Today's article and the next article: The story of Yue Wang Gou Jian and Fan Li, the amount of information is relatively large, there are many allusions and knowledge points. For example, we are familiar with a speech by Liu Yuanyuan, a talented woman at Peking University, mentioned in a speech: those who have lofty ideals, things are accomplished, the cauldron sinks the boat, and the hundred and two Qin Guans belong to Chu (here we are talking about the allusion that Xiang Yu broke the cauldron and sank the boat, and defeated the Qin army); the bitter hearted person, the heavens do not bear the burden, the lying salary tastes the guts, and the three thousand Yue Jia can swallow Wu (the allusion of the Yue King's practice of lying down to taste the gall and destroying Wu Xue's shame). There is also the story of Sun Wu (who is the legendary figure who wrote "Sun Tzu's Art of War", which was used as a compulsory textbook by the West Point Military Academy) to train soldiers, and later it will also talk about Fan Li's rapids and brave retreat, Mingzhe's practice of protecting himself, Fan Li is well versed in flying birds, good bow hiding, cunning rabbit death, running dog cooking, and finally became famous Tao Zhugong's legend!
Let's first tell the story of Wu Zixu. He endured for more than ten years, and finally avenged the killing of his father and brother. Politically, he was also very far-sighted, assisting two generations of Wu kings.
Let's talk about Wu Zixu's life from the three key words of hidden tolerance and escape, revenge and hatred, and fu cha's death, especially the story between him and the two generations of Wu kings, Lu Lu and Fu Cha.
First of all, let's talk about the first key word - hidden escape
How was the Wu family persecuted and wronged? How did Wu Zixu escape and carry the blood sea of deep vengeance? Wu Zixu, a native of the Chu state, his grandfather was the minister Wu Ju who had risked his life to advise King Zhuang of Chu to work hard. His father, Wu Hao, was a teacher of Prince Jian during the reign of King Chuping. Prince Jian, there is another teacher named Fei Wujie. Wu Zixu's family was persecuted because of this. There was a princess of the State of Qin who wanted to be related to the crown prince, and in order to please king Chuping, Fei Wuji said that this princess was a beautiful woman and suggested that king Chuping himself accept the princess as a concubine. Fei Wuji thought again, this King of Chuping was happy, but Prince Jian might hate himself for this. So he slandered the prince in front of King Chuping, saying that the prince and Wu Hao had the intention of rebellion. Crown Prince Jian thought that if his father believed it, he would be miserable, so he quickly fled the Chu kingdom. Wu Hao, who did not run, was imprisoned by King Chu Ping. Fei Wuji was still not at ease, because he knew that Wu Hao also had two sons: Wu Shang and Wu Zixu, who were said to be very capable. Fei Wuji suggested that King Chuping kill all three fathers and sons. After his elder brother Wu Shang received the order to enter the palace, he understood that he was more vicious than Ji, so he said to his younger brother Wu Zixu: You run away, you are the one who can avenge your father. And what I can do is accompany my father to Huangquan.
If Wu Shang entered the palace, King Chu Ping killed him and his father Wu Hao. And Wu Zixu fled with full of anger. When he heard that Prince Jian had fled to the Song Kingdom, he also ran to the Song Kingdom to join Prince Jian. Later, when the two escaped together, Prince Jian was killed by Zheng Guojun, and Wu Zixu fled to the State of Wu. On the way to escape, Wu Zixu fell ill and almost became a beggar. However, at the most unfortunate time in his life, he still remembered the revenge for his father and brother.
There is an idiom here called wind and grass: Wu Zixu was cautious during the escape, and as long as there was wind and grass along the way, he quickly hid and eventually fled to the kingdom of Wu. Used as a metaphor for small changes.
After arriving in the Kingdom of Wu, Wu Zixu finally found an opportunity, so let's talk about the second key word - revenge and hatred, and see how Wu Wang Lu and Wu Zixu achieved each other.
After arriving in the State of Wu, Wu Zixu discovered that Gongzi Guang of the State of Wu was a very ambitious man who wanted to seize the throne. Wu Zixu felt that if he became the King of Wu, he would definitely be able to help him get revenge. Therefore, Wu Zixu decided to help Gongzi Guang. Wu Zixu introduced a warrior named Zhuan Zhu whom he knew on the way to escape to Gongzi Guang, and Gongzi Guang was very happy, because he found that Zhuan Zhu was a loyal and not afraid of death. After a few years, Gongzi Guang really found a great opportunity to do something to Wu Wang. At a banquet, he hid the knife in the belly of the fish and took the opportunity to serve the food to stab the Wu king to death. Gongzi Guang finally became the monarch, and he was the King of Wu.
