Ouyang and the five men galloped quickly and finally arrived near Qi Siyi.

Qisi's name is very nice, and it doesn't seem like a place name at first glance, but in fact, this is not a place that suddenly appeared in a parallel world. Even in Ouyang's world, there is "Qisi".

Ouyang can remember such a place because Qi Siyi once produced a famous prime minister - Sun Shuao.

If you are not familiar with Sun Shu'ao, let me memorize another passage: "Shun was raised among the farmers, Fu Shuao was raised among the boards, Jiao Ge was raised among the fish and salt, Guan Yi was raised among the scholars, Sun Shu'ao was raised in the sea.

, Baili Xiju was in the market. Therefore, heaven will give great responsibilities to people... Then I know that I was born in sorrow and died in peace and happiness."

Yu Chu, "Mencius·Gaozi·Part II".

In this memorized text "Born in Sorrow, Die in Ease", Sun Shuao was regarded as one of the sages by the "lesser sage" Mencius, and he gave an example.

Sima Qian also listed Sun Shuao as the first person in "Historical Records·Biographies of Xunli".

So why does he have such a high historical status? Because his achievements can be said to last forever.

Floods in the Huaihe River were frequent at that time, and Sun Shuao was ordered to take charge of the water control project. For this purpose, he spent all his wealth and spent three years to finally build the first water conservancy project in Chinese history - Shaopi.

In Shaopei, the ancient Huaihe River channel was used to discharge floods, and ponds were built to irrigate mulberry trees. This not only discharged floods, but also benefited the people farming on both sides of the Huaihe River. Later, a large number of water conservancy projects such as Anfeng Pond were built. In Ouyang's era, 2600

Years have passed and it is still functioning today.

Because of this, Sun Shuao was appreciated by King Zhuang of Chu and became a civil official beside King Zhuang of Chu.

Because of his outstanding political and military talents, Sun Shuao later became Ling Yin, the chief civil servant of the Chu State, equivalent to the prime minister. He assisted King Zhuang of Chu to dominate the south and became one of the "Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period".

"Further forward, we'll reach Qisipei." Qu Tian pointed to a small village in front of him and said.

This fat man looked fat, but he didn't expect that he was quite agile in his movements. He was much more skilled than everyone else in riding horses and other things. He was indeed one of the top three nobles.

"I didn't expect... to be able to see the legendary Qisipei." Ouyang looked at the Huai River flowing quietly next to him, feeling quite emotional.

When he was a teacher, he liked to talk about strange things with his classmates, and he had heard about it in Qi Sipi.

Qi Si Bei is Shao Bei.

"Does Mr. Ouyang also know about Qi Sipi?" Xiong Zhong asked in surprise.

"Why, am I really such an ignorant person?" Ouyang asked with a smile, then pointed at the Huai River and said, "If I didn't know about the masterpiece of the famous minister Sun Shuao, the Huai River would probably swallow me up.

Already."

Wang Sheng looked at Huaishui's solemn expression and couldn't help but want to draw his bow and arrow.

"What are you doing?" Gongsun Chao grabbed Wang Sheng.

"I don't know what Sun Shuao is, and I don't know what Qisipei is. I'm afraid that the Huai River will swallow me up!"

Ouyang hid his face and did not want to raise his head, but Xiong Zhong was quite considerate. Several people dismounted to let the horses rest for a while. Taking advantage of this gap, Xiong Zhong briefly introduced Qi Sipi and Sun Shuao to Wang Sheng.

Sun Shuao's most famous achievement is Shaopi.

Qisi is a very special place. It is a place where "three rivers compete for water". The terrain is rolling and undulating, and the area is densely covered with rivers and lakes. Therefore, floods occur frequently.

Shaopi was originally a low-lying land, so Sun Shuao mobilized hundreds of thousands of farmers to build dikes to connect the east and west mountains, and dug canals to divert river water, creating a large artificial lake. There are sluices that can adjust the water volume, both to prevent floods and for irrigation.

fields, thereby revitalizing the economy of Chu State.

At that time, the Chu State experienced a heyday in which "the family was rich and people were happy, the family was well-supported and the industry was happy, the government was in order, there were no mosquitoes in the house, and the crops were abundant and the crops were abundant".

It is worth mentioning that Sun Shuao was also ordered to carry out irrigation projects in Yulouyi, but unfortunately, all the irrigation projects in Yulouyi were taken away by the nobles, and the remaining fields were reclaimed by the common people themselves.

After Xiong Zhong gave a brief introduction, he glanced at Qu Tian. Qu Tian could only nod awkwardly and moved closer to Ouyang.

He was a little afraid that Wang Sheng, an "angry young man", would do something to him.

In the end, Wang Sheng was quite insightful and said: "No matter how easy it is to use Qisipei, it will only enrich the fields of the nobles."

This made Ouyang Gao look at him, but Sun Shuao's political achievements were more than that, and he immediately explained other things.

At that time, the King of Chuzhuang was extremely ambitious and possessive, and his personality was that he liked big things.

Once during a war, the chariots recruited by the Chu State were too small, so King Zhuang of Chu issued a fatal order to all the people in the country to transform the chariots into taller chariots.

After Sun Shuao learned about this incident, he immediately advised him that if he acted forcefully with "orders", it would arouse the resentment of the people, businessmen, and nobles, which was disrespectful to them. It is better to call on officials and people with status to take the lead.

, traveling on errands and transporting goods all used tall cars, which gradually changed the customs. So people began to switch to tall cars.

Another time, the King of Chuzhuang felt that the original "ant-nosed coins" in circulation were too small and unworthy of the dignity of a large country, so he minted larger coins, ordered the market to replace them with larger coins, and forced them to pass.

As a result, the people could not adapt to the big money, it was inconvenient to use, and complaints spread, causing market chaos.

