Wu Zixu, the earliest naked official in China: Why was he given a sword by King Wu Fuchai to commit suicide?

Wu Zixu assisted two generations of kings of Wu State, which can be said to be the greatest contribution to Wu State. With his assistance, Gongzi Guang seized the throne of the king and changed his name to Helu. He defeated his old enemy Chu and captured Yingdu, the capital of Chu. He traveled to the country of Yue to avenge Helu's death with one arrow. However, such a high-ranking and great hero did not die well in the end. King Wu Fu Chai gave him a sword named "Shu Lu" and sent an envoy to supervise his suicide. Before committing suicide, Wu Zixu laughed and said: "I assisted your father to dominate and made you king. You originally wanted to divide the country of Wu equally with me, but I didn't accept it. Not long ago, today you killed me for slander." Wu Zixu told the truth. It was indeed a great injustice for such a hero to be killed. However, Wu Zixu was slandered and died unjustly, but it was not because of the "unfounded" crime like Yue Fei. Instead, he was given the excuse to send his son to another country. He wanted to be what modern people call him. Caused by "naked officials". Although he did not want to betray the state of Wu, his behavior gave others a false excuse and became the target of others' slanderous attacks. Although Wu Zixu's approach was for the sake of future retreat, in a sense, it was not a wise move and could only leave a lesson for future generations.

Wu Zixu was a veteran of the era of Helu, the father of King Wu Fucha. Wu Zixu played a great role in being able to establish Fucha as king. At the beginning, Wu Zixu was favored, and Fu Chai also treated Wu Zixu like an elder. The two had serious differences on the issue of Vietnam. After the Yue State was defeated, he made peace with the Wu State through Dazai Bo, but Wu Zixu persuaded Fu Chai to occupy the Yue State. In the end, Fu Chai listened to Bo's words and pardoned the country of Yue. Five years later, Fu Chai heard that Jinggong of Qi had died, ministers were vying for power, and the new monarch was weak, so he wanted to send troops northward. However, Wu Zixu believed that the existence of the Yue State was a worry for the Wu State. If the Yue State was not eliminated, the Wu State could not rest assured to go north. The political differences between the two men further widened. Fu Chai did not listen to Wu Zixu's words and went north to attack Qi. As a result, the state of Wu defeated the state of Qi in Ailing, and incidentally shocked the states of Zou and Lu. In this way, Wu Zixu's position in Fu Chai's heart no longer seems important.

Four years later (485 BC), King Wu Fucha once again went north to attack Qi. King Gou Jian of Yue led his courtiers to pay homage to King Wu and presented him with generous gifts. Fu Chai was very happy. However, Wu Zixu advised: "The Yue Kingdom is close to the heart of the country. Now that we can defeat the Qi State, it is like getting a field of just stones, which is of no use. As Pan Geng said, the only way to conquer the Yue Kingdom is like this. Only when all the rebellious people are wiped out will the state of Wu prosper. The king of Wu refused to listen and sent Wu Zixu as an envoy to the state of Qi.

Before leaving, Wu Zixu said to his son: "I have tried to persuade the king many times, but the king has not listened. . I now see that the end of the Kingdom of Wu has come. If you and the Kingdom of Wu are destroyed together, it will not do any good. "When he arrived in Qi State, Wu Zixu entrusted his son to the Bao family of Qi State, and then came back to report to King Wu Fu Chai.

The Taizai Bo of Wu State was originally from Chu State, and his grandfather was the inventor." Bozhouli, who was killed, fled to the state of Wu. When he came to the state of Wu, he had been supported by Wu Zixu. However, this man was a complete villain. Once he got the opportunity, he would want to climb up. . Wu Zixu is a very popular minister, and his position is undoubtedly the target of Bo. The biggest characteristic of villains is to stir up trouble, no matter who you are, even if you are his benefactor, so Bo began to target Wu Zixu. < /p>

The uncle said to King Wu Fucha: "Zixu is a tough and vicious man, without friendship, jealous and vicious. His resentment may lead to serious disasters. The last time the king wanted to attack Qi, Zixu thought it was impossible. The king finally sent out troops and won the victory. Zixu felt ashamed because his strategy was not adopted, but he felt resentful. Now that the king is about to attack Qi again, Wu Zixu is arbitrary and stubborn, forcing the enemy to stop him, corrupting and slandering the king's cause. He only hopes that Wu's defeat will prove the wisdom of his strategy. Now the king personally went out to attack Qi State and mobilized all the armed forces of the country. However, Wu Zixu's advice was not adopted, so he stopped going to court and pretended to be ill and refused to go with the king. Your Majesty, you must be on guard, as this can easily lead to disaster. Moreover, I sent people to investigate secretly. When he was on a mission to Qi, he entrusted his son to the Bao family of Qi.

