Fan Li

Fan Li

Fan Li (536-448 B.C.), a member of the Huaxia nationality, was born in three households in Wandi of Chu (now Taohe Township, Xichuan County, Nanyang). At the end of the spring and Autumn period, politicians, militarists, strategists, economists and Taoist scholars. He offered some advice to help Gou Jian, the king of Yue, restore the state, prosper Yue and destroy Wu. Two chapters on the art of war in Fan Li are lost.

Fan Li was an early Chinese business theorist and one of the pioneers of Chu studies. Later generations were honored as "business saint" and "Nanyang five saints". Although he was born poor and humble, he was erudite and talented, and had a deep acquaintance with Chu Wanling. Dissatisfied with the political darkness of Chu state and the fact that non nobles were not allowed to be officials at that time, they defected to Yue State together. Later, they were worshipped as Shangfu and assisted Gou Jian in Yue State. He helped Gou Jian to prosper Yue State and destroy Wu state. He made a great achievement in Kuaiji's disgrace, and was appointed as the top general. After success and fame, he retreated in a hurry and wandered between the seventy-two peaks under the pseudonym of qiyizipi. During this period, he became rich in business three times and scattered his wealth three times. Later, he lived in Taoqiu of Song Dynasty (now in the south of Dingtao District, Heze City, Shandong Province), and was named "taozhugong".

World reputation: "loyalty to the country; wisdom to protect the body; business to get rich, famous in the world." Many businessmen of later generations worshipped his statue as the God of wealth. Fan Li is the great grandson of fan Wuzi, the ancestor of Fan family, and is regarded as the ancestor of Fan family in Shunyang.

Life of the characters

Early life

In 536 BC, Fan Li was born in sanhuyi, Wandi (Nanyang, Henan).

In 516 BC, Fan Li was seen in the Wanling script of the state of Chu.

In 511 BC, Fan Li invited Wen Zhong to Vietnam.

In 493 B.C., Gou Jian heard that Fu Chai, king of Wu, was laying down troops day and night, and he wanted to repay Yue. He wanted to go before Wu and did not go to attack it. Fan Li admonished him: "no, when a minister hears of a weapon, he will have a lethal weapon; when a fighter goes against virtue, he will fight for the end of the matter. Conspiracy against virtue, easy to use weapons, try at the end, God forbid it, the person is not good The king of Yue said, "I have made up my mind." Then the teacher was established. When King Wu heard about it, he learned that he had sent his elite troops to fight against Yue, and he was defeated. The king of Yue lived in Kuaiji with more than 5000 soldiers. The king of Wu pursued and surrounded it. Gou Jian was defeated in Kuaiji mountain in the west, and began to use Fan Li and Wenzhong.

The king of Yue called Fan Li and said, "I don't listen to him, so what can I do about it?" Li said to him, "those who hold on to the full are connected with the heaven, those who hold on to the inclination are connected with the people, and those who hold on to the affairs are connected with the earth. I'll leave it to you with humble words. I'm not allowed to. I'll live in the city. " Gou Jian said, "promise." It is to make the doctor grow in Wu.

In 493 BC, Gou Jian and Fan Li became slaves of Wu for three years.

Prospering Yue and destroying Wu

In 490 bc, Gou Jian and Fan Li left Wu and returned to Yue. Since Wu pardoned Yue, King Gou Jian of Yue rebelled against the state, but he was painstakingly thinking about it. He put his courage into sitting. Sitting and lying means leaning on his courage, and eating and drinking also means tasting his courage. Said: "female forget the shame of Kuaiji evil?" He cultivated by himself, woven by his wife, did not add meat to his food, and did not pay attention to his clothes. He was a virtuous man. He treated his guests favorably and worked with the common people. In order to make Fan Li run the country, Li said to him, "in the affairs of soldiers and armours, Li is not as good as planting; in the affairs of filling and pacifying the country and attaching himself to the people, Li is not as good as planting." Therefore, the government of the whole country belonged to the type of official, and Fan Li and the official zheji were formed, which was the quality of Wu. At the age of two, Wu returned to Li.

