King Zhaoxiang of Yan
The thirty-ninth monarch of the Yan Kingdom during the Warring States Period
Introduction
King Zhaoxiang of Yan (? - 279 BC year), with a distinguished position, he was the son of King Kuai of Yan and the younger brother of Prince Ping. He is called King Zhao or King Xiang for short. Ben is in Korea as a hostage. After the death of King Kuai of Yan, the people of Yan established him as King Yan Zhao, and sent Le Yi to attack Qi, conquering more than 70 cities in a row, but was defeated by King Hui of Yan.
When King Zhao came to the throne, he was determined to make the Yan Kingdom strong, so he searched everywhere for talented people to govern the country. Because he treated the old minister Guo Wei with courtesy and built a palace, he respected him as his teacher. As a result, all the wise men from all over the world gathered in the Yan State. According to historical records, "Le Yi went from Wei, Zou Yan went from Qi, Ju Xin went from Zhao, and scholars competed to come to Yan." Chen Zi'ang, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem: "Ascending the Jieshi Pavilion to the south, looking at the golden platform in the distance, the hills are covered with trees, King Zhao is at peace!" This describes King Zhao of Yan's hiring of Su Qin with a huge sum of money. "Warring States Policy" also records the story of his daughter selling horses. For a time, Yan State became a "talented highland". In the 28th year of King Yan Zhao (284 BC), the State of Yan united with Zhao, Chu, Han, and Wei to attack Qi. General Le Yi defeated the State of Qi and occupied more than 70 cities in the State of Qi. It was the most glorious period of the Yan Kingdom.
Predecessor:
Father, King Kuai of Yan
312 BC - 279 BC
Successor:
King Hui of Zi Yan
Deeds
King Zhao of Yan Seeks Virtue
After Lord Mengchang was removed from his position, King Min of Qi destroyed Chu and Wei The Song Dynasty became even more arrogant. He only wanted to annex other countries and become emperor himself. As a result, the princes of all countries were dissatisfied with him; especially the Yan State to the north of Qi State, which was bullied by Qi State and wanted to find an opportunity to take revenge.
The State of Yan was originally a big country. Later, it was passed into the hands of King Kuai of Yan. He listened to the bad guys' ideas and actually imitated the legendary method of Yao and Shun to give up the throne to the Prime Minister. The general and prince of Yan State attacked Zizhi in peace, and great chaos broke out in Yan State. In the name of quelling the civil strife in Yan, the State of Qi invaded the State of Yan, and the State of Yan was almost destroyed. Later, the soldiers and people of Yan State established the prince as king, rose up in resistance, and drove out the Qi army.
In the eleventh year after King Huiwen became king (314 BC), King Wuling of Zhao ushered in the title of Prince of Yan from South Korea after the rebellion of Yan State. The title of Prince was the later famous King Zhao of Yan. But at this time, the situation in Yan State was in chaos. With the support of Queen Yi, Gongzi Shi fought with Prince Ping, which was unfavorable to Gongzi Shi. The queen mother of Yan, Queen Yi, was the daughter of King Qin Huiwen, and King Yan Zhao was the son of Queen Yi. Queen Yi and King Yan Zhao hoped to get the support of Qin. In 311 BC, Qin and Wei formed an alliance to attack Prince Ping of Yan, killed him, established him as a prince, and formed an alliance between Qin and Yan.
When the prince ascended the throne, he was King Zhao of Yan. He was determined to make the Yan State strong and determined to find talents to govern the country, but he could not find the right person. Someone reminded him that the veteran Guo Wei (sound wěi) was quite knowledgeable, so he might as well go to him to discuss it.
King Zhao of Yan personally visited Guo Wei and said to Guo Wei: "The State of Qi took advantage of the civil strife in our country to invade us. I will never forget this shame. But now that the State of Yan is weak, it cannot take revenge." . If there is a wise man to help me avenge my shame, I would rather serve him. Can you recommend such a person?"
Guo Wei touched his beard and said thoughtfully: "I want to recommend it. I can't tell you about the ready-made talents. Please allow me to tell a story first." Then he told a story:
In ancient times, there was a king who loved the horse most. He sent people to search everywhere, but they couldn't find it for three years. A courtier heard that there was a precious thousand-mile horse somewhere in the distance, and told the king that as long as he gave him one thousand taels of gold, he would be able to buy the horse back. The king was very happy, so he sent his ministers with one thousand taels of gold to buy it. Unexpectedly, when the courtiers arrived, Chollima had already fallen ill and died. The courtier thought that it would be hard to explain when he went back with empty hands, so he took half of the gold he brought and bought the horse bones.
