The main cause of Jing Ke's assassination of Qin was at the behest of Prince Dan. Prince Dan had been holding Xianyang hostage for many years, and had heard and seen the Qin king Yingzheng ruthlessly kill his brother, kill his own father, exile his mother, kill innocent people, slaughter ministers, and annex the kingdoms of Han, Wei, Zhao, and Chu in one fell swoop, so his heart was full of fear for Yingzheng.
Therefore, when he fled from the Qin state back to the Yan country, he was deeply disturbed, plus the Zhao state was dead at that time, and the next target of the Qin army was the Yan state, so he had to find a way to protect himself or resist, but fighting with military strength was tantamount to "hitting the stone with an egg". After thinking about it day and night, Prince Dan finally came up with a dangerous trick - assassinating Yingzheng.
He believed that the candidate for assassination of Yingzheng must meet two conditions: one is to be brave and fearless, and the other is to have a deep hatred for the Qin state. According to these two principles, Prince Dan recruited "sages", who knew that when everyone heard the word "Qin", they were all silenced. Qin Wang Yingzheng was a brutal "tyrant", and he was as powerful as an ox, his martial arts were strong, and ordinary people were frightened, so who had the courage to assassinate him?
At this time, Jing Ke appeared. Jing Ke's ancestors were originally Qingfeng, the grand master of the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period, but after failing to compete with political enemies, they fled to the State of Wu, where they were killed by the King of Chu, and their descendants fled to the State of Wei. Later, Wei died in Wei, Jing Ke became a remnant of the State of Wei, and then Qin attacked the State of Wei, and he fled to the State of Yan.
Jing Ke, Guardian Also. Its predecessor was the Qi people, migrated to Wei, and the Wei people called Qingqing. And the Swallow, the Yan people called Jingqing. Jing Qing is good at reading fencing, and wei yuanjun is not used in art. Later, Qin fa Wei, Zhidong Commandery, and the branch of The Yuanjun of Wei belonged to the Wild King. - "Historia. Assassin Chronicles
The glory of the ancestors had disappeared in the last days of the Warring States, and although Jing Ke had been in a state of upheaval and displacement for half of his life and lived a life of humiliation, he had never been willing. Although it is impossible to restore the glory of his ancestors, he has always wanted to regain the dignity of his family through the sword in his hand.
Then at this time, the King of Qin was invincible, seeing the world as nothing and cruel, if he used his own sword to kill the King of Qin, it was the best time to make a name for himself. Just in time, Prince Dan of Yan had brought such a wonderful opportunity to his eyes, so he could only be grateful and did not want to ask for any reward.
"The family scatters ten thousand gold rewards the death, and the sword is used to answer the king's favor!" Crown Prince Dan Shucai recruits dead soldiers, and Jing Ke wants to assassinate Qiang Qin with his body as a sword. The assassination reached a consensus on this, and then it was up to Jing Ke's means.
The wind is cold and the water is cold, and the hero will not return once he is gone
In order to be able to get close to the King of Qin and achieve the purpose of assassination, Jing Ke thought of using the King of Qin's favorite things and the most hated people as conditions for approaching the King of Qin: first, the most fertile land in the Yan Kingdom, and second, the head of the rebel general Fan Yu of the Qin State.
In order to cooperate with his assassination plan, giving land was not a difficult task for Prince Dan of Yan, but the head of the general Fan Yuqi was slightly embarrassed, so Jing Ke himself found Fan Yuqi, and with the help of his three inches of uncorrupted tongue, Fan Yu finally drew his sword and sacrificed his head.
Sima Guang wrote a lot of comments to illustrate his point of view after the story of Jing Ke's assassination of the King of Qin, taking history as a mirror to list the original text below, you can first look at the original text written by Sima Guang in the "Zizhi Tongjian":
Chen Guangyue: Yan Dan was invincible to the wrath of the dynasty to offend the Qin of the tiger and the wolf, to think lightly about shallow planning, to provoke resentment and quick disaster, so that the temple of summoning the public would not be neglected, and the sin would be great! And the commentator or the sage, is not it! The husband is the state, the official is talented, the government is established with courtesy, the people are benevolent, and the neighbors are trusted. It is the ruler who wins his people, the government that he wins his righteousness, the people cherish his virtue, and his neighbors kiss his righteousness. If the husband is like this, then the peace of the country is like a rock, and it is as fiery as a fire. Those who touch it are shattered, those who commit crimes are scorched, and although there is a country of violence, how can they be afraid! Dan shi does not do this, take care of the country of ten thousand multipliers, decide the wrath of the pirates, the plot of the thieves, the merits of the body, the community as a ruin, not also sad! Fu Qi's knees, Pu Fu, non-Gong Ye; compound words, heavy promises, non-faith also; Mi Jin, Scattered Jade, non-Hui Ye; Cutting heads, breaking the abdomen, not Yong Ye. If you want it, it is not far away and it is unrighteous, and its Chu Bai Gong wins! Jing Ke cherished his selfishness, disregarded the Seven Tribes, and wanted to use the Shakuhachi Dagger to strengthen Yan and weaken Qin, which was not foolish! Therefore, Yang Zi's theory is that he wants to leave as the charm of the spider, Nie Zheng as the charm of the brave man, and Jing Ke as the jing of the assassin, all of which cannot be described as righteousness. He also said, "Jing Ke, a gentleman steals everything!" "Good riddance! ——" Zizhi Tongjian - Qin Ji - Ii"
First, Sima Guang blamed the assassination of prince Dan of Yan, the main messenger of the King of Qin.
