Chapter 198

【Act V: The Battle of Lize and the Siege, Slowly Stewing You to Death】

The opportunity finally came.

Fuchai took his elite troops north to compete for hegemony, leaving his home empty.

Goujian wanted to send troops immediately, but Fan Li held him back: "Wait a little longer, wait until he is further away."

When Fuchai reached Huangchi, Fan Li nodded: "Okay."

The Yue army appeared like ghosts near the Wu capital Gusu, dizzying the remaining Wu army in the water network of Lize.

By the time Fuchai ran back in a panic, Gusu City was already surrounded like an iron barrel.

Fan Li did not attack the city; he just surrounded it.

One day, two days, a month, a year... a full three years.

He had his soldiers reclaim land outside the city, raise pigs and chickens, living a life even more comfortable than the besieged Wu army inside.

Occasionally, he would play psychological warfare, shooting surrender letters into the city, using catapults to throw in a few bags of grain, attached with notes: "Taste it, it's fresh."

Inside the city, people were starving to the point of cannibalism, and the army's morale completely collapsed.

Killing the heart!

Fan Li's siege killed the last bit of spirit in the Wu State.

【Act VI: Success Achieved, Brushing Off Clothes and Leaving, Deeply Hiding One's Body and Name】

473 BC, Gusu City fell, and Fuchai slit his throat.

The Yue State emerged and became the hegemon.

At the victory banquet, music was chaotic, and the smell of wine and meat filled the streets.

Goujian held Fan Li's hand, tears streaming down his face, wanting to appoint him as General-in-Chief, with rewards piled into mountains.

Fan Li smiled and accepted, drinking no less wine than anyone else.

After the banquet dispersed, the night was quiet.

Fan Li returned to his temporary mansion, changed out of his magnificent clothes, put on the most ordinary cloth clothes, and slipped out the back door.

By the river, a small boat was waiting.

He jumped onto the boat, the boatman pushed with a bamboo pole, and the small boat slid silently into the thick fog.

He did not look back.

He only left a letter for his old friend Wen Zhong, pressing it under the inkstone on Wen Zhong's desk.

The letter was very short: "Old Wen, it's about time. The birds are all shot, the good bow should be put away; the rabbits are all dead, the hunting dog should be put in the pot."

"Our King has a long neck and a pointed mouth (commonly known as having a sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked face); we can eat bitterness together, but he cannot see people enjoy happiness. I'll go first; you... look after yourself."

Wen Zhong saw the letter and smiled, not taking it seriously.

He thought Fan Li was overthinking.

Not long after, Goujian sent someone to deliver a sword—the "Shulu" sword with which Fuchai had ordered Wu Zixu to die.

Wen Zhong held the sword and finally remembered Fan Li's letter, looking up to the sky and sighing: "Shaobo, oh Shaobo, you really run fast!"

Then he slit his throat.

And Fan Li's small boat had long since disappeared into the misty waves of Lake Tai, not even a ghost shadow to be found.

"When it's time to fight, fight; when it's time to take the credit, take it; when it's time to retreat, grease the soles of your feet and run faster than anyone."

"This clarity and decisiveness is unique in the world."

【Act VII: Tao Zhugong's Business Philosophy, and Not Caring About Money】

Fan Li, who had run away, first arrived at the seaside of the Qi State, using the alias "Chiyizipi" (which means a large wine skin).

He dried salt, caught fish, and traded in sea goods; in a few years, his family assets were hundreds of thousands of gold.

The King of Qi heard about it, thought he was a talent, and sent someone to invite him to be Chancellor.

Fan Li waved his hands directly at the envoy,

"No, no, no! I'm just a commoner, making a little money, it's quite good."

"Being a high official? Shortens life!"

He distributed his family assets to the villagers and neighbors, patted his butt, and left again.

This time he ran to Tao Yi, the transportation center of the world, calling himself "Tao Zhugong."

Starting from scratch, doing business.

He did business differently from others, emphasizing "others discard, I take; others take, I give."

In famine years, others sold grain, he bought it at a low price and hoarded it;

In bumper years when grain was cheap, others hoarded it, he opened his warehouses to sell at a fair price, taking the opportunity to acquire the lacquer, silk, and livestock others didn't want.

