1965 Hubei China an unassuming sword in a black lacquered scabbard was discovered in a tomb that that's over two thousand years old when is the archaeologist and sheared the sword and they were astonished to discover a miraculously untarnished razor-sharp blade the bronze sword was so sharp it cut one of the archaeologists handling it and when tested by running it along a thick stack of papers it shipped through all 20 sheets with the ease this discovery raised a lot of questions the first one being what the heck were they doing running around and cutting stuff up with a priceless piece of archaeological artifact but putting the question of professionalism aside is the next most obvious question to ask was whose sword is this luckily for this mop the name of the owner is literally inscribed on the sword written in a very ancient bird and worm seal script it says made by and for the personal use of the king of New Year no way this can't be right this is too good to be true after spending months arguing about the ownership of this sword this time by qualified scholars and researchers and they concluded is that the sword indeed belong to the king of un goujian this this is not just a big deal it's a historically big deal goujian is a man whose exploits they make idioms out of he's the man who defeated sons whose army yes the very same Sun Tzu who wrote the art of war the most important war manual ever in history and that was just a beginning for him wait until you hear the rest of this MATLAB story it's even crazier than the sword I tell you goujian lived during the spring and autumn period not much is known about his childhood historical records of him started when he ascended the throne to become the king of ua after the death of his father in 496 BCE by this period China wasn't unified yet the future king of Qin Qin Sawan will achieve this in a couple of hundred years in 221 BCE becoming the first emperor but in goujian's time the state of UA was just one of the many states that's nominally subordinate to the Zhou Dynasty and it's a puny one at that it is located in the east of what would be China today but it was considered deep south east at the time because China had not expanded to its current size today to the north of us was the state of Wu its rival state it was bigger meaner and also the Alpha state of the period and its King Hurley was the hegemon of the time what happened was that the ruling Zhou Dynasty had divided its land their kings and Nobles making them that they facto rulers of their respective states being the hegemon means that rule of the leading superpower and the other states looked up to them for leadership arbitration and even security how did you cut so powerful you asked well perhaps one of the reason is simply because soon su worked there by the way just to let you know I will be using the commonly accepted English pronunciation of these names because I'm sure some of you will be more familiar with them and it is also hard for me to switch languages mid-sentence all right back to the topic in 496 BCE Wu is in a bit of a slump because a decade ago in 500 oh six BCE King Helu leading his generals Sun Tzu and woods issue defeated the powerful state of truth in a series of battles and captured its capital but they were defeated when the state of Qin to the west unexpectedly decided to send reinforcements against her Liu who make the matter worse her loose brother suddenly decided to claim the throne for himself so Hurley had no choice but to return to ask to deliver some brotherly love at the end of his murderous thick but the lucky scamp got away a decade after the the satyr setback now Hurley I say smaller prize the state of you was grieving the death of their former king now now go Jen my boy losing a loved one is a painful affair but worse things could have happened but what could possibly be worse than this and he invaded us we don't know if Sun Tzu had personally participated in his war but according to the records he was still alive in the years leading to this campaign and he had presented her Lee with the art of war so with or without Sousou this army carries the essence of his strategic genius and it proved itself to be as deadly as you would imagine tiny little UA had no chance whatsoever against Wu in a conventional warfare they kept losing and losing until goujian in his desperation launched a suicide attack literally he divided his army into three and ordered the soldiers in the front row to commit literal suicide by cutting themselves in the throat borås got no chill if you thought that was documental imagine how the war soldiers reactant the distraction worked the UN forces launches a price attack and proceeded to mop the floor with a dumbfounded ghoul soldiers in the ensuing battle curlew was wounded his big toe was lopped off and his forces were power elite rounds goujian's called a near impossible victory against an overwhelming odds Hurley died shortly after returning the womb and since who also died the same year though through unknown cause but hey he will take all the good music and get the state of Wu is no longer a threat to you right now the Badger but this was just the beginning and the things are going to get even Wilder from here on before his death her loose last message to his crown prince boots high was never forget yeah now that his King yay which I immediately implemented his father's message into action and started reforming the blue army Cochin did not know it at the time but this young man will soon become his lifelong archrival for the next two years everything went swimmingly for Cochin the Sun was shining the flowers blooming and best of all not a single soldier inside Your Majesty whoa is in the process of amassing a force to attack our state so they want war then a war they will get this time Cochin is taking the initiative he is now older more experienced and he still got that big peepee energy from his victory two years ago so he's launching a preemptive strike to catch them off guard and you lost your majesty didn't I tell you that woo is still too strong and you should have waited for a better opportunity yes you did fondly yes you did now what am I supposed to do patience my king patience goujian's force was brought to near annihilation and his fate was in jeopardy so he had no choice but to surrender and let you a become a vessel of Wu this way at least you a will survive but the grudge between goujian and foutch i ran too deep so if this deal is not going to be signed so easily even after bribing a corrupt Wu Minister the best deal they could get out of the negotiation still involves sending goujian and his wife to the court of wu as slaves and so they went with fun Li is most trusted minister in tow well at least I'm still alive there is hope for us yet family will return to air and I will be