」對曰：「不如秦強。
」王曰：「今時如耳、魏齊與孟嘗、芒卯孰賢？
“Who are the worthiest officers,” asked King Zhaoxiang, “Ru Er and Wey Qi63 or Mengchang and Mang Mao?” “None are as worthy as Mengchang and Mang Mao” was the reply.
」對曰：「不如孟嘗、芒卯之賢。
“If Mengchang and Mang Mao, with all their talent, should lead mighty Hán and Wey in an attack against us, they would be unable to inflict any harm on me, so it is doubly plain that, if those ungifted officers Ru Er and Wey Qi should lead the feeble states of Hán and Wey against us, they would be unable to injure me.” “That is right,” cried all the attendants.
」王曰：「以孟嘗、芒卯之賢，率強韓、魏以攻秦，猶無奈寡人何也。
今以無能之如耳、魏齊，而率弱韓、魏以伐秦，其無奈寡人何亦明矣！
Shen Qi, who was bent over a zither, said, “Your Majesty’s judgment of the realm’s affairs is incorrect.
」左右皆曰：「然。
During the time when the six clans were at war with one another in Jin, the chief of the clan of Zhi66 was the most powerful of them all.
」申旗伏瑟而對曰：「王之料天下，過矣！
當六晉之時，智氏最強，滅范中行氏，又率韓、魏之兵以圍趙襄子於晉陽，决晉水以灌晉陽之城，不滿者三板。
He extinguished the clans of Fan and Zhonghang; then, leading the forces of Han and Wey, he laid siege to Zhao Xiangzi in Jinyang67 and let loose the waters of the Jin River, flooding the city of Jinyang until only six feet of the city wall was still visible.
智伯行水，魏宣子御，韓康子為驂乘。
The count of Zhi advanced through the water, Wey Xuanzi [the chief of the clan of Wey]69 acting as his charioteer and Hán Kangzi [the chief of the clan of Hán]70 acting as his guard. ‘I never realized before,’ said the count of Zhi, ‘that a river could be used to destroy a man’s state, but now I see that it is so!
智伯曰：『吾始不知水可以亡人國也，乃今知之！
汾水可以灌安邑，絳水可以灌平陽。』
The Fen River could be used to flood Anyi [the stronghold of the clan of Wey], and the Jiang River could be used to flood Pingyang [the stronghold of the clan of Hán].’ 61 King Anli 安釐 of Wey: p.n. Yu 圉; r. 276–243.