Editing Confucius (section)

===Political career===
In Confucius's time, the [[state of Lu]] was headed by a ruling ducal house. Under the duke were [[Three Huan|three aristocratic families]], whose heads bore the title of viscount and held hereditary positions in the Lu bureaucracy. The Ji family held the position "Minister over the Masses", who was also the "Prime Minister"; the Meng family held the position "Minister of Works"; and the Shu family held the position "Minister of War". In the winter of {{BCE|505}}, Yang Hu—a retainer of the Ji family—rose up in rebellion and seized power from the Ji family. However, by the summer of {{BCE|501}}, the three hereditary families had succeeded in expelling Yang Hu from Lu. By then, Confucius had built up a considerable reputation through his teachings, while the families came to see the value of proper conduct and righteousness, so they could achieve loyalty to a legitimate government. Thus, that year ({{BCE|501}}), Confucius came to be appointed to the minor position of governor of a town. Eventually, he rose to the position of Minister of Crime.{{sfn|Dubs|1946|pp=274–276}} The ''[[Xunzi (book)|Xunzi]]'' says that once assuming the post, Confucius ordered the execution of [[Shaozheng Mao]], another Lu state official and scholar whose lectures attracted the three thousand disciples several times except [[Yan Hui]]. Shaozheng Mao was accused of 'five crimes', each worth execution, including 'concealed evilness, stubborn abnormality, eloquent duplicity, erudition in bizarre facts and generosity to evildoers'.<ref>{{Cite book|trans-title=Xunzi|language=lzh|title-link=Xunzi (book)|last=Xun|first=Kuang|author-mask=0|script-title=zh:荀子|script-chapter=zh:宥坐|script-quote=zh:孔子為魯攝相，朝七日而誅少正卯。門人進問曰：「夫少正卯魯之聞人也，夫子為政而始誅之，得無失乎，」孔子曰：「居，吾語女其故。人有惡者五，而盜竊不與焉。一曰心達而險；二曰行辟而堅；三曰言偽而辯；四曰記醜而博；五曰順非而澤。此五者，有一於人，則不得免於君子之誅，而少正卯兼有之。故居處足以聚徒成群，言談足飾邪營眾，強足以反是獨立，此小人之桀雄也，不可不誅也。是以湯誅尹諧，文王誅潘止，周公誅管叔，太公誅華仕，管仲誅付里乙，子產誅鄧析、史付，此七子者，皆異世同心，不可不誅也。詩曰：『憂心悄悄，慍於群小。』小人成群，斯足憂也。」}}</ref>

Confucius desired to return the authority of the state to the duke by dismantling the fortifications of the city—strongholds belonging to the three families. This way, he could establish a centralized government. However, Confucius relied solely on diplomacy as he had no military authority himself. In {{BCE|500}}, Hou Fan—the governor of Hou—revolted against his lord of the Shu family. Although the Meng and Shu families unsuccessfully besieged Hou, a loyalist official rose up with the people of Hou and forced Hou Fan to flee to the [[state of Qi]]. The situation may have been in favor for Confucius as this likely made it possible for Confucius and his disciples to convince the aristocratic families to dismantle the fortifications of their cities. Eventually, after a year and a half, Confucius and his disciples succeeded in convincing the Shu family to raze the walls of Hou, the Ji family in razing the walls of Bi, and the Meng family in razing the walls of Cheng. First, the Shu family led an army towards their city Hou and tore down its walls in {{BCE|498}}.{{sfn|Dubs|1946|p=277}}

{{multiple image
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| image1 = Confucius, fresco from a Western Han tomb of Dongping County, Shandong province, China.jpg
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| image2 = Confucius and Laozi, fresco from a Western Han tomb of Dongping County, Shandong province, China.jpg
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| footer = A [[Western Han]] ({{BCE|202}}{{snd}}{{CE|9}}) [[fresco]] depicting Confucius and [[Laozi]], from a tomb of [[Dongping County]], Shandong
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Soon thereafter, Gongshan Furao, a retainer of the Ji family, revolted and took control of the forces at Bi. He immediately launched an attack and entered the capital Lu. Earlier, Gongshan had approached Confucius to join him, which Confucius considered as he wanted the opportunity to put his principles into practice but he gave up on the idea in the end. Confucius disapproved the use of a violent revolution by principle, even though the Ji family dominated the Lu state by force for generations and had exiled the previous duke. Creel states that, unlike the rebel Yang Hu before him, Gongshan may have sought to destroy the three hereditary families and restore the power of the duke. However, Dubs is of the view that Gongshan was encouraged by Viscount Ji Huan to invade the Lu capital in an attempt to avoid dismantling the Bi fortified walls. Whatever the situation may have been, Gongshan was considered an upright man who continued to defend the state of Lu, even after he was forced to flee.{{sfnm|Creel|1949|1pp=35–36|Dubs|1946|2pp=277–278}}

During the revolt by Gongshan, [[Zhong You]] had managed to keep the duke and the three viscounts together at the court. Zhong You was one of the disciples of Confucius and Confucius had arranged for him to be given the position of governor by the Ji family. When Confucius heard of the raid, he requested that Viscount Ji Huan allow the duke and his court to retreat to a stronghold on his palace grounds. Thereafter, the heads of the three families and the duke retreated to the Ji's palace complex and ascended the Wuzi Terrace. Confucius ordered two officers to lead an assault against the rebels. At least one of the two officers was a retainer of the Ji family, but they were unable to refuse the orders while in the presence of the duke, viscounts, and court. The rebels were pursued and defeated at Gu. Immediately after the revolt was defeated, the Ji family razed the Bi city walls to the ground.{{sfnm|Dubs|1946|1pp=278–279|Chin|2007|2p=30}}

The attackers retreated after realizing that they would have to become rebels against the state and their lord. Through Confucius' actions, the Bi officials had inadvertently revolted against their own lord, thus forcing Viscount Ji Huan's hand in having to dismantle the walls of Bi—as it could have harbored such rebels—or confess to instigating the event by going against proper conduct and righteousness as an official. Dubs suggests that the incident brought to light Confucius' foresight, practical political ability, and insight into human character.{{sfn|Dubs|1946|p=279}}

When it was time to dismantle the city walls of the Meng family, the governor was reluctant to have his city walls torn down and convinced the head of the Meng family not to do so. The ''[[Zuo Zhuan]]'' recalls that the governor advised against razing the walls to the ground as he said that it made Cheng vulnerable to Qi, and cause the destruction of the Meng family. Even though Viscount Meng Yi gave his word not to interfere with an attempt, he went back on his earlier promise to dismantle the walls.{{sfnm|Dubs|1946|1p=279|Chin|2007|2p=30}}

Later in {{BCE|498}}, [[Duke Ding of Lu]] personally went with an army to lay siege to Cheng in an attempt to raze its walls to the ground, but he did not succeed. Thus, Confucius could not achieve the idealistic reforms that he wanted including restoration of the legitimate rule of the duke. He had made powerful enemies within the state, especially with Viscount Ji Huan, due to his successes so far. According to accounts in the ''[[Zuo Zhuan]]'' and the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'', Confucius departed his homeland in {{BCE|497}} after his support for the failed attempt of dismantling the fortified city walls of the powerful Ji, Meng, and Shu families.{{sfn|Riegel|1986|p=13}} He left the state of Lu without resigning, remaining in self-exile and unable to return as long as Viscount Ji Huan was alive.{{sfn|Dubs|1946|pp=280–281}}