He watched the weather, observed the geography, and watched human feelings; his business flourished, and in a few years he was again "wealthy beyond measure," the richest in the world.

But the strange thing was, he seemed to have a grudge against money.

After making a fortune, he didn't build a mansion or keep beautiful maids, but distributed it.

Wherever there was a disaster, he was the first to open his warehouses to release grain;

If the road was broken, he paid to repair it;

If the poor couldn't afford a bride price, he gave it;

He never asked for a receipt when lending money, saying "What I believe in is not that piece of paper of yours, but you as a person."

Distributed and gathered, gathered and distributed, never tiring of it.

The people all said he was a "living God of Wealth," and he just laughed when he heard it:

"Money, it's like flowing water; flowing in, flowing out, that's how it's alive."

"What's the point of letting it rot in your hands?"

Finally, he spent his later years in Tao Yi, surrounded by children and grandchildren, without illness or disaster, closing his eyes with a smile.

Later generations honored him as the "Saint of Business," and business people worshiped him.

He perfectly transplanted the wisdom of planning for the country and planning for oneself into "planning for wealth," and he did it openly and honestly, distributing it gracefully and happily.

This person lived a whole life, and it seemed he was never trapped by anything; power, name, and profit were all things he played with.

【Heavenly Screen General Review: "This guy is a wonderful person."】

【Loyal? He helped Goujian restore the country; that counts as loyal.】

【Wise? He saw through that Goujian could share hardship but not happiness, and retreated at the peak; that counts as great wisdom.】

【Benevolent? He distributed his family wealth three times to help the poor; that counts as benevolent.】

【But he is not entirely framed by those high-sounding words.】

【He has a kind of uninhibited thoroughness, knowing when to fight for his life, when to act like a grandson, and when to run away; after running, he can change his way of living, living more comfortably than anyone else.】

【He does not act as a model of a loyal minister, does not act as a moral monument; he just acts as Fan Li, acts as himself.】

【In the trade of strategists, he lived into the way everyone envies but almost no one can learn—retreating completely, and the retreat path is full of flowers.】

【Fifth Place on the List of the Ten Great Strategists of History—Fan Li, Review Completed!】

【Heavenly Dao Blessing: Twenty-eight years of lifespan added! Blessed with longevity, health, and peace, abundance and ease!】

(Note: Fan Li ate the bitterness he should have eaten and enjoyed the happiness he should have enjoyed in this life; his life's answer sheet is nearly perfect. The Heavenly Dao's reward is purely icing on the cake, allowing his already long and comfortable retirement life to have a few more stable days—sunbathing, counting money, quite good.)

After finishing Fan Li's life, the viewers of the myriad worlds, especially those who fought to the death in the court or were anxious about gains and losses in the field of wealth, felt a complex taste in their hearts.

Envy? Jealousy? Admiration? Or a bit sour? Hard to say.

It's like watching someone else play a super high-difficulty game, not only clearing it but also unlocking all hidden endings and golden achievements, while you are still struggling in the novice village.

On the training ground, Ying Zheng sat there touching his chin, not speaking for a long time.

Finally, he clicked his tongue: "This Fan Li... lived truly thoroughly. Goujian, indeed, is not a master who can share wealth."

He suddenly thought of Lu Buwei, and then thought of the group of people under his command... his eyes deepened.

Li Si bowed his head on the side, but his heart was churning.

He prided himself on having intelligence not inferior to the ancients, but this decisiveness of "letting go as soon as you say it" and the ability to "live better after letting go," he asked himself... he didn't have it.

He suddenly understood a little why His Majesty always paid special attention to this kind of person who "can advance and retreat."

The sovereign and subjects of other dynasties were also filled with emotion.

Emperors felt that such ministers were "not intimate" to use (they could run away at any time), while secretly hoping that their subordinates could have such a person who could both do things and be worry-free.

Most ministers regarded Fan Li as a spiritual idol, carving the character "Li" on their desks to remind themselves.

But when they really achieved success and reached the position of a high official, whether they had the courage and ability to learn that "slip away" was only known to heaven.