Gou Jian

Gou Jian

Gou Jian? In the spring and Autumn period (496-464 B.C.), he was born in Kuaiji (now Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province), and his surname was Si. His real name was Jiuqian (the language of Yue was different from that of the Central Plains, which was transliterated as Goujian). He was one of the five tyrants in the spring and Autumn period (496-464 B.C.).

In 496 BC, King Gou Jian of Yue ascended the throne. In the same year, he defeated the Wu division in Li. In the third year of Goujian (494 BC), the king of Yue was defeated by Wu army and forced to ask Wu for peace. Three years later, he was released and returned to the state of Yue. After returning to the state, he used Fan Li and Wenzhong to lay down his salary and taste his courage, which gradually restored the national strength of the state of Yue. In 482 B.C., King Fu Chai, king of Wu, joined the meeting of Huangchi in order to show his military strength. Gou Jian, the king of Yue, seized the opportunity and led his troops to defeat the Wu division. Fu Chai hastily made an alliance with the state of Jin and returned. He was defeated by Gou Jianlian and had to make peace with Vietnam. In 478 BC, the 19th year of King Gou Jian of Yue, he led his army to attack Wu again, and defeated the main force of Wu army in the battle of Lize. In 473 B.C., King Gou Jian of Yue broke the capital of Wu, forced Fu Chai to kill himself, conquered Wu and became the last overlord in the spring and Autumn period.

Because of his allusion of "sleeping on fuel and tasting gall", Gou Jian has now become a model image of the Chinese nation who is not afraid of failure and humiliation and dares to fight.

Life of the characters

Succeeding Wu

Gou Jian, the king of Yue, is a descendant of Xia Yu, the founder of Xia Dynasty, and a direct descendant of Shaokang. Wuyu was granted the title of Kuaiji to be in charge of guarding the sacrificial rites of Xiayu. After the establishment of Yue State, it has always maintained a relatively backward living customs, and rarely had contact with the Central Plains. At this time, it was the end of the spring and Autumn period. After more than 20 generations, it spread to Gou Jian's father Yunchang. When Yunchang was in power, he fought with the king of Wu for many times. After the death of Yunchang, Gou Jian succeeded the king of Yue.

In the first year of Goujian (496 BC), King Helu of Wu was informed of the death of Yunchang, so he sent troops to attack the state of Yue. In Lei Li (now Jiaxing South, Zhejiang Province), Gou Jian sent a death squadron to challenge the Wu army. They lined up in three lines and stepped in front of the Wu army. They all cried out to commit suicide. The Wu army was dazzled. The Yue army took the opportunity to attack the Wu army. The Wu army was defeated. Ling Gufu, a senior official of the Yue State, attacked the king Helu with a dagger and killed him. He Lu, the king of Wu, was forced to withdraw his army and retreated to Qili. He died of serious injury. Before he died, he told his son Fu Chai, "don't forget to take revenge on Yue."

Goujian (about 520 bc-465 BC) is also known as Pengzhi. At the end of the spring and Autumn period, the king of Yue State. 497-465 BC. The son of Yunchang, the king of Yue. In 494 BC, Gou Jian fought with Fu Chai, the king of Wu, at Fu jiao (now Shaoxing north, Zhejiang Province). After defeat, he sought peace and took Fan Li hostage in Wu for three years. After returning to Vietnam, he conspired with Wen Zhong, Fan Li and other ministers to build a strong country. He was unwilling to eat, and shared the joys and sorrows with the people. After ten years of gathering, he finally became strong after ten years of lessons. In the 15th year, he took advantage of Fu Chai, king of Wu, to invite Jin and Northern Shandong to go up to Huangchi (now southwest of Fengqiu in Henan Province) to form an alliance, so he led his army to attack the capital of Wu, captured the prince of Wu, and forced Wu to make peace with Yue. After that, he attacked Wu many times and finally defeated Wu in 473 BC. Then he went north to meet with the princes of Qi and Jin in Xuzhou (now the south of Tengzhou in Shandong Province) and became the overlord. It was founded in langye (now Xiahe City, Jiaonan District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province). It is quoted from the Great Dictionary of Chinese history (Shanghai dictionary press, 2010 Edition), P. 545.