The courtier presented the horse bones to the king. The king was furious and said, "I want you to buy a live horse. Who told you to spend money to buy back useless horse bones?" The courtier did not panic. He said hurriedly: "People heard that you are willing to spend money to buy a dead horse. Are you afraid that no one will bring a live horse?"
The king was doubtful and no longer blamed the courtiers. As soon as the news spread, everyone thought that the monarch really loved the horse. Within a year, several thousand-mile horses were sent from all directions.
After Guo Wei told this story, he said: "The king must recruit talented people, so you might as well try me as a horse bone."
After hearing this, King Yan Zhao Inspired by this, after returning home, he immediately sent someone to build a very exquisite house for Guo Wei to live in, and he also asked Guo Wei to be his teacher. Talented people from all over the world heard that King Yan Zhao was recruiting talents sincerely, and they rushed to Yan State to ask for an audience. The most famous among them is Le Yi, a native of Zhao. King Zhao of Yan worshiped Leyi as his minister, and asked him to rectify the country's affairs and train troops. As expected, the country of Yan became stronger day by day.
At this time, King Yan Zhao saw that King Min of Qi was arrogant and unpopular, so he said to Le Yi: "Now that King Qi is unruly, it is time for us to avenge our shame. I plan to mobilize the whole country to fight against Qi." "What do you think of the country?"
Le Yi said: "Qi is a vast country with a large population. I'm afraid we can't attack it alone. If the king wants to attack Qi, he must unite with other countries." Get up."
King Yan Zhao sent Le Yi to Zhao to meet with King Zhao Huiwen, and sent people to contact Han and Wei, and also asked Zhao to contact Qin. These countries couldn't stand Qi's tyranny, so they were willing to send troops with Yan.
In 284 BC, King Zhao of Yan appointed Le Yi as his general and commanded the troops of the five kingdoms in a mighty massacre against Qi.
King Min of Qi was also panicked when he heard that the five-nation coalition was coming. He gathered all the troops in the country to resist the coalition and fought a battle to the west of Jishui. Because Le Yi was good at commanding, the morale of the troops of the five kingdoms was strong, and the Qi army was completely defeated. King Min of Qi fled back to Linzi.
The soldiers of Zhao, Han, Qin, and Wei won the battle, each occupied several cities in Qi, and did not want to continue fighting. Only Le Yi refused to give up. He personally led the Yan army and marched straight into Linzi, the capital of Qi. King Min of Qi had to leave and was eventually killed in Jucheng.
King Yan Zhao believed that Le Yi had made great contributions, so he went to the Jishui River to work in person, discussed his merits and rewarded him, and named Le Yi the King of Chang.
Highly built "golden platform"
One day, the servants and guards in the palace of the King of Yan were all whispering to each other. Why did King Yan Zhao go out of his normal way and angrily beat the prince twenty times? Daban. It turns out that the prince was instigated by the doctor and slandered King Zhao, saying that General Le Yi failed to conquer Jucheng and Jimo in Qi after three years of effort. It was Le Yi who conspired to influence the two places with kindness. When the people of Qi really surrender, Le Yi can become the king of Qi. King Zhao always believed that Le Yi was a confidant. When he heard this, he jumped up and gave the prince a good beating, pointing at the prince's nose. He called him an ungrateful beast and said: "Who avenged the late king's revenge on us? Le Yi’s contribution is simply beyond praise. It’s not enough respect for us to treat him as a benefactor, and you still want to speak ill of him! Even if he really becomes the King of Qi, he should do so. ”
After King Zhao beat the prince, he immediately sent an envoy with a staff to see Le Yi and appointed Le Yi as the king of Qi. Le Yi was very moved and swore to heaven that he would rather die than accept the title of king. From then on, Le Yi devoted himself even more to serving the State of Yan.
In Chinese history, there was no more ambitious move to recruit talents than the great poet Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty. He wrote a five-character poem praising this eternal story: "Yan Zhao and Guo Wei built a golden platform. According to the arrival of Zhao from Xin Fang, Zou Yan returned to Qi..."
Why did King Yan Zhao build the Golden Platform? He wanted to use this to recruit talented people from all over the world to help rejuvenate the country and take revenge.
