Triviality

 

Triviality

I believe there were two advisors (or “wisdom bags”) for Han Xin, but I can’t recall their names.

It’s that person with a 3-character name who convinced the Qi state to surrender without a fight.

Yes, that’s him — Li Yiji (Reki Iki). Since those Chinese characters aren’t commonly used and the pronunciation is quite unusual, I just couldn’t recall it. By the way…

Even though the King of Qi told Li Yiji that his life would be spared if he went and persuaded Han Xin to stop his attack, he reportedly said, “A great man does not cling to trivial matters,” and calmly accepted his fate. What do you think was going through Li Yiji’s mind at that moment? The common consensus out there feels a bit off to me, so I’d love to hear your perspective.

Now, let me share my own view on this.
The very moment I heard this episode, it struck me that Li Yiji had come to realize that life is empty and not worth living.

Despite pouring his absolute all into persuading Qi and successfully doing so, everything was instantly rendered meaningless by Han Xin’s sudden betrayal. Simply put, at that exact moment, his desire to keep living plummeted to absolute zero. He realized that life is a place where even if you give something your everything and succeed, it can end up completely unrewarded — just like in this case. I believe he felt there was no longer any need or drive left to view life as something of value.

No matter how hard his strategist, Kuai Tong, urged him by saying, “If you do nothing, all the credit will go to Li Yiji,” Han Xin should have said, “Regardless, Li Yiji is currently negotiating the surrender with the King of Qi. Let us wait for the outcome.” Had he done so, he would have bloodlessly captured Qi, won the deep trust of its people, and logically could have accepted Kuai Tong’s later advice to become the King of Qi naturally.

Instead, Han Xin listened to Kuai Tong’s immediate instigation at that moment, yet later rejected Kuai Tong’s brilliant “Tripartite Division of the World” strategy — a masterful concept that wouldn’t resurface in history until the Three Kingdoms period. The tragic end Han Xin met is exactly what history records.

What are your thoughts on this?

"The 'triviality' he spoke of was his very own life. He was truly a grand soul."