第一章

    陈牧：寡人愿闻，何为君子之常行，先生教我。萧凡：臣以为，衣冠不中，不敢以入朝；所言不义，不敢以要君；身行不顺，治事不公，不敢以莅众。衣冠中，故朝无奇僻之服；所言义，故下无伪上之报；身行顺，治事公，故国无阿党之义。三者，君子常行也。陈牧：先生之言是也，寡人受教矣。chen mu：i want to know，what is the standard of behavior of a gentleman？sir taught me。xiao fan：i think，he goes to work only when his clothes are neat，if what he says is not moral then he will not ask the king to do so，only by leading by example and acting fairly will others follow him，he is dressed neatly，so others will follow him as well，he handled government affairs fairly so there was no partisanship，these are the standards of behavior of gentlemen。chen mu：sir is right，i accept your teachings。陈牧：今天下多事，契丹肆意于北荒，寡人思得良将以御之，先生何以教我？萧凡：臣以为，理国之要，在文与武。今言文者，则以辞华为首，而不及经纶，言武者，则以骑射为先，而不知方略，是皆何益于理乱哉！故陆机著《辨亡》之论，无救河桥之败，此已然之明效也。古语有之：人无常俗，政有理乱；兵无强弱，将有巧拙。故选将当以智略为本，勇力为末。今朝廷用人，类取将门子弟及死事之家，彼皆庸人，岂足当阃外之任！李左车、陈汤、吕蒙、孟观，皆出贫贱而立殊功，未闻其家代为将也，愿大王唯才是举，则天下之勇略之士，谁不感泣而慕义。陈牧：先生之言是也，寡人谨受教。chen mu：now， the world is in chaos，the khitan was unbridled in the north，i want to get good generals to defend against them，sir taught me how to do it？xiao fan：i think，there are two points in governance， which are civilian and military，now， the minister who deals with civil affairs is better at poetry than at government affairs，generals in charge of the military affairs are better at charging than strategizing，these do little to help deal with the mess，previously， the papers written by lu ji could not save the river bridge from failure，this is an established fact，there are no fixed customs for people，but politics has good and bad times，there are no standards for the strength of a soldier，but the general has a difference between wise and stupid，therefore， the selection of generals should focus on strategy rather than force，today， the government selects talents who are the descendants of generals and heroes，but they did not have the talents of their ancestors，so， they are not up to the task，most of the former generals came from poor backgrounds，but they built great feats，however， not all of their descendants were generals，i want you to select generals based on talent，then the brave and wise warriors of the world will admire and appreciate you。chen mu：sir is right，i respectfully accept your teachings。陈牧：今马备不足，寡人甚忧之，先生何以教我？萧凡：臣以为，出师之要，全资马力。臣请开畜马之禁，使百姓皆得畜马；若官军大举，委州县长吏，以官钱增价市之，则皆为官有。彼胡虏恃马力以为强，若听人互市而畜之，其利百倍，乃是损彼之强为中国之利也，愿大王察之。陈牧：先生之言是也，寡人谨受教。chen mu：now， there are not enough horses，i am worried about this，sir taught me how to do it？xiao fan：i think，horses are an important strategic material，i hope you lift the ban on keeping horses，when we carry out military operations，you can get officials to buy their horses at a high price，through this， the government will have a large number of horses，the fighting power of the khitans depended on the horses，if we trade with them and buy their horses，then we will reap huge benefits，and not them，i hope you will think about it。chen mu：sir is right，i respectfully accept your teachings。陈牧：寡人闻，明者可以致远，否者以失近，何也？先生教我。萧凡：臣以为，善道存乎心，无远而不至也，恶行著乎己，无近而不去也，周公躬行礼义，麟凤白雉草泽而应，殷纣无道，微子弃骨肉而亡，行善者则百姓悦，行恶者则子孙怨，是以明者可以致远，否者可以失近也。陈牧：先生之言是也，寡人受教矣。chen mu：i heard，the wise are able to attract people from afar，stupid people will lose those close to them，sir taught me why？xiao fan：i think，as long as your heart is full of justice，then people from afar will e because they admire you，if you do evil then people close to you will also leave you，zhou gong practiced etiquette and justice，so both the kirin and the phoenix would respond to him，the yin zhou practiced tyranny， so his relatives left him，if you do good then people will support you，if you do bad things，your descendants will also resent you，therefore， wise people are able to attract people from afar，and stupid people lose those close to them。chen mu：sir is right，i accept your teachings。陈牧：寡人求贤备至，然其不为吾用，何也？先生教我。萧凡：臣以为，人主之患，不在于言不用贤，而在于诚不用贤，言用贤者口也，却贤者行也，口行反，而欲贤之进，不肖之退，不亦难乎？愿大王以袁绍为戒。陈牧：先生之言是也，寡人谨受教。chen mu：i look for talent with sincerity，however， they were not willing to work for me，sir taught me why？xiao fan：i think，it is a danger to kings in appointing talents in words rather than deeds，it is hypocritical to appoint talent in words，talent will leave because there is no real action，you want to select talent and remove inpetent people，but your words and deeds are inconsistent，it will be difficult for you to achieve this goal，i hope you don"t repeat the mistakes of yuan shao and learn a lesson from this。chen mu：sir is right，i respectfully accept your teachings。陈牧：寡人欲营佛塔以求福，可乎？先生以为如何？萧凡：臣以为，边境未宁，镇戍不息，士卒困苦，转输疲弊，而营建佛寺，月广岁滋，劳人费财，无有穷极。昔黄帝、尧、舜、禹、汤、文、武，惟以俭约仁义立德垂名，晋、宋以降，塔庙竞起，而丧乱相继，梁武帝因以丧身亡国，武则天因以丧威辱唐，由其好尚失所，奢靡相高，人不堪命故也，唐武却佛犹在前也，大王岂不鉴之？且以营造之资，充疆场之费，使烽燧永息，群生富庶，则如来慈悲之施，平等之心，孰过于此？陈牧：先生之言是也，寡人知过矣。chen mu：i want to build a temple to pray to the buddha，sir，what do you think？xiao fan：i think，the border has not yet settled and the war is not over，the soldiers were tired and transportation was difficult，it is not appropriate to build temples at this time，which will take a lot of time， money， and manpower，ancient holy kings advocated thrift，and they are known for their benevolence and righteousness，after the jin and song dynasties， temples began to be built in large quantities，that also caused social chaos，because of this， the liang kingdom went to extinction，during the wu zetian period， the tang dynasty was insulted and its reputation was damaged，the reason is the same，kings built temples， and people followed suit，that leads to bad results，therefore， emperor wu of tang resisted buddhis m，the time is not far away，you should learn from it，the money for the construction of the temple was enough for military expenses，it is the wish of the buddhait to protect the country and benefit society。chen mu：sir is right，i was wrong。