In 314 BC, King Kuai of Yan abdicated the throne to Yan Xiangzi, and Prince Ping of Yan fought for the throne, causing civil strife in the Yan Kingdom. King Xuan of Qi took advantage of the situation and sent troops to attack Yan on the pretext of quelling the civil strife in Yan. It only took 50 days to capture the Yan capital Jicheng (today's southwest of Beijing), kill King Kuai and his son, and attempt to destroy the Yan state. This not only aroused strong resistance from the people of the Yan state, but also led to the intervention of various countries in the Central Plains. . After that, Qi was forced to withdraw its troops from Yan, and King Zhao Wuling escorted Yan Gongzi, who had been a hostage in South Korea, back to the country to succeed King Yan Zhao.
There was a faction in the country. Desolate scene: the fields were barren, the houses collapsed, and the people were crying and crying on the ruins. King Zhao worked hard and was determined to revive the Yan Kingdom. He knew that the most important thing in governing the country was to recruit more talents. Only with talents can everything be ruined. But how to find talented people, King Zhao was thinking hard, and he couldn't eat well and couldn't sleep well.
For this reason, King Zhao was not ashamed to ask Guo Wei for advice, and said: "Sir, we are in Yan State. Now that we are weak and the country is ruined and the people are poor, we cannot avenge our old enemy Qi.
I really want to find a large number of capable people with real talents and knowledge to help me reform politics, revitalize the country, and then wash away our great shame. Please tell me, sir, where should I start? "Guo Wei replied: "In general, a monarch who can become an emperor is always with someone who can be his teacher; a monarch who can practice kingly behavior is always with his ministers who are at his best; and those who are subjugating their country are bound to be surrounded by people. They are mediocre slaves. If the monarch can put down his arrogance, treat those scholars with both ability and political integrity, and be willing to be their students, then not only will they be willing to serve with sincerity, but they will also be able to attract talented people who are ten times and a hundred times more powerful to join them. This has been true since ancient times. Since then, the rule of governing the country and acquiring talents has been adopted. Your Majesty, if you can bend over to ask for advice after recruiting talented people, and everyone will see that you are thirsty for talents, those talented people will definitely come in a steady stream like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea. "Guo Wei then told a story:
In ancient times, a king wanted to use a thousand catties to buy a thousand-mile horse, but he couldn't buy one for three years. A servant recommended himself as the king to buy. 3 Months later, he searched for news about the Chollima, but as soon as he arrived, the horse was dead. The servant bought the dead horse's bones for 500 gold. The king was furious and said, "I want the live Chollima." , who asked you to sell a dead horse head for 500 pounds? The chamberlain replied calmly: "A dead horse's head cost 500 gold, not to mention a live horse?" If the world knows this news, it will send horses to its door. "Sure enough, in less than a year, Chollima sent three horses.
After telling this story, Guo Wei expressed his plan: "If you really want to recruit talents, you might as well start from Start with me and let everyone in the world see that a person as incompetent as me has received such respect from you, let alone those whose virtues and talents far exceed mine? In this way, talented people at home and abroad will travel thousands of miles to gather in our country. "
So King Yan Zhao built a magnificent palace according to Guo Wei's idea. He chose an auspicious day, held a grand ceremony, and respectfully invited Guo Wei to the new palace. King Zhao visited him every day like a student asking for advice. King Zhao also built a high platform on the bank of Yishui River to attract wise men from all over the world. On the platform, he placed thousands of taels of gold as gifts to the wise men. See the ceremony. This high platform is the famous "Golden Platform"
The country is becoming more and more prosperous due to the gathering of talents
The reputation of King Yan Zhao for loving and respecting the virtuous spread like wildfire throughout the world. Talented people from all over the world rushed to the State of Yan, and there were many famous ones among them: for example, the general Ju Xin came from Zhao Guo, the counselor Zou Yan came from Qi State, Qu Yong came from Wei State, and Le Yi came from Wei State... It was really a wealth of talents, and Zou Yan was the yin and yang. The Five Elements Master was already famous all over the world. He was respected when he was in Qi State; when he traveled to Wei State, King Wei Hui ran to the countryside to greet him; when he arrived in Zhao State, Lord Pingyuan walked sideways to greet him and wiped his seat with his sleeves. When King Zhao of Yan greeted Zou Yan, he was more respectful than Wei Zhao. He wrapped his sleeves around the broom and swept it as he walked. King Zhao took the initiative to sit on the disciple's seat in front of him. , please Zou Yan to teach him as a teacher. King Zhao specially built a Jieshi Palace for Zou Yan to live and teach. Therefore, later generations used