Language skills used by swallows in the face of insults

For the first time, the king of Chu seized Yan Zi's short figure and let him go in through a hole opened by the city gate. Yan Zi said to the person who received him, "This is a dog hole, not a city gate. Only by visiting the dog country can you enter from the dog country. I'll wait here for a while. Ask first, what kind of country is Chu? " This sentence is said from the other side's standpoint, ostensibly for the other side's sake, but the implication is obvious: if you don't mind me going in through the dog hole, then your Chu state will become a dog country, and you can leave the decision to the other side. In this way, the "stab ball" thrown by the other side was naturally thrown back, and the king of Chu took the consequences.

The second time, the king of Chu laughed at Qi's absence. And Yan Zi's answer is to ask the king of Chu to let him speak out on his own initiative, so as to put himself in a favorable position and the other party in a passive position. Yan Zi adopted the tactics of defending the attack and then attacking the enemy, and surrendered himself first. He is the most useless person in Qi State, so he was sent to your Chu State. It can be seen that Chu is the lowest country, because I am neither the upper class nor the lower class, but the most useless person.

The third time, the king of Chu accused the people of Qi of being unproductive and stealing. In the face of this sudden embarrassing situation, Yan Zi was very calm. He found another way, did not directly refute, but played along. Yan Zi explained by taking the difference of soil and water as an example: "Qi people can live and work in peace and contentment in Qi State, and become thieves in Chu State. Maybe the soil and water in the two countries are different. " With simple examples, appropriate metaphors and ingenious concept transformation, Yan Zi irrefutably revealed the truth that "everything near Zhu Zhechi is black", and really dealt with a man as he deals with you.

Yan Zi's language contains strict logic in peace and impeccable reasoning in concession. This shows that the charm of language is infinite and its power is unparalleled. Yan Zi's skillful and flexible use of language deserves our careful study.