Lord Mengchang displayed the account books and asked his retainers, "Who among you is versed in accounting and could collect the debts for me in Xue?" Feng Xuan signed his name and said, "I can." Surprised, Mengchang asked, "Who is this?" His attendants replied, "He is the one who sang 'Long sword, return home!'" Mengchang smiled and said, "This retainer indeed has talent—I have treated him poorly and have not yet met him." He then invited Feng Xuan to see him and apologized, saying, "I have been wearied by state affairs, troubled by anxieties, and being of timid and dull disposition, I have been immersed in national matters and have wronged you, sir. You, sir, do not consider it shameful, and are willing to go to Xue to collect the debts for me?" Feng Xuan said, "I am willing." Thereupon, carriages and provisions were prepared, and the loan contracts were loaded for departure. Before leaving, Feng Xuan asked, "After the debts are collected, what shall I purchase to bring back?" Mengchang said, "Buy whatever my household lacks." Feng Xuan drove his carriage to Xue, dispatched officials to summon the people who owed debts, and had them all verify the contracts. After all the contracts were checked, Feng Xuan rose and, falsely claiming Lord Mengchang's command, bestowed the debt payments upon the people and burned the contracts. The people shouted, "Long live!" ten thousand times. Feng Xuan then drove straight back to Qi and sought an audience at dawn. Mengchang, surprised at his swift return, dressed formally to receive him and asked, "Have the debts been fully collected? Why have you returned so quickly?" Feng Xuan said, "They are collected." He then asked, "What did you buy to bring back?" Feng Xuan said, "You said, 'Buy whatever my household lacks.' I privately reflected that your palace is piled with treasures, your stables are filled with hounds and fine horses, and beautiful women stand throughout your halls. What your household lacks is only 'righteousness'! So I privately used the debt funds to buy righteousness for you." Mengchang asked, "What does buying righteousness mean?" Feng Xuan said, "Now you hold the small fief of Xue—yet you do not cherish the people as your own children, but profit from them like a merchant. I privately assumed your command, bestowed the debt payments upon the people, and burned the contracts. The people shouted, 'Long live!' ten thousand times. This is how I bought righteousness for you." Mengchang was displeased and said, "Enough, sir, say no more!" A year later, the King of Qi said to Mengchang, "I dare not keep the minister of my late father as my own minister." Mengchang was thus compelled to return to his fief in Xue. When he was still a hundred li from Xue, the people, carrying the young and supporting the old, came to welcome him on the road. Mengchang turned to Feng Xuan and said, "The principle of the righteousness you bought for me, sir, I have now come to see."
💡 商战启示录
Feng Xuan burned the debt contracts to win the people's hearts—an act that seemed to forfeit short-term receivables but, through the investment of "righteousness," secured for Lord Mengchang the enduring moat of popular support. In modern commerce, this strategy finds its quintessential expression in "freemium" or "social responsibility" models. Alibaba, for instance, poured enormous resources into building e-commerce infrastructure in its early days, ostensibly conceding margins to merchants and consumers, yet in truth nurturing an ecosystem that would ultimately culminate in a commercial empire. Tesla, likewise, by opening portions of its patents, appeared to surrender technological barriers, yet in doing so accelerated the maturation of the entire electric-vehicle industry and, paradoxically, expanded its own market share. The error most commonly committed by entrepreneurs is the excessive pursuit of current-period profits while neglecting such "invisible assets" as brand value, customer loyalty, and ecosystem health. Feng Xuan's wisdom lay in discerning what was "most lacking in the household"—Lord Mengchang did not want for wealth, but for political security and popular endorsement. Translated to the corporate realm: when cash flow is abundant, one should invest strategically in those elements that resist immediate quantification yet determine long-term survival—user reputation, employee growth, and supply-chain symbiosis. Commercial warfare is not about profiting from every transaction, but about building trust through calculated concession, so that in moments of crisis, these acts of "righteousness" transform into lifelines. Just as the people of Xue welcomed Lord Mengchang upon his fall from grace—the most steadfast form of "customer retention"—so too must modern managers learn to calculate the long-term return on "righteousness," rather than fixating solely on the financial statements.