As a minister, he is not satisfied at home, so he relies on the princes outside. He thinks that he is the adviser of the former king. Now he is not trusted, and he is often depressed and resentful. I hope your Majesty will find a solution to this matter as soon as possible. After hearing this, King Wu Fu Chai said: "Without your words, I would have doubted him." " So he gave Wu Zixu an engraved sword, and Wu Zixu committed suicide.

Bo is a villain, so naturally his words do not need to be taken seriously. However, why did King Wu Fu Chai believe Bo's words and said that he also "suspected him" "What? The fundamental reason is that Wu Wang Fu Chai believed that Wu Zixu had had second thoughts about Wu, and the "evidence" of this second heart was that Wu Zixu entrusted his son to the people of Qi.

I don’t know that Wu Zixu has Several sons, but Bo was able to argue with his son and put him to death, which shows that this is a son with the right to inherit. In other words, this son will inherit the Wu family's business in the future. He was already over 70 years old. I wonder if his wife was still there? Even if she had wives and concubines, she was no longer able to give birth to the next generation. In that era, if the heir was sent abroad, it would mean that the family no longer wanted to live. Now this "country" serves. In this case, it is indeed the best crime for Bo to attack him. In Fu Cha's view, Wu Zixu's behavior was his betrayal of Wu. There is another hint in the words: Wu Zixu "doesn't care about friendship". He doesn't even care about the death of his father and brother. Will he still care about you as a monarch?

Wu Zixu was originally from Chu. His father, Wu Sheguan, became the prince's tutor. When the prince Jian reached the age of marriage, King Chu Ping hired a girl from Qin for him. Because this girl was very beautiful, Fei Wuji suggested that King Chu Ping take this daughter-in-law as his own. Fei Wuji married Prince Jian and took a wife. Fei Wuji was the Prince's young master and was not well received by the Prince. He was worried that Prince Jian would retaliate against him in the future after he succeeded to the throne, so he wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of Prince Jian. So he said that Prince Jian was about to rebel. King Chu Ping called the prince's master Wu She back to interrogate him. Wu She knew that the villain Fei Wuji was slandering him, so he advised King Chu Ping not to listen to the villain's slander and alienate Fei. Wuji told King Ping of Chu that if the king did not take decisive measures, the plot of the prince and Wu She would succeed. Therefore, Wu She had two sons, the eldest son named Wu Shang, and the second son. The son was Wu Yuan, named Zixu. In order to prevent revenge, Fei Wuji suggested that King Ping of Chu kill all three of them. King Ping agreed, and he asked Wu She to call back all his sons. He wanted to recall his two sons, but he said to King Ping: "My eldest son Wu Shang is a generous man, so he will definitely come; my younger son Wu Yuan is rebellious, he can endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens, and he knows that he can achieve great things." If we get captured together when we come here, we will definitely not come back. "Things turned out just as Wu She expected. The eldest son Wu Shang went to the disaster with his father, but Wu Zixu fled to the state of Wu.

From our perspective today, Wu Shang is a bit pedantic about this matter. It was unbearable, and Wu Zixu's escape was the right choice. However, the moral concepts of ancient people were different from ours today. The father is the head of the family, and he represents everything in the family. The son can only do whatever the father tells his son to do. Let him die! If you don't obey your father, even if you survive, you will be looked down upon by the world because you are a "rebellion." Therefore, Wu Zixu's brother Wu Shang also said: "I know that I won't be able to go back in the end." Save my father's life. But my father asked us to go back in order to survive. If we didn't go, we would not be able to wash away our shame in the future, and we would eventually be ridiculed by everyone in the world. "So, Wu Zixu's choice to escape was a shame. Although he had succeeded in revenge, some people still looked down upon him. Bernard's talk had a certain market at the time, especially among the monarchs and Among the officials. So, Bo also fled to Wu State. Is he just begging for food with a stick in his hand? No. Bo fled after his grandfather was killed, and the people of Chu State did not want him. request or as a reason to raise troops), it is also possible that his grandfather asked him to flee. This is what people at the time thought was different in nature. With this "antecedent", King Wu Fucha would naturally come to another "consequence". It was Fu Chai who believed that the Wu family was a family that was not loyal to his father. Such a family was a scourge and would be detrimental to him as a monarch if he did not get rid of it. This was the reason why Bo's treacherous plan succeeded.

Perhaps Wu Zixu truly anticipated that Wu would have no future, but his adoption of such a method to deal with future crises was indeed an inappropriate decision made at an inappropriate time. There is a saying that "the authorities are confused". Wu Zixu was a man of great talent, but he was confused about his own problems. He forgot that he had betrayed his motherland once and dedicated himself to the state of Wu. His The entire Wu family can only share the same fate as Wu State, and entrusting their son to Qi State can only be used as a handle.