Carrying Thorns to Ask for Forgiveness

Reading level: Intermediate

A veteran general resents being outranked by a scholar, and the scholar keeps out of his way — not from fear, but because the state needs them both. A graded Chinese retelling of how Lian Po and Lin Xiangru became friends.

战国后期，赵国有两位出名的人物：一位是屡立战功的大将廉颇，一位是出身低微、却在外交上大放异彩的蔺相如。

蔺相如先是在秦国完璧归赵，后来又陪同赵王参加渑池之会。会上秦王让赵王鼓瑟，想借此羞辱赵国；蔺相如挺身而出，逼秦王击缶，替赵王挽回了体面。

回国以后，赵王认为蔺相如功劳最大，封他为上卿，地位还在廉颇之上。廉颇非常不满，说：“我攻城野战，立下大功；蔺相如只凭口舌之劳，出身又低，我怎么能在他的下面？”

廉颇还放出话来：“我要是见到他，一定要羞辱他。”蔺相如听说后，便处处回避，不肯和廉颇正面相遇。

每逢上朝，蔺相如常称病不去；出门时远远看见廉颇的车马，就命令车夫掉转车头躲开。他的门客们很不理解，觉得这样太丢脸，甚至想离开他。

蔺相如问他们：“你们觉得廉将军和秦王比，谁更可怕？”门客们说：“当然是秦王。”蔺相如说：“我敢在秦国的朝堂上斥责秦王，难道会怕廉将军吗？”

他接着解释：“秦国之所以不敢轻易攻打赵国，就是因为有我和廉将军在。两只老虎相斗，必定两败俱伤。我这样做，是把国家的急难放在前面，把个人的恩怨放在后面。”

这番话传到廉颇耳中，廉颇羞愧难当。他脱去上衣，背着荆条，亲自到蔺相如门前请罪，说自己是个粗人，没想到对方如此宽宏大量。两人从此结为生死之交，同心保卫赵国。

Sources

Records of the Grand Historian (史记 · 廉颇蔺相如列传), by Sima Qian, c. 91 BC — Principal source for the quarrel between Lian Po and Lin Xiangru and their reconciliation; a public-domain classical text.
Records of the Grand Historian (史记 · 赵世家), “House of Zhao,” by Sima Qian, c. 91 BC — Records the meeting between the kings of Zhao and Qin that the Shiji places at Mianchi, and the wider relations between the two states; a public-domain classical text.

History and legend

The quarrel between Lian Po and Lin Xiangru and their reconciliation are recorded in Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian, in the joint biography of the two men, written about two centuries after the events; the Mianchi meeting that precedes the quarrel is also recorded in the Shiji’s “House of Zhao,” though the chronology of these years is debated. The Shiji gives Lin the line “先国家之急而后私仇” and describes Lian Po coming “肉袒负荆” to apologize, but the four-character idioms 负荆请罪 and 将相和 took their present form in later centuries. The Chinese retelling and English translation on this page are our own.