Fan Li also suggested that Gou Jian advise farmers and mulberry workers to work hard to accumulate grain, not to mess with the people, not to go against the times. We should first pay attention to the economy, then be close to the people, and stabilize the society. Give the people what they are good and get rid of what they are evil. We should coordinate internal relations, be close to the officials, and be loyal to the common people. If someone is ill, Gou Jian goes to comfort him personally. When someone dies, they go to the funeral in person. If there are changes at home, they are exempted from corvee. A series of measures have brought stability to the people. In order to improve his military strength, Fan Li rebuilt the capital. In the process of building the city, Fan Li built two cities, a small one and a big one. The small city was built for the state of Wu, but the big city was incomplete. Facing the direction of the state of Wu, no walls were built. This confused Fu Chai. We attached great importance to military training, raised morale and increased combat effectiveness. We organized death squads and rewarded them with the highest amount of money. In order to further confuse Fu Chai, Fan Li gave him what he liked most to please him. She also offered her beauty to her husband to kill her will.

In 486 BC, Gou Jian wanted to attack Wu, but Fan Li dissuaded him.

In 484 B.C., Wu attacked Qi again and occupied ailing. The king of Yue and his officials met the king of Wu. All the officials bribed him, further paralyzing the people of Wu and killing Wu Zixu. Goujian summoned Fan Li and said, "Wu has killed his son Xu, and there are many flatterers. Is that ok?" Fan Li said to him, "not yet.".

In 482 BC, the king of Wu met the princes in Huangchi in the north, and the elite soldiers of the state of Wu followed the king, but the old and the weak and the prince stayed behind. When Gou Jian asked Fan Li again, Li said, "yes. There were two thousand of them, forty thousand of them were priests, six thousand of them were gentlemen, and one thousand of them were Imperial officers. Wu Shi was defeated, so he killed Prince Wu. It's a secret that Wu Gao was eager for the king and the king would meet the princes in Huangchi. The king of Wu had made an alliance with Huangchi, but he asked people to give him a big gift. Yue Zidu also failed to destroy Wu, but with Wu Ping.

In 479 B.C., the Yue army was established to attack Wu, and the troops were sent to the five lakes.

In March 478 B.C., the Yue attacked Wu, and the Wu division fought in Lize. The two sides fought against Wu Songjiang, and the Yue defeated the Wu division.

In 475 BC, in November, Yue besieged Wu and Fan Li adopted the strategy of encircling but not attacking, which led to the collapse of Wu Shi.

At the end of 473 BC, Yue destroyed Wu and Fu Chai committed suicide.

retire after winning merit

In 468 B.C., the king of Yue achieved hegemony, and Fan Li went boating on the five lakes.

Fan Li was king Gou Jian of Yue. He worked hard with Gou Jian for more than 20 years. He defeated Wu and reported the shame of Kuaiji. He crossed the Huaihe River to Qi and Jin. He ordered China to respect Zhou's family and Gou Jian to dominate. Fan Li was called a general. Fan Li thought that it was difficult for him to live long under his name, and that Gou Jian was a man who could suffer from the same troubles and be at ease with others. He wrote the words: "when I heard that the LORD was worried about his labor, the Lord humiliated his death. In the past, the king was humiliated by Kuaiji, so he did not die. Now that I'm ashamed, I'd like to ask you to punish me from Kuaiji. " Gou Jian said: "the gujiang and his son separated the country. Otherwise, it will be put to death. " Fan Li said, "when the king gives orders, the minister gives his will." It's loaded with light pearls and jade. It's true that it's a boat ride with its private disciples. So Gou Jian took Kuaiji mountain as the capital of Fan Li.

Fan Li then went and wrote a book from the Qi Dynasty, saying, "when all the birds are gone, good bows are hidden; when the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog cooks. The king of Yue is a man with a giraffed beak. He can share trouble with others, but not happiness with others. Why don't you go? " When you see a book, you cannot say you are ill. The king of Yue gave me a sword to plant and said, "I taught you seven skills to attack Wu. I defeated Wu with the third skill. The fourth skill was my son. I tried it from the former king." He committed suicide.

