郑国 / Zheng Guo (Hydraulic Engineer)
郑国 / Zheng Guo enters the wiki through 《资治通鉴·秦纪》104｜阴谋失算让秦国版图又又又膨胀了 as the 韩国 hydraulic specialist sent into 秦国 to promote a massive canal project. The source presents him as both an engineer and a strategic agent: Han hopes the work will consume Qin labor and treasury resources long enough to delay Qin’s eastward attacks.
His defense after exposure is the crucial turn. Zheng Guo admits that the original purpose was to extend Han’s life for a few years, but argues that the nearly completed 郑国渠 will bring Qin lasting benefit. 嬴政 / 秦始皇 accepts the argument, allows the work to finish, and the canal receives Zheng Guo’s name.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》110-1｜李斯：米仓老鼠和下水道老鼠你怎么选？ reuses Zheng Guo from a different angle. The source treats him as one of the examples Qin royal-clan ministers can cite when pushing the 逐客令: a foreign expert’s useful project can still be remembered politically as infiltration.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》110-2｜秦始皇的CP为何被驱逐出国 makes that political use more explicit by calling the Zheng Guo affair the shocking spy case behind the expulsion crisis. In this later episode, Zheng Guo’s importance is less the canal’s engineering payoff than the way one exposed Han mission makes 嬴政 / 秦始皇 distrust foreign guest officials such as 李斯.
Connections
- 韩国 - sending state behind the resource-drain plan.
- 秦国, 嬴政 / 秦始皇, and 吕不韦 - receiving state, young ruler, and governing minister.
- 郑国渠 - project that turns the plan into a long-term Qin asset.
- 疲敌反强敌, 阴谋阳谋转换, and 逐客令 - strategic backfire and later political-security use of his mission.
- 李斯 and 《谏逐客书》 - foreign-guest crisis and memorial response triggered by the broader reaction to his case.