From Lu Buwei with his famous historical gamble of ‘trading kings’ to Elon Musk with the deal of the century: Will ‘Birds in the end’ repeat itself?

Lu Buwei – Elon Musk, 2 people, 2 eras, 2 contexts but the same ‘gamble’ in life: “Trading Kings”. But will these 2 ‘supermen’ have the same ending?

Lu Buwei learned how to get rich from his father: “Father, what is the most profitable business?” – “Business of kings!”. Elon Musk shared with the press: “The stakes were so high that I felt I had no other choice.”

Lu Buwei – the tragic end of the “king trader”

Born as a merchant, Lu Buwei deserved the title of “the world’s number one merchant” in Chinese history when he successfully used his business acumen to seize power. Lu Buwei was famous for his talent in trading official titles, culminating in trading… kings. According to the Records of the Grand Historian (Sima Qian), Lu Buwei went to Handan and saw Zi Chu (later King Zhuang Xiang, father of Emperor Qin Shi Huang) being held hostage there because his mother was not favored by the King of Qin. Buwei immediately thought: “This item is strange, it can be traded!”

Lu Buwei then went to Zi Chu and said:

– I can make your door bigger.

Tu So smiled:

– You should make your house bigger first before you do mine.

Lu Buwei said:

– Then you don’t know: My house must wait for your house to grow.

It can be seen that Lu Buwei was a great merchant with a sharp business mind and was extremely bold.

He offered his concubine, Zhao Ji, who was beautiful, good at playing music and dancing, and was pregnant with his child to Zi Chu. Zi Chu made Zhao Ji his wife, and although she gave birth to Ying Zheng after full term (even the Records of the Grand Historian also stated that Ying Zheng was Bu Wei’s son, because there were people who were pregnant past their due date and still did not give birth, and before marrying Zi Chu, Zhao Ji was already pregnant with Bu Wei).

Lu Buwei gave Zi Chu thousands of gold and silver to entertain guests, bought many precious and rare items and returned to Qin to meet Hua Yang Lady because he knew she was very favored by the Qin king but had no children.

She took the opportunity to praise Zi Chu to the fullest, and said that Zi Chu, even though he was in Zhao, still missed her very much. Then she advised her to adopt Zi Chu as her son to support her in the future. Lady Hua Yang listened to her and was moved. She agreed. She asked An Guo Jun to make Zi Chu her successor. An Guo Jun agreed.

Later, Lu Buwei used all his money, wealth, and talent to put Doanh Chinh on the throne as the first emperor of China.

When King Qin was young, Lu Buwei had an affair with the empress dowager Zhao Ji. Later, fearing that it would be exposed, he brought Lao Ai into the palace and pretended to be a eunuch to “serve” Zhao Ji. Lao Ai was favored by Zhao Ji and had two children with him, which made him develop an ambitious plan: to make his own son the emperor after King Qin died. Therefore, the court was divided into three factions: King – Prime Minister – Empress Dowager (the one hiding behind was Lao Ai). When the matter was exposed, King Qin killed Lao Ai and his two half-brothers, and imprisoned the empress dowager in Ung land.

And the person that Qin Shi Huang wanted to target was the current prime minister – the one who sacrificed himself to make him king – the one who caused him humiliation and resentment for having an affair with the queen mother, making him forever a child with an unclear origin, and also the one who caused another unforgivable boil to sprout with the “achievement” of bringing Lao Ai to the queen mother, almost causing the downfall of the dynasty. But because of Lu Buwei’s illustrious achievements, and because the guests and orators spoke up for him, the king could hardly convict him, and could only remove Lu Buwei from his position as prime minister and send him back to his fiefdom.

After chasing Lu Buwei back to his fiefdom, King Ying Zheng of Qin had truly grown in power, holding great power in his hands. Although Lu Buwei had lost his power, his reputation was too great, and many people visited him, so he still had considerable influence. When the news reached the King of Qin, he exiled Lu Buwei to Shu. Lu Buwei thought he could not live, so he drank poison and committed suicide. This was the tragic end of a merchant… of kings, a usurer who dared to act arbitrarily before an emperor, even though he was the emperor’s biological father according to rumors. ‘When the bird is dead, people carry the bow to a place where it is no longer needed. Has the same meaning as ‘crossing the bridge and pulling up the planks’.