Defeat for peace

In 494 BC, Gou Jian heard that Fu Chai, king of Wu, was preparing to attack Vietnam day and night. Gou Jian decided to attack the state of Wu before it sent troops. Fan Li dissuaded him, but Gou Jian did not listen and continued to send troops. Later Fu Chai sent out all the elite troops to attack the Vietnamese army, and defeated the Vietnamese army in Fu Jiao. Gou Jian retreated to Kuaiji with only 5000 soldiers, and the Wu army besieged the Yue army. Gou Jian, the king of Yue, was very regretful. Fan Li suggested that Gou Jian ask Fu Chai, the king of Wu, to make peace with him and merge him into the state of Wu. So Gou Jian ordered the official Wen Zhong to go to the state of Wu for peace. It means that Gou Jian, king of Yue, is willing to enter Wu and take his wife with him as a minister. Fu Chai, the king of Wu, agreed to Gou Jian's request, but Wu Zixu, the prime minister, objected to it. He thought that heaven wanted Wu to destroy Yue, but he could not agree to the request. After Wen Zhong returned to Yue State, he told Gou Jian the attitude of Wu state. Gou Jian heard that he decided to kill his wife and son and fight to the death with the state of Wu. Wen Zhong thinks that the king of Wu was greedy and could send money to alienate the king and his ministers. Gou Jian thought that it was feasible, so he sent someone to deliver it to Bo Chu. Bo Chu really accepted the bribe of Yue. Go to Fu Chai, the king of Wu, and say, "if you continue to attack Yue, you will surely make Gou Jian kill his wife and son, burn his palace, and fight with Wu to death. At that time, the whole kingdom of Yue will be united, and the remaining 5000 people will share a common hatred with the enemy, and it will be more difficult to profit from it." Fu Chai, the king of Wu, thought it was reasonable and accepted the request of Yue. Wu Zixu admonished the king of Wu: "today, heaven has given us a good opportunity to not destroy Yue. After that, we will regret it." Fu Chai, king of Wu, did not listen to Wu Zixu's words, pardoned Gou Jian, king of Yue, and withdrew from Yue.

When Gou Jian was trapped in Kuaiji, he sighed and said, "am I like this in my life?" Wen Zhong said: "at the beginning, Shang Tang was imprisoned in xiatai by Jie, King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned in Guli by King Zhou, Duke Wen of Jin fled to Beizhai, Duke Huan of Qi fled to Ju, and finally they all dominated the world. From this point of view, what is this grievance? "

After Wu pardoned Gou Jian, he returned to China. In May of the fifth year of King Goujian of Yue (492 BC), Goujian, Wen Zhong and Fan Li, the officials of the state of Yue, surrendered to the officials of the state of Wu, and all the officials of the state of Yue were sent to Zhejiang. On the road near the water, people blocked the passage, and the military vehicles seeing off went all the way to Guling. Gou Jian, king of Yue, looked up to heaven and sighed. He raised his glass to all the people. He wept bitterly and said nothing.

When he arrived in the state of Wu, the king of Wu called the king of Yue to meet him. The king of Yue fell in front of him and Fan Li stood behind him. The king of Wu called Fan Li and said, "I heard that a virtuous woman would not marry and destroy her family, and that a virtuous man would not be an official and an extinct country. Today, the king of Yue has no way, the country is about to die, the country is broken, the body is dead and the world is broken, laughing for the world. Is it not contemptible that both the son and the Lord are slaves and come to Wu? If I want to forgive my son for his sins, can he change his mind and go back to Wu? "

