卷四十一·越王句践世家第十一
卷四十一·越王句践世家第十一
司马迁
越王句践，其先禹之苗裔，而夏后帝少康之庶子也。封于会稽，以奉守禹之祀。文身断发，披草莱而邑焉。后二十余世，至于允常。允常之时，与吴王阖庐战而相怨伐。允常卒，子句践立，是为越王。
元年，吴王阖庐闻允常死，乃兴师伐越。越王句践使死士挑战，三行，至吴陈，呼而自刭。吴师观之，越因袭击吴师，吴师败于槜李，射伤吴王阖庐。阖庐且死，告其子夫差曰：“必毋忘越。”
三年，句践闻吴王夫差日夜勒兵，且以报越，越欲先吴未发往伐之。范蠡谏曰：“不可。臣闻兵者凶器也，战者逆德也，争者事之末也。阴谋逆德，好用凶器，试身于所末，上帝禁之，行者不利。”越王曰：“吾已决之矣。”遂兴师。吴王闻之，悉发精兵击越，败之夫椒。越王乃以余兵五千人保栖于会稽。吴王追而围之。
越王谓范蠡曰：“以不听子故至于此，为之柰何？”蠡对曰：“持满者与天，定倾者与人，节事者以地。卑辞厚礼以遗之，不许，而身与之市。”句践曰：“诺。”乃令大夫种行成于吴，膝行顿首曰：“君王亡臣句践使陪臣种敢告下执事：句践请为臣，妻为妾。”吴王将许之。子胥言于吴王曰：“天以越赐吴，勿许也。”种还，以报句践。句践欲杀妻子，燔宝器，触战以死。种止句践曰：“夫吴太宰嚭贪，可诱以利，请间行言之。”于是句践以美女宝器令种间献吴太宰嚭。嚭受，乃见大夫种于吴王。种顿首言曰：“愿大王赦句践之罪，尽入其宝器。不幸不赦，句践将尽杀其妻子，燔其宝器，悉五千人触战，必有当也。”嚭因说吴王曰：“越以服为臣，若将赦之，此国之利也。”吴王将许之。子胥进谏曰：“今不灭越，后必悔之。句践贤君，种、蠡良臣，若反国，将为乱。”吴王弗听，卒赦越，罢兵而归。
句践之困会稽也，喟然叹曰：“吾终于此乎？”种曰：“汤系夏台，文王囚羑里，晋重耳奔翟，齐小白奔莒，其卒王霸。由是观之，何遽不为福乎？”
吴既赦越，越王句践反国，乃苦身焦思，置胆于坐，坐卧即仰胆，饮食亦尝胆也。曰：“女忘会稽之耻邪？”身自耕作，夫人自织，食不加肉，衣不重采，折节下贤人，厚遇宾客，振贫吊死，与百姓同其劳。欲使范蠡治国政，蠡对曰：“兵甲之事，种不如蠡；填抚国家，亲附百姓，蠡不如种。”于是举国政属大夫种，而使范蠡与大夫柘稽行成，为质于吴。二岁而吴归蠡。
句践自会稽归七年，拊循其士民，欲用以报吴。大夫逢同谏曰：“国新流亡，今乃复殷给，缮饰备利，吴必惧，惧则难必至。且鸷鸟之击也，必匿其形。今夫吴兵加齐、晋，怨深于楚、越，名高天下，实害周室，德少而功多，必淫自矜。为越计，莫若结齐，亲楚，附晋，以厚吴。吴之志广，必轻战。是我连其权，三国伐之，越承其弊，可克也。”句践曰：“善。”
居二年，吴王将伐齐。子胥谏曰：“未可。臣闻句践食不重味，与百姓同苦乐。此人不死，必为国患。吴有越，腹心之疾，齐与吴，疥疭也。愿王释齐先越。”吴王弗听，遂伐齐，败之艾陵，虏齐高、国以归。让子胥。子胥曰：“王毋喜！”王怒，子胥欲自杀，王闻而止之。越大夫种曰：“臣观吴王政骄矣，请试尝之贷粟，以卜其事。”请贷，吴王欲与，子胥谏勿与，王遂与之，越乃私喜。子胥言曰：“王不听谏，后三年吴其墟乎！”太宰嚭闻之，乃数与子胥争越议，因谗子胥曰：“伍员貌忠而实忍人，其父兄不顾，安能顾王？王前欲伐齐，员强谏，已而有功，用是反怨王。王不备伍员，员必为乱。”与逢同共谋，谗之王。王始不从，乃使子胥于齐，闻其讬子于鲍氏，王乃大怒，曰：“伍员果欺寡人！”役反，使人赐子胥属镂剑以自杀。子胥大笑曰：“我令而父霸，我又立若，若初欲分吴国半予我，我不受，已，今若反以谗诛我。嗟乎，嗟乎，一人固不能独立！”报使者曰：“必取吾眼置吴东门，以观越兵入也！”于是吴任嚭政。
居三年，句践召范蠡曰：“吴已杀子胥，导谀者众，可乎？”对曰：“未可。”
至明年春，吴王北会诸侯于黄池，吴国精兵从王，惟独老弱与太子留守。句践复问范蠡，蠡曰“可矣”。乃发习流二千人，教士四万人，君子六千人，诸御千人，伐吴。吴师败，遂杀吴太子。吴告急于王，王方会诸侯于黄池，惧天下闻之，乃秘之。吴王已盟黄池，乃使人厚礼以请成越。越自度亦未能灭吴，乃与吴平。
