Cao Mo (曹沫) was a military-general-turned-assassin who lived and died in
ancient China.
The story of Cao Mo is recorded in the chapter "Biographies Of The Assassins" of the
Shi Ji,
the famous book by Sima Qian,
an imperial historian who lived more
than 2000 years ago during the Han Dynasty of ancient China.
In 681 BCE, during the Spring-and-Autumn Era, the powerful
state of Qi (齐) launched an invasion against its smaller
neighbour to the south, the state of Lu (鲁).
Out of desperation, Duke Zhuang (鲁庄公), the ruler of Lu,
decided to surrender the border city of Sui (遂), as a gesture of
goodwill to ask for truce. Duke Huan (齐桓公), the ruler of
Qi, agreed to call a truce, and summoned Duke Zhuang to form an
alliance at a place called Ke (柯), which was in Qi
territory.
(The nature of the alliance was not in Lu's favour.
Essentially, Duke Huan of Qi had been coercing the feudal states
to join an alliance headed by himself, so in effect, the
alliance was a way for Duke Huan to make himself overlord of the
feudal states.)
At the time, Duke Zhuang of Lu had a general called Cao Mo, who
had previously been defeated three times by the Qi army. During
these defeats, Lu lost a lot of territory to Qi. Cao Mo
volunteered to go along with Duke Zhuang to Ke for the alliance
meeting.
Duke Zhuang and Cao Mo travelled to Ke. There, they met Duke
Huan and the lords of three other states which had already
joined Duke Huan's alliance. To join the alliance, Duke Zhuang
had to swear an oath with Duke Huan.
The two dukes were about to swear their oath, when Cao Mo
grabbed Duke Huan and took him hostage with a sword. No one
dared to challenge Cao Mo. Cao Mo argued that the Qi state had
bullied the Lu state into submission, and that it was not in
Qi's interest to push Lu too far.
Duke Huan had no choice but to agree to return all the
conquered territories to Lu. As soon as Duke Huan made his
promise, Cao Mo dropped his sword and returned to his seat,
behaving as if nothing had happened.
The two dukes continued with their oath swearing, after which
everybody called it a day.
Duke Huan was angry about being humiliated in public. He
wanted to take Cao Mo's head for the attempted assassination,
and to break the promise he made to return the territories.
However, Duke Huan's right-hand man, Prime Minister Guan
Zhong, advised him to let Cao Mo go and to keep his promise to
return the land, because if he were to break a promise made in
public, he would lose the support of all the feudal lords.
Thus, in the interest of his alliance, Duke Huan kept his
promise in the end.
As a result, Cao Mo succeeded in regaining the territories he
had previously lost in the three battles.
More than 160 years later, the assassin
Zhuan Zhu (专诸)
emerged in the state of Wu.
© 2007 Koh Chuen Ferng
