In 381 BC, King Chu died. Wu Qi, who was the Ling yin of the Chu state, was besieged by a large number of officials and nobles who had lost their interests due to the change of law when he entered the palace, and was finally killed by random arrows. At this point, Wu Qi's life came to an end, and the chu state's reform was abolished, and the chu state reform was declared a failure.
"And mourn the death of the king, the ministers of the clan attack Wu Qi in rebellion, the corpse of the king of Wu Qi is ambushed, and the disciples who shoot wu qi and mourn the king." "History of Sun Tzu Wu Qi Lie"
The above is the history recorded by most of the current sources, which at first glance seems very reasonable: Wu Qi's change of law offended the interests of too many conservative forces, and after the death of King Chu who supported him, the nobles frantically counterattacked and took revenge, killing Wu Qi to abolish the new law. But if we look closely, we will find that behind this matter, it is not so simple.
Wu Qi
Wu Qi was a native of the Weiguo Zuo clan (present-day Cao County, Shandong). Military, politician, and reformer in the early Warring States period. In his lifetime, he served in the three kingdoms of Shilu, Wei and Chu, and had extremely high achievements in internal affairs and military affairs. During his time in the Chu kingdom, he assisted the King of Chu in presiding over the change of law. In the twenty-first year of King An of Zhou (381 BC), he offended the old nobles for changing the law and was brutally killed.
The first question to be questioned is The death of Wu Qi. The history books record that he died under the siege of the nobles. This raises doubts. Because at this time, Wu Qi was no longer the lonely family who was alone in Wei Chu. At present, he has served as the highest official of the Chu State for many years, Ling Yin, and can be said to be a high authority. Moreover, due to the implementation of the new law, there must also be a reform force headed by Wu Qi in the political hall of the Chu State. Therefore, from a comprehensive point of view, Wu Qi is not a weak person who is allowed to be kneaded. Even if he was not a conservative, he should not be killed so easily.
"Chu Mourning Wang Su smelled Xian, and then he was chu. The Ming Dynasty decreed that officials who were not in a hurry should be donated, and those who were alienated from the Gong clan should be abolished in order to raise the warriors. To be a soldier, to break the words of the cross-talker. So it was Nanping Baiyue; north and Chen Cai, but three Jin; and western Qin. The princes suffered from Chu Zhiyi. "History of Sun Tzu Wu Qi Lie's Biography".
And conservatives are not the kind of idiots who are bent on revenge. The consequences of casually killing such a person who made Lord Yin have to be weighed, they also had to weigh it. However, Wu Qi still died, and he died so tragically. On the surface, the desperate retaliation of the angry nobles actually shows that the enemy Wu Qi faced was much stronger than mentioned above. As for where this strength comes from, you may wish to look at the fate of one of Wu Qi's fellow practitioners, Shang Martin.
Shang
Shang Martingale, whose real name was Gongsun Martingale, was a politician, reformer, and legal representative figure during the Warring States period. In the Battle of Hexi, he was awarded the title of Shang in Fifteen Yi, so it was also called Shang Martingale. Shang martingale made the Qin state a rich and powerful country through the change of law, known in history as the "Shang martingale transformation law". However, When Duke Xiao of Qin died and was succeeded by his son King Huiwen of Qin, Shang Martin was accused of rebellion and died in battle in Tongdi, and his body was brought back to Xianyang and paraded to the public after the car was split.
After the death of Duke Xiao of Qin, he was succeeded by King Huiwen of Qin. Because Shang Martin had previously cut off the nose of Teacher Qin Huiwen Wang because of law enforcement problems, he had already offended Qin Huiwen Wang. And King Huiwen of Qin did not trust ShangMartin as much as his father Qin Xiaogong, coupled with the fact that there were constantly conservative factions saying bad things about Shang Martingale in front of King Qin Huiwen, so King Huiwen of Qin decided to execute ShangMartin. In this way, the shang martingale, who was in the limelight for a while, fell to a miserable end of five cattle and divided corpses. So returning to the Chu state, is Wu Qi's death because of the new king of Chu, the king of Chu Su?