Elon Musk “risks his life” to support Donald Trump

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man – owner of social network X – CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has become Donald Trump’s biggest supporter, even declaring that he is risking his life to help the new President return to the White House.

“What I do increases the risk of assassination significantly and getting involved in politics is not something I enjoy. I don’t want to die,” Musk told Euronews. “But the stakes are so high that I feel I have no choice but to do it.”

The tech mogul has not always been a Trump supporter, however. Some pundits have previously described Musk as a Silicon Valley libertarian, while Elon Musk himself has called himself a centrist and “politically moderate.”

Mr. Trump’s success in the election was the culmination of a six-month effort, and a huge gamble: Mr. Musk let the super PAC America lead his campaign to get out the vote in battleground states. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, trusted a political novice with a key role in his campaign.

It’s hard to pinpoint Mr. Musk’s role in bringing Mr. Trump back to the White House, because success is always multifaceted, according to the New York Times. But there’s no denying that the victory was about more than just Mr. Musk’s success and the money he spent.

The social media mogul has largely self-funded the campaign, spending more than $175 million. His team has knocked on about 11 million doors in battleground states since August, including about 1.8 million in Michigan and 2.3 million in Pennsylvania. In addition, Musk has spent $30 million on a massive direct mail campaign and $22 million on digital advertising, including on Trump-friendly media.

In the spring, when he met with political advisers, Mr. Musk focused on mobilizing 800,000 to 1 million “unlikely” voters in seven battleground states — people who might lean toward Mr. Trump but have a history of erratic voting. That gave Mr. Trump a big advantage in rural areas, which are Mr. Musk’s focus.

The 53-year-old billionaire used traditional campaign tactics. He created a “fleet of cars” to transport Trump supporters. He also called for early voting and mail-in voting, despite Trump’s repeated criticism of the method. Musk also offered cash rewards, such as $1 million to anyone who signed a petition supporting free speech and gun rights. Although controversial, the incident attracted public attention. Meanwhile, Musk’s X account, with millions of followers, became a tool to spread information in support of Trump.

The sudden “turn” reminded many people of the story of the ancients.

Shortly after being declared the winner of the 2024 election, Mr. Trump gave a speech to his supporters, praising tech billionaire Elon Musk as “a special person,” “a super genius,” and calling on everyone to protect his genius. At the same time, he appointed him as a “special government official,” allowing him to work in the government while avoiding some unfavorable regulations.

“They are talented leaders working together to make America great again. The federal government will certainly benefit from Mr. Musk’s ideas and effectiveness,” Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, told the Wall Street Journal.

But just 7 days after taking office, Elon Musk left his position at the White House to “focus on business”. However, after this departure, a “war of words” took place between the Tesla founder and the current US President, accompanied by tension in the relationship between the two. In a post on social network X on June 5, billionaire Elon Musk criticized US President Donald Trump as “ungrateful”.

The relationship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump has reminded many people of the historical story of Lu Buwei and Qin Shi Huang. Although they lived in different eras and contexts, they were both influential businessmen in history and politics. Lu Buwei was the one who helped Yi Ren (later Qin Shi Huang) from a weak prince to a strong leader of China. He used his talent and connections to shape politics, creating opportunities for Yi Ren to rise to the throne. Similarly, Elon Musk also played an important role in shaping Donald Trump’s presidential election. He used his influence to encourage voters, finance the campaign, and create a strong wave of support for Trump.

Lü Buwei demonstrated excellent political strategy, building relationships with other leaders and creating a strong alliance to support Ying Zheng’s ascension to the throne. Musk has also applied similar strategies in the business and political arenas, combining modern technology and social media to reach voters and build support for Trump. After Qin Shi Huang ascended the throne, Lü Buwei had great influence on the political decisions and policies of the imperial court, even though he no longer held direct power. Similarly, after Trump won the election, Musk became a prominent figure in politics and was able to influence decisions and policies related to technology and economics.

The relationship between Lu Buwei and Qin Shi Huang was initially very close, but later became strained when Qin Shi Huang wanted to take over all the power and no longer needed his support, leading to a tragic end. This also raises a question worth pondering about the future of Elon Musk, when Mr. Trump’s decisions and Elon Musk’s interests directly conflict with each other.