WeR1FamilySaying Deer as Horse
January 24th 2008 12:20
During the reign of the second emperor of Qin dynasty, one of his minister named Zhao Gao was attempting to take over the kingdom. The biggest obstacle he was facing was that he didn’t know clearly which high minister or general that supports him and the ones who doesn’t. To ask them one by one is impossible, because not only they might not give out honest answer, more dangerously, his evil plan might leak out. After thinking and thinking for quite a long time, finally he managed to come up with a bright idea.
One day, during a meeting of the high ministers with the emperor, Zhao Gao presented a deer to the emperor and said, “Your Highness, here I present you a horse. This is a highly selected horse.” The emperor smiled and said, “Looks like you are confused. This is a deer, why do you say it horse?” Then Zhao Gao pointed at the deer and looked at the high ministers present there while asking, “You guys answer! Is this a deer or a horse?”
The question shocked the high ministers. If they answered horse, that means they were lying to the king. If they answer deer, then it opposed what the high minister said. In such dilemmatic situation, none spoke out a voice. Then Zhao Gao asked again, this time with louder voice, “Come tell us! Is this a deer or a horse?” As they kept being forced, finally they answered. Some answered horse, some answered deer.
The next morning, all the high ministers who answered ‘deer’ was killed by the Zhao Gao for not supporting him and he managed to take over the kingdom.
Despite of his evil wrongdoing, Zhao Gao’s plan was very smart and effective to know the loyality and the support from his subordinates.
Yes, to get the best and honest answer, sometimes we have to put the person in a difficult and contradictive choosing situation. Once Mr. Leman was asked by a client how to test the honesty and loyalty of his company’s person- in-charge of the company’s purchase. Briefly, Mr.Leman told him to find somebody that he knows well, then through that person, goods will be offered to the head of the company’s purchase. The goods purchased should be needed, have physicality, same price but different quality. For the purchase of goods with the best quality, the head of purchase department will get no commission, for the purchase of second grade good, he will get 20% and 40% commission if purchasing third-grade goods. This kind of condition will force the head of purchase department to choose between his own benefit or the company’s benefit.
Source: 50 Classic Chinese Wisdom - zhi lu wei ma
Image Source: animals.timduru.org
Korean MuskDeer BlackFur
The question shocked the high ministers. If they answered horse, that means they were lying to the king. If they answer deer, then it opposed what the high minister said. In such dilemmatic situation, none spoke out a voice. Then Zhao Gao asked again, this time with louder voice, “Come tell us! Is this a deer or a horse?” As they kept being forced, finally they answered. Some answered horse, some answered deer.
The next morning, all the high ministers who answered ‘deer’ was killed by the Zhao Gao for not supporting him and he managed to take over the kingdom.
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Despite of his evil wrongdoing, Zhao Gao’s plan was very smart and effective to know the loyality and the support from his subordinates.
Yes, to get the best and honest answer, sometimes we have to put the person in a difficult and contradictive choosing situation. Once Mr. Leman was asked by a client how to test the honesty and loyalty of his company’s person- in-charge of the company’s purchase. Briefly, Mr.Leman told him to find somebody that he knows well, then through that person, goods will be offered to the head of the company’s purchase. The goods purchased should be needed, have physicality, same price but different quality. For the purchase of goods with the best quality, the head of purchase department will get no commission, for the purchase of second grade good, he will get 20% and 40% commission if purchasing third-grade goods. This kind of condition will force the head of purchase department to choose between his own benefit or the company’s benefit.
Source: 50 Classic Chinese Wisdom - zhi lu wei ma
Image Source: animals.timduru.org
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