The Confucian School's Two Great Weapons: Borrowing from Others and Education for Character

Ji Ni had died. This Son of Heaven of Zhou, who had reduced the Zhou Royal House from a second-rate state to the lordship of Luoyi alone, passed away on a day of thunder and rain.

This Son of Heaven of Zhou could count as a legend among the kings of Zhou. After all, no other had personally placed crowns upon the heads of six feudal lords.

He had also forfeited every last scrap of the Royal House Lands. Even King You and King Li had done no worse. Who knew whether, if he truly met King Wu after death, he would be slapped to death on the spot?

In an exceedingly rare move, Luo State sent a letter to the Royal Domain, stating outright that Ji Ni had brought calamity like King You's and demanding that the Royal House give him a derogatory posthumous title.

The Zhou Royal House discerned Luo State's extreme displeasure with Ji Ni from this. Faced with the last feudal state that had neither proclaimed its ruler a king nor ceased to acknowledge its authority, the new Son of Heaven obediently bestowed a derogatory posthumous title upon Ji Ni.

Time was the greatest force in the world. As leaves fell and autumn cicadas cried mournfully, Luo Ce, long since aged and terribly frail, reached the end of his life.

Before his death, reflecting on his unremarkable life, Luo Ce sighed. "Not having been born at the height of Zhou State's glory has been my lifelong regret.

"But not having been born when Zhou State's Mandate of Heaven falls-that is what leaves me uneasy.

"I have an ominous premonition. I do not know what hardships you will face in the future, but surely the sons and daughters of the Luo Clan, weathered by wind and rain,