Wu Qi wanted to remove the watchtower set up by the state of Qin that did harm to farming.

 

It wouldn't be worthwhile to use army to do that , so he considered using the force of common people to do it.

 

He first put a thill（车把，辕） outside the north gate, and ordered that whoever moved this thill to the south gate would be rewarded with good fields and house.

 

The people of the state of Wei did not believe that there would be such a good thing. Only after a long time did a person come to do this. Wu Qi gave him the rewards immediately.

 

After a while, he put a dan (an ancient Chinese unit of measurement¹ ) of beans outside the east gate, and said whoever moved this to the west gate would get the same rewards.

 

The people contented² to do it. Being assured³ that the people contented to do it. Being assured that the people would follow his directions, Wu Qi announced, "Whoever can get on the watchtower of the state of Qin tomorrow will be appointed dafu (senior official in feudal⁴封建制度的 China ) and will get a reward of good fields and house." The next morning, people contented with each other to attack the watchtower and in no time the watchtower was removed.

 

吴起想拔掉秦国设置的对魏国百姓种田具有危害性的瞭望楼。

 

如果动用军队，从效益上讲不合算,于是考虑借助民间的力量。

 

他先是把一根车辕杆放在城池的北门外面，下令说谁能够把一根车辕杆扛到南门外面，就赏上等田宅。

 

魏国的百姓都不相信有这样的轻松事，过了很久才有一个人来扛，吴起立即兑现了奖赏。

 

一会儿，又把一石赤豆放在东门外，说谁能把它搬到西门去，将给予同样的奖赏。

 

人们都争着来搬。见百姓能听从自己的指挥，吴起宣布说：“明天谁能率先登上泰国的瞭望楼，就任命为国大夫，赏给上等田宅。”第二天一早，人们争先恐后地向秦国的瞭望楼发起进攻，一会儿工夫就顺利地拔掉了它。

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