吴国 / Wu State
吴国 / Wu State enters this wiki branch through 《资治通鉴·周纪》57丨古代发毒誓还有这作用？, where 子贡 / 端木赐 redirects the threat to 鲁国 into a wider interstate chain. After persuading 田常 not to attack Lu, Zigong persuades 吴王夫差 to attack 齐国.
Wu’s role in the episode is not simply military success. Fuchai defeats Qi, then presses onward toward 晋国 and is defeated there. That exhaustion gives 越王勾践 and 越国 the opening to attack Wu near its capital, leading eventually to Fuchai’s suicide and Wu’s destruction.
《资治通鉴·周纪》80丨诸葛亮的偶像 到底有多厉害？ brings Wu back as a moral-political precedent rather than as the active battlefield. In 乐毅’s 《报燕惠王书》, 伍子胥’s fate under 吴王夫差 explains why a minister can honor an old ruler’s relationship while refusing to re-enter a successor’s danger.