One heart can serve a hundred monarchs, but three hearts cannot serve one monarch. -"The Spring and Autumn Annals of Yan Zi, Internal Articles and Problems"
(578- 500 years ago), his real name was Yan Ying, his surname was Ji (Zi), Yan's surname was Zhong, Yi Wei (now gaomi city, Shandong), his son, and he was a doctor of Qi, a famous politician, thinker and diplomat of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period. In the 26th year of Qi Dynasty (556 BC), Yan Ying succeeded to the throne as a doctor and served as assistant minister for more than 50 years.
He was both flexible and principled, and went abroad to defend the national dignity and prestige of Qi, and lived up to his mission. Yan Ying advocates that the plan should be valued, and the punishment should not be avoided, and the reward should not be left behind. It is believed that the etiquette advocated by Confucianism is pedantic and cumbersome, which can not guide the people. Attach importance to the development of agricultural production, advocate sericulture, and oppose heavy punishment and blessing. Yan Ying's deeds and remarks can be found in Zuo Zhuan, Historical Records, Biography of Yan Guan, Yanzi Chunqiu, etc.
Yan Ying once suggested that two peaches killed three warriors. This is the famous story of two peaches killing three soldiers in history. Yan Zi went to the State of Chu, saying that Yan Ying was humiliated by the King of Chu three times in a row, and the war of words between Yan Ying and the King of Chu did not disgrace his mission. Yanzi Chunqiu is a historical classic that records Yan Ying's words and deeds. Sima Qian and Wang Chong in the Han Dynasty believed that it was written by Yan Ying, and Yan Ying also wrote The Annals of Sui Shu and The Book of the Tang Dynasty.
Later generations have different opinions about the author and the time of writing. Modern and contemporary academic circles have the views of Chun Yuyue, Qi historians and scholars, Chunyu Kun and others. However, most people think that the book was written before the Western Han Dynasty (later revised by Liu Xiang). The book records a large number of examples in which Yan Ying advised the monarch to be diligent, not greedy for pleasure, loving the people, appointing people on their merits and being modest and remonstrable, but they are not completely credible.
Yan Ying likes to remonstrate and praise. When Yan Ying remonstrates with the king, he often does not directly remonstrate strongly, but gently exhorts or persuades, which shows his high wisdom in political life. His language is also very distinctive, or sharp-edged, or very subtle; Or serious, or funny He can adopt different persuasion methods according to different environmental occasions to achieve the best results.