其后四年，越复伐吴。吴士民罢弊，轻锐尽死于齐、晋。而越大破吴，因而留围之三年，吴师败，越遂复栖吴王于姑苏之山。吴王使公孙雄肉袒膝行而前，请成越王曰：“孤臣夫差敢布腹心，异日尝得罪于会稽，夫差不敢逆命，得与君王成以归。今君王举玉趾而诛孤臣，孤臣惟命是听，意者亦欲如会稽之赦孤臣之罪乎？”句践不忍，欲许之。范蠡曰：“会稽之事，天以越赐吴，吴不取。今天以吴赐越，越其可逆天乎？且夫君王蚤朝晏罢，非为吴邪？谋之二十二年，一旦而弃之，可乎？且夫天与弗取，反受其咎。‘伐柯者其则不远’，君忘会稽之戹乎？”句践曰：“吾欲听子言，吾不忍其使者。”范蠡乃鼓进兵，曰：“王已属政于执事，使者去，不者且得罪。”吴使者泣而去。句践怜之，乃使人谓吴王曰：“吾置王甬东，君百家。”吴王谢曰：“吾老矣，不能事君王！”遂自杀。乃蔽其面，曰：“吾无面以见子胥也！”越王乃葬吴王而诛太宰嚭。
句践已平吴，乃以兵北渡淮，与齐、晋诸侯会于徐州，致贡于周。周元王使人赐句践胙，命为伯。句践已去，渡淮南，以淮上地与楚，归吴所侵宋地于宋，与鲁泗东方百里。当是时，越兵横行于江、淮东，诸侯毕贺，号称霸王。
范蠡遂去，自齐遗大夫种书曰：“蜚鸟尽，良弓藏；狡兔死，走狗烹。越王为人长颈鸟喙，可与共患难，不可与共乐。子何不去？”种见书，称病不朝。人或谗种且作乱，越王乃赐种剑曰：“子教寡人伐吴七术，寡人用其三而败吴，其四在子，子为我从先王试之。”种遂自杀。
句践卒，子王鼫与立。王鼫与卒，子王不寿立。王不寿卒，子王翁立。王翁卒，子王翳立。王翳卒，子王之侯立。王之侯卒，子王无强立。
王无强时，越兴师北伐齐，西伐楚，与中国争强。当楚威王之时，越北伐齐，齐威王使人说越王曰：“越不伐楚，大不王，小不伯。图越之所为不伐楚者，为不得晋也。韩、魏固不攻楚。韩之攻楚，覆其军，杀其将，则叶、阳翟危；魏亦覆其军，杀其将，则陈、上蔡不安。故二晋之事越也，不至于覆军杀将，马汗之力不效。所重于得晋者何也？”越王曰：“所求于晋者，不至顿刃接兵，而况于攻城围邑乎？愿魏以聚大梁之下，愿齐之试兵南阳莒地，以聚常、郯之境，则方城之外不南，淮、泗之间不东，商、于、析、郦、宗胡之地，夏路以左，不足以备秦，江南、泗上不足以待越矣。则齐、秦、韩、魏得志于楚也，是二晋不战分地，不耕而穫之。不此之为，而顿刃于河山之间以为齐秦用，所待者如此其失计，柰何其以此王也！”齐使者曰：“幸也越之不亡也！吾不贵其用智之如目，见毫毛而不见其睫也。今王知晋之失计，而不自知越之过，是目论也。王所待于晋者，非有马汗之力也，又非可与合军连和也，将待之以分楚众也。今楚众已分，何待于晋？”越王曰：“柰何？”曰：“楚三大夫张九军，北围曲沃、于中，以至无假之关者三千七百里，景翠之军北聚鲁、齐、南阳，分有大此者乎？且王之所求者，斗晋楚也；晋楚不斗，越兵不起，是知二五而不知十也。此时不攻楚，臣以是知越大不王，小不伯。复雠、庞、长沙，楚之粟也；竟泽陵，楚之材也。越窥兵通无假之关，此四邑者不上贡事于郢矣。臣闻之，图王不王，其敝可以伯。然而不伯者，王道失也。故愿大王之转攻楚也。”
于是越遂释齐而伐楚。楚威王兴兵而伐之，大败越，杀王无强，尽取故吴地至浙江，北破齐于徐州。而越以此散，诸族子争立，或为王，或为君，滨于江南海上，服朝于楚。
后七世，至闽君摇，佐诸侯平秦。汉高帝复以摇为越王，以奉越后。东越，闽君，皆其后也。
范蠡事越王句践，既苦身戮力，与句践深谋二十余年，竟灭吴，报会稽之耻，北渡兵于淮以临齐、晋，号令中国，以尊周室，句践以霸，而范蠡称上将军。还反国，范蠡以为大名之下，难以久居，且句践为人可与同患，难与处安，为书辞句践曰：“臣闻主忧臣劳，主辱臣死。昔者君王辱于会稽，所以不死，为此事也。今既以雪耻，臣请从会稽之诛。”句践曰：“孤将与子分国而有之。不然，将加诛于子。”范蠡曰：“君行令，臣行意。”乃装其轻宝珠玉，自与其私徒属乘舟浮海以行，终不反。于是句践表会稽山以为范蠡奉邑。
范蠡浮海出齐，变姓名，自谓鸱夷子皮，耕于海畔，苦身戮力，父子治产。居无几何，致产数十万。齐人闻其贤，以为相。范蠡喟然叹曰：“居家则致千金，居官则至卿相，此布衣之极也。久受尊名，不祥。”乃归相印，尽散其财，以分与知友乡党，而怀其重宝，间行以去，止于陶，以为此天下之中，交易有无之路通，为生可以致富矣。于是自谓陶朱公。复约要父子耕畜，废居，候时转物，逐什一之利。居无何，则致赀累巨万。天下称陶朱公。
