Lord Mengchang of Qi
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Lord Mengchang (Chinese: 孟尝君; pinyin: Meng Chang Jun) was an aristocrat of the State of Qi in the Warring States Period. He was born as Tian Wen, son of Tian Ying and the grandson of King Wei of Qi. He succeeded his father's fief in Xue. Lord Mengchang is well known for the size of his entourage. According to The Records of the Grand Historian (史记), he was recorded to have up to three thousand people in his retinue team. [1] Lord Mengchang eventually become the Chancellor of Qi and Wei. He was also one of the Four Lords of the Warring States.
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[edit] Early Childhood
Lord Mengchang was born as Tian Wen (田文.) His father already had over 40 children by the time he was born and was prepared to leave him to starve to death. [2] Tian Wen was secretly breaded by his mother. At a very young age, he showed promising signs of talent and intelligent. One day, the young Tian Wen warned his father that although their lives had dramatically improved over the years, the family clan was in a short supply of intelligent counselors. [3] His father took in the advice and start welcoming normal people to join his clan. No matter your age, physical appearance, background and skill, everybody is welcomed. After you have joined the family clan, you are given shelter, food and a salary. As a result, people flooded in from all over the province. Because the family treats everybody with respect and honor, the Tian family prospered and Tian Wen’s name became well known. When Tian Ying died, Tian Wen became the ruler of the family clan backed by popular demand. He then took on the title of Lord Mengchang of Xue.
[edit] Young Lord Mengchang
As Lord Mengchang’s name spread, people started to come in from all over China. Many of them with no specific skills or have criminal backgrounds. Lord Mengchang still treats them equally and welcomes them with open arms. The size of his entourage has become a burden for the family’s livelihood over the years, but he was still determent to open his clan for everybody. Every night, Lord Mengchang would put up a dinner in the hall with all his entourage in attendance. He would setup staffs in the back and note down every single word that has been exchanged during the dinner. [4] He would then study the notes and learn from his advisers and take care of their needs if any. One night, during dinner, one of the guests was very upset due to the fact that he could not see what Lord Mengchang was eating because of bad lighting. He believed that the advisers were only eating leftovers. Lord Mengchang then stood up, walked to this person’s seat and showed him his bowl. It turned out to be the same and the guest was so ashamed that he committed suicide right on the spot. [5] Lord Mengchang’s praises have reached King of Qin who sent a messenger to Qi to invite the young Lord to meet him. Lord Mengchang wanted to go and meet the King. As he was just about to take off, many of his advisers told him not, including many native Qin citizens who talked him out of it by explaining King Qin would not have a good motive for this trip. [6]
[edit] First Trip to Qin
In 299BC, Lord Mengchang was sent to Qin on an official duty. King Zhuangxiang had heard so much about the young lord and wanted to appoint him as the new Chancellor of Qin. However, the king changed his mind and put Lord Mengchang under house arrest after receiving warnings from his ministers questioning the lord’s loyalty to his homeland - The State of Qi. [7] Desperate, Lord Mengchang sent a messenger to the king’s beloved concubine for help. The concubine asked for the fur coat of a white fox in exchange for her assistance. The young lord had already given this one of a kind coat to the king as a gift when he first arrived and King Zhuangxiang stored it in the Royal Treasure Deposit. One of his entourage who accompanied him to the trip was a skilled thief. He disguised himself as a dog and sneaked into the Royal Treasure Deposit under the darkness of the night and the coat was retreated safely. [8] Within two days, Lord Mengchang was released thanks to the pleads of the concubine. Lord Mengchang hired a chariot, forged his documents and dashed to the borders. By the midnight of next day, he had reached Xuangu Pass – The last checkpoint of Qin before entering Qi territories. At the same time, King Zhuangxiang, who regretted letting Lord Mengchang go, ordered a small size army to chase him down and take the lord into custody. The guards at Xuangu Pass would not let anybody go until the crow of the roosters in the morning. Anticipating that he was being chased, he turned to his entourage for help. One of his aids could manipulate different types of sounds and he faked the rooster crows at dawn which also woke up the rest of the roosters. Not knowing that he was a wanted man, the guards at the pass allowed Lord Mengchange and his entourage enter Qi territories and into safety. [9]
[edit] Chancellor of Qi
Out of guilt, the King of Qi appointed Lord Mengchang as the Chancellor after his return. Because his experience in Qin, the new Chancellor was gathering allies and asking neighboring countries like Wei & Han to return past flavors in order to prepare for war against Qin. [10] His adviser warned him of the consequences of the rising powers of its neighbors, which would eventually be dangerous for Qi if Qin is not in the equation. Instead, the adviser told the Chancellor that it was in their interest to allow Qin to grow in power, to maintain the balance of power to both Han and Wei so they would still rely heavily on Qi, the most powerful of the three states. [11] The Chancellor agreed and proceeds as planned. As his adviser predicted, King Zhuangxiang gave Qi the land and not a single drop of blood was shed among the four states.