When Gou Jian arrived in the state of Wu, Fu Chai asked him and his wife to live in a stone house next to Helu's grave and asked him to feed his horse. Fan Li worked as a slave. Every time Fu Chai went out by car, Gou Jian would pull a horse for him. After two years, Fu Chai thought that Gou Jian was really obedient to him, so he let Gou Jian go home.

sleep on the brushwood

After Gou Jian returned home, he never forgot the scene of being humiliated. Gou Jian hung a gall bladder in his house. He had to taste the bitter taste of every meal to remind himself that he could not forget his experience of suffering and humiliation in the state of Wu! Dressed in coarse cloth, he ate and cultivated with the people. Mrs. Gou Jian led women to raise silkworms, weave cloth and develop production. Gou Jian's husband and wife shared weal and woe with the common people, which inspired the whole country to work hard together, strive for strength, and wipe out Wu Xueshi as soon as possible. Gou Jian also bribed the king of Wu to paralyze the other side, bought the grain of Wu to make the granary empty, gave away wood to build the palace, spread rumors, alienated the monarchs and ministers of Wu, and used beauty tricks to kill Wu Zixu.

Gou Jian, the king of Yue, also issued laws to promote the population growth of Yue. Through a series of measures to develop production and enhance the combat effectiveness of the army, Yue made the country rich and powerful, and had the ability to take revenge against Wu.

take advantage of a weak point

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< sub > battle of lizer

In 482 B.C., King fuchai of Wu led elite troops to Huangchi to join the alliance, leaving only the old and the weak and the prince to stay. Then the king of Yue sent 2000 water troops, 40000 well-trained soldiers, 6000 well-educated core guards and 1000 technical officers to attack the state of Wu. Gou Jian took the opportunity to attack Wu, defeat the Wu army and kill the prince of Wu. Fu Chai, the king of Wu, returned to China in an emergency. The state of Yue was unable to destroy Wu and forced Wu to seek peace.

In 478 BC, the state of Yue led another army to attack the state of Wu, and defeated the Wu army in Lize. Since then, the state of Wu has never recovered.

Destroy Wu and seek hegemony

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< sub > Xuzhou Alliance

In 476 BC, King Gou Jian of Yue attacked Wu again. In 475 BC, Yue soldiers besieged Wu. In 473 B.C., the Yue army invaded the capital of Wu, and Wu was destroyed. Gou Jian, king of Yue, wanted to exile Fu Chai, king of Wu, to Yongdong (today's Zhoushan area) and give him a hundred families so that he could die there. Fu Chai said: "I am old and can no longer serve the king of Yue. I regret that I didn't listen to (Wu) Zixu's words and let myself fall into this situation. " So he killed himself. The king of Yue destroyed the state of Wu and killed Taizi Bochu because he was not loyal to the Lord, and then led his troops back to the country. Gou Jian, the king of Yue, was very influential when he defeated Wu.

After Gou Jian defeated Wu, he followed Fu Chai's example and crossed the huaishui River to the north. He met with the princes of Qi and Lu in Xuzhou and paid tribute to Zhou. The emperor of the Yuan Dynasty admitted that he was the "envoy of Guoyue". At that time, the territory of Yue had crossed the huaishui River to the north and bordered on the state of Lu. To the East, it went to sea from today's Ningbo, to the south from today's Shaoxing and Zhuji to Wenzhou, and to the west, it reached today's Jiangxi Poyang Lake. From Taihu Lake to Ningshao plain, the land is fertile and the agriculture is developed. It is said in the biography of the merchants in historical records that the land of Chu and Yue is vast and sparsely populated. Rice, rice, soup and fish, or fire and water, or fruit and clam in Sui Dynasty, do not wait for Jia. The terrain is sparing food, and there is no famine, so it is difficult to live secretly, and there is no accumulation and poverty. So there is no one who is cold and hungry to the south of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, and there is no golden family. " That is to say, the area south of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, including the Ningshao area of Taihu Lake, is particularly dependent on natural geography

Chinese PinYin : Gou Jian