Chapter 34 Chapter 33 Kuiqiu Conference, talk about wine

In 651 B.C., Duke Huan of Qi sent out invitations to the feudal lords, asking them to attend a meeting in Kuiqiu (which appeared once in Chapter 17, but according to textual research, it should be in the east of Lankao County, Henan Province) in the summer of that year. It is to support the emperor and reaffirm international peace. All the princes and countries readily expressed their willingness to attend the meeting, and even countries that had not received invitations wanted to come here admiringly.Duke Huan of Qi was very satisfied with his influential influence.But as the saying goes: People have no long-term worries, but they must have near-term worries.Duke Huan of Qi had no near-term worries, but long-term concerns had to be considered, and that was the issue of his heir.

Duke Huan of Qi said to Guan Zhong: "Father Zhong, I'm not young anymore, and it's time to think about the issue of successors. I have six sons, but none of them is a descendant. Who do you think I should make as successor?" Guan Zhongxin I thought, it's not because you are too lustful, you like this one today, and another one tomorrow, so that you don't even have a regular wife, how can you have a son-in-law?Guan Zhong said: "Since you have no sons, which son do you prefer?" Duke Huan of Qi thought for a while and said: "If you follow the principle of 'If you have a son, you have a son, and if you have no son, you have an elder', then you should have no loss." , Wu Kui is the oldest; but among these sons, Shu Zhao is the most capable. So I want to make Zhao the heir apparent, what do you think, Father Zhong?" Ya, Shu Diao and others get mixed up together, working hand in hand.If he is allowed to be the king, then Qi will definitely be ruled by a villain in the future, it will not be good.So Guan Zhong said: "Since the king thinks that Gongzi Zhao is more capable, you might as well make him the heir. Anyway, the monarch has no sons, so you treat Gongzi Zhao as a son. This is not a violation of Zhou rituals." Duke Huan of Qi nodded, But he was worried, and said, "Wu Kui already has his own henchmen, if he is not convinced and fights with Zhao, what will we do?"

Guan Zhong said: "You think that the throne of the emperor of Zhou depends on you. Let's infer other things from one instance to another. If we also choose one of the princes who is the most capable and entrust Prince Zhao to him, wouldn't we be able to sit back and relax?" Duke Huan of Qi's eyes lit up, and said: "Good idea, the Kuiqiu Conference will be held soon, let's look for a sage among the princes present at the conference." Guan Zhong nodded in agreement. The Kuiqiu Conference was held as scheduled. This time, not only the main princes of the Central Plains came, but King Zhou Xiang also sent Zai Kong, the Duke of Zhou, as a representative to attend the conference, which raised the standard of the conference to another level.

At the meeting, Confucius, the Duke of Zhou, commended Duke Huan of Qi for his achievements in respecting the king and fighting the barbarians on behalf of the emperor, and gave Duke Huan of Qi Qi meat, bows and arrows representing the privilege of conquest, and luxuriously decorated cars.Gizzard meat is the meat used by the emperor to sacrifice to the ancestors. After the sacrifice, the gizzard meat was distributed to the princes with the same surname as the emperor.Now the meat is given to Duke Huan of Qi, which is a special favor from the emperor to Duke Huan of Qi. The emperor has a gift, of course Duke Huan of Qi must accept it respectfully.He left his seat and was about to kneel down at the bottom of the steps of the Huimeng Terrace.At this time, Zai Kong read out the will of the emperor: "My uncle (because the Zhou royal family surnamed Ji and Jiang surnamed often intermarry, so the country of Qi surnamed Jiang is called the country of nephews and uncles of the Zhou royal family) is old and has worked hard. , so there is no need to bow down to grant a first-class title."

Duke Huan of Qi was about to stand to accept the reward, Guan Zhong hurriedly stopped him and said: "The emperor can be polite to you, but you can't show disrespect." So Duke Huan of Qi still knelt down and saluted, saying: "The majesty of the emperor is everywhere. How dare I, Xiaobai, violate the etiquette and shame the emperor because of the order of the emperor?" Then he accepted the reward. Immediately afterwards, the princes swore an oath of blood and announced the covenant: all princes participating in the alliance are not allowed to cause floods to other countries; wives; women are not allowed to participate in state affairs, etc.These regulations are to maintain the Zhou ritual tradition.

The Kuiqiu meeting was unprecedentedly grand, and Duke Huan of Qi was very satisfied, and he looked very contented.After a dinner one day, he asked the Duke of Zhou Zai Kong: "I heard that Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties had the ceremony of enshrining Zen. Could you explain it to me in detail?" Zai Kong said: "Feng Chan means that the emperor went to Mount Tai to worship the heaven and the earth. The three generations prospered because of the blessing of heaven, so the emperor went to worship the heaven and the earth to thank God for his blessing. This is a grand ceremony."

