First Meeting with Qin

I have heard: “To speak without understanding the situation is unwise; to understand the situation yet not speak is disloyal.” As a minister, disloyalty merits death; improper speech also merits death. Nevertheless, I am willing to state fully what I have heard, only hoping that Your Majesty will judge my offense.

I have heard that the states under heaven—to the north there is Yan, to the south there is Wei, uniting with Chu, stabilizing Qi, drawing in Han, and forming a vertical alliance—are about to oppose the powerful Qin in the west. I privately find this laughable. In the world, there are three conditions that inevitably lead to ruin, and the states under heaven possess them all. This must be what is meant! I have heard this saying: “A chaotic state attacking a stable one will perish; an evil state attacking a righteous one will perish; a perverse state attacking one that follows Heaven’s order will perish.” Now, the treasuries of the states under heaven are not full, their granaries are empty. When they mobilize all their officers and people, deploying hundreds of thousands or millions of troops, the generals who kneel, don feathers, and vow to die before the battle lines number less than a thousand—they merely speak emptily of dying in combat. With white blades before them and axes behind them, those who flee and retreat would rather die than fight to the death. This is not because their officers and people cannot sacrifice their lives, but because their rulers cannot lead them properly. Promised rewards are not granted; threatened punishments are not carried out. Rewards and penalties lack trust, so the officers and people refuse to die. Now, when Qin issues orders and enforces rewards and penalties, both merit and failure are handled according to actual circumstances. The people, from leaving their parents’ embrace, have never seen an enemy in their lives. Hearing of war, they stamp their feet, bare their arms, face white blades, tread on burning coals, and fight to the death before the battle lines in great numbers. Dying in battle differs from seeking life, yet the people willingly do so—this is because they value desperate combat. One man fighting to the death can resist ten; ten can resist a hundred; a hundred can resist a thousand; a thousand can resist ten thousand; ten thousand can then conquer all under heaven. Now, Qin’s territory, cutting off the long to supplement the short, extends thousands of li in all directions, with famous armies numbering hundreds of thousands or millions. Qin’s orders, rewards, and penalties, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of its terrain—no state under heaven can match them. With these to seize all under heaven, the world is not enough for Qin to annex and possess. Therefore, in battle, Qin never fails to conquer; in siege, it never fails to take; any enemy encountered is never not broken. It has opened up territory thousands of li—this is a great achievement. Yet now, weapons and armor are worn out, officers and people are exhausted, reserves are depleted, fields are barren, granaries are empty, the neighboring feudal lords refuse to submit, and the reputation of a hegemon has not been realized. There is no other reason for this: the counselors of Qin have not exhausted their loyalty.

I dare to say: In former times, Qi defeated Chu in the south, destroyed Song in the east, subjugated Qin in the west, broke Yan in the north, and in the central plains, it employed Han and Wei. Its territory was vast and its army strong; in battle it was victorious, in attack it was successful, and it commanded all under heaven. Qi’s clear Ji River and muddy He River served as barriers; its Great Wall and Giant Defense served as fortifications. Qi was a state that had fought five major wars; losing one battle meant the end of Qi. From this it can be seen that war concerns the survival or destruction of a state of ten thousand chariots. Moreover, I have heard this saying: “When cutting down a tree, leave no root; do not make a neighbor of calamity, and calamity will not exist.” When Qin fought against the people of Chu, it greatly defeated the Chu army, attacked Ying, and seized Dongting, Wuzhu, and Jiangnan. The king of Chu and his ministers fled, subjugating themselves in Chen to the east. At that time, if we had pursued the Chu army by taking advantage of victory, then Chu could have been conquered; if Chu could have been conquered, then Chu’s people would have been worth possessing, its land worth using, and to the east we could have weakened Qi and Yan, and in the central plains we could have dominated the three Jin states. Thus, one action could have achieved the reputation of a hegemon, and the neighboring feudal lords could have come to court. Yet the counselors did not do this; they led the army to retreat and made peace with the people of Chu. This allowed the people of Chu to gather their fallen state, assemble their scattered people, establish a lord for their altars of state, set up their ancestral temples, and have them lead the world in opposing Qin in the west. This indeed lost the first opportunity to achieve the way of a hegemon. The states under heaven again allied and encamped at Huayang. Your Majesty defeated them with an edict, and the army advanced to the walls of Daliang in Wei. Surrounding Daliang for several tens of days, Daliang could have been taken; taking Daliang, then Wei could have been conquered; conquering Wei, then the connection between Chu and Zhao would have been severed; with the connection between Chu and Zhao severed, then Zhao would have been endangered; with Zhao endangered, Chu would have been hesitant; to the east we could have weakened Qi and Yan, and in the central plains we could have dominated the three Jin states. Thus, one action could have achieved the reputation of a hegemon, and the neighboring feudal lords could have come to court. Yet the counselors did not do this; they led the army to retreat and made peace with Wei, allowing Wei to instead gather its fallen state, assemble its scattered people, establish a lord for its altars of state, set up its ancestral temples, and have it lead the world in opposing Qin in the west. This indeed lost the second opportunity to achieve the way of a hegemon. In former times, when the Marquis of Rang governed Qin, he used the strength of one state but sought to achieve the accomplishments of two states (Qin and the Marquis’s fiefdom). Therefore, the army was exposed in the field year-round, officers and people were exhausted at home, and the reputation of a hegemon was not realized. This indeed lost the third opportunity to achieve the way of a hegemon.

