The king of the state of Wei had the intention of attacking Handan，the capital of the state of Yue．Ji Liang，a minister of the state of Wei，heard of this and broke off his journey to return to the state of Wei．He went to see the king before even stopping to smooth the creases of his clothes or flicking the dust off his head．“Your Majesty，”said Ji Liang，“on my way here I saw a man on a main road driving his carriage northwards．”
“He said to me，‘I want to go to the state of Chu．'
“‘If you want to go to the state of Chu，why are you going north？'I asked．“‘I have fine horses，’he said．“‘Even though you have good horses，this is not the road to the state of Chu，’I pointed out．‘I have plenty of money for my journey．’he said．“‘Even though you have a lot of money for your journey，this is not the road to the state of Chu．’I said．“‘I have an excellent driver for my carriage．’he said．“The better are the resources he mentioned，the farther he was going away from the state of Chu．“Now Your Majesty seeks to rise above all the other kings and win the confidence and support of the common people everywhere．However，you plan to expand your territories and raise your prestige by attacking Handan，relying on the powerful strength of your state and the well-trained soldiers under your command．The more you move in this direction the farther away you are from your goal of ruling over all the states．This is as effective as going north while hoping to reach the state of Chu．”
Exercises：
回答下列问题：
① What did the king of the state of Wei intend to do？
②Who did Ji Liang，a minister of the state of Wei，see on his re-turn to the state of Wei？
③ Why did the man go north instead of going south？
④ What can we learn from this？ |