Original text:
King Hui of Liang said, "I am a country, and I devote myself to it. If Hanoi is fierce, the people will move to Hedong and the millet will move to Hanoi; Hedong is also fierce. People who observe the politics of neighboring countries have no intention like me. There are no more people in neighboring countries, and there are no more people in my country.
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. Health is dead without regret, and the beginning of the king is also. " Five acres of houses, trees with mulberry trees, fifty 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 few people in a family 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 people's food, and they don't know when they are hungry. When people die, they say,' It's not me, it's age.' What's the difference between stabbing people and killing people, saying,' It's not me, it's a soldier'? The king is innocent, and the people in the world are heavy. "
Translation:
Liang said: "I finally did my best for my country. When there was a famine in Hanoi, people there were moved to Hedong, and food from Hedong was transported to Hanoi. The same is true in Hedong, in case of famine. No one knows the politics of neighboring countries like me. The number of people in neighboring countries has not decreased, and my number has not increased. Why? "
Mencius replied, "Your Majesty likes fighting. Let me use the metaphor of war. Drumming, the two armies go to war, and the defeated throw away their armor and drag their weapons to escape. Some people escape a hundred steps and then stop, while others escape fifty steps and then stop. What if you only run fifty steps and laugh at others for running a hundred steps? "
Liang said, "No way. It's just that I didn't run a hundred steps. This is also an escape. "
Mencius said: "If you understand this truth, don't expect your own people to be more than your neighbors.
"Don't delay the season of agricultural production, food will continue. If the dense nets don't enter the pond, aquatic products such as fish and turtles will be inexhaustible. Logging in the mountains according to a certain season will produce inexhaustible wood. Food and aquatic products can't be eaten up, and wood can't be used up, so that the people are not dissatisfied with living, raising and burial. People are born and die, which is the beginning of king.
"Five acres of residential land, mulberry, fifty people can wear silk. Don't delay the breeding opportunities of chickens, pigs and dogs. Only people aged 70 can eat meat. A hundred acres of land, without delaying its farming season, can save a family from hunger. Carefully set up school education, repeatedly tell the people the truth of respecting the old and loving the young, so that this gray-haired old man will no longer walk on the road with heavy objects on his head. 70-year-old people can wear silk and eat meat. None of the people are hungry and cold. No one has ever unified the world and won't be king.
"Pigs and dogs eat their food and don't stop; There are people starving to death on the road, and I don't know how to open a warehouse for relief. When people die, they say,' It's not my fault, it's because I'm young.' What's the difference between this statement and killing someone with a knife and saying,' I didn't kill anyone, it was a murder weapon'? Your Majesty, don't blame Niancheng, then everyone in the world will come to submit. "
Appreciate:
This paper discusses how to implement "benevolent government" and unify the world with "kingly way". "Keeping in good health and losing one's life is the beginning of kingly way" and "seventy people eat clothes and silks, and the people are not hungry or cold, but they are not kings and have everything" are the crowning touch of the article, highlighting the main idea of the article: only by implementing benevolent government can we win the hearts of the people; Only by winning the hearts of the people can we win the world. This idea of "protecting the people is king" is actually the embodiment of Mencius' people-oriented thought.