At this time, King Wu remembered Wu Zixu, so he summoned Wu Zixu, who was living in seclusion in the countryside to retreat, into the palace and asked him to help him plan state affairs. As we said earlier, when King Wu was still calling Gongzi Guang, he was an ambitious and never-ending man, and sure enough, from the third year of his reign as monarch, he fought wars against the outside world for many years in order to expand his territory, and finally, with the assistance of the resourceful Wu Zixu and sun Wu, who was good at the art of war, the King of Wu decided to unite with other countries to attack the powerful Chu state (which was Wu Zixu's motherland). After five battles, King Wu finally defeated the Chu army. The captain of King Wu's army drove straight in and captured the capital of the Chu state. After 16 years, Wu Zixu finally returned to his hometown. We said he was seeking revenge on his enemies. However, now King Chu Ping and Fei Wuji were already dead. Wu Zixu wanted to take King Chu Zhao's life, but King Chu Zhao had already fled, so Wu Zixu, who had endured for more than ten years, had a lot of resentment and had nowhere to vent, and finally dug out the bones of King Chu Ping from the grave and whipped him 300 times, which calculated a breath. At this time, on the other side, Wu Wang's younger brother Fu Guo took advantage of his brother's opportunity to fight outside the country and established himself as king, which was angry with Fu Lu, and he hurriedly withdrew his troops from the Chu state, returned to the Wu state, and beat Fu Lu away. Later, in the 19th year of his reign, Que Lu sent troops to attack the Yue Kingdom, but he was defeated by the Yue King, and in the war, Lu Lu's toe was injured, and this small wound eventually cost Lu Lu's life. Wu Wang's toe finger was cut off by Gou Jian, and it is reasonable to say that such a small injury is not enough to threaten his life, it may be that the weapon used by Gou Jian has been poisoned, or there was no tetanus in ancient times, and the wound was inflamed, and the real reason has been annihilated in the long river of history. Subsequently, Fu Cha, the son of Fu Lu, succeeded to the throne. So did fu cha avenge his father's death? Will he still reuse Wu Zixu?
Next, let's talk about the third key word - Fu Cha zhi death, to see why the new Wu Wang Fu Cha no longer trusts Wu Zixu. I still hope that Wu Zixu will die!
After Fu Cha succeeded to the throne, he began to reuse another minister named Bo Zhe (pi sansheng).
There's an idiom here called pity for the disease. There are two important ministers in the State of Wu, namely Wu Zixu and Bo Yao, Wu Zixu As we just said, the Wu family was victimized by the traitor Fei Wujie, his father and brother were killed, and Wu Zixu escaped alone. And what about Bo Yao's life? Bo Yao was originally the grandson of bozhou plough, a famous minister of the Chu state. His father, Qiu Wan, was Zuo Yin, the King of Chu, who was upright, wise and capable, and deeply loved by the people, so he was hated by the young Fu Fei Wujie, killed by Chu Lingyin (Minister of State), and connected the whole clan, it can be said that the murder of the Bo Yao family is also inseparable from Fei Wujie! But Bo Yao luckily escaped, he heard that Wu Zixu was highly valued in the Wu kingdom, so he went to join Wu Zixu, Wu Zixu and Bo Zhao, although selfless, but because of similar encounters. He was recommended to King Wu. Wu Zixu's act of recommending Bo Yao to King Wu is not only ordinary sympathy, but also a deep sense of pity for the same disease, and now we use the idiom of pity for the same disease to refer to it, because of the same suffering or pain, we sympathize with each other and empathize with each other. But Wu Zixu would not have thought that after thirty years of such a recommendation, Bo Yao would be corrupt and usurp his power, just like Fei Wuji slandered his father, and would brutalize him to death, who was struggling to support the overall situation of the Wu State! I don't know if Wu Zixu ever regretted it when he committed suicide! Bo Yao is a man, a good person, a good job, greedy for money and lustful. For the sake of one's own selfish interests and regardless of the security of the country, the internal remnants of loyal subjects, and the external cooperation with the enemy country have completely lost the fine qualities of their ancestors, so that the State of Wu has lost its favorable opportunity under the conditions of absolute superiority in the Struggle for Dominance between Wu and Vietnam, and gradually went into decline. In today's Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, it is often useful to describe a certain type of person (mostly pejorative)!
