2. Related stories:

During the Spring and Autumn Period, wuyue was adjacent to each other and often fought wars. In 497 BC, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, led troops to attack the state of Yue, winning a great victory. The prince of Wu sent troops to pursue and besieged Gou Jian on Huiji Mountain. The situation is very critical.

At this time, Gou Jian listened to the strategy of Wen Zhong, the minister of the State of Yue, prepared some gold and silver treasures and beautiful women, and sent people to secretly give them to the princes of the king of Wu to plead with him. The king of Wu finally agreed to the peace of Gou Jian, the king of Yue, but asked Gou Jian to come to Wu to serve him.

After the surrender, Gou Jian, the king of Yue, entrusted Wen Zhong with state affairs and took his wife to the State of Wu. The couple lived in a stone house next to Focha's father's tomb, guarding the tomb and the horse. Every time he travels in Fu Cha, Gou Jian always follows him respectfully with a whip.

On one occasion, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, was ill. To show loyalty, Gou Jian tasted Fu Cha's stool with his mouth to diagnose his illness. After Fu Cha recovered from his illness, he thought Gou Jian was loyal to him and put him and his wife back in Yue.

After Gou Jian returned to China, he was determined to avenge himself. In order to hone his will, he slept on firewood every night and hung a gallbladder in the house. Every day before eating and going to bed, he tries his gallbladder to impress his sense of shame. Under his leadership, after ten years of accumulation, Yue gradually became stronger, surpassing Wu.

Gou Jian seized the opportunity and personally led troops to attack the State of Wu. Finally, Wu was defeated, and Fu Cha, the king of Wu, committed suicide. Later, people summed up this idiom as "tasting courage with hard wages" to describe people's efforts and self-motivation.