[edit] Out of favor & exile
[edit] Re-emergence
[edit] References
- ^ 《史记•孟尝君列传》(Records of the Grand Historian, Memories of Lord Mengchang)
- ^ 《史记•孟尝君列传》:初，田婴有子四十馀人。其贱妾有子名文，文以五月五日生。婴告其母曰：“勿举也。” (At the beginning, Tian Ying had 40 plus kids. His concubine just gave birth to a boy on the 5th of May, named Wen. Tian Ying told her: “Don’t rise him!”)
- ^ 《史记•孟尝君列传》文曰：“君用事相齐，至今三王矣，齐不加广而君私家富累万金，门下不见一贤者。文闻将门必有将，相门必有相。今君後宫蹈绮縠而士不得褐，仆妾馀粱肉而士不厌糟。今君又尚厚积馀藏，欲以遗所不知何人，而忘公家之事日损，文窃怪之。” (Tian Wen said “Father has been in charge of this clan for over 3 generations. Today, we have over 10,000 ounces of gold, but we can’t even find an intelligent person in the staff. I heard that Military Families have generals to train them the art of war. Administrative families have chancellor to teach them the path of becoming a good ruler. But all you are wives with unlimited amount of cloths, servants with left over food in their mouth and our advisers are left out in the cold without anything. Father only believes in how to save up more and can not even name all your advisers. We are losing ground in the warring time and I just don’t understand.”)
- ^ 《史记•孟尝君列传》孟尝君待客坐语，而屏风後常有侍史，主记君所与客语. (same as in the article)
- ^ 《史记•孟尝君列传》孟尝君曾待客夜食，有一人蔽火光。客怒，以饭不等，辍食辞去。孟尝君起，自持其饭比之。客惭，自刭。(same as in the article)
- ^ 《史记•孟尝君列传》苏代谓曰：“今旦代从外来，见木禺人与土禺人相与语。木禺人曰：‘天雨，子将败矣。’ 土禺人曰：‘我生於土，败则归土。今天雨，流子而行，未知所止息也。’ 今秦，虎狼之国也，而君欲往，如有不得还，君得无为土禺人所笑乎？”孟尝君乃止。(A guy named 苏代 said “Today, as I was coming back from outside, I saw a Scarecrow arguing with a Clayman. The Scarecrow said to Clayman ‘When it rains, you are doomed.’ Clayman replied ‘I was born in mud, when I die, I return to mud. If it rains today, the water will wash you away, not sure when you will end up.’ Today, Qin Kingdome is a country that’s as hostile as tigers and wolfs. If you go, and not able to come back, isn’t it just like the Scarecrow?” Lord Mengchang agreed and stopped planning the trip.)
- ^ 《史记•孟尝君列传》人或说秦昭王曰：“孟尝君贤，而又齐族也，今相秦，必先齐而后秦，秦其危矣。”於是秦昭王乃止。(人或 said to King Zhuangxiang “Lord Mengchang has talent indeed, but he is still a royal member of the King Qi. If he became Chancellor, he would put State of Qi before us and we would be doomed.)
- ^ 《史记•孟尝君列传》孟尝君有一狐白裘，直千金，天下无双，入秦献之昭王，更无他裘。最下坐有能为狗盗者，曰：“臣能得狐白裘。”乃夜为狗，以入秦宫臧中，取所献狐白裘至，以献秦王幸姬。(same as in the article)
- ^ 《史记•孟尝君列传》孟尝君至关，关法鸡鸣而出客，孟尝君恐追至，客之居下坐者有能为鸡鸣，而鸡齐鸣，遂发传出。(same as in the article)
- ^ 孟尝君怨秦，将以齐为韩、魏攻楚，因与韩、魏攻秦，而借兵食于西周。(same as the article)
- ^ 苏代为西周谓曰：“君以齐为韩、魏攻楚九年，取宛、叶以北以强韩、魏，今复攻秦以益之。韩、魏南无楚忧，西无秦患，则齐危矣。韩、魏必轻齐畏秦，臣为君危之。君不如令敝邑深合于秦，而君无玫，又无借兵食。君临函谷而无攻，令敝邑以君之情谓秦昭王曰‘薛公必不破秦以强韩、魏。其攻秦也，欲王之令楚王割东国以与齐，而秦出楚怀王以为和’。君令敝邑以此惠秦，秦得无破而以东国自免也，秦必欲之。楚王得出，必德齐。齐得东国益强，而薛世世无患矣。秦不大弱，而处三晋之西，三晋必重齐。” (苏代 said : “Look at us, we spent 9 years fighting for Han & Wei to battle Chu. Took down cities like Wan & Yei. Today, if we go to war with Qin, then Han & Wei would not have any enemies in the north nor the south, then we will be in great danger. Instead, why don’t you send the army to Xuangu Pass & tell King Zhuangxiang that you don’t want war nor you would support any other country to fight them, but you want the leftover state of Chu to be merged into Qi’s territories. King Zhuangxiang will avoid a war & we get an extra section of land, everybody is happy.”)
