Chen Sheng has already been referred to a number of times as one of those who led the rebellions that toppled the Qin Dynasty. An account of his life forms chapter 48 of the Historical Records.
CHEN SHENG was a man of Yangcheng. His courtesy name was She. Wu Guang was a man of Yangxia, and his courtesy name was Shu. When Chen Sheng was young, he was once ploughing with others for hire. He stopped ploughing and went to the top of a hillock and spent a long time there looking dissatisfied. ‘Should one of us become rich and noble,’ he said, ‘there will be no forgetting the rest.’ The hired labourers laughed. ‘If we are ploughing for hire,’ they said, ‘how shall we become rich and noble?’ ‘Alas!’ said Chen Sheng with a huge sigh, ‘How does a swallow or a sparrow understand the ambition of a wild swan?’
In the seventh month of the first year of the Second Emperor people who were not liable to compulsory service were sent forth to guard Yuyang, and 900 men made camp at Dazexiang. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang had both been due to go, and they had been made heads of the camp. But it happened to rain heavily and the road became impassable, and they reckoned that they were already too late for the appointed time. And if they were too late, by law they should all be executed. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang accordingly plotted together. ‘If we desert, we shall die,’ they said, ‘but if we set great plans in motion, we shall also die. If we are awaiting death, would it be possible for us to die for our country?’
‘All under Heaven has for a long time suffered bitterly under Qin,’ said Chen Sheng. ‘I hear that the Second Emperor is a younger son, who ought not to have been set on the throne. The one who ought to have been set on the throne is in fact Prince Fusu. Because Fusu made frequent remonstrances the Emperor made him take command of troops away from the capital. Now someone has heard that the Second Emperor has put him to death although he is guilty of no crime. The common people hear much of his fine qualities and do not yet know that he has died. Xiang Yan is a Chu general who has had frequent successes and is fond of his officers and soldiers, so that the men of Chu feel sympathetic towards him. Some think he has died, but others think he has deserted. Now if we, with the support of our gang, were falsely to call ourselves Prince Fusu and Xiang Yan, we would become leaders of all under Heaven, for naturally there would be many who would come over to us.’
Wu Guang thought that this was true, so they went to consult the oracle. The diviner was aware that they were indicating their intentions, so he said: ‘Your enterprises, gentlemen, will all be completed, and you will have success. But you gentlemen should consult the spirits about it!’ Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were delighted but, recalling mention of the spirits, they said: ‘This is merely instructing us to make our gang stand in awe of us before we do anything else.’ So they wrote on a piece of silk with cinnabar, saying, ‘Chen Sheng will be king,’ and put it in the belly of a fish which someone had caught in a net. A soldier bought the fish and cooked it to eat, so he found the writing in the belly of the fish with the result that he was certainly amazed at it. He also secretly ordered Wu Guang to go to the shrine in the clump of trees beside the camp, where during the night, with his torch partly concealed under a basket, he howled like a fox and uttered the words: ‘Great Chu will rise up and Chen Sheng will become king.’ The soldiers all spent the night in terror, and next morning they constantly spoke among themselves, and all pointed and stared at Chen Sheng.
Wu Guang commonly showed his fondness for others, and many of the officers and soldiers would be of service to him. When the commandant was drunk, Guang on several occasions deliberately said that he intended to desert in order to make the commandant furious and cause the latter to humiliate him, so that his gang would be provoked to anger. The commandant did in fact beat Wu Guang, but his sword stuck out; so Guang got up, seized it, and killed the commandant. Chen Sheng went to his assistance and together they killed two other commandants.
They assembled the crowd of followers to give them instructions, saying: ‘Because you gentlemen had the bad luck to be rained on, you have all failed to get there on time. Failure to get there on time means you will be sentenced to have your heads cut off. Even supposing that orders were given not to cut off your heads, to be sure six or seven out of ten would die on frontier duty. Moreover if you sturdy fellows do not die, there is nothing more to say; but if you do die you will only be making yourself a great reputation, so it would be far better to have the making of kings, marquises, generals, and ministers!’ ‘We respectfully receive your commands,’ the crowd of followers all said.
Then they falsely took the names of Prince Fusu and Xiang Yan, to fit in with what the people would wish. They bared their right shoulders and proclaimed the Great Chu. An altar was built and they swore a compact, offering the heads of the commandants up in sacrifice. Chen Sheng appointed himself as general and Wu Guang as military commandant.
They attacked Dazexiang and after recruiting further troops, they attacked Qi. Qi was defeated, so they dispatched Ge Ying, a man of Fuli, in command of troops to capture the area east of Qi, and they attacked Zhi, Cus, Ku, Zhe, and Qiao and defeated them all. They recruited soldiers as they went along, and by the time they reached Chen they numbered 600 or 700 chariots, more than 1,000 horsemen, and several tens of thousands of foot-soldiers. When they attacked Chen, neither the Governor nor the magistrates were present. Only an aide of the Governor fought with them at the Qiao gate. He did not conquer them, and indeed the Governor’s aide died, and so they entered and occupied Chen. After a few days they sent out an order summoning the village headmen and the powerful local people to come and meet them and make plans for everything which had to be done. The village headmen and the powerful local people all said: ‘The general has personally put on hard armour and brandished sharp weapons to attack the unprincipled and punish cruel Qin so as to re-establish the altars of the land and grain of the state of Chu. Through his achievements he ought to become a king.’ Chen Sheng accordingly was set up as king, and was called the Magnifier of Chu.
