17:13 about "Conventional townsmen are thieves of virtue." Three common de thematic usages are that wise rulers can utilize its powers, should employ people with de, and should understand how it affects friendship. The first and most frequent Mencian teaching is that a ruler should develop his de as a means of controlling people. The king said: "What kind of [] qualities are necessary for real kingship?" Mencius said: "Take care of the people, and no one can oppose you." (1A7, tr. Muller) There was king Wen, moreover, with all the virtue which belonged to him; and who did not die till he had reached a hundred years — and still his influence had not penetrated throughout the kingdom. (2A1, tr. Legge) Mencius said, "He who uses force as a pretense of Humaneness is the de-facto strongman among the princes. But such a strongman must have a large state in order to be effective. The man who uses his virtue to practice Humaneness is the true king. To be a real king you don't need an especially large territory. T'ang did it with only seventy li and King Wen did it with only one hundred li. When you use your power to force people into submission, they will never submit with their hearts; it is only because they don't have enough strength to resist. When people submit to virtue, they are happy from the bottom of their hearts, and they submit sincerely, the way the seventy disciples submitted to Confucius." (2A3, tr. Muller) Mencius said, 'When right government prevails in the kingdom, princes of little virtue are submissive to those of great, and those of little worth to those of great. When bad government prevails in the kingdom, princes of small power are submissive to those of great, and the weak to the strong. Both these cases are the rule of Heaven. They who accord with Heaven are preserved, and they who rebel against Heaven perish. (4A7, tr. Legge) Wan Chang asked Mencius, saying, 'People say, "When the disposal of the kingdom came to Yü, his virtue was inferior to that of Yâo and Shun, and he transmitted it not to the worthiest but to his son." Was it so?' Mencius replied, 'No; it was not so. When Heaven gave the kingdom to the worthiest, it was given to the worthiest. When Heaven gave it to the son of the