Wu–Yue Rivalry (Goujian Destroys Wu)

In the late Spring and Autumn period the states of Wu and Yue on the lower Yangtze rose in turn and fought a long, fierce struggle for hegemony. Wu, aided by Wu Zixu and Sun Wu, grew strong and once defeated Chu. In 496 BC King Helu of Wu attacked Yue and was defeated at the Battle of Zuili, dying of his wounds. His son Fuchai, vowing revenge, crushed the Yue army at Fujiao in 494 BC; King Goujian of Yue was besieged on Mount Kuaiji and had to submit and sue for peace, personally serving Fuchai in Wu. On returning home, Goujian bore the shame of his defeat in mind; it is said that he slept on brushwood and hung a gall bladder by his seat, tasting it before sitting, lying down or eating to spur himself not to forget revenge, the origin of the idiom “sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall.” Goujian employed able ministers such as Fan Li and Wen Zhong, encouraged births, developed production, lightened taxes and trained the army, and after “ten years of building up and ten years of training,” Yue grew strong. Meanwhile King Fuchai of Wu grew arrogant, listened to slander, drove the loyal Wu Zixu to death and campaigned north year after year against Qi and Jin. In 482 BC Fuchai led his elite troops to a meeting of the lords at Huangchi, and Goujian took advantage of the empty capital to attack Wu. Yue kept pressing, and in 473 BC it broke Wu; Fuchai killed himself and Wu was destroyed. Goujian then marched north and met Qi, Jin and other lords at Xuzhou, where the Zhou king sent sacrificial meat to him, recognizing him as hegemon. The rivalry was the last hegemony war of the Spring and Autumn period, and Goujian is counted among the “Five Hegemons.”