Well, back to the point, in the second year of Fu Cha, the State of Wu defeated the Vietnamese army, and the Yue King Gou Jian was besieged by Fu Cha at Huiji Mountain, with only 5,000 people left around him, and it seemed that the country was about to be destroyed. Gou Jian sent a minister named Wen Zhong to bribe Bo Zhao and ask him to intercede with fu cha. Wu Zixu hurriedly advised Fu Cha and said: Don't be soft-hearted, The King of Yue is a person who can bear the burden of humiliation, and if you don't destroy him today, you will definitely regret it in the future. But in the end, Wu Wang Fuchai was not willing to listen to Wu Wuzixu, and he listened to the opinion of Bo Yao, who had received benefits, and even made peace with Yue Guo, who had a vendetta against his father.
Five years later, Fu Cha heard that the monarch of the State of Qi had passed away and the situation in the country was in turmoil, so he wanted to take the opportunity to send troops to attack the State of Qi. Wu Zixu again came to persuade Fu Cha, who believed that attacking the State of Qi would not be of much benefit and that he should first deal with the Yue King. Wu Zixu said to Fu Cha: Now as the king of a country, he can eat without being picky about food, and he is very caring for the people, which is a manifestation of making a difference, and this person will inevitably be a disaster in the future. Fu Cha could not listen to Wu Zixu's advice, especially after he attacked the State of Qi and won a victory, he felt even more powerful, and he could not tolerate Wu Zixu in his eyes. After another four years, Fu Cha was ready to attack the State of Qi again, and on the one hand, Yue Wang Gou Jian came to help Wu Guo attack together, and on the other hand, he continued to send people to bribe Bo Yao in private, and Bo Zhao continued to say good things in front of Fu Cha, and Fu Cha trusted Gou Jian even more. Wu Zixu once again persuaded fu cha to be careful of Yue Guo, and the words were also very heavy, he said: If you don't listen, you will definitely regret it in the future. Bo Yao, who had received the benefits of the Yue Kingdom, had always had a bad relationship with Wu Zixu, and he had been saying bad things about Wu Zixu in front of The King of Wu, saying: Wu Zixu always did not let you attack the State of Qi, and he also left his son in the State of Qi when he was on an envoy to the State of Qi. Fu cha believed these rumors. Thinking that Wu Zixu had repeatedly prevented himself from attacking the State of Qi, he sent emissaries to give Wu Zixu a sword and ordered: You should commit suicide with this sword! Wu Zixu looked up at the sky and sighed: The great king actually wants to kill me, I once let your father dominate, and I tried to ensure that you became the prince. Now you listen to rumors and want to kill your elders, what a shame! Wu Zixu thought that the state of Wu would not last long, so he told his protégés: After I die, you must hang my eyes on the east gate, and let me watch the enemies of the Yue kingdom come to destroy the state of Wu. After saying that, Wu Zixu committed suicide with that sword.
Just as Wu Zixu expected. Later, the State of Yue became stronger and stronger, and after 23 years of Fu Qi, Gou Jian led his troops to completely defeat the State of Wu. Before committing suicide, Fu Cha covered his face with a cloth and said to himself: I really regret that I did not listen to Wu Zixu's words in the first place, but I fell to this point, and I really did not have the face to see Wu Zixu. Well, Wu Zixu's story is over here.
Sima Qian believed that compared to Wu Zixu's brother's willingness to accompany his father to death, Wu Zixu's approach was even greater, and it was not easy for him to endure many years of hardship. As a son, Wu Zixu was filial, and as a courtier, he was also qualified. Then again, in ancient society, the supremacy of imperial power, the king called the subject to die, the subject did not dare not die, how sad! This also explains the meaning of the saying "companion" as a companion. If you were Wu Zixu, what would you do? Do you choose to commit suicide or run away when something is wrong? Feel free to leave a message in the comments section. Next article, we will tell the story of Yue Wang Gou Jian and Fan Li. Stay tuned!