Discerning Rise and Fall辨興亡第三十四
貞觀初，太宗從容謂侍臣曰：「周武平紂之亂，以有天下；秦皇因周之衰，遂吞六國。其得天下不殊，祚運長短若此之相懸也？」尚書右仆射蕭瑀進曰：「紂為無道，天下苦之，故八百諸侯不期而會。周室微，六國無罪，秦氏專任智力，蠶食諸侯。平定雖同，人情則異。」太宗曰：「不然，周既克殷，務弘仁義；秦既得誌，專行詐力。非但取之有異，抑亦守之不同。祚之修短，意在茲乎！」
At the beginning of Zhenguan, Taizong said quietly to the ministers in attendance:
"King Wu of Zhou put down the disorder of the tyrant Zhou and so held all under heaven. The First Emperor of Qin took his chance in the decline of the house of Zhou and swallowed up the six states in the end. In gaining all under heaven they were not different, so why are the length and the shortness of their fortune so far apart?"
Xiao Yu, vice director of the right in the Department of State Affairs, came forward and said:
"The tyrant Zhou was without the way and all under heaven suffered from him, and so eight hundred lords gathered without an appointed time. When the royal house of Zhou had grown weak, the six states had done no wrong, yet the house of Qin trusted wholly in wit and in force and ate up the lords as a silkworm eats. The settling was the same, but the feeling of men was not."
Taizong said:
"It is not so. Zhou, having overcome Yin, strove to spread benevolence and right conduct; Qin, having got its will, practiced nothing but deceit and force. Not only was there a difference in how they took it, there was also a difference in how they kept it. In this, I think, lies the length or the shortness of their fortune."
貞觀二年，太宗謂黃門侍郎王珪曰：「隋開皇十四年大旱，人多饑乏。是時倉庫盈溢，竟不許賑給，乃令百姓逐糧。隋文不憐百姓而惜倉庫，比至末年，計天下儲積，得供五六十年。煬帝恃此富饒，所以奢華無道，遂致滅亡。煬帝失國，亦此之由。凡理國者，務積於人，不在盈其倉庫。古人云：『百姓不足，君孰與足？』但使倉庫可備兇年，此外何煩儲蓄！後嗣若賢，自能保其天下；如其不肖，多積倉庫，徒益其奢侈，危亡之本也。」
In the second year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to Wang Gui, the vice director of the Chancellery:
"In the fourteenth year of Kaihuang under the Sui there was a great drought, and men often went hungry and wanted for food. At that time the granaries were full to overflowing, yet in the end no relief was allowed to be given out, and the people were made to go off in search of grain. Emperor Wen of Sui did not pity the people and grudged his granaries, so that by his last years the stores of all the realm, when reckoned up, would have supplied fifty or sixty years. Emperor Yang trusted in this abundance, and therefore was extravagant and showy and without the way, and so came to ruin. That Emperor Yang lost the state came of this as well.
"Whoever governs a state must strive to store up in the people, not to fill up his granaries. A man of old said, 'If the people are not in plenty, with whom will the ruler be in plenty?' Only let the granaries be enough to meet a year of famine; beyond this, why take the trouble to hoard? If the heir who follows is worthy, he can keep all under heaven of himself; and if he is unworthy, much piled up in the granaries only adds to his extravagance, and that is the root of danger and ruin."
貞觀五年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「天道福善禍淫，事猶影響。昔啟民亡國來奔，隋文帝不吝粟帛，大興士眾營衛安置，乃得存立。既而強富，子孫不思念報德，才至始畢，即起兵圍煬帝於雁門。及隋國亂，又恃強深入，遂使昔安立其國家者，身及子孫，並為頡利兄弟之所屠戮。今頡利破亡，豈非背恩忘義所至也？」群臣咸曰：「誠如聖旨。」
In the fifth year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"The way of heaven blesses the good and brings disaster on the wanton, and the matter is like a shadow and an echo. Long ago Qimin lost his state and came fleeing here, and Emperor Wen of Sui did not grudge grain and silk, but raised up soldiers and a great host to guard and settle him, and so he was able to live and stand. Once he was strong and rich, his sons and grandsons did not think of repaying that kindness. By the time of Shibi they raised troops and surrounded Emperor Yang at Yanmen. And when the state of Sui fell into disorder, they again trusted in their strength and came deep inside. So it came about that the man who once settled and set up their state, and his own sons and grandsons with him, were all slaughtered by Xieli and his brothers. Now Xieli is broken and gone. Is this not what comes of turning one's back on kindness and forgetting right conduct?"
