Historical drawing of King Gou Jian of Yue
King Gou Jian of Yue (越王) (reigned 496 BC - 465 BC) was the king of the Kingdom of Yue (present-day northern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu) near the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, named Si Gou Jian (姒勾踐). Guo Jian was the son of King Yun Chang of Yue, whose own ancestry can allegedly be traced back to Da Yu (Yu the Great), the legendary first Chinese monarch of Xia Dynasty. In his second year of rule, he was defeated and captured by King Fu Chai of Wu of the neighbouring State of Wu. After three years of servitude and humiliation with his wife in the State of Wu, he gained the trust of King Fu Chai who eventually allowed him to return to his state where he resumed his rule and initiated major reforms. He appointed skilled politicians, such as Wen Zhong and Fan Li, as advisors. During this time, his ministers worked to weaken the State of Yue internally through bribes and diplomatic intrigue. The Chinese idiom "Wo Xin Chang Dan" (卧薪尝胆, literally "sleeping on sticks and tasting gall") came about because of his perserverance. After ten years of economic and political reforms his state at last became powerful, and annexed the State of Wu in 478 BC where King Fu Chai was forced to commit suicide. King Gou Jian met the dukes in Xuzhou and gained hegemony among the states.
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