或谓韩王
Someone had a talk with the king of the state of Han
【原文】
或谓韩王曰秦王欲出事于梁，而欲攻绛、安邑，韩计将安出矣？ 秦之欲伐韩以东窥周室甚，唯寐忘之。今韩不察，因欲与秦，必为山东 大祸矣。秦之欲攻梁也，欲得梁以临韩，恐梁之不听也，故欲病之以固 交也。王不察，因欲中立，梁必怒于韩之不与己，必折为秦用，韩必举 矣。愿王熟虑之也。不如急发重使之赵、梁，约复为兄弟，使山东皆以 锐师戍韩、梁之西边。非为此也，山东无以救亡。此万世之计也。秦之欲并天下而王之也，不与古同。事之虽如子之事父，犹将亡之也；行虽 如伯夷，犹将亡之也；行虽如桀、纣，犹将亡之也。虽善事之，无益也，不 可以为存，适足以自令亟亡也。然则山东非能从亲，合而相坚如一者， 必皆亡矣。”
【今译】
有人对韩王说秦王想派兵进攻魏国，想攻下绛和安邑，韩国打算 怎么办呢？秦国非常渴望攻克韩国，继而向东觊觎周王室，只有睡觉的 时候才能暂且忘掉这个想法。如今韩国没有察觉到这一点，还想跟秦 国联合，这样一定会给山东各国带来巨大的灾难啊。秦国'想攻打魏国， 打算攻下魏国以后再逼近韩国，担心魏国不听从它，所以想让魏国陷入 困境来巩固跟它的邦交。大王没有察觉到这一点，还想保持中立，魏国 一定会恼火于韩国不支持自己，必定会掉转过去听从秦国的命令，这样 一来，韩国就一定会被攻克了。希望大王仔细考虑一下这件事啊。不 如赶紧派出重要的使臣到赵国和魏国，跟它们重新约为兄弟国，让山东 各国都派出精锐部队守卫韩国和魏国的西部边境。如果不这么做，山 东各国就不能救亡图存。这是万世大计啊。秦国想兼并各国而一统天下，但这跟古代帝王统一天下是不一样的。即便像儿子侍奉父亲一样 侍奉秦国，国家还是会灭亡。即便有像伯夷那样的行为，国家还是会灭 亡。即使像桀、纣那样做事，国家还是会灭亡。即使好好地侍奉它，也 没有任何用处，国家不能因此而得以保全，相反，恰好足以让自己尽快 灭亡。这样一来，山东各国如果不能联合起来，坚定如一地对抗秦国， 一定会被全部消灭了。”
Someone had a talk with the king of the state of Han and said，“The king of the state of Qin is going to launch military action against the state of Wei and occupy Jiang and Anyi. What tactics will your state take? Qin’s king wants very much to attack Han and then vanquish the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty. All the time he is awake, he keeps this in his mind. If Han does not realize that and therefore plans to unite with Qin，this will definitely lead to severe trouble for those states located east of Mount Xiao. The reason that Qin plans to attack Wei lies in the fact that they want to send troops to approach Han after they defeat Wei. They are afraid that Wei might not listen to them, so they will pose a severe threat to Wei and thus consolidate the diplomatic relations between these two states. If Your Majesty cannot understand this conspiracy and therefore want to remain neutral, Wei will be angry with you since you are not going to join it in confronting Qin, Hence Wei will turn to Qin and carry out Qin's orders. If this is the case，Han will be defeated, I hope Your Majesty can think about this carefully. You’d better send important emissaries to Zhao and Wei to unite with them as brother states. Then you can ask those states located east of Mount Xiao to dispatch their picked troops to defend the western borders of Han and Wei. Otherwise, those states east of Mount Xiao won’t be able to prevent being defeated. This long-term strategy will benefit tens of thousands of generations. The way Qin wishes to annex all the states and unify the whole world is different from that of the ancient sovereigns. Although you might treat Qin as a son treats his father, your state will still be destroyed- Although you might behave like Bo Yi，your state will still be ruined. Although you might commit the same misconduct as Jie and Zhou did， your state will still be destroyed. Even though you serve Qin very well，it won’t be of any use. You cannot maintain your state but will lead it to a swift end. Therefore T if those states located east of Mount Xiao do not unite with each other and make a concerted effort to counteract Qin，they will definitely all be destroyed, ”