I start these translations with a rendering of the biography of the famous merchant Lü Buwei (chapter 85 of the Historical Records), which provides the source for believing that he was the father of the First Emperor of Qin. The story begins in the fortieth year of the reign of King Zhaoxiang, which was 267 BC.
LÜ BUWEI was an important merchant from Yangdi. As he travelled about, he bought cheap and sold dear, and his household amassed a fortune worth thousands of jin.*
In the fortieth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin the Crown Prince died. In his forty-second year his next son, Lord Anguo, was made crown prince. Lord Anguo had more than twenty sons. He had a concubine whom he especially loved so that he immediately made her his chief consort, and she was entitled the Lady Huayang. But she was childless. One of Lord Anguo’s sons was called Zichu, and his mother, the concubine Xia, was not loved. Zichu became a hostage-son* of Qin in Zhao. Qin frequently attacked Zhao, so Zhao did not treat Zichu with very much ceremony.
As a grandson of the ruler of Qin and the son of a concubine sent as hostage to another state, Zichu was not liberally supplied with carriages and other resources, but dwelt in harsh conditions and could not get what he wanted. Lü Buwei was in Handan* on business, and when he met him he felt pity for him. ‘This rare commodity should be invested in,’ he said. Accordingly he went to see Zichu. ‘I can make your establishment grand,’ he said. Zichu laughed. ‘You should make your own establishment grand, and then afterwards make mine grand!’ he exclaimed. ‘You are not getting the point,’ said Lü Buwei. ‘To become grand my establishment depends on yours.’
Zichu at heart understood what he meant, so he led him off to sit with him and talk frankly. ‘The King of Qin has grown old,’ said Lü Buwei, ‘and Lord Anguo has managed to become crown prince. I hear that Lord Anguo is especially fond of the Lady Huayang, but she is childless. But the only one who can establish a successor is the Lady Huayang. Now you, sir, have more than twenty brothers and, what is more, you occupy only a middling position among them, so that you are not highly favoured, and for a long time you have been held hostage in another state. When the Great King passes away and Lord Anguo is set up as king, you have no prospect of being able to contend for the position of crown prince with the elder sons and all those sons who are in his presence morning and evening.’
‘Yes,’ said Zichu, ‘but what am I to do about it?’ ‘You, sir, are poor and a stranger here,’ said Lü Buwei, ‘and it is not the case that you possess the means to offer gifts to relatives or secure pledges of support from visitors. Although I am poor, I beg to journey west for you with 1,000 jin and, through serving Lord Anguo and Lady Huayang, establish you as their heir.’ So Zichu bowed. ‘It will surely turn out as you plan,’ he said, ‘and I beg to be able to divide up the state of Qin and share it with you.’
Lü Buwei then gave Zichu 500 jin for his expenses and to secure pledges of support,* and spent a further 500 jin on curiosities and trinkets. At his own expense he journeyed westward to Qin and sought an interview with the elder sister of the Lady Huayang, so that she might present all such objects to the Lady Huayang. He took advantage of the opportunity to speak of Zichu’s talent and wisdom and mentioned how he had secured pledges of support in the various states. As he travelled the world, he was always saying: ‘I think of the Lady as Heaven. Day and night I weep as I think of the Crown Prince and the Lady.’
The Lady was highly delighted, so Buwei got her elder sister to tell her: ‘I have heard that, in the case of one who serves a man through beauty, when the beauty fades the love will decline. Now you serve the Crown Prince, and although you are much loved, you are childless; so, if you do not lose this opportunity to reach an early agreement with one of the princes who is talented and filial, and immediately establish him as heir and make him your son, while your husband is alive you will be deeply honoured and, after his sad loss, when the one whom you have made son becomes king, you will definitely not lose your power, and this is what is meant by “profit for ten thousand generations deriving from a single word”. If you do not plant roots while there are abundant flowers,* then as soon as your beauty fades and love has declined, even if you wanted to utter a single word, could this still be achieved? Now Zichu is a man of quality, but he realizes that he is a middle son and cannot become the heir because of his inferior rank, and his mother, too, is not favoured, so he has attached himself to Your Ladyship, and if you really take this opportunity to pick him out and make him heir, then Your Ladyship will receive favour from Qin until the end of your life.’
