DIDACTIC NARRATIVE AND THE ART OF SELF-STRENGTHENING: READING THE BAMBOO MANUSCRIPT YUE

Yue gong qi shi 越公其事 is a recently published manuscript from the Tsinghua University collection. The manuscript provides a new version of the well-known story of King Goujian of Yue 越王句踐 (r. 496–464 b.c.e.), who turned defeat into victory and overcame Yue’s formidable rival, the state of Wu 吳 . My exploration of this text focuses on its two most notable aspects. First, the story about the policy of self-strength-ening allegedly adopted by Goujian offers new insights into the evolution of political thought in the Warring States period. Second, the text allows deeper insight into the genre of didactic historical narratives that became prominent at a certain point of time between the Springs-and-Autumns (Chunqiu 春秋 , 770–453 b.c.e.) and the Warring States (Zhanguo 戰國 , 453–221 b.c.e.) periods. The ongoing publication of recently unearthed manuscripts from pre-imperial (pre-221 b.c.e.) and early imperial China constantly opens new research horizons. Read in tandem with transmitted texts, these manuscripts allow us to ask new questions and to re-chart our understanding of political, social, and intellectual trajectories of the Chinese world during the formative age of traditional Chinese civilization. In what follows I want to demonstrate some of these new possibilities by focusing on the bamboo manuscript Yue gong qi shi 越公其事 (The affairs of the lord of Yue, hereafter Yue gong ) from the Tsinghua (Qinghua 清華 ) University collection. I was attracted to this manuscript because it is related to the two topics closest to my fields of exploration—early Chinese historiography and early Chinese political thought. The text provides a new version of the well-known story of King Goujian of Yue 越王句踐 (r. 496–464 b.c.e.), who turned defeat into victory and overcame Yue’s formidable rival, the state of Wu 吳 . This new version is interesting not because it is factually more accurate than

didactic historical narratives that became prominent at a certain point between the Springs-and-Autumns (Chunqiu 春秋, 770-453 b.c.e.) and the Warring States (Zhanguo 戰國, 453-221 b.c.e.) periods.In addition, the Yue gong story about the policy of self-strengthening allegedly adopted by Goujian offers new insights into the evolution of political thought in the Warring States period.This article was almost ready for publication when another exciting announcement came from China.The excavation of the Warring States-period Tomb 46 at Zaolinpu Paper Mill 棗林鋪造紙廠, Jingzhou (Hubei) yielded a cache of 535 bamboo slips.One of the newly discovered manuscripts, named by the editors Wu wang Fuchai qishi fa Yue 吳王 夫差起師伐越 (King Fuchai of Wu rose an army and invaded Yue, hereafter Wu wang) closely parallels the text of Yue gong.Although the full text of Wu wang had not yet been published by the time of revising my article (November 2021), the preliminary publication allowed certain corrections and amendments in my translation cum analysis. 1

Background: The Manuscript and the Wu-Yue saga
Yue gong qi shi is written on 75 slips of 41.6 cm length; each slip contains 31 to 33 characters.The text is divided into eleven sections (commonly identified as zhang 章) separated by blank spaces on the slips.The title derives from the last four characters of the text, which are not visually separated from the preceding text.The editors considered these characters as the manuscript's title because in their eyes they were not logically connected to the preceding sentence; but as the discovery of Wu wang manuscript has shown, this conclusion was premature. 2Judging from the handwriting, the manuscript was written by a single hand, probably the same that wrote several other historical anecdotes from the Tsinghua University collection. 3The text is relatively well preserved; only the first and the last sections are considerably damaged, and the missing characters can be tentatively reconstructed thanks to parallels in transmitted texts and in Wu wang manuscript.Only in a very few cases have scholars pointed at minor inaccuracies in the slips' arrangement by the Tsinghua editorial team (see below).Overall, the manuscript's contents are relatively clear.
The manuscript can be conveniently divided into three parts.The first three sections (slips 1-25) deal with Goujian's defeat by Wu in 494 b.c.e. and the subsequent negotiations that allowed Goujian to preserve his polity, even if in a crippled state.The second part comprises sections 4 to 9 (slips 26-59) and deals with the policies adopted by Goujian in the aftermath of his defeat.The third part (sections 10-11, slips 59-75) deals with the renewed Yue war against Wu and Wu's ultimate defeat.Of the three parts, the second has no observable parallels in transmitted texts, and will be the focus of the current study.Parts 1 and 3 will be addressed only when their information departs radically from that in the transmitted texts.
Yue gong belongs to a large cache of unprovenanced manuscripts that were allegedly looted from a Chu 楚 tomb, smuggled to Hong Kong, and acquired there by the Tsinghua University donor in 2008. 4Dealing with looted materials poses a series of ethical and practical problems.Elsewhere, I have explained why, despite ethical objections of colleagues such as Paul R. Goldin, I consider working with these materials legitimate. 5Yet ethics aside, serious questions can be raised about the authenticity of the illicitly obtained documents.Is it possible that some of the recently acquired manuscripts-the acquisition and authentication of which is insufficiently transparent-come from the hands of forgers?
Luckily, in the case of Yue gong, this problem can be resolved by the 2020 discovery of the Wu wang manuscript, the content of which 4. For details, see Liu Guozhong, Introduction to the Tsinghua Bamboo-Strip Manuscripts, trans.Christopher J. Foster and William N. French (Leiden: Brill, 2016).
5. Paul R. Goldin, "Heng xian and the Problem of Studying Looted Artifacts," Dao 13 (2013), 153-60, caused many scholars to address the ethical problems of dealing with unprovenanced manuscripts.For a sample of views, see Christopher J. Foster, "Introduction to the Peking University Han Bamboo Strips: On the Authentication and Study of Purchased Manuscripts," Early China 40 (2017), 233-39; Martin Kern, "'Xi Shuai' 蟋蟀 ('Cricket') and Its Consequences: Issues in Early Chinese Poetry and Textual Studies," Early China 42 (2019), 45-49; Yuri Pines, Zhou History Unearthed: The Bamboo Manuscript "Xinian" and Early Chinese Historiography (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020), 43-44; Michael Friedrich, "Producing and Identifying Forgeries of Chinese Manuscripts," in Fakes and Forgeries of Written Artefacts from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern China, ed.Cécile Michel and Michael Friedrich, Studies in Manuscript Cultures 20 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), 329-30; Edward L. Shaughnessy, "Dao mu wenwu yanjiu de daode wenti" 盗墓文物研究的道德問題, paper presented at the conference "Warring States-period Chu bamboo manuscripts from the Tsinghua collection," November 19-20, 2021.parallels that of Yue gong.Yet even before this discovery, there were two strong indicators in favor of its authenticity.First is the existence of continuous lines cut by a knife on the verso of the slips to indicate their original position as part of the bamboo culm segment from which the manuscript was produced.Yue gong is divided into two sets of slips as indicated by those lines (a few slips, most notably those of the last section, do not have the verso lines, and may have been brought by a scribe from a different set).Since the verso lines phenomenon was noticed by paleographers only in 2011, it could not have been known to a forger back in c. 2007 (the date when the Tsinghua slips transpired in Hong Kong); hence it strongly indicates that Yue gong is not a forgery. 6Second, as noted by Kim Tak 金卓 (Jin Zhuo), there is marked difference between part 2 of the text and the two other parts in their use of locative yu 于/於 particles: whereas the more "colloquial" 於 dominates parts 1 and 3 (17 於 to 7 于 in part 1, 9 於 to 1 于 in part 3), the second part is dominated by the "solemn" 于 (20 于 to 1 於).I shall address this distribution later; here suffice it to say that although I disagree with Kim's identification of the second part of Yue gong as related to original Yue records, I do accept his conclusion that this part must have originated from a different source from the other two, and this cannot be reasonably assumed to be the forger's design. 7In light of this, even before the Wu wang discovery, I came to the conclusion that much like another Tsinghua University manuscript, Xinian 繫年 (String of years or Linked years), which was the focus of my previous study, Yue gong should be considered an authentic manuscript. 86.For an introduction to the verso lines phenomenon, see Thies Staack, "Identifying Codicological Sub-Units in Bamboo Manuscripts: Verso Lines Revisited," Manuscript Cultures 8 (2015), 157-86 and Foster, "Introduction to the Peking University Han Bamboo Strips."For the Yue gong case, see Takeda Kenji 竹田健二, "Seikakan Etsukō soji no chikukan hairitsu to kakukon" 清華簡『越公其事』の竹簡排列と劃痕, Chūgoku kenkyū shūkan 中国研究集刊 64 (2018), 49-67, and Kim Tak 金卓 (Jin Zhuo), "Qinghua jian Yue gong qi shi wenxian xingcheng chutan" 清華簡《越公其事》文獻形成初探, March 19, 2019, www.bsm.org.cn/?chujian/8056.html,accessed March 27, 2022.7. See Kim, "Qinghua" (I slightly update Kim's statistics for part 3 of the text).Of course, we cannot rule out an exceptionally shrewd forger (Friedrich, "Producing and Identifying Forgeries"), but to assume that one would be so sophisticated as to introduce barely noticeable linguistic difference into the text seems to me beyond limits of reasonable suspicion.
