Yanzi Chunqiu

晏子春秋 (Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan)

Anonymous, anecdotes about the 6th-century BC statesman Yan Ying · c. 300-100 BC (compiled Warring States-Han from anecdotes about a statesman who died in 500 BC) · Linzi, State of Qi (China) · philosophy

A short, plainly dressed minister who repeatedly outwits his duke through wit rather than rank shows that remonstrance delivered as a joke can correct a ruler where a solemn lecture would only provoke him.