Chapter 22 Chapter 221

The princes and officials in the country are powerful, the princes themselves are emptied, and the country is divided by the officials.The power struggle among the vassal states has been in full swing, so what about the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty?The place is full of smog, can the central government take care of itself?Although this place has long been just an empty shelf. In fact, the royal family is still the supreme leader in name, but it has actually been reduced to the strength of ordinary princes.Due to historical reasons, they are neither able to expand nor have to worry about being invaded by other countries.

Guanzi said: If there is no external trouble, there must be internal trouble. Therefore, the royal family also faces the same problem as the princes. Exactly, the cycle of the world is endless. When King Ping of Zhou moved to the east, Zhou, Zhao, Bi, Mao and other major clans accompanied him, and the family business that had been accumulated for hundreds of years was ruined all at once.After arriving in Luoyi, although the major families divided the fields, land and houses, and danced and danced, the family business was no longer the same as before.Moreover, it is still an outsider anyway, with a weak foundation.

Around Luoyi, Qijia Dian Nei Hou was originally sealed. What is Dian Nei?It is the site within the great capital, similar to Changping in Beijing today.These Dian Nei Hou are all Zhou Dynasty clans, but they are all small clans, they are considered the local local snakes here.King Ping of Zhou had just arrived, and he had no way to rely on the original big sects, but could only rely on these small sects.Fortunately, the Xiaozongs performed well, they went out of the house, out of the ground and out of the land, out of the sacrifices, in short, they put in a lot of effort. "I'm so touched, I'm here to promise you that you will inherit the title from generation to generation, and you will have a position in the court." King Zhou Ping was very moved and immediately rewarded him. Among them, the Shan and Liu families who contributed the most were promoted to dukes , at the same level as Zhou Gong Zhao Gong Bi Gong Mao Gong and so on.

Therefore, if the leader has difficulties, he must come forward. Since then, the strength of these seven small clans in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty has become stronger and stronger, but the traditional big clans such as Duke Zhou and Zhaogong have been in decline. The struggle inevitably unfolded between Dazong and Xiaozong. This is a struggle between a stray dog ​​and a local snake. Looking back at history, the Eastern Jin Dynasty once had the same problem, and this problem also existed between the northern aristocrats who fled to the south and the southern aboriginal aristocrats in the south of the Yangtze River.However, the two parties later achieved integration through marriage, which better resolved the conflict.And at that time, the threat from the north was huge, and the two sides could only help each other.

However, these two mediators are precisely missing between Dazong and Xiaozong.First of all, the big clan and the small clan are all royal clans, all surnamed Ji, and they are not married with the same surname, so there will never be a point of intersection.Secondly, the princes around did not come to harass the royal family, and there was no common enemy, so the external pressure of the big and small clans to help each other lost. Later, people with the same surname got close and often said that "they were one family five hundred years ago", which is actually ridiculous. This shows that the two have nothing to do with each other in the past five hundred years, and there will be no relationship in the future.Unlike people with different surnames, no matter whether they were in the same family in the past, they may become a family in the future.

The most powerful of the Xiaozong are the Shan family and the Liu family. By the way, let me talk about the origin of these two surnames. During the time of King Wen of Zhou, there was a minister with the surname Shan, who was a forestry official at that time.Later, Ji Zhen, the youngest son of King Cheng of Zhou, was granted the title of Marquis of Diannei in Shanyi (now Mengjin, Henan).Later, Ji Zhen was the ancestor of the single surname. The surname Liu was originally derived from the surname Qi, which is the son of the Shihui (see Chapter 94 of the third part), and this branch is the Liu family in Shaanxi.However, there is another surname Liu derived from the surname Ji.The descendants of Zhou Chengwang Feng Wenwang's younger brother are in Liuyi (now Yanshi, Henan), and they are also Dianneihou.

King Zhou moved eastward, and the Shan family and Liu family contributed the most. They became very popular with King Ping of Zhou. In addition, this was originally their territory, so their influence in the royal family became greater and greater, and the power of the two major families became more and more powerful. Big. In addition, the five families of Gan, Yuan, Cheng, Bo, and Gong are also like this. They were originally Zhou clans and were enfeoffed as Dianneihou in Luoyi area. When it came to King Huan of Zhou, although he appointed King Zhuang as the crown prince, he liked his youngest son Wang Zike very much, so he entrusted Wang Zike to Zhou Gong Heijian as his assistant.After the death of King Huan, King Zhouzhuang succeeded to the throne. No matter how you look at it, Wang Zike felt awkward.

