If the King of Yan inwardly despises his own people while outwardly favoring the people of Lu, then the people of Yan will not serve him, and the people of Lu will not attach themselves to him. When the people are despised, they will not exert their utmost to seek merit; when the people of Lu are merely flattered, they will not risk their lives to serve a foreign lord.
If this is the case, the ministers will become hidden fissures, and the ruler will stand entirely isolated. To have ministers who are hidden fissures serve a ruler who stands entirely isolated – this is what is called extreme peril.
Note
This excerpt comes from Han Feizi · Employing People, a key chapter arguing rulers should not seek far‑fetched solutions while neglecting what lies close at hand. Using hypothetical tales of King Yan and a man of Lu, Han Fei states a core political‑philosophical view: spurning native subjects to court foreigners wins no genuine loyalty, erodes domestic support and lands the ruler in total isolation.
The King of Yan:
The ruler of the State of Yan, one of the major states during the Warring States period. Han Fei uses him here as a hypothetical archetype of a misguided ruler who misjudges his own foundation.
The State of Lu:
A smaller state neighboring Yan, famous as the birthplace of Confucius. In Han Fei’s hypothetical scenario, Lu represents any foreign power or external entity. The contrast between Yan (the ruler’s own state) and Lu (a foreign state) highlights the absurdity of favoring outsiders over one’s own foundation.
Despising the Inside and Favoring the Outside:
This is Han Fei’s core critique in this passage. It describes the fatal management flaw of a leader who belittles or neglects his own subordinates to curry favor with outsiders. Han Fei argues that a leader’s own people are his fundamental base; abandoning this base for external validation is political suicide.
Ministers become hidden fissures / cracks(人臣为隙穴):
“隙穴” (xì xué) literally means a crack or a small hole. Han Fei uses it as a powerful metaphor for hidden vulnerabilities and internal threats. Just as a massive dam can collapse due to tiny cracks, a state can be destroyed by ministers who harbor secret resentments and hidden agendas due to the ruler’s unfairness.
The ruler stands entirely isolated:
In Han Fei’s political philosophy, a ruler must never be truly “independent” or isolated. A ruler’s power comes from the support and cooperation of his ministers and subjects. When a ruler alienates everyone, his “independence” is actually a state of extreme vulnerability and impending doom.
Extreme Peril:
This is the ultimate consequence of the ruler’s flawed employment strategy. Han Fei uses this strong term to emphasize that the combination of internal resentment and external unreliability creates a fatal trap for the ruler.
使燕王内憎其民而外爱鲁人，而燕不用而鲁不附。民见憎，不能尽力而务功；鲁见说，而不能离死命而亲他主。如此，则人臣为隙穴，而人主独立。以隙穴之臣而事独立之主，此之谓危殆。
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