Geographic Mobility of Li Ssu 李斯
A Tale of Betrayal
Li Ssu was a scholar and statesman who rose from humble backgrounds to eventually help found the Qin Dynasty and serve as Chancellor. However, his rise to power ended suddenly when he was sentenced to death by the very emperor he helped instate. How did Li Ssu's life change so quickly, and how did his geographic mobility impact his story?
Li Ssu lived prior to and during the Qin Dynasty in Ancient China.
Li Ssu 李斯 was a native of Shang-ts’ai 上蔡 in Ch’u. He served as a minor officer in his commandery in his youth.
Li Ssu studied the arts of emperors and kings with His Excellency Hsün 荀.
After completing his study, judging that the King of Ch’u was not worth serving, and that the Six States were all weak, and there was none for which could he establish merit, he intended to go west into Ch’in. He bade farewell to His Excellency Hsün: “I have heard that when one obtains opportunity, he should not idle [it away]."
Li Ssu then sought to become a Member of the Suite of Lü Pu-wei 呂不韋, Marquis Wen-hsin 文信 and Prime Minister of Ch’in. [Lü] Pu-wei thought him worthy and appointed him a Gentleman. Li Ssu was thus able to present his advice.
He advised the King of Ch’in [the future First Emperor]: “One who waits casts aside his opportunities. One who accomplishes great deeds does so through seizing flaws and chinks and concluding matters without mercy..." The King of Ch’in in response appointed Li Ssu Chief Clerk.
At this time, a native of [the state of] Hann named Cheng Kuo 鄭國 had come as a spy into Ch’in, to [ostensibly] construct a drainage and irrigation canal, [but] after a short while his status was discovered. The clansmen of the House of Ch’in and the high officials all said to the King of Ch’in: “The men of the feudal lords who come to serve Ch’in mostly only seek to advise or spy on Ch’in for their own rulers. We ask that you expel all foreigners with no exception.”
Li Ssu himself migrated from Shang-ts'ai to Hsien-yang, so he was also asked to be expelled.
[Li] Ssu thus submitted a memorial which read... "Now foreigners are expelled, thereby aiding enemy states, and your populace is reduced, thereby increasing your foes, you are debilitating yourself at home and creating more resentment with the feudal lords abroad." Only then did the King of Ch’in revoke the decree expelling foreigners, restore Li Ssu’s position, and eventually adopt his schemes. [His] position reached Commandant of Justice.
After more than twenty years, [Ch’in] finally united the world, honored its ruler as the August Emperor and made Li Ssu Chancellor.
211 BC: [The First Emperor's] entourage set out [from the capital]...
...to tour [Mount] K’uai-chi 會稽...
...went along the seacoast...
...then went north, arriving at Lang-ya 琅邪 [Commandery].
In the seventh month of this year, when the First Emperor arrived at Sha-ch’iu 沙丘 (Sandy Hillock), his illness worsened... Only [the Emperor’s] son, Hu-hai, the Chancellor Li Ssu, Chao Kao, and five or six favored eunuchs knew that the First Emperor had passed away. None of the other officials knew. Li Ssu kept it secret because the Emperor had passed away outside [of the capital] and there was no true Heir.
Chao Kao and Hu-hai wanted to institute Hu-hai as the new emperor instead of the intended emperor, Fu-su, and developed a plot to do so. Kao tried to convince Li Ssu to go along with the plot:
“The August Emperor has more than twenty-odd sons, all of whom Your lordship knows well. The eldest son is resolute and steadfast, martial and courageous. He inspires trust in the people and instills spirit in the knights. When he takes the throne, he is sure to employ Meng T’ien as Chancellor. It is all too obvious that Your Lordship will not in the end retire [in glory] with the seal of a Ranking Marquis and return to your hometown. Since I received the edict to tutor Hu-hai and had him study legal matters for several years, I have never seen him commit an error. His kind, benevolent, sincere and magnanimous. He disdains wealth, but honors knights. He is discriminating in mind, but slow in speech. He follows the rites to the fullest and respects knights. Among the sons of [the House of] Ch’in, none measures up to this. He would be made the successor. Consider this, Your Lordship, and decide.”
Li Ssu replied, “Alas! That I find myself in a disordered age! Since I have been unable to die [in the line of duty], to whom can I entrust my fate?” Only at this point did [Li] Ssu heed [Chao] Kao.
Hu-hai sent a letter, signed by the Emperor, to Fu-su, telling him to kill himself.
Having arrived at Hsien-yang and proclaimed the [Emperor’s] death, the Heir was established as the Second Generation Emperor. He made Chao Kao his Palace Prefect of Gentlemen, and [Chao Kao] was in regular attendance on the Emperor in the palace and wielded power.
Death of Li Ssu
Chao Kao began usurping power from the new Emperor. Li Ssu was concerned about this, so Kao devised a scheme to get rid of him. Kao only allowed Li Ssu to talk to the emperor at the most inopportune time and accused Li Ssu to the emperor of possibly corroborating with bandits.
Li Ssu said to the emperor, "[Kao] has no understanding of reason, his greed is insatiable, and his pursuit of profit is unending. His rank and influence are second only to the ruler’s and in his pursuit of his desires he will go to any extremity. Your servant thus called [him] dangerous.” The Second Emperor had trusted Chao Kao from the first, and feared that Li Ssu would kill Chao, thus he secretly told Chao Kao.
Li Ssu was seized, bound and thrown into prison... after this the Second Emperor had [Chao] Kao handle the case against the Chancellor. He inquired into his crimes, accused [Li] Ssu and his son Yu of plotting rebellion, and arrested all his clansmen and retainers. When Chao Kao interrogated [Li] Ssu, he had him beaten and whipped more than one-thousand strokes. [Li Ssu] was unable to bear the pain and falsely confessed.
In the seventh month of the second year of the Second Emperor [208 BC] it was proclaimed that [Li] Ssu should be sentenced to the five punishments and cut in half at the waist in the marketplace of Hsien-yang.
Source:
“Biography of Li Si(Pai Ch’i), Li Ssi.” The Grand Scribe's Records, Volume VII: The Memoirs of Pre-Han China, edited and translated by Nienhauser, William & Tingting Zhou et al., Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, 2021,. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv14rmqh5.24. Accessed 8 Sept. 2021.
