Redux
Lord Hui of Wei agreed on a treaty with Marquis Wei of Qi. When Marquis of Wei violated it, Lord Hui was enraged and was planning to send a man to assassinate him.
When Gongsun Yan, the Minister of War, heard of this he regarded it as a shame and said, “you are the ruler of ten thousand chariots and you seek to avenge yourself on your enemy using the means of a common man. I beg you to let me lead two hundred thousand soldiers to attack him.
I will capture his people and take his cattle and horses, making him burn from within to his backbone. I shall then storm the capital, and when he flees in terror, I will strike from behind and break his spine.”
Zhuangzi trans. by Hyun Höchsmann and Yang Guorong, Book 25 Zeyang
The last chapter of the Zhuangzi is in view. Eight more remain, and then I will have reached the end.
This dialog between three officials of state captured my imagination. Is there any real difference between attitudes and manner of expression of two thousand five hundred years ago, and the present? Here speaks an enraged head of state, feeling violated. Was the response to the broken agreement commensurate with the harm that was caused? Was any harm at all caused? Who is to say?
Given that the commander in chief is determined to express his rage by killing the individual responsible for the violation and then, the Minister of War weighs in. I have a better idea he says. Won’t you allow me to make a statement on your behalf? I am prepared to unleash a 200,000 man army to lay waste the culprit’s countryside. Then I’ll lay siege to his capital city, and he will attempt to flee.
Allow me to break him in two!
As of February 23, 2026, the United States military has carried out at least 44 strikes against 45 vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing at least 151 people since early September 2025. – Google
