| Zhong and Li: |
Someone asked: Qin Shi Huang and Xiang Yu both received Tian's mandate to rule, but Qin Shi Huang was strangled on the Ba River, and Xiangyu was cut into pieces at Hong Xi. Why were they cast aside so quickly?
Yangzi said: Tian honors glorious de and overthrows excessive corruption. In the past the Yellow Emperor, Gao Yang, Gao Xin, Tang, Shun and the Three Dynasties all clearly manifested de. Thus Tian honored them, used them to unite Heaven and Earth, and placed them in the Imperial Hall. This is what the people desired, and long did their kingdoms flourish. Xiang Yu and the Qin Shi Huang, on the other hand, ruled by force, feuded quarrelsomely, terrorized, and attacked each other. They coldly rejected the three proper daos of Heaven, Earth and Man and their reputation for cruelty spread among the masses. Even their own children and followers wanted to kill them, how much more so their people? How much more so ghosts and spirits? They could not have been done away with fast enough! |
