Nie Zheng was one of the four great assassins of the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, whether in Sima Qian's "History" or in Guo Moruo's "The Flower of Tang Di", Nie Zheng was portrayed as a "soldier who dies for his confidant", a sentient and righteous hero. However, I think that in history, Nie Zheng was ordered by Yan Zhongzi to assassinate Xia Ti, and it is very likely that it was not a chivalrous act, but an act of aiding and abetting abuse.
The reason why Nie Zheng was able to rank among the four major assassins of the Spring and Autumn Warring States was because he successfully assassinated Xia Ti.
At the beginning of Han Liehou's reign, Xia Lei was appointed minister of state. Yan Zhongzi (Yan Sui, a native of Puyang) and Xia Lei were originally "evil", and now they are fighting with Xia Lei for power, but they fail, so they have to flee to other countries and find people in various countries who can avenge themselves.
At that time, Nie Zheng avoided revenge for killing people, and lived in seclusion with his mother and sister in the Country of Qi, taking slaughter as his profession.
Yan Zhongzi came to the state of Qi, and someone recommended Nie Zheng to him, saying that Nie Zheng was a warrior who could avenge him and kill Xia Ti. Yan Zhongzi was overjoyed and immediately prepared a generous gift to visit Nie Zheng. In this way, Yan Zhongzi became acquainted with Nie Zheng.
After getting acquainted with Nie Zheng, he also found out that Nie Zheng was a filial piety. Yan Zhongzi then prepared a sumptuous meal of wine and food to Nie Zheng's house, and personally sent the wine to Nie Zheng's mother to show filial piety, in order to bribe Nie Zheng's heart. Later, Yan Zhongzi held a hundred gold medals and went forward to honor Nie Zheng's mother.
As the saying goes, "If you have nothing to offer, you will not commit adultery or theft." He also said, "The mouth of a man is soft, and the hand of a man is short." Nie Zheng was very surprised to see yan Zhongzi give such a big gift for no reason, and repeatedly refused to accept it.
Yan Zhongzi then avoided others and said his intention, asking Nie Zheng to assassinate Xia Lei and avenge himself. Nie Zheng said: "The reason why I lowered my ambition and wronged myself as a butcher in the city well was only hoping to use this to serve my old mother. The old mother is still alive, and I dare not dedicate myself to others. Yan Zhongzi repeatedly asked, but Nie Zheng finally refused to accept it. Yan Zhongzi finally had to leave after performing the courtesy of the guest and the host.
When his mother died and the mourning period expired, Nie Zheng remembered Yan Zhongzi's love for him and took the initiative to find Yan Zhongzi. Yan Zhongzi then sent Nie Zheng to assassinate Xia Ti.
One day in March 397 BC, Xia Lei was sitting in the palace with many guards around him. Nie Zheng ignored it, and the sword kept rushing up the hall steps and stabbing the hero to death.
After the assassination was tired, Nie Zheng cut his own skin, gouge out his eyes, and committed suicide by cutting his abdomen. He did this so as not to make people recognize who he was and who had sent him to assassinate Him.
The Koreans put Nie Zheng's body in the market and offered a reward to find it, but no one knew about it. Unexpectedly, after Nie Zheng's sister heard about this, she immediately went to South Korea to claim Nie Zheng's body, crying and saying, "This is Nie Zheng in the deep well of The Ground!" Because I was still there, he self-destructed his face so as not to bother me. How could I be afraid of killing myself and eventually burying my brother's name! So he committed suicide and died next to Nie Zheng's body.
This was the whole process of Nie Zheng's assassination of Xia Tired. After reading it, we can't help but feel admiration for Nie Zheng's chivalrous feelings of "a soldier dies for a confidant".
However, neither Sima Qian's "Records of History" nor other historical materials clearly tell us what kind of person sent Nie Zheng to assassinate Yan Zhongzi, who was tired of chivalry, and who was assassinated by Nie Zheng.
That is to say, if Xia Ti is a good person who serves the country and the people, and Yan Zhongzi is a bad person who likes to fight for power and profit, and does nothing evil, then Nie Zheng assassinated Xia Lei for Yan Zhongzi, although he fulfilled his own reputation of "a soldier dies for a confidant", but in fact, it is an act of harming the country and the people and aiding and abetting abuse.
This is only a hypothesis, but it is not impossible. Because many years later, Yan Zhongzi repeated the same technique and sent someone to assassinate another Korean minister of state, Han Kuo.
After Han Aihou ascended the throne, he "loved Yan Sui with Han Xi as his counterpart" (Zizhi Tongjian), and appointed Han Xi as minister of state, but favored Yan Zhongzi (Yan Sui). Yan Zhongzi then fought with Han Xi for power and profit, and hated Han Xi extremely.
In 371 BC, Yan Zhongzi sent people to openly assassinate Han Yu above the court. Han Lai fled to Han Aihou's side, Han Aihou hugged him, and the assassins stabbed Han Lai to death, along with Han Aihou.
On the one hand, according to historical experience, the courtiers who are favored by the princes are often those who are good at flattery and manipulation. The reason why Yan Zhongzi was favored by the two generations of monarchs of Han Liehou and Han Aihou was most likely such a person.
On the other hand, what a good bird can a person who repeatedly uses such a dirty and despicable means of assassination to cut off political enemies and exclude dissidents?! Yan Zhongzi sent Nie Zheng to assassinate Xia Tired when he was still hiding, and by the time he assassinated Han Yao, he had already carried out it openly in the court, and even killed Han Aihou, which was definitely not the work of good people.
It can be seen from this that our assumption that Yan Zhongzi is a bad person above is most likely true.
The late novelist Mr. Jin Yong once said: "The great hero is for the country and the people." Nie Zheng was ordered by Yan Zhongzi to assassinate Xia Ti, in the final analysis, it was only to repay Yan Zhongzi's kindness, not for the country and the people, on the surface it seems that righteousness is thin and cloudy, there are feelings and righteousness, but in fact, good and evil are not distinguished, right and wrong are not distinguished, and it is very likely that they are aiding and abetting abuse.