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Gongsun Chou asked Mencius: “What is the principle behind scholars not seeking audiences with feudal lords?”
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Jing Chun said: “Aren’t Gongsun Yan and Zhang Yi truly great men? When they get angry, feudal lords tremble; when they stay at ease, wars across the world cease.”
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Chen Dai said to his teacher Mencius: “You refuse to visit feudal lords – it seems overly modest, even petty. If you’d just go see one once, at best you could implement the Kingly Way; at least, you might help him achieve hegemony. And as the old saying goes: ‘Bend one chi (about a…
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Mencius formally resigned his post (as guest minister in Qi state) and was preparing to return home.
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Chen Zhen asked Mencius: “The other day in Qi, the king offered you one hundred yi of fine gold, and you refused it. But in Song, you accepted seventy yi, and in Xue, fifty yi. This seems contradictory: If refusing the gift in Qi was right, then accepting in Song and Xue must be…
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After a series of military defeats by Qin and the deaths of several senior ministers, Zhao Dun – son of the revered Zhao Cui – rose as chief minister of Jin. In 620 BCE, Duke Xiang of Jin died, leaving his seven-year-old son to ascend the throne as Duke Ling of Jin.
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The Three Kingdoms era was defined by fluid loyalties. Warlords rose and fell; generals and advisors routinely switched masters in pursuit of survival or ambition.