Stories from History: Qu Tutong's Well-Intentioned Advice

[PureInsight.org] Qu Tutong was
a brave general in the Sui dynasty. Once, Emperor Wendi ordered him to
check the livestock record at Longxi and he found there were twenty
thousand horses not recorded in the book. Emperor Wendi got very angry
and arrested fifteen hundred officials related to the affair and wanted
to execute them all.



Qu Tutong said to the emperor: "It is a matter of life and death. If
they are executed, they will not come to life again. Your highness's
kindness has spread over the whole world. Do you really mean to kill
all fifteen hundred people just for these livestock?"



Emperor Wendi was in a fit of anger and reprimanded him. Qu Tutong
knelt to plead for the lives of these officials: "I am willing to die
for them instead."



Emperor Wendi came to realize the seriousness and said: "I was confused
and that's why I behaved that way. Thanks for your kind advice." He,
thus, punished those officials according to the law and didn't execute
any of them. Emperor Wendi then promoted Qu Tutong to General Guarding
the Left to honor him.  



Qu Tutong was a military officer, but he cherished life. On the
contrary, several tens of millions of Chinese citizens died from hunger
under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party military officials. Major
general Zhu Chenghu, Dean of Defense Matters, Chinese Military Academy,
once told a reporter from the Wall Street Journal that if a conflict
occurs in the Taiwan Strait and if the US intervenes, China will
consider using nuclear weapons to destroy several hundred US cities and
that China is prepared to sacrifice billions of Chinese people and the
cities east of Xi'an.  How can the lives of Chinese people under
such military officials not be in danger?



 Source: New Tang Book



Translated from:

http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/4/17/52341.html