Gongsun Hong cut his hair to serve as a mounted warrior for the King of Yue. Gongsun Xi sent a messenger to sever their fraternal bond: “I disown you as my brother.”
Gongsun Hong replied: “I only cut my hair, yet you risk your neck commanding troops for others. What fault can I lay against me?”
Later in the Battle of Zhounan, Gongsun Xi died in combat.
Note
It is unfair to harshly judge others’ small mistakes while excusing one’s own dangerous choices; people should apply identical criteria to oneself and others.
Implicit here is a rhetorical question: You accuse me of “harming my hair,” yet what you yourself are doing is harming life itself. You rebuke me in the name of filial piety, but isn’t the profession you have chosen handing over the life your parents gave you to the battlefield?
Late Warring States Legalist, uses the brothers’ story to criticize double standards in judgment.
Gongsun Hong
Chopped hair to serve Yue’s monarch, criticized by his brother.
Gongsun Xi
Gongsun Hong’s brother, condemned Hong’s minor deed while devoting his life to warfare.
Cutting hair in ancient China
Hair was valued as part of parents’ gift; cutting hair was deemed an abnormal sacrifice or servitude choice, hence Xi’s disapproval.
Warring States custom of knight service
Many commoners and clan men enlisted as soldiers or royal bodyguards across different vassal kingdoms.
Double-standard metaphor
Han Fei borrows the anecdote to remind rulers not to rigorously punish trivial faults of subordinates while ignoring their own major risky blunders.
公孙弘断发而为越王骑，公孙喜使人绝之曰：“吾不与子为昆弟矣。”公孙弘曰：“我断发，子断颈而为人用兵，我将谓之何？“周南之战，公孙喜死焉。
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