8. For my analysis of Xinian, see Pines, Zhou History, 43-48.There is another similarity between Yue gong and Xinian, namely the phenomenon of different transcriptions for the same character.This could have been another indication of the scribe's utilization of different sources, but I concur with Li Songru's 李松儒 suggestion that in the case of Yue gong the discrepancy reflects an individual scribe's habit to produce variants of the same character for esthetic reasons.See her "Qinghua qi Yue gong qi shi footnote continued on next page

YURI PINES
The story of the Wu-Yue conflict, which is the focus of Yue gong manuscript, is one of the most famous episodes in China's pre-imperial history.Its earliest version is outlined in Zuo zhuan 左傳.In 494 b.c.e., King Fuchai of Wu 吳王夫差 (r.495-473 b.c.e.) inflicted a crushing defeat on King Goujian of Yue, thereby avenging Yue's defeat of Wu two years earlier.However, Fuchai did not heed the loyal advice of his major aide, Wu Zixu 伍子胥 (d.484 b.c.e.), and did not extinguish Yue.Thereafter, Wu became absorbed in expansion northward, allowing Yue to recover and eventually to assault Wu from behind.After a series of attacks starting in 482 b.c.e., Yue defeated Wu in 473 b.c.e., with Goujian refusing to spare Fuchai. 9he story as narrated in Zuo zhuan represents a blend of informative and interpretive history that I have identified elsewhere as the hallmark of the Zuo zhuan style. 10It provides a lot of minute details, including dates, locations of the battles, names of military and civilian leaders, and the like.It also contains several important predictions and analytical speeches that integrate the narrative and allow the reader to glean proper historical lessons.Of particular importance are the speeches by Wu Zixu that highlight Fuchai's strategic folly and predict the resurrection of Yue's power.One prediction, attributed to Wu Zixu, is specifically noteworthy in the context of the current study.Back in 494 b.c.e., Wu Zixu allegedly said, "For ten years Yue will multiply its masses, and for ten years it will indoctrinate them," after which it will turn Wu into "a bog" (越十年生聚，而十年教訓，二十年之外，吳其為沼乎!). 11It may be plausibly assumed that whoever put this prediction in Wu Zixu's mouth knew something about Yue's domestic policies under Goujian.Yet oddly, these policies are never discussed in Zuo zhuan, which focuses exclusively on Yue's military and diplomatic activities and does not address its ways of self-strengthening.Overall, the interpretative layer of Zuo zhuan's story-how exactly Goujian effected his unbelievable comeback from an utterly defeated leader to the new hegemon of the eastern part of the Zhou world-remains wanting.This may explain proliferation of manifold later narratives that tried to fill in the gap.
The Discourses of the States (Guo yu 國語) presents three radically different versions of the Wu-Yue conflict, each of which provides an alternative explanation of Yue's success.The "Discourses of Wu" ("Wu yu" 吳語) chapter squarely blames Fuchai for his hubris, intemperance, and silencing of the loyal remonstrator, Wu Zixu.Goujian, in contrast, is hailed precisely for his ability to heed loyal advice and delegate tasks to meritorious aides.He is furthermore credited with manifest concern for his people.His thrift, proximity to his subjects and awareness of their economic needs, skillful diplomacy, and the combination of lenient treatment of conscripts with strict military discipline-all contributed to his success.Some of these policies are outlined in greater detail in the "Discourses of Yue A" ("Yue yu shang" 越語上) chapter.Here Goujian is the real hero.Having heeded the loyal advice of Grandee Zhong 大夫種, the king mended his ways and focused on attaining the people's support.His manifest care for the people won their hearts and led Yue to an easy victory over Wu.By contrast, the "Discourses of Yue B" ("Yue yu xia" 越語下) chapter argues that the architect of Yue's victory was not Goujian but rather his sagacious minister, Fan Li 范蠡, whose military cum diplomatic acumen allowed him to restore Yue's fortunes and defeat Wu.Whereas all three versions share the common factual framework starting with Yue's defeat by Wu and ending with the elimination of Wu by Yue, their views of the reasons for Yue's success differ dramatically.
Narratives from Zuo zhuan and Discourses of the States were integrated by Sima Qian 司馬遷 (c.145-90 b.c.e.) in the chapters "The Hereditary House of Wu Taibo" ("Wu Taibo shijia" 吳太伯世家) and "The Hereditary House of King Goujian of Yue" ("Yue wang Guojian shijia" 越王勾 踐世家).The latter borrows considerably from the "Discourses of Yue B" version, which makes it one of the most literarily engaging pieces in the "Hereditary Houses" section of Sima Qian's Records of the Historian (Shi ji 史記). 12The literary appeal of the Wu-Yue drama inspired proliferation of other narratives, starting from short vignettes in the Warring States-period texts and ending with longer and largely fanciful accounts (Yue jue shu 越絕書). 13Interestingly, though, none of the transmitted texts seems to share the perspective of Yue gong.The latter's version of the events-focused as it is on systematic policies of self-strengthening allegedly adopted by Goujian-is not paralleled elsewhere, except for the newly discovered "sister manuscript," Wu wang.This novel interpretation of the backdrop for Yue's victory is fascinating both in terms of its political message and in terms of the light it sheds on the art of didactic narrative in the Warring States-period China.

Fuchai Spares Yue
The first few slips of the text are among the most damaged, but parallels with other variants of the story and with Wu wang manuscript allow relatively easy reconstruction of their content.The story starts with its standard beginning: King Fuchai of Wu assaults Yue; King Goujian is defeated, retreats with eight thousand armored soldiers to Mt. Kuaiji (or Guiji) 會稽山 and dispatches Grandee Zhong to sue for peace.Zhong suggests to victorious Fuchai that Yue become a faithful servant of Wu; if the request is not granted, though, "then, my lord, please, arrange the armored soldiers of Wu, {prepare bells and drums, set} flags and banners, and personally sound the drum [to attack].Thus you will see Goujian leading these eight thousand men to death."(君乃陳吳甲，〖備鐘鼓， 建〗【7】旆旌，王親鼓之，以觀句踐之以此八千人者死也。 【8】). 14his beginning closely parallels Zhong's speech in the "Discourses of Yue A" narrative.Zhong was polite and submissive, but also warned that if Fuchai should persist in his desire to eliminate Yue altogether, he would face decisive battle by Yue soldiers.In most accounts of the Wu-Yue conflict, Fuchai is portrayed as ready to accept this offer, which 13.For translations and studies of these texts, see Jianjun He, Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue: An Annotated Translation of "Wu Yue Chunqiu" (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2021) and Olivia Milburn, trans.,The Glory of Yue: An Annotated Translation of the "Yuejue shu" (Leiden: Brill, 2010).
14.All the citations follow the edition in Li, Qinghua daxue, vol.7, using the normalized kaishu 楷書 transcription and the normalized variant of the character (e.g.immediately putting 敗 instead of the original 北), unless the character's precise meaning is contested.Numbers in bold square brackets in Chinese indicate the slip's number.The addition in white square brackets in Chinese and in figure brackets in English follows the editors' tentative reconstruction of the missing characters on the basis of parallels with the received texts (as for November 2021, parallel slips from Wu wang manuscript had not been published yet).In preparing the translation, I have benefitted enormously, in addition to the Tsinghua team's annotations, from Ziju's detailed discussion of the text (Ziju 子居, "Qinghua jian qi Yue gong qi shi jiexi" 清華簡七《越公其事》解析, 7 parts, 2017-2018, www.xianqin.tk,accessed September 4, 2020, and from suggestions by other colleagues, as specified in subsequent footnotes.aroused strong opposition from Wu Zixu.In Yue gong this line is followed, but the content of Fuchai's dialogue with Wu Zixu differs dramatically from other versions of the story.Once Fuchai informs Wu Zixu (who is named Shen Xu 申胥 in the manuscript) 15 of his decision to spare Yue, the latter remonstrates: Shen Xu said, "Your Majesty, please do not approve.Heaven will not grant Wu another advantage over Yue.Moreover, they were greatly defeated on the plain and dispersed, leaving their capital city; the ruler and the ministers, fathers and sons still cannot get in touch with each other.Now, does the lord of Yue really possess eight thousand armored men who are ready to die with him carrying their blunted 16 weapons?"Wu Zixu's arguments are much weaker than those attributed to him in Zuo zhuan, "Discourses of Wu," and "Discourses of Yue A" versions.There, Wu Zixu invariably reminds Fuchai that Wu and Yue cannot coexist peacefully; one of them is bound to exterminate another.In light of this, seizing the opportunity to exterminate the enemy is the only reasonable course of action.This crucial part of the argument is conspicuously absent from Wu Zixu's speech in Yue gong except for a hint that Heaven will not grant Wu another opportunity to exterminate Yue. 17 Instead Wu Zixu focuses on a minor issue, namely whether or not Grandee Zhong is bluffing when he promises tough resistance.This argument is duly countered by Fuchai: https://doi.org/10.1017/eac.2022.2Published online by Cambridge University Press The King of Wu said, "My grandee, please think this through.In the past, when our former king Helu was able to overcome [Chu] and occupy their capital, Ying, this was only because Jifu is far away from Jing [Chu]. 18Heaven was favorable to Wu and supported our former king.The Chu army fled, and our former king chased and followed them.[The Chu soldiers] were exhausted by the lengthy flight, and therefore our former king overpowered them and occupied Ying.Now, our roads are distant and dangerous, Heaven's decree is unstable, and how can it be known that I have got it?From the moment I first set foot in Yue's territory till now, almost half of the good Wu soldiers have died.Now, [the Yue soldiers] have just left their capital, and are steadfast, will not they fight like boars?Whence shall I get eight thousand men to meet his ready-to-die [soldiers]?" In his counterarguments, Fuchai displays superior knowledge of both past and present.Yet whereas his depiction of the difficulties faced by the Wu armies in the Yue territory may well be accurate, the invocation of the past is flawed.When Fuchai discusses the major achievement of his father, Helu, who led the victorious Wu army to the momentous success against Chu, occupying Chu's capital in 506 b.c.e., he goes astray.If Ziju's interpretation on which I base my understanding of the text is correct, then Fuchai conflates two different Wu campaigns (of 519 and 506 b.c.e.) into one, so that his explanation of the reasons for Helu's victory is inaccurate.This inaccuracy would remain even if we accepted the editorial team's reading of the text. 19In any case, it would be very odd for a historical Fuchai to lecture about the 506 b.c.e.campaign to Wu Zixu, who was, after all, that campaign's major architect.That the text's 18.My translation of this passage is heavily indebted to Ziju's ("Qinghua jian") reading.According to Ziju, Fuchai conflates here two campaigns: the Jifu 鷄父 campaign of 519 bce (for the details of which see Li Shoukui 李守奎, "Qinghua jian zhong de Wu zhi Ji yu lishi shang de Jifu zhi zhan" 清華簡中的伍之鷄與歷史上的鷄父之戰, Zhongguo shehui kexue 中國社會科學 2017.2, 107-115) and the conquest of Chu's capital, Ying in 506 bce.Both campaigns were highly successful for the Wu armies led by Fuchai's father, Helu (in the first campaign he was not a king and was known as Prince Guang 公子光).By the Warring States period these campaigns became conflated into one; see, e.g., Lüshi chunqiu jiaoshi 呂氏春秋校釋, comp.and annot.Chen Qiyou 陳奇猷 (Shanghai: Xuelin, 1995), 1003, "Cha wei" 察微 16.6.Jifu was located approximately 400 km from the Chu capital, Ying.Jing 荊 is an alternate name for the Chu core territory.
