Master 0sifu Folktale: Zheng Yong identifyingthe thieves

Once thestate of Jin was bothered by the prevalence of thieves, and thisplagued Marguis Jin.

有一段时间晋国盗贼横行，晋侯很为此事苦恼。

 

He wasvery happy when he heard that Zheng Yong could identify thethieves’ misdeeds just by observing their appearances. He wasconfident that in no time there would be no thieves anymore.

当他得知郄雍能通过观察盗贼的面貌发现他们的罪行时，心中非常高兴，以为消灭全国的盗贼指日可待。

 

But ZhaoWenzi reminded him that this method could not put an end to theftin this country. Before long, the thieves killed Zheng Yong. ZhaoWenzi advised the Marguis and said, “If your Majesty wants toexterminate theft, and you should select virtuous and talentedpeople, and entrust them with important posts. As long as everyonein the court is of fine breeding and the politics is clean andjust, the populace will be influenced and good social custom can beformed. When people have a sense of honor, there will be no thiefat all.”

赵文子却提醒他用这种方法是抓不完盗贼的。不久，郄雍被盗贼杀死。赵文子进谏说：“大王，您要想彻底消灭盗贼，就应该选拔贤能的人，委以重任。而且只要朝廷中人人有教养，政治也清明，民众自会受感化，就能形成良好的社会风气。人民有了羞耻心，就绝对不会去做盗贼了。”