Zhou Gong Heijian saw it and thought about countermeasures.Countermeasure one, alienate Wang Zike, so that he can keep himself; countermeasure two, unite all major clans to abolish King Zhouzhuang together, establish Wang Zike as king, and then take the opportunity to eradicate those small clans. After many calculations, Duke Zhou Heijian felt that the second strategy was the best.So, Zhou Gong Hei Jian secretly contacted several major clans, ready to do it. Zhou Gong and Wang Zike are preparing, while the small clans on the other side have heard the news. After discussing with each other, they feel that this is a crisis—a dangerous opportunity. Although it is dangerous, it is an opportunity to completely destroy the big clan.

Therefore, Xin Bo quietly went to the king of Zhouzhuang to inform him, and said that all the small clans were closely united around the king of Zhou, and worked together for the benefit of the king of Zhou.The king of Zhouzhuang had always disliked Wang Zike and the Duke of Zhou, but now someone came to inform and help, why didn't he act early? Now that you have made up your mind, everything that follows is the old routine. In the third year of King Zhouzhuang (694 BC), King Zhouzhuang and the Xiaozongs arranged a banquet to invite Zhou Gong's black shoulders. As a result, Zhou Gong's black shoulders were chopped off at the banquet.After Wang Zike heard about it, he fled to Nanyan Kingdom immediately.

Zhou Gong Heijian was killed, and the big clan suffered heavy losses.Although the Duke of Zhou's title continued to be hereditary, the fiefdom and power were much smaller.At the same time, Zhao Gong, Bi Gong, Mao Gong and other big clans were hit. Among them, the Bi family canceled hereditary inheritance. After that, the royal family experienced the chaos of the prince's decadence and the chaos of the prince's belt, and the struggle between the big clan and the small clan can be seen behind it. Although the Duke Zhou family survived, the living environment became very bad, and they could only survive humiliation in the cracks.In the sixth year of King Jian of Zhou (580 BC), Zhou Gongchu couldn't bear it, so he took his family and fled to the state of Jin.