朱公居陶，生少子。少子及壮，而朱公中男杀人，囚于楚。朱公曰：“杀人而死，职也。然吾闻千金之子不死于市。”告其少子往视之。乃装黄金千溢，置褐器中，载以一牛车。且遣其少子，朱公长男固请欲行，朱公不听。长男曰：“家有长子曰家督，今弟有罪，大人不遣，乃遗少弟，是吾不肖。”欲自杀。其母为言曰：“今遣少子，未必能生中子也，而先空亡长男，柰何？”朱公不得已而遣长子，为一封书遗故所善庄生。曰：“至则进千金于庄生所，听其所为，慎无与争事。”长男既行，亦自私赍数百金。
至楚，庄生家负郭，披藜藋到门，居甚贫。然长男发书进千金，如其父言。庄生曰：“可疾去矣，慎毋留！即弟出，勿问所以然。”长男既去，不过庄生而私留，以其私赍献遗楚国贵人用事者。
庄生虽居穷阎，然以廉直闻于国，自楚王以下皆师尊之。及朱公进金，非有意受也，欲以成事后复归之以为信耳。故金至，谓其妇曰：“此朱公之金。有如病不宿诫，后复归，勿动。”而朱公长男不知其意，以为殊无短长也。
庄生间时入见楚王，言“某星宿某，此则害于楚”。楚王素信庄生，曰：“今为柰何？”庄生曰：“独以德为可以除之。”楚王曰：“生休矣，寡人将行之。”王乃使使者封三钱之府。楚贵人惊告朱公长男曰：“王且赦。”曰：“何以也？”曰：“每王且赦，常封三钱之府。昨暮王使使封之。”朱公长男以为赦，弟固当出也，重千金虚弃庄生，无所为也，乃复见庄生。庄生惊曰：“若不去邪？”长男曰：“固未也。初为事弟，弟今议自赦，故辞生去。”庄生知其意欲复得其金，曰：“若自入室取金。”长男即自入室取金持去，独自欢幸。
庄生羞为儿子所卖，乃入见楚王曰：“臣前言某星事，王言欲以修德报之。今臣出，道路皆言陶之富人朱公之子杀人囚楚，其家多持金钱赂王左右，故王非能恤楚国而赦，乃以朱公子故也。”楚王大怒曰：“寡人虽不德耳，柰何以朱公之子故而施惠乎！”令论杀朱公子，明日遂下赦令。朱公长男竟持其弟丧归。
至，其母及邑人尽哀之，唯朱公独笑，曰：“吾固知必杀其弟也！彼非不爱其弟，顾有所不能忍者也。是少与我俱，见苦，为生难，故重弃财。至如少弟者，生而见我富，乘坚驱良逐狡兔，岂知财所从来，故轻弃之，非所惜吝。前日吾所为欲遣少子，固为其能弃财故也。而长者不能，故卒以杀其弟，事之理也，无足悲者。吾日夜固以望其丧之来也。”
故范蠡三徙，成名于天下，非苟去而已，所止必成名。卒老死于陶，故世传曰陶朱公。
太史公曰：禹之功大矣，渐九川，定九州，至于今诸夏艾安。及苗裔句践，苦身焦思，终灭强吴，北观兵中国，以尊周室，号称霸王。句践可不谓贤哉！盖有禹之遗烈焉。范蠡三迁皆有荣名，名垂后世。臣主若此，欲毋显得乎！
Volume 41 · The Hereditary House of King Goujian of Yue, Eleventh
司马迁
King Goujian of Yue: his ancestors were a distant offshoot of Yu, and he was a son by a concubine of the Xia sovereign Emperor Shaokang. He was enfeoffed at Kuaiji, to take up and keep the sacrifices of Yu. They tattooed their bodies and cut their hair short, cleared away the weeds and brush and made a town there. Twenty generations and more afterwards it came to Yunchang. In Yunchang's time he fought with King Helü of Wu, and they resented and attacked each other. Yunchang died and his son Goujian was set up: this was the King of Yue.
