At this time, King Chu Zhao fell ill. As it happens, there was a fluttering cloud in the sky at this time, as if colorful birds were walking with the sun. This strange appearance surprised King Chu Zhao, and he asked Taishi (official name), who was in charge of astronomy: "Hey! I said Tai Shi Ling, you have also seen this strange phenomenon after this king's illness, what do you think this portends? ”

Taishi said: "This magnificent landscape is magnificent, but it is very unlucky for the king, and it is a bad omen; However, this kind of bad omen can also be passed on to the ministers, so let Wechen do it for you! "That's a bit of a dog's leg.

The ministers of Chu were quite respectful to King Chu Zhao when they fell, and after hearing that it could be transferred to themselves, they prayed to the heavens one by one, hoping that disaster would befall them, and they were willing to bear the punishment of heaven on behalf of the king. However, after King Chu Zhao learned about this phenomenon, he immediately stopped the prayers of his courtiers, how can it be immoral!

So King Chu Zhao said in the main hall: "My civil ministers and military generals are all my hands and arms, and no one can suffer misfortune." My calamity is caused by my karma, and I can only eliminate it by myself, your good intentions have been understood, this life, old age, sickness and death, your own calamity is borne by yourself, can you ask someone else to replace you with food? ”

So, the ministers invited another fortune teller to calculate which god the king of Chu Zhao had offended. The fortune teller has been messing around for a while, illness is a common thing, this thing can calculate fart! Then he said blindly: "Master, you have offended the river god of the Yellow River, and this river god is to blame, so he has sent some disasters!" ”

King Chu Zhao thought for a moment: "This is not right! I don't need to offend this Yellow River god! I have been begging his old man to give rain to benefit the people, and his old man is too late to offend him, can't he offend him? ”

The fortune teller said: "The Yellow River god and his old man have been raining for so many years, is it that the sacrifice has not caught up?" "Some officials think about it, it makes sense, this Chu land is smooth every year, thanks to the river god of the Yellow River, so they asked King Chu Zhao to sacrifice to the river god.

But King Chu Zhao didn't think so, and said indifferently: "My Chu territory is in the Yangtze River and Hanshui area, and it has never been on the other side of the Yellow River, and it has nothing to do with the gods of this river, and there is no debt, and I can't talk about how deep the friendship is, how can I offend the gods of the Yellow River?" ”

This word reached the ears of Confucius. Confucius thought to himself, this King Chu Zhao is amazing, he can not be fascinated by the world, and he can see the truth with his eyes, but he is really an enlightened monarch. Under the rule of such a king, the country will soon become stronger. Since there is nothing to do in the Chen State, why not go to the Chu State to give it a try!

It also happened that King Zhao of Chu also admired Confucius's concept of governing the country, and at the same time heard that Confucius was in the state of Chen, so he sent someone to invite him. So everyone rejoiced, and Confucius led his disciples to go to Chu with great joy.

From the state of Chen to the state of Chu, there are some small countries in between, and these small countries are the objects of contention between Wu and Chu, especially the state of Cai, and the two sides compete the most. Between Chen and Cai, it is the area where Wu and Chu fought each other, you call, I fight, it's really panicked.

One day, Confucius and his party were surrounded by rebels and did not let them go. It just so happened that they had little food to bring, and they quickly ran out, and some of the disciples were so hungry that they couldn't stand up. However, Confucius also seized the time to give lectures to his disciples, and let them sing and play the piano as usual.

Zilu couldn't hold his breath at first, he pouted, and asked: "Master, you talk about learning and morality every day, let us be good people, you are right, is it true that good people with morality and learning are doomed to suffer?" Good people have good retribution before some people learn, and good people encounter evil retribution, wouldn't it be a fool to learn again? ”

Confucius explained: "Moral and learned people, of course, will also suffer, just like people want to eat, drink and Lazar, it is a common thing, but even if a virtuous person suffers, he will not move to ask for good reward, unlike those who are unlearned and immoral." Once you are in trouble, you can do anything despicable. ”

Zilu did not answer. Confucius paused for a moment, and then said: "Once upon a time, there was such a poem: One is not a tiger, the other is not a bison, what is the reason why they wander in the wilderness? That's where we are now! Are we wrong? Otherwise, why are we surrounded here? ”

Ah Ci heard this, and replied angrily: "I said Master, no matter how good your reasoning is, if you fall into the pit, you can't blame your reasoning for not being right, but blame the person who dug the pit, why dig such a big pit, I think, the reason you always said is probably that benevolence is not enough, so no one trusts us, and the same scum of wisdom is not enough, so no one is willing to implement our ideas." ”

Confucius sighed and said, "If benevolence will make people believe, then Bo Yi and Shu Qi will not starve to death." If he has wisdom, his ideas will work, and he will not be distracted by Bigan! Ah Ci didn't say anything after hearing this, and left. Confucius called Ah Ci again and asked him what he thought, so he had to have more knowledge.

Ah Ci said: "Master, your ideals are not too high, I see where you are always going, the pass is too high, not grounded, so everywhere is not compatible, if the master can lower the ideal, and we are at the same level, do some business, make money, wife and children hot kang, I think it will be better." ”

"That's not right!" Confucius immediately denied it, and hurriedly took the words: "A good farmer works hard, but there may be a good harvest, and a skilled craftsman can make good utensils, but he may not be able to catch up with the needs of others; A person who has made a difference can express his ideas in an orderly manner, but people may not be able to accept them - this is all normal. ”

"You don't work hard to enrich yourself now, but you care about whether others can accept it, and even lower your own standards in order to make others accept, this is not right, your ambition is too small!" Ah Ci replied wordlessly and silently withdrew. Confucius called Yan Yuan again, repeated what he had just said, and asked him what he thought.

Yan Yuan said: "It is precisely because the ideals of the master are very high, and the high place is not cold, so naturally it is incompatible everywhere. However, even if people are incompatible, the master still has to work hard to strive for it, and believes that this ideal can be realized after all. But what does this have to do with whether others are compatible, this is a good opportunity to test whether a learned and moral person is self-contained! ”

"A person should be ashamed of not coming up with a good proposition. However, with a good proposition, no one wants to accept it, and that is the shame of those in power in various countries! ”

Confucius was very happy to hear this, and said with a smile: "I said Yan Yuan, you have grown, you are very right, you know what I mean best." You are really my good disciple! This Ah Ci still attaches too much importance to copper smell! ”

Confucius comforted everyone with Yan Yuan's words and stabilized everyone's emotions. On the one hand, he sent Ah Ci, who was good at rhetoric, out to contact the army of Chu. Soon, Ah Ci brought the army of the state of Chu, and under the protection of the army of the state of Chu, Confucius and his party arrived at the negative letter. It just so happened that Ye Gong was also transferred here from Ye Di, and the negative letter at that time was under the control of the Chu State, and when he arrived in this place, he also arrived in the Chu State.