the words "Yonghui Pioneer" and "Jieshi Palace" to describe it. King Zhao's actions of respecting talented people with generous treatment should have a great response, and the scholars who defected to Yan State were even more enthusiastic. King Zhao opened the country and not only welcomed famous scholars, but also accepted them. Those who were determined to destroy the Qi State and were familiar with the dangerous fortresses of the Qi State and the relationship between the monarch and his ministers, and who were good at using troops to fight, were all taken in and given generous treatment. They gathered in the capital of Yan to accumulate strength in order to promote Yan and defeat Qi. Among the many scholars who assisted King Zhao in revitalizing the State of Yan, the most outstanding figure was Le Yi. After the famous general Le Yang, Le Yi was outstanding in learning and proficient in the art of war. He was once recommended as an official of the State of Zhao. In order to avoid the civil strife in Zhao, he Then he arrived in the Kingdom of Wei. He heard that King Zhao of Yan was a corporal, and he was attracted by it. It happened that Leyi was on an envoy to the Kingdom of Yan for Wei. King Zhao treated him with great courtesy and was very moved. He decided to stay in the Kingdom of Yan. He was immediately appointed Yaqing and entrusted with state affairs and military power.
Le Yi devoted all his efforts to assisting King Zhao in reforming the internal affairs and reorganizing the army.
First of all, in response to the serious situation of Yan State's broken laws and officials' selfish interests, Le Yi taught King Zhao to formulate laws and strictly enforce the legal system to strengthen the review and assessment of officials; secondly, he determined the employment principle of appointing officials based on their ability, abandoning "kissing", The tradition of selecting people by "noble and noble" clarified Ziyou's misdeeds of forming cliques and abusing his cronies when he was in power, making the Yan State's official administration increasingly clear. Thirdly, it was suggested that King Zhao treat those obedient people who abide by the country's laws, including poor people and low-status people. Some slaves are rewarded according to a certain system to stabilize social order. In the military, Le Yi focused on conducting tactics and discipline training to quickly improve the Yan army's combat effectiveness. King Zhao also pays attention to hanging people and asking for orphans to comfort families who have funeral worries; King Zhao also sends people to congratulate and care for those couples who are happy to have children. King Zhao shared the joys and sorrows with the common people, fought against their fate, and won the support of his rule from all walks of life in the country.
With the assistance of Le Yi and others, King Zhao worked conscientiously for 28 years. Not only did the country become increasingly prosperous and accumulated considerable strength, but it also cultivated a people's spirit of striving for advancement. The whole country of Yan shares the same hatred of the enemy, and the conditions for raising troops to attack Qi are becoming more mature day by day. Raising his troops to attack Qi and opening the flag to victory
While King Zhao was working hard to govern and the Yan State was on the rise, Yan State's world enemy Qi State had reached the peak of its power. However, the monarch of Qi State did not show consideration for the people's strength at home and imposed excessive taxes and levies; he continued to use troops externally, which made the princes dissatisfied. King Yan Zhao, who had endured humiliation for many years, believed that the time had come to avenge his humiliation and decided to raise his troops to attack Qi.
After all, Qi is a big country in the east, and Yan alone cannot compete with it. Le Yi proposed the strategy of "contending with the world's enemies", which was approved by King Zhao. King Zhao, Le Yi, and Zou Yan carefully analyzed the situation and clearly realized that at that time, the three great powers of Qi, Qin, and Zhao were doing everything possible to expand their sphere of influence. Dingtao in the Song Dynasty was the most prosperous commercial metropolis in the Central Plains, and Qi, Qin, and Zhao all wanted to get involved. Once the Qi State destroys the Song State, it will inevitably intensify the contradiction between Qi, Qin, and Zhao. It will also pose a serious threat to the countries of Han, Wei, and Chu, causing unrest in these countries. King Zhao then made a strategy to lure Qi to destroy Song and isolate Qi. Yan State ostensibly surrendered to Qi, which made it relax its guard against it. During this period, Su Qin was sent to Qi twice as envoys to create a wedge, instigating King Qi to rashly decide to attack Qin in the west and destroy Song in the south. King Zhao took advantage of this opportunity to send envoys to contact Wei and Chu, and sent Le Yi to Zhao to prompt King Zhao persuaded Qin to attack Qi. The State of Qin originally made an agreement with the State of Qi to claim kingship in the east and west, and divide the world among themselves. Unexpectedly, Qi Jing broke the agreement, attacked Qin, destroyed the Song Dynasty, and invaded the Central Plains area. In order to vent this bad breath, I happily agreed to send all my troops. In this way, a trend of encirclement by various countries was formed from the north, west and south.
