man in the neighbor's house also said the same.Sure enough, it was stolen that night and a lot of money was lost.The rich man praised his son for being smart, but suspected that the thief was attracted by the old neighbor. In the past, Zheng Wugong wanted to attack the Hu people, so he married his daughter to the leader of the Hu people.Soon after, he asked his officials: "I want to use troops abroad, who is better to fight?" Guan Qisi, the doctor, said: "The Hu people can be defeated." Zheng Wugong was furious, and said: "The Hu people and the Zheng people are as close as brothers, but you say they can be defeated." , What is the intention?" He killed him.The leader of the Hu people was very moved when he heard this, and he took no precautions against Zheng Guo from then on.Zheng Guo took the opportunity to launch an attack and seized the land of the Hu people.

Han Fei asked: "In these two stories, what the old neighbor and Guan Qisi said is correct. They are very knowledgeable, but why are they being suspected at least and killed at worst?" The answer is that it is not difficult to have knowledge of things, but the difficulty lies in using wisdom to express your opinions. There is also a story that Mi Zixia, a senior official in the state of Wei, was very much loved by the Marquis of Wei.According to the laws of the state of Wei, anyone who uses the monarch's carriage privately will be punished by beheading.Once, Mi Zixia's mother fell ill, and Mi Zixia didn't bother to ask Marquis Wei for instructions, so he drove his carriage home.When Marquis Wei found out about it, he praised him, "This is really a filial son. He dared to take the risk of being cut off just to go home and see his mother." Another time, Mi Zixia and Marquis Wei were playing in the orchard, and Mi Zixia climbed up a tree to pick a fruit. A peach, it was very sweet after a bite, so I directly gave it to Marquis Wei to eat.The guards turned pale in shock, but Marquis Wei said, "Mi Zixia really loves me, I don't care about eating delicious food, so hurry up and bring it to me." Later, Mi Zixia was old and fading (it turned out to be a male favorite), and offended Marquis Wei.Marquis Wei said, "This man once stole my carriage and gave me his leftover peaches. What should he do?" Han Fei sighed and said: "Mi Zixia is still the same Mi Zixia. His behavior is the same. He was praised and then became a fault. It is because the love and hatred in Weihou's heart have changed! Therefore, when a person is favored , his wit is all to the prince's taste; when a man falls out of favor, his every word becomes a crime." It's a pity that with Han Fei's insight and writing style, he still can't impress the stubborn King Han Huanhui and Han An.On the other hand, Ying Zheng, who was far away in Xianyang, was attracted to it immediately after seeing it, and it was a masterpiece of heaven and man. Under the pressure of Qin State, Han An sent Han Fei to Qin State as expected. Ying Zheng met Han Fei with the excitement of seeing an idol, and asked a lot of questions about the art of the emperor. The so-called Maxima often exists, but bole does not often exist.After talking with Ying Zheng for less than half a day, Han Fei knew that the young Qin King in front of him was his bole.However, Han Fei is different from Li Si. Han Fei has a very strong patriotism and regards the fate of South Korea more important than his own life.Therefore, when Ying Zheng asked him to stay in Qin as an official, he nervously mentioned another matter: Can the king not attack South Korea? Yingzheng smiled heartily: "Isn't the art of the emperor that Mr. said is used to unify the world? Mr. is concerned about South Korea, I understand, don't rush to make a decision now, live in Xianyang for a few days before giving an answer. " Since then, Ying Zheng summoned Han Fei many times.For Ying Zheng's questions, Han Fei always tried his best to answer them one by one, and Ying Zheng was satisfied every time.Only Han Fei was always worried about being an official. "Am I going to serve the enemy of South Korea? What will it look like in the future to see our ancestors live underground?" After a long time, Ying Zheng was fine, and Li Si began to feel nervous.What he was worried about was that if the king reused Han Fei, wouldn't I have to step aside? Since ancient times, there is no first in literature, and no second in martial arts. Especially when a literati's job is threatened, he can think of any way. One day, Yingzheng and Li Si talked about Han Fei, and Li Si said: "Han Fei is the son of South Korea. Now that the king wants to annex the princes of the world, Han Fei will be loyal to South Korea and will not serve Qin. It's normal. If the king can't use him, kill him to avoid future troubles." It is true that ordinary talents cannot be used by me or by others.But for Han Fei, Ying Zheng still couldn't make up his mind.After thinking about it, he decided to send Han Fei to prison for a period of time to see if he could change his mind. The more Ying Zheng loves talents, the more worried Li Si is.He secretly sent someone to deliver a pot of poisoned wine to Han Fei, and falsely spread the will of Ying Zheng, causing Han Fei to commit suicide.Han Fei wanted to ask Ying Zheng to explain it face to face, but was rejected.By the time Ying Zheng felt something was wrong and hurriedly sent someone to pardon Han Fei, Han Fei was already dead.