Week 2

What is the purpose of Fan Ju’s anecdote about King Min of Qi? (139t) Although King Min of Qi conquered Chu, he could not hold onto the territory he gained “because the circumstances would not permit it.” Why? What were those circumstances and how do they apply to King Zhaoxiang’s quest to attack Qi? First, King Min’s troops overextended, capturing 1000 li of territory over which they were unable to consolidate control. (1000 li is equivalent of two realms of Po Yü’s concentric model.) Second, the troops were exhausted from the exertion, likely from the fighting itself, but also from the distance traveled. Third, there was internal disorder in Qi, conflict (“loggerheads”) between ruler and subject. Noticing these circumstances, Hann and Wei took advantage of the opportunity to attack and defeat Qi. While it is unclear whether or not Qi used a small force (like King Zhaoxiang and the marquis of Rang plann to use) or a large force, which Fan Ju cautions against, the problem that this anecdote highlights stems from who was fought against and where they were located. Chu was far, and Hann and Wei were near. Fan Ju advises that it is “best to cultivate friendly relations with distance states and attack those close by.” Qi exposed a vulnerability that Hann and Wei exploited. Qi lent arms to bandits and provided rations to thieves. Qi’s precariousness in distance and capability diminished its military force such that it was as if Qi had given additional forces to Hann and Wei. Likewise, Qi’s forces were easy pickings, upon which Hann and Wei’s forces could glut. Qi attacked Chu who was far, whereas Hann and Wei were closer and would have been enabled Qi to slowly expand its territory and control, like Zhao swallowing up Zhongshan. Nevertheless, discord between ruler and subject, no matter how close or far away one attacks, will always be a source of instability. Qi’s officers and soldiers blamed the king for the defeat, but he absconded responsibility, shifting blame to his scapegoat Tian Wen. The king maintained control, but his ministers still revolted, driving out Tian Wen. Fan Ju cautions King Zhaoxiang against a poorly planned invasion, against attacking the far (Qi), rather than close (Wei), all the while underscoring the domestic risks entailed in any military action. This sets the stage for his critique of King Zhaoxiang’s kingship years later.

Why does the First Emperor have the academicians compose a poem in response the prophetic meteor-turned-stone (59t-m)? Inscribed stones had served to mark the accomplishments, virtues, and validity of the First Emperor’s reign since 219. As before, Sima Qian notes the activity of the heavens (Mars and the Heart Star), but in 211 the heavens fell to earth and the meteor turned to stone. Had this been all that happened the First Emperor would likely not have been “disquieted.” What troubled the First Emperor was that one of his “black-headed people inscribed on the stone: ‘The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided.’” In this act there are four disturbances. First, one of his people, who was to form “one mind, single in will” (47m), departed from that unity by performing the second disturbance, writing on stone. The First Emperor had been writing on stone to preserve and establish his legacy. Not only does the subject co-opt the project, but writes two further disturbances: that the First Emperor will die, and that the land recently unified will divide again. Although predicting the devolution of the newly established political unit and unity, which grounds the First Emperor’s power, practical success, and legacy, should be disturbing, what troubles the First Emperor more is the claim the he will die. Throughout his reign, the First Emperor has been enamored with alchemy and has been seeking an immortal elixir. Later, when he dies, Sima Qian narratively sets up his death to suggest that he got ill because he was trying for immortality (61b-62t). Upon hearing that a subject inscribed on his medium of narrative legacy that he will die, the Emperor “had the stone burned and pulverized.” It is unlikely that the stone burned like the books he burnt. What destroyed the stone was force and his inability to let it be. Instead, he turns to poetry, a new medium (or an old one if you count the Odes he burnt), to preserve his legacy, with the subject of immortality, the True Man (his new way of referring to himself), and his travels. But poetry is another unstable medium. It relies on the memory of those who sing. Nothing the Emperor uses has the longevity he desires. Heaven seems to have sent a message (meteor) to the First Emperor to remind him that he, like water of the Five Powers, will soon be covered in (or by) earth.