Lien Pao pleads guilty to a charge of thorns

King Zhaoxiang of Qin was bent on bringing Zhao into submission and invaded Zhao's borders one after another, taking some places. In 279 B.C., he played another trick by inviting King Hui Wen of Zhao to meet with him in Bianchi (modern Mianchi County, Henan Province, west of Mian), a Qin land. At first, King Hui Wen of Zhao was afraid of being detained by Qin and did not dare to go. The generals Lian Po and Lin Xiangru both thought that if they did not go, they would be showing weakness to Qin.

King Huaiwen decided to take the risk. He asked Lin Xiangru to go with him and asked Lian Po to stay in his country to support the prince.

To prepare for accidents. He sent his general Li Mu to escort him with 5,000 troops and his minister, Lord Ping Yuan, to meet him at the border with tens of thousands of troops.

On the day of their scheduled meeting, the king of Qin and the king of Zhao met in Bianchi and held a banquet, drinking and talking happily.

After drinking a few cups of wine, King Zhaoxiang said to King Huaiwen of Zhao, "I heard that the King of Zhao is a good player. Please ask the king of Zhao to play a piece of music for all of us to enjoy." After saying this, he ordered his men to bring up the censer.

King Hui Wen of Zhao could not refuse, so he reluctantly played a tune.

The Qin historian wrote it down on the spot and read it out, "On a certain day in a certain month in a certain year, the king of Qin and the king of Zhao met in Bianchi, and the king of Qin made the king of Zhao play a tune."

King Hui Wen of Zhao was so angry that his face turned purple. At that moment, Lin Xiangru took a four (pronounced fǒu, a tile instrument that could be struck to match music) and suddenly knelt in front of King Zhao Xiang of Qin and said, "The King of Zhao has heard that the King of Qin is quite good at Qin's musical instruments. I have a tile pot here, so I would like to ask the king to play it a few times."

King Zhaoxiang turned pale and ignored him.

Lin Xiangru's eyes shone with anger and he said, "Your Majesty is too bullying. Although Qin's army is powerful, I can splash my blood on the king within these five steps!"

King Zhaoxiang was very surprised to see Lin Xiangru's momentum, so he picked up his bat and gave a few random blows on the fou.

Lin Xiangru turned around and asked the historian of Zhao to write this down as well, saying, "On a certain day in a certain month in a certain year, the king of Zhao and the king of Qin met in Bianchi. The king of Qin gave the king of Zhao a percussion."

When the ministers of Qin saw that Lin Xiangru had dared to hurt the decency of the king of Qin in this way, they were very displeased.

Someone stood up and said, "Please ask the king of Zhao to cede fifteen cities to the king of Qin for his birthday."

Lin Xiangru also stood up and said, "Please ask the king of Qin to cede the city of Xianyang to the king of Zhao for the birthday of the king of Zhao."King Zhao Xiang of Qin saw that the situation was very tense. He had already known that Zhao had sent a large army to be stationed in a nearby place, so he was afraid that he would not be able to get any advantage if he started to fight, so he stopped the Qin ministers and said, "Today is a day of reunion between the kings of the two countries, so there is no need for you to say anything."