Wei Qing was a great general who served the Han Wu Emperor of the Han Dynasty. Once, General Wei Qing accepted the order to conquer the Hun Tribe. His subordinate, Su Jian, encountered Chanyu, the leader of the Hun Tribe. They fought a fierce battle for a whole day and more than a thousand soldiers died in that battle. Su Jian escaped and came back alone.
When Wei Qing consulted with others, some said, "General, since you fought against the Hun Tribe, you have never killed one of your generals to establish merit. Now, General Su Jian deserted his soldiers and ran back, so it is a golden opportunity to take him."
Others said, "That is not the right thing to do. Su Jian fought a vigorous battle and he led only one thousand soldiers to fight with tens of thousands of enemy soldiers. If you kill him, you are also telling others that, from now on, if you lose a battle you should never return."
Wei Qing said, "Even though our Emperor trusted me and gave me the power, I should not abuse it. I will report this to the Emperor and let our wise Emperor make a decision. Isn't that a good thing to do?" Everyone thought that was quite reasonable.
Wei Qing was in control of all the soldiers for a long time, but he never thought about his power. As a result, no one was suspicious of him and no one was jealous of him.
(From Historical records)
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