史记（四：列传）

Biography of Lord Chunshen: Lord Chunshen was a man of Chu, named Xie, of the clan Huang. He travelled to study and was widely learned, and served King Qingxiang of Chu. King Qingxiang, holding Xie to be eloquent, sent him as envoy to Qin. King Zhao of Qin had sent Bai Qi to attack Han and Wei; he defeated them at Huayang and captured the Wei general Mang Mao, and Han and Wei submitted and served Qin. King Zhao of Qin was just then ordering Bai Qi to join Han and Wei in an attack on Chu, and before he had set out the Chu envoy Huang Xie happened to arrive in Qin and learned of Qin's plan. At that time Qin had already, earlier, sent Bai Qi to attack Chu; he had taken the Commanderies of Wu and Qianzhong, taken Yan and Ying, and reached Jingling in the east, and King Qingxiang of Chu had moved his seat east to Chen County. Huang Xie had seen how King Huai of Chu, lured by Qin into coming to court, had been deceived and kept in Qin until he died. King Qingxiang was his son; Qin thought little of him, and Xie feared that it would raise its troops in a single stroke and extinguish Chu. Xie therefore sent up a letter to persuade King Zhao of Qin:

"Under Heaven none is stronger than Qin and Chu. Now I hear that the great King wishes to attack Chu. This is like two tigers fighting each other: when two tigers fight, the worthless dog profits from their exhaustion. Better to be on good terms with Chu. Let your servant set out his argument. Your servant has heard that when a thing reaches its limit it turns back, as winter and summer do; and that what is heaped to the limit is in danger, as stacked pieces¹ are. Now the great state's territory reaches both ends of all under Heaven; since there have been people, no land of ten thousand chariots has ever been so. In the persons of the former kings, King Wen and King Zhuang, for three generations you never rashly extended your lands to touch Qi, so as to cut the waist of the Vertical league. Now the King has Sheng Qiao hold office in Han, and Sheng Qiao brings its land into Qin: thus without using armour or displaying might the King has gained a hundred li of land. The King may be called able. The King also raised armour and attacked Wei, shut the gates of Daliang, took Henei, took Yan, Suanzao, Xu and Tao, and entered Xing, and Wei's troops hovered like clouds and dared not come to the rescue. The King's achievements are many indeed. The King rested his armour and gave his people respite, and after two years took it up again; he also annexed Pu, Yan, Shou and Yuan, and bore down on Ren and Pingqiu; Huang and Jiyang shut their Fortresses, and the house of Wei submitted. The King also cut off the land north of Puli², pinned the waist between Qi and Qin, and severed the spine between Chu and Zhao; all under Heaven joined five times and gathered six, and dared not come to the rescue. The King's might has been exerted to the full³.

"If the King can hold on to his achievements and keep his majesty, curb the urge to attack and seize and fatten the ground of humanity and right, so that there is no trouble to come, then the Three Kings will no longer lack a fourth, nor the Five Hegemons a sixth. If instead the King relies on the multitude of his people and the strength of his arms, and rides the prestige of having broken Wei, to subject the rulers of all under Heaven by force, your servant fears there will be trouble to come. The Odes say: 'None but has a beginning; few can have an end.' The Changes say: 'The fox crosses the water and wets its tail.' This says that beginnings are easy and endings hard. How do we know it is so? Of old the Zhi saw the profit of attacking Zhao and did not foresee the calamity of Yuci; Wu saw the convenience of attacking Qi and did not foresee the defeat at Gansui. These two states did not lack great achievements; they sank into the profit before them and made light of the trouble behind. Wu, trusting Yue, went on to attack Qi, and having beaten the men of Qi at Ailing, on its return was captured by the King of Yue at the shore of Sanzhu. The Zhi, trusting Han and Wei, went on to attack Zhao and assaulted the Fortress of Jinyang; victory was only days away when Han and Wei turned on them and killed Zhi Bo Yao beneath the Zao Terrace. Now the King begrudges that Chu is not destroyed, and forgets that destroying Chu would strengthen Han and Wei. Your servant, planning for the King, would not have it.

