The Reformer Who Died for His Reforms
He served three states and tried to reform all of them — and was assassinated by the nobility he was trying to displace in the state he loved most.
Wu Qi was one of the great military and political reformers of the Warring States. From Wei he developed the first standing army and legal reforms. When the King of Wei grew suspicious, he fled to Chu and began reforms there too — abolishing noble privileges, promoting merit, strengthening the state. Chu rose quickly. But the nobility he had displaced conspired against him. On the night of the king's death, they attacked. Wu Qi was struck down at the altar. His body was cut into pieces. The reforms died with him. Wu Qi was history's proof that a military genius and a statesman could be the same man — and that politics was more dangerous than any battlefield.