A cup of sweet wine, not considered valuable, but an ordinary thing, but also through the host’s true feelings. A wise doorkeeper, naturally, sees the smallest things and can tell from the details when he should quit.
During the Han Dynasty, Liu Jiao, the younger brother of Han Gaozu Liu Bang and the king of Chu Yuan, was versatile and liked poetry and books, and had studied the Book of Songs under Fuchu Bo, a well-known Confucian scholar at that time, together with Confucian students Lu Musheng, Bai Sheng and Shen Gong.
Later, Liu Jiao accompanied his brother Liu Bang to conquer various places. After the founding of the Great Han Dynasty, Liu Jiao was appointed as the Great King of Chu, and the land he was enfeoffed included 36 counties in the counties of Donghai, Pengcheng and Xue. The king of Chu held an important position in the Liu family.
Since Liu Jiao, the king of Chu Yuan, advocated martial arts as well as literature, the state of Chu flowed with a strong literary flavor. After King Yuan of Chu came to his fiefdom, he kept friendly friendship with his former classmates Lu Musheng, Bai Sheng and Shen Gong.
Lu Musheng did not like to drink, so King Yuan of Chu would specially prepare sweet wine (yin li, sweet wine) for him whenever he hosted a banquet. Later, after Liu Wu, the son of Liu Jiao, came to the throne, at first he also prepared sweet wine for Lu Musheng, but later he forgot to prepare wine.
Once, Lu Musheng was entertained by Liu Wu, and after retiring from the banquet, Lu Musheng said to someone, “I should retire now. The fact that the king no longer prepares wine means that the king’s heart has been neglected. If I don’t leave now, the Chu people may take me to the marketplace one day and execute me.” After that, Lu Musheng claimed to be sick and was bedridden.
When Shen Gong and Bai Sheng learned of this, they came to Lu Musheng’s bed and tried to force him to get up, and they said, “Don’t you remember the kindness of the previous king to us? Now the king has only forgotten a small courtesy, do you have to do this?”
Lu Musheng said, “The Book of Changes mentions that ‘to know a few is divine’, and a few means the details of how things change, which is a harbinger of good and bad fortune in advance. When a ruler sees ‘a few’, he will act immediately and will not delay for a day. The reason why the late king treated the three of us with courtesy is that moral righteousness still exists. Today the great king’s neglect is because he has forgotten moral righteousness. How can a man who forgets righteousness get along with him for a long time? I am not displeased with the king because of a mere courtesy!” So Lu Musheng claimed to be sick and resigned. Shen Gong and Bai Sheng remained by Liu Wu’s side.
Later, Liu Wu indulged in sex and became arrogant and brutal. In the second year of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty (155 BC), Empress Dowager Bo died, and during the mourning period, Liu Wu still drank and had fun, committing adultery.
Later, Emperor Jing cut off Liu Wu’s two fiefs in the East China Sea and Xue Di, so Liu Wu became furious and conspired with King Liu Pi of Wu to rebel.
Before Liu Wu’s rebellion, no matter how much Shen Gong and Bai Sheng advised him, Liu Wu refused to listen to them and humiliated them by sentencing them to the punishment of “xu wu” (labor). They were dressed in red prison clothes and tied with ropes, and were taken to the market to pound rice.
On the surface, Liu Wu, the king of Chu, just forgot to prepare sweet wine for a while, but based on the details of the change, Lu Musheng predicted that Liu Wu would gradually turn away from morality and should not be with him for a long time. It is amazing to see the smallest details.
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