"The Odes say: 'Great arms do not go far afield to trespass.⁴' Seen in this light, the state of Chu is a support, and the neighbouring states are enemies. The Odes say: 'Hopping, hopping the wily hare; it meets a dog and is caught. What is in another's mind, I can fathom.⁵' Now the King midway trusts that Han and Wei mean him well; this is exactly Wu's trusting of Yue. Your servant has heard that an enemy must not be indulged, and a moment must not be lost. Your servant fears that Han and Wei speak humbly to be rid of their peril but in truth mean to deceive the great state. Why? The King has no kindness of generations' standing toward Han and Wei, but a grudge heaped up over generations. Fathers and sons, elder and younger brothers of Han and Wei have died at Qin's hands heel upon heel for nearly ten generations. Their homelands are ravaged, their altars of soil and grain overthrown, their ancestral temples destroyed. Bellies ripped open and bowels cut out, necks broken and jaws wrenched, heads parted from bodies, bones exposed in the marshes, skulls lying stiff within sight of one another across the borders; fathers and sons, old and young, roped by the neck and bound at the hands, driven in herds of captives, follow one another along the roads. Their ghosts and spirits are forlorn and wounded, with none to offer them blood sacrifice. The people cannot live, clans are scattered, and those who have fled to become servants and concubines fill all within the seas. So that Han and Wei have not perished is the worry of Qin's altars of soil and grain; and now the King would furnish them with means and attack Chu with them — is that not a mistake!

"Moreover, when the King attacks Chu, by what road will he send out his troops? Will the King borrow a road through Han and Wei, his sworn enemies? From the day the troops set out the King will worry that they will not return; that is the King lending his troops to his enemies Han and Wei. If the King does not borrow a road through his enemies Han and Wei, he must attack the lands on the right bank of Sui River. The right bank of Sui River is all broad rivers and great waters, mountain forests and ravines, land that yields no food; though the King should hold it, it would not count as gaining land. Thus the King would have the name of destroying Chu without the substance of gaining land.

"Moreover, on the day the King attacks Chu, the four states will surely raise all their troops to answer the King. While the troops of Qin and Chu are locked together and cannot disengage, the house of Wei will march out and attack Liu, Fangyu, Zhi, Huling, Dang, Xiao and Xiang, and the old land of Song will be theirs entirely. The men of Qi, facing south, will attack Chu, and the Si country will surely be taken. These are all open plains with roads on four sides, rich and fertile land, and they would be left to attack it unopposed. The King would break Chu only to fatten Han and Wei in the central states and to strengthen Qi. The strength of Han and Wei would then suffice to contend with Qin. Qi, with Si River for its border on the south, the sea at its back on the east and the River to lean on in the north, would have nothing to fear behind it; of the states under Heaven none would be stronger than Qi and Wei. Qi and Wei, having gained land and secured its profit, and attending carefully to their lesser officers, in a year's time might not yet be able to become Emperor, but would be more than able to prevent the King from becoming Emperor.

"With the breadth of the King's territory, the multitude of his people and the strength of his arms, to raise one campaign and plant a grudge in Chu, and so drive Han and Wei to carry the weight of the imperial title over to Qi — that is the King miscalculating. If your servant plans for the King, nothing is better than to be on good terms with Chu. If Qin and Chu unite as one and bear down on Han, Han must fold its hands. If the King spreads out the defences of the eastern mountains and girds himself with the advantage of the bend of the River, Han must become a Marquis within the Passes. If then the King garrisons Zheng with a hundred thousand, the house of Liang will turn cold at heart; Xu and Yanling will shut their Fortresses, and Shangcai and Shaoling will no longer come and go; and so Wei too will be a Marquis within the Passes. Once the King is on good terms with Chu, two lords of ten thousand chariots within the Passes will turn their arms upon Qi⁶, and Qi's western lands⁷ may be taken with folded hands. The King's land would run in one stretch from sea to sea, binding all under Heaven: then Yan and Zhao would be without Qi and Chu, and Qi and Chu without Yan and Zhao. After that, threaten and shake Yan and Zhao, and rock Qi and Chu outright, and these four states will submit without waiting to be hurt."

King Zhao said: "Good." Thereupon he halted Bai Qi and sent his excuses to Han and Wei. He sent envoys with gifts to Chu and bound it as an allied state.

