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The roadside spectators killed your horse

A man rides a horse on the road. Because the horse ran so fast, passers-by kept applauding and applauding. Horses are proud, and so are the riders. So he hurried on and continued to run wildly on the post road. The faster he ran, the more people applauded. After running for hundreds of miles, the horse suddenly fell over and died after gasping for a while. The man on the horse fell down and was so distressed that he wanted to cry. How can a good horse die? At this time, an old man came over and said, "The one who kills the your horse is standing on the road side."(杀君马者道旁儿) It means that the person who kills your horse is the one who applauds and applauds you on the side of the road.

This story comes from Ying Shao's "Fengsu Tongyi"( Comprehensive Meaning of Customs and Mores) in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and was later included in the Song Dynasty book "Taiping Yulan".  Mr. Cai Yuanpei has quoted this allusion twice: once after the May 4th Movement in 1919, on May 9, Cai Yuanpei wrote a letter of resignation. The other time was in 1926, when Cai Yuanpei wrote a poem to Hu Shi, one of which was: "A man on the road can kill your horse, but when the river dries up, the people may blame the River God."

Everyone knows that this is called "Flattering kills", and Lu Xun reminded everyone long ago. But know that it is easy to kill by flattering, but find that it is difficult to kill by club. A lot of people fall into the trap without knowing it.

Yu Yue, a great scholar in the Qing Dynasty, told a story about a Beijing official who was about to go to another place and said goodbye to his teacher before leaving. The teacher said, "It's not easy to be an official in another province, so you should do it with caution." The man said, "I have prepared 100 high hats(meaningflattery), and I will give one when I meet someone, so there shouldn't be any disagreements." The teacher was very angry, He said, "We should treat others with honesty and integrity. Why do we need to do this?" The man said, "How many people in the world don't like wearing high hats like my teacher?" The teacher nodded: "Your words are not without reason. ." After the man came out, he quietly said to others: "I prepared 100 top hats, and now there are only 99 left."


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