In the first year King Helü of Wu, hearing that Yunchang was dead, raised an army and attacked Yue. King Goujian of Yue sent men sworn to die to give the challenge: in three ranks they went up to the Wu line, shouted and cut their own throats. The Wu army was looking on at this, and Yue thereupon made a surprise attack on the Wu army; the Wu army was defeated at Zuili, and King Helü of Wu was shot and wounded. As Helü lay dying he told his son Fuchai: "You must not forget Yue."
In the third year Goujian heard that King Fuchai of Wu was drilling troops day and night, meaning to take his revenge on Yue, and Yue wished to attack Wu first before it set out. Fan Li remonstrated: "It cannot be done. Your servant has heard that weapons are instruments of ill omen, that war is a power against nature, and that contention is the last of undertakings. To scheme in secret against nature, to delight in using instruments of ill omen, to try one's person at what is last of all — the Lord on High forbids it, and whoever does it does not prosper." The King of Yue said: "I have decided it." And so he raised an army. The King of Wu heard of it and sent out all his picked troops to strike at Yue, and defeated them at Fujiao. The King of Yue then with his remaining five thousand men held out and roosted on Kuaiji. The King of Wu pursued and besieged him.
The King of Yue said to Fan Li: "Through not listening to you I have come to this. What is to be done?" Li answered: "He who holds a full cup goes with Heaven; he who rights what is toppling goes with men; he who husbands affairs goes with earth. Send him humble words and rich gifts; and if he will not allow it, then offer your own person in the bargain." Goujian said: "Very well." So he ordered the grandee Zhong to go and make terms with Wu. Advancing on his knees and knocking his head on the ground, Zhong said: "Your lordship's fugitive subject Goujian has sent his vassal's vassal Zhong to venture to address your attendants: Goujian asks to be your subject, and his wife to be your handmaid." The King of Wu was about to allow it. Zixu said to the King of Wu: "Heaven has bestowed Yue on Wu; do not allow it." Zhong went back and reported to Goujian. Goujian wished to kill his wife and children, burn his treasure vessels and throw himself into battle and die. Zhong stopped Goujian: "The Grand Steward Pi of Wu is greedy and may be lured with profit; let me go by a secret road and speak to him." Thereupon Goujian had Zhong secretly present beautiful women and treasure vessels to the Grand Steward Pi of Wu. Pi accepted them, and then brought the grandee Zhong before the King of Wu. Zhong knocked his head on the ground and said: "I wish your great self to pardon Goujian's crime, and he will send in all his treasure vessels. If he is unlucky and is not pardoned, Goujian will kill his wife and children to the last, burn his treasure vessels, and with all his five thousand men throw himself into battle; and it will surely be worth something." Pi therefore urged the King of Wu: "Yue has submitted and become a subject; if you pardon it, this is to the state's advantage." The King of Wu was about to allow it. Zixu came forward and remonstrated: "If you do not destroy Yue now, you will surely repent of it later. Goujian is a worthy lord, and Zhong and Li are good ministers; if he goes back to his state he will make trouble." The King of Wu would not listen, and in the end pardoned Yue and broke off the campaign and went home.
When Goujian was in straits at Kuaiji he sighed heavily and said: "Am I to end here?" Zhong said: "Tang was shut up at Xiatai, King Wen imprisoned at Youli, Chonger of Jin fled to the Di and Xiaobai of Qi to Ju, and in the end they were kings and hegemons. Looking at it from this, how should it not prove a blessing?"
Wu having pardoned Yue, King Goujian of Yue went back to his state, and thereupon put his body to hardship and his thoughts to the fire, and set a gall bladder by his seat: sitting or lying he would look up at the gall, and when he ate and drank he would taste the gall too. He would say: "Have you forgotten the shame of Kuaiji?" He ploughed with his own hands, his lady wove with hers, he ate no meat with his food and wore no double-dyed clothes, he bent his rank and humbled himself to worthy men, treated guests generously, relieved the poor and mourned the dead, and shared the labours of the hundred families. He wished Fan Li to manage the state's government, and Li answered: "In matters of arms and armour, Zhong is not the equal of Li; in filling up and calming the state and drawing the hundred families to it, Li is not the equal of Zhong." Thereupon he entrusted the whole government of the state to the grandee Zhong, and sent Fan Li with the grandee Zhe Ji to make terms and be hostages in Wu. Two years later Wu sent Li home.