19.The editors opine that Jifu 雞父 stands for Wu Ji 伍雞, an alleged brother of Wu Zixu, who is mentioned in Xinian 15 manuscript; see more in Li Shoukui, "Qinghua jian".This interpretation is convincingly refuted by Ziju, "Qinghua jian," but even should it be correct, we should be reminded that the Wu Ji mentioned in Xinian is an invented personality; see more in Pines, Zhou History, 59. authors seem to be unaware of this indicates that Yue gong was composed generations after the depicted events (a point to which I shall return later).Fuchai's reply successfully quells Wu Zixu's opposition.The section ends with the statement: "Thereupon Shen Xu became scared and promised [to support Fuchai's plans]" (申胥乃【14】懼， 許諾。【15上】).This is a very surprising twist of the story.Any other version of these events invariably blames Fuchai's stubbornness and narrow-mindedness, which prevented him from heeding Wu Zixu's loyal remonstrance.In Yue gong, in contradistinction, Fuchai has the upper hand because his arguments, based on superior understanding of historical precedents and of current state of affairs, are more convincing than those of Wu Zixu.The latter becomes fearful not because he is intimidated by Fuchai (as in the "Discourses of Wu" version) but because he is convinced: an assault on Goujian may end disastrously.The reader knows well, of course, that ultimately Fuchai was wrong, but his choice of action appears to be justifiable in light of the situation on the ground.This presentation of the king's exchange with his aide effectively eliminates the trope of the benighted ruler and the wise advisor, which is the major bottom line of the Wu Zixu story from Zuo zhuan to Records of the Historian.In contrast, Yue gong restores the ruler's agency and his intellectual authority.As we shall see below, this is the consistent feature of Yue gong's markedly ruler-oriented stance.

Goujian's Self-Strengthening
I shall skip section three, which narrates the details of Fuchai's response to Goujian's plea for peace, and shall move to section four, which starts the narrative of Yue's resurrection: After the Wu leaders had assaulted the state of Yue, King Goujian of Yue planned 20 to settle the score with Wu.He established the ancestral 20.Reading 惎 as "to plan" following Xiao Xu, "Qinghua jian."Since 惎 normally means "to harm" (as on the next slip), the sentence can be read also: Goujian prepared to harm and settle scores with Wu.  temple, 21 erected an evil-averting shrine, 22 and then performed great jian and gong sacrifices 23 to pray for the peace to the people.The king built up and pacified the country.He then relied on officials to follow constant norms. 24The king then neither condemned nor harmed [the people], neither executed nor penalized; he disregarded grudges and crimes, and did not speak ill of the people.He softened regulations and let the people rest. 25He demanded neither forced labor from debtors, 26 nor the construction of dams and waterworks. 27Moreover, the king 21.Ziju ("Qinghua jian") opines that the establishment rather than reconstruction of the ancestral temple indicates that Yue had to relocate to a new capital after the disastrous Wu invasion.
22.For this interpretation of the two characters 祟位, see Ziju, "Qinghua jian."23.In all likelihood, jian 薦 refers to the sacrificial offering at the ancestral temple; gong 攻 is identified in the "Grand Invocator" ("Da zhu" 大祝) section of Zhou li 周禮 as one of the six evil-averting prayers.It is likely that this prayer was conducted in the second shrine erected by Goujian.
25.You min 游民 usually means "drifting people," a broad category that may refer to different groups of population-from vagabonds to merchants and artisans, and even to peripatetic scholars; see, e.g., the Book of Lord Shang, trans.and ed.Yuri Pines, rev.ed.(New York: Columbia University Press, 2019), 3.6 and 22.2.In Yue gong, Ziju ("Qinghua jian") reads you min as a verb and the object, "to let the people be relaxed [or rest]."I adopt this interpretation because it fits perfectly the usage of you min in the first sentence of section 5.For a different view, see Wang Qing 王青, "Shilun xian Qin shiqi de 'you min' ji qi shehui yingxiang-Qinghua jian Yue gong qi shi bushi" 試論先秦時期 的"游民"及其社會影響--清華簡《越公其事》補釋, Zhongguo shi yanjiu 中國史研 究 2021.1, 35-47.
26.This is my understanding of 貸役: persons who had to borrow money and, unable to return it to the lender, had to undergo involuntary service to repay the debt.This service is well documented in Qin archives from Liye 里耶 (Charles Sanft, "Population Records from Liye: Ideology in Practice," in Yuri Pines, Paul R. Goldin, and Martin Kern, Ideology of Power and Power of Ideology in Early China (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 249-69), although in that case the debtors were sent to military service to repay fines rather than private debts.Ziju ("Qinghua jian") suggests reading dai 貸 as li 力; liyi 力役 referring to any obligatory labor service to the state.Alternatively, Luo Zhenyi 駱珍伊 opines that the text refers to employing the drifting population in the government-led public works, allowing therewith relaxation for regular peasants; see "Qinghua qi-Yue gong qi shi bushi"《清華柒•越公其事》補釋，in Di 29 jie Zhongguo wenzixue guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 第 29 屆中國文字學國際學術研討會論文集 (Taoyuan: Guoli Zhongyang daxue and Zhongguo wenzi xuehui, 2018), 523-33.I think this interpretation runs against the logic of the passage that clearly speaks of consistent adoption of the government's minimalist and laissez-faire policies.
27.There is no satisfactory explanation of the exact nature of public works that should have been demanded of the people; but in all likelihood they were related to waterworks.Teng Shenglin 滕勝霖 opines that the first compound may be read as 幽塗 footnote continued on next page DIDACTIC NARRATIVE AND THE ART OF SELF-STRENGTHENING took no pleasure in tallying the people's many labors, but let them be at ease and self-sufficient. 28Agricultural work was done in the proper seasons; and the country was thus at ease and peaceful.Thereupon the people multiplied.By the third year, King Goujian of Yue for the first time promoted the standards of the five policies.
The policies of relaxation, lenience, laissez faire, and peace outlined in this section resemble in the atmosphere they create-albeit not necessarily in details-those outlined in "Discourses of Yue A" section and hinted at in "Discourses of Wu." 29 Yet the Yue gong discussion is more detailed and systematic than the one preserved in the Discourses of the States.Goujian starts with restoring the ritual cum cultic centers of the state-the ancestral temple and the evil-averting shrine that allows him to "pray for the peace to the people." 30The second set of policies focuses on judicial lenience, so that the people were "neither executed nor penalized"; as we shall see, this was designed as a temporary measure, to be abandoned later.Economic relaxation-discontinuing public works and letting the people focus on agricultural activities without distractions of warfare-comes third.After three years of relaxation, which allowed the battered populace to recover from the disastrous war, Goujian found it appropriate to initiate his "five policies," which are the crux of the Yue gong narrative.referring to roadworks; see "Qinghua jian Yue gong qi shi 'youmang,' 'youtu' kao" 清華 簡《越公其事》"幽芒""幽塗"考, May 28, 2018, www.bsm.org.cn/?chujian/7872.html,accessed March 27, 2022.The chapter "Records of the Lands of Yue" ("Ji di zhuan" 記地傳) in The Glory of Yue, which records Han reminiscences of Goujian-related sites in the vicinity of his capital, Kuaiji 會稽, mentions "Riches Great Embankment" (富中大塘), which "was built by Goujian in order to create fields dedicated to famine-relief"; see Yue jue shu jiaozhu 越絕書校注, annot.Zhang Zhongqing 張仲清 (Beijing: Guojia tushuguan, 2009), 217 (8.10); Milburn, The Glory of Yue, 234.
28.The reconstruction of this sentence is very tentative.Neither the Tsinghua editorial team, nor any other study which I have consulted, came with any good solution to this sentence.But the bottom line is clear: the king's laissez faire policy allowed economic recuperation.For reading 自相 as 自將 in the meaning of "self-sufficient," or able to satisfy their own needs, see Wang Lei 王磊, "Qinghua qi Yue gong qi shi zhaji liu ze" 清華七《越公其事》札記六則, 17 May 2017, www.bsm.org.cn/?chujian/7544.html, accessed March 27, 2022.
29.The Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue also record the same policy, including relaxation of judicial pressure on the populace; there, however, the policy is adopted by Goujian in response to the recommendation of Grandee Zhong; see Wu Yue Chunqiu jijiao huikao 吳越春秋輯校匯考, annot.Zhou Shengchun 周生春 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1997), 136 (8, "Goujian gui guo" 勾踐歸國); He, Spring and Autumn, 199.
30.In Wu wang, these activities are depicted slightly differently: Goujian "then undertook all the sacrifices: to the Lord-on-High, in the altars of soil and grain and ancestral temple, to mountains and rivers, brooks and valleys, marshes and hills" 乃共 承上帝、社稷、宗廟、山川、溪谷、澤丘之事【29】 .

Encouraging agriculture (Section 5)
Section 5 of Yue gong manuscript contains several lacunae due to broken slips, which are supplemented in what follows from the parallel text of Wu wang (the Wu wang part is marked by double braces, with slip numbers of Wu wang manuscript; in bold are the characters preserved on the broken slips from Yue gong). 31 Once the king had allowed 33 the country to rest its people for three years, he thereupon instituted five policies.At the start of [implementing] the five policies, the king displayed fondness for agricultural activities.The king personally tilled his private plot.The king personally treaded through ditches and elevated paths, furrows, and lanes.He inspected farming activities daily, so as to encourage farmers.The commoners and the hundred clans 34 of Yue were thereupon 31.Damaged slips confused the Tsinghua editors who misplaced several slips.The proper order was restored by Chen Jian, who put slip 35 and the broken first part of slip 36 after slip 33, followed by the broken part of slip 18 and then slip 34 and the second half of slip 36.See Chen Jian 陳劍, "Yue gong qi shi canjian 18 de weizhi ji xiangguan de jianxu tiaozheng wenti"《越公其事》殘簡 18 的位置及相關的簡序調整問題, May 14, 2017, www.gwz.fudan.edu.cn/Web/Show/3044,accessed September 7, 2021.The Wu wang manuscript validated Chen's insight.
32.In reading 稱譶 as 㥄懾 (to be startled), I follow Ziju ("Qinghua jian").33.The verb si 思 is commonly glossed as shi 使 and is interpreted as "to order" or "to let to" (for a collection of these glosses, see, e.g., Jiang Qiuzhen, "Qinghua daxue," 336-38).I am convinced by Edward L. Shaughnessy's argument that there is a slight difference between regular shi and si used as shi; the latter implies less active commanding and more aspiration to attain certain results, approximated by the English "would that."See his review of my Zhou History Unearthed in T'oung Pao 107 (2021), 209-11.I did not find, however, an adequate English verb to preserve this nuance.
