宫他为燕使魏
Gong Tuo Was on a Diplomatic Mission to Wei on Behalf of Yan
【原文】
宫他为燕使魏，魏不听，留之数月。客谓魏王曰：“不听燕使，何 也？”曰：“以其乱也。”对曰：“汤之伐桀，欲其乱也。故大乱者可得其地， 小乱者可得其宝。今燕客之言曰：‘事苟可听，虽尽宝、地，犹为之也,王何为不见？”魏王说，因见燕客而遣之。
【今译】
宫他替疾国出使魏国，魏国不听从他的建议，把他扣留了几个月。 有客人对魏王说为什么不听从燕国使臣的建议呢？”魏王说：“因为燕 国出现了内乱。”客人回答说商湯攻打夏桀的时候，就希望夏桀的国 家出现大乱。所以出现了大规模的混乱就可以获得它的土地，出现了 小规模的混乱就可以得到它的宝贝.如今燕国的使者说：‘我说的事情 如果能够被听从，即使倾尽我们的宝物和土地，我们也会干的。’大王为什 么不召见他呢？”魏王非常高兴，于是就召见燕国使者，并把他释放回国。
On behalf of the state of Yan, Gong Tuo was on a diplomatic mission to the state of Wei, However, the king of Wei wouldny t listen to him but detained him for several months instead, A person told the king of Wei, “Why didn’t you listen to the emissary of Yan?” The king said，“Because the state of Yan is in chaos, v The person replied，“When Tang was going to attack Jie，he wished Jie’s kingdom would fall into chaos. If his state is in severe chaos，we can obtain some land from him. If his state is in less severe chaos, we can gain some valuable things from him. Now the emissary from Yan has said，’If you take action according to my advice，I will adhere to it even though we might lose all our territory and treasures.’ Why not call him in and have a talk with him?” The king of Wei was very happy to hear this, so he called in the emissary and sent him back to Yan.