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36 War Strategies of Ancient China
Strategy 14
Borrow a Corpse to Raise the Spirit
Take an institution, a technology, or a method that
has been forgotten or discarded and appropriate it for your own purpose. Revive
something from the past by giving it a new purpose or to reinterpret and bring
to life old ideas, customs, and traditions.
Han Dynasty China
When the emperor Huidi died in 188 BC he left no heir.
His mother, the empress Lu, bought a child several years before his death and
had her daughter-in-law pretend that it was her own. To cover her tracks the
empress had the boy's natural mother executed. After the emperor's death, the
empress had this boy installed on the throne with herself as regent. However,
within two years the boy, after learning that his true mother had been executed,
was heard to say: "When I become emperor I will know what to do." When
the empress's spies reported the words spoken by the young emperor she had him
murdered and another puppet set in his place. The empress ruled a prosperous
empire for eight years through the six successive child emperors that she
installed on the throne before dying of a mysterious illness. Rumor said her
death was the result of a curse from one of her late husband's concubines, who
was horribly mutilated and tortured according to the empress's precise
instructions. The empress Lu is remembered in Chinese history as one of three
notorious `dragon ladies' who had seized the imperial throne.
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