When Prince Dan of Yan was a hostage, he suffered a lot of grievances in the Qin Kingdom, so he secretly ran back to the Yan Kingdom and thought of avenging his snow hatred, which led to the story of Jing Ke's assassination of Qin.
However, with the defeat of Jing Ke, Prince Dan of Yan instead accelerated the fall of the Yan state and his own death. Therefore, Sima Guang pointed out very sharply that Prince Dan of Yan was a person who "thought lightly and shallowly", and for his own convenience, he did not consider the international situation at that time. As a result, the Yan kingdom was destroyed, and Prince Dan could be said to be the culprit, and could not be called a sage at all.
Second, Sima Guang pointed out how truly wise people should deal with the situation of Prince Dan.
Sima Guang put forward four methods: "Appoint officials with talent, establish government with courtesy, cherish the people with benevolence, and trust with neighbors."
That is to say, we must select the best and the best at home and let those who have the ability to serve as officials; we must be courteous in governing the country, that is, there are rules and regulations; we must have a benevolent heart for the people so that the people can live; externally we must pay attention to credibility and cannot change things from day to time.
But can these four points really reach the goal of "shattering those who touch and scorching those who commit crimes" when foreign enemies invade?
We can now fully point out Sima Guang's shortcomings, the lack of technological progress and a strong army, only to be benevolent is not enough, look at the current world situation, the law of the jungle in today's world is still a respected concept in the Western world, empty words say benevolence, who will believe it?
In fact, these four points can be said to be the cornerstone of Confucian governance, no matter which dynasty, as long as it involves governing the country, you say that these four sentences are absolutely politically correct, and no one dares to refute them. This was also the highest expectation of the Confucians for the monarch in the past, and Sima Guang hoped that all the emperors could learn the lessons of Prince Dan and not do such a thing as assassinating the other party.
Because assassination, whether it succeeds or fails, will put itself on a very negative impact, especially a "ten thousand multiplied power", which is "the wrath of the decisive man, the plot of the thief", not the way of the great power to dominate the king.
Prince Dan is known for his sages in the history books, and the representative case is that Prince Dan is extremely respectful of talents.
For example, in dealing with Tian Guang, a famous Zhi yong double hero of the Yan Kingdom, Prince Dan's approach was to personally go out of the palace to greet him, get off the bus for Tian Guang, and then walk backwards to guide Tian Guang, kneel down and wipe the seat to let Tian Guang sit.
Crown Prince Dan smelled Tian Guangzhi, personally went out of the palace to greet him, and got off the car, but he behaved as a guide, and then paid homage to him, knelt down and whisked his seat, Tian Guang was old, and he climbed to sit. - History
For example, in dealing with Jingke, it is the power of the country to tie up Jingke. Directly give Jing Ke the position of Shangqing of the Yan Kingdom, second only to the Prince and the King of Yan; arrange the most superior mansion for Jing Ke, eat the most sumptuous banquet, ride in a luxurious carriage, the beautiful women of the Yan Kingdom enjoy it casually, and even Prince Dan has to greet Jing Ke every day...
As for what rare treasures were given to Jing Ke, as long as Jing Ke wanted it, there was no Yan Prince Dan who couldn't figure it out.
In this regard, Sima Guang severely criticized Prince Dan's hypocrisy, saying that Prince Dan was crawling on his knees to sweep the bed for Tian Guang, which was not respectful at all; saying that Prince Dan repeatedly stressed to Tian Guang not to speak out of his own plans, which caused Tian Guang to commit suicide, was not at all a manifestation of credibility; and the large amount of money spent on Jing Ke was not a manifestation of giving grace and favors; as for Prince Dan's final forced suicide, this was not courage at all; Prince Dan's strategy was not long-term, and his immoral behavior was also a figure like Bai Gongsheng of the Chu state who had no plans.
Fourth, Sima Guang criticized Jing Ke as a thief
In the end, Sima Guangcai criticized Jing Ke's behavior of stabbing the King of Qin, which not only did not care about the life and death of his own family, but also used a dagger of one foot and eight inches to weaken the Qin state and make the Yan state strong, which was simply unattainable.
Therefore, Yang Xiong of the Han Dynasty directly criticized the assassins in the Assassin Biography, saying that the death to be left was the same as the death of a spider; Nie Zheng's death method was the death method of a strong man; Jing Ke's death was the death method of an ordinary assassin; the death of these people could not be called righteous. Yang Xiong also said that Jing Ke was just a thief in the eyes of a gentleman. Sima Guang thought yang xiong was right.
In fact, taking history as a mirror, we think that letting Sima Guang judge Jing Ke is equivalent to us judging Sima Guang, and we all have the idea of bringing the concept of future generations into the ancients.
The era in which Jing Ke and Prince Dan lived was precisely the era when chivalrous culture prevailed, paying attention to the matter of loyalty to others and sacrificing life for righteousness. This kind of chivalrous culture was extremely marketable until the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, and later because of the "chivalrous use force to violate the prohibition", too many chivalrous guests seriously affected the stability of society, which was hit by the state apparatus. In the Song Dynasty, the Confucians represented by Sima Guang resolutely disapproved of the spread of social ideas such as chivalry, so they said that Jing Ke was just a thief and Prince Dan was the culprit of the destruction of the Yan kingdom.