Yan Zhaowang alludes to the historical materials of recruiting talents and talents in Yan Zhaowang;

In 3 14 BC, the prince of Yan ceded the throne to the son of Yan Xiangzi, and Ping Zi, the prince of Yan, fought for the throne, which led to civil strife in Yan. Qi Xuanwang, on the other hand, took advantage of the fish in troubled waters to pacify the civil strife in Yan, and sent troops to attack Yan. It took only 50 days to capture Ji Cheng (now southwest of Beijing) in Yan Dou, kill the prince of Yan and Zi Zhi, and attempt to destroy the state of Yan. This not only caused the strong resistance of the people of Yan, but also caused the interference of the countries in the Central Plains. After that, Qi was forced to withdraw from Yan, and Wuling escorted Yan Gongzi, who was taken hostage in South Korea, back to China to succeed him.

When the new king ascended the throne, China was a bleak scene: the fields were deserted, the houses collapsed, and the people were hungry and cold on the ruins. Zhao Haoqi made great efforts to revive Yan State. He knows that the most important thing in governing the country is to recruit talents. With talents, everything can prosper. However, how to find talents, Wang Zhao thought hard, food is not enough, and he is on pins and needles.

Therefore, Zhao Haoqi is not ashamed to ask questions. He sincerely asked Guo Kun for advice and said, "Sir, our Yan state is very weak now, and we can't take revenge on the old enemy of Qi state. I really want to find a large number of talented people to help me innovate politics and revitalize the country, and then wash away our great shame. Please advise, where should I start? " Guo Kun replied: "A monarch who can become an emperor is always with someone who can be his own teacher;" A monarch who can be king is always with handy officials; And those who conquered the country must be some mediocre slaves around him. If the monarch can put down his airs, be polite to those scholars who have both ability and political integrity, and be willing to be their students, then they will not only devote themselves wholeheartedly to serving, but also attract ten or a hundred times as many talents to defect. This is the law of governing the country and acquiring talents since ancient times. Your Majesty, if you can ask for advice after recruiting talents, everyone will see that you are thirsty for talents, and talented people will surely come like a hundred rivers. " Guo Kun went on to tell a story:

In ancient times, there was a monarch who wanted a horse with a thousand catties, but he didn't buy it for three years. An attendant recommended herself to buy for the monarch. Three months later, I heard the news of Maxima, but unfortunately the horse died as soon as it arrived. The housekeeper bought the dead horse's head for 500 gold. The monarch was furious and said, "I want a live swift horse." Who told you to sell the head of a dead horse for 500 gold? " The chamberlain calmly replied, "The head of a dead horse is worth 500 gold, not to mention a live horse. When the world knows this news, it will be sent to the door immediately. " Sure enough, in less than a year, Maxima sent three horses.

Guo Kun finished this story and told his plan: "Your Majesty, if you really want to recruit talented people, you might as well start from me and let the whole world see that an incompetent person like me is respected by you, not to mention those who are far more capable and talented than me." In this way, talents from home and abroad will gather in China. "

So Yan Zhaowang built a magnificent palace according to Guo Kun's idea. I chose an auspicious day and held a grand ceremony to respectfully invite Guo Kun to live in the new palace. Wang Zhao visits every day, just as students ask their teachers. Zhao Haoqi also built a high platform on the bank of Yishui to attract wise people from all over the world. Thousands of taels of gold were put on the stage as gifts for the wise. This high platform is the famous "Huang Jintai".