34.This juxtaposition of commoners (shumin 庶民) and the "hundred clans" (baixing百姓) suggests that the latter term was still used as the designation of the elite lineages rather than the whole population.This remains the consistent usage of the term baixing in the text.startled and fearful, saying, "Has the king become addicted to manual labor?"When the king heard this, he ordered his followers to carry many kinds of boiled food, fish, mincemeat, dried meat, and fat meat, and whenever they encountered an old or infirm diligent peasant, the king invariably ordered them to give him food and drink.When they encountered a peasant who bowed with his forehead touching the ground, who looked compliant and continued tilling, the king ordered them to give him food and drink too.When they encountered ranked [nobles], officials, and members of the king's entourage who were the first to emulate the king's instructions 35 and engaged in tilling, the king invariably sat and dined with them.Thus, all the members of the king's entourage and high ministers thereupon uniformly engaged in tilling, each having a private plot.All the commoners of Yue, men and women alike, engaged in tilling, all the way to the border counties, large and small alike-men and women there also all engaged in {{tilling.
The king thereupon searched [among their] plots for the fields covered with grass.He was not eating for the whole day, and only instructing and meting rewards.When grains were ripe, the king personally received them.After the last [sample of grains?] was issued, the king then ate and drunk.Then for the first time the king ordered to restore those who were cut off, and the people returned to the state of Yue which was one hundred li squared, reaching to the point of [establishing] major cities in the highlands and lowlands of Yue outskirts. 36In the highlands, grain [was planted]; in watery [lowlands]-paddy fields [were created].Thereupon all the uncultivated grasslands were developed into agricultural fields.}}The state of Yue thereupon had plenty of food.
Encouraging agriculture was considered the quintessentially prudent policy during the Warring States period and beyond. 37The problem was how to implement this policy.A text with which Yue gong may be 35.There was considerable debate about the precise meaning of the character , which the editors read as 誥 in the meaning "to promulgate."In Wu wang the character is jiao 教 in the meaning of xiao 效, "to emulate." 36.The sentence is not clear and my translation is tentative.Restoring those who were cut off (ji jue 繼絕) usually refers to restoring extinguished political entities (or aristocratic houses) so as to allow them to continue ancestral sacrifices.Here the term refers to resumption of normal agricultural activity in the vicinity of Yue capital and beyond.It seems that only at that point was the state of Yue repopulated with major cities (du 都) established at its outskirts.It is possible that after final publication of Wu wang this sentence will be reinterpreted.engaged in an implicit dialog, namely the Book of Lord Shang (Shangjunshu 商君書) reminds the readers that agriculture is "what the people considered bitter" and urges the ruler to limit the peasants' occupational choices so as to direct them toward tilling. 38In contrast, Yue gong authors believe that the goal can be achieved exclusively through the ruler's encouragement and his personal example.The "Discourses of Yue A" chapter hints that Goujian became engaged in agriculture (and his wife in sericulture); but there the goal was to reduce taxes en route to improving the peasants' livelihood. 39In Yue gong, the pattern is different.Becoming a tiller himself ("addicted to manual labor"), Goujian imbues his entourage with the tilling spirit; and by honoring laborious peasants he succeeds in imbuing the entire population with this spirit.This total mobilization to agriculture brings about cultivation of all the arable lands-from highlands to wetlands alike-resulting in full granaries.

Inspiring Trustworthiness (Section 6)
Once the state of Yue had comprehensively endorsed agriculture and had plenty of food, the king displayed fondness of trustworthiness. 40.Book of Lord Shang 6.5 and Yuri Pines, "Agriculturalism and Beyond: Economic Thought of the Book of Lord Shang," in Between Command and Market: Economic Thought and Practice in Early China, ed.Elisa Sabattini and Christian Schwermann (Leiden: Brill, 2021), 76-111.
39.The text relates that Goujian did not eat anything he did not plant, nor wore anything that his wife did not weave.This allowed abolishing levies for ten years and ensured three-year agricultural surplus for every family; Guo yu jijie 國語集解, comp.He then improved governance of the markets.Whenever the measures did not meet the standard, colored insignia of distinction were not properly painted, or honest people were deceived and maltreated, punishments were employed.Whenever merchants cheated, they were interrogated and penalized.Whenever traders at the marketplace had a lawsuit but were defrauded and this was confirmed by investigation, [the fraudster] was interrogated and penalized; the fines were fixed according to one's merchandise.
Whenever the people from border counties as well as local officials complained at the king's court, saying, "Initially, levies 41 did not surpass a certain quota; nowadays, levies are heavy and we cannot bear them"-whenever this was the case, the king invariably personally observed and listened to the complaint.If the complaint was confirmed by the investigation, the clerks and local officials in the settlement were dismissed.Thus, all the clerks and local officials in the walled cities and settlements dared not increase levies, so as to ingratiate themselves with the king.
Whenever anybody brought a lawsuit to the king's court, saying, "Previously, I was told one thing, but now matters are not as I was promised"-whenever such things happened, the king invariably personally listened to the complaint.If the complaint was confirmed by investigation, he would punish the culprits notwithstanding their noble or base status.Thus, whenever the commoners of Yue interacted, talked to each other, exchanged merchandise, or traded at the marketplace-nobody dared to cheat.Thus, Yue came to have no lawsuits and the king became relaxed.He was attracted only to trustworthiness, and inculcated this into his entourage.Thereupon, the entire state of Yue became fond of trustworthiness.
Trustworthiness (or trust, or good faith, xin 信) is conceptualized as an essential precondition for the proper functioning of the political order in such varied texts as Zuo zhuan on the one hand and the Book of Lord Shang on the other.It can refer to multiple aspects of political action: from the ruler's maintenance of good faith in his interactions with the deities, to preserving mutual trust among the participants in the covenant; from the government's reliability in the eyes of its subjects, to the subjects' faithful fulfillment of the ruler's commands. 42 semantic fields, the Yue gong authors focus on two-mutual trust among members of society and the government's reliability in the eyes of its subjects.The first is attained by improving the governance of markets and eliminating cheating there.This goal is presumably reached through the administrative apparatus.Yet at the second stage this very apparatus is scrutinized.The king himself personally supervises the investigation of the officials' malfeasance and invariably punishes those who abused the people's trust by capriciously aggravating levies or altering established policies.Only this disciplining of the officialdom produces truly compelling results, instilling trustworthiness into the king's entourage and then the entire population.The elimination of lawsuits-another often cited epitome of good rule 43 -is a natural outcome of this ubiquitous adoption of mutual trust.
44.As noticed by Huang Aimei 黄愛梅, "Yue gong qi shi de xushi lichang ji Yueguo shishi"《越公其事》的叙事立場及越國史事, Shehui kexue zhanxian 社會科學戰綫 2020.8,110-11, the earliest appearances of the compound chengshi 城市 in its modern meaning of a "city" are in the late Warring States-period texts, such as Han Feizi 韓非子 and Zhanguo ce 戰國策.It is possible that Yue gong contains the earliest instance of this usage.
or not the population there was dense or sparse.The king then made comprehensive observations, inspecting whether [the population] was dense or sparse, inquiring of his entourage.Having inspected, the king knew the situation.Thereupon, he ordered them to send him statistical accounts, to which the king invariably listened in person.If [the population was] dense, the king met the official in charge and was happy and glad.He not {only} 45 smiled happily, but also was sure to offer [the visiting official] food and drink.If [the population was] sparse, the king was worried and unhappy when he met the official in charge, and did not offer him food and drink.
Having listened fully to [the officials' reports], the king graded them.At the court assembly they were divided into three grades, which were checked against the three grades as recorded in the royal archives.At the beginning of the year, the numbers were checked to determine who should be commended and who should be censured. 46According to the annual calculations, rewards and penalties were determined.Good men were employed, whereas the unreliable people were not. 47hereby the people were encouraged, thereby immigrants were attracted, thereby settlements became densely populated.The king was concerned only with density and scarcity [of the population] and inculcated this into his entourage.The entire state of Yue was thereupon fond of attracting population, and thus became harmonious in its land. 48The people from the four quarters-Eastern Yi, Western 45.Adding "just" 僅 for a missing character following the suggestion of Wang Jinfeng 王進鋒, "Qinghua jian Yue gong qi shi yu Chunqiu shiqi Yueguo de xianzhi" 清華 簡『越公其事』與春秋時期越國的縣制, Lishi dili 歷史地理 2018.2, 83.
46.This sentence is hotly debated.I follow Ziju's ("Qinghua jian") interpretation of tinghui 廷會 as standing for a court assembly (usually rendered chaohui 朝會), during which local officials were graded.I then follow the parsing of the sentence as proposed by Wang Ning 王寧, "Qinghua jian qi Yue gong qi shi duzha yi ze" 清華簡七 《越公其事》讀札一則, May 22, 2017, www.bsm.org.cn/?chujian/7547.html,accessed March 27, 2022.Most commentators interpret 年譸攴數 as referring to the divination performed at the annual new year ceremony (for 年譸 as identical to 年祝, the invocation at the beginning of the year, see Wang Ning, "Qinghua jian").This divination was somehow supposed to determine the officials' quality.I see little logic in this interpretation.From the context of the passage it is clear that an annual check of the population figures was conducted, according to which the quality of the officials was determined.
47.This phrase normally should speak of promoting upright officials and dismissing the slanderous ones, but here it clearly relates directly to the officials' performance; hence, jianmin 譖民 should refer to those who were unreliable, probably trying to falsify population data.
48. Ziju ("Qinghua jian") considers this remark as an indication that initially Yue settlers in the territory newly allocated to them by Wu maintained tensed relations with their new neighbors, but since the new policies were implemented, tensions footnote continued on next page Yi, Gumie and Gouwu (i.e., Wu) 49 -all heard that the territory of Yue abounds with food, levies are lenient and [the government] is trustworthy, and thereupon all turned and flocked to Yue.Thereupon the land of Yue became abundantly populated.