The Lady Huayang thought this was true and, seizing an opportunity when the Crown Prince was taking his ease, she calmly told him that Zichu, who had been taken as a hostage by Zhao, was extremely talented, and was praised by all who travelled about. Then she wept because of this. ‘I have been lucky to have been able to occupy a position in your harem,’ she said, ‘but unlucky to have no son. I would like to get Zichu immediately established as your successor, so that I may entrust my life to him.’ Lord Anguo agreed to this, and so he gave the Lady an engraved jade tally* to guarantee that he would be appointed as successor. Lord Anguo and the Lady accordingly sent generous presents to Zichu and requested that Lü Buwei would tutor him. Because of this, Zichu’s reputation thrived increasingly in the feudal states.
Lü Buwei had taken to live with him the most attractive among all the courtesans of Handan, who was also good at dancing. He became aware that she was pregnant. When Zichu was drinking with Buwei he saw her and took a fancy to her, and so he got up to propose a toast and asked for her. Lü Buwei was angry but, recalling that he had already ruined his estate for Zichu’s sake, and intended to fish for something marvellous as a result of this, he accordingly made a present of his concubine, and she concealed her pregnancy. When her time at long last came,* she gave birth to a son, Zheng. Zichu then made the concubine his wife.
In the fiftieth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Wang Yi was dispatched to lay siege to Handan; and, when the pressure was intensified, Zhao wanted to kill Zichu. Having discussed the matter with Lü Buwei, Zichu obtained his release by distributing 600 catties of gold to the officers who were guarding him. He disappeared, and made his way to the Qin army and so in this way he was able to get back home. Zhao intended to kill Zichu’s wife and child but, as she was the daughter of a powerful family in Zhao, she was able to go into hiding, and for this reason both mother and son were in the end able to survive. In the fifty-sixth year of his reign King Zhaoxiang of Qin passed away, and the Crown Prince, Lord Anguo, was set up as king, and the Lady Huayang became queen and Zichu became crown prince. Zhao also arranged for Zichu’s wife and son, Zheng, to be sent home to Qin.
One year after he was set on the throne the King of Qin passed away. His posthumous name* was King Xiaowen. Crown Prince Zichu was set on the throne in his place, and he was to become King Zhuangxiang. The one whom King Zhuangxiang had treated as mother became Queen Dowager Huayang and his real mother, Lady Xia, was honoured with the title of Queen Dowager Xia. In the first year of King Zhuangxiang, Lü Buwei was appointed chief minister and enfeoffed as Marquis of Wenxin, to enjoy the revenues from 100,000 households in Henan and Luoyang.
Three years after he ascended the throne King Zhuangxiang passed away and Crown Prince Zheng was set up as king. He honoured Lü Buwei by making him chief minister, and entitled him ‘uncle’.* Since the King of Qin was young, the Queen Dowager from time to time had illicit relations in secret with Lü Buwei. And Buwei had a myriad household servants.
At this time there flourished Lord Xinling* in Wei, Lord Chunshen in Chu, Lord Pingyuan in Zhao, and Lord Mengchang in Qi, all of whom had men of action under them and took delight in entertaining visitors so as to subvert each other. On account of the strength of Qin, Lü Buwei was ashamed at not being equal to them, and so he also welcomed men of action and treated them generously. Thus he attracted dependants to the number of 3,000 men. At this time in the various states there were many disputants, for example people like Xun Qing,* and the books they wrote spread throughout the world. So Lü Buwei made each of his dependants write down what he had learnt, and their combined observations were made into eight surveys, six discussions, and twelve records, more than 200,000 words in all. He thought that this gave a complete account of everything in Heaven and Earth and of matters both ancient and modern, and it was called the Springs and Autumns of Lü.* It was displayed at the gateway of Xianyang market, and 1,000 jin were hung above it. Itinerant scholars and dependants of the rulers of the various states were invited, and anyone of them who could add or subtract a single word was to be given 1,000 jin.
The First Emperor* was growing up, but the Queen Dowager’s immoral behaviour did not cease. Lü Buwei was afraid that disaster would befall himself if they were discovered, so he secretly sought out Lao Ai, a man with a large penis, and made him a retainer. Sometimes, to the strains of licentious music, he made Lao Ai walk along with a wheel of tong-wood attached to his penis, and he ensured that the Queen Dowager heard about it so that she might be tempted. And when she heard, she did indeed want to get hold of him in private. Lü Buwei accordingly presented Lao Ai, but fraudulently got someone to report him for a crime that merited castration. Buwei then told the Queen Dowager on the quiet: ‘If it were possible to perform a bogus castration, then he could be handed over to serve in the palace.’
