Fan Li, a generation of business sage, the way to make money, and Fan Li's life.

He has the ability to preserve the country and protect the monarch, and has the ability to train commanders. If he succeeds, he will know how to advance and retreat. It can be known that Gou Jian can be * * in trouble but not * * in wealth, and it can be known that birds do their best in human accidents. Later generations sighed:

Regardless of fame and fortune, I swam from one mountain and one water.

I was born useful, and people who do business will be rejected;

The wealth of great wealth dissipates, and the wealth of three scattered sources returns;

Insight into worldly affairs is foolish, while Anbang is rich in Tao Zhugong.

There is a poem in the Tang Dynasty: Can you guess why I set sail, like an ancient wise lover, crossing the misty five lakes and forgetting the words? .

Fan Li, a Chu man, disappeared into the crowd. He usually plays the fool on the surface and lives a poor life of farming and studying. Later, when I met the language of the same country, although they all wanted to serve the country, they all had no chance to display their talents. Later, Gou Jian, the king of Yue, was thirsty for talent, and the news spread to Chu. The two decided to go to Yue to create something.

Wuyue is two countries in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Wu is in the south of Jiangsu, with its capital in Gusu (now Wuxian, Jiangsu), the more it is in Zhejiang, and its capital is in Huiji (now southeast of Shaoxing, Zhejiang). At that time, Wu was a powerful country with relatively backward culture and economy and weak national strength. Wu and Vietnam have been at war. In 5 10, He Lv, the king of Wu, was injured and died at a stop in D Li (now south of Jiaxing, Zhejiang). His son, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, remembered his father's last words and stepped up his training day and night, ready to attack Yue State and avenge his father.

Fan Benhe is now in Yue, helping Gou Jian, the king of Yue, to develop his national strength. Gou Jian wanted to strike first and attack the State of Wu. He thought Yue's strength was not strong enough and tried to dissuade him. Gou Jian didn't listen. The result was defeated in Fujiao (now Dongting Mountain, Taihu Lake, Jiangsu Province). Only 5,000 defeated troops retreated to Kuaiji Mountain and were surrounded by Wu Jun. Gou Jian had no choice but to secretly give beauty and treasure to the greedy and lecherous prince of Wu with the counsel of Fan Li and Wen Zi. Wen Zi said to the prince of Wu, "Please forgive Gou Jian's crime. If Gou Jian had no choice, he would kill his wife and children and burn the treasure. There are 5,000 soldiers with him. Taizai worshipped Cai Yichun and said, "Gou Jian is willing to surrender and be your courtier. Forgiving him is beneficial to our country. "Wu Zixu, the master of Wu, dissuaded him many times, thinking that he would take this opportunity to destroy Yue State to eliminate future troubles, and stopped him from saying," Gou Jian is a visionary monarch, Fan Li and Wen Zi are shrewd advisers, and they will cause trouble in the future. " However, Fu Cha thought that crossing the country was not enough, so he agreed to surrender.

Fan Li advised Gou Jian to surrender, not to disgrace his ambition, and promised to be a slave in Wu for three years and accompany him there. In the state of Wu, Fan Li always protected Gou Jian's safety. Advise him that only by putting up with what others can't stand can he do what others can't do. In Wu, Gou Jian was fed horses to Fu Cha, cleaned the stables, and even tasted Fu Cha's excrement, and was humiliated. Fan Li has always been loyal and refused to give up Gou Jian, enjoying a high official position in the State of Wu. Gou Jian's humiliation finally won Fu Cha's favor and trust, and he was released to China three years later.