Throughout this period all the provinces and districts which had suffered under Qin officials punished their senior administrators and put them to death in order to collude with Chen Sheng. Then he made Wu Guang an acting king so that all the other generals might go west and attack Xingyang under his supervision.
The next few pages are omitted from this translation since they contain a detailed and complicated account of the internecine struggles of the time and do not make easy reading. The deaths of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang are only briefly noticed: the latter was executed by his fellow-officers because of his arrogance and ignorance of military matters, and Chen Sheng was murdered by his charioteer.
Chen Sheng was king for six months in all, and when he became king he ruled over Chen. An old friend of his, who had once been a hired ploughman with him, heard about this and came to Chen. He knocked on the palace gate and said: ‘I want to see Sheng.’ The palace gatekeeper wanted to tie him up, but he persisted in explaining himself, so he let him go, but refused to give him access. When the King of Chen came out, he blocked his path and shouted out ‘Sheng’. When the King of Chen heard him, he did in fact summon him to interview, and rode back in the carriage together with him. When he entered the palace and saw the furnishings of the halls and residences, the guest said: ‘Gosh! Sheng’s made a pile since he’s been king!’ The people of Chu say ‘pile’ when they mean a lot, so the saying ‘Pile Sheng became king’ was passed down throughout the world, originating with Chen Sheng. The guest had constant access and made himself increasingly comfortable, and spoke about what the King of Chen used to be like. Someone said to the King of Chen: ‘The guest is stupid and ignorant and his simple-minded chatter is weakening your authority.’ So the King of Chen cut off his head. All the old friends of the King of Chen took themselves off, and from then on there was nobody who was on close terms with the King of Chen.
The King of Chen appointed Zhu Fang as his Rector* and Hu Wu as his Minister of Faults to take charge of all the officials. When the various generals arrived after capturing territory and there was anything they had done which was not according to instructions, they detained them and brought charges against them, for they regarded vexatious cross-questioning as loyalty. Those whom they disapproved of they did not hand over to the law officers, but they themselves immediately tried them. The King of Chen employed them in good faith, but for this reason all the generals felt no attachment to him, and this is why he was ruined.
Although Chen Sheng was already dead, the marquises, kings, generals, and ministers whom he had appointed and sent forth* in the end wiped out Qin, and the process was initiated by Sheng. In the time of the Han founder, for Chen Sheng’s sake thirty families were established at Dang to look after his tomb, and he has enjoyed their sacrifices right up to the present.
The shape of the land and the difficulties of terrain are the means of becoming secure, and weapons and armour, punishments and laws, are the means of becoming well governed; but that is still not yet sufficient to depend on. For the ancient kings regarded humaneness and righteousness as the root and strong frontiers and written laws as the branches and leaves, and surely that is right! I have heard that Master Jia* has proclaimed the following:
Duke Xiao of Qin, relying on the strength of the Xiao Mountains and Hangu Pass, blocked off the territory of Yongzhou, and he and his ministers secured it firmly so as to keep watch on the house of Zhou. For he had the ambition to roll up all under Heaven like a mat, to parcel up everything in the universe, and to put everything within the four seas into a sack, indeed he had the heart to swallow up everything in all directions. During this period Lord Shang was his assistant, and at home he established laws and regulations, ensured that agriculture and weaving were regarded as of fundamental importance, and built up preparations for self-defence; while abroad, having formed alliances, he fought with other states. Thus the men of Qin effortlessly obtained territory outside the area west of the Yellow River.
