梁惠王 / King Hui of Liang
梁惠王 / King Hui of Liang is one of 孟子 / Mencius’s major interlocutors in 30.孟子：战国愤青的赤子之心. The episode identifies him with Wei Hui Wang after the move to Daliang and places his questions against Wei’s post-Maling decline, military humiliation, and urgent desire for national advantage.
In the source, Liang Hui Wang is not treated as a cartoon villain. He undertakes relief and water works, but Mencius’s replies argue that partial benevolence is not enough. The opening “何必曰利” exchange becomes the source’s cleanest case for Righteousness Over Profit / 义利之辨, while “五十步笑百步” and the starvation analogies become arguments for more thorough Mencian Benevolent Government / 孟子仁政.
《资治通鉴·周纪》10丨 以家族单位 有蚂蚁吃大象的精神（2） adds an earlier succession layer under his personal name 魏罃 / Wei Ying. The source says 魏武侯 dies without clearly designating an heir, leaving Wei Ying and 公中缓 to fight for power; this becomes the episode’s main Succession Non-Designation Risk / 未定继承人风险 case.
《资治通鉴·周纪》10丨 以家族单位 有蚂蚁吃大象的精神（3） continues that earlier layer. Wei Ying is defeated by 韩国 and 赵国 at 浊泽之战 and besieged in 安邑, but survives because Han and Zhao split over the postwar settlement. After the coalition withdraws, he kills 公中缓 and becomes the Wei ruler later known as Liang Hui Wang.
《资治通鉴·周纪》11丨 世界风起云涌（1） shows the first pressure after that consolidation. When 齐国 attacks 魏国 in 368 BCE, the host says 《史记》 presents Wei Ying as preferring peace with Qi because internal stabilization mattered more than another extended war.
《资治通鉴·周纪》12丨 公孙鞅求职路上的拉关系 走后门 gives Liang Hui Wang one of the source chain’s pivotal missed-recognition moments. At 公叔痤’s deathbed, he hears that the young 公孙鞅 / 商鞅 should either be entrusted with government or killed before another state can use him. Liang Hui Wang accepts neither branch, judging Gongshu’s advice as illness-confused, and the later Wei defeats make this failure the backstory for his Zhouji 23 regret.
《资治通鉴·周纪》14丨齐威王 不鸣则已一鸣惊人 keeps him in the Qin pressure field. After Qin defeats Han at West Mountain, Wei Hui Wang sends 龙甲 to build a western wall, and the following year’s Wei-Han meeting is presented as probably involving him and 韩昭侯.
《资治通鉴·周纪》15丨酒不醇引发的世界大战 gives him two linked roles in the 355-354 BCE cluster. First, he boasts to 齐威王 that Wei has ten luminous pearls, which lets the source contrast display wealth with talent as state treasure. Second, after 楚宣王 is occupied attacking 鲁国, Wei Hui Wang reads the distraction as an opportunity to besiege 邯郸, making him the decision point in the 鲁酒薄而邯郸围 chain.
《资治通鉴·周纪》17丨韩昭侯和申不害 shows Liang Hui Wang trading tactical pride for strategic relief. Under pressure from 公孙鞅 / 商鞅 at 安邑 and 固阳, Wei returns 邯郸 to 赵国 and joins the 漳水之盟. The episode also uses 《竹书纪年》 to say he used Han forces to defeat a coalition at 襄陵, after which Qi sought peace through 景舍.
《资治通鉴·周纪》19丨马陵之战 adds a new stress point in his reign through 太子申. When 齐国 attacks toward 大梁 during the 马陵之战 setup, Wei raises another army under the crown prince. The episode treats that choice as puzzling and uses it to explain 太子挂帅风险.
《资治通鉴·周纪》20丨庞涓死此树下 gives the outcome that the Mencius branch remembers as post-Maling humiliation. 庞涓 dies, 魏国’s army is broken, and 太子申 is captured. The source frames this as the point after which Wei can no longer contend with the other lords as before.
《资治通鉴·周纪》22丨公孙鞅诈魏公子卬 continues that post-Maling vulnerability. When 秦国 attacks under 公孙鞅 / 商鞅, Liang Hui Wang sends 公子卬 / 公子昂 to meet the threat. The source presents this as another painful royal-family exposure after Prince Shen: Wei can still send commanders, but its strategic room has narrowed and Qin can exploit the moment.
《资治通鉴·周纪》23丨魏惠王 悔不用公叔之言 gives Liang Hui Wang the regret named in the episode title. After Shang Yang breaks Wei, he offers Hexi territory to Qin for peace, leaves 安邑 for 大梁, and laments that he did not follow 公叔痤’s earlier advice about Shang Yang. The source turns that regret into a long-tail cost of failing to retain or remove a dangerous talent.
《资治通鉴·周纪》26丨孟子来了！ then shows the famous intellectual afterlife of the same ruler. Wei Hui Wang asks 孟子 / Mencius what will benefit his state, and the episode reads the question as practical rather than foolish: after military defeat and capital relocation, he wants usable statecraft. Mencius’s answer becomes the case for 仁义优先的利益秩序 rather than a denial that rulers should care about outcomes.
《资治通鉴·周纪》27丨围观魏惠王和齐威王是咋商业互捧 returns him to post-Maling diplomacy. The episode says Wei Hui Wang hates 齐国 after the defeat and wants revenge, but 惠施 argues that another all-out attack would expose 魏国 again. Hui Shi’s alternative is low-posture statecraft: Wei proposes honoring 齐威王 as king at 徐州相王, gaining time and face rather than immediate revenge.
