Question 1

Q: What did this one leave behind?

Accepted Answer

King of Zhao, one of the seven Warring States, from 325 BC. He handed the throne to his son in 299 and died in the Shaqiu coup in 295; this page takes only his reform, not the succession. From 307 BC he ordered Zhao to adopt the nomads' short coat and to learn mounted archery, replacing chariots and foot soldiers with cavalry. It was hard on two sides: strong neighbours outside, and a court full of elders who held that ancestral ways must not change. He left two methods. If a thing works, do not care whom it came from. If you must change the rules, go first to the weightiest opponent.

Question 2

Q: What actually happened?

Accepted Answer

A few years after Wuling began the reform, Zhao had cavalry of its own. It beat the Linhu and Loufan peoples to the north, built a wall along the Yin Mountains and set up three commanderies there. The north had been the state's soft side and became the place it expanded from.

Question 3

The parts · He learned what worked, not what looked proper

Accepted Answer

He watched the nomads to the north: short coats, easy to ride and shoot in, coming and going like the wind. Zhao's troops wore long robes and relied on chariots and infantry, and could not catch them. His question was whether the dress worked, not whether it was dignified. e.g. A colleague finishes in half an hour what took you an afternoon. Learn how he sets the tool up before arguing whether that counts.

Question 4

The parts · He did not take laughter as evidence

Accepted Answer

He told his minister Yi that fools laugh and the wise look closer, and that even if the whole world laughed he would take the steppe lands. Laughter showed he was different, not mistaken. What he looked at was whether the thing could succeed. e.g. You use a method others scorn and get teased. Ask whether it solves the one thing you need this year.

Question 5

The parts · He went to see the hardest man first

Accepted Answer

His uncle, Prince Cheng, was the weightiest elder and pleaded illness. Wuling issued no decree and walked to his house, argued that ritual exists to get things done, and gave him the nomad coat. Next day the prince wore it to court. e.g. A new process is stuck. Skip the all-hands email and talk to the senior colleague everyone watches.

Question 6

Q: How do I use it today?

Accepted Answer

Take one thing you have been putting off learning because it comes from people you rate lower. Write two lines: what it would do for the one thing you must get done this year, and whether you are avoiding it because it is useless or because learning it would make you look behind. If you are the one changing a shared habit, go to the most senior opponent in person before you send anything.

Question 7

Lines to keep

Accepted Answer

Clothes are for use; ritual is for getting things done. Fools laugh at it; the wise take a closer look. An act you doubt achieves nothing.

Question 8

Q: What should I read alongside?

Accepted Answer

Shang Yang — Both rewrote a state's old rules. Shang Yang put down opposition with decrees and heavy penalties, building trust first and law second, and did not argue with opponents. Wuling walked to the opponent's door and argued to the point he cared about. Fukuzawa Yukichi — Both learned from the side their own people looked down on: Fukuzawa from the West, Wuling from the nomads. Fukuzawa wrote to change minds. Wuling put on the coat himself and knocked on his uncle's door.

Question 9

Further

Accepted Answer

Shang Yang Fukuzawa Yukichi Guan Zhong Duke Wen of Jin

King Wuling of Zhao

What actually happened?

He learned what worked, not what looked proper

He did not take laughter as evidence

He went to see the hardest man first

How do I use it today?

Deep read

Read alongside

Further

Lines to keep