"Zizhi Tongjian" talked about the end of the Warring States Period, and it was very emotional.
The Six Kingdoms knew that the Qin State was ambitious and wanted to destroy them one by one, so why didn't they unite to destroy Qin?
What is the reason for the fact that they have been united so many times, but each time they are not united?
After reading this material, I found the underlying logic behind it.
(1) Historical stories
"Zizhi Tongjian" Qin Ji
The twenty-fifth year of the First Emperor (Ji Mao, 222 BC)
At first, the queen of Qi was very virtuous, very cautious in dealing with Qin, and also trustworthy in her dealings with the princes.
The state of Qi was located on the eastern coast, and the state of Qin attacked the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao, and Wei and the states of Yan and Chu day and night.
The five kingdoms were busy saving themselves, so Qi Wangjian did not suffer from war for more than 40 years on the throne.
When the queen was dying, she admonished Qi Wangjian: "Among the ministers, someone can be used." ”
Qi Wangjian said: "Wait, I'll go get a brush and a bamboo tube and write down the names of these people." ”
The queen said, "Yes." ”
When Qi Wangjian returned, the queen said, "Oh, the old woman has forgotten. ”
After the death of the queen, he became the prime minister of Qi and accepted a large amount of money bribes from Qin.
The guests of the Qin State came to the Qi State, and the Qin State gave them a lot of money.
These guests all acted as opponents of the Qin State, persuading Qi Wangjian to worship the Qin State, not repairing the equipment used for offensive and defensive purposes, and not helping the Five Kingdoms to attack the Qin State, so the Qin State was able to destroy the Five Kingdoms.
Later, the general Wang Ben attacked the Qi State from the south of the Yan State, and suddenly attacked the capital Linzi, and no one dared to resist the people of the Qi State.
Qin sent people to lure Qi Wangjian and agreed to give him 500 li of land, so Qi Wangjian surrendered.
As a result, the Qin State moved him to Gongdi, settled between pines and cypresses, and was eventually starved to death.
The people of Qi complained that Qi Wangjian did not join forces with other countries to attack Qin earlier, and listened to the trust of traitorous ministers and foreign guests, so that the country was destroyed, and made up songs to satirize him:
"Is it a pine tree? Is it a cypress? It was those guests who moved Tian Jian to Gongcheng."
(2) Analysis
Knowing that the Qin State was ambitious, why did the Six Kingdoms still not unite?
Jia Yi of the Western Han Dynasty commented in "On the Passage of Qin":
"The princes are afraid, they will ally and seek to weaken Qin, and they do not love the land of treasures and treasures, so that the people of the world will cooperate and make friends with each other. The Qin people switched and extended the enemy, and the division of the Nine Kingdoms did not dare to enter. Qin has no money to lose his arrows, and the princes of the world are already in trouble. So he was defeated from the dispersal of the treaty, fought for the land and bribed Qin. ”
He analyzed it thoroughly.
The princes of the six countries were frightened when they saw that Qin was strong, so they gathered together for a meeting and formed an alliance to deal with Qin together.
As a result, they all looked like misers, reluctant to give up their own precious territory, and in the end, they went back to their own homes and found their own mothers.
This is the "joint vertical" strategy, which sounds quite lofty, but in fact it is difficult to implement!
Why is it so difficult to "merge vertically"?
The mode of integration is "weak and weak alliance".
The six countries all want to overthrow the Qin state, but there is a fatal problem, there is no backbone, and everyone is not in harmony.
Everyone is harmonious on the surface, but in fact they have their own little ninety-nine.
Although it is anti-Qin, Wei Han and other small countries are beating drums in their hearts, in case Zhao Chu uses me as cannon fodder, what should I do?
Therefore, at the critical moment, everyone complains about each other, and the benefits are unevenly distributed, and there is direct infighting.
A similar situation also occurred in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
At that time, the princes of the Eighteenth Route united to crusade against Dong Zhuo, and the result?
Because everyone has their own thoughts, the war is not going well at all.
Cao Cao, who was full of anger, opened up directly, and in "Artemisia in Xing", he wrote:
"In the early days, the alliance was in Jin, and the heart was in Xianyang. The forces of the army were uneven, and they hesitated and walked wildly. Snobbery makes people fight, and heirs fight each other"
What do you mean?
At the beginning, everyone met in the Mengjin Alliance, and they all said that they wanted to defeat Dong Zhuo and support the Han family. But they all have their own minds, hesitate, not only fight each other, but also kill each other in the end.
Therefore, the unity of the weak and weak is often like a plate of loose sand, which is dispersed as soon as the wind blows.
In the face of some emergencies, the alliance often has a crisis.