The assembled ministers all said:
"It is truly as the sage intent says."
貞觀九年，北蕃歸朝人奏：「突厥內大雪，人饑，羊馬並死。中國人在彼者，皆入山作賊，人情大惡。」太宗謂侍臣曰：「觀古人君，行仁義、任賢良則理；行暴亂、任小人則敗。突厥所信任者，並共公等見之，略無忠正可取者。頡利復不憂百姓，恣情所為，朕以人事觀之，亦何可久矣？」魏徵進曰：「昔魏文侯問李克：『諸侯誰先亡？』克曰：『吳先亡。』文侯曰：『何故？』克曰：『數戰數勝，數勝則主驕，數戰則民疲，不亡何待？』頡利逢隋末中國喪亂，遂恃眾內侵，今尚不息，此其必亡之道。」太宗深然之。
In the ninth year of Zhenguan, a man who had come back to the court from the northern frontier reported:
"Among the Tujue great snow has fallen, and the people are hungry and their sheep and horses are dying together. The men of the Middle Kingdom who are there have all gone into the mountains and become bandits, and the feeling of the people is very evil."
Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"Looking at the rulers of old, those who practiced benevolence and right conduct and entrusted affairs to the worthy and the good were well governed; those who practiced cruelty and disorder and entrusted affairs to small men were broken. As for the men the Tujue trust and employ, you gentlemen have seen them with me, and there is hardly one among them who is loyal and upright and worth taking. Xieli again does not worry about his people, but gives free rein to his feelings and does as he pleases. Judging by the affairs of men, how can he last long?"
Wei Zheng came forward and said:
"Long ago Marquis Wen of Wei asked Li Ke, 'Which of the lords will fall first?' Li Ke said, 'Wu will fall first.' The marquis said, 'For what reason?' Li Ke said, 'They fight often and win often. Winning often makes the ruler proud, and fighting often wears the people out. What should they wait for but ruin?' Xieli met with the wounding and disorder of the Middle Kingdom at the end of the Sui, and so trusted in his numbers and raided within. Even now he does not stop, and this is his sure road to ruin."
Taizong thought this deeply right.
貞觀九年，太宗謂魏徵曰：「頃讀周、齊史，末代亡國之主為惡多相類也。齊主深好奢侈，所有府庫用之略盡，乃至關市無不稅斂。朕常謂此猶如饞人自食其肉，肉盡必死。人君賦斂不已，百姓既弊，其君亦亡，齊主即是也。然天元、齊主若為優劣？」徵對曰：「二主亡國雖同，其行則別。齊主愞弱，政出多門，國無綱紀，遂至亡滅。天元性兇而強，威福在己，亡國之事，皆在其身。以此論之，齊主為劣。」
In the ninth year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to Wei Zheng:
"Of late I have read the histories of Zhou and Qi, and the rulers who destroyed their states in the last generations were often alike in the evil they did. The ruler of Qi loved extravagance greatly, and used up all he had in his treasuries and storehouses, and came at last to taking taxes everywhere, even at the barriers and the markets. I have always said that this is like a greedy man eating his own flesh: when the flesh is gone he must die. When a ruler does not stop levying taxes and the people are already worn out, that ruler too falls, and the ruler of Qi is just such a one. Now which of the two was the better, Tianyuan or the ruler of Qi?"
Wei Zheng answered:
"The two rulers were alike in destroying their states, but their conduct was different. The ruler of Qi was soft and weak, government came out of many gates, the state had no guiding cords, and so it came to ruin and destruction. Tianyuan was fierce and hard by nature, and awe and favor rested with him, so that the ruin of the state lay wholly in his own person. Judged by this, the ruler of Qi was the worse."