King Su of Chu
This speculation is very likely. Originally, under the implementation of Wu Qi's new law, the conservative nobles who had been suppressed should not jump out again. Even though King Chu was dead, Wu Qi was still Ling Yin. Unless they had a foolproof certainty, and killing Ling Yin could also ensure that there was no certainty, could only come from the King of Chu. Although the history is not recorded, they must have received the orders of King Chu Su, or at least tacitly acquiesced, before they dared to act so boldly.
Moreover, when Wu Qi was besieged by everyone, he hurried to the corpse of King Chu Mourning to avoid trouble. "Wu Qi took the corpse of the king and prostrated himself" "History of Sun Tzu Wu Qi Lie", which shows that the place where the conservative faction besieged and killed Wu Qi should be not far from here, even if it is not the spiritual hall of the King of Chu. There has been so much unrest and no one has come to maintain order. The nobles were all heavily armed, but Wu Qi was unarmed, which was more like the assassination stage specially prepared by the master of this place, King Chu Su. It was precisely because of the acquiescence of King Chu Su that the nobles were so fearless: they knew that they would shoot the king's corpse and still wanted to kill Wu Qi.
King of Chu
After analysis, we have concluded that King Chu Su was the most likely to lead to Wu Qi's death, but there is still a little motive for committing the crime, that is, why did King Chu Su do this? Wu Qi's transformation of the law can enrich the country and strengthen the army, and he himself is also a rare general, so why did King Chu Su, as soon as he succeeded to the throne, he could not wait to get rid of him? I believe that there are the following reasons:
First of all, Wu Qi's own reputation and character are not good, and it is difficult to trust. "Wu Qi took (married) Qi's daughter as his wife, and Lu was suspicious. Wu Qi, wanting to take his name, killed his wife, so that Ming would not be with Qi Ye. Lu Pawn thought it would be. "When his mother died, he never returned." Zeng Zi Bo Zhi, and Qi Jie" (Wei) Wu Hou doubted and Fu Xinye. Wu Qi was afraid of offending, so he went away, that is, Chu. It can be seen from the "History of Sun Tzu Wu Qilie" that although Wu Qi was a man of great talent, he did not run to the funeral of his mother, killed his wife and asked for a general, and two or three of his masters, and these deeds were concentrated on one person enough to make people disgusted. Although I don't know if Wu Qi has ever offended King ChuSu, the more disgraceful things in a person's body are always disliked
Secondly, Wu Qi's ability was too high, and his merits were too great, and King Chu Su did not grasp the control of such a capable person.
(From) southern Ping Baiyue; northern and Chen Cai, but three Jin; western Qin. The princes suffered from Chu Zhiyi. "History of Sun Tzu Wu QiLie"
Wu Qi mourned Wang Ye for the affairs of Wu Qi, so that private people should not harm the public, slander should not hide loyalty, words should not be reconciled, deeds should not be tolerated, not dangerous and easy to act, and righteousness should not be difficult, but it is a hegemonic and powerful country. The Chronicle of Cai Zelie
In the face of such a fierce courtier, the newly succeeded King of Chu may not be able to control it. Just as King Hui of Yan was suspicious of Leyi, King Su of Chu was also suspicious of Wu Qi. Moreover, Wu Qi's misconduct will only make this psychology more serious. Once the Lord is jealous and suspicious, the fate of the courtier can be imagined.
Finally, and most importantly, Wu Qi's transformation of the law created the law, and the rich country and the strong army. Obviously, the Chu state has now achieved this goal. The decree has been enacted, the reform has been completed, and wu's personal role is very small. Moreover, the existence of Wu Qi not only made the King of Chu uneasy, but also the focus of the contradictions between the court and the church. If Wu Qi is killed, the negative impact on the Chu state will not be too great, and it can also be used to gain the support of a large number of conservative forces to stabilize the throne of the new king. This is the most important reason for Wu Qi's death.