In the seventh year after Goujian's return from Kuaiji, having soothed and nursed his officers and people, he wished to use them to take his revenge on Wu. The grandee Feng Tong remonstrated: "The state has only just come out of ruin and flight, and now it is prosperous and well supplied again, and we are furbishing and preparing our gear: Wu will surely take fright, and once it takes fright, trouble must come. And a bird of prey, when it strikes, always hides its shape first. Now Wu's arms are laid on Qi and Jin, its grudges run deep against Chu and Yue, its name stands high in the empire, and in fact it does harm to the house of Zhou; its power is small and its exploits many, and it must be given over to vaunting itself. As a plan for Yue, nothing is better than to bind ourselves to Qi, be friendly to Chu, attach ourselves to Jin, and so make much of Wu. Wu's ambitions are wide, and it will surely take war lightly. Thus we tie up its power; the three states attack it; and Yue takes it up in its exhaustion and can overcome it." Goujian said: "Good."
Two years later the King of Wu was about to attack Qi. Zixu remonstrated: "It cannot be done yet. Your servant has heard that Goujian eats no second dish and shares the bitter and the sweet with the hundred families. While this man is not dead, he must be a trouble to the state. Wu's having Yue is a sickness of the heart and belly; Qi to Wu is a rash on the skin. I wish my lord would let Qi alone and take Yue first." The King of Wu would not listen, and thereupon attacked Qi and defeated them at Ailing, and took the Gao and the Guo of Qi home as captives. He reproached Zixu. Zixu said: "Let my lord not rejoice!" The king was angry, and Zixu wished to kill himself, and the king heard of it and stopped him. The Yue grandee Zhong said: "I observe that the King of Wu's government has grown arrogant; let me try him by asking a loan of grain, and so divine how the matter stands." He asked the loan, and the King of Wu was willing to give it; Zixu remonstrated against giving it, and the king in the end gave it, and Yue privately rejoiced. Zixu said: "My lord does not listen to remonstrance; in three years Wu will be a waste!" The Grand Steward Pi heard of it, and thereupon fell repeatedly to contending with Zixu over the policy on Yue, and so slandered Zixu: "Wu Yun looks loyal but is in truth a cruel man; he had no regard for his own father and brother — how should he have regard for my lord? When my lord wished earlier to attack Qi, Yun remonstrated strongly, and when it turned out a success he used that to resent my lord instead. If my lord does not guard against Wu Yun, Yun will surely make a rebellion." With Feng Tong he plotted together and slandered him to the king. The king at first did not go along with it, and then sent Zixu on a mission to Qi; hearing that he had entrusted his son to the Bao clan, the king was then greatly enraged and said: "Wu Yun has indeed cheated me!" When the mission came back, he sent a man to bestow on Zixu the sword Shulü to kill himself with. Zixu laughed aloud and said: "I made your father hegemon, and I set you up too; you wanted at first to divide half the state of Wu and give it to me, and I would not take it; and now you on the contrary put me to death on slander. Alas, alas, one man truly cannot stand alone!" And he reported to the envoy: "Be sure to take my eyes and set them on the eastern gate of Wu, to watch the troops of Yue come in!" Thereupon Wu entrusted its government to Pi.
Three years later Goujian summoned Fan Li: "Wu has now killed Zixu, and its flatterers and leaders-astray are many; may it be done?" He answered: "Not yet."
By the spring of the next year the King of Wu had gone north to meet the feudal lords at Huangchi; the picked troops of the state of Wu followed the king, and only the old and weak and the heir apparent were left to hold it. Goujian asked Fan Li again, and Li said: "Now it may be done." So he sent out two thousand trained marines, forty thousand drilled soldiers, six thousand of the noble guard and a thousand officers of the equipage, and attacked Wu. The Wu army was defeated, and they thereupon killed the heir apparent of Wu. Wu appealed urgently to its king, and the king was just then meeting the feudal lords at Huangchi; fearing that the empire would hear of it, he kept it secret. The King of Wu, having made the covenant at Huangchi, then sent men with rich ceremony to ask terms of Yue. Yue reckoned that it too was not yet able to destroy Wu, and so made peace with Wu.
