Author: Yoon-Ngan CHUNG
Date: 03-06-02 05:52
Chinese idiomatic story 30
To distort the facts
指 鹿 為 馬 (Zhi3 Lu4 Wei4 Ma3)
指 (Zhi3) means: to point
鹿 (Lu4) means: a deer
為 (Wei4) means: for
馬 (Ma3) means: a horse
In 221BC, Ying Zheng (嬴政), the ruler of the State of Qin (秦國), became the
First Emperor of Qin (秦始皇帝) after he had successfully conquered and
subjugated all the other States in the land and established the Qin Dynasty
(秦朝 221BC to 207BC).
In 210BC, while on a tour to the eastern part of his empire, he died from severe asthmatic attack in the city of Sha Qiu (沙丘 in the northeast of present day Ping Xiang 平鄉 ccounty in Heibei province 河北省) . His second son Ying
Hu Hai (嬴胡亥), the Prime Minister Li Si (李斯) and the chief eunuch Zhao Gao
(趙高) were with him when he died.
The city of Sha Qiu was more than 1,000 kilometers away from the capital of Xian Yang (咸陽 present day Xi An 西安 city in Shaanxi province 陜西省). The crown prince, Ying Fu Su (嬴扶蘇), then was in the north and far away from the capital. He was sent there by his father, the First Emperor, to help supervising the construction of the Great Wall. Ying Fu Su was the son-in-law of the Prime Minister Li Si.
In the will made by the First Emperor, the crown prince, Ying Fu Su was to become the next Emperor. However, the trio of Ying Hu Hai, Li Si and Zhao Gao destroyed the original will and forged two new wills in its place. One will was to pronounce
Ying Hu Hai to be the new Emperor and the other will was to order Ying Fu Su to take his own life.
On the way back to Xian Yang, the death of the Emperor was concealed from
the people and the Emperor's corpse was covered with salted fish to disguise its odour.
On the arrival back in the capital, Ying Hu Hai was officially crowned the Second Emperor of Qin (秦二皇帝). However, he proved to be stupid and idiotic. Li Si,
the Prime Minister lost favour with the Second Emperor and the executive power gradually shifted to Zhao Gao, the chief eunuch.
The vast majority of people suffered greatly under the rigid and severe rule of the Qin government. Riots erupted throughout the empire, soldiers mutinying and the people were in open revolt.
The Prime Minister, Li Si, could not prevent the riots from spreading. Zhao Gao
took the opportunity to get rid of the Prime Minister by accusing him of
cooperating with the rebels and trying to overthrow the government. Li Si was arrested, charged with high treason and executed along with his whole family.
The chief eunuch became the new Prime Minister and immediately harboured
intentions of eliminating the Second Emperor too. However, he was unsured
of the support of the Court Officials. In order to find out who were his supporters, one day, Zhao Gao took a deer to the Court. In front of all the officials he led the deer and gave it to the Second Emperor saying:
"This is the best horse in the land. It is for you, your majesty".
The Second Emperor thought he was joking and laughingly replied:
"丞相誤邪﹖謂鹿為馬."
"You must be joking, Prime Minister. It is not a horse. It is a deer".
However, Zhao Gao was serious and said that it was a horse. The Second
Emperor was also obstinate and insisted that it was a deer. They argued
and argued at length but neither party would give in.
Finally, they agreed that they should ask the opinions of Court Officials. Many of
the officials were afraid of the powerful Zhao Gao as he was considered the
man who was more powerful than the Emperor. Those who were scared of Zhao
Gao said that it was a horse. Only a handful of the Court Officials were honest and said it was a deer. Eventually, the pretending horse won the day.
In 207BC Zhao Gao had the Second Emperor murdered and eliminated those
officials who sided with the Emperor in the debate about the deer. The eldest
son, Ying Zi Ying (嬴子嬰), of the late crown prince Ying Fu Su was crowned the King of Qin (秦王), and not the Emperor of Qin (秦皇帝) as the Qin Empire had already collapsed.
Fearing that Zhao Gao might murder him too, the new King had Zhao Gao
executed.
Chapter 6 from the Shi Ji (史記)
by Sima Qian (司馬遷)
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
All rights reserved 2002
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Yoon-Ngan CHUNG
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