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During the Spring and Autumn Period, King Chu Ping mistakenly listened to greedy words and killed all doctors and the whole family. Wu Zixu, the second son of Wu She (Wu Yuan, also known as "Xu Shen"), went through all kinds of hardships, fled to the State of Wu, became an important official of the State of Wu, and then led an army to attack Ying, the capital of Chu. Legend has it that Wu Zixu avenged his father and his brother. He once dug the tomb of King Chu Ping and tied the body of King Chu Ping three hundred times.
For this legend, there are two different records of "whipping corpse" and "whipping grave" in ancient literature, but in recent years there has been a view that "whipping corpse" and "whipping grave" are completely denied.
First, the theory of flogging. "Historical Records Wu Taibo Family" says: "Zi Xu and Ai Bo whipped the corpse king to avenge their father." Biography of Historical Records of Wu Zixu said: "When he entered Ying, Wu Zixu asked for the king, but he could not. He dug the tomb of King Chu Ping and gave his body 300 lashes, and then he has. " It can be seen that Sima Qian's record of this matter should be correct. Yang Xiong's "Fa Li Yanzhong" also said this, and then criticized Wu Zixu for "flogging the body, which is not moral."
Zhao Ye's Record of Wu Yue Chun Qiu not only recorded the plot of "digging graves and whipping corpses", but also added "covering your stomach with your left foot and covering your eyes with your right hand, saying,' Who told you to slap my father and brother to death?' "... According to this view, it is well-founded to say that Wu Zixu dug graves and whipped corpses.
Second, the whip grave said. This statement was first recorded in Lu Chunqiu's Punctuality, saying that Wu Zixu "personally shot the palace and flogged 300 Jingping tombs." "Gu Liangchuan Ding Gong Four Years" said that he "leveled the king's tomb". "Huai Nan Zi Tai Xun" and "Yue Jue Shu Jing Wang Ping Chuan" all say that Wu Zixu lashed the grave. Judging from the historical value of ancient documents, Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals was written 100 years earlier than Historical Records, so the historical events of Chu should be credible. In this way, Wu Zixu just flogged the grave three hundred times, without digging the grave and flogging the corpse.
Third, negative theory. In the third issue of Journal of Wuhan University (1985), Zhang Jun published the article "Did Wu Zixu dig graves and whip corpses", which completely overthrew the two theories of "whipping corpses" and "whipping corpse graves". In his view, Wu Zixu didn't dig a grave and whip the corpse, nor did he lash the grave to vent his anger, nor did he even take part in the battle to break it.
The main reasons are as follows: First, the earliest and most authoritative historical records in the Spring and Autumn Period, such as Spring and Autumn Annals, never mentioned this matter. Zuo Zhuan only recorded the killing of Wu She's family by King Chu Ping, and used the style of condemning and sympathizing with Wu Zixu. Qu Yuan also praised it and quoted it from Wu Zixu.
Second, the Wu army invaded the capital of Chu, which was when Confucius was alive. Confucius is the most intolerant of traitors and thieves. Wu Zixu led Wu into the room, dug graves and whipped corpses, which was a heinous crime, but Confucius never mentioned anything. Third, The Four-year Biography of Ram Ding Gong clearly recorded Wu Zixu's idea of loyalty to the monarch and not taking personal revenge: "I will not do anything for my father's unfaithfulness and revenge." Subjectively, he doesn't want to dig graves or whip corpses, which is very important.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Wu Zixu whips the corpse