Four years afterwards Yue attacked Wu again. Wu's officers and people were worn out and exhausted, and its light and keen troops had all died in Qi and Jin. And Yue greatly broke Wu, and accordingly stayed and besieged it three years; the Wu army was defeated, and Yue thereupon again had the King of Wu roosting on the hills of Gusu. The King of Wu sent Gongsun Xiong forward with his flesh bared, advancing on his knees, to ask terms of the King of Yue: "Your orphaned servant Fuchai ventures to lay bare his heart. On another day I once incurred guilt at Kuaiji; Fuchai did not dare go against your command, and was able to make terms with my lord the king and go home. Now my lord the king lifts his jade foot to punish your orphaned servant; your orphaned servant will hear only your command. Might it be that you would also wish, as at Kuaiji, to pardon your orphaned servant's crime?" Goujian could not bear it and wished to grant it. Fan Li said: "In the affair at Kuaiji, Heaven bestowed Yue on Wu, and Wu did not take it. Now Heaven bestows Wu on Yue; can Yue go against Heaven? And my lord the king has gone early to court and broken off late — was it not for Wu? He has plotted it twenty-two years, and shall it be thrown away in one morning? And when Heaven gives and one does not take, one suffers the blame instead. 'He who hews an axe-handle has his model not far off' — has my lord forgotten the strait of Kuaiji?" Goujian said: "I would listen to your words, but I cannot bear to face his envoy." Fan Li then beat the drum and advanced the troops, saying: "The king has already entrusted the government to his officers. Let the envoy go, or he will incur guilt." The envoy of Wu wept and went away. Goujian pitied him, and so sent men to say to the King of Wu: "I shall put my lord at Yongdong and give him a hundred households." The King of Wu declined, saying: "I am old and cannot serve my lord the king!" And he thereupon killed himself. He covered over his face and said: "I have no face with which to meet Zixu!" The King of Yue then buried the King of Wu and put the Grand Steward Pi to death.
Goujian having settled Wu, he then took troops north across the Huai and met the feudal lords of Qi and Jin at Xuzhou, and sent tribute to Zhou. King Yuan of Zhou sent men to bestow sacrificial meat on Goujian and charged him as a count. Goujian having gone, he crossed south of the Huai, gave the lands along the Huai to Chu, gave back to Song the Song lands Wu had encroached on, and gave Lu a hundred li on the east of the Si. At that time the troops of Yue ranged at will east of the Jiang and the Huai, and the feudal lords all congratulated him, and he was styled Hegemon King.
Fan Li thereupon went away, and sent the grandee Zhong a letter from Qi: "When the flying birds are finished, the good bow is put away; when the cunning hare is dead, the running hound is boiled. The King of Yue is a man with a long neck and a bird's beak; one may share hardship with him, but not share ease. Why do you not leave?" Zhong saw the letter and pleaded illness and did not go to court. Someone slandered Zhong as being about to make a rebellion, and the King of Yue then bestowed a sword on Zhong, saying: "You taught me seven arts for attacking Wu; I used three of them and defeated Wu; the other four are with you. Go and try them on my behalf with my late lord." Zhong thereupon killed himself.
Goujian died, and his son King Shiyu was set up. King Shiyu died, and his son King Bushou was set up. King Bushou died, and his son King Weng was set up. King Weng died, and his son King Yi was set up. King Yi died, and his son King Zhihou was set up. King Zhihou died, and his son King Wujiang was set up.
In King Wujiang's time Yue raised an army and attacked Qi in the north and Chu in the west, and contended in strength with the central states. In the time of King Wei of Chu, Yue attacked Qi in the north, and King Wei of Qi sent a man to persuade the King of Yue: "If Yue does not attack Chu, at the greatest it will not be king and at the least it will not be a count. My reading of why Yue does not attack Chu is that it cannot get Jin. Han and Wei certainly will not attack Chu. If Han attacks Chu, its army will be overturned and its general killed, and then Ye and Yangzhai are in danger; and Wei too will have its army overturned and its general killed, and then Chen and Shangcai are unsettled. So the two Jins' serving Yue would not go as far as an overturned army and a killed general; not so much as the labour of a horse's sweat would be given. What is it that you value so highly in getting Jin?" The King of Yue said: "What I ask of Jin does not go so far as blunting blades and joining battle, much less attacking cities and besieging towns. I should like Wei to gather beneath Daliang, and Qi to try its troops in the Nanyang and Ju lands and gather on the borders of Chang and Tan; then the lands beyond Fangcheng will not go south, and the country between the Huai and the Si will not go east; and Shang, Yu, Xi, Li and the Zonghu lands, and all to the left of the Xia road, will not be enough to provide against Qin, and Jiangnan and the Si country will not be enough to meet Yue. Then Qi, Qin, Han and Wei will have their will of Chu, and thus the two Jins will divide land without fighting, and reap without ploughing. Instead of doing this, they blunt their blades between the He and the mountains to be used by Qi and Qin; those I am waiting on miscalculate like this — how am I to become king by it!" The envoy of Qi said: "How lucky that Yue has not perished! I do not think much of a use of wits that is like the eye, which sees a fine hair and does not see its own lashes. Now my lord knows Jin's miscalculation and does not know Yue's own fault: this is eye-reasoning. What you wait on Jin for is not the labour of a horse's sweat, nor is it something you could join armies and make common cause in; it is waiting on them to divide Chu's forces. Now Chu's forces are already divided; what do you wait on Jin for?" The King of Yue said: "What then?" He said: "Chu's three grandees have spread out nine armies; they besiege Quwo and Yuzhong in the north, and as far as the Wujia Pass is three thousand seven hundred li; Jing Cui's army is gathered in the north at Lu, Qi and Nanyang. Is there a division greater than this? And what my lord seeks is to set Jin and Chu fighting; and if Jin and Chu do not fight, Yue's troops do not rise: this is to know twice five and not to know ten. Not to attack Chu at this moment — by this I know that Yue at the greatest will not be king and at the least will not be a count. Chou, Pang and Changsha are Chu's grain; Jingzeling is Chu's timber. If Yue shows its troops and opens the Wujia Pass, these four towns will send no tribute up to Ying. Your servant has heard it said that one who plans for kingship and does not become king can yet at the worst be a count; and yet not to be a count is to have lost the kingly way. Therefore I wish your great self would turn and attack Chu."