The reputation of loving talents and respecting morality spread like wildfire, and talents from all over the world flocked to Yan. Among them, there are many celebrities: for example, the military commander came from Zhao, the counselor Zou Yan came from Qi, Qu Yong came from Wei, and Wei ... What a talented person, Zou Yan was a master of Yin and Yang and five elements, and was famous all over the world at that time. He was highly respected when he was in Qi. When traveling around Wei, I personally ran to the suburbs to meet him; When he arrived in Zhao, he greeted him sideways and respectfully brushed the dust off his seat with his sleeve. When Yan Zhaowang told Zou Yan, he was even more disguised than Zhao Wei. He personally wrapped the broom in his sleeve, went back to sweep and cleaned the road ahead. As he sat down, Zhao Haoqi took the initiative to sit in the disciple's seat. Please ask Zou Yan to teach herself. Zhao Haoqi has specially built a Jieshi Palace for Zou Yan to live and give lectures. Therefore, later generations used words such as "Pioneer of Wisdom" and "Jieshi Palace" to describe respecting talents with generous treatment. Wang Zhao's actions should have great repercussions, and the literati who defected to Yan were even more enthusiastic. Zhao Haoqi opened its doors and was widely accepted in an eclectic way. Not only well-known scholars are welcome, but also those scholars who are interested in destroying Qi, who are familiar with the relationship between Qi's dangerous fortress and the monarch and ministers, and who are good at leading troops to fight, are given generous treatment, and their strength is accumulated in various ways, so as to break Qi with Yang Yan. Among the many literati gathered in Yan Dou to assist Wang Zhao in rejuvenating Yan State, Le Yi is the most outstanding figure. Le Yi is another famous soldier after Yang Le. He is knowledgeable and proficient in the art of war. He was once recommended as an official of Zhao. In order to escape the civil strife in Zhao, he went to Wei. He heard that Corporal Yan Zhaowang had a high moral character, and he longed for it very much. As it happens, I was once sent to Yan to work for Wei, and I was very respectful and polite. He was very moved and decided to stay in Yan State. Zhao Haoqi immediately appointed him as Yaqing and entrusted him with national political and military power.

Le Yi spared no effort to help Zhao Haoqi reform its internal affairs and reorganize its army. First of all, in view of the serious situation of poor strict laws and corrupt officials, we should teach them to make laws, strictly enforce the legal system and strengthen the assessment of officials; Secondly, it is necessary to determine the principle of appointing officials on merit, abandon the tradition of "kissing" and "choosing people to be expensive", and clean up the misdeeds of cronyism and abuse of cronies when the son was in power, so as to make the official administration of Yan State more and more clear; Thirdly, it is suggested that Zhao Haoqi should use a certain system to reward those obedient people who abide by national laws, including poor people with low status and some slaves, so as to stabilize social order. Militarily, Le Yi paid attention to tactics and discipline training, which quickly improved the fighting capacity of the Yan army. Zhao Haoqi also pays attention to mourning orphans and comforting families with funeral troubles; Wang Zhao also sends people to congratulate and care for those couples who are happy to have their baby. Zhao Haoqi shared weal and woe with the people and won the support of all walks of life in the country for his rule.

With the help of Le Yi and others, Zhao Haoqi worked hard for 28 years, which not only made the country richer and richer, but also accumulated considerable strength and cultivated a folk custom of self-improvement. The conditions for Yan to send troops to cut Qi are becoming more and more mature. Adjust the troops to cut the qi, and win the flag.

While trying to govern the country, Yan's feud reached its peak. However, the monarch of Qi has no sympathy for the people's power at home and imposes excessive taxes. The constant use of troops overseas aroused the dissatisfaction of the princes. After years of humiliation, I thought it was time for revenge and decided to send troops to cut Qi.

Qi is, after all, a big country in the East, which cannot be countered by the strength of Yan alone. Le Yi put forward the strategy of "discussing great plans with the world", which was approved by Zhao Haoqi. Le Yi and Zou Yan carefully analyzed the situation and clearly realized that Qi, Qin and Zhao, the top three, were trying their best to expand their sphere of influence. Dingtao in the Song Dynasty was the most prosperous commercial metropolis in the Central Plains, and Qi, Qin and Zhao all wanted to get their hands on it. Once the State of Qi destroyed the State of Song, it would inevitably aggravate the contradiction between Chyi Chin and Zhao, and at the same time, it would also pose a serious threat to countries such as Korea, Wei and Chu, causing anxiety in these countries. Zhao Haoqi decided to lure Qi to destroy the Song Dynasty and isolate Qi. On the surface, Yan surrendered to Qi, which made Qi relax its vigilance. In the meantime, Su Qin was sent to the State of Qi twice to alienate the King of Qi, and instigated him to rashly decide to attack Qin in the west and destroy Song in the south. Taking this opportunity, Zhao Haoqi sent messengers to contact Wei and Chu, and sent Le Yi to see Zhao, prompting Zhao Haoqi to persuade Qin to cut Qi. Qin Sheng became the king of the East and the West in Qi State, and * * * divided the world; Unexpectedly, the breach of contract attacked Qin and destroyed Song, and the forces invaded the Central Plains. In order to give this evil breath, I readily agreed to send it. In this way, countries are surrounded by Qi from north, west and south.

