Emperor Shuang: The counterattack started from the Gaopingling Incident Chapter 333: The job of a retainer, General Zuo who can afford to support the retainers
Chapter 333: The job of a retainer, General Zuo who can afford to support the retainers
After the four people got on the carriage and sat down, the sound of horse hoofbeats sounded. Wang Chen stroked his beard and said: "Now Xiaoxian has become General Zuo and can run the government. Naturally, he needs to raise some people." Those who are just diners can probably afford it.
But I'm different. I used to be a prefect of a county, so I could afford some support, but now, hey..."
Being a retainer is a profession that has been popular since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It is not a problem to support yourself, and you can even support a whole family, not only providing food and accommodation, but also paying wages.
At that time, diners were also called diners. They were born to assist their masters and were also a symbol of the status and wealth of the nobles.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in order to consolidate their status, nobles recruited talents who were proficient in various industries. Anyone who defected to their sect would be taken in and supported. These supported people were called "menke". .
The disciples will serve their masters, such as giving advice when the master encounters difficulties, predicting the future, seeking good luck and avoiding misfortune, etc. Nobles will also carry them with them when they travel far or meet important people. A few diners so that they can be at your service at any time.
Of course, some of the diners are really talented and knowledgeable, and can provide timely help when the host needs help at the critical moment. However, there are also some people who pretend to be talented people just to get food and drink and infiltrate into the diners.
Their status is different from that of domestic servants. The diners usually do not have fixed jobs and do not have to do handymen. In this way, the master not only takes care of their food and drink, but also pays them wages. But when the master is in need , they need to be on the battlefield at any time.
In addition to the above-mentioned reasons for supporting retainers, the biggest reason is actually to be on par with the Qin national flag.
The culture of the Qin State has been far away from the Central Plains culture and the Western Zhou culture for a long time, and its resistance to systems such as the patriarchal system is relatively strong, while the Six Kingdoms of Shandong are different from the Qin State.
Therefore, it was relatively easy to implement reforms in Qin. But even under such circumstances, King Qin Huiwen killed Shang Yang to appease people's hearts.
In those countries in the Central Plains, the aristocratic power is even greater, and the aristocratic ideas are deeply rooted, which cannot be solved by just reform.
In order to prevent talents from all over the world from flowing into the Qin State, the nobles of the Central Plains came up with the idea of raising retainers. Lord Mengchang first began to recruit retainers.
He gave an order that as long as you are capable, no matter what kind of talent you are, you can all come to my door and gave a series of generous rewards.
With generous rewards, many people with lofty ideals would go to Lord Mengchang's tent to become his disciples. The same situation was almost the same for several other princes. This was the ultimate purpose of the four princes in the Warring States Period to support their followers.
The famous assassin Jing Ke was a disciple of Prince Dan of Yan.
Confucius, the most holy teacher, was also a disciple. When he said that he had been without a king for three days, he became so anxious that he traveled around the world and was ridiculed as a lost dog.
Mao Sui, who recommended himself, was also a retainer and returned to Zhao with the perfect jade. Lin Xiangru, who was in the general and minister, was originally a retainer of Zhao Guoling Miao Xian, but finally became the prime minister of Zhao state. This shows that as long as you have the strength, raising a retainer is a very cost-effective investment. If you can produce a few great talents among thousands of diners, you can make your money back.
The quantity and quality of hangers-on are a symbol of aristocratic status and wealth, and this is still the case today.
It is related to Mengchang's "not caring about the wise and foolish" in raising scholars. "When the roosters crow and dogs steal, the scholars will not come."
Most of Mengchangjun's customers are roosters, dogs, and thieves. Although the number of customers is large, the quality is poor.
Mr. Pingyuan has thousands of customers, but when it comes time to use them, he can't even choose twenty people.
When the Qin State besieged Handan, Zhao Sheng wanted to select 20 wise men to go to Chu and Wei for help, but after reading thousands of people, he could only pick 19.
Later, Mao Sui stood up and took the initiative to ask for reinforcements for the country. Finally, reinforcements were brought in and the siege of Handan was lifted.
Xinlingjun’s clientele had the best quality and the most outstanding talents. "Historical Records" records that "scholars fought thousands of miles to get back here." Many of Xinlingjun's clients abandoned Pingyuanjun and defected to Xinlingjun, but if they had no money, they would still want to
It is a burden to support so many customers.
Lord Mengchang supported thousands of scholars, but when Lord Mengchang fell into decline, only Feng Chen was left. Lord Mengchang lamented: "When the guests saw that the literature was declining, they all left with the literature on their backs, and no one cared about the literature." There can be three disciples like Xu Gong.
Revenge is extremely rare.
The nature of retainers is essentially different from that of domestic slaves. They are free people and independent individuals who can freely choose to stay or stay under whose sect they choose. Generally, a good master will respect retainers and treat them well.
"Warring States Policy" records: "If they cooperate, they will stay; if they don't, they will go."
Freedom to stay and go is a generally observed rule, but if a customer is too carefree, he will be ridiculed by the world.
In daily life, servants do not need to do the same chores as domestic slaves. They only need to complete specific tasks assigned by their masters, then they can eat and drink and do their own thing (generally they are only summoned when they need to do something), and they can also receive wages.
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This has also led to a problem, that is, some people with no talent have taken refuge in everyone just to eat and drink (such people are called "diners", which means they only know how to eat). Generally speaking, they are famous.
No one will refuse a diner, which also leads to a bad social status and reputation of the diners.
In terms of skills and purposes, retainers can be roughly divided into three categories: military retainers, literary retainers, and lobbyists.
Martial guests refer to those who practice martial arts and have certain martial arts skills. Generally speaking, the master does not raise these retainers for fighting, because there is an army for fighting, nor for security, because there is no shortage of nobles with high martial arts skills.
Guard.
As a warrior, the most important role of retainers is to carry out assassinations and assassinations.
Because there are so many and complicated customers, no one will count the specific customers under a person's name, and the customers are free persons and it is not easy to determine their identity. They are basically unknown people without owners, so they are very suitable for doing shameful things.
.
Assassination is a sneaky killing, and you can come back after the killing, but assassination basically means that the dead man will never come back.
A literary guest is a person who is well-read in poetry and books and has very original ideas. He can serve as a drafter or a teacher, or more advanced as a planner and strategist.
Generally speaking, the greater the master's wealth, the wider the scope of the scholar's role. He can help the master with suggestions and guidance, and he can reach a very high level.
The last type is the lobbyist, which is a retainer with outstanding eloquence and quick thinking who needs to help the master negotiate and lobby.
They generally accepted the mission of their masters and went out to negotiate with other countries as envoys to achieve certain goals. Manipulation was a very powerful thing in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
In addition to functional classifications, retainers also differ in level. After all, some great lords can have thousands of retainers. Not everyone is the same, so those who are able will naturally be given priority.
Generally speaking, the lowest-level disciples can only have food and clothing and cannot receive more care from the master. If they are not capable enough, they can only do simple things, or even have nothing to do.
And the highest-level diners can enjoy very high treatment: they have fish and meat for their meals, they have cars when they go out, and they have attendants to serve them. The lords generally respect these people and treat them as teachers and gentlemen. Naturally, they can also bring food to their lords.