Thereupon Yue let Qi alone and attacked Chu. King Wei of Chu raised troops and attacked it, greatly defeated Yue and killed King Wujiang, took all the former lands of Wu as far as the Zhe river, and broke Qi at Xuzhou in the north. And by this Yue was scattered; the sons of its various branches contended for the succession, some as kings and some as lords, along the sea south of the Jiang, and they submitted and paid court to Chu.
Seven generations later it came to Yao, the lord of Min, who helped the feudal lords to put down Qin. Emperor Gao of Han again made Yao King of Yue, to take up the succession of Yue. The Eastern Yue and the lords of Min are all his posterity.
Fan Li served King Goujian of Yue: he put his body to hardship and spent his strength, and with Goujian plotted deeply for twenty years and more, and in the end destroyed Wu and avenged the shame of Kuaiji, took troops north across the Huai and overawed Qi and Jin, gave commands to the central states and so honoured the house of Zhou; Goujian by this became hegemon, and Fan Li was styled Supreme General. Having gone back to the state, Fan Li considered that under a great name it is hard to dwell long, and that Goujian was a man one could share troubles with but not dwell in peace with; and he wrote a letter taking leave of Goujian: "Your servant has heard that when the lord is anxious the subject toils, and when the lord is disgraced the subject dies. Long ago my lord the king was disgraced at Kuaiji, and the reason I did not die then was for the sake of this business. Now that the shame has been washed away, your servant asks for the execution he escaped at Kuaiji." Goujian said: "I shall divide the state with you and hold it together. If not, I shall put you to death." Fan Li said: "My lord carries out his orders; your servant carries out his intent." And he packed up his light treasures, pearls and jade, and with his own household followers took a boat and went away over the sea, and in the end did not come back. Thereupon Goujian marked out Mount Kuaiji as Fan Li's endowment town.
Fan Li went over the sea and came out in Qi, changed his surname and given name and called himself Chiyi Zipi, ploughed by the sea's edge, put his body to hardship and spent his strength, and father and sons managed their property. In no long time he had made a fortune of several hundred thousand. The men of Qi heard he was worthy and made him chancellor. Fan Li sighed heavily and said: "At home to make a thousand catties of gold, in office to reach the rank of a minister of state — this is the utmost for a man in plain cloth. To bear an honoured name long is not auspicious." So he gave back the chancellor's seal, scattered all his wealth and divided it among his friends and neighbours, and carrying his precious things with him he went off by secret ways and stopped at Tao, taking this to be the middle of the empire, where the roads of exchange between have and have-not run through, and a livelihood may be made to bring riches. Thereupon he called himself the Lord Zhu of Tao. Again he agreed with his sons on ploughing and stock-raising, on holding back and putting out, watching the season and turning goods over, and pursuing a profit of one in ten. In no long time he amassed capital to the tune of myriad myriads, and the empire called him the Lord Zhu of Tao.
The Lord Zhu dwelling at Tao begot a youngest son. When the youngest son had grown up, the Lord Zhu's middle son killed a man and was imprisoned in Chu. The Lord Zhu said: "A man who kills and dies for it — that is in order. But I have heard that the son of a thousand catties of gold does not die in the marketplace." And he told his youngest son to go and see to it. So he packed a thousand yi of yellow gold, put it in vessels of coarse cloth and loaded it on a single ox-cart. He was about to send off his youngest son when the Lord Zhu's eldest son firmly asked to go, and the Lord Zhu would not allow it. The eldest son said: "In a household the eldest son is called the steward of the house. Now my younger brother has a crime, and my father does not send me but sends the youngest brother instead: this means I am worthless." And he wished to kill himself. His mother spoke for him: "If you send the youngest son now, it is not certain that he can keep the middle son alive, and you will first have lost the eldest for nothing. What of that?" The Lord Zhu could not help it and sent the eldest son, with a sealed letter to be given to Master Zhuang, with whom he had formerly been on good terms. He said: "On arriving, offer the thousand catties of gold at Master Zhuang's place, let him do as he will, and be careful not to quarrel with him over the business." The eldest son having set off, he also privately took several hundred catties of gold with him.
