Shang Yang, a prominent Legalist during the Warring States period, believed in governing through strict laws and harsh punishments. Through two major reforms in the state of Qin, he transformed it into the most powerful and prosperous kingdom of its time.
Shang Yang governed the state of Qin with unwavering impartiality, punishing lawbreakers regardless of their powerful clans and rewarding the meritorious without favoring relatives or close advisors. When the law touched the crown prince, even the prince's tutors were punished. However, Shang Yang's enforcement was excessively harsh and cruel, relying solely on coercion to force officials and commoners into submission. He instituted numerous brutal punishments, frequently applying collective guilt and implicating entire families up to nine generations.
After Duke Xiao of Qin, who trusted Shang Yang, died, King Hui succeeded the throne. Someone told King Hui, "When a minister's reputation overshadows the ruler, it endangers the state; when close advisors become too intimate, they threaten the sovereign. Now, even the women and children of Qin discuss Minister Shang's laws, but none speak of Your Majesty's decrees. This shows Shang has usurped the ruler's role—a crime of rebellion!" King Hui heeded the slander and sentenced Shang Yang to death by dismemberment, tying his limbs and head to five chariots and tearing him apart. Shang Yang, who governed with harsh punishments, never expected such a tragic end.
The idiom "dismembered by five horses" describes cutting a whole thing into pieces.
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Biography of Lord Shang"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "五马分尸" came to describe cutting a whole thing into pieces.