It is not the way of a nobleman to take advantage of others’ plight

The principle that a nobleman should not exploit an opponent’s plight is introduced as an ethical measure of restraint in combat. A scholar invokes it when Xu Zhu waits for his opponent to find his weapon, even as the fighting around them makes that patience dangerous. Elsewhere, the Liao rebellion gives the idea a larger political echo: the treatment of a defeated enemy can decide whether violence ends or spreads.

The saying in the pavilion

During the confrontation involving Xu Zhu, Bao BuTong urges him to attack while the scholar is still searching for a book. Xu Zhu refuses to begin the fight until his opponent has found the weapon he is looking for. The scholar answers by recalling the battle between Song and Chu: while the Chu forces were still crossing a river and had not formed their ranks, Duke Xiang of Song declined to take advantage of their exposed position. He then compares Xu Zhu’s benevolence to the duke’s.

The episode makes the maxim more than a detached lesson. The scholar is himself trying to retrieve a book to support his argument, and his companion faces a dangerous opponent whose twin knives are moving with speed and force. A carpenter considers intervening because the two scholars may be in danger if the fight continues; Bao BuTong, meanwhile, calls for Xu Zhu to strike. Against this pressure to seize an opening, Xu Zhu’s pause gives the maxim its immediate, practical meaning.

A principle tested by war

The rebellion against YeLu HongJi supplies a contrasting scale of conflict. An urgent bugle signal interrupts a feast in the great leather tent. The officers and soldiers fall silent as the alarm is relayed from station to station, and YeLu HongJi calmly drinks his wine before ordering the army to break camp and return to the capital. The disciplined response shows an army organized for crisis, but the news soon reveals that the danger comes from within the ruling house.

The rebellion’s claim rests on a dynastic history of contested succession. YeLu LongXu had named his eldest son YeLu ZongZhen as heir, despite the empress’s effort to place her younger son, YeLu ZhongYuan, on the throne. YeLu ZhongYuan ultimately supported his brother and kept the empress’s scheme quiet; after YeLu ZongZhen’s death, however, the succession passed to his son YeLu HongJi rather than to YeLu ZhongYuan. As ruler, YeLu HongJi compensated his uncle with exceptional rank, military authority, and privileges, while appointing YeLu NieLuGu, YeLu ZhongYuan’s son, to command the Southern Chancellery. The revolt therefore turns on inherited claims, past restraint, and the immense military power the emperor had entrusted to his uncle’s family.

When a scout reports that YeLu NieLuGu has proclaimed his father emperor, the edict calls YeLu HongJi a false ruler and asserts YeLu ZhongYuan’s legitimacy. YeLu HongJi burns it, but understands that its claim could weaken loyalty across the army and that his uncle can command vastly greater forces. The following night, soldiers fear for relatives left in the capital, now under rebel control; their grief spreads through the camp until the crying shatters morale. Faced with an enemy advancing with 500,000 troops, YeLu HongJi chooses to fight rather than retreat. He personally leads his soldiers out in golden armor, and his presence restores some of their courage.

Victory, pardon, and office

Xiao Feng stays with his sworn brother rather than slipping away from the camp. He rides beside YeLu HongJi as his personal bodyguard, while the Flying Bear troops protect AhZi at the rear. After the battle, Xiao Feng brings YeLu ZhongYuan to the emperor. YeLu HongJi, overcome with relief, clasps Xiao Feng’s hands and offers to share his realm with him; the captured uncle kneels and asks for forgiveness.

Xiao Feng recommends pardoning YeLu ZhongYuan, arguing that stabilizing the army’s morale must come first. YeLu HongJi accepts and orders that Xiao Feng be made Prince of Chu and Lord of the Southern Chancellery, with authority to lead the rebel army back to the capital. Xiao Feng does not seek the title: he says that his part in the outcome was small and asks for the appointment to be withdrawn. YeLu HongJi insists, even declaring that if Xiao Feng still refuses, he could surrender the throne to him. The saying about not exploiting an opponent’s disadvantage is not explicitly repeated in this scene, but Xiao Feng’s plea for pardon likewise treats the defeated as people whose fate affects the wider community, not merely as enemies to punish.

From victory to obligation

The new office brings Xiao Feng both authority and obligations he does not welcome. After more than a month receiving officials and envoys who bring gifts and flattery, he is summoned by YeLu HongJi, who directs him to base himself in Nanjing and prepare to lead an expedition against the Song when the opportunity arises. Xiao Feng objects that the army is not ready. YeLu HongJi agrees that immediate invasion would be unwise, but tells him to watch for political disorder and be ready to act.

Xiao Feng is troubled by the order. He grew up in the Song, does not want to conquer it, and has no experience using bribery and court intrigue. Yet resigning at once seems to him a betrayal of YeLu HongJi’s kindness and their sworn brotherhood, so he plans to go to Nanjing, wait, and ask to resign later. His appointment thus turns an act of loyalty into a moral and political burden: the restraint exercised toward a defeated uncle does not resolve the conflict between allegiance to his brother and reluctance to wage war against the land where he was raised.