So far, the four great families of the Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Zhaobi and Mao, ended their historical mission. The great sects have been canceled hereditary or lingering, and the small sects have won. Does the struggle cease to exist? of course not. Xiaozong is strong, with hereditary titles and positions, as well as territory.However, the royal family’s territory is only so big, if the minor sects occupy it, the princes and grandchildren will be miserable. If the princes can share a few pieces of land, the princes and grandchildren will basically become soldiers, without any sense of security, let alone superiority feeling. The struggle never ends. After King Jian of Zhou died, his son King Ling of Zhou succeeded him.King Zhou Ling is famous in history, that is, he was born with a beard. At this time, the struggle between the royal family and Xiaozong became increasingly public. The head of the royal family is Uncle Wang Chen Sheng, the uncle of King Ling of Zhou.On Xiaozong's side, led by Shan Xianggong, Liu Dinggong and Boyu, they fought against the royal family. Uncle Wang Chen Sheng relied on himself as Zhou Lingwang's uncle, openly fighting for power with Xiaozong.It happened that Shan Xianggong passed away, and the position of Qing Shi was vacated. "Your Majesty, we are only two nobles, and those families have always taken turns to do it. How can it be said that our royal family should have our turn once? No, I want to be this noble." Chen Sheng took the opportunity, and it was considered Arguing with reason, I want to be a scholar. Shanqinggong, the son of Shanxianggong, had just passed away at this time, and it was not easy to fight, so he had no choice but to vacate the position of Qingshi to Wangshu Chensheng.The original two ministers were Shan Xianggong and Bo Yu, and Shan Xianggong ranked first.Now Bo Yu is at the top, and Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng are at the second. Even though he failed to rank first, it was already a great victory for the royal family that Chen Sheng became a nobleman. In the fourth year of King Ling of Zhou (568 BC), the Rong tribe in the state of Jin came to harass the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty, so King Ling of Zhou decided to send people to Jin to complain. "Then what, Lao Shan, let's go." Zhou Lingwang meant to send Shan Qinggong, why did he send him?Because at this time the king of the state of Jin was Jin Daogong, there is nothing to say about the relationship with the Shan family. Shan Qinggong was ready to agree, but who knew that someone would take the initiative to ask for it at this time. "Your Majesty, this won't work. If you want to deal with Jin, why do you have to go to a courtier? Let me go." Uncle Wang Chen Sheng asked to go.His calculation is very clear: take advantage of the business trip to build a good relationship with Jin, and he can seek Jin's support in the future. "Uncle Wang is right, so let's go, Uncle Wang." Shan Qinggong didn't argue with him. Since one wanted to go and the other had no objection, King Zhou Ling certainly had no objection either. Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng were secretly happy, saying that your surname is Shan, you really have no brains, and you didn't even see my clever plan. Shan Qinggong was also secretly happy, he wanted to show Uncle Wang Chen Sheng who should be the official of the royal family. Uncle Wang Chen Sheng happily came to Xinjiang, the capital of Jin. "Notify me that I am Uncle Wang Chen Sheng, a member of the royal family, and I have come to your country to meet your monarch." Uncle Wang Chen Sheng put on the airs of the royal family in a small way.It stands to reason that people from various countries would first inform the Eight Ministers of the State of Jin, and then the Eight Ministers would arrange a meeting with the monarch. Uncle Wang ignored this and went directly to see Duke Dao of Jin. "Sorry, please report to the State Guesthouse first, and someone will arrange it." Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng hit a snag head-on, but it didn't matter, and stayed in the state guesthouse of Jin State. That night, someone came to visit, who is it?Marshal Bream of the New Army.Speaking of which, Shi Dory once went to Luoyi to welcome Duke Dao of Jin, so Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng knew him. "Looking at the state of Jin, the efficiency of doing things is high." Uncle Wang Chen Sheng sighed with emotion. Although the efficiency is not low, the attitude is not very good. "Then what, you are Uncle Wang Chen Sheng?" Shi Dory asked without saluting or greeting. Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng saw that this was too rude. In theory, I am half a level higher than your monarch. Theory is theory, but what the world recognizes is strength. "Ah, yes, I am." Uncle Wang Chen Sheng said with a smile.There is no way, under the eaves of others, I have to bow my head. "That's all right, I announce that you are under detention." Dory said with a dark face, and then called out: "Come here, arrest this man." Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng's first reaction was that Bream was joking, but his expression didn't look like he was joking, not to mention how could he make such a joke with his identity? Before Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng could figure it out, a group of Jin soldiers came in, pushed and shoved Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng and his party out, and there was a detention center near the State Guest House, and they just stayed there. "What's going on? What's going on?" Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng were panicking now, shouting loudly, but unfortunately, no one paid attention to him. Uncle Wang Chen Sheng had been away for more than a month, and he didn't know how the task was completed, and there was no news back, so King Ling of Zhou felt that something was wrong. On this day, the special envoy of the State of Jin, Shi Brery, came.Dory is an old acquaintance, and King Ling of Zhou rushed to meet him. "Marshal, what, do you know why Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng haven't come back yet?" King Zhou Ling asked, even though he was the leader of the central government in name, he had to be extra polite when talking to Jin people. "Your Majesty, I came to the great capital today because of Uncle Wang Chensheng. According to the investigation of our intelligence department, the reason why the Rong people in our country want to harass the King's territory is because Uncle Wang Chensheng secretly colluded with them. So , we arrested him for the king. Although we have arrested him, we have no power to deal with the central leadership, so we came here to ask the king how to deal with this traitor." After Shi Dory finished speaking, King Zhou Ling was taken aback. This person from the state of Jin is too much, the central leadership even dares to arrest him, so he has the nerve to ask for instructions on how to deal with it. King Ling of Zhou didn't need to guess, he knew that this matter was caused by Shan Qinggong.The Shan family has a very important relationship with Jin Gonggong, and the eight ministers of the Jin state also treat the Shan family as honored guests. This matter only needs Shan Qinggong to take care of it a little, and the Jin people can help him. "Here, hey." Zhou Lingwang's first reaction was to scold the bream his mother, but after thinking about it, he held back.Uncle Wang Chen Sheng is the person he trusts the most, and he is also the person he uses to restrict Xiaozong's power, so he must be rescued. "Thank you for your help. Well, as for how to deal with Uncle Wang Chen Sheng, I don't need to bother you. Send him back and we can deal with it ourselves." "Since Your Majesty ordered it, we will do it." Shi Dory agreed, said some more irrelevant things, and left. The bream went away for more than a month, and saw that Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng hadn't come back yet.So King Ling of Zhou sent people to Xinjiang to inquire about the news, only to find out that Uncle Wang Chen Sheng was still locked up and had no intention of releasing him at all. "Damn it!" Zhou Lingwang was angry. This is simply molesting the central leadership, it's too shameful.However, anger is anger, and there is another way to think about it. King Ling of Zhou immediately sent a special envoy to the state of Jin, demanding that the state of Jin release the people immediately. "I'm sorry, this issue hasn't been discussed yet at the Eight Ministers' Meeting," Shi Bing replied. "When will we discuss it?" "Well, there are too many things in our Jin country, and everything is more important than this. According to the schedule, if nothing else happens, let's see if we can discuss it in August next year." Shi Dory pushed the matter until next year In autumn, it is clear that we will not let go. When the special envoy reported back, King Ling of Zhou was so angry that his liver hurt. what to do?Could it be that watching Uncle Wang take a bath in the prison of Jin people and dream of dying? At this time, King Ling of Zhou understood that the person who tied the bell was needed to untie the bell, and only Shan Qinggong could do it to bring Uncle Wang Chen Sheng back. King Zhou Ling sent someone to ask Shan Qinggong to come forward to help, but Shan Qinggong refused. I sent someone three times and was rejected three times. There was no other way, King Ling of Zhou had no choice but to invite Shan Qinggong here, and personally invited him to go out.This time, Shan Qinggong had no choice but to refuse, and finally reluctantly agreed. At the end of the year, the Jin people finally released Uncle Wang Chen Sheng, and the New Year's Eve dinner was in time. The state of Jin, who went to the country at the beginning of the year, was locked up for a whole year before being released. Now King Ling of Zhou knows that the Shan family cannot afford to be offended. After this catastrophe, Uncle Wang Chen Sheng hated the Shan family and Bo Yu deeply, and made up his mind to fight them to the end. Five years later, in the ninth year of King Ling of Zhou (563 BC), Uncle Wang Chen Sheng felt that the opportunity had come, so he asked to replace Bo Yu as the chief minister on the grounds of Bo Yu's dementia.Of course, Bo Yu refused to give up power, instead saying that Uncle Wang and Chen were born with dementia.As a result, the two quarreled with King Zhou Ling. "Which one of you is demented?" Zhou Lingwang didn't want to offend both sides, so he could only ask. "He." The two said at the same time, judging from their reaction speed, neither of them was considered dementia. How to do it?King Zhou Ling had a headache. Just at this moment, Shi Qiao was beside him, and King Ling of Zhou had an idea. "Shi Qiao, you are the smartest here. Tell me, who is more demented, Uncle Wang or Bo Yu?" King Ling of Zhou simply pushed the problem to Shi Qiao. "Then, how about a brain teaser?" Shi Qiao has been researching this recently, and there are many jokes. King Ling of Zhou agreed, and the competition began. "If there is a word, everyone will mispronounce it. What is this word?" Shi Qiao asked the question. Uncle Wang, Chen Sheng and Bo Yu stared at each other. Everyone would mispronounce the wrong word. What kind of word is this?The two of them thought about it for a long time, and they almost thought of being demented, but they still haven't figured it out.King Zhou Ling was also thinking about it, but couldn't think of it. After thinking about it for a meal, no one came up with an answer. "What is the word? Since you don't know it, you can tell them." Zhou Lingwang ordered, and he also wanted to know, but he didn't tell us, but told them. "Okay." Shi Qiao found a brick and wrote a word on the ground. "That's the word." "Oh." Everyone looked at it, but still didn't understand. "Uncle Boyu, how do you pronounce this word?" Shi Qiao asked. "Misunderstood." "Uncle Wang, how do you pronounce it?" Shi Qiao asked Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng