Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 01-31-12 08:02
奇貨可居 (Qi2 Huo4 Ke Ju)
Hoard as a rare commodity
It was during the Warring States Period (戰國時代 453BC to 221BC) of the
Zhou Dynasty (周朝 1134BC to 256BC), in 294BC, Qin Zhao Wang Ying ji (秦
昭王嬴稷), the 34th ruler of State of Qin (秦國 present day Xianyang 咸陽
in Shaanxi province 陜西省), dispatched an army of 100,000 strong to attack
the State of Zhao (趙國 present day Handan 邯鄲 in Hebei province 河北省
). The ruler of the State of Zhao was Zhao Hui Wang He (趙惠王何) who had
ruled Zhao since 298BC. The Qin army was under the command of General Wang
He (王齕), General Wang Jian (王翦) and Ying Yiren (嬴異人) who was the
grandson of Qin Zhao Wang. After a long march the Qin army camped in a place
near the border of Zhao.
Li Jishu (李繼叔), the commander of the Zhao's frontier town of Zhang He
(漳河), sent messengers to Handan (邯鄲), the capital of Zhao, to report
to Zhao Hui Wang that the Qin forces were going to invade Zhao. On hearing
the bad news Zhao Hui Wang was terrified, but one of his officials named
Lin Xiangru (藺相如) said that he had plans to defeat the Qin army. Lin
Xiangru told Zhao Hui Wang to send forth 20,000 troops to ambush quietly
near the Qin camps. The troops were under the command of General Zhao Qian
(趙乾) and General Yi He (醫和). Zhao Hui Wang then ordered General Lian
Po (廉頗) to lead an army of 50,000 to join forces with the troops of General
Li Jishu in Zhang He.
After General Lian Po had settled his troops in Zhang He, the following
day he marched his troops out to do battle with the Qin army. The Qin army
came out in force to fight the Zhao troops. There were only a few Qin soldiers
left behind to guard their camps. Seeing the opportunity had arrived the
Zhao troops, who had been laying ambushed near the Qin camps, sprang up
and destroyed the Qin camps. They captured many heavy equipments. Ying Yiren,
the grandson of the ruler of Qin, was in his camp reading the maps when
the Zhao soldiers entered his camp. Ying Yiren was captured by the Zhao
soldiers and became the prison of war.
In the battlefield, the Zhao forces put the Qin army to rout. The Qin soldiers
fled for their lives. The two generals of the Qin army General Wang He and
General Wang Jian escaped unharmed.
The Zhao army returned to the capital, Handan, triumphantly. They displaced
the war booties and the Qin prisoners of war with Ying Yiren in the lead.
Zhao Hui Wang wanted to execute Ying Yiren, but he was advised by Lin Xiangru
not to do so on the ground that Qin was a very powerful State and Qin Zhao
Wang might attack Zhao again if his grandson was executed. It was better
to use Ying Yiren as a hostage to prevent further incursion by Qin.
A few days later, an emissary from Qin brought the message that Qin would
live in peace with Zhao provided that Zhao would not harm Ying Yiren. Zhao
Hui Wang accepted the peaceful proposal and ordered General Zhao Qian to
be the custodian of Ying Yiren. The Zhao ruler also told the General to
be kind, lenient and not to harm Ying Yiren.
There was a big crowd in the street watching General Zhao Qian taking the
royal prisoner of war, Yi Ren, to his house. Among the crowd there was a
man by the name of Lu Buwei (呂不韋) who was a smart and very talented businessman.
Lu Buwei sighed as soon as he saw Ying Yiren whom he regarded as a strange
commodity.
Lu Buwei was the most political minded businessman in the land. When he
was young he was a student of Gui Guzi (鬼谷子) who was a very learned master.
Lu Buwei learned from him the art of fortune telling. Lu Buwei was not
a resident of the State of Zhao and he was doing business in Handan (邯
鄲), the capital of Zhao. As soon as he saw the face of Ying Yiren he exclaimed
that Ying Yiren was a strange commodity whom he was going to invest heavily
奇貨可居. Ying Yiren was at that time following General Zhao Qian through
the streets of Handan on the way to the General's residency.
Lu Buwei went home and asked his father:
"How much was the return if I were to invest in the farm?"
His father replied:
"The return will be about ten times."
Lu Bu Wei asked:
"To invest on jewellery?"
His father replied:
" More than a hundred times."
Lu Buwei asked again:
" If I were to invest on someone who could become a King, later?"
His father replied:
"The returns will be unlimited!."
Lu Buwei told his father what he had in mind on Ying Yiren. He had a plan
of arranging Ying Yiren to return to Qin. If his plan were successful he
could be very rich and become a noble man in the near future. He told his
father that Ying Yiren was the grandson of the ruler of Qin and was presently
being held as a hostage in Zhao. He cautioned his father to be very careful
lest they could become bankrupt.
Eventually, Lu Buwei helped Ying Yiren to escape and returned to the State
of Qin. In 250BC, Ying Yiren became the ruler of the State of Qin and Lu
Buwei became the Prime Minister.
The moral is to take a risk to invest heavily on a rare commodity.
Source:
史記, 呂不韋傳:
"子楚為秦質子於趙....居處困, 不得意.
呂不韋賈邯鄲, 見而憐之曰: "'此奇貨可居"'
Posted to asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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