Strategic Studies

The Warring States Period

The Loyalty of Yue Yi

A treacherous schemer is bound to use such a tactic.

... [Someone whispered to the King:] "In a brief interval, Yue Yi conquered over seventy cities. Now, only two cities remain untaken. It is not that his strength is insufficient to capture them, but the reason he has not attacked for three years is that he wishes to maintain his military authority over a long period to win over the people of Qi. He intends to eventually turn his face south and declare himself King." In ancient Chinese palace layout, the sovereign's throne faced south. To "turn south" (南面, nanmian) is a standard idiom for assuming the throne.

King Zhao then held a grand banquet and summoned the man who had spoken these words, rebuking him: "The former King Referring to King Kuai of Yan, whose abdication led to a civil war and a devastating invasion by Qi in 314 BCE. did not crave territory; he offered the entire state with proper ritual to a worthy man. Unfortunately, I, his successor, possessed meager virtue and could not fulfill the mandate of heaven. The people of our state were not in harmony. The State of Qi acted without principle and brought harm to the former King. When I took the throne, the pain of this reached my very bones. Therefore, I extended invitations to all ministers and recruited guests from abroad, seeking only to take vengeance. I intended that whoever achieved success should share the State of Yan with me. Now, Lord Yue has personally crushed Qi on my behalf and destroyed their ancestral temples Leveling a state's ancestral temples was the ultimate symbolic act of total conquest and the erasure of a ruling lineage.,

His sense of gratitude and resentment is clearly defined; this is not merely a clever way to manage his subordinates.

thereby satisfying my old grievance. Qi, in truth, now belongs to Lord Yue; it is not something that Yan has simply 'gained.' How dare you speak in such a manner?"

The King then had the slanderer executed. He sent the Prime Minister to formally appoint Yue Yi as the King of Qi. Yue Yi, struck with profound alarm original: 皇恐 (huangkong), a term describing a state of terrified humility and respect before a superior, refused to accept the appointment.