Annotations to Canon III:—
The King of Ch`i once asked Viscount Wên how to
govern a state well. In reply Viscount Wên said: "Indeed,
reward and punishment as means of political control are
sharp weapons. Your Majesty should have them in your
grip and never show them to anybody else. For ministers
turn to reward and honour like wild deer going to luxuriant
grass."
The King of Yüeh once asked High Official Chung,
"I want to attack Wu. Is it practicable?" "Certainly
practicable," replied Chung. "Our rewards are liberal
and of faith; our punishments are strict and definite. If
Your Majesty wants to know the effect of reward and
punishment, why should Your Majesty hesitate to try
setting fire to the palace building?" Thereupon fire was
set to the palace building, whereas nobody would come to put
the fire out. Accordingly, an order was issued that "those
who die
[30]
in the suppression of the fire shall be rewarded
like men killed by enemies in war, those who are not killed
in the suppression of the fire shall be rewarded like men
victorious over enemies in war, and those who do not take
part in putting the fire out shall be held guilty as men
surrendering to or escaping from enemies". In consequence,
men who painted their bodies with mud and put on wet
clothes and rushed
[31]
at the fire numbered three thousands
from the left and three thousands from the right. In this
way the King knew the circumstances assuring victory.
When Wu Ch`i was Governor of the Western River District
under Marquis Wu of Wey, Ch`in had a small castle standing
close by the state border. Wu Ch`i wanted to attack it, for
if it were not got rid of, it would remain a serious harm to
the farmers in the neighbourhood. Yet, to get rid of it,
he could not enlist sufficient armed troops. Thereupon he
leaned the shaft of a carriage outside the north gate and
ordered that anybody able to remove the shaft to the outside
of the south gate should be awarded a first-class field and a
first-class residence. Yet nobody dared to remove it. As
soon as somebody removed it, he was rewarded according
to the order. All at once Wu Ch`i placed one picul of red
beans outside the east gate and ordered that anybody able
to remove it to the outside of the west gate should be
rewarded similarly. This time men struggled to remove it.
Thereupon he issued the order, "On storming the castle
to-morrow, the foremost to rush into it shall be appointed
High Officer in the State and awarded a first-class field and
a first-class residence." Then men as expected struggled for
precedence to rush into the castle, so that they stormed it
and took it in a forenoon.
When Li K`uei was Governor of the Upper Land under
Marquis Wên of Wey, he wanted every man to shoot well.
So he issued the order that men involved in any unsettled
legal dispute should be ordered to shoot the target, and
those who hit the target should win the suit and those who
missed it should lose it. As soon as the order was issued,
everybody started to practise archery day and night and
never stopped. When they came to war with the Ch`ins,
they imposed a crushing defeat upon the enemy inasmuch
as every one of them was a good archer.
Once a slum-dweller of Ch`ung-mên in Sung, by observing
funeral rites, injured his health and became very thin.
Regarding him as filially pious to his parents, the sovereign
raised him and appointed him Master of Official Rites. In the
following year more than ten men died of physical injury
by observing funeral rites. Now, sons observe funeral rites
for their parents because they love them. Even then the
sons can be encouraged with rewards. How much more
can ordinary people be encouraged by the ruler and superior?
The King of Yüeh schemed to attack Wu. As he wanted
everybody to make light of death in war, once when he
went out and saw an angry frog, he saluted it accordingly.
"Why should Your Majesty pay it such respects?" asked
his attendants. "Because it possesses a courageous spirit,"
replied the King. Starting from the following year every
year there were more than ten men who begged to offer
their heads to the King. From this viewpoint it is clear
that honour is sufficient to drive anybody to death.
According to a different source: King Kou-chïen of
Yüeh once saw an angry frog and saluted it, when the
coachman asked, "Why does Your Majesty salute it?"
In reply the King said, "A frog having a courageous spirit
as such does deserve my salute!" Hearing this, both gentry
and commons said: "The spirited frog was saluted by
the King, to say nothing of the gentry and commons who
are brave." That year there were men who cut off their heads
to death and offered their heads to the King. Therefore,
the King of Yüeh in order to wage a successful war of
revenge against Wu experimented on his instructions.
When he set fire to a tower and beat the drum, the people
rushed at the fire because reward was due to the fire; when
he faced a river and beat the drum, the people rushed at
the water because reward was due to the water; and when
on the war front, the people had their heads cut off and
stomachs chopped open with no frightened mind because
reward was due to combat. If so, it goes without saying
that to promote the wise in accordance with the law reward
would be even more useful than on those occasions.
Marquis Chao of Han once ordered men to store up old
trousers. The attendants remarked: "Your Highness is
rather unkind, not giving old trousers to servants around
but storing them up." "The reason is not what you,
gentlemen, know," said Marquis Chao in response. "I
have heard that an enlightened sovereign, though fond of
frowning and smiling, always frowns because there is
something to frown at and smiles because there is something
to smile at. Now, trousers are not as simple as sneers and
smiles, nay, they are very different from the latter. I must
wait for men of merit and therefore store up the trousers
and never give them away.
Eels resemble snakes, silkworms resemble moths. When
men see snakes, they are frightened; when they see moths,
their hair stands up. Nevertheless, women pick up silkworms
and fishermen grasp eels. Thus, where there lies profit,
people forget their dislike and all become as brave as
Mêng Pên and Chuan Chu.
