Chinese Æsop:

Confucius was a descendant of the Shang, and his ancestors were priests through the Dukes of Song. During the 10 years of duke Shang's rule in Song, he had fought 11 battles, so that the people were not able to endure the constant summonses to the field. Kongfu Jia was the minister of War, and  Huafu Du was the premier of the State. One day, Huafu Du happened to see the wife of Kongfu Jia on the way. He gazed at her as she approached, and followed her with his eyes when she had passed, saying, "How handsome and beautiful." Taking advantage of the dissatisfaction of the people, Du first set on foot a report that the constant fighting was owing to the minister of War. The next year, Du attacked the Kong family, killed Kongfu, and carried off his wife. The duke was angry, and Du, in fear, proceeded also to murder duke Shang. Immediately after, he called duke Zhuang (the prince Gongzi Ping) from Zheng, and raised him to the dukedom;—in order to please Zheng, bribing a

[Xiang Yu's troops] came to Han'gu Pass in former Qin territory. The pass was guarded by (Liu Bang's) soldiers so [Xiang Yu] could not get through. Apart from this, it was said that Pei Gong (namely Liu Bang) had already occupied Xian Yang city. Xiang Yu hence got fiercely angry, so he ordered Lord Dang Yang to attack the pass. Then he got through the pass and marched to Xixi. Pei Gong's troops were stationed in Bashang; he did not have the chance to meet Xiang Yu. A military officer of Pei Gong, Cao Wushang, secretly sent a messenger to Xiang Yu, saying: "Pei Gong intends to be king of Guanzhong, with Zi Ying as prime minister, and possess all the treasures of Qin." Xiang Yu broke out in a rage, and said: "Prepare my soldiers tomorrow morning. I will destroy Pei Gong's army!" At that time, Xiang Yu had 400,000 men stationed in Hongmen, Pei Gong had 100,000 men in Bashang. Fan Zeng said to Xiang Yu: "When Pei Gong was in Shandong, he was ver