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Gongsun Qiao, whose courtesy name was Zi Chan, was a minister serving the State of Zheng in the Spring & Autumn Period (770-476 BC). He once served as the Prime Minister in the State of Zheng.
In 542 BC, Gongsun Qiao followed orders from the Lord of Zheng, taking a lot of presents to pay a visit to the Lord of Jin on behalf of the Lord of Zheng. At that time, Lord Xiang of the State of Lu passed away. Lord Ping of Jin did not greet and welcome the emissaries from the State of Zheng with the excuse of lamenting for the death of Lord Xiang of Lu. Gongsun Qiao ordered his men to dismantle the walls of the hotel of the State of Jin and to take their horses and carriage into the hotel directly through the broken wall before placing their carriage in the hotel.
Lord Ping of Jin was quite surprised to hear that. He sent his minister Shi Wenbo to the hotel to confront Gongsun Qiao. Shi Wenbao asked: “Our Lord is the leader of the Alliance of Lords. We built this hotel and the walls to protect the emissaries from other countries from robbers and criminals. Now you have broken the walls. How can we keep the other guests from being harmed? Our Lord wants to know why you broke the walls.”
Gongsun Qiao answered: “The State of Zheng is a small country and needs to present tributes to big countries. This time we brought presents we collected from our country and planned to give them to your Lord. However, your Lord has no time to meet us and will not tell us when we can meet him. I hear that Lord Wen of Jin lived in a small palace but built grand and beautiful hotels for his guests when he ruled your country. In addition, when guests came, Lord Wen sent special people to take care of every need the guests had and came to talk and live with them himself. He liked to share his knowledge with the guests and help them solve their problems. That made guests feel like they were at home when they arrived in the State of Jin and that’s why the other Lords respected Lord Wen of Jin as the leader of the Alliance of Lords. But now, the palace for your Lord takes up a large tract of land while the hotel for guests looks like a cottage for slaves. The entrance does not even allow a carriage to pass through it. We cannot meet your Lord. We cannot drive our carriage with presents into the hotel through the entrance. We have to break the wall for fear that the presents might go bad. If you allow us to hand over the presents right now, we would like to repair the walls.”
Shi Wenbo recounted this to Lord Ping of Jin, who felt very ashamed upon hearing it. He immediately met Gongsun Qiao and lavished him with great dishes. Then he ordered his men to rebuild the hotel for his guests.
In 542 BC, Gongsun Qiao followed orders from the Lord of Zheng, taking a lot of presents to pay a visit to the Lord of Jin on behalf of the Lord of Zheng. At that time, Lord Xiang of the State of Lu passed away. Lord Ping of Jin did not greet and welcome the emissaries from the State of Zheng with the excuse of lamenting for the death of Lord Xiang of Lu. Gongsun Qiao ordered his men to dismantle the walls of the hotel of the State of Jin and to take their horses and carriage into the hotel directly through the broken wall before placing their carriage in the hotel.
Lord Ping of Jin was quite surprised to hear that. He sent his minister Shi Wenbo to the hotel to confront Gongsun Qiao. Shi Wenbao asked: “Our Lord is the leader of the Alliance of Lords. We built this hotel and the walls to protect the emissaries from other countries from robbers and criminals. Now you have broken the walls. How can we keep the other guests from being harmed? Our Lord wants to know why you broke the walls.”
Gongsun Qiao answered: “The State of Zheng is a small country and needs to present tributes to big countries. This time we brought presents we collected from our country and planned to give them to your Lord. However, your Lord has no time to meet us and will not tell us when we can meet him. I hear that Lord Wen of Jin lived in a small palace but built grand and beautiful hotels for his guests when he ruled your country. In addition, when guests came, Lord Wen sent special people to take care of every need the guests had and came to talk and live with them himself. He liked to share his knowledge with the guests and help them solve their problems. That made guests feel like they were at home when they arrived in the State of Jin and that’s why the other Lords respected Lord Wen of Jin as the leader of the Alliance of Lords. But now, the palace for your Lord takes up a large tract of land while the hotel for guests looks like a cottage for slaves. The entrance does not even allow a carriage to pass through it. We cannot meet your Lord. We cannot drive our carriage with presents into the hotel through the entrance. We have to break the wall for fear that the presents might go bad. If you allow us to hand over the presents right now, we would like to repair the walls.”
Shi Wenbo recounted this to Lord Ping of Jin, who felt very ashamed upon hearing it. He immediately met Gongsun Qiao and lavished him with great dishes. Then he ordered his men to rebuild the hotel for his guests.