The Han court ignored Han Fei's written remonstrances — then Qin annexed it

Han Fei was a prince of the small Warring-State kingdom of Han and the era's sharpest analyst of state power. Watching Han shrink under Qin's pressure, he repeatedly submitted written remonstrances to the King of Han urging legal and administrative reform. The Shiji records the result in a single line: the king could not bring himself to use the counsel.

Han Fei's own writings make the same diagnosis from the inside. In the 'Solitary Indignation' chapter he describes how able, law-following ministers are blocked and endangered by entrenched courtiers, while the ruler is kept from hearing them — counsel that is correct but has no mechanism to reach the decision. He was describing his own position.

Only when Qin pressed Han did the court, in desperation, send Han Fei as an envoy to Qin — the advisor it had refused for years. Han Fei was put to death in Qin in 233 BCE on Li Si's advice. In 230 BCE Qin captured King An of Han, took all his territory, and made it a commandery; Han was the first of the six kingdoms Qin erased. The remonstrances had been right and complete; the refusal to act on them was the decision.