The Warring States Policy is a historical work. It is a book of national history, which mainly describes the political opinions and words and deeds strategies of lobbyists during the Warring States period. It shows the historical characteristics and social features of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States Period, and is an important book for studying the history of the Warring States Period.
It was in the Western Han Dynasty that the fourth grandson of Jiao Liu, the king of Chu Yuan, was born and named Liu Xiang. The Liu family used to be a prominent family, but with the change of dynasties, the Liu family declined, but these did not affect the growth of Liu Xiang. Liu Xiang was smart and studious since he was a child. At the age of twelve, he was appointed as the chariot driver of the emperor, and at the age of twenty, he was appointed as an admonition officer.
Liu Xiang, who is familiar with ci-poetry and good at conjunctions, met the emperor together with ministers Wang Bao and Zhang, answered the emperor's questions and presented dozens of ci-poetry and carols. Liu Xiang was clever, studious, proficient in Confucianism and Taoism, and wrote excellent articles, so he was highly valued by Xuan Di, Emperor Gaozu.
Once, the emperor asked Liu Xiang about the magic of immortals. When he heard that the King of Huainan had an unknown book "Secretary Hong Baoyuan", which contained the magic method of turning ghosts into gold and the secret recipe of practicing longevity, he asked Liu Xiang if he knew it.
Many people don't know this book, but Liu Xiang does. Because Liu Xiang's father, Liu De, got this book when he was dealing with the case of Huainan Wang during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Liu Xiang knew this book because he had read it since he was a child.
Liu Xiang thought it was a wonderful book and gave it to the emperor, saying that gold could be extracted according to the method in the book. So, the emperor ordered Liu Xiang to preside over alchemy.
Because the writing process of this book is too complicated, gold is not refined and it costs a lot of money. Until this time, Liu Cai knew that the alchemy written in the book was not effective.
Liu Xiang failed in alchemy, the emperor dismissed his official position, and the official department also impeached Liu Xiang to cast fake gold, which should be put to death. At this time, Liu Xiang's brother, Yangcheng Liu Hou Anmin wrote to the emperor, demanding to pay half of the household registration fief to redeem Liu Xiang's sin.
The emperor originally valued Liu Xiang's talent, and soon pardoned Liu Xiang's comeback and became a doctor. In the Han and Yuan Dynasties, Liu Xiang was promoted to Shi San, Zong Zheng and posthumous title, and became one of the four ministers of Fuzheng at that time.
During this period, Liu Xiang used the disaster of Yin and Yang to infer the gains and losses of current politics, and wrote a letter to impeach the consorts, criticizing the eunuchs for making mistakes in the country, which offended many powerful ministers. He was also imprisoned twice before and after and was dismissed from public office for several years.
Liu Xiang experienced three emperors, Yuan Dynasty and Cheng Dynasty, with rich experience. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, Liu Xiang was smart, eager to learn and proficient in Confucianism and Taoism, so he was asked to publish the Five Classics and various cheats in Tianluge School of the Royal Library.
When sorting out books, Liu Xiang found that there are six kinds of books in the Royal Library that record military strategists, namely, national policies, state affairs, length, stories, long books and revised books, but the contents are confusing and the words are incomplete. Therefore, Liu Xiang compiled these books into "The Warring States Policy" according to the country.