After returning to China, Gou Jian was determined to strive for self-improvement and never forgot his ambition to revitalize Yue. He reused loyal and talented Fan Li and style of writing, adopted their skills of governing the country and revitalized the country in a down-to-earth manner. Gou Jian wants to ask Fan Li, who is at odds with him, to help him manage domestic politics. Fan Li said: "I am not as good at writing as leading troops to fight;" Pacify the country and get close to the people. I am not as good as a scholar. " Therefore, Wen Zi handles state affairs, while Fan Li manages the army and trains soldiers, and handles military affairs, so they can give full play to their advantages in crossing the country. He also formulated a grand strategy for Gou Jian, making friends with Qi, getting close to Chu and attaching to Jin, ostensibly pleasing Wu, avoiding its attack and striving for time to make Yue strong.

While vigorously administering the State of Yue, it also constantly attacked the State of Wu from within. Fan Li also bribed Wu Taizai Hai with a large sum of money to put in a good word for the King of Yue in front of the King of Wu. He also dedicated the stone and two beautiful women to the prince of Wu, making Fu Cha lustful, drinking and having fun, and ignoring political affairs. He also designed a plan for Wu to build a large-scale project, which seriously consumed Wu's manpower and material resources and made politics more decadent. Wu Zixu remonstrated many times, but was reprimanded. Finally, during the drought in Taizai, Fu Cha gave him a sword and killed Wu Zixu. Taizai regretted Song Huan's power, and Wu was even more loyal, obstructed in every way, and evil spirits were in power, conquering the Central Plains year after year, which greatly damaged his national strength. Gou Jian, Fan Li and Wen Zi, the King of Yue, are all very happy to see this situation. At this time, the population of Vietnam increased greatly, talents were widely gathered, the army was well trained, and the national strength was restored and developed.

Seeing that it was time to destroy Wu, Fan Li came up with a plan to encourage the king of Wu to go north to attend the Huangchi meeting, so that he could take all the elite soldiers of Wu. Fucha really understands. Fifty thousand soldiers of the Vietnamese army took the opportunity to kill the king of Wu by surprise. In 473 BC, he defeated Wu again and killed Fu Cha.

However, at the celebration, Gou Jian didn't laugh. Fan Li sighed privately and said, "The King of Yue doesn't want to give credit to his deputies. He already suspects us!" He knows that he and Wen Zi have made great contributions over the years, and if they don't leave early, they will not come to a good end. So I bid farewell to Gou Jian the next day and said, "I would like to beg for bones and grow old in Jianghu." Gou Jian wept bitterly and wet his skirt. He said, "I got here with your help. How could you leave me alone? Stay and take you across the country. If you leave, kill your wife and children! " Fan Li replied, "As a courtier, I should die. What is the crime of my wife and children? " But life and death depend on your majesty's words. I don't care anymore. "So that night, Fan Li abandoned his family, drove a boat that had already been prepared, waded across the Three Rivers, entered the Five Lakes, and left the country according to the planned route. Up to now, there is a place called Likou in Sanjiang, where Fan Li boarded the ship. Before he left, he wrote a letter to Wen Zi:

Although I am not a wise man, I still understand the timing of advance and retreat. Birds hide with bows, rabbits cook dogs; It's been a long time since the enemy was defeated and the counselor died. Gou Jian is gloomy, mean and ungrateful, with a long neck and a beak, and an eagle looks at the wolf; You can have trouble with him, but not with happiness. Your reputation and fame are unique in Yue. If you don't prepare early, the disaster will not be far away!

Wen Zi didn't believe him. Gou Jian learned that Fan Li had escaped and had to give up. He sealed the land of Fan Li's family for hundreds of miles, and asked the good worker to cast a statue of Fan Li in pure gold and put it next to the seat, as if Fan Li were nearby, to show his heart.

However, Gou Jian was indeed alienated by literary genre, and there was no special reward for his contribution. Soon, Wen Zi got an excuse to die, and imitated Fan Li's preferential treatment, and buried Wen Zi's body in the western hills of Haocheng, named "Planting Mountain".

Fan Li left Yue State and began to manage industry in the East China Sea. He crossed the sea with his savings and came to Qi. Because he admired Wu Zixu's loyalty and lamented that he was brutally killed by Fu Cha, the king of Wu, he named it Yiyan Zipi, which means Fu Cha, Yan Yi, Wu Zixu.

