Fu Chai

Also known as King Fuchai of Wu · Ji Fu Chai

Fuchai was the son of King Helu of Wu. The Hereditary House of Wu in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says Helu died of a wound from a battle with Yue, and that Fuchai had a man in his court ask him whether he had forgotten who killed his father. In his second year he crushed Yue at Fujiao, and when King Goujian, trapped on Mount Kuaiji, sued for peace through the minister Bo Pi, Fuchai accepted over Wu Zixu's protests. Turning north, he cut a channel linking the Yangtze and the Huai, according to the Zuo Tradition, routed Qi at Ailing, and then sent Wu Zixu a sword to kill himself. In his fourteenth year, while he contested precedence with Jin at Huangchi, Yue broke into Wu. In his twenty-third year Yue destroyed Wu; offered exile, Fuchai said he regretted ignoring Wu Zixu and cut his throat. The tale of Xi Shi comes from Eastern Han books such as the Yuejue shu, not the Shiji.