For example, if a strong country wants to win over a weak country, the weak country is likely to hesitate and may betray the alliance at some point.
Even if there is an alliance, when there is a crisis in the war, all parties may complain about each other, especially the side that has suffered heavy losses, which is full of complaints.
Even, when the war is going well, how to distribute the benefits is likely to lead to serious infighting.
You see, there are too many factors that lead to the disunity of the alliance.
It has been said since ancient times that it is much easier to turn against each other than to unite as one.
In contrast, the "horizontal" strategy is very stable.
This model is a typical "strong and weak alliance", there is a core boss sitting there, and the weak country does not dare to betray easily.
After all, the cost of betrayal is too high and the stakes are great.
During the Warring States Period, the princes attacked Qin four times, and the result?
The state of Qin still dominates the world.
Especially in 241 BC, the five kingdoms of Zhao, Chu, Wei, Han, and Yan went together, but they were still defeated.
This shows that the "co-vertical" strategy, which sounds lively, is actually useless.
However, "co-vertical" is not useless.
For example, when he attacked Qi, the Qi country was almost destroyed.
This shows that the "joint vertical" strategy can still play a role in some cases, but the key is that everyone has one heart!
The state of Qin is very smart.
They implement a "horizontal" strategy, which is simple and practical.
To put it simply, it is to win over some countries and strike at others, so that everyone revolves around them.
In this way, the Qin State will be able to reap the benefits of the fisherman steadily.
However, there are also problems with the "horizontal" strategy.
If you attach yourself to a strong country and fight a weak country, what can you get in the end?
Maybe you won't get anything, and you'll be dragged down.
So, when the six countries realized the problem, they began to work together again.
He was united and ununited, and after being defeated by Qin, he had no choice but to temporarily connect in order to survive.
Connected to each other, they will lose themselves.
This scenario is very similar to the "prisoner's dilemma" that is now called.
Even if you know in your heart that you can find the best answer if you work together, it's really hard to trust your teammates completely.
After all, everyone is worried, what if someone turns back?
It is because of this worry, for fear of being put on the table by others, that people often choose the plan that is most beneficial to them at the moment.
In other words, if you choose to "join forces", you must always be on the lookout for possible betrayal by your allies.
And if you choose "Lianheng" and join forces with the Qin Dynasty to deal with your neighbors, it seems to be a safer and more advantageous option in the short term.
After all, the strategy of the Qin Dynasty was to "attack from afar", and it should not be done to itself in a short period of time.
Maybe you can get some benefits from this "cooperation".
As for the long-term future?
Let's talk about it, if it's gone today, how can we talk about tomorrow?
It's like the "ostrich" Qi country.
The state of Qi is located in the easternmost part of the six kingdoms, the farthest from the state of Qin.
When the Qin State attacked the other five countries, the Qi State chose to stand by and watch, not only did not make a move, but even did not strengthen its own combat preparations.
The result?
It was not until the other five kingdoms were destroyed that the king of Qi suddenly realized the threat of Qin, but by then it was too late to gather troops to the western border.
Seeing that the general trend had gone, Qi Wangjian surrendered directly without firing a shot.
The state of Qin moved him to Gongcheng, where he was placed under house arrest among the pine and cypress forests, and starved to death.
At that time, the people of Qi also made up a song to ridicule their king: "Songye, Baiye, the people of the house and the house are here!" ”
(Is it a pine tree?) Is it a cypress? Those guests who moved Tian Jian to Gongcheng, right? ）
Write at the end:
When the damage doesn't happen to them, 99% of people choose to watch.
Further, when the damage really happens to them, as long as someone is worse than themselves, 99% of them will choose to endure it.
That's human nature.
It's been thousands of years, and this hasn't changed, even now.
All workers know that the boss will push the wage if they work too much, so why not join forces to talk to the boss?
A small factory is not in line with the people, let alone the country.
In March 1958, at a conference in Chengdu, the faculty spoke very profoundly about the issue of unity.
"People are always uneven, imbalance is absolute, permanent, unconditional, and ununited. When we talk about unity, there is still disunity, so we have to do work. The old saying that unity is 'a pool of stagnant water' will be deserted. ”
Yes, when we talk about unity, we are not united, and it is useless to shout slogans, the key is to take action.
To be united, we must have a strong core of leadership.
The person at the core has to be strong, and the most important thing is that he is willing to suffer.
This person took the initiative to stand up, was willing to do the work, and at the same time suffered a loss, and everyone was naturally willing to rally around him.
About the Author:
Zhou Yijian, WeChat public account "Zhou Yijian Circle", welcome everyone to pay attention and send you a copy of "Zizhi Tongjian Decryption" worth 500 yuan.
Physical book coming soon!