During the Warring States Period, the Kingdom of Wu had a counselor named Wu Zixu. Wu Zixu took charge of reform and helped King Wu Fucha govern the country, develop production, improve weapons, join forces in the Central Plains and become king, intimidate one party, and successfully turned Wu into a powerful country.
The power of Wu State soon caused uneasiness in surrounding countries, especially Yue State. Yue King Gou Jian was very frightened. Whenever he heard rumors that Wu State intended to annex Yue State, he became very, very frightened and could not even eat. Finally one night, Gou Jian woke up from his dream. He could no longer bear the torture and decided to take the initiative to attack the state of Wu.
His men, after hearing about this, immediately tried to dissuade him. Doctor Wen Zhong and Fan Li soon made it clear that this was probably Wu Zixu's strategy, hoping that the Yue Kingdom would send troops and then strike later. However, the King of Yue, who had been patient for so long, was not persuaded in the end. He mobilized the army of the whole country and began to march towards the State of Wu in an attempt to solve the threat of the State of Wu to the State of Yue at once.
When King Wu heard the news, he looked at Wu Zixu next to him and said with a smile: "Sir, you really know things well." After saying that, he ordered his troops to go out and personally led nearly 100,000 troops to fight. The Wu army, which had the right time, place and people, started the battle in an orderly manner and waited for work. They defeated the long-distance Vietnamese army in one fell swoop and surrounded the King of Yue on a mountain.
Gou Jian had no choice but to look at Wen Zhong beside him and said, Sir, what should we do now? Wen Zhong looked at the King of Yue: I have three strategies that can save Yue from fire and water and destroy Wu. After hearing what Wen Zhong said, the King of Yue thought for a long time and decided to follow the plan of using himself and his wife as hostages to surrender and paralyze the Wu State.
Therefore, Yue Wenzhong brought a very heavy gift and conveyed to the King of Wu that the King of Yue was willing to personally pledge himself and serve him for life. The King of Wu was moved, but at this time Wu Zixu insisted on eradicating the roots, tried his best to dissuade him, and even threatened death. King Wu had no choice but to postpone. Wenzhong once again brought heavy gifts and found Dazai who had political disagreements with Wu Zixu at that time. He also used Dazai to make King Wu accept King Yue's surrender request, thinking that Gou Jian was sincerely surrendering, and blamed Wu Zixu for being suspicious.
Later, the King of Yue took hostage in the State of Wu. After Wen Zhong returned to the State of Yue, he inherited the will of King Goujian of Yue, vigorously developed production, found talents, and trained the army. At the same time, he continued to cooperate with Wu Dazai, pretending to help Dazai gain greater voice, but in fact suppressing the talented Wu Zixu. After continuous efforts, Wu Zixu was impeached by others because of his excessive achievements. He was jealous of the King of Wu and was sentenced to death. A generation of famous ministers will not end well.
Later, Gou Jian was returned to the Kingdom of Wu because of his sincerity. Wen Zhong met the King of Yue: Your Majesty, the first plan to paralyze the enemy country and the second plan to accumulate power to destroy the monarch and his ministers have been successful. Now we only need to avoid the real situation and attack the weak point, and take advantage of it at once.
Soon, King Wu gave Yue a chance and gave him a fatal blow when King Wu went out to dominate the Central Plains and the country was empty. After destroying Wu, the whole country of Yue celebrated. At the celebration banquet, the King of Yue greatly praised Wen Zhong. Wen Zhong was very happy for a while. After drinking, he actually started to brag, "Your Majesty, I actually have 7 strategies, but I only used 3 of them, and the Wu Kingdom was destroyed. It's really useless, hahaha." Wen Zhong began to talk nonsense, and the officials all agreed one by one. Gou Jian seemed fine on the surface, but there seemed to be some changes in his heart.
Later Wen Zhong fell ill. Gou Jian went to visit him and asked him with a smile, what were the other four strategies? Because he was bragging at first, Wen Zhong didn't take it to heart, but when the King of Yue asked about it, he was confused. Gou Jian looked at him and threw a sword over. He didn't want to tell me, so he would leave it to the underworld.
As a minister, the higher your achievements, the more you have to keep your head down. If you are still too high-profile, it will easily arouse the suspicion of the king, let alone the King of Yue who has been working hard for so many years?