In the thirty-first year of Zhou Nanwang (284 BC), Yan Zhaowang appointed Le Yi as the general, and went to war in a unified way. At this point, the Chu army has been stationed in Huainan, ready to seize the land of Huaibei in Qi State; Qin and Zhao, Han and Wei also sent a general to Qi. At first, Qi Min did not expect that Yan would join forces with other countries to attack Qi. It was not until he found that Yan's army had invaded Qi that he was in a hurry to participate in the war. King Qi Min fought for the whole country, helped water, and made the Western Expedition against the enemy. The morale of the Qi army was low because of years of fighting, and the soldiers whose popularity was not conducive to fighting threatened to dig their ancestral graves and behead them, which made the soldiers of the Qi army feel chilling. When the allied forces attacked, the Qi army collapsed and lost again and again. After the main force of the Qi army was destroyed, Qi Min led the remaining troops to flee back to the capital Linzi in panic. Zhao Haoqi was very happy when he heard the news. He went to Jixi battlefield to work for the army, and later became a soldier, and appointed Le Yi as Chang Wang.

Le Yi rewarded the armies of Qin and South Korea and sent them back to China. Then Zhao was ordered to attack Hejian, and Wei Jun was ordered to turn to the southeast to collect the land of the former Song Dynasty; Since leading Yan Jun into Beijing. The Yan army marched straight into the country and was on a roll, capturing Linzi in one fell swoop. The King of Qi was forced to flee and held fast in Juxian County (now Juxian County, Shandong Province), and was later killed by General Zhi of the State of Chu.

Le Yi was determined to wipe out Qi. After occupying Linzi, he took a series of measures to consolidate and expand the results. In order to appease the people of Qi, after the report was approved, the military discipline was mainly rectified and the Yan army was forbidden to plunder the people. In view of King Qi Min's violent behavior, he is willing to announce tax relief for Qi Min, abolish harsh laws, and restore some reasonable laws and regulations in the Qi Weiwang era. In the suburbs of Linzi, Qi Huangong and Guan Zhong were ceremoniously sacrificed, and more than 0/00 titles of Yan State/KLOC were awarded to the people of the submissive State of Qi, and more than 20 titles of Qi State were enfeoffed, which won the ruling class of Qi State, basically stabilized the occupation of Qi State, and the whole State of Qi was willing to submit to Yan State. Militarily, Le Yi was divided into five divisions and continued to occupy all parts of the country. Therefore, it took only half a year for the Yan army to capture more than 70 cities of Qi in succession, all of which were turned into counties, leaving only two cities, Ju 'an and Jimo (now Pingdu South, Shandong Province), which were not captured.

The reason why Le Yi can give full play to its outstanding political and military talents is inseparable from Zhao Haoqi's absolute trust and firm support. When Le Yi attacked Qi, Zhao Haoqi asked Le Yi to attack the city without interference. When Le Yi Jiukeju and Jimo were two cities, someone took the opportunity to visit them. Zhao Haoqi condemned him and sent messengers to comfort Le Yi. Wang Zhao undoubtedly used the sage, and his people exchanged sincere reports.

While winning the decisive victory in the war of cutting Qi, they sent Yan to attack East Lake, forcing East Lake to retreat thousands of miles from the northeast of Yan State, and the territory of Yan State expanded to the northeast of Liaodong. Yan also went south and captured many places in Zhongshan. Zhao Haoqi finally made Yan a powerful country and entered a golden age.

In 279 BC, Ji Zhi died of illness.

Yan Zhaowang grasped the key factor that the revival of Yan State mainly lies in Luo Zhi's talents, devoted himself to it, and made use of talents. Finally, he realized his desire of revenge that he had been pursuing for many years, which made Yan State develop to the peak, and he himself became one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States.