Reaching Chu, he found Master Zhuang's house against the outer wall of the city, with pigweed and goosefoot to be parted to reach the door: he lived in great poverty. Yet the eldest son opened the letter and offered the thousand catties of gold, as his father had said. Master Zhuang said: "You may go away at once, and be careful not to stay! And when your brother comes out, do not ask how it was done." The eldest son went away, but did not go by Master Zhuang's and stayed on privately, and used the gold he had brought of his own to present to the noble and powerful men of the state of Chu.
Though Master Zhuang lived in a mean lane, yet he was known through the state for uprightness and integrity, and from the King of Chu down all honoured him as a teacher. When the Lord Zhu offered the gold, it was not that he had any thought of taking it; he meant, when the business was done, to give it back afterwards as a token of good faith. So when the gold came he said to his wife: "This is the Lord Zhu's gold. Should I fall ill and not give word beforehand, give it back later; do not touch it." And the Lord Zhu's eldest son did not know his meaning, and thought there was nothing in it either way.
Master Zhuang at a convenient time went in to see the King of Chu and said: "Such a star is lodged in such a place; this bodes harm to Chu." The King of Chu had long trusted Master Zhuang, and said: "What is to be done now?" Master Zhuang said: "Only by power and kindness can it be removed." The King of Chu said: "Rest yourself, master; I shall do it." The king then sent an envoy to seal up the Treasury of the Three Coinages. A noble of Chu in alarm told the Lord Zhu's eldest son: "The king is about to grant an amnesty." He said: "How do you know?" He said: "Every time the king is about to grant an amnesty he seals up the Treasury of the Three Coinages. Last evening the king sent an envoy to seal it." The Lord Zhu's eldest son thought that with an amnesty his brother would certainly come out anyway, and that a heavy thousand catties of gold had been thrown away on Master Zhuang for nothing; so he went to see Master Zhuang again. Master Zhuang said in astonishment: "Have you not gone?" The eldest son said: "Indeed not. I came at first on my brother's business, and my brother is now to be released by an amnesty under discussion, so I have come to take my leave of you and go." Master Zhuang knew that he meant to get his gold back, and said: "Go into the room yourself and take the gold." The eldest son went into the room himself and took the gold and carried it off, rejoicing alone at his luck.
Master Zhuang was ashamed at having been sold by a boy, and so went in to see the King of Chu and said: "Your servant spoke before about the business of such a star, and my lord said he wished to answer it by cultivating power and kindness. Now when your servant went out, everyone on the road was saying that the son of the Lord Zhu, the rich man of Tao, had killed a man and was imprisoned in Chu, and that his household had been offering much gold and cash in bribes to my lord's attendants; and so it is not that my lord grants an amnesty out of pity for the state of Chu, but on account of the Lord Zhu's son." The King of Chu was greatly enraged and said: "Though I may be without power and kindness, how should I bestow favour on account of the Lord Zhu's son!" He ordered the Lord Zhu's son to be sentenced and put to death, and the next day thereupon sent down the amnesty. In the end the Lord Zhu's eldest son brought his brother's corpse home.
When he arrived, his mother and the townsfolk all grieved, and only the Lord Zhu laughed, and said: "I knew from the first that he would surely get his brother killed! It is not that he did not love his brother, but there was something he could not bear. From his youth he was with me and saw hardship and knew the difficulty of making a living, and therefore he takes throwing away money hard. As for the youngest, he was born and saw me rich, rode in solid carriages and drove fine horses after the cunning hare; how should he know where money comes from? Therefore he throws it away lightly and does not begrudge it. My wanting to send the youngest son the other day was precisely because he could throw money away; and the eldest could not, and so in the end he got his brother killed. That is the principle of the thing; there is nothing to grieve over. Day and night I was expecting the corpse to come."
Therefore Fan Li moved three times and made his name in the empire; he did not merely go away for the sake of going, but wherever he stopped he made a name. He died at last of old age at Tao, and so the world handed down the name Lord Zhu of Tao.
The Lord Grand Astrologer says: Yu's merit was great: he channelled the nine rivers, settled the nine provinces, and down to this day the Xia states are quiet and secure. And his distant offshoot Goujian put his body to hardship and his thoughts to the fire, and in the end destroyed the strong state of Wu, displayed his troops in the central states in the north, and so honoured the house of Zhou and was styled Hegemon King. Can Goujian not be called worthy! It would seem there was in him something of Yu's bequeathed fire. Fan Li in his three removals had an honoured name in each, and his name has come down to later ages. With subject and lord like these, could they have failed to be illustrious!