Duke Huan of Qi said: "The areas ruled by the emperors of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties are all far away from Mount Tai. They all come to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen. Now Mount Tai is in the territory of the widows. I also want to sacrifice to Mount Tai. What do you think?" Zai Kong was shocked when he heard that in ancient times, those who enshrined Zen and Mount Tai were all emperors, and they had to be emperors with good morals.Duke Huan of Qi also wants to play Feng Chan, isn't he looking for trouble?But Duke Huan of Qi was too powerful, and Zai Kong didn't dare to say anything, so he could only mutter, "If you want to go, who can stop you?"

After the banquet was over, Guan Zhong went to Duke Huan of Qi and asked, "I heard that you are going to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen?" Duke Huan of Qi said: "Yes. I heard that when the three generations were strong, they all went to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen. Since I came to the throne, I have conquered Rong and Di in the north, driven Chu in the south, and stabilized the royal family. The feudal lords live in harmony as one family, and this is an unworldly achievement, so I thought, I can also go to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen, right?" Guan Zhong knew that Duke Huan of Qi was already full of ambition at this time, and he would not listen to any more etiquette talks with him.So Guan Zhong changed his perspective and persuaded Duke Huan of Qi: "My lord, you can think of Mount Tai to enshrine Zen, but according to ancient rituals, to enshrine Mount Tai, you need some novel things from all directions. For example, three ears of millet, thousands of The tortoises, lovebirds, unicorns, etc. We don’t have any of these things now, so if we enshrine Mount Tai like this, I’m afraid people of insight in the world will laugh at us.”

Duke Huan of Qi thought about it, and finally gave up his plan to enshrine Chan Taishan. The Kuiqiu meeting was successfully concluded, and Zhou Gongzai Kong left for Luoyi.On the way, I happened to meet Duke Xian of Jin, the king of the state of Jin, who had rushed over from the north for a meeting. Zai Kong said to Jin Xiangong: "The Kuiqiu meeting is over, and you missed it this time, Junhou." Duke Xian of Jin regretted and said, "Oh! Our country is too far away from the Central Plains, and we have a lot of troubles at home, so we are late. Why am I so unlucky to see the grand occasion of the overlord of the Central Plains?"

Even the northern princes as far away as the Jin State came to the meeting in the name of Duke Huan of Qi, which made Zai Kong realize once again the great influence of Duke Huan of Qi.Thinking about Duke Huan of Qi's desire to enshrine Mount Tai, Zai Kong was very upset.So Zai Kong wanted to demolish Duke Huan of Qi. Zai Kong said to Jin Xiangong: "Don't be sorry, you don't need to participate in this alliance. Qihou is already proud of his achievements. He doesn't practice virtue, but likes to go on expeditions. In the north, he crusade against the Shanrong ;In the south, he went on an expedition to Chu; in the west, he held the Kuiqiu League. It’s hard to say what will happen in the east, but he will definitely not attack the west again. So you just don’t come to the meeting , he won’t beat you either. You’d better take care of your own affairs and don’t make trouble.” After listening to Zai Kong’s words, Duke Xian of Jin drove back to his country.