In the 31st year of King Nan of Zhou Dynasty (284 BC), King Yan Zhao appointed Le Yi as the general to lead the army on the expedition. At this time, the Chu army had garrisoned in Huainan and was preparing to seize Qi's land in Huaibei; Qin, Zhao, Han, and Wei each sent a general to lead their troops towards Qi. King Qi Min did not expect that the Yan State would unite with other countries to attack Qi State at first. When he realized that the Yan army had invaded Qi State, he hurriedly responded to the battle. King Min of Qi mobilized all his troops, crossed the Jishui River, and marched westward to resist the enemy. The morale of the Qi army was low due to continuous battles. In addition, soldiers whose popularity was not good for the war threatened them with cruel methods such as digging ancestral graves and beheading, which made the Qi army even more chilled. The coalition forces launched an attack, and the Qi army collapsed at the first touch, losing successively. After the main force of the Qi army was wiped out, King Qi Min led the remaining troops to flee in embarrassment and returned to Linzi, the capital. King Zhao was very happy after hearing the news. He went to the battlefield of Jixi to work for the army, and later rewarded the soldiers and named Leyi the king of Changguo.
Le Yi rewarded the Qin and Han armies generously and sent them back home; then he ordered the Zhao army to attack Hejian, and ordered the Wei army to turn southeast to take over the land of the former Song Dynasty; he led the Yan army directly to the capital of Qi. The Yan army marched straight in, with overwhelming momentum, and captured Linzi in one fell swoop. King Min of Qi was forced to flee and stayed in Ju (now Ju County, Shandong). He was later killed by Chu general Nao Chi.
Le Yi was determined to destroy Qi, and after occupying Linzi, he took a series of measures to consolidate and expand the results. In order to appease the people of Qi, Le Yi worked hard to improve military discipline and strictly prohibited the Yan army from plundering the people after reporting to King Zhao for permission. In response to King Qi Min's violence, he was willing to announce a reduction in taxes for the people of Qi, abolished harsh laws, and restored some reasonable laws in the era of King Wei of Qi. On the outskirts of Linzi, they solemnly offered sacrifices to Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong, and awarded more than 100 titles of the Yan State to the surrendered Qi people. They also enfeoffed more than 20 feudal lords who enjoyed the fiefdoms of the Yan State in the Qi State, winning over the ruling class of the Qi State. , the occupation of Qi State was basically stabilized, and everyone in Qi State was willing to submit to Yan State. Militarily, Le Yi divided his troops into five groups and continued to conquer all parts of the country.
As a result, the Yan army took only half a year to capture more than 70 cities in Qi one after another and turned them into counties. Only two cities, Ju and Jimo (now Pingdu South, Shandong), were left uncaptured.
The reason why Le Yi was able to give full play to his outstanding political and military talents is inseparable from King Zhao's absolute trust and firm support for him. When Le Yi was conquering cities and territories in Qi State, King Zhao did not interfere at all and allowed Le Yi to go ahead. When Leyi was unable to conquer Ju and Jimo for a long time, someone took the opportunity to slander him. While King Zhao scolded him, he sent envoys to comfort Le Yi. King Zhao had no doubts about his virtuous behavior, and his subordinates repaid him with sincerity.
While winning the decisive victory in the war against Qi, King Zhao sent Yan to attack Qin Kai to attack Donghu, forcing Donghu to retreat more than a thousand miles from the northeast of Yan State, and Yan State's territory expanded northeastward to Liaodong. Yan also marched south and captured many places in Zhongshan Kingdom. King Zhao finally made the Yan country among the great powers and entered a golden age.
In 279 BC, Ji Zhi died of illness.
King Zhao of Yan grasped the key factor of revitalizing the Yan State, which is to recruit talents. He bowed to the courtesy and employed people without any doubts. Finally, his long-sought desire to avenge and avenge the shame was realized, and the Yan State developed to its peak period. He himself also ranks among the seven important monarchs of the Warring States Period.