向古人学谋辩——《战国策》之“杜赫欲重景翠于周”

景翠本是楚国将领，因故逃亡到东周。东周的大臣杜赫认为，景翠具有人情投资价值，虽然暂时处在低谷，但是以后会有飞黄腾达的时候。因此杜赫想让东周重视景翠，这样景翠如果返回楚国并且得势，必然会对东周有所回报，这就是杜赫为东周君预先布下的一颗棋子。

杜赫就对东周君说：您的国家很小，就算您把全部的珍宝拿出来，也不够收买各诸侯国的人心。拿钱收买人心，就像张网捕鸟一样，如果把网设在没有鸟的地方，永远也不会捕到鸟；把网设在鸟多的地方，又会把鸟吓跑。一定要把网设在有鸟而鸟不多的地方，才会多捕到一些鸟。你的钱财就像这张捕鸟的网，如果您把钱花在那些达官显贵身上，他们不在乎这些钱，也不屑于为您所用；如果您把钱花在普通人身上，这些人对您也没有什么价值，反而浪费钱财。所以您一定要把钱花在那种暂时困顿、但将来一定成大器的人身上，这样才能做好人情，将来有机会利用他。

杜赫以一个捕鸟的故事作类比，希望君王能够拿钱安抚困顿的景翠。这实际上是一种人情、金钱上的风险投资，因为看好景翠未来的发展，因此在景翠需要金钱的时候施以恩惠，以小钱博大利。其实古往至今有很多这样的例子，古代花魁赞助穷书生进京赶考、风投公司做完背景调研后投资优质项目……无一不是看中背后可能带来的巨大利益。只是没想到战国时期就已经有了这样的人情投资理念，不得不说，在人与人的合作、博弈中，人类的智慧从未掉线。下一期，我们讲一讲西周五子夺嫡的故事。

Learn From the Ancients and Seek Debate: " Du He Intended to Reestablish Jing Cui's Reputation in the Zhou Dynasty" in the "Warring States Strategies"

Jing Cui was an officer of the State of Chu, but he fled to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty due to some reasons. Du He, a minister of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, believed that Jing Cui was a valuable investment in human relationship, though he was at a low ebb temporarily, he would become successful in the future. Therefore, Du He wanted the Eastern Zhou monarch to attach importance to Jing Cui, so that if Jing Cui returned to the State of Chu and gained power, he would surely reward the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. This was a move that Du He had made for the Eastern Zhou monarch.

Du He said to the Eastern Zhou monarch, "Your country is small, even if you spend all your treasures, you can't buy the favor of all the princes of the vassal states. Buying favor with money is like catching birds with a net. If you set the net in a place where there are no birds, you will never catch any birds. If you set the net in a place where there are too many birds, you will scare them away. You must set the net in a place where there are some birds but not too many, so that you can catch more birds. Your money is like this bird-catching net. If you spend your money on those high officials and dignitaries, they won't care about it and won't be willing to work for you. If you spend your money on ordinary people, they have no value to you and it's a waste of money. So you must spend your money on those who are temporarily in difficulties but will surely become successful in the future. only in this way can you cultivate good human relationship and make use of them in the future."

Du He took the story of catching birds as an analogy, hoping that the monarch could spend money to appease Jing Cui in difficulties. This was actually a kind of venture investment in human relationship and money, because he was optimistic about Jing Cui's future development, so he offered favors to Jing Cui when he needed money, aiming to gain great benefits with a small investment. In fact, there are many such examples in history, such as the ancient beauty sponsoring a poor scholar to go to the capital for the imperial examination, venture capital firms investing in quality projects after background research... All of them are aiming at the huge benefits that may be brought in the future. It is unexpected that such a concept of human relationship investment had already existed in the Warring States period. It has to be said that in the cooperation and game between people, human wisdom has never been off the line. Next time, we will talk about the story of the five sons' usurping the throne in the Western Zhou Dynasty.