Brutal Force Has not Won Anything Durable - Book Report/Review Example

 Brutal Force Has not Won Anything Durable The wise saying goes that ‘brutal force has not won anything durable’. Many famous kings during the medieval era, conquered territories, built empires and ultimately the empires perished due to the cumulative effect of the sins that once contributed to the growth of empires. Emperor Ying Zheng, King of the State of Qin (later known as Emperor Qin Shi Huang) falls into the category of ambitious rulers. Designs of destiny must have brought Jing Ki, into the ambit of influence of Prince Dan, who believed in the conquest of enemy territory by murdering the enemy. During his adventurous wanderings happened to come to Yan. He had the knack of mixing freely with the poor section of the society and he was willing to help them in their difficulties. Both of them developed instant rapport and by that time, Prince Dan had made up this mind that he had the right man with him to accomplish his political ambitions, through his plan of assassination. Winning the deep trust of Jing De was his first task, for which he initiated a public relations exercise spree, by keeping at his disposal a series of perquisites. A luxurious mansion was constructed and lavish food arrangements were made for him on regular basis. He kept at his disposal his chosen chariot. Some of the temptations to which Jing Ke succumbed were: The King made available gold pellets for the sport of hitting turtles in the pond. Earlier, Jing made use of the pebble. Once, during the hunting expedition, Jing Ke mentioned about the tasty dish made from the liver of the horse. The king immediately had his finest horse butchered to fulfil the desire of the palate of Jing Ke. With the cementing of the relationship, it was time for Prince Dan to make use of the strength and talents to tackle the enemy. In the meantime Qin troops were being regrouped and were making preparations for the attack. . Prince Dan revealed his long-cherished plan of killing King of Qin. Jing Ke was also thinking on similar lines and they found themselves on the common ground. But the issue was how to reach the king and meet him face to face. He proceeded further like an intelligent general, and worked out the basics needed for the execution of the plan. First, he sought the map of the Dukang District. That was not a difficult task. Next he wanted Yan Yuqi to sacrifice his head, as he had crossed over from Qin to Yan and was on the hit-list of Qin. By accomplishing these two things, Jing Ke hoped for a personal audience with the King and once that is granted it will be easy to kill him. The ease with which Jing Ke set out on his first task seems incredible. He reached out to Fan Yuqi and revealed to him about the details of the murder plot. Succumbing to his line argument, and to save the Yan dynasty, Yuqi offered his head at the sacrificial altar. Earlier the Prince had given a knife with a poisonous blade and also a trusted man, Qin Wuyang, to go with Jing Ke. As the story of the adventure goes, they succeed in getting a meeting with the King. But the man who accompanied Jing Ke was not that brave and in the presence of the King his hands began to tremble. The king suspected something fishy but Jing Ke assured the King that his accomplice was overawed with the audience with the King. Jing Ke approached the King with the box holding the head of his enemy which the King sought, and the map scroll in which he had cleverly hidden the poisonous knife. In the process of unrolling the map, the knife was exposed and quick action followed. The King, taken aback, stepped aside hurriedly but Jing Ke was even quicker, he leapt at the King and gripped him by the jacket with the pointed knife ready to pierce his flesh. The King with great alacrity shook away and the knife reached up to his sleeve only and tore it off. The stunt was on and the King leapt behind a column hotly pursued by Jing Ke. As per the tight security arrangements around the King, no one with a firearm was allowed in his presence. The retainers present there had nothing except empty hands to fight or defend. But the physician intervened with his medicine box between the two fighters. Making use of the moment’s interval, the King took out his sword and separated Jing Ke’s left leg. In a last ditch battle Jing Ke threw the knife at the king only to miss the mark. In the meanwhile the guards hurried from outside and killed Jing Ke and his partner and thus the assassination attempt was foiled. Jing Ke was the ancient version of the modern contract killers. He was on a ‘noble mission’ to exterminate one of the most cruel kings in China’s history but what was interesting and the act that could be considered noble was the great sacrifice of Fan Yuqi, who willingly sliced of his head to save the honor of Prince Dan. The study of personality of Jing Ke in retrospect The important characteristic of Jing Ke was his ability to get along with the common man, and yet he kept his essential dignity, an important leadership trait that would remold the history of China. Communist philosophy is common man’s philosophy, till the Communists leaders reach the portals of power. Once they are in the seat of power, of what use would be the common man for them? He is just a unit in the production schedule of the state. Jing Ke mixed freely with the people, including the drunkards, and yet he maintained his essential dignity as a strong warrior. His association was also with the feudal lords, and men of great worth and excellence. He loved books. The meeting with the king was cleverly manipulated and this showed the ambassadorial skills of Jing Ke. Lavish gifts were arranged for being presented to the King and the scene was created as if Prince Dan wished to surrender and he was sending his trusted ambassador to pay obeisance. The delighted king was taken in and he agreed to give the audience. In the process of meeting the King, an important incident took place and the manner in which Jing Ke tackled it indicated his extraordinary presence of mind. When Jing Ke was proceeding with the box containing the head closely followed by Qin Wuyang, the latter turned purple, fear seized him, the shadow of the guilt showed on his face. The courtiers wondered at this development but Jing Ke dismissed that with a smile and said that he pitied this common man of the northern barbarians, who had never seen the royal palace of a King. As such he was trembling with fear. He sought pardon of the king for his weak disposition and requested permission for him alone to move forward towards the king. He addressed himself as the humble emissary. And finally made an attempt to assassinate him! Here is the important lesson for the Heads of countries in the modern times. When a country shows more than required interest and friendship that should create immediate suspicion as for the intentions of the so-called friendly country. Eternal vigilance is the watchwords for a Head of a country. Read More