The 48 Laws Of Power

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110

,

LAW15

ofafarmerwentontobecome

supreme

commanderofthearmiesofCh’u.

Crushing

his nextn'val—the

king

of

Ch’u,

his ownformerleader—l1e

crownedhimself

emperor,

defeated

everyone

inhis

path,

andwentdown

in

history

asoneofthe

greatest

rulersof

China,

theimmortalHan

Kao-tsu,

founderof

theHan

Dynasty.

Thosewhoseektoachieve

things

shouldShowno

mercy.

Kuutilyu,

Indian

plzilnsupher,

zhml

century

11.(I.

OBSERVANCEOF‘THELAW

Wu

Chan,

borninAd).

625,

wasthe

daughter

ofa

duke,

andasa.beautiful

young

womanof

many

charms,

shewas

accordingly

attachedtotheharem

of

Emperor

T’a.i

Tsung.

The

imperial

haremwasa

dangerousplace,

fullof

young

concubines

vying

tobecomethe

emperor’s

favorite.Wu’s

beauty

andforcefulcharac-

ter

quickly

wonherthis

battle,but,

knowing

thatan

emperor,

likeother

powerful

men,

isacreatureof

whim,

andthatshecould

easily

be

replaced,

she

kept

her

eye

onthefuture.

Wu

managed

to

seducethe

emperor’s

dissolute

son,

Kao

Tsung,

onthe

onlypossible

occasionwhenshecouldfindhimalone:whilehe

was

reliev-

ing

himselfatthe

royal

urinal.Even

so,

whenthe

emperor

diedandKen

Tsung

tookoverthe

throne,

shestillsufferedthefatetowhichallwivesand

concubinesofadeceased

emperor

werebound

by

traditionandlaw:Her

head

shaven,

sheentereda

convent,

forwhatwas

supposed

tobetherest

ofher

life.Forseven

years

Wuschemed

to

escape.Bycommunicating

in

secretwiththenew

emperor,

and

bybefiiencling

his

wife,

the

empress,

she

managed

to

get

a

highly

unusual

royal

edict

allowing

hertoreturntothe

palace

andtothe

royal

harem.Once

there,

shefawnedonthe

empress,

while still

sleeping

with

the

emperor.

The

empress

didnot

discourage

this—--shehad

yet

to

provide

the

emperor

withan

heir,

her

position

was

vulnerable,

andWuwasavaluable

ally.

In 654 WuChao

gave

birthtoachild.One

day

the

empress

cameto

visit,

andassoonasshehad

left,

Wusmotheredthenewborn——herown

baby.

Whenthemurderwas

discovered,

suspicionimmediately

fellonthe

empress,

whohadbeenonthescenemoments

earlier,

and

whose

jealous

naturewasknown

by

all.Thiswas

precisely

Wu’s

plan.

Shortly

thereafter,

the

empress

was

charged

with murder and executed. Wu Chao was

crowned

empress

inher

place.

Hernew

husband,

addictedtohislifeof

pleasure,gladlygaveup

thereinsof

government

toWu

Chao,

whowas

fromthenonknown

as

Empress

Wu.

Although

nowin

a

position

of

greatpower,

Wu

hardly

feltsecure.

Therewereenemies

everywhere;

shecouldnotletdownher

guard

forone

moment.

Indeed,

whenshewas

forty-one,

she

began

tofearthatherbean~

tiful

young

niecewas

becoming

the

emperor’s

favorite.She

poisoned

the

womanwith

a

clay

mixedintoherfood.

In 675

herown

son,

touted

as

the