Lesson 6
Playing with Beacon Fires
烽火戏诸侯
一、昏庸、好色的皇帝
1、About 2800 years ago, in the Zhou Dynasty of China, there was an emperor named You.
2、He indulged in wine and sensual pleasures and paid little attention to state affairs.
3、He doted on a concubine named Bao Si and tried everything to make her happy.
4、Just to evoke a smile from her, the emperor, on suggestion of a sycophantic minister, ordered that beacon fires on the mountains be lit.
二、不该玩儿的游戏
5、Since beacon fires were signals to notify of the invasion of enemy troops, dukes and princes of the vassal states close to the capital city of Haojing immediately sent troops to rescue the emperor upon seeing the fires.
6、The troops arrived only to find merrymaking going on in the royal towers on the mountains.
7、The dukes and princes were shocked and quite agitated at what had happened.
8、Bao Si could not help but clap her hands and burst into laughter upon seeing that the dukes and princes had been fooled and this delighted Emperor You.
三、遭到报应
9、In the eleventh year of the reign of Emperor You, troops of Xirong state attacked Haojing and besieged the capital.
10、Emperor You immediately dispatched people to light the beacon fires to summon military assistance.
11、To his disappointment, however, not a single vassal state responded.
12、Soon the city was wrecked by the invaders and Emperor You was killed.
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