Every time the author reads the history to this point, I feel emotional. No wonder the royal family of Zhou ended up in a situation where grandma didn’t love her uncle.Zai Kong is still a sensible person in the royal family, and he was able to do the thing behind the back of Duke Huan of Qi. Didn't he think that if there was no Duke Huan of Qi these years, which princes would be willing to deal with their hapless royal family? It is true that Duke Huan of Qi often conquered the east and west, and his purpose was indeed to fight for hegemony in the world. But in the final analysis, Duke Huan of Qi conquered the Shan Rong in the north to save Yan, Xing, Wei and other countries, and he conquered Chu in the south because Chu invaded the Central Plains, No royal tribute.How much substantive benefits can Duke Huan of Qi get from this?The one who benefited the most, except for those princes who were rescued, was the emperor for a few weeks.Think about it back then, when King Zhou Xi came to the throne, none of the princes were willing to answer the emperor.But now, even Qiang Chu in the south has resumed paying tribute to the royal family. Whose credit is this? Conversely, how did the royal family of Zhou treat Duke Huan of Qi?First, because of the establishment of the prince, King Hui of Zhou urged Zheng Guo to turn his back on Qi and vote for Chu, and demolish Duke Huan of Qi.This time, it was Kong, the prime minister of the royal family of Zhou, who once again demolished Duke Huan of Qi because Duke Huan of Qi wanted to enshrine Zen Taishan (and he didn't make it at all).If this continues, who is willing to work for the royal family? Therefore, the Zhou royal family's behavior of crossing rivers and demolishing bridges, unloading mills and killing donkeys is really unethical.People respect me one foot, and I respect others one foot, so that we can widely win over the princes of the world, such as Duke Huan of Qi.People respect me one foot, but I still want to ask for two feet, so bad luck awaits.The Zhou royal family took such a path until they lost all their prestige in the end.No matter how wrong Duke Huan of Qi was, at least he maintained the stability of the Central Plains for decades. In the eyes of the princes, it was better than the Zhou royal family who beat monks after reading scriptures and scolded cooks when they were full. Thinking about it, even Jin Xiangong didn't think much of the behavior of the Zhou royal family represented by Zai Kong, who picked up the bowl to eat meat and put down the bowl to scold his mother.However, there was one sentence that Zai Kong said: the country of Jin is indeed in crisis, and troubles are about to break out.As for what happened in Jin, I will talk about it later in this book. Come back and talk about Duke Huan of Qi.As we said earlier, Duke Huan of Qi also had a private purpose for the Kuiqiu meeting, which was to find a reliable one among the princes so that he could entrust Prince Zhao to him. It seems that Duke Huan of Qi felt that Zifu, the new ruler of the Song Dynasty, was very capable, so he planned to find him to entrust his affairs after his death. Father Zi is the eldest son of Duke Huan of Song Dynasty, who died of illness at the end of last year (652 BC).Since the Kuiqiu League was held this year, my father rushed over to attend the meeting before he officially became the king. Where is the virtuousness of this father manifested?When Song Huangong was seriously ill, he summoned his father to let him inherit the throne.My father knelt down and begged again and again: "My concubine (half-brother) Muyi is older than me and very talented. Please let Muyi be the king." Mu Yi was a child of Song Huangong's concubine, not a direct son, so although he was old, he could not be a prince.When Duke Huan of Song saw that Father Zi was willing to give up the position of king to Mu Yi, he called Mu Yi over and said to him, "Father Zi thinks you are very capable, and wants me to pass on the position of king to you. Don't let me down." My hope is to govern the country well." Mu Yi said with trepidation: "My father can give up such a big temptation and give me the seat of the monarch. Who do you think is the most talented of the two of us? I would like to ask you to make my father the king, which is more in line with the Zhou Dynasty. Rules of etiquette." Song Huangong was also very happy to see that his two sons were so sensible.He said to Mu Yi: "Both of you brothers know how to be humble. I am very pleased. Then I will follow the Zhou ritual and make my father the king. You must help my father well in the future and build our Song Dynasty well." Yi nodded yes. In this way, Duke Huan of Song reported to the former kings of the Shang Dynasty with his infinite longing for the future of his country.He must think that if I have two children who know how to be courteous, how wonderful the future of our country of Song will be! So Zi's father succeeded to the throne and became the king. This is the second person among the five overlords in the Spring and Autumn Period-Song Xianggong. After Qi Huangong heard about Song Xianggong's deeds, he was also very moved.After discussing with Guan Zhongyi, Zi's father was able to give up the country to his brother, which is a rare animal in contemporary times.It seems that entrusting Young Master Zhao to him can be assured. So Duke Huan of Qi found Song Xianggong in private, held his hand, and said, "I have heard about Duke Song's virtuous name, and I want to entrust you with the affairs of the afterlife. I have appointed son Zhao as the crown prince. After a hundred years, Prince Zhao Assuming the throne, I am afraid that there will be chaos in the country of the widowed. When the time comes, I will ask Song Gong to help Prince Zhao come to stabilize the country." Song Xianggong also admired Qi Huan very much, and now his idol actually entrusted him with his funeral, how could this not make Song Xianggong feel excited?On the one hand, he humbled himself to Duke Huan of Qi, declaring that he was not virtuous enough, and that he might not be able to take on this important task.On the other hand, he also said that since the overlord has entrusted him, he must do his best to assist Prince Zhao. Qi Huangong was very satisfied with Song Xianggong's attitude, and felt that he had entrusted the right person.However, Duke Huan of Qi would never have imagined that it was his entrustment that made Duke Xiang of Song want to be Duke Huan of Qi's successor, and this idea eventually killed Duke Xiang of Song. This is for a later story, so I won’t mention it.Duke Huan of Qi's hegemony reached its peak at the Kuiqiu League.However, reaching the top also means starting to go downhill.From then on, Duke Huan of Qi began to enter the twilight years of his career. Even so, the prestige of the overlord is still there after all.If something happened to any of the princes, Duke Huan of Qi should still be asked to solve it.The Duke Xiang of Jin who planned to join the Kuiqiu League but failed to catch up had an accident at home.Chaos broke out in the state of Jin. Although the journey was far away, Duke Huan of Qi, as the overlord, could not ignore it.What happened to Jin?