(no subject)

[ximen]

This one is a little depressing.

important stuff:
-Qi, a medium-sized state that shares a border with Song and Chu.
-Song, a smaller state to the south of Qi.
-Chu, a much bigger state to the south
(all three states share borders with each other)
Zangzi, an advisor for Song.

Qi was going to attack Song, so Song sent Zangzi to seek help from Chu. The king of Chu was persuaded, and promised help with great enthusiasm. Zangzi was worried, but returned home. His driver said, "You sought help and got it, but you have a worried expression. Why?" Zangzi said, "Song is small and Qi is great. Helping small Song and thus incurring the wrath of great Qi, this is what the king should be concerned about. So for the king of Chu to be so persuaded, it must be to strengthen our resolve. If we are resolute and Qi is thus exhausted, it is to Chu's benefit." Zangzi then returned home. The king of Qi did indeed attack, taking five of Song's cities, and the king of Chu did not arrive.


Note: Song fell to Qi in 286 BC, about 65 years before Qin (the country of tigers and wolves) unified China. Ben thinks this particular story is about that event.

edit: fixed the last sentence. Thanks, Stephen!

Comments

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

One thing I do love about this time period is the amount of realpolitic that gets addressed with all the alliances, betrayals, and power plays.

[kitsuchan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the warring states is full of interesting stuff. Then again, I think all the periods of Chinese history are interesting. Really, any history.

[illuminatedwax.livejournal.com]

The king of Chu did indeed attack, taking five of Song's cities, and the king of Chu did not arrive.

Er, you mean the king of Qi did indeed attack?

[kitsuchan.livejournal.com]

Um, yeah, that's what I meant. Thanks for pointing it out-- it's fixed now.

[satyreyes.livejournal.com]

I don't get it. If Chu didn't want to aid Song, why did their king promise aid? Doesn't that establish Chu as an unreliable ally, inhibiting future diplomacy with other countries? And isn't Chu worried that Qi will hear about the promised aid and decide not to attack Song after all? Moreover, why is Zangzi requesting aid he doesn't think will be delivered in any case?

[kitsuchan.livejournal.com]

Chu promised aid to Song because if Song thought that aid was coming, they would resist more fiercely, and not just surrender to Qi. That means Qi will exhaust its resources attacking Song, and a weaker Qi is better for Chu.

I can only guess at the other answers. My guesses are: Chu has decided that a weakened Qi and Song are worth being seen as an unreliable ally. Most of these alliances are ones of necessity anyway, so if it really does ally with another state later, that's probably because the other state has no other choice. Anyway, Chu is slightly outside of the social group of the states-- they weren't part of the original Zhou dynasty that split into the warring states, and the other states consider them a slightly weird fringe state that isn't really "China" in the same way. For example, their royal family is not descended from the Zhou line. Plus Chu is bigger than many of the others. So it has lots of excuses for behaving differently.

I don't know whether Chu is worried about what Qi will do if it hears about the aid, but the king may have decided it was worth a try. Similarly, Zangzi probably figured it was worth a try to ask them for help. And if Chu had said, "well, we're not really in a good position to help you, but we can give you a few soldiers," maybe he would have been happier. It was Chu's extreme enthusiasm for sending help that had him worried-- why didn't Chu seem worried about picking a fight with Qi? Like in the earlier story about borrowing roads to attack another country, where the advisor says, "you should totally do what they want, but if you seem too enthusiastic, they'll know you're getting something out of it, so pretend to be reluctant." Chu didn't pretend to be reluctant, so Zangzi knew something was up.

[satyreyes.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Alexis, that explains a lot! I guess the only remaining question is why Song didn't surrender to Qi given that their top diplomat didn't believe Chu will follow through on the promise of aid. Maybe Song's king is more of an optimist than Zangzi is?

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

Presumably Zangzi didn't tell the king, for fear of being beheaded. It was a rough life, being an advisor in the warring states.

[moreocean.livejournal.com]

these stories are so cool

[kitsuchan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really like them.