孟尝君 / Tian Wen

孟尝君 / Tian Wen is introduced in 《资治通鉴·周纪》40丨5月出生的孩子惹谁啦？ as the son of 田婴 and the later famous Mengchang Jun. 《资治通鉴·周纪》41丨孟尝君：我是如何打败这40多位哥哥的 resolves that cliffhanger by showing how Tian Wen turns the recognition crisis into household power.

The source distinguishes him from 田文 / Tian Wen (Wei chancellor), the earlier Wei chancellor in the Wu Qi branch. This Tian Wen belongs to the 齐国 Tian-family line and is tied to Tian Ying’s household, 薛地, and later retainer culture.

In this episode, Tian Wen’s initial problem is exclusion. 田婴 has more than forty sons, Tian Wen’s mother is a low-status concubine, and Tian Wen is born on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Tian Ying therefore orders the mother not to raise him, but she secretly keeps him alive.

When Tian Wen grows up and appears before his father, he does not retreat into ritual submission. He directly asks why a May-fifth-born child should not be raised, forcing Tian Ying to state the taboo that such a child will harm the parents once he grows as tall as the door. The episode stops there, making Tian Wen’s questioning the first sign that he will try to argue his way into recognition.

《资治通鉴·周纪》41丨孟尝君：我是如何打败这40多位哥哥的 gives his answer: he asks whether human life comes from heaven or from the household door. If it comes from heaven, the door taboo has no force; if it comes from the door, the door can simply be raised. The episode treats the argument as a clever rhetorical reversal that reveals his膽識 and intelligence to Tian Ying.

After recognition, Tian Wen does not immediately challenge his more than forty brothers. The episode emphasizes patience, close observation, and reliable service until Tian Ying lets him manage household affairs and receive guests. Tian Wen uses that office to spend Tian Ying’s accumulated wealth with careful礼数, preserving guests’ dignity and turning generosity into reputation.

That reputation eventually makes outsiders recommend Tian Wen as heir. After Tian Ying dies, Tian Wen inherits 薛地 and becomes Mengchang Jun. The same source then presents him as a major patron in 战国养士, housing and feeding large numbers of wandering士人, retainers, and fugitives while extending support to their relatives.

《资治通鉴·周纪》42丨给孟尝君提意见的后果 adds 司马光’s two-sided judgment of that fame. Sima Guang criticizes Mengchang Jun’s养士 when it gathers贤愚善恶 indiscriminately and converts state-derived resources into private power, but he does not treat Mengchang Jun as all fault.

The same episode gives Mengchang Jun a positive advice-taking case. In 楚国, the source says the Chu king offers him an ivory bed; in this chronological branch the wiki links that ruler to 楚怀王. 公孙须 advises him to refuse it after 邓图直 privately asks for help, and Mengchang Jun accepts the argument even after learning the adviser had a private reward motive. The episode therefore makes him the central example of 只问对错不问动机的纳谏.

《资治通鉴·周纪》43丨孟尝君妻子偷情被发现他咋处理？ adds two darker tests of the same retainer order. When 平原君 receives Mengchang Jun in 赵国, locals mock Mengchang Jun’s short stature and his retainers respond by killing hundreds of people. The episode reads this through 贵族名誉高于生命, while also judging the violence unacceptable by modern standards.

The same source adds a 《战国策》 story in which one retainer has an affair with Mengchang Jun’s wife. Mengchang Jun does not punish him immediately; a year later he sends the man to 卫国 with resources and introductions. When the retainer later persuades Wey’s ruler not to join an attack on 齐国, Mengchang Jun becomes the source’s example of 门客风险转化.

《资治通鉴·周纪》45｜以史为鉴，君王到底该不该杀人成性？ adds a compact diplomatic role in the failed 318 BCE anti-Qin campaign. 齐国 says it will support the five-state attack on 秦国, but Tian Wen’s strategy is to make the Qi army move as slowly as possible. The episode uses this as part of 联盟自保失灵: formal alliance support can coexist with self-preserving delay.

《资治通鉴·周纪》61丨谁是历史上胆儿最肥的帝王？ adds a later source-critical office notice. While correcting the Qin chancellor sequence after 樗里疾 / 樗里子’s death, the episode says 《史记》 places Mengchangjun Tian Wen as Qin chancellor in 298 BCE, after 魏冉 and before 楼缓. This page keeps the notice as chronology correction rather than expanding it into a full Qin career narrative.

