Chapter 74 <Don't worry>

In the state of Zheng at the end of the Spring and Autumn period, there was a man named Deng Xi. He was very knowledgeable and proficient in litigation. He not only helped others to file lawsuits, but also taught them the skills of litigation.Therefore, if there is any dispute between people, they all ask him for advice on how to solve it.Naturally, some rewards or gifts should also be given to him. "Lu's Spring and Autumn Period.Li Wei records a story about Deng Xi: A rich man in the state of Zheng was washed away by a flood, and his body was salvaged. The family members of the family asked Deng Xi for advice.

Deng Xi said: Don't worry, and don't overpay the ransom, because the other party can't sell the corpse to you other than selling it to you. The person who got the corpse was very anxious when he heard Deng Xi's words, and also ran to ask Deng Xi for advice. Deng Xi said: Don't worry, and don't lower the ransom, because the other party can't buy a corpse except from you. This is Deng Xi's famous ambiguity. The so-called ambiguity means that Deng Xi argues that both parties to the conflict can have reasons for not being anxious, and can use their own lack of haste to cause the other party to be anxious.This move is really powerful, so that the seeker feels that he has obtained a magic formula to deal with the opponent.

However, from the perspective of solving the problem, Deng Xi's idea is not advisable.Because there are actually four ways to solve the problem: either teach the buyer to make concessions and the seller not to make concessions, or teach the seller to make concessions and the buyer not to make concessions, or teach both buyers and sellers to make concessions (the seller asks for a little less ransom, and the buyer pays a little more ransom), or teach business Neither side will budge.But Deng Xi only adopted one of them, that is, to teach both parties not to make concessions. If both the buyer and the seller follow Deng Xi's idea, the issue will only be brought to a stalemate, and the result will be that the corpse will rot. The seller will neither get the ransom, nor will the buyer get the corpse.Therefore, we think Deng Xi's method is the worst method.

From a logical point of view, Deng Xi made the mistake of inexhaustible choice of words, deliberately hiding other choices (expressing other solutions to problems) and forcing others to accept his choice of words (expressing the solutions he proposed). approach to the problem), which is a sophistry technique.