Then the second question, after Wu Qi's death, did the Chu state fail to change the law? Now many textbooks write that Wu Qi was killed, and the Chu state changed the law and declared it a failure, giving people a feeling that after Wu Qi's death, the new king abolished the new law, and the Chu state regressed to the past state. However, the same Qin state was killed by the law changers. After Shang Martin's death, King Huiwen of Qin did not abandon the new law. After calming people's minds with the head of the martingale, he quietly and slowly eradicated the diehards who obstructed the change. The shang monarch's edicts were continued, and the Qin state became stronger step by step. Therefore, the Shang martingale transformation method did not fail in the Qin state.
Obviously, it is not appropriate to judge the failure of the change by the life and death of those who advocate the change of law. Let's go back to the Chu state and see the attitude of the chu state to the new law. Therefore, the noble relatives of Chu did their best to harm Wu Qi. and mourn the death of the king, the chancellor of the clan rebelled and attacked Wu Qi, and the corpse of the king of Wu Qi was ambushed. The strikers were shot at Wu Qi and mourned the king. "History of Sun Tzu Wu QiLie"
Obviously, this is only an account of Wu Qi's ending, and there is no mention of whether the Chu state abolished the new law. And it is very interesting that King Su of Chu later eliminated the stubborn conservative forces.
The strikers were shot at Wu Qi and mourned the king. The mourning king was buried, and the crown prince was established, but it was the one who made Yin do his best to shoot Wu Qi and hit the king's corpse. More than seventy families of the dead were shot up and Yizong was killed. "History of Sun Tzu Wu QiLie"
King Su of Chu was not a fool either, and he could see whether the new law was strong enough for the Chu State and whether it was beneficial to the Chu State:
In 400 BC, in the second year of the reign of King Chu, Han Wei and Zhao Sanjin attacked Chu and fought until Chengqiu returned.
In 399 BC, the State of Chu was forced to return Yuguan to the State of Zheng.
In 391 BC, in the eleventh year of the reign of King Chu, Han Wei and Zhao defeated the State of Chu again in Daliang, and the State of Chu had to ask the State of Qin to mediate.
In 387 BC, after Wu qi benchu and implementing the change of law, it took only six years to cut down Yue, break Wei, attack Qin, and attack on all sides and win a complete victory.
The situation in the Chu state after Wu Qi's change of law
After the implementation of the new law, the Chu state changed from the original situation of being beaten and trapped to the worries of the princes of the world. Why did King Chu Su abolish this kind of thing that was good for the country? And the nobles who had previously been acquiesced were later eliminated on charges of "wounding the king's corpse." Obviously, this was the same plan as King Huiwen of Qin. First let you kill Wu Qi'an, and then find an opportunity to clean you up and continue to implement the new law afterwards. If the Chu state really wanted to restore the old system, then why were these conservative factions who should have been in power again killed?
During the reign of King Su of Chu and his brother King Xuan of Chu, the situation in the State of Chu was not as regressive as we think, but was steadily advancing and growing.
During the 11-year reign of King Su of Chu, the princes came to attack only twice. King Xuan of Chu reigned for 30 years and was not defeated once. This situation reached its peak during the reign of King Chu Wei. The King of Chuwei, Vaqi, was defeated at Xuzhou. History of the Chu Family
This is enough to show that Wu Qi's new law continues to play a role. However, due to the fact that chuhuai's kingdom strategy and diplomacy were not done well later, they were deceived by Zhang Yi, broke off their alliance with the state of Qi, and were violently beaten by the two great powers of Qi and Qin. Even King Huai of Chu himself was deceived into going to the Qin kingdom and died in a foreign land. Therefore, the development momentum of the Chu state fell into a decadent situation.
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