Based on the actual situation of the market, Sun Shuao believed that "convenience to the people is the most important", so he reported to King Zhuang of Chu that he should use small money while using big money, and persuaded King Zhuang to resume the use of small money. In just three days, the chaos caused by the exchange of big money was solved in the market, and the market returned to normal.

It gradually became prosperous.

Another time King Zhuang of Chu insisted on attacking Jin, but all the officials thought it was inappropriate. This would bring disaster to the settled country and would also allow other countries to take advantage of the situation.

But the King of Chuzhuang refused to listen and said harshly: "If anyone dares to persuade anyone who refuses to send troops, he will be beheaded!"

None of the ministers dared to dissuade him. Sun Shuao said to the ministers: "I heard that if he is afraid of being whipped but dare not stop his father from doing something he shouldn't do, then he is not a filial son. If he is afraid of beheading but dare not stop the king from doing something he shouldn't do, then he is not a filial son.

He is not a loyal minister."

So he went to King Zhuang of Chu, and did not mention the attack on Jin directly, but said: "Your Majesty, there is an elm tree in my back garden, and there is a cicada on the tree. It screams loudly and wants to eat and drink the dew, but it doesn't work."

I don't know that there is a mantis behind it with its neck stretched out and ready to prey on it. When the mantis is preparing to prey on the cicada, I don't know that there is a oriole behind it with its head stretched out and ready to peck at the mantis. When the oriole is about to peck at the mantis

, but they didn’t know that there was a child under the tree who was aiming a slingshot at the oriole. When the child was about to hit the oriole with the slingshot, he didn’t notice that there was a deep pit in front of his feet and a cave behind him.

These are all about pursuing immediate benefits regardless of subsequent harm. Not only are insects or ordinary people unable to consider this situation, but even as a king, sometimes he only cares about the present without fully considering the problem. Now the king only knows how to embezzle the land of Jin.

But I didn’t think about cherishing the lives of soldiers, and I didn’t think about the consequences and disasters caused by war.”

After hearing this, King Zhuang of Chu felt that it made sense, so he followed Sun Shuao's advice and decided not to attack Jin.

At the risk of beheading, Sun Shuao cleverly used the fable of "The mantis stalks the cicada, but the oriole follows" to persuade King Zhuang to wake up and give up a meaningless war, thus eliminating a war disaster for the people.

In addition, Sun Shuao was also an outstanding military strategist. He chose articles suitable for the Chu State and established them as military laws. He formulated clear regulations on the actions, tasks, disciplines, etc. of each army, and applied them in training and actual combat.

Later, the Chu army built a city in the Sui area. Due to his proper use of people, careful planning, and sufficient material preparation, the task was completed in 30 days. The following year, the Chu State and the Jin State fought in Bi, and he assisted King Zhuang in his tactful and flexible command.

In this battle, as soon as his chariots were dispatched, he encouraged the Chu army to attack bravely, and quickly approached the Jin army with all his strength. He was caught off guard, collapsed in panic, and fled back to the north of the Yellow River. The dominance of the Central Plains shifted to Chu.

With Xiong Zhong's supplementary explanation, Ouyang introduced Sun Shuao's various deeds in one breath. He looked at Wang Sheng and found that except for the allusion of "the mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole behind", Ouyang was not interested in anything else.

Things don't seem to catch a cold at all.

"What's the situation? What's wrong with you? It's not because you hate the nobles that you hate them to this extent, right?" Gongsun Chao said to Wang Sheng with a depressed look on his face.

Qu Tian was also a little aggrieved at this time: "You have to know that Sun Shu'ao was poor but died young. After his death, his wife and children had to carry firewood to survive, and they were extremely poor."

"Is there no one to help them?" Wang Sheng asked.

"Well, yes!" Qu Tian thought for a moment and said, "The actors at that time were similar to singers, called Youmeng. It was very sad to see such a scene, so he spent a year imitating Sun Shuao's voice, appearance and movements.

He sang a song called "Song of Generosity" to King Zhuang of Chu."

"What's wrong with this song? Is it so valuable?" Wang Sheng continued to ask.

"This song is worth a city." Gongsun Chao continued to explain, "Through this song, You Meng told the King of Chu that you can't be a corrupt official but you are worthy of it, and you can be an upright official but not worth it. You can't be a corrupt official because at that time

The reputation is too bad. It is worth thinking that you can get rich and establish a career and enjoy the happiness of the whole family. You can be an upright official because you can have a clear name at that time. It is not worth thinking that your children and grandchildren will suffer from poverty and wear rags to work hard. People think that all officials are rich, as long as they are rich.

I know that Sun Shuao has become Ling Yin, but I don’t know that Sun Shuao has never taken advantage of him."

"So what was the reaction of the King of Chu at that time?" Wang Sheng asked.

"King Chuzhuang was very moved after hearing this, and then enfeoffed Qisi to Sun Shuao's son." Qu Tian said.

"So, in the end, King Chuzhuang didn't make any changes to the country's culture. Corrupt officials are still corrupt, and there are still people who want to be officials. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so fat anymore."

"You guy! If you don't take anything against me, we can still be friends!" Qu Tian angrily stretched out a finger, wanting to point it at Wang Sheng, but finally put it down, probably because he thought he couldn't beat the other person.

Wang Sheng shrugged indifferently and explained: "Actually, I can understand what you said. It is indeed good for the country, but to benefit the country and the people, this 'people' is actually a noble. What can ordinary people have?"

What are the benefits?”

Seeing Wang Sheng debating with Gongsun Chao and Qu Tian, ​​Xiong Zhong asked in a low voice: "Mr. Ouyang, how come this guy's ideological level has become so high all of a sudden."
Chapter completed!