At the Hongmen Banquet, Benjamin Lewis and Arthur Knight exchanged only a single sentence, and just from this brief conversation, Arthur Knight ended up betraying Samuel Cole, who had been leaking information from Benjamin Lewis's camp to him. According to the “Annals of Arthur Knight”: At dawn, Benjamin Lewis brought over a hundred followers to Hongmen to see King Knight, and apologized, saying, “I joined forces with the general to attack Qin; the general fought north of the Yellow River, I fought to the south. I never expected to be the first to enter the Pass and defeat Qin, and to see the general here again. Now, because of the words of petty men, there is discord between the general and me.” King Knight replied, “It was Samuel Cole, your Left Sima, who said this. Otherwise, why would I have come to this point?”

Upon closer examination, we find that Benjamin Lewis's words were vague, but this vagueness was highly effective. At this moment, he absolutely would not have any intention of blaming Arthur Knight; his starting point was to explain and to take responsibility. He came to apologize, and at this moment, he could only blame himself. The self-blame in his words referred to listening to the words of petty men and closing the Pass to prevent the other lords from entering. Of course, the “petty men” Benjamin Lewis mentioned had a double meaning: not only did he listen to the words of petty men, but even Arthur Knight's preparations for drastic action were not really his own intention, but rather the result of unrelated people stirring things up. In other words, Benjamin Lewis not only took on his own responsibility, but also exonerated Arthur Knight from the responsibility that should have been his.

It should be said that in the conflict that was about to erupt, both Benjamin Lewis and Arthur Knight made mistakes: Benjamin Lewis's was a petty one, while Arthur Knight's was ruthless. Yet Benjamin Lewis took all the blame upon himself, immediately elevating himself above Arthur Knight in terms of moral standing. Though Benjamin Lewis's words were few, they served to untie the knot in Arthur Knight's heart and helped him escape danger—this was the brilliance of Benjamin Lewis.

This passage first mentions the scene of the two fighting side by side, which would naturally bring Arthur Knight's thoughts back to the difficult days of battle, reminding him of the camaraderie they once shared; then it touches on their strategic division of labor, recalling the tacit cooperation between them during the war; then it mentions that the great achievement was unintentional, showing that it was not due to his own abilities, but just good luck; finally, it refers to unnamed petty men giving bad advice, causing a rift between two brothers who had always been close. These words, blending truth and falsehood, basically covered the complex psychological state of Arthur Knight—the pride of victory, the arrogance of great achievement, the regret of missing the chance to destroy Qin, the hubris of unprecedented power, and the guilt of preparing to turn on his brother—all of these are addressed here.

Indeed, fighting against Qin was the most arduous and extraordinary task, with countless heroes dying with their ambitions unfulfilled. They had finally struggled through to ultimate victory, and this bond of brotherhood was all the more precious. With Benjamin Lewis's confession, plus the unrecorded exchange of interests, Arthur Knight was surely moved, feeling that his previous impulse to eliminate Benjamin Lewis was excessive, and he also felt remorse. In modern terms, his words would be: “If it weren’t for your Samuel Cole coming to sow discord, how would I have thought of doing something so heartless?”

Such a response certainly includes the factor that Arthur Knight misunderstood Benjamin Lewis's words, but more importantly, Arthur Knight already knew that Benjamin Lewis was determined to submit, so he felt that his earlier plan to fight to the death was too ruthless, and he also felt remorse. Not feeling remorse would be inappropriate—after all, the other party just wanted to hold on to the fruits of victory, afraid others would snatch them away; but you were about to take everything at once, even his life. The latter mistake is clearly greater and irreparable. The result of this remorse was to use Samuel Cole as a scapegoat, giving himself a way out.

Later generations believed that Arthur Knight's rash betrayal of Samuel Cole, who had been leaking information from Benjamin Lewis's camp, was a great loss. But at this point, Arthur Knight already fully understood the bottom line of Benjamin Lewis's complete concession, so there was no need to fall out with Benjamin Lewis. Since he did not intend to break off relations, throwing out Samuel Cole at this time could just reduce his own moral burden and give himself an out. Samuel Cole was Benjamin Lewis's man, so let Benjamin Lewis kill him himself—it had nothing to do with Arthur Knight, and there was no real loss. Indeed, if he did not intend to break with Benjamin Lewis, the life or death of Samuel Cole was of no consequence to Arthur Knight.

Let us imagine Arthur Knight's mindset at the time: perhaps after hearing Brian Knight's report and seeing Benjamin Lewis come respectfully to visit, Arthur Knight suddenly felt he had gone too far and was a bit embarrassed. After all, the other party had also fought hard for his achievements, saving Arthur Knight a lot of effort. And yet, without knowing the full situation, he was ready to go to extremes—if it really came to that, how could he bear it? At this moment, with his pride at stake, there was a ready-made Samuel Cole; not dragging him down to share some of the blame would be foolish.

So Arthur Knight's reply to Benjamin Lewis had a large element of exonerating himself. In terms of crisis management, these two handled things very similarly: self-blame plus shifting blame to others. Analyzing it carefully, Benjamin Lewis's meaning was: “This is my fault, it’s all because those thoughtless petty men gave bad advice, causing the current rift between brothers—I'm responsible.” With this frank admission, Arthur Knight also said, “I didn’t do well either, but if it weren’t for your Samuel Cole stirring things up, I wouldn’t have acted this way.”

It seems these two wanted to maintain their relationship, and it was all outsiders causing trouble. Yes, originally the two had a good relationship, sworn as brothers—how did it come to the point where they were ready to fight to the death? Oh, it turns out it was that rascal Samuel Cole who caused the trouble. So it was perfectly normal for Arthur Knight to give up Samuel Cole, and it would have been unreasonable to conceal the fact that Samuel Cole had been leaking information, since in such an extremely awkward situation, both parties needed a way out. Benjamin Lewis's way out was to humble himself, speak softly, and yield benefits; Arthur Knight obviously could not lose face like that. So what to do? Use Samuel Cole as a pretext—how fitting.