During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were two interesting people, one was Fan Li and the other was Lv Buwei.
The two ancient people abandoned politics and business, while the latter abandoned business and politics, but their final fate was completely different. After becoming famous, Fan Li bravely retired to private enterprises and started his own business, becoming a great businessman in the history of China. Lv Buwei is doing business in Zhao, and his business is very good. But as an old saying goes, when he got rich, he began to be restless and idle, yearning for power and politics. Although he worked hard to become the prime minister, he was finally dismissed and sent to drink zhenniao to commit suicide, which can be described as sad.
Fan Li studied in Genius Boy for five years. He knows astronomy above, geography below, and has profound knowledge and superb skills. We are familiar with this idiom, and that's when Fan Li's story began. Fu Cha, the king of Wu, avenged his father's victory over the king of Yue, and Gou Jian, the king of Yue, fled to Kuaiji Mountain with the defeated troops. Fan Li went to Gou Jian when he was cornered, analyzed the general trend of "the stronger he is, the more he will perish Wu", and advised Gou Jian to pay tribute temporarily. "Bowing down to serve the king of Wu is the opposite." After being worshipped as a doctor, he accompanied Gou Jian as a hostage and slave in Wu for three years, ready to bear the burden of humiliation. After returning to China, he worked out a strategy to prosper and destroy Wu with him. Fan Li also waded through mountains and rivers and went through hardships to find a stone in the Huansha River in Zhuluo Mountain. Scholars, who know the great righteousness and general ideas, are committed to the hypocrisy of the king of Wu and cooperate with the interior to destroy the state of Wu.
What is commendable for Fan Li is that at the peak of his career, he clearly realized "gloating" and saw through the "power field", and did not dare to expect "share joys and sorrows" with Gou Jian. As a result, he resigned and went boating with his teacher anonymously. Later, he came to Qi, went into business, built houses and cultivated land in coastal cities, and brought seawater to make salt. In a few years, he accumulated hundreds of thousands of property and became a rich man. The King of Qi admired Fan Li and invited him to Linzi, the capital of China, as prime minister. Soon after, Fan Li thought it was not a good thing for him to be in a superior position for a long time. So, he only worked for three years, returned the seal to the king of Qi, exhausted his fortune, and retired. After moving to Tao Tao, he became a rich man because he had good business skills and called himself "Tao Zhugong". Fan Li was respected as a business sage by later generations, and his skills in politics and business were extraordinary: "Be loyal to the country; Wisdom protects the body; Get rich in business and become famous in the world. "
Later, Lv Buwei in Fan Li chose the opposite path. Lv Buwei, a wealthy businessman in Yangzhai, is "the daughter of the family" because of "selling at a low price and selling at a high price". It happened that this man was restless and always wanted to get involved in politics and hold power. He is also a born politician with political sensitivity that ordinary people don't have. I met Zi Chu, a nobleman of Qin who was held hostage by Zhao. Just like doing business, I saw the value of this hostage at a glance and thought that "rare goods can live in" and started a career of political speculation. Lv Buwei not only gave his woman to Zi Chu, but also carefully planned and made great efforts. For example, he bribed Mrs. Huayang through her younger brother to help this "Zhu Qin Nie Shusun" return to the State of Qin and obtain the right to inherit the throne. Sure enough, after Zi Chu succeeded to the throne, Lv Buwei became prime minister, with one person below and ten thousand people above. Who knows, the good times will not last long. After Ying Zheng ascended the throne, he found out that he was having an affair with the Queen Mother and heard that he was his son, so he dismissed him and sent his family to Shu. Later, Lv Buwei committed suicide.
Lv Buwei played politics, and perhaps realized his personal ambition, but he was a typical person who died of drug abuse. He will do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. The tragedy of Lv Buwei is that politics is different from business after all, and it is not business. If your business goes bankrupt, you can start all over again. If you are poor at most, you will be poor and have a bitter life. Playing politics is just playing with fire. One misstep makes a lasting regret, and it won't give you a chance to start over.
If you continue to do business, continue to "sell at a low price and sell at a high price" and don't go to the muddy water of Qin politics, wouldn't you enjoy life with joy and sorrow? I'm afraid he won't be able to enjoy his 88th birthday if he doesn't stay in Yue wisely, tell people what to do, covet the power of official titles, or take pride in himself, or try to exert his "afterheat".
At this point, later generations have to admire Fan Li's "foresight" and his example of not believing in style. Fan Li left without saying goodbye and wrote a letter to Wen Zi, a good friend who was in trouble with Gou Jian. The letter wrote: "The birds are exhausted, and the bow is hidden; A sly rabbit dies, but a running dog cooks. The King of Yue is a bird with a long neck. He can have trouble with * * *, but he is not happy with * * *. Why not go? " However, Wen Zi took Fan Li's words with a grain of salt. Later, because of the king's suspicion, he suddenly woke up and stopped going to court on the pretext of illness. But it was too late. Gou Jian gave Wen Zi a sword and told him to commit suicide on the grounds that someone falsely accused him of conspiracy. Incoherent, sighing, only blame yourself for leaving too late.
History cannot be assumed, but history can teach future generations something. We can only say that Lv Buwei really shouldn't abandon business and go into politics, otherwise he wouldn't "play with fire" because of despair; To say the least, it is politics. If you don't play some despicable means and engage in some shady business activities, you won't "calculate too wisely and miss your life." Fan Li retired from politics and entered the business world, which really affected his life. Because he knows that "big names are hard to live for a long time", he should not fall in love with each other for a long time, but should "hide" in the city at the right time. Therefore, later generations have commented: "A good style of writing begins with a good plan, and Fan Li can consider it to the end." Advance and retreat freely, have no intention to stay, everything is in your own hands. This kind of wisdom and mentality is really "out of reach".
From Fan Li's story of abandoning politics and going into business, we can understand what it means to be a hero who knows the times. Lv Buwei's abandonment of business and politics should give us some deeper enlightenment, right?