Chu Destroys Lai, 538 BCE

Background

In the Spring and Autumn period this area belonged to Wu and was called Laizhu Yi, its stronghold being Gucheng. The Kangxi edition of the Lishui County Gazetteer (卷之一·邑纪) opens by quoting the Tukao — "Gucheng was built by Wu" — and notes that the site lies south of present-day Gaochun. Chu and Wu contended for the land between the Huai and the Yangtze, and Chu campaigned against Wu.

Time and place

The gazetteer dates the entry to the seventh year of King Jing of Zhou, a guihai year:

周景王七年癸亥，楚伐吴，灭赖，即濑。赖子舆榇从之，灵王以其臣椒举言，释焉。遂迁赖于鄢，迁许于赖。将城之，会水至，始罢。赖既灭，吴迁其邑于陵平山下，名曰陵平。

Translated: In the seventh year of King Jing of Zhou, a guihai year, Chu attacked Wu and destroyed Lai — that is, the Laishui. The viscount of Lai followed with a coffin borne before him; King Ling, on the advice of his minister Jiao Ju, released him. Lai was then moved to Yan, and Xu was moved to Lai. A walled town was to be built there, but the work stopped when the waters rose. Lai having been destroyed, Wu moved its settlement to the foot of Lingping Mountain and named it Lingping.

The gazetteer adds that "Lai is the present Laishui", and cites the Spring and Autumn Annals, fourth year of Duke Zhao of Lu, for the campaign. The sexagenary year corresponds to 538 BCE.

The transmitted record

The fourth year of Duke Zhao of Lu in the Zuo Zhuan can be set beside this entry. Its annals read:

秋七月，楚子、蔡侯、陳侯、許男、頓子、胡子、沈子、淮夷伐吳，執齊慶封，殺之。遂滅賴。

Translated: In the autumn, in the seventh month, the viscount of Chu, the marquess of Cai and others attacked Wu, seized Qing Feng of Qi and put him to death; and so Lai was destroyed.

Its commentary adds:

遂以諸侯滅賴。賴子面縛銜璧，士袒，輿櫬從之，造於中軍……王從之。遷賴於鄢。楚子欲遷許於賴。

Translated: So with the feudal lords he destroyed Lai. The viscount of Lai came with his hands bound and a jade disc in his mouth, his men bared, bearing a coffin before him, and came to the central army. ... The king agreed. Lai was moved to Yan, and the viscount of Chu wished to move Xu to Lai.

The gazetteer's details — the coffin borne before the viscount, his release, the removal of Lai to Yan and the intended removal of Xu to Lai — agree with the Zuo Zhuan, which dates the affair to the fourth year of Duke Zhao of Lu, the same year as the seventh year of King Jing of Zhou.

What happened

The Chu army attacked Wu and destroyed Lai. The viscount of Lai followed the Chu army with a coffin borne before him; King Ling of Chu released him on the advice of his minister Jiao Ju, then moved Lai to Yan and Xu to Lai. Chu intended to wall the place, but the work stopped when the waters rose.

Consequences

Lai having been destroyed, Wu moved this settlement to the foot of Lingping Mountain and renamed it Lingping. When the gazetteer discusses the origin of the name Lishui, it begins from the sound shifts between Lai, Laishui and Lishui; this is the earliest entry in the chronological chapter.

Dating basis

This entry predates the establishment of Lishui County in 591 CE, the eleventh year of the Kaihuang era. At that time Lishui did not yet exist as a county: what is recorded here concerns the Lishui area and its predecessor Liyang County. The BCE year is a later reconstruction, not a figure given in the source.

Uncertainties

First, the dating is disputed within the gazetteer itself. The compiler notes that the Junji gives the fifth year of King Jing and the Tukao the fourth, that both are wrong, and that the old gazetteer is followed. This entry follows the old gazetteer, and the conversion to 538 BCE rests on that choice. The gazetteer also places Lingping Mountain "in present-day Liyang", which is not within the present Lishui District; this entry only repeats the gazetteer's statement.

Second, the identification of Lai with the Laishui is the gazetteer's own argument, not an explicit statement of the histories. The Zuo Zhuan says only that Lai was destroyed, and does not place Lai at the Laishui. Lai and Li were used interchangeably in ancient texts, and the location of the state of Lai has been given since the Han in four different places — Luyi, Suizhou, Xi County and Shangcheng (Hu Anlian, "A Study of the Location of the State of Lai and the Lai-Li Relationship," 2009). This entry repeats the gazetteer's statement without treating it as settled.

Third, a search of the Shiji and the Hanshu in this library found no matching record of the destruction of Lai, so the second transmitted source is limited to the Zuo Zhuan, which gives no location for Lai. On these grounds the confidence level is set to medium.