king again a bit of slave four will do me no harm I will just sleep in and enjoy the Wolsey breeze on my days off and time will fly in a blink of the eye days off your majesty please allow me to explain the intricacies slavery to you together a toilet as slaves for three long years without a single peep of complaint there are utter subservience oppressed foutch high so much even felt that it was safe to send them back but life is never so easy there were rumblings of objections and even murder plots against goujian coming from ruse ministers so he had to take a drastic measure sometime later which I fell sick which and knew that his chance had come so he went to his masters chamber and waited outside not long after a chamber Minister emerged there's his chance he thought goujian rushed him and wrapped the chamber pot he stuck his finger into the content and immediately proceeds to his finger into his mouth congratulations okay you shall recover soon what the [ __ ] did you just do well that's excellent news but you he pretended to diagnose foutch eyes illness by tasting his stool he lied by saying that he had received training from an expert physician who can diagnose illness by tasting human waste this charade was actually a desperate gambit by coach yet a few days earlier Fundy who was well versed in the art of divination had predicted that Fukai will recover from his illness but nobody can truly know the wills of the heavens even the best diviners failed more often than they had succeeded nevertheless playing this charade to demonstrate his unwavering subservience was his only ticket out of here so he had to do whatever he can to earn this extra part of the pan brownie points if the prediction comes true he will be hailed as a devoted servant nay a hero even but if he was wrong then not only that he had humiliated himself he would also have condemned himself for lying to the king sometime later came for chai recovered it worked butchaiah was so impressed by goujian's brown-nosing and willingness to humiliate himself he held a banquet in his honor before releasing him back to you eh oh no too close I can smell your breath once his home go change we continued to serve you as a dutiful vassal state fulfilling all of whose extraordin whims to fuel food choice campaign against the northern states and secure his claim as the new hegemon yeah but covertly he nursed is grudge and constantly reminded himself of the bitterness of his humiliation by sleeping on course brushwood and tasting core vengeance will be mine so he made a series of the most passive aggressive moves ever in Chinese history hey do you like towers knowing that push I had a penchant for massive construction projects which and sent as much of the best lumber as he can to fuel his buildings pre exhausting the woop a Centauri who had to work on the projects and draining the treasury for every peasant working on the construction project it means less food was produced and less tax income Hey do you like girls then to distract food child from stately affairs goujian sent the most beautiful women in the land to serve him one of them she will be recorded in history as one of the four most beautiful woman in the history of China ambitious crossovers man hey can i buy grains to twist the proverbial knife deeper into few choice back he faked the famine and bought as much grain from you as possible promising to return them next year in the form of the finest quality seeds for one year later before they sent the seeds to wu goujian ordered them to be boiled thus the seeds will produce no crops but once they realize this it will already be too late andrew was plunged into famine while all of this was happening coach and lived a humble frugal life working among his people he reformed his economy and trained his army with the best instructors regardless of their background and genders he even employed a famous source woman from the sub Turan forest and trained his soldiers in the art of sword fighting she also happened to be the first source woman to be recorded in history who was later known as the maiden of un but that's a story for another time after a decade of planning in 482 VCE while foutch I was in the North attending a summit with other state leaders goujian finally found the opportunity to launch his long-awaited attack sure dick move but there is no better opportunity for him to strike is then now which I had brought his best troops to the summit and left only the weak and old of God room with his army of fifty thousand men og encrusted at the ineffective defenders captured the count Prince and executed double dick move he then also burned foot ice palace for a third triple whammy are you alright which I yes everything is fine who is an under attack of my son is still alive and my palace isn't burning at all puts high not wanting to lose face in front of the other state leaders and jeopardize his status as hegemon pretended that nothing had happened but once the summit was over he immediately returned to sue for peace with you eh even though his initial attack was successful coach Ian was not strong enough to finish off the wolf forces so he accepted the peace nevertheless whose days were numbered in the next few years coach Ian poacher ously crushed move bit by bit before an Xing it which I not wanting to bear the shame of becoming goujian slave committed suicide the war between wu and yue a finally ended in 473 BCE on the same year after a round of shrewd diplomatic moves goujian was proclaimed hegemon it wasn't known exactly when coach enforced his sword but its discovery in who bait matched history because six generations after coach Ian's rule who anyway was annexed by true it is not hard to imagine that the sword could have come into the possession of a true nobility and it was buried with him as a prized possession the spearhead of which hai spear was also discovered in the same area years after the sword was found but it warm or tarnished compared to goujian sword goujian's victory immortalized his practice of sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall into a Chinese idiom war scenes hanged on which means enduring hardship to achieve something great or oh damn this mofo is trying to backstab you in the sinus fear Japan Korea and Vietnam goujian is generally considered an inspirational figure his perseverance against hardship to achieve greatness is a model to be emulated but some consider him to be a treacherous and vindictive man returning mercy with betrayal he is certainly a complicated figure but what do you think is he a hero or a villain comment below and share your opinion if you'd like to see more kick-ass contents on myth legend histories and culture from Asia and other parts of the world then remember to subscribe and click on the belt button until next time stay cool my bros