《资治通鉴·周纪》28丨韩昭侯的快乐你想象不到 supplies the sequel to that tactic. The Chu attack on Qi shows that Hui Shi’s expected pressure materializes, while Wei itself does not rescue Qi at 徐州. The source makes Liang Hui Wang’s posture part of a broader status-order backlash rather than only a personal revenge problem.
《资治通鉴·周纪》36丨卫嗣君的帝王之术 gives Liang Hui Wang two late-reign scenes with 卫国. First, he refuses to return a Wey fugitive with medical skill until 卫嗣君’s 治无小乱无大 reasoning reaches him, after which he sends the prisoner back without ransom. Second, a 《战国策》 supplement has 武夏 persuade him to receive a Wey envoy by comparing the neglected audience to Wei’s need to stay attentive to 秦国.
《资治通鉴·周纪》38丨搞兼职的张仪不一般 returns Liang Hui Wang to the central Wei problem: after years of pressure from 齐国 and 秦国, he is willing to accept both 犀首公孙衍 and 张仪 despite their Qin-linked records. The episode reads this as hard pragmatism rather than simple forgetfulness. Wei has lost western strategic depth, so the king may need mobile specialists who know Qin even when their loyalties remain suspect.
《资治通鉴·周纪》39丨历史上张仪是怎样怒怼强敌的 shows the domestic cost of that pragmatism. Zhang Yi and 惠施 / 惠师 fight over Wei’s direction: Zhang wants Wei to join Qin and Han against Qi and Chu, while Hui Shi wants Wei aligned with Qi and Chu and quiet. The court tilts toward Zhang Yi, Hui Shi leaves under threat, and Zhang Yi then frames 陈枕 as pro-Chu before Chen can establish trust with Liang Hui Wang.
《资治通鉴·周纪》45｜以史为鉴，君王到底该不该杀人成性？ closes his reign with the 319 BCE death notice. His son 魏襄王 succeeds, and 孟子 / Mencius’s next Wei dialogue shifts from Liang Hui Wang’s benefit-and-renyi question to the problem of unity, killing, and durable rule.
Connections
- 30.孟子：战国愤青的赤子之心 - source episode.
- 孟子 / Mencius and 《孟子》 - dialogue context.
- 战国时期 - political-military background.
- Righteousness Over Profit / 义利之辨 - central exchange over “利” and “仁义.”
- Mencian Benevolent Government / 孟子仁政 and Mencian Idealism Limits / 孟子理想主义的限度 - benevolence and its practical test.
- 魏武侯, 魏国, 公中缓, and Succession Non-Designation Risk / 未定继承人风险 - earlier Wei succession-disorder branch.
- 浊泽之战, 安邑, Succession-Crisis Intervention / 继承危机外部干预, and Coalition Settlement Failure / 联军战后安排失败 - Zhouji 10 part 3 crisis outcome.
- 齐国, 《史记》, Early Warring States Interstate War / 战国早期诸侯混战, and Territorial Control Churn / 城池反复易手 - Zhouji 11 post-succession peace branch.
- 公叔痤, 公孙鞅 / 商鞅, 荐才层级质量, and 私人进身通道 - Zhouji 12 missed talent-retention branch.
- 龙甲, 韩昭侯, Wei Great Wall Anti-Qin Defense / 魏长城防秦, and Qin Eastward Pressure / 秦国东进压力 - Zhouji 14 defensive and diplomatic response branch.
- 齐威王, 檀子, 以贤臣为宝, 鲁酒薄而邯郸围, and 邯郸 - Zhouji 15 treasure contrast and opportunistic siege branch.
- 公孙鞅 / 商鞅, 安邑, 固阳, 邯郸, 漳水之盟, 襄陵, and 景舍 - Zhouji 17 pressure and reconciliation branch.
- 太子申, 马陵之战, 大梁, Crown-Prince Command Risk / 太子挂帅风险, and Decreasing Stoves Deception / 减灶诱敌 - Zhouji 19-20 crown-prince command and Maling defeat branch.
- 公子卬 / 公子昂, 和谈诱捕, 公叔痤, 战术信用成本, and Qin Eastward Pressure / 秦国东进压力 - Zhouji 22-23 post-Maling Qin attack, regret, and capital-shift branch.
- 子思, 司马光, and 仁义优先的利益秩序 - Zhouji 26 reading of the opening Mencius exchange.
- 惠施, 齐威王, 徐州相王, and 低姿态权宜 - Zhouji 27 post-Maling deference and title-recognition branch.
- 楚威王, 徐州, and 名分秩序反弹 - Zhouji 28 consequence of the title-recognition tactic.
- 卫嗣君, 卫国, 武夏, 治无小乱无大, and 《战国策》 - Zhouji 36 prisoner-return and neglected-envoy branch.
- 张仪, 犀首公孙衍, 乱世职业经理人式流动, 曲沃, and 平州 - Zhouji 38 mobile talent and Qin pressure around Zhang Yi’s Wei post.
- 惠施 / 惠师, 陈枕, 连横, and 因事立道式政治转身 - Zhouji 39 court struggle and blocked office-seeking branch.
- 魏襄王 and 不爱杀人者能一之 - Zhouji 45 death, succession, and Mencius sequel.