General and

It was exactly thirty days when King Hui Wen of Zhao returned to his country. From here on, he used Lin Xiangru more highly and made him a superior minister, even higher than the general Lian Po. This made Lian Po furious. When he returned home, his face was red and he said to his disciples, "I am a great general of Zhao, and I have fought for Zhao with my life, and I have made a lot of merits! He, a eunuch's man, with his mouth, is no big deal. He's climbing on top of me! One day, if he meets my hand, I will show him. I'll show him." Someone had already told Lin Xiangru about this, so he pretended to be sick and did not go to court. Even if he had a business, he would not meet with Lian Po. Lin Xiangru's men said that he was cowardly and talked about it in pairs, defying him.

One day, Lin Xiangru went out with a group of followers. He saw Lian Po's carriage coming from a distance. He hurriedly told the carriage drivers to retreat to the east entrance and take another road. When they got back to the east entrance, they saw Lian Po's carriage coming from there. Lin Xiangru had to tell the chariot driver to go back to the west entrance again. To his surprise, Lian Po's chariots and horses quickly blocked the west entrance again. Lin Xiangru was patient and advised his men to tell the chariot driver to retreat to a small alley to hide so that he could come out again after Lian Po's chariots and horses passed. This time, the disciples and underlings were furious. They held a private meeting and sent some of their leaders to meet Lin Xiangru and said to him, "We are far away from our hometown and have joined your disciples because we admire you. Now that you and Lian Po are colleagues, and you have a higher status than him, you are afraid of him because he has scolded you. How can we stand it? If we go on like this, people will still be riding on our necks! We have no sense of decency, so we have to say goodbye to you!" Lin Xiangru stopped them and said, "Which one do you think is more powerful, General Lian or the King of Qin?" They said, "Of course, the King of Qin is more powerful." Lin Xiangru said, "Yes, which of the lords in the world is not afraid of the king of Qin? Who dares to oppose him? But I, Lin Xiangru, dared to scold him in the court of the Qin king. Why should I be afraid of General Lian when I see him? You are not angry with me, but am I not angry with myself? But you have to know: Why didn't such a powerful Qin state invade our state? Is it because we are working together to defend ourselves against the enemy? If two tigers fought, it would be a 'lose-lose' situation, and when Qin heard about it, it would have to invade Zhao. For this reason, I had to be brave and hold my tongue. Think about it: is the state more important, or is it more important to you personally?" When they heard these words, their anger was all gone. Here they admired Lin Xiangru even more.

Later, when his disciples met with Lian Po's disciples, they were considerate of their master's feelings and always gave them a few points. But Lian Po became more and more arrogant.