Increasing the size of Yue's population was one of the most conspicuous features of Goujian's policy, as is hinted already in the prediction that Zuo zhuan puts in Wu Zixu's mouth ("For ten years Yue will multiply its masses" 越十年生聚) 50 and outlined in greater detail in the "Discourses of Yue A" narrative.There Goujian is said to have adopted radical measures of encouraging childbirth: outlawing marriages between adults and elderly men and women, punishing the parents whose 17-years old daughters or 20-years old sons did not marry, rewarding childbirth and introducing tax exemptions and other government support to families that lost their breadwinner.This in turn encouraged not just natural population growth but also immigration into Yue, increasing its manpower.
Yue gong presents a different version of events.Here the king creates a demographic miracle primarily through encouraging the government apparatus to commit itself fully to the goal of attracting immigrants.The promotion and demotion of officials is determined by the population data that are meticulously inspected by Goujian himself.The administrative apparatus in both tiers of local administration-cities and borderland counties 51 -is mobilized together with the central government (the king's entourage).The system of grading the officials' performance according to the population data presumably encourages local officials to devise their own ways of attracting immigrants.Those are receded.Alternatively, it may mean that the state of Yue became harmonious with its neighbors, without which mass immigration from neighboring polities would not be possible.
49. Gumie was a statelet located to the south of Yue, near modern Quzhou 衢州 (Zhejiang).Wu was located to the north of Yue.The name Gouwu as Wu's self-appellation is mentioned in the "The Hereditary House of Wu Taibo" chapter of the Records of the Historian.Peng Hua 彭華, who noticed that in the Yue language yi 夷 means "sea," proposed identifying Eastern and Western Yi as the Eastern Sea and Hangzhou Bay respectively.See his "Si fang zhi min yu si zhi zhi jing-Qinghua jian Yue gong qi shi yanjiu zhi yi" 四方之民與四至之境---清華簡《越公其事》研究之一. Chutu wenxian 出土文獻 2021.1, 56-63, 69.Yet interesting as it is, this speculation is not convincing: it is much more likely that yi here is a generic term for non-Sinitic ethnic groups.
50.Paul R. Goldin (personal communication) suggested that this statement may be read as referring to population growth through fertility (sheng 生) and immigration (ju 聚).If so, it will nicely encompass two aspects of population policies associated with Goujian-encouraging childbirth ("Discourses of Yue" A) and attracting immigrants (Yue gong).
51.For these two tiers of local administration, see the conjectures of Wang Jinfeng, "Qinghua jian," 77-85.eager to come, both in light of Goujian's earlier success in ensuring agricultural surpluses and maintaining fair governance, and also due to the local officials' unspecified encouragement.The results, again, are immediate: Yue becomes densely populated and is ready to the next stage of its war preparations. 524. Military Preparations (Section 8) Once the state of Yue was fully engaged in attracting population, it became abundantly populated; the king thereupon displayed fondness of the military. 53The king daily acquainted himself with the advantages of the five types of weapons and placed them among his entourage.The king daily inspected the matters concerning the production of metal and leather [armaments], 54 and was querying about the advantages of the five types of weapons.The king then urgently dispatched messengers to investigate and query how many soldiers there were in the borderland counties and cities.The king then made comprehensive observations, inspecting exclusively how many soldiers there were, and querying his entourage.The entire state of Yue, all the way to the borderland counties and cities, all thereupon became fond of weapons and armor.Thereupon, the state of Yue had plenty of soldiers.
The military aspect of Goujian's preparations is regrettably sketchy.The king's attraction to bing 兵 (military matters) encompasses two major semantic fields of this term-increasing the quality of weapons and soldiers.These goals, again, are achieved through the king's active encouragement of both his entourage and the local officials to focus on 52.In a somewhat speculative attempt to calculate Yue population by the end of Goujian's reign based on the information of the size of its military, Chen Guocan 陳國 燦 and Xi Jianhua 奚建華 arrived at the conclusion that it was over 200,000 people; see Zhejiang gudai chengzhen shi 浙江古代城鎮史 (Hefei: Anhui daxue, 2003).
53.The word bing 兵 has several meanings, three of which, somewhat confusingly, are present in this short passage.First is generalized "military," second is soldiers, and third is the assault weapons.In translating bing I tried to fit the translation to the context of each sentence.54.That is, assault weapons made of metal, and shields and armor, for which leather was used.military preparations.And once again, as in the previous section, we do not know the details of the officials' policies.Did they introduce universal conscription?Enhanced remuneration for valiant fighters?Or just overawed those who tried to escape the ranks?We are left without clues.From the authors' point of view, the moment the king succeeded to inspire the government apparatus, the desirable results transpired.

Rewards and Punishments (Section 9)
Once the state of Yue had plenty of soldiers, the king thereupon regulated the people.He corrected the orders and was judicious in imposing punishments.He then put forward those respectful and reverent among the ranks of the royal grandsons, 55 and handed them over to Grandee Zhong, who thereupon rewarded and employed them.He then put forward the non-respectful and irreverent among ranks of the royal grandsons and handed them over to Fan Li, who thereupon punished and executed them. 56[The king] then urgently promulgated [this policy] within the palace, and also urgently apprehended and punished [criminals].The king thereupon greatly promulgated his decree throughout the country.This promulgation of this decree reached the courtiers, reached all the clans and all the officials. 57Those whose orders of ranks, garments, and colored insignia deviated from 55.I rely on Ziju's reading of as standing for 孫, and understanding of wangsun zhi deng 王孫之等 as a broad category for the highest segments of nobility.It is not a self-evident choice, especially because I am not aware of such usage of the compound wangsun, but I opted for it because it makes perfect meaning in the context of the given passage (see note 57 below).
56.This is the first of the two mentions of Fan Li in Yue gong text.Note the contrast with "Discourses of Yue B" where Fan Li is the major hero.
57.I follow the editors in reading 禁御 as referring to courtiers rather than to punishments as in the last sentence of this section.The dissemination of the king's orders starts with "royal grandsons" (referring here perhaps to the broad category of royal clansmen), extends to the people from within the palace (perhaps the king's intimate footnote continued on next page DIDACTIC NARRATIVE AND THE ART OF SELF-STRENGTHENING old norms, as well as those whose airs and tones, poetry recitations, and songs were not in accord with constant tunes of the state of Yue but rather were barbarian babble and savage clamor, 58 were urgently apprehended and punished.
The king then turned to the task of [constructing] canals and dams, and urgently apprehended and punished those who were late to arrive and late to accomplish [their tasks].The king then urgently established garrisons in the lands of Eastern Yi and Western Yi, and urgently apprehended and punished those who were late to arrive and were irreverent.When the king failed to carry out his own orders and did not restore [the proper ways] when they could be restored, thus failing to make the order observable, the king penalized himself.For small infractions, he [punished himself] with regard to food and drink; for large infractions, he [punished himself] by tattooing, thereby encouraging the myriad people.The people of the state of Yue then all trembled, were startled and fearful of Goujian and had no temerity to be irreverent.Orders were promulgated as they were issued, prohibitions were not violated, and the people became regulated and ordered.
Disciplining the population through proper implementation of rewards and punishments is, once again, a very common topos in Zhou texts.Skillful utilization of both handles of government by Goujian is mentioned as one of the reasons for his military success in the "Discourses of Wu" narrative. 59However, the Yue gong version is incomparably more sophisticated.If my reading of disputed characters is correct, then Goujian imposed the system of regulating the populace in two steps.The first step was promulgation of rewards and punishments through the entire ruling class.This promulgation started with rewarding and punishing the royal clansmen (oddly identified in the text as "the ranks of the royal grandsons" (王孫之等)), then the same norms were applied to the king's favorites, courtiers, members of other clans (presumably the nobles), and finally, the officials.Interestingly, punishments were imposed in particular on those elite members who deviated from Yue's ritual and music culture and were attracted by "barbarian babble and favorites), then the courtiers, then "all the clans" (i.e., nobles from other clans), and then the officials.
58.In translating 夷訏蠻吳 as referring to babble (xu 訏 read as hua 譁) and clamor (wu 吳 refers not to the country, but is synonymous with hua), I follow Chen Wei 陳偉, "Qinghua jian qi Yue gong qi shi jiaodu" 清華簡七《越公其事》校讀, April 27 2017, www.bsm.org.cn/?chujian/7529.html,accessed March 27, 2022.Note that the term yi 夷, which elsewhere in the text refers to a neutral "aliens," has a strongly derisive meaning in this specific sentence.
59. Guo yu, 559-60 ("Wu yu"19.9).savage clamor."This observation implies that for the authors of the text, Yue was a normative Zhou state with its respected ritual and music culture and that it was distinctively "non-barbarian."This contrasts with references to Yue's cultural otherness in such texts as Zuo zhuan and Discourses of the States. 60It seems that at least among certain segments of the Warring States-period educated elite, Yue's cultural prestige increased in tandem with its political power.At the second stage, Goujian's policies of legal education shift from the elites to the lower strata.Mass mobilization of the population to construction works (canal building) and to garrison service in outlying areas gives the ruler ample opportunities to punish those who were "late to arrive" or "irreverent."Yet to this common practice of punishing laxity, Goujian adds an exceptional step that once again demonstrates the importance of the ruler's personal example.In a fascinating display of adherence to the principle of the "rule of law," he punishes himself for failing to fulfill his own orders.The punishments-ranging from reduction of the king's food and drink to accepting physical sanction of being tattooed-overawe the populace, which realizes that the king is serious about laws and ordinances. 61Noteworthily, tattooing-which is identified in several Zhou texts as a common cultural trait of the Wu-Yue people-is interpreted in Yue gong as the king's self-inflicted punishment. 62Does this imply that the text reflects a non-Yue 60.In Zuo zhuan, much cultural derision is directed against Yue's northern neighbor, the state of Wu (see, e.g., Ai 7.3b); but Yue is also clearly identified as a "barbarian" (manyi 蠻夷) entity (Ai 26.1b).In "Discourses of Yue B," Fan Li refers to himself and his fellow countrymen as having a human face but still being a bird or a beast; see Guo yu, 587 ("Yue yu xia" 21.7).The irony is explicit, of course (the alleged bestiality of Yue people is used to justify Fan Li's resoluteness in refusing to spare King Fuchai of Wu, and Fan Li is clearly not identified as a savage), but the "barbarian" simile surely hints at what was probably a widespread, derisive view of Yue inhabitants.61.This is the only instance of which I am aware that speaks of physical punishment to the ruler for violating his own orders.Robin D.S. Yates had kindly notified me of a regulation in the "Statutes on Currency" ("Jinbu lü" 金布律) from the Yuelu Academy 嶽麓書院 collection of Qin 秦 legal documents, which requires punishing the officials in case the emperor's purchase of slaves or cattle violates the mandatory prices; but in that case the punishment is not applied to the emperor personally.
