The 48 Laws Of Power

heir
apparent,

was

poisoned

aswell.Thenext—eldest

son———illegil:'ma.te,

but

nowthecrown
prince——was

exiledalittlelateron

trumped—upcharges.

Andwhenthe
emperor
died,

in

683,

Wu

managed

tohavethesonafter

thatdeclaredunfitforthethrone.Allflris
meant
thatitwasher

youngest,

mostineffectual
sonwho

finally

‘became

emperor.

Inthis

way

shecontin-

uedtorule.

Overthenextfive

years

therewereinnumerable

palacecoups.

Allof

them
failed,
andallofthe

conspirators

wereexecuted.

By

688 therewasno

oneleftto

challenge

Wu.She

proclaimed

herselfadivinedescendantof

Buddha,

andin 690

herwisheswere

finallygranted:

Shewasnamed

Holy

andDivine

“Emperor”

ofChina.

Wubecame

emperor

becausetherewas

literallynobody

le-Rfromthe

previous

"Pang

dynasty.

Andsosheruled

unchallenged,

foroveradecade

ofrelative
peace.

In

705,

atthe

age

of

eighty,

shewasforcedtoabdicate.

Interpretation

Allwho

knew

Empress

Wuremarkedonher

energy

and

intelligence.

At

the

time,

therewasno

glory

availableforanambitiouswoman

beyond

a

few

years

inthe

imperial

harem,

thenalifetimewalled

up

inaconvent.In

Wu’s

gradual

butremarkablerisetothe

top,

shewasnevernaive.She

knewthat

any

hesitation,

anymomentary

weakness,

would

spell

herand.

If,

every

timeshe

got

ridofarivalanewone

appeared,

thesolutionwas

simple:

Shehadtocrushthemallorbekilledherself.Other

emperors

be

foreherhadfollowedthesame

path

tothe

top,

but

Wu-«who,

asa

woman,

hadnexttonochanceto

gainpower———had

tobemoreruthlessstill.

Empress

Wu’s

forly—yearreign

wasoneofthe

longest

in

Chinese

his-

tory.Although

the

story

ofher

bloody

rise

to

power

iswell

known,

in

Chinasheisconsideredoneofthe

period’s

mostableandeffectiverulers.

A

priest

askedthe

dying

Spanish

statesmanand

general

RamonMariaNarvdez

(1800-1868),

“Does

yourExcellencyforgive

all

your

enemies?”“Idonot

have

to

forgivemy

ene1nies,"anrwmedNarmiez,

“I

havehadthemallshat.

”

KEYSTOPOWER

It

isnoaccident

thatthe

twostories

illustrating

thislawcomefromChina:

Chinese

history

aboundswith

examples

ofenemies

who

wereleftaliveand

returnedtohauntthelenient.“Crushthe

enemy”

isa

keystrategic

tenetof

Surrtzu,

the

fourth—century—B.C.

authorofTheArt

ofl/Wzr.

Theideais

simple:

Yourenemieswish

you

ill.Thereis

nothingthey

wantmorethantoelimi-

nate

you.

If,

in

yourstruggles

with

them,

you

stop

halfway

oreventhree

quarters

ofthe

way,

outof

mercy

or

hope

ofreconciliation,

youonly

make

themmore

determined,

more

embittered,

and

they

will

someday

takere-

venge.Theymay

act

friendly

forthetime

being,

butthisis

only

because

you

havedefeatedthem.

They

havenochoicebuttobidetheirtime.

Thesolution:Haveno

mercy.

Crush

your

enemiesas

totally

as

they

LAW 15 I71