King Zhuang of Chu removed the obstacle of Ruoao and began to flex his muscles and realize his political ambitions. To do this, the first thing he had to do was to recruit talents. Someone recommended a strange person to him.
This person has some origins. His surname is Mi, his surname is Qin, his given name is Ao, his courtesy name is Sun Shu, and his historical name is Sun Shuao. This person’s surname is Qin, why is he also called Sun Shuao? It turns out that his father is Sima of Chu State who was killed by Dou Yuejiao.
After the death of Hao Jia, the remnants of the Hao family fled Yingdu. In order to hide their names, Sun was adopted as their surname. Hao Ao thus became Sun Shuao.
According to the record of "Xunzi Feixiang": "Sun Shu'ao, a descendant of Chu, is the humble person of Qi Si." In other words, after the Sun Shu'ao family fled from Yingdu, they lived in Qisi (now Huaibin County, Henan Province).
Countryside.
There are many legends about the wonder of Sun Shuao. One of them is this story:
It is said that when Sun Shuao was young, there was a saying in his hometown that there was a two-headed snake by the swamp. If anyone encountered it, he would definitely die. One day, Sun Shuao went up the mountain to cut firewood and was walking. Suddenly, there was a snake in the mountains and forests.
A snake sprang out. I saw that the snake had two heads and one body. Isn't this the legendary two-headed snake? Sun Shuao let out a strange cry, turned around and ran away. After running a few steps, he stopped again. After thinking about it,
So he boldly walked back. The snake was still where it was. Sun Shuao rushed up, slashed with his knife, and chopped the snake into several pieces. He chopped the snake to death, but he couldn't help being frightened and ran back all the way. After all, he was a human being.
The child became more and more frightened as he thought about it. He ran home and cried all the way. When he got home, his mother asked him why he was crying.
Sun Shuao said: "I can't survive." Sun Shuao said while crying.
The mother said: "Good boy, what nonsense are you talking about? Why can't you live well?"
Sun Shuao cried: "I encountered a two-headed snake."
The mother was shocked and said, "Ah, you saw a two-headed snake? What about the snake?"
Sun Shuao said: "I hacked him to death."
His mother panicked and said, "This is a divine snake. How dare you kill it?" Sun Shuao's mother screamed. For this village woman, killing a two-headed snake would be a big disaster. She was the same as Sun Shuao.
Terrified, she asked: "You know that the snake is ferocious, how come you dare to kill it?"
Sun Shuao said: "If I don't kill it, others will die if they encounter this snake in the future. Anyway, I have already encountered it. If you want to die, I will be the only one. So I killed the snake."
After hearing this, Sun Shuao's mother didn't know what to say. After a pause, she sighed and began to gently comfort her son, urging him not to be afraid. Because she knew that the reason why Sun Shuao was able to do this was because of her usual
the results of education.
Sun Shuao asked: "Mom, you have always told me that you should not only care about yourself in everything, but also think about others. I risked my life to kill two snakes today. Is this something I should do?"
Grandmother said: ""You are doing the right thing. Not only should you be like this, if you become an official in the future, you must work for the welfare of the people. Not just for yourself.
Sun Shuao nodded and said, "My child, remember this."
Later, this incident spread, and some people came specifically to visit Sun Shuao. They wanted to know whether the young man who killed the two-headed snake had three heads and six arms.
Will the two ends die? After this back and forth, Sun Shuao's fame spread. People said that Sun Shuao had a benevolent heart and could do great things in the future.
A few years later, when Sun Shuao had become famous, people called the mountain where he killed the two-headed snake "Snake Enters the Mountain". More about this later.
The King of Chuzhuang didn't care about this. He was more concerned about whether Sun Shuao had the ability to govern the country. After inspection, he found that Sun Shuao was indeed extraordinary, so he made an exception. Some people said that Sun Shuao had not achieved any merit, so how could he be promoted exceptionally? Chuzhuang
Wang was also a little hesitant.
One day, Wu Ju came to see him. King Zhuang of Chu told Wu Ju his intention to recruit Sun Shuao.
Wu Ju said: "The prosperity of a country depends on talents. As long as the person has real talent and knowledge and the ability to govern the country and ensure peace of the country, of course, his moral character must also be reliable. No matter what his background is, he should be hired."
King Zhuang of Chu said: "I have examined his talent. He is indeed a genius."
Wu Ju asked: "What position does the king intend to appoint him to?"
King Chuzhuang hesitated and said: "The Ruo Ao family has been in power for many years, and it was difficult to get rid of it. I want to change this situation. This time, I plan to let
Sun Shuao came to compete for Yuejiao's position. What do you think?"
Wu Ju smiled and said, "In that case, I think it's okay."
Early the next morning, King Zhuang of Chu announced in public that he would promote Sun Shuao to the rank of senior official of the State of Chu, with an official position of Ling Yin.
When the ministers heard about this appointment, they were all shocked. Because Sun Shuao was a commoner, and most importantly, Sun Shuao had never done any great achievements. How could he rise to the top in one fell swoop? Seeing that everyone was in a low mood, King Zhuang of Chu said: "The post of Commander Yin
, ranking first among the ministers. It is necessary for those who have both ability and political integrity to occupy this position. Sun Shuao is a talented person with excellent academic skills and a reputation for virtue. There have been rumors for a long time. I believe you have heard about it."
