荆轲 / Jing Ke

荆轲 / Jing Ke enters the wiki through 《资治通鉴·秦纪》114-2｜燕国刺杀秦始皇为何会选荆轲 as the person 田光 recommends to 燕太子丹 for the anti-Qin assassination plan. The episode stresses that Jing Ke is not introduced as the obvious best professional swordsman. He is a 卫国-origin wandering shi, reader, and侠士 whose mixed social identity makes him unusual and less predictable.

The source spends time on apparent contradictions in his image. Jing Ke seeks visibility around sword and chess disputes but withdraws when challenged by Ge Nie and Lu Goujian; later, in 燕国, he drinks in the market with 高渐离 and a dog butcher, laughing, crying, singing, and acting “as if nobody else were there.” Tian Guang nevertheless reads him as deep, bookish, and connected to worthy elders rather than as a mere market eccentric.

Jing Ke’s selection therefore sits at the intersection of moralized shi identity, political assassination ethics, and honor binding by self-sacrifice. He accepts Tian Guang’s referral without bargaining in the episode’s account, but that acceptance comes after a friend has recommended him into a death mission and then killed himself to prove secrecy and moral seriousness.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》114-3｜荆轲刺秦为何久久不行动？在等谁？ turns Jing Ke from selected assassin into mission planner. He tells 燕太子丹 that he cannot approach 嬴政 / 秦始皇 without 樊无忌’s head and the 督亢地图, then privately secures Fan Wuji’s suicide. The episode also makes his delay operational rather than simple hesitation: even after 徐夫人’s dagger and 秦武阳 are ready, Jing Ke waits for a distant friend he appears to trust more.

The same episode gives Jing Ke’s departure a failure signal. Taizi Dan’s suspicion angers him into leaving before that friend arrives, so the mission begins through mistrust-triggered mission launch rather than fully trusted readiness. The 易水送别 then fixes him in memory as a figure of tragic resolve: he leaves in mourning colors and song, without turning back.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》115-1｜荆轲刺秦似乎有点儿草率了 follows Jing Ke into 咸阳. He and 秦武阳 bribe 蒙嘉, package 燕国’s surrender script around 樊无忌’s head and the 督亢地图, and win a maximum-ceremony audience before 嬴政 / 秦始皇. The episode also puts Jing Ke under a structural limit: even if he had killed Ying Zheng, Qin’s already-built state capacity might still have carried unification forward.

The same source makes Jing Ke’s solo burden concrete. When Qin Wuyang panics at the palace steps, Jing Ke explains the failure as rustic overawe, takes the map himself, and proceeds alone. The earlier doubts about assistant fit therefore become an immediate execution problem before the actual attack begins.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》115-2｜秦王大难不死之后干了件你不知道的事？ completes the attempt. As the 督亢地图 opens into 图穷匕见, Jing Ke grabs Ying Zheng’s sleeve and strikes with the dagger, but the first attack misses and the sleeve tears. Ying Zheng cannot immediately draw his long sword, runs around a pillar, then draws after the court reminder “王负剑” and wounds Jing Ke; Jing Ke’s thrown dagger also misses.

The same source gives Jing Ke’s death and afterlife. Badly wounded and disarmed, he sits in a “箕踞” posture, curses Ying Zheng, and says the mission failed because he wanted to take the Qin king alive and force a pact for 燕太子丹. The episode records the 《史记》 / 《资治通鉴》 punitive wording that he was dismembered, then turns to 陶渊明 and 龚自珍 as later readers who preserve him as a tragic youxia figure under 大一统下的游侠压制.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》119-1｜拆解荆轲刺秦必败的秘密 adds the harsh evaluation after Yan’s final destruction. 司马光 and 扬雄 deny that Jing Ke’s death should be called义: the episode says private repayment to Taizi Dan and courage with a dagger do not answer the political problem of saving 燕国. This creates a reception tension with the later poetic memory, because Jing Ke can remain a tragic侠士 in literature while still failing the source’s renyi-grounded virtue test.

Connections

• 田光 - recommender and friend whose suicide morally binds the mission.
• 燕太子丹 - patron who appoints him as上卿 and materially supports the assassination plan.
• 嬴政 / 秦始皇 and 秦国 - intended target and state enemy in the source setup.
• 樊无忌 and 督亢地图 - head and map that become the access credentials he demands.
• 徐夫人 and 秦武阳 - weapon source and assigned assistant in the mission-preparation layer.
• 蒙嘉 and 咸阳 - Qinji 115-1 access broker and palace setting.
• 高渐离 and 易水送别 - market companion and farewell musician in Jing Ke’s memory scene.
• 弱国刺杀式破局, 士为知己者死, and 贵族名誉高于生命 - concepts explaining why a non-obvious candidate can become narratively fit for a death mission.
• 刺杀接近凭证 and 疑忌触发式出发 - 114-3 operational and trust-breakdown concepts.
• Qinji 115-2, 图穷匕见, 陶渊明, 龚自珍, and 大一统下的游侠压制 - completed assassination attempt, death scene, and later literary memory.
• Qinji 119-1, 扬雄, 要离, 聂政, and 仁义为本的信勇 - later moral evaluation that denies assassin death automatic义 status.