Fish Belly Blade
The Fish Belly Blade (魚腸劍) was an ancient dagger wielded by the Assassin Zhuan Zhu to assassinate King Liao of Wu in 515 BCE.
History[edit | edit source]
According to historian Sima Qian's Record of the Grand Historian, in order to get close to King Liao, Zhuan Zhu hid the dagger in the belly of a fish and offered it to the king as a gift. When the king let his guard down, Zhuan Zhu took out the dagger and promptly assassinated him with it, thus giving the short blade its name. After Zhuan Zhu's death in 515 BCE, the dagger was kept and preserved by fellow assassins in one of the many secret vaults constructed as reserve armory of military gear and cache of funds for future xiake, located in what became Qinghe Commandery during the Tang dynasty.[1]
In 756 CE, the vault's guardian Pei Min, who served as the chief of Mojia Village above the vault, offered the dagger to the Hidden One Li E. Li E accepted the dagger and fashioned it to his arm sleeve as a Hidden Blade, adding onto his weaponry that he planned to use to eliminate the Golden Turtles and the Yeluohe.[1] The Fish Belly Blade went on to become his main choice of weaponry, using it to eliminate the Feathered Forest's general Wang Chengye in Mawei Station,[2] and Yan Emperor An Lushan in Chang'an.[3]