Zhao is a state in the central region, a place where mixed peoples dwell. Its people are frivolous and difficult to employ. Its orders are not strict, its rewards and penalties lack trust, its terrain is unfavorable, and it cannot fully harness the strength of its people. This is inherently a situation of national ruin. Yet it did not show concern for its people; it mobilized all its officers and people to encamp at Changping, contending for the Shangdang region of Han. Your Majesty defeated them with an edict and captured Wu’an. At that time, the upper and lower ranks of Zhao were not close to each other, and the noble and base did not trust one another. If this was so, then Handan could not have been held. Taking Handan, governing the region of Heshang east of the mountains, leading the army away, attacking Xiuwu to the west, crossing the Yangchang ridge, and subduing Dai and Shangdang—Dai had thirty-six counties, Shangdang had seventeen counties. Without using a single suit of armor, without wearying a single officer or person, these places would all have belonged to Qin. Dai and Shangdang would have been entirely Qin’s without battle; Dongyang and Hewai would have entirely reverted to Qi without battle; Zhongshan and the area north of the Hutuo River would have entirely reverted to Yan without battle. If this was so, then Zhao would have been conquered; with Zhao conquered, Han would have perished; with Han perished, then Chu and Wei could not have stood alone; with Chu and Wei unable to stand alone, then one action would have destroyed Han, gnawed away at Wei, and seized Chu, and to the east we could have weakened Qi and Yan, cutting open the Baima ford to flood Wei. This would have been one action to destroy the three Jin states and break the vertical alliance. Your Majesty, with folded hands and waiting, the world would have successively submitted and surrendered, and the reputation of a hegemon could have been achieved. Yet the counselors did not do this; they led the army to retreat and made peace with Zhao. With Your Majesty’s wisdom and the strength of Qin’s army, abandoning the achievement of a hegemon, territory could not be obtained, and instead we were deceived by a state about to perish—this is the counselors’ ineptitude. Moreover, Zhao, which should have perished, did not perish; Qin, which should have become hegemon, did not. The states under heaven have already measured Qin’s counselors by this—this is the first. Then they again mobilized all the troops to attack Handan but could not take it; they abandoned armor, weapons, crossbows, and retreated trembling. The states under heaven have already measured Qin’s military strength by this—this is the second. The army then retreated and assembled at Li, where Your Majesty again brought together forces. Engaging in battle, they could not win, nor could they retreat; the army, exhausted, departed. The states under heaven have already measured Qin’s military strength by this—this is the third. Internally, we have measured our counselors; externally, we have exhausted our military strength. From this perspective, I consider the vertical alliance of the states under heaven to be nearly easy to form. Internally, our weapons and armor are worn out, our officers and people are exhausted, reserves are depleted, fields are barren, granaries are empty; externally, the states under heaven all share a firm resolve to plot against us. I hope Your Majesty will consider this.

Moreover, I have heard a saying: "Trembling with fear, growing more cautious day by day; if one cautiously follows the correct way, the world can be possessed." How does one know this is so? In former times, when King Zhou ruled as the Son of Heaven, he commanded a million armored troops from across the realm, watering their horses on the left at the Qi River and on the right at the Huan River, until the Qi dried up and the Huan ceased to flow, thus arraying them against King Wu of Zhou. King Wu led three thousand troops clad in plain white armor, fought for a single day, and breached King Zhou’s capital, capturing him alive, seizing his lands and possessing his people, and no one in the world mourned him. Zhi Bo led the armies of three states to attack Zhao Xiangzi at Jinyang, breaching the river to flood the city for three months; the city was about to fall. Zhao Xiangzi cracked tortoise shells and cast milfoil stalks to divine auspice and inauspice, examining advantage and harm, to see which state he might surrender to. He then dispatched his minister Zhang Mengtan. Zhang Mengtan secretly traveled forth, turned against the alliance of Zhi Bo, won over the armies of two states, and used them to attack Zhi Bo, capturing him alive and restoring Zhao Xiangzi’s original position. Now the lands of Qin, when cut to fill gaps and extended to make up deficiencies, stretch for thousands of li, with famous troops numbering in the hundreds of thousands or millions. Qin’s commands, rewards, and punishments, and the advantages and disadvantages of its terrain, no state in the world can match. With these to seize the world, one can annex and possess it. I risk death to seek an audience with the king, to speak of the methods for breaking the world’s vertical alliances, attacking Zhao, destroying Han, making Chu and Wei submit, drawing close to Qi and Yan, thereby achieving the fame of a hegemon and causing the four neighboring lords to come to court. If the king truly heeds my teachings, and with one action the world’s vertical alliances are not broken, Zhao is not taken, Han is not destroyed, Chu and Wei do not submit, Qi and Yan are not drawn close, the fame of a hegemon is not achieved, and the four neighboring lords do not come to court, then let the king have me beheaded in the capital and exposed as a warning to those who scheme for the king without loyalty.