Week 5_Reading 1

 


How did Kuai Tong move the emperor from ordering to “Boil him alive!” (183t) to commanding “Free him!” (183mb)? In the span of just one paragraph, Kuai had gotten the emperor to see why his execution would be unjust, and in so doing preserved his own life (183m). This rhetorician from Fanyang (173m), didn’t deny that he advised Han Xin to revolt, furthermore he stood behind that decision (183t). Instead, he showed the emperor how his actions were perfectly natural (183m). He explained that once Qin began to unravel, a race to seize it had commenced (183tm). Kuai used a metaphor to explain why he, at that time, collaborated with Han Xin—it was in his nature, just as it is in a dog’s, to attack (or bark) “at anyone who is not his master” (183m). Kuai stresses that it’s not because the emperor (representing a victim of the dog’s barking) is evil that he schemed against him, but simply because he wasn’t his master at the time. Thus, suggesting that if the tables had been turned and Kuai had known the emperor instead of Han Xin, he would have schemed for the sake of the former instead (183m). In other words, Kuai conveys that his scheme against the emperor was nothing personal.

In addition, by pointing out that the emperor wasn’t unique in striving to seize the empire (that countless others had the same aims) (183mb), Kuai showed that it was the emperor’s superior strength (“tallest stature” and “swiftest feet”) (183mt) that made him come out on top and not his lack of competition. If the emperor isn’t executing all those others who at one point challenged him in his quest for the empire, why would he single out Kuai Tong with such a punishment? (183mb) Thus, Kuai Tong suggests that either the emperor must boil all those who challenged his pursuit of the throne, or absolve them all equally. Since the emperor isn’t interested in creating a second Qin (with its harsh laws) (62tm), he isn’t likely to mete out such a blanket execution.  Also, Kuai knows that such a blanket execution is likely beyond the emperor’s means at this point (“And do you think you can boil all of them alive as well?) (183mb). Thus, by means of his two main points, Kuai Tong managed to strategically show the emperor why it was actually against his own wishes and best judgment to execute him. Kuai did so without having to deny the truth of how he'd indeed stoked revolt against him. Quite impressive rhetoric, indeed!

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