Get rich in business

Fan Li floated out of the sea and changed his name. He said he was the son of Yi. He ploughed by the sea and worked hard. His father and son managed the property. There is no geometry in residence, resulting in hundreds of thousands of products. The Qi people thought it was a good match when they heard of Qixian. Fan Li sighed with a sigh: "if you stay at home, you will get a lot of money. If you stay at home, you will get a lot of money. It's ominous to be honored for a long time. " They return to Xiang Yin and disperse their wealth to share their wealth with their close friends and the local party. They cherish their treasure and travel between them to Tao. They think that in this world, there is no way to trade, and they can make a living. So he called himself Tao Zhugong. In order to restore the contract, the father and son should cultivate livestock, abolish the residence, wait for the time to change things, and pursue the profits. If there is no wealth, there is no burden. The world is called Tao Zhugong.

die in one's bed

In 448 BC, Fan Li died at the age of 88

personal works

There are two chapters on the art of war in Fan Li, which are lost today. They are Ji ran, Tao Zhu Gong Shang Jing and Lu Shi Ben Cao Jing

Main achievements

Political achievements

(1) persuading Gou Jian to save his life; in 496 BC, King Helu of Wu attacked the state of Yue, but he was defeated in the battle of Li (Jiaxing, Zhejiang). He was hit on the toe and died soon because of his heavy injury. When King Helu died, he told his son Fucha, "I will never forget Yue." In 494 BC, Gou Jian heard that the state of Wu was training soldiers day and night, ready to avenge the state of Yue. He planned to strike first and win Li's victory again. Fan Li, a native of Nanyang, strongly remonstrated that the way of heaven requires us to be full but not excessive, to be vigorous but not proud, and to work hard but not boast of our contributions. Gou Jian did not listen to Fan Li's advice and insisted on sending troops. Fan Li predicted that the war would be more dangerous than good. Sure enough, Yue was defeated by Kuaiji mountain. Fan Li advised Gou Jian to agree to any conditions of the state of Wu in order to save his life But the king of Wu didn't listen to Wu Zixu's advice that "if we don't destroy Yue now, we will regret it later", so he walked out and returned.

(2) shake Fu Chai's heart of compassion: according to the terms of peace negotiation between Wu and Yue, two years after the defeat of Yue, Gou Jian, the king of Yue, is going to take his wife to Wu as a slave, and he wants to bring the culture. Fan Li was willing to go with Gou Jian and said, "within the four seals, the affairs of the common people Li is better than Zhong. In addition to the four seals, the system of the enemy and the matter of making decisions Li is not as good as Zhong. " It can be seen that Fan Li has a clear understanding of himself, and has the noble character of daring to bear. Fu Chai, the king of Wu, wanted to persuade Fan Li to leave Gou Jian and go to Wu to help Fu Chai. However, Fan Li did not waver and said frankly, "when I heard about the conquered officials, I didn't dare to talk about politics. When I heard about the defeated generals, I didn't dare to talk about courage. The more disloyal and untruthful the minister is, the more the king of Yue does not obey the king's orders. He has a stalemate with the king by using his army. When he is convicted, the king and his ministers will surrender. He will be protected by the king's favor. He is willing to be prepared and swept away. He is willing to go away. " This is an absurd play directed by Fan Li and performed by Gou Jian. The success of the performance has played a vital role in Gou Jian's future. After this, the king of Wu was deeply moved and showed sympathy for Gou Jian. But in politics, mixed with personal love, the result is doomed to be tragic.

(3) consolidate the military power and kill the enemy's will: after the war, the state of Yue almost fell to the bottom, and when it revived, it should be careful not to let the state of Wu notice. Fan Li suggested that Gou Jian advise Nongsang,

Chinese PinYin : Fan Li