A curious mode of revenge and incomplete preparations to retire the King of Qin

A curious mode of revenge and incomplete preparations to kill the King of Qin 

After taking on the mission to assassinate king Zheng of Qin (171 t), the swordsman Jing Ke tells Prince Dan (171b) that bringing the head of the wanted former general Fan Yuqi to king Zheng, Ke would have more chances to come close and kill him. When Prince Dan refuses to betray Fan Yuqi, Jing Ke goes directly to general Fan (173m) with a surprising request: instead of attempting to kill the Qin general, he reminds him that on Qin’s orders, his parents and all his family were put to death (173t). As revenge, Ke proposes Yuqi to offer his own head to be cut off and thus support the plan that Ke brings it to Qin and assassinate Zheng. Astoundingly, Fan agrees to this unusual request that defies all instincts of self-preservation, and happy to take revenge, cuts his own throat, setting his mind at rest. Beside this highly dramatic moment, there is one glitch in the preparations for the plot, which seems easy to oversee, which I will underline here. On 173-b-174t, SQ writes that although Prince Dan sends Qin Wuyang, a tough fellow, to join him, Jing Ke call a man he knows would be of help to come along in his party. As fate will have it, this man takes longer to show up. This is a crucial moment for what follows. Prince Dan is impatient, and against his better judgement Jing Ke takes off without the complete crew that he hoped for. This is important to notice, because incomplete preparations and haste (riders could have seen to bring the man quicker) can compromise an otherwise good plan. Sadly, one reads on 175t that when received by king Zheng, Wuyang “suddenly turns pale and quakes with fear”, which attracts suspicion and distracts Jing Ke. When coming into king Zheng’s proximity, Ke tries first to only threaten him with the dagger, yet Zheng runs away. At this point, Qin Wuyang does nothing to stop the king or help Jing Ke to kill him. This proves that leaving for this mission in incomplete formation without the man Jing Ke wanted was a mistake. 

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