Fan Li and his son engaged in the combination of agriculture and industry in Qi State, and accumulated hundreds of thousands of funds. Qi Hou knew that he was very talented and wanted to ask him to be a state minister. He said, "It's unlucky to be honored for a long time!" So I scattered all my wealth to my relatives and friends, and then moved to Dingtao. Dingtao is the transportation hub of the Central Plains, and Fan Li is also known as Tao Zhugong. During the Spring and Autumn Period, individual businessmen appeared, developed rapidly and had abundant capital. For example, Gao Xian, a businessman from the state of Zheng, can drive a large number of cattle for trade between countries; In the later period, the merchants' power to defend the country expanded to the point where they could be embarrassed with * * *. There are Zi Gong, Bai Gui, Yi Dun, Guo Zong and others, all of whom are very rich businessmen. Fan Li is one of the most outstanding businessmen in this group. He is engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry production, and also in the resale business. In a few years, he accumulated wealth and wealth. Since his home was in Yue, he continued to marry in Dingtao and gave birth to three sons.

Fan Li's vision is consistent with his political future and wise management of industry. People once went against his idea, which led to family tragedy, but it turned out that the foresight he gained from his life experience was very accurate. Fan Li's second son was imprisoned for committing a crime in Chu, and he wanted to redeem it with a large sum of money, so he loaded a cart of gold and let his youngest son go. But the eldest son struggled to leave, and the wife supported the eldest son. Tao Zhugong had to send his eldest son to ask him to send a letter to his old friend Johnson. Before leaving, he said to his eldest son, "Give all the gold in this cart to Zhuang Sheng and let him do anything." The eldest son went to Chu, found the banker and did as his father told him. Johnson told him to go back at once. Even if the second brother was released, there was no need to ask why. Although Zhuang Sheng is poor, he is famous for his honesty, and even officials and ministers in the State of Chu respect him. He doesn't want to accept gold, but only wants to return it as a pledge of trust after completion. Zhuang Sheng went to the imperial court to visit the king of Chu, saying that a constellation predicted disaster tonight, and if the king of Chu was virtuous, it could be eliminated. So the king of Chu sent someone to seal up San Qian's house as a sign of thrift. However, at this time, other officials reported that his younger brother was saved because he accepted the gold bribed by Tao Zhugong's eldest son (which was done by the eldest son without authorization). Because the king of Chu sealed San Qian's house, as usual, he wanted to grant amnesty to the whole world. The eldest son got the news and saw that it had been successful. Why did he lose the gold? He went to see Zhuang Sheng again and said that he would forgive his second brother. Knowing his thoughts, Zhuang Sheng returned all the gold. Zhuang Sheng was very angry and thought he had been cheated. He once again asked to see the king of Chu and told him the rumor that he would be pardoned. The king of Chu was furious because he was found to have failed to realize his intention, and immediately dealt with the criminal. Fan Li's second son was sentenced to death. As a result, the eldest son went back to find the second brother. Both the mother and the villagers were very sad, but only Tao Zhugong said, "I expected this. Because my eldest son and I are in trouble, running an industry and cherishing money like life; The younger son has never suffered, and he doesn't know that property is hard to come by, so this can only be done by the younger son. The result is inevitable and there is nothing to be sad about. "

Throughout his life, Fan Li can be regarded as a talent who learns from the country and the world. He has the knowledge that he will retire when he becomes famous. There is both foresight and wisdom to make money and get rich. It can be described as a generation of strange people. Xiao Jun once wrote a poem praising Fan Li:

Will be in front of the mountain, try to help the poor first;

After three years of humiliation, I went to work and left a smile.

Later, people from Liang Wudi offered sacrifices to Fan Li in Wujiang, equating him with Hans Zhang in the Jin Dynasty and Lu Guimeng in the Tang Dynasty, and also built the "Three High Temples".