No one among the ministers came out to agree. When Wu Ju saw this, he came out and said: "Your Majesty is wise. In my dynasty, Jiang Taigong once fished in Feng River, but he was just an old man. King Wu of Zhou promoted Jiang Taigong. Guan Zhong of Qi State once served as
Duke Huan of Qi promoted him as a trafficker. Both Jiang Taigong and Guan Zhong were from very low backgrounds, but they were both outstanding talents. How could they be judged based on their background?"
When Wu Ju said this, he glanced at King Chuzhuang. Seeing that no one was speaking, King Chuzhuang directly announced: "Since everyone has no objections, the matter is settled."
For Sun Shuao, going from a commoner to a prime minister was a step up to the sky. He did not feel complacent, but felt heavy pressure all over his body. He secretly vowed to devote his whole body and soul to serving the country of Chu. For this reason, he dared to put pressure on himself
net worth and life.
King Chuzhuang needed this kind of spirit. He originally had many ideas, but with Sun Shuao's execution, he became even more powerful.
The two first carried out some reforms in the politics of Chu State, and the most important thing was to change the employment rules. In the past, most of the officials in Chu State were members of the nobility. Now, as soon as Sun Shuao came to power, he vigorously promoted the meritocracy method. Every year,
They also inspected the officials and punished or dismissed those who were ineffective in governing. In this way, the political system of Chu State was greatly improved.
Then, they began to reorganize the army. They made some adjustments in the army's command, drills, and rewards for military merit, which improved the army's style.
In other aspects, Sun Shuao also implemented some new policies. He encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland, increase the area of cultivation, and harvest more grain. He also encouraged merchants to trade, and the court set up cards to collect taxes. In this way, the national income increased.
After King Zhuang of Chu came to power, he did not like the original relatively small currency of Chu and ordered it to be changed to a larger currency. Sun Shuao collected public opinion and suggested that King Chuzhuang change the large currency back to its original small state. He said: "
People think that large coins are too heavy and difficult to carry. The most important thing is that it is troublesome to trade. They still like small coins."
King Zhuang of Chu said: "Since Sun Lingyin has collected public opinion, let's change it back."
Sun Shuao and King Zhuang of Chu often discussed together how to make the country rich and strengthen its army. Sun Shuao said: "The foundation of a rich country lies in food. And land and water sources are the foundation of food. Chu State has a vast territory and can dominate the world. The key is food."
King Zhuang of Chu asked: "How to increase grain production?"
Sun Shuao said: "If you open more arable land, your food income will inevitably increase."
King Chuzhuang said: "As long as you can do this, if you want money, I will give you money, if you want people, I will give them, if you want officials, I will give them officials, then you can go ahead and do it."
Sun Shuao had lived in the Qisi area, and he knew that there was a lot of arable land in that area, but it was short of water. So, he found several famous hydraulic workers, conducted a detailed survey of the rivers in the Qisi area, and finally decided to use the local
A water conservancy project was built on a river called "Shihe". According to "Huainanzi·Huanjianxun" records: "The water of Jueqisi (the Shihe River in today's Huaibin County, Henan) irrigates the wilderness."
In order to build this water conservancy project, Sun Shuao recruited hydraulic workers from all over the country and almost all the hydraulic workers that Chu could collect. He also recruited hundreds of thousands of civilians and mobilized some troops to manage it.
During the excavation of the project, King Zhuang of Chu gave Sun Shuao strong support and supplied all the money and food he needed.
Sun Shuao knew that this project could only succeed but not fail, so in addition to managing the government affairs, he focused all his energy on the project. Whenever he was free, he would go to the construction site. Sometimes, he would live on the construction site.
One or two months. As long as he comes to Xiancheng, he will stay at the construction site all day long, checking the quality, supervising the progress, solving problems, etc. In order to accurately and timely understand the employment situation and the needs of the migrant workers, he often talks with the migrant workers.
We excavated earth and moved rocks together. When we were tired and hungry, we drank and ate with the workers on the construction site. Sun Shuao took the lead and had a management style without official pretensions, which greatly boosted morale. He supervised officials from the top down to the ordinary
The workers were all excited. This project was built almost under Sun Shuao's hand.
After nearly two years, after spending a lot of manpower, material resources and money, the project was successfully completed. Sun Shuao named the project Shaopi. At that time, Shaopi was considered the largest water conservancy project in the history of Chu State.
After the construction of Shaopei, the water of the Shihe River has been regulated and utilized. In the rainy season, Shaopei can divert floods, and in the dry season, Shaopei can draw water from the Shihe River for irrigation. Due to the abundant water in the upper reaches, the downstream can irrigate more than 100 people.
Thousands of acres of farmland.
Chu State suddenly gained more than one million acres of farmland, and the annual grain production increased significantly. The people were grateful to Sun Shuao and praised him. A few years later, Chu State became increasingly wealthy, and its population also increased. From then on, it began to become