62.For tattoo as both a Wu-Yue cultural trait and a mild means of physical punishment, see Carrie E. Reed, "Tattoo in Early China," Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.3 (2000), 360-76.
perspective, an outsider's attempt to explain a bizarre cultural practice?Later I shall return to this point.Here, suffice it to say that the king's self-punishment allows him to fully convince the populace in the laws' inviolability.The result-once again-is immediate: "the orders were promulgated as they were issued, prohibitions were not violated, and the people became rectified and ordered."The goal of "eradicating punishments with punishments" 63 is duly achieved.
The "five policies" of Goujian are validated by his ultimate success.The two last sections of Yue gong retell Goujian's campaign against Yue.The outline of this campaign resembles in most of its details (and often in its wording) the narratives in Zuo zhuan and "Discourses of Wu," and it will not be repeated here.It is preceded by an anecdote (that appears in Mozi 墨子 and is retold in Han Feizi 韓非子), 64 according to which prior to the offensive, Goujian wanted to test his subjects: He then secretly set the Boat House 65 on fire, struck the drum and ordered the people of the capital to rescue [boats] from fire.The whole capital [people] run into the fire, and those who advanced did not retreat.The king was scared: he struck the drum to order retreat.Three hundred people died.The king was greatly pleased. 66e suicidal courage of the Yue capital dwellers is the best proof of Goujian's success.In a few years he had turned his people into valiant fighters who were ready to sacrifice their lives in the king's service.The victory over Wu was predetermined by the proper implementation of Goujian's policies of self-strengthening.The didactic message of the narrative could not be clearer.65.The Glory of Yue identifies the Boat House as "Goujian's covered shipyard"; see Milburn, The Glory of Yue, 235.
66.The authors or editors of the Wu wang manuscript may have felt that a ruler who is fond of seeing his countrymen dying for nothing is not a good example; hence in their version of the events, the dead numbered one thousand, after which, however, the king was greatly aggrieved and wept (slip 64).

The Art of Self-Strengthening: The Ideological Context
Among the early versions of Goujian's struggle with Wu, the Yue gong account is the most systematic in its coverage of Yue's policies of self-strengthening.Recall that Zuo zhuan does not discuss Yue's domestic policies at all, whereas the "Discourses of Yue B" version focuses on proper timing of military action and is very cursory with regard to Goujian's domestic undertakings.The "Discourses of Wu" chapter cites Goujian's praise of his own thriftiness, lenience, care for the people and attention to their economic needs, but the text's authors are less impressed with these than with Goujian's ability to consult his grandees, to delegate them power, and to instill discipline in his armies.In the "Discourses of Yue A" chapter, there are several parallels with Yue gong (e.g., Goujian's demographic policies and, again, his ability to display humility so as to gain the people's trust), but the discussion there is sketchier.
More interesting parallels to Yue gong narrative come from the Warring States-period philosophical texts.Thus, Goujian's initial policy of relaxation, lenience, laissez faire, and maintaining peace as practiced in the first three years of recuperation from the defeat curiously resemble the course of action advocated in the "Jun zheng" 君正 chapter of the Yellow Thearch Documents (Huangdi shu 皇帝書) discovered in 1973 at Tomb 3, Mawangdui 馬王堆 (Hunan).That text advises the ruler to follow the people's customs during the first year of his rule, to use virtue (de 德, probably referring to mildness and kindness) in the second, to allow the people keep what they have obtained in the third, and only then to start disciplining the people until they become ready to be used in punitive attacks in the seventh year. 67The similarities (especially the three year recuperation period) are highly interesting indeed, but jumping to broader conclusions about the manuscript's relation to the so-called Huang-Lao 黃老 school would be premature. 68Suffice it to mention that Yue gong does not display any interest in correlation between natural 67.See Wei Qipeng 魏啓鵬, Mawangdui Han mu boshu "Huang Di shu" jianzheng 馬 王堆漢墓帛書《黃帝書》箋證 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2004), 21; Robin D.S. Yates, trans.,The Five Lost Classics: Tao, Huang-Lao and Yin-Yang in Han China (New York: Ballantine Books, 1997), 61.The dating of the Yellow Thearch Documents is disputed; it is possible that they were composed early in the Han dynasty rather than in the Warring States period.
The "five policies" of Goujian-encouraging agriculture, ensuring trustworthiness, attracting immigrants, increasing the number of soldiers, and disciplining the populace through rewards and punishments-have the closest parallel in the Book of Lord Shang.Three of the "five policies"-turning the entire population into tillers cum soldiers and controlling it through rewards and punishments-are the hallmark of that text's approach.Attracting immigrants is less strongly pronounced in most of the book but becomes the crucial point in one of its latest (in terms of the date of composition) chapters, 15 ("Attracting the people" ("Lai min" 徠民)). 70Trustworthiness (in the meaning of the people's trust in the government) is specifically identified as one of the three pillars of good rule in section 14.1 of the Book of Lord Shang; but more generally it is present throughout the book insofar as fairness and transparency of laws and regulations are concerned. 71Yet the ways to attain these goals in the Book of Lord Shang and Yue gong differ dramatically.In the former, the solution should come from meticulously designed impartial standards and laws (fa 法).The ruler's individual input is minuscule; once the new laws are adopted, he should faithfully follow these and avoid any whimsical intervention in policy making. 72n Yue gong, in contrast, the ruler does not just initiate policies.It is his personal example and active intervention in and oversight of government affairs that create the desirable result.
The Yue gong insistence on the importance of the ruler's personal example strongly resembles the Mozi.In Mozi, the power of the ruler's example is absolute.A series of anecdotes scattered through the "Universal love" (or "Inclusive care," jian'ai 兼愛) chapters show that the ruler can direct his subjects to any goal deemed desirable.It is in these chapters that we discover the aforementioned Goujian anecdote about testing the valor of his soldiers by ordering them to rescue the burning boat.Personal example aside, the Mozi's ruler also plays an important role in other respects, e.g., by being able to discover worthy aides among the lowliest subjects and elevate them to the position of supreme authority. 73Yet the latter point also exemplifies the major difference between Mozi and Yue gong.In the former, the ruler's ability to select meritorious aides is one of the crucial preconditions for his success.In Yue gong this topic is not present at all except for the idea that the official's performance should determine their position (section 7).Actually, the meritocratic idea of "elevating the worthy"-one of the cornerstones of the political thought of the Warring States period-is curiously absent from the text. 74he ruler-centered narrative of Yue gong distinguishes it critically from the majority of the Warring States-period political texts.Goujian is the sole creator of his success; his worthy ministers, such as Grandee Zhong and Fan Li, who are lionized elsewhere (most notably in the Discourses of the States as well as in a variety of Han texts, such as Records of the Historian, The Glory of Yue, and The Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue), are marginal actors in Yue gong.This emphasis on the ruler as an intellectual and not just political leader of the polity is even more strongly pronounced in the story of Fuchai's exchange with Wu Zixu, discussed above.Yue gong diverges from the common narrative, which contrasts the benighted ruler, Fuchai, and his loyal and prescient aide, Wu Zixu.By restoring Fuchai's prestige as a prudent, even if ultimately unsuccessful leader, the authors clearly position themselves on the ruler's side of the ruler-minister divide.This is a highly unusual stance, especially in Zhou historical and quasi-historical texts, which almost invariably laud the ministers' acumen and lament the ruler's intellectual inadequacy. 75The contrast with the narrative in the "Discourses of Wu" chapter is so strong that one can consider these two narratives to be engaged in implicit controversy about the roles of ministers and rulers behind the state's success and failure.
Goujian's role in Yue gong has two somewhat contradictory aspects.On the one hand, he monitors and directs the well-developed bureaucratic apparatus that includes central government (courtiers, the ruler's entourage) and local administration (cities and border counties). 76n particular, Goujian's ability to mobilize this apparatus by subjecting promotion and demotion to objective criteria (e.g., population figures) is remarkable inasmuch as it anticipates one of the major means employed by China's leaders well into present in their quest to mobilize the bureaucracy for a variety of difficult goals-from eliminating tax arrears under the Ming to promoting childbirth control, enhancing environmental protection, or, most recently, attaining poverty eradication in our days. 77On the other hand, Goujian more frequently than not acts as a Big Man, personally attending to countless affairs, giving personal example to his subjects (e.g., by tilling), and personally feasting them.Even his personal supervision of bureaucracy, all the way down to market overseers, would be unfeasible in a large polity. 78Such a behavior is more appropriate to a chieftain, or possibly a city-state leader, but surely not to the ruler of a larger political unit that has two tiers of local administration.This curious mixture of entirely different government modes is observable in several chapters of the Canon of Documents, most notably the "Canon of Yao" ("Yao dian" 堯典) and "The Counsels of Gao Yao" ("Gao Yao mo" 皋陶謨).Yet in those cases, as well as (more equivocally) in "Lü's Punishments"("Lü xing" 呂刑), the coexistence of the charis- 78.Compare with the sober view of the Book of Lord Shang: "After all, officials monopolize authority and decide on affairs a thousand li away; and in the twelfth month they prepare a report to be approved [in the capital].The affairs of the whole year are to be separately checked, but the sovereign listens to them only once; even when he sees something suspicious, he cannot render a decision if he lacks appropriate evidence" (Book of Lord Shang 24.3).matic and bureaucratic modes of rule may reflect the composite nature of those texts. 79In Yue gong, in contrast, both modes appear in the same passages and are clearly promulgated by a single narrator, which is not attested to in other early texts of which am aware.
