A Thousand Pieces of Gold Read Online Free PDF

attackers could be held off by fewer than twenty thousand men. When a Qin general sent his troops to descend on the enemy, it was like a giant emptying a pail of water from the pinnacle of a tall building.
    Merchant Lu Buwei was born in the state of Wei but lived and prospered in the state of Haan for a few years before moving to Zhao. Like many traders, he traveled frequently from state to state while buying cheap and selling dear. By the year 265 B.C.E. he had already made a fortune and was known to be a very wealthy man.
    At that time Qin was governed by King Zao, whose reign would last for fifty-five years. Between 275 and 270 B.C.E. Qin defeated the armies of Wei and Chu so convincingly that both states were forced to deed over large tracts of land during the peace negotiations. Flushed with victory, King Zao turned his attention north and attacked Zhao in 270 B.C.E. This time the Qin troops were defeated by the well-disciplined Zhao army. Qin sued for peace, and as was the custom, the two states exchanged royal princes to act as hostages in each other’s countries to guarantee the peace treaty.
    Instead of sending his oldest son, the crown prince, as a hostage, King Zao dispatched Prince Zi Chu, who was one of his grandsons and the son of Prince An Guo, his second son. Like many princes of royal blood, Prince An Guo had a favorite wife and many concubines. His favorite wife was barren, but he had more than twenty sons by his other wives. When Prince An Guo was commanded by his father to send one of his sons to the state of Zhao, it was easy for him to dispatch Prince Zi Chu because Zi Chu’s mother was one of his least favorite concubines.
    Life as a hostage in an alien state was a precarious affair much dreaded by the princes. Should hostilities resume between the two states, thehostage prince would be an easy and convenient target on whom the people could vent their anger. There was even the likelihood of being murdered or executed.
    After arriving in Zhao, Prince Zi Chu was forgotten by his royal family back home. He was provided with a very modest residence in the Guest House district of Handan, capital city of Zhao. The other aristocrats in the city held him in contempt, noting that he lived shabbily under straitened circumstances, without even a decent carriage.
    As time went by, the relationship between the two states (Qin and Zhao) gradually worsened. Skirmishes were frequent, with aggressive posturing on both sides. After each dispute, Zi Chu’s privileges were further curtailed. He had no choice but to endure in silence the mounting insults, deplorable living conditions, diminished rations, reduced allowance, and other forms of abuse. Ignored by his own family and ostracized by the people of Zhao, Prince Zi Chu was destitute. But then Merchant Lu Buwei came into his life.
    After migrating from the state of Haan to Zhao, Merchant Lu had prospered even further. Now immensely wealthy, he decided to settle down in Handan, which at that time enjoyed the reputation of being the most cultured and sophisticated capital city of the seven states. The city was so renowned it even had its own proverb. Taken from the book of Zhuang Zi (written ?300 B.C.E. ), Handan xue bu translates like this: “Handan’s women are so beautiful and its music so superb that youths everywhere try to simulate the elegance of the natives, even imitating the way they walk.” It refers to those who lose their original self by slavishly imitating the ways of others.
    By sheer chance, Merchant Lu heard that Prince Zi Chu was being held hostage in the same city and was in straitened circumstances. More important, he learned that Zi Chu’s father, Prince An Guo, had just been proclaimed (the year before, in 266 B.C.E. ) as crown prince of Qin following the death of his older brother. It dawned on the merchant that Prince Zi Chu himself now stood a chance of becoming heir to the throne of the most powerful state under Heaven.
    Merchant Lu asked