The Queen Dowager accordingly paid generous bribes on the quiet to the officer in charge of castration and, when Lao Ai had been falsely condemned, his beard and eyebrows were plucked out so that he could play the part of an eunuch, and consequently he was able to serve the Queen Dowager. The Queen Dowager secretly had intercourse with him and became extremely fond of him. Becoming pregnant, the Queen Dowager feared that other people would become aware of it, so she pretended that an oracle had said that she ought to withdraw for a time, so she left the palace to reside at Yong. Lao Ai was in constant attendance and she was extremely generous in her rewards, and matters were all decided by Lao Ai, who had several thousand household servants, and more than 1,000 of the various aliens who sought official positions became retainers of Lao Ai.
In the seventh year* of the First Emperor, King Zhuangxiang’s mother, the Queen Dowager Xia, passed away. The consort of King Xiaowen, known as Queen Dowager Huayang, was buried in the same grave as King Xiaowen at Shouling. Since Queen Dowager Xia’s son King Zhuangxiang was buried at Zhiyang, consequently Queen Dowager Xia* had made arrangements for herself to be buried separately east of Du, saying: ‘On the east I shall gaze towards my son, and on the west I shall gaze towards my husband. In 100 years’ time there ought to be a city of 10,000 households at my side.’
In the ninth year of the First Emperor there was a report that Lao Ai was really not an eunuch and that he regularly indulged in secret improprieties with the Queen Dowager, who had given birth to two children, both of whom had been concealed. He had plotted with the Queen Dowager, saying: ‘Once the King passes away, we will make our son succeed.’ At that the King of Qin handed him over to the law officers for trial and, when all the facts had been obtained, Chief Minister Lü Buwei was implicated in the affair. In the ninth month Lao Ai was wiped out with all his kinsmen, and the two children born of the Queen Dowager were put to death, and then the Queen Dowager was removed to Yong. All Lao Ai’s retainers lost their property and were deported to Shu.* The King had intended to condemn Lü Buwei to death, but because of the greatness of the services that he had performed for his predecessor, together with the fact that the visitors and disputants who spoke up on his behalf as they travelled about were numerous, the King could not bear to bring the law on him.
In the tenth month of the tenth year of the King of Qin, Lü Buwei was dismissed from being chief minister. When Mao Jiao, a man of Qi, advised accordingly, the King of Qin welcomed the Queen Dowager back from Yong and restored her to Xianyang and sent Lü Buwei, as Marquis of Wenxin, off to his fief in Henan.
After just over a year visitors and emissaries from the various states were always in sight of each other on the road as they took invitations to the Marquis of Wenxin. The King of Qin was afraid that they were making a revolt, so he bestowed a letter on the Marquis of Wenxin saying: ‘What have you achieved for Qin that Qin should have enfeoffed you in Henan to enjoy the revenue from 100,000 households? What intimacy have you shown towards Qin that you should be entitled “uncle”? You are to remove yourself together with your family and followers and go and live in Shu!’ Lü Buwei reckoned that he was gradually being put under pressure and was afraid that he would be sentenced to death, so he drank poison and died. Once Lü Buwei and Lao Ai, with whom the King of Qin had grown increasingly angry, were both dead, he recalled all Lao Ai’s retainers who had been deported to Shu.
In the nineteenth year of the First Emperor, the Queen Dowager passed away. She was given the posthumous title of Empress Dowager, and she was buried in the same grave as King Zhuangxiang at Zhiyang.
The Grand Historiographer* says: ‘Buwei and Lao Ai were honoured, and the former was enfeoffed as Marquis of Wenxin. When somebody reported Lao Ai, Ai heard about it. But when the King of Qin interrogated those close to him, the truth was not yet revealed. But when the Supreme One* went to Yong to perform the sacrifice at the bounds, Lao Ai was afraid that disaster would arise, and so he plotted together with his clique to pretend that he had the Queen Dowager’s authority and to send troops to bring about an uprising at Qinian palace. But officers were sent to attack Ai, who was defeated and fled. He was pursued and beheaded at Haozhi, and subsequently his clan was wiped out. And it was in consequence of this that Lü Buwei was driven out. What Master Kong meant by “the man of reputation”* surely refers to Master Lü?’