Mavericks › Knight-errant / Assassin
Zhuan Zhu
Assassin from Tangyi in Wu who, on Wu Zixu's recommendation, killed King Liao of Wu with a dagger hidden in a fish so that Prince Guang could take the throne
On a moonlit night in a bamboo grove, a covered wooden bridge crosses a misty gorge with glowing lanterns hanging along it, and a small figure in a wide hat stands in the middle of the bridge; a cloak and a wine gourd hang on the railing in the foreground.
Zhuan Zhu came from Tangyi in Wu at the end of the Spring and Autumn period; the Zuo Tradition (Zuozhuan) calls him Zhuan Shezhu. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says that Wu Zixu, a refugee from Chu, saw that Prince Guang meant to kill King Liao and take the throne, and introduced Zhuan Zhu to him. In 515 BC, while the main Wu army was held up by Chu forces abroad, the prince hid armed men in a cellar and invited the king to a feast. Zhuan Zhu brought in a roast fish with a dagger hidden in its belly and stabbed the king to death, and was cut down at once by the royal guard. Prince Guang made himself king, known as Helu, and gave Zhuan Zhu's son the rank of senior minister. The Han book Yuejue shu names one of the swords forged by Ou Yezi as Fish Gut, and later tradition gave that name to Zhuan Zhu's blade.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–515 BCE