Wu Zixu

The Troubled Hero in the Spring and Autumn Period in Chinese History

An old man with hair dusted with grey got tears of remorse at the last moment of his life, talking about his father and elder brother who had been executed with an unjust accusation, his escape from the state of Chu through indescribable hardships, fervently chased by Chu’s soldiers to make him swear the revenge for King Ping who killed his father and brother, for the only sake of his revenge, leading the coup-de-tat for the enthronement of Prince Gong (later named ‘Helu’), helping King Helu to govern the Wu kingdom to make it powerful in military and prosperous, then the eventual retaliation against King Ping with lashing his corpse with an iron whip for three hundred times, even afterwards, continuing to dedicate himself to the prosperity of Wu Kingdom which he served, and his ending up, after all, being ordered from the then King Fuchai to kill himself.

While reading Wu’s bitterly regretful soliloquy, I myself couldn’t help but cry either. It was very natural that he would easily ruin his life from the hapless and merciless courses of his life. Nevertheless, with his will and determination, he made himself stand and enthroned the monarchy even two times with his political tactics.

Wu Zixu was mom’s recommendation that she took pride in. He is the most famous politician during the time of Spring and Autumn Period of China when Zhou Dynasty was in stagger after moving its capital to Lyoyi so the feudal lords in provinces claimed the hegemony over each other’s country, throning themselves as kings. Mom said he was a man of greatness.

My heart beat faster at the name of Wu Zixu, reminding me of the novel ‘The Art of War’ written by Jeong Bi Seok which described him as the one with a stunning personality and ability. Whenever I read the part of Wu Zixu from the novel, with my eyes wide open, I engaged in following his course of life with the mind of adoration like a fandom towards its idol.

He was merely a figure from history who died more than two thousand years ago but it didn’t matter. I told mom that he in a way, resembled Cho Kwang Jo who was the famous reformist in Joseon Dynasty but she sternly said that he didn’t. She then called me to recount his story starting from the extermination of his family by the court of Chu, to tracing even backward to how the Chu clan was formed at the beginning, then to Wu’s defecting to the Zheng Kingdom, then to the Wu Kingdom in turn, subsequently to the story of the assassin Jeonjae who killed the then king of Wu state, instigated by Wu Zixu manipulating to throne Prince Gong as a king of Wu state and finally to Wu Zixu’s demise derived from the conflict with Bo Pi who had cunningly defamed Wu Zixu and trigger the King Fuchai to order Wu Zixu to kill himself.

She told the story with a low key of her voice, sounding to show dignity, and cited that she didn’t know when it came to what she was not sure about, hoping to give a more authentic impression on her story.

‘Mom, you told me that Wu Zixu was a man of greatness but after all, what he did throughout his life was just he revenged for the death of his father and brother and then died.’ After her magnanimous narration, I asked her back. ‘Well, ha-ha yes that was how it was. He revenged. But then again, whether Wu kingdom won or not, it doesn’t really matter to us as a later generation, isn’t it?’ She seemed to be dispirited with the closing of our conversation. We both laughed heartily with this offbeat conclusion for Wu Zixu’s story.