The Kung-po Liâo, having slandered Tsze-lû to Chî-sun, Tsze-fû Ching-po informed Confucius of it, saying, “Our master is certainly being led astray by the Kung-po Liâo, but I have still power enough left to cut Liâo off, and expose his corpse in the market and in the court.”
The Master said, “If my principles are to advance, it is so ordered. If they are to fall to the ground, it is so ordered. What can the Kung-po Liâo do where such ordering is concerned?”