《资治通鉴·周纪》62丨稷儿，诓你舅舅的“腿”啊 turns that corrected office notice into the next narrative setup. After the 楚怀王 detention and 芈横 succession branch, the episode says 秦昭襄王 admires Mengchangjun’s reputation, sends a royal brother to 齐国 as hostage, and brings Tian Wen to 咸阳 to serve as Qin chancellor. The episode ends by asking whether a Qi aristocrat can actually hold that Qin office.

《资治通鉴·周纪》63丨 德高望重孟尝君是伪君子？ answers that setup negatively. Someone warns Qin Zhaoxiang Wang that Mengchangjun will still favor Qi because he is a Qi aristocrat, so Qin replaces him with 楼缓, imprisons him, and nearly executes him. Mengchangjun survives through the famous chicken-crow and dog-theft retainers: one steals back the white fox-fur robe needed to win a palace favorite’s intercession, and another imitates roosters so the pass will open before Qin’s pursuers arrive.

The same source makes this rescue a criticism rather than simple vindication. Following 王安石, the host argues that Mengchangjun’s broad养士 reputation may show a failure to distinguish real statecraft talent from low-level tricks. The episode therefore adds 鸡鸣狗盗式人才批评 to Mengchangjun’s page: his network is useful enough to save him, but its composition may explain why stronger talent would avoid his门下.

《资治通鉴·周纪》71丨荀子的性本恶论 places Mengchangjun beside 齐湣王 as a negative Qi example in 荀子’s Wangba frame. The point is not that Mengchangjun personally caused Qi’s collapse in this episode; it is that elite control of a strong state and a famous private following did not become durable ritual order, political education, or credible public rule. That extends the earlier Wang Anshi critique from retainer quality into the larger question of what state power is for.

《资治通鉴·周纪》81丨历史早期PUA记实录（2） adds the closing outcome of Mengchangjun’s branch. After Qi Min Wang moves to expel him in the post-Song overreach period, Mengchangjun flees to 魏国, serves as Wei chancellor, and joins the alignment that attacks 齐国. After 齐襄王 is restored, he returns to 薛地 and is described as independent from any single lord. His sons later fight over succession, and Qi plus Wei use the division to destroy his descendants. The source turns the earlier private-patronage warning into a dynastic end state: a powerful fief can outlive central loyalty for a while, but household succession failure can make it destroyable.

Connections

• 田婴 - father, gatekeeper to recognition, and source of the household office that lets Tian Wen build reputation.
• 齐国 and 田氏代齐 - dynastic and state context.
• 薛地 - inherited fief and later retainer-patronage base.
• 出生日禁忌与继承排斥 - source concept explaining his initial rejection.
• 战国养士, 士为知己者死, 贵族名誉高于生命, and 门客风险转化 - later patronage,士人 dignity, violence, and redeployment context.
• 平原君, 赵国, and 卫国 - Zhouji 43 insult, retaliation, and retainer-redeployment branch.
• 司马光, 公孙须, 邓图直, and 只问对错不问动机的纳谏 - Zhouji 42 criticism and advice-taking branch.
• 田文 / Tian Wen (Wei chancellor) - disambiguation from an earlier different Tian Wen.
• 秦国, 合纵, and 联盟自保失灵 - Zhouji 45 slow-support role in the five-state attack.
• 魏冉, 楼缓, 樗里疾 / 樗里子, and 编年错位 - Zhouji 61 Qin chancellor-sequence correction.
• 秦昭襄王, 齐国, 咸阳, and 靠山更替暴露风险 - Zhouji 62 setup for Mengchangjun’s Qin chancellorship.
• 楼缓, 王安石, 鸡鸣狗盗式人才批评, 才德之分, and 战国四公子 - Zhouji 63 removal, escape, Wang Anshi critique, and four-lords comparison.
• 齐湣王, 荀子, and 荀子王霸三分法 - Zhouji 71 Qi power used as a negative political-philosophy example.
• 齐襄王, 魏国, 燕国, and 薛地 - Zhouji 81 part 2 final exile, semi-independent fief, and lineage-destruction branch.