Mencius said to him, "The king is belligerent. Please use the metaphor of war. Replenish drums, weapons company, abandon armor. Or stop after a hundred steps, or stop after fifty steps. What if the pot is too black? "
He said, "No, it's not a hundred steps straight, it's also a walk."
He said: "If Wang knows this, there is no hope that there will be more people in neighboring countries. If you don't go against the farming season, the valley can't take food; If you don't count, neither fish nor turtle can be eaten. Axe gold gets into the mountain in time, and mywood can't be used. Valley and fish turtles can't fight for food, and wood and wood can't fight for it, which makes people lose their lives and have no regrets. Keeping in good health and dying without regret is the beginning of kingly way.
Five acres of house, the tree is mulberry, and fifty people can wear clothes; Chickens, dolphins and dogs are all domestic animals, so there is no time to waste. Seventy people can eat meat; A hundred acres of land, if you don't hurry, a family of several can be hungry; I sincerely hope that the godson of the cult will be filial, and the winners will not be on the road. Seventy people eat meat, clothes and silk, and the Lebanese are neither hungry nor cold, but they are not kings and have nothing.
Dogs don't know when they eat food or when they are hungry. When people die, they say,' If it weren't for me, I would be old.' Why is it different from stabbing and killing people? It said,' Not me, but a soldier. The king is innocent, and the people in the world are heavy. "
Liang said: "I am trying my best to govern the country!" " When the harvest in Hanoi was not good, I moved the people there to Hedong and the grain from Hedong to Hanoi. Hedong harvest is not good, so am I. Investigating the politics of neighboring countries is not as good as my heart. However, the people of neighboring countries will not decrease, and our people will not increase. Why? "
Mencius replied, "Your Majesty, you like fighting. Please let me use the analogy of war. Drumming, soldiers charged, and after the weapons were connected, some people abandoned their armor and dragged their weapons and turned and ran. Some stopped after running a hundred paces, while others stopped after running fifty paces. What about the latter, who thinks he has only run 50 steps and laughs at people who have run 100 steps? "
Liang said, "No, I just didn't run to a hundred paces. This is also an escape. "
Mencius went on to say, "Your Majesty, since you know this truth, you can't expect your own people to be more than your neighbors. In terms of national governance, your majesty is actually as bad as the monarch of neighboring countries. If you don't violate the farming season, you can't finish eating millet; If you don't catch dense fishing nets in deep pools, fish and turtles will never finish; If the mountain is cut according to phenology, the wood is inexhaustible. Millet, fish and turtles can't finish eating, and wood can't be used up. This will make people's livelihood funeral without regrets and will not be short of money. Raise people's livelihood and have no regrets. This is the beginning of governing the country "king"!
A house of five acres, planted with mulberry trees, can be worn by people of fifty. Don't miss the opportunity to raise livestock, you can still eat meat at the age of 70; A hundred acres of land will not disturb the farming season, and a family of several will be free from hunger; Seriously set up schools, educate the people, and preach the truth of filial piety, so that white-haired people will no longer walk alone with their backs and things on their backs. Seventy-year-old people can wear silk and eat meat, and the people will never be hungry or cold, but they will not rule the world.
Officials, pigs and dogs eat people's food but don't know that picketing is forbidden. People who starve to death on the road don't know how to open a warehouse for relief. People died in large numbers, and they said,' Well, it's not my fault. Everyone blamed the failure that year.' What's the difference between this and stabbing someone and saying,' I didn't kill him, but the weapon killed him'? For the monarch, don't complain about years of success, don't shirk their duties, and really do things for the people; In this way, people from all over the world have joined in, so what is there to worry about' my people will not increase'? "
Here is a famous story-pot calling the kettle black.
Here we can see Mencius' understanding of national resources such as animals and manpower. In order to enrich the national resources, besides doing a good job in distribution like Liang, the most crucial and fundamental thing is to do a good job in production. If we want to do a good job in production, the essence is not to destroy the producers-that is, the people's production order; In the war-torn era like the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, few monarchs could do this.
Specifically, natural materials such as rice, fish, turtles and wood should be eaten less and used less; This contains the concept of "harmony between man and nature" and is also called the forerunner of "environmental protection concept" by later generations. For the people, in Mencius' eyes, the most sustainable way of growth is: not to disturb people's production and life, to provide people with reasonable planning, so that people can live and work in their own territory; In this way, not only existing people will not abandon themselves, but people all over the world will want to live here. It is also a good development path to make your country a frontier that everyone yearns for.
From then on, we can also realize that the "kingly way" and "benevolent government" discussed by Mencius and even the whole Confucianism are not just empty words. In addition to "respecting the monarch"-making the monarch's behavior conform to the requirements of "benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom", he also attaches importance to and enriches his career, which is why Mencius said that "to live without regret and to die without regret is also the beginning of kingliness".
The metaphor of Mencius' "pot calling the kettle black" is also meaningful. When answering Liang's question, Mencius first talked about "Wang belligerent"; We are wondering if there will be a layer of irony here-Liang, you like fighting, disrupting people's lives, trying to be brave and dominating, do you want more people? From this, we can sum up another proposition of Mencius: don't let state affairs such as war interfere with people's lives. I think Mencius believes that state affairs and people's livelihood should complement each other, rather than taking one as a bad thing and one as a disaster; People's livelihood is the foundation of state affairs, and the purpose of state affairs is to continuously improve people's livelihood.
Welcome to talk about * * * learning. Please correct me if there are omissions.