魏王将相张仪
Wei's King Was About to Appoint Zhang Yi as Prime Minister
【原文】
魏王将相张仪。犀首弗利，故令人谓韩公叔曰：“张仪以合秦、魏 矣。其言曰：‘魏攻南阳，秦攻三川，韩氏必亡。’且魏王所以贵张子者,以为功，果相魏。
【今译】
魏王将要任用张仪做相国。公孙衍认为这对自己不利，所以派人 对韩国的公叔说：“张仪已经把秦国和韩国联合起来了。他说：‘魏国进攻南阳，秦国进攻三川，韩国必定会灭亡了。而且魏王之所以重用张 仪，是想得到土地，那韩国的南阳就会被攻克了,您何不稍微委托一些 政事给我，算作我的功劳，那秦国和魏国的交情就可以断绝了。如果是 这样，魏国就一定会图谋秦国并且背弃张仪，拉拢韩国而且任用我为相 国。”公叔认为这么做是有利的，于是委托給他一些政务。公孙衍把这 作为自己的功劳，果然做了魏国的相国。
The king of the state of Wei was about to appoint Zhang Yi as prime minister of his state. Gongsun Yan thought that would be disadvantageous to himself, so he sent someone to have a talk with Gongshu of the state of Han. The man said, “Zhang Yi has already united the state of Qin with the state of Wei”, He said, ‘If Wei attacks Nanyang and Qin attacks Sanchuan, the state of Han will definitely be destroyed.，The reason why the king of the state of Wei attaches importance to Zhang Yi lies in the fact that he wants to obtain some territory- Thus Nanyang of the state of Han will be occupied. Why not entrust me with some government affairs and consider these to be my contribution. Then the good relations between Qin and Wei will be terminated. If this is the case， Wei will scheme against Qin and discard Zhang Yi, and also establish good relations with Han and appoint me to be its prime minister,” Gongshu thought this was good for his state y so he entrusted Gongsun Yan with some government affairs. Gongsun Yan regarded these as his own contribution and therefore he was appointed to be prime minister of Wei as expected.