After Duke Xiao’s death, Kings Huiwen, Wu, and Zhaoxiang took over the existing tasks and, employing the policies handed down to them, in the south took Hanzhong, in the west absorbed Ba and Shu, and in the east annexed fertile lands and acquired provinces of strategic importance. The feudal lords were afraid and, holding meetings to agree treaties, made plans to weaken Qin. They did not begrudge precious vessels or valuable and fertile territories in order to attract men of valour from everywhere under Heaven. They joined closely together by making north–south alliances, and collaborated to form a unity. At this time there was Mengchang in Qi, Pingyuan in Zhao, Chunshen in Chu, and Xinling in Wei, and these four lords were all men of intelligence, loyalty, and good faith. Through their generosity they showed their fondness for others, and they honoured men of quality and regarded men of valour as important. They formed a north–south alliance, uniting the multitudes of Hann, Wei, Yan, Zhao, Song, Wey, and Zhongshan. At this time among the men of valour in the Six States there were people like Ning Yue, Xu Shang, Su Qin, and Du He, who made plans for them, and the followers of Qi Ming, Zhou Ju, Chen Zhen, Shao Hua, Lou Huan, Di Jing, Su Li, and Yue Yi, who saw their plans through, and the likes of Wu Qi, Sun Bin, Dai Tuo, Er Liang, Wang Liao, Tian Ji, Lian Po, and Zhao She, who organized their soldiers. With an area ten times that of Qin and with an army 1,000,000 strong, they gazed upwards at the pass and attacked Qin. When the men of Qin opened the pass and engaged the enemy, the armies of the nine states fled and did not dare advance. Without Qin incurring the expenditure of losing a single arrow, all under Heaven had certainly been thrown into difficulties. Thereupon the north–south alliance broke up and its agreements were nullified, and the states vied with each other to bribe Qin by ceding territory. With its surplus strength, Qin was in control of their demise. They pursued the fleeing and drove them northwards, slaughtering the millions so that their shields floated on a sea of blood. Taking advantage of the situation, Qin annexed all under Heaven and split up the mountains and rivers so that the strong states begged to offer their submission and the weak states came to pay homage. This brings us to Kings Xiaowen and Zhuangxiang. Because of the brevity of their reigns the state did not undertake any enterprises.
When we come to the First Emperor, he followed with enthusiasm the abundant glories of the six reigns, brandished his long whip and drove all within the universe, swallowed up the two Zhou,* and made the feudal states disappear. He walked the path of highest honour and had under his control everything in all directions. He flogged all under Heaven with his whip, and he overawed and shook all within the four seas. In the south he took the lands of the various Yue and used them to form the provinces of Guilin and Xiang, and the lords of the various Yue bowed their heads and put nooses round their necks, and entrusted their fate to the subordinate officials. Then Meng Tian was made to go north and build the Great Wall so as to protect the frontiers, and he pushed back the Xiongnu more than 700 li, and the barbarians did not dare to come down south so as to pasture their horses, and their men of valour also did not dare to bend their bows so as to pay back their resentment.
Thereupon he got rid of the ways of the ancient kings, and burnt the sayings of the hundred schools in order to make the black-headed people stupid. He demolished famous city walls, had powerful and eminent people killed, gathered together weapons from all under Heaven and assembled them at Xianyang, where the spears and arrowheads were melted down and cast into a dozen bronze human figures, so as to weaken the people of all under Heaven. Only then did he adopt Hua as his city wall and use the Yellow River as his moat. Indeed he occupied defences of an enormous height from which to look down on unfathomed valleys in order to create security. With skilful generals and strong crossbowmen he guarded the strategic places, and trusty ministers and elite troops deployed their sharp weapons to find out who people were and where they were going. When all under Heaven had been settled, the attitude of mind of the First Emperor was such that he himself thought that the strength of the area within the passes and the 1,000 li of metal walls constituted a heritage which his descendants would enjoy as emperors for 10,000 generations.
After the death of the First Emperor, his abundant authority was shaken by strange practices. On the other hand, Chen Sheng was the offspring of a place which had tiny windows and string for door hinges, a day-labourer who had later become a conscript. His talents and abilities were inferior to those of the middling person, and it was not the case that he had the qualities of a Zhongni or a Mo Di* or the riches of a Tao Zhu or Yi Dun. After plodding along in the ranks he found himself among the captains and centurions. After leading soldiers who were weary and scattered, he took command of a host of several hundred and turned round and attacked Qin. Cutting down trees to make weapons and raising bamboo poles to make banners, all under Heaven gathered like a cloud, responded like an echo, and with abundant provisions followed him like a shadow. The powerful and eminent people east of the mountains then rose up together and demolished the house of Qin.
Moreover it is not the case that the Empire was small and weak. The territory of Yongzhou and the stronghold of the Xiao Mountains and the Hangu Pass were just as before. It is not the case that the status of Chen Sheng was more honourable than that of the Lords of Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Hann, Wei, Song, Wey, and Zhongshan. It is not the case that weapons improvised from tool handles are sharper than spears and pikes. It is not the case that a crowd of men conscripted to serve on the frontier is a superior body of men to the armies of nine states. It is not the case that in the technique of either plotting deeply or of showing forethought for the distant future or of moving armies or employing soldiers, he was the equal of the men of valour from former times. Nevertheless their completion of victories was different and their achievements were the opposite of each other. If one tried to compare the authority or measure the strength of the states east of the mountains with those of Chen Sheng, then they would not be fit to be spoken about even in the same year. And yet Qin, with its tiny territory, attained the authority of a 10,000 chariot state, oppressed the eight regions, and made people of the same rank as itself pay homage for more than 100 years. Only then did it treat the whole world as its household and Xiao and Hangu as its palace. But why is it that, when a single individual made trouble, the seven temples* collapsed, and with its ruler dying at men’s hands it became a laughingstock to all under Heaven? Because humaneness and righteousness* were not put into operation, and the qualities needed for attack and defence are different.