The people of Chu revered ghosts; though these were not truly deities, their shamans schemed to make them seem divine. They secretly conspired with local ruffians and requested that they share the benefits together. The local ruffians passed this information to national-level ruffians, so they came to know the affairs of officials and the outcomes of lawsuits, with their predictions as accurate as an echo. If anyone did not follow the shamans' advice, then matters that had already gone right would go left, and those that had already gone left would go right. Thus, the people of Chu obeyed their shamans more than they obeyed royal decrees; they would rather defy imperial prohibitions than dare to disobey the shamans' words. The king, upon hearing of this, became angry and ordered the military commander to execute the shamans and burn their shrines. The people cried out in alarm and spread false rumors among themselves. At this time, Chu suffered a drought, and the people all blamed the king; numerous minor shamans arose in uproar, and throughout the country everyone claimed to be a ghost. The king and the prime minister plotted to kill all the shamans, and consulted Xiong Zhefu about it. Xiong Zhefu said: "This will provoke unrest; we cannot do this yet." "The people are ignorant and obsessed with misfortune and fortune. They are just beginning to rely on ghosts; if we suddenly suppress this, before their expectations have been fulfilled, they will think we oppose their wishes and will surely resent us." Resentment arises from small matters and accumulates over time. Even in a village of ten households, there cannot be a single day without some incident in every household; how much more so is this true for the state of Chu? Whenever there are incidents, people always blame them on ghosts; thus they will all rely on ghosts to accuse the king. How can we possibly control this? It would be better to take advantage of the situation and raise it higher. "Common people are capable of conjuring disasters without fearing exaggeration. After exaggerating, we can then clearly expose their false promises; thus, no household needs to be individually persuaded for the people to understand. Only after this should we publicly establish our laws, and then none will dare to defy them." He therefore ordered the group of shamans to select a chief shaman to oversee the ghosts and restore their shrines, and even in state affairs, they would consult him as well. At the same time, he held a major selection of county officials, fairly adjudicated civil cases, eased taxation and corvée labor, eliminated petitions for personal favors, dismissed corrupt officials, and all ruffians in the state and its towns ceased their activities. The shamans' predictions were often inaccurate, so the people gradually became disinterested. When a western army approached the borders, the king gathered his senior officials to consult the shamans. The shamans had not been previously informed and could not provide an appropriate response. The king questioned the senior officials about this, who were startled and unable to reply. He then executed the shamans and burned the ghosts' effigies; not a single person dared speak of ghosts again.