again. "How could I mispronounce this word?" Uncle Wang Chen Sheng was a little annoyed. The word on the ground was "wrong". How could he mispronounce a word he knew since he was three years old? "My lord, it seems that the symptoms of Uncle Wang's dementia are more obvious. Look at this typo, everyone mispronounced it, but Uncle Wang said that he did not mispronounce it. It seems that his brain is really not working well." Shi Qiao came out in conclusion. "Nonsense, why don't I know this word? Of course I know that this word is mispronounced." Uncle Wang Chen Sheng was furious. "But you just said how could you mispronounce it." "Yes, I know this word since I was a child, how can I mispronounce it?" "Look, you are still talking about how you can read it wrong." "Yes, this word is mispronounced, I did not mispronounce it." The two started arguing, sometimes mispronouncing and sometimes not mispronouncing, and it was no longer clear. "Your Majesty, did you see that Shi Qiao said that Uncle Wang is demented?" Bo Yu heard that they were arguing and had a headache, so he ignored them and told Zhou Lingwang directly. King Ling of Zhou has no choice now. He just said that he should let Shi Jiu judge who is dementia. Now Shi Jiu judges that Uncle Wang is dementia. Whether it is or not, he can only admit it. "Stop making noise." Zhou Lingwang ordered, and the noise stopped. "Just now I said that it is up to Shi Qiao to judge, but now Shi Qiao's conclusion has come out. Uncle, as you get older, you should retreat to the second line." "I, I..." Wang Shuchen was so angry that his face was flushed, he couldn't speak, he flicked his sleeves, turned and left. King Ling of Zhou saw that Uncle Wang was so angry that he was half dead. He didn't know what he was going to do, so he hurriedly sent someone to follow him out.After a while, the person who went out came back. "Report to Your Majesty, Uncle Wang is angry and wants to go into exile, and now he is heading north." The sent person came back to report. "Ah, the gentleman has gone away. Don't you want to lose your lord? Come on, hurry up and chase him back." King Zhou Ling sent another man to chase after him. After chasing all the way to the edge of the Yellow River, he caught up with Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng, and was about to cross the river. "Let me go back? Yes, but Shi Jiu must be killed, this kid is too deceitful." Uncle Wang Chen Sheng made a condition. Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng's conditions came to King Zhou Ling, who was in a hurry, and when he slapped the table and stared, he really chopped Shi Jiu off. Therefore, since ancient times, things like brain teasers have been very dangerous. However, King Ling of Zhou killed Shi Jiu, and Uncle Wang Chen Sheng still did not come back, saying that he would not come back because he would not let him be the chief official.This time, Zhou Lingwang couldn't promise him.However, Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng did not go into exile, but lived by the Yellow River. There was a conflict between the two officials of the royal family, and the king of Zhou had no way to mediate.Soon, Duke Mourning of Jin knew about it, so he sent Fan Ji to mediate. When Fan Gai arrived, he plunged into Duke Shan Jing's house.At this time, Shan Qinggong had passed away, and his son Shan Jinggong took over.The most famous corrupt person in the Spring and Autumn Period naturally knew what to do. According to Fan Gai, both Uncle Wang, Chen Sheng, and Bo Yu were invited to have a debate in the court, with Fan Gai serving as the referee.However, this proposal was rejected by King Ling of Zhou. The superficial reason is simple, that is, the Shangqing of Jin State is one level lower than the royal family's Qingshi, and it is impossible for the subordinates to judge the superiors.In fact, King Ling of Zhou was worried that Uncle Chen Sheng had a hot temper, and his eloquence was not as good as Bo Yu's, and he couldn't make quick turns, so he would definitely lose in a face-to-face debate. Therefore, the debate was not held between Uncle Wang, Chen Sheng and Bo Yu, but each sent a house steward to conduct the debate on behalf of the master. The temporary court was formed in this way, the judge: Fan Gai; the representatives of the parties: Wangshu Chensheng's housekeeper and Boyu's housekeeper.Listen, King Ling of Zhou and Duke Shan Jing. "You represent Uncle Wang, right? Then tell me, why should Uncle Wang be above Bo Yu?" Fan Gai first asked Uncle Wang, Chen Sheng's housekeeper. "Our Uncle Wang is the uncle of the King of Zhou. He was born noble and knowledgeable, but Bo Yu was only born in the family of a boudoir of the Pi family. How can he be above Uncle Wang?" The family is small, that is to say, Bo Yu comes from a humble background. "Then tell me your reason." Fan Pai said to Boyu's housekeeper. "Hehe, I still don't know who is the boudoir of the Pimen family. Back then, King Zhou had just moved here, and all the sacrificial offerings for the emperor were prepared by our seven families, not to mention decorating the house and providing winter food, etc. At that time, King Ping of Zhou was very grateful to our seven families. He killed a red bull and vowed, "Let you serve as ministers for generations." I advise you to think about it, if our family is a small family, we can do this. Is it? Since Uncle Wang has been a minister, he has desperately seized power, then embezzled and accepted bribes, and supported his cronies. His subordinates are all very rich, and all the property of the country has entered your pockets. If this continues, I am afraid that our family will really Now that Marshal Fan, Shangqing of the great country, is here, please uphold justice for us." Boyu's housekeeper was obviously better at speaking than Uncle Wang's, and King Ling of Zhou thought it made sense . "Well, it seems that the public says the public is right, and the mother-in-law says the woman is right." Fan Gai said with a slight smile. "Well, let's go to the