The above brief summary suffices to demonstrate the exceptionality of Yue gong in the general landscape of pre-imperial political thought.The text stands in between different intellectual currents.It bears some similarities with Mawangdui Yellow Thearch Documents, with the Book of Lord Shang, with Mozi, and with the "Discourses of Yue A" narrative, but it also differs markedly from each of these texts.It remains free of moralizing discourse, never employing such terms as de 德 ("virtue"), ren 仁 ("benevolence"), or yi 義 ("righteousness, dutifulness").It downplays the role of the ministers as independent political actors, is indifferent to the topic of searching for the worthy aides, and shifts the emphasis to the ruler, albeit without excessively glorifying the sovereign.The richness of this text highlights the complexity of intellectual dynamics the Warring States period.It demonstrates-to those who still need this demonstration-the inadequacy of the "schools" yardstick in dealing with the ideological texts of that age.The political discourse of the Warring States period evolved through constant mutual enrichment, borrowing, and synthesis of different ideas and the vast majority of contemporaneous texts-unearthed and transmitted alike-cannot be squarely identified with a single "school of thought." We should be reminded here that Yue gong is not a regular Masters (zi 子) text.It does not present its recommendations straightforwardly, is not engaged in open polemics, and avoids theoretic elaborations to justify the policies adopted by Goujian.Rather than attributing their ideas to a Master or a worthy aide, the authors present these ideas more subtly by embedding them in the historical narrative.It is time now to turn to the art of didactic narrative that is exemplified in Yue gong and analyze its role in ideological debates in pre-imperial China.

The Art of Didactic Narrative
The publication of Yue gong attracted considerable interest from historians, some of whom opined that the manuscript may provide a more reliable interpretation of Yue history than those in the transmitted texts.Even those-like Li Shoukui-who correctly identified Yue gong as a 79.See Kai Vogelsang, "Competing Voices in the Shangshu," in Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy, 62-105; for the "Canon of Yao," see also Martin Kern, "Language and the Ideology of Kingship in the 'Canon of Yao,'" in Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy, 23-61.polemical text disguised as a historical narrative still consider it a more reliable source for Yue history than alternative stories. 80I beg to disagree.First, the anachronisms in Yue gong are inconsistent with a text that derives from original Yue historical records (if such records existed at all).Second, the very genre of didactic narrative, of which Yue gong is representative, is predicated on promoting a particular political vision rather than on presenting reliable details of historical events.In my eyes, neither Yue gong nor the three chapters of the Discourses of the States were much concerned with historical exactitude.
Above I have demonstrated already several historical inaccuracies which undermine the assertion that Yue gong was based on original Yue (or Wu) records.Recall Fuchai's speech confusing two different Wu campaigns against Chu launched by Fuchai's father.Recall the contradictory depiction of Yue as being simultaneously a well-developed bureaucratic entity and a Big Man polity.Recall the odd identification of Yue's habit of tattooing the body with physical punishments.Or consider the implausibly speedy results of Goujian's "five policies."The text does not discuss the chronological ramifications of these policies, but since they were allegedly adopted one after another following the three years of initial relaxation and ending before the elimination of Wu in 473 b.c.e., they could not have spanned more than seventeen years in total.Each of the policies then could not have lasted more than a few years.That such long-term steps as developing fallow lands or attracting immigrants could yield immediate and unambiguous results is surely not plausible.Perhaps this lack of plausibility was tacitly understood by the manuscripts' authors, who dispensed with chronology altogether in their discussion of the "five policies." This observation causes me to dismiss Kim Tak's assertion that linguistic peculiarities of sections 4-9 of Yue gong, most notably the usage of solemn 于 rather than "colloquial" 於 particle, indicate the earliness of this segment and its relation to Yue's archives. 81Whereas there is no doubt that this segment of the manuscript comes from a different source than the opening and the final sections, this source should not necessarily be identified as a Yue historical text.Recall that the replacement of 80. Li Shoukui 李守奎, "Yue gong qi shi yu Goujian mie Wu de lishi shishi ji gushi liuchuan"《越公其事》與句踐滅吳的歷史事實及故事流傳, Wenwu 文物 2017.6,75-80; cf.Huang Aimei, "Yue gong," who emphasizes the "high historical reliability" of Yue gong.Some scholars dispel with Li's cautious differentiation between polemical and historical texts; for them Yue gong is squarely a source for Yue history.See, e.g., Wang Jinfeng, "Qinghua jian"; Liu Chengqun, "Qinghua jian Yue gong qi shi yu Goujian shidai de jingqi zhidu"清華簡《越公其事》與句踐時代的經濟制度, Shehui kexue 社會 科學 2019.4,138-45.
81. Kim, "Qinghua jian." solemn 于 with the more colloquial 於 particle had occurred already in the second half of the Springs-and-Autumns period, that is, long before Goujian's age. 82The overwhelming usage of 于 in the discussion of the "five policies" more likely reflects not a resort to original Yue sources but rather an attempt to archaize or solemnify the language (although admittedly I have not found other examples of archaism in that segment of the text).That sections 4-9 cannot derive from the original Yue historical records is clear from the very nature of their narrative, devoid as it is of any details such as chronology, names of places or persons, and the like.Aside from mentioning the statelet of Gumie as Yue's southern neighbor and invoking once the names of Yue's two most famous ministers-Fan Li and Grandee Zhong-the "five policies" section is devoid of any identifiable Yue features.This suffices to caution us against speculating that the section derives from Yue's original records.Besides, whether or not Yue maintained detailed historical records on a par with other major contemporaneous polities is a thorny question that requires further exploration.
There are several reasons to doubt the existence of Yue historical records.Recall, first, that Yue were an outsider of the Zhou cultural sphere.Their polysyllabic language differed considerably from that of the Central States, creating a perennial problem of transmitting native historical information to the Zhou audience.There is much confusion in our sources about even such an essential information as appellations of Yue kings; actually, Yue artisans themselves were not sure how to transcribe into Chinese characters the name of King Goujian. 83Whereas during Goujian's reign and in its aftermath, the Yue elites clearly began adapting themselves to the Zhou ritual culture-and is observable in particular in a few of the fifth century b.c.e.inscriptions-the linguistic gap was probably formidable enough to hinder adequate documentation or even extensive recording of native oral traditions into literary Chinese. 84he second point that should be considered in discussions of Yue historiography is that no reliable records of Yue history existed by the time of Sima Qian."The Hereditary House of King Goujian of Yue" chapter in the Records of the Historian is the weakest in the entire "Hereditary Houses" section in terms of its historical information.This is true not only with regard to early Yue history of which neither Sima Qian nor the authors of Han compilations such as The Glory of Yue had any reliable knowledge, but also with regard to Goujian's section, the literary qualities of which clearly outweigh its historical exactitude. 85What is more surprising is Sima Qian's confusion about the Yue history after Goujian, the so-called "Shandong period," when Yue, acting from its new capital of Langye 琅琊 (or Langya) in southern Shandong, became one of the four leading powers of Chinese world. 86It is only thanks to the Bamboo Annals (Zhushu jinian 竹書紀年), abundantly cited in Sima Zhen's 司馬貞 (679-732) Suoyin 索引 glosses on Records of the Historian, and, more later, thanks to the discovery of Xinian that many details of Yue's post-Goujian's history became clearer. 87That such an important period was not known either to Sima Qian or to the authors of other Yue-related compilations from the Han dynasty, suggests that either Yue did not maintain systematic accounts of its history at all, or that these accounts were lost soon after this polity's decline in the early fourth century b.c.e.For what may be a unique record of allegedly native Yue story about Goujian's military preparations, see Yue jue shu, 95 (3.4.7);Milburn, The Glory of Yue, 138-39.To be sure, there is no way to verify whether this story is related to Goujian's time or was invented by local Yue elites during the Han dynasty.
87. Chen Minzhen, "Qinghua jian"; Pines, Zhou History, 113-16.Note that even this information focuses on Yue's royal genealogy and major military activities in the Shandong area, namely, a type of information that could be well known to Yue's neighbors.No reliable information on Yue's domestic affairs is preserved in our sources.
Putting aside the thorny question of Yue's original records, the dearth of reliable historical information in Yue gong is not surprising.Rather, like the Wu-Yue chapters of the Discourses of the States, this text was devoted not to narrating "who, when, where, and what," but rather to answering the single question of "why."What matters to the authors of all these stories of the Wu-Yue conflict is not necessarily how the events unfolded but rather the proper historical lessons that could be gleaned from them.They belong to a broad array of historical and quasi-historical works that dealt with success and failure of the former rulers-arguably the major focus of interest of Warring States period readers. 88In the age of intense ideological struggles, these works stood at the nexus of history and philosophy and should be understood in this context rather than treated as purely historical texts.
The major medium for disseminating edifying historical knowledge in the Warring States period was the didactic anecdote-a short vignette usually centered on a moralizing speech by a prescient advisor or a later wise observer.These anecdotes, whose features have been analyzed in an excellent study by David Schaberg, have attracted considerable scholarly interest. 89My own work on Yue gong has led me to infer that it belongs to a different genre of edifying historical texts, which I dub didactic narratives.These narratives differ from didactic anecdotes both in their length and their means of conveying the message.I believe that didactic narratives were particularly fitting for analyzing long-term factors influencing the outcomes of political struggles and also for putting forward relatively controversial ideas.
The major difference between didactic narratives and anecdotes is the role of speeches.In the latter, the speech is the heart of the didactic message.It permits the most straightforward presentation of the authors' views, in a manner reminiscent of the Masters' texts.In didactic narratives, such as Yue gong, speeches play an auxiliary role in the development of the narrative, whereas messages are conveyed more subtly.It is the tendentious depiction of the outcomes that leads the reader to identify a certain course of action as either beneficial or disastrous.The discussion preserves an aura of objectivity associated with larger historical works, such as the local histories of competing states, which served the primary source materials of Zuo zhuan. 90Yet unlike the latter, didactic narratives were less concerned with the details of the narrated events, dispensing with information that did not fit the edifying design.
Didactic narratives were a particularly convenient means of promoting controversial ideas that could not be readily addressed in a moralizing speech.Take, for instance, the Rong Cheng shi 容成氏 text from the Shanghai Museum collection of bamboo manuscripts.The text deals with the sensitive issue of abdication as the ideal means of transferring power.Without openly promulgating this ideal, the authors skillfully weave it into their depiction of an idyllic situation in the times of paragon rulers who practiced abdication, which is contrasted with woeful outcomes of power transfer once the dynastic principle was adopted. 91r take, for instance, the issue of radical reforms.Rather than openly advocating such reforms, the authors of the "Discourses of Qi" 齊語 chapter of the Discourses of the States attribute these to the model Qi minister, Guan Zhong 管仲 (d.645 b.c.e.).The narrative is built so as to convince the reader that these reforms were the major reason for the success of Guan Zhong's patron, Lord Huan of Qi 齊桓公 (r.685-643 b.c.e.), the first and the most illustrious of the hegemons (ba 霸) of the Springs-and-Autumns period.This is precisely the technique adopted by the Yue gong authors in their story of Goujian's success.