Huang Xie received the covenant and returned to Chu, and Chu sent Xie with the Heir Apparent, Wan, as hostages to Qin; Qin kept them for several years. King Qingxiang of Chu fell ill, and the Heir Apparent could not return. Now the Heir Apparent of Chu was on good terms with the Chancellor of Qin, Marquis Ying, and so Huang Xie spoke to Marquis Ying: "Is the Chancellor of State truly a friend to the Heir Apparent of Chu?" Marquis Ying said: "I am." Xie said: "Now the King of Chu is unlikely to rise from his sickness, and Qin would do best to send his Heir Apparent home. If the Heir Apparent is set on the throne, his service to Qin will surely be weighty and his gratitude to the Chancellor of State without end; that is to befriend an allied state and lay up a ruler of ten thousand chariots. If he is not sent home, he is merely a commoner of Xianyang; Chu will set up another Heir Apparent, who will surely not serve Qin. To lose an allied state and break off the friendship of a ruler of ten thousand chariots is no plan. I wish the Chancellor of State to consider it carefully." Marquis Ying reported it to the King of Qin. The King of Qin said: "Let the Heir Apparent of Chu's Tutor go first to inquire after the King of Chu's illness; when he returns we shall plan it." Huang Xie planned for the Heir Apparent of Chu: "Qin keeps the Heir Apparent because it wants to gain some advantage by it. Now the Heir Apparent has no means yet to benefit Qin, and Xie is deeply anxious about it. And Lord Yangwen's two sons are at court; if the King should die and the Heir Apparent is not there, Lord Yangwen's son will surely be set up as successor, and the Heir Apparent will never serve the ancestral temple. Better to flee Qin and go out with the envoy; your servant begs to stay behind and answer for it with his life." The Heir Apparent of Chu accordingly changed his clothes and, as the Chu envoy's driver, went out through the Pass⁸, while Huang Xie kept the lodging and constantly made excuses of illness. Judging that the Heir Apparent was already far away and Qin could not overtake him, Xie then spoke for himself to King Zhao of Qin: "The Heir Apparent of Chu has gone home; he is already far away. Xie deserves death; I beg to be granted death." King Zhao was greatly angered and was ready to let him kill himself. Marquis Ying said: "Xie, as a subject, gave his own life for his master's sake; when the Heir Apparent is set up he will surely employ Xie. So it is better to send him home without blame, to befriend Chu." Qin accordingly sent Huang Xie back.

Xie had been in Chu three months when King Qingxiang of Chu died and the Heir Apparent, Wan, was set up: this was King Kaolie. In the first year of King Kaolie⁹ he made Huang Xie Chancellor, enfeoffed him as Lord Chunshen, and granted him twelve Counties of the land north of the Huai. Fifteen years later Huang Xie said to the King of Chu: "The land north of the Huai borders Qi, and its affairs are pressing; it would be better made a Commandery." And he gave back the twelve Counties north of the Huai, asking to be enfeoffed in Jiangdong. King Kaolie consented. Lord Chunshen accordingly fortified the old ruins of Wu and made them his seat.

When Lord Chunshen had become Chancellor of Chu, at that time Qi had Lord Mengchang, Zhao had Lord Pingyuan and Wei had Lord Xinling, all vying to humble themselves before gentlemen and to attract retainers, so as to outdo one another, support their states and hold power.

In the fourth year of Lord Chunshen's chancellorship of Chu, Qin destroyed Zhao's army of more than four hundred thousand at Changping. In the fifth year it besieged Handan. Handan sent word of its peril to Chu; Chu sent Lord Chunshen with troops to relieve it, the Qin troops also withdrew, and Lord Chunshen returned. In the eighth year¹⁰ of his chancellorship Lord Chunshen campaigned north for Chu and extinguished Lu, and made Xun Qing Sheriff of Lanling. At this time Chu was strong again.

Lord Pingyuan of Zhao sent a man to Lord Chunshen, and Lord Chunshen lodged him in the best quarters. The Zhao envoy wished to show off before Chu: he had tortoiseshell hairpins made and sword scabbards adorned with pearls and jade, and asked to meet Lord Chunshen's retainers. Lord Chunshen's retainers numbered more than three thousand, and his chief guests all came to see the Zhao envoy shod in pearl-studded slippers; the Zhao envoy was greatly ashamed.