In my eyes, the three Wu-Yue chapters of the Discourses of the States, as well as Yue gong (and, insofar as we can judge from the preliminary publication, its sister manuscript, Wu wang), all exemplify the art of the didactic narrative.A comparison of the four narratives may shed light on the evolution of this genre.Of the four, the "Discourses of Wu" story is probably the earliest, insofar as parts of it appear on the badly damaged (and still not fully published) slips from the early Warring States-period Tomb 36 at Shibancun 石板村, Cili 慈利 County (Hunan). 92It is also the closest to informative history.Aside from the basic factual setting, this narrative provides many other details.It mentions historically verifiable events, such as Wu's victory over Qi in 484 b.c.e. and the Huangchi 黃池 interstate assembly of 482 b.c.e.It provides rudimentary chronology and mentions a variety of personal names, most of which undoubtedly come from scribal records.And yet, this is clearly not an informative history as such.Its goal is to show that Fuchai lost his state and his life because of the king's excessive self-confidence and dismissal of Wu Zixu's loyal remonstrance, whereas Goujian won precisely because he was able to heed his aides and even foreign advisors, such as Shen Baoxu 申包胥 from Chu.To strengthen this message, the text at times departs from historical accuracy, adds imagined speeches and narrative details, and tolerates minor anachronisms. 93Its depiction of events should not be dismissed outright, but must be read cum grano salis.
It would not be too far-fetched to hypothesize that both the "Discourse of Yue A" and Yue gong were designed as a counter-narrative to the "Discourses of Wu."Both texts share not just common textual segments (especially in the depiction of the final campaign of Yue against Wu), but, most notably, the common ruler-oriented perspective.In both cases it was Goujian who had navigated his country toward resurrection and the ultimate victory over Wu, and in both cases his populist policies aimed at attaining the subjects' affection occupy pride of place.The two versions differ in certain aspects, e.g., the precise content of Goujian's policies.They diverge, even if subtly, also on the topic ruler-minister relations.Thus, the "Discourse of Yue A" starts with Goujian's intercourse with Grandee Zhong, which reaffirms the minister's primary importance for the state, a topos that is notably absent from Yue gong.Nonetheless, the similarities are substantial enough to permit the guess that both texts derived from the same group of thinkers.Speaking of their historical reliability, it is notable that both preserve incomparably fewer details than the "Discourses of Wu" chapter.Even the chronology is reduced to the absolute minimum: we are informed only about the length of the policy of recovery (three years in Yue gong, ten years in the "Discourses of Yue A"), but no other chronological details are provided.I do not have an unequivocal indicator of these texts' dates of composition, but both appear to me to be more removed in time from the depicted events than the "Discourses of Wu." The fourth narrative, the "Discourses of Yue B," fully restores the pro-ministerial focus.As mentioned above, Yue's success there is squarely attributed to Fan Li, with Grandee Zhong acting as the second in command, whereas Goujian is reduced through most of the narrative to Fan Li's obedient disciple.Once again, dating this text is not easy, but my guess is that it is the latest in terms of the dates of its composition.The story does provide rudimentary chronology, but this chronology is patently wrong, as the text reduces the period of Yue's resurrection from twenty to ten years.Yet more broadly, the narrative does not seem to be much concerned with historical reliability.Suffice it to mention the narration of Yue's major campaign against Wu, in which Yue forces simply motionlessly preserve their ground for three years and cause Wu's armies to melt down.I doubt that this fanciful story was ever intended to convince the audience of its factual accuracy.
This comparison, sketchy and speculative as it is, may indicate a trend in the didactic narratives' evolution.Initially, these narratives derived from local histories, which combined informative and didactic aspects.As time passed and memories of the depicted events faded, informative details mattered less, whereas didactic messages became more strongly pronounced.By inventing outright fallacious details-such as depicting non-existent reforms, lionizing minor personalities such as Fan Li, 94 or altering the story of military campaigns-the authors strengthened their ideological message, paying less attention to historical reliability.The increasingly manipulative nature of these historical accounts was duly noted by not a few Warring States-period thinkers who overtly ridiculed it (Zhuangzi 莊子 and Han Feizi come immediately to one's mind), 95 but 94.Recall that Fan Li is not mentioned at all in Zuo zhuan and "Discourses of Yue A," and plays only a minor role in both the "Discourses of Wu" and Yue gong.It is reasonable to assume that his importance was dramatically inflated by the authors of "Discourses of Yue B" story.
95.For a brilliant satiric take on the proliferation of fallacious historical accounts, see an example of counterfactual history in Zhuangzi's "Robber Zhi" 盜跖 chapter.Compare to Han Fei's derision of manipulative and unreliable accounts of the past in the opening passages of the "Illustrious Learnings" ("Xian xue" 顯學) chapter.See more in Yuri Pines, "Speeches and the Question of Authenticity in Ancient Chinese Historical Records," in Historical Truth, Historical Criticism and Ideology: Chinese Historiography and Historical Culture from a New Comparative Perspective, ed.Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer, Achim Mittag, and Jörn Rüsen (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 220-22; cf.Paul R. Goldin, "Non-Deductive Argumentation in Early Chinese Philosophy," in Between footnote continued on next page in the absence of authoritative version of the past, fake histories proliferated as freely as fake news proliferates today.
This proliferation of the art of didactic narrative, just like the proliferation of didactic anecdotes, marks what I have identified elsewhere as the turn away from informative histories in the Warring States period.That age which prized ideologically powerful argument over historical veracity was conducive to the dissemination of imagined accounts of the past or habitual modification of existing accounts so as to suit the authors' ideological requirements. 96The Wu-Yue story, with its twists and turns, was an ideal playground for competing thinkers with different explanations of the states' success and failure.It may even be hypothesized that the absence of detailed historical records from both states was a boon for the authors of didactic narratives.Without the need to bother themselves with anything except the basic factual framework, being unburdened by "unnecessary details," 97 competing thinkers were free to improvise.The result, even if historically unreliable, is fascinating for the light it sheds on ideological debates during the formative age of China's political tradition.97.For the concept of "unnecessary details," see Li Wai-yee, "Inconvenient and Unnecessary Details in Zuozhuan," in Early Chinese Historiography: Zuozhuan in Comparative Perspective, ed.Yuri Pines, Martin Kern, and Nino Luraghi (forthcoming).
The cultural image of Yue in the texts from the Warring States into the Han has been discussed (not always accurately) by Erica Brindley, "Barbarians or Not? Ethnicity and Changing Conceptions of the Ancient Yue (Viet) Peoples, c. 400-50 B.C." Asia Major (3rd ser.) 16.1 (2003), 1-32 and Brindley, Ancient China and the Yue: Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier, c. 400 BCE-50 CE (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 113-90.
76.For cities and border counties inYue gong as two different tiers of local administration see Wang Jinfeng, "Qinghua jian."77.For a Ming example (Zhang Juzheng's 張居正 (1525-1582) attempt to eradicate tax arrears by subordinating the officials' career to attaining this goal), see Ray Huang, 1587: A Year of no Significance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981).For recent utilizations of performance measurement as a means to mobilize bureaucracy, see John P. Burns and Zhou Zhiren, "Performance Management in the Government of the People's Republic of China: Accountability and Control in the Implementation of Public Policy," OECD Journal on Budgeting 2 (2010), 1-28; Jing Yijia, Yangyang Cui and Danyao Li, "The Politics of Performance Measurement in China," Policy and Society 34.1 (2015), 49-61; Wu Jing and Chang I-Shin, "Target Responsibility System of Environmental Protection and Performance Evaluation System," in Environmental Management in China (Singapore: Springer, 2020), https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4894-9_7;see also Daniel Bell, The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015) for a broader depiction of China's political model.
84.For Yue inscriptions, including a few relatively lengthy ones which clearly indicate adaptation to the Zhou norms (Jicheng nos.0144 and 0171); see Dong Shan, Wu Yue.
90.The nature of these local histories is discussed in Pines, Zhou History.91.See Yuri Pines, "Political Mythology and Dynastic Legitimacy in the Rong Cheng shi Manuscript," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 73.3 (2010), 503-29; for a different analysis, see Sarah Allan, Buried Ideas: Legends of Abdication and Ideal Government in Recently Discovered Early Chinese Bamboo-Slip Manuscripts (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2015), 181-262.For broader analysis of the abdication legends and their evolvement, compare Yuri Pines, "Disputers of Abdication: Zhanguo Egalitarianism and the Sovereign's Power," T'oung Pao 91.4-5 (2005), 243-300 and Sarah Allan, The Heir and the Sage: Dynastic Legend in Early China, rev.ed.(Albany: State University of New York Press, 2016).
Xu Yuangao 徐元誥; collat.Wang Shumin 王樹民 and Shen Changyun 沈長雲 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2002), 571, "Yue yu shang" 20.1.40.A more literary translation of hao xin 好信 would be "became fond of trustworthiness," but my feeling is that here and below what matters are not just the king's personal inclinations but making them visible to the subordinates.
42.For concepts of trustworthiness in Zuo zhuan, see Yuri Pines, Foundations of Confucian Thought: Intellectual Life in the Chunqiu Period, 722-453 B.C.E.(Honolulu: Univerfootnote continued on next page 88.For instance, Sima Qian tells of Duo Jiao 鐸椒, the tutor to King Wei of Chu 楚威 王 (r.339-329 bce), who, in response to the king's request, "selected examples of success and failure" from the lengthy text of Springs and Autumns (here referring in all likelihood to Zuo zhuan; see Lin Zhen'ai 林真愛, "Zuoshi Chunqiu kaobian" 左氏春秋考 辨, Zhongguo gudaishi luncong 中國古代史論叢 3 (1981), 192-206), creating Duo's Subtleties (Duoshi wei 鐸氏微) in forty chapters (juan 卷); Shi ji (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1997), 14.507.For sure King Wei was not the only reader who preferred to dispel with manifold minor details of earlier historical narratives and focus on the bottom line: what should be learnt from the achievements and failures of his predecessors.89.David Schaberg, "Chinese History and Philosophy," in The Oxford History of Historical Writing, vol.1:Beginnings to AD 600, eds.Andrew Feldherr and Grant Hardy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 394-414; Paul van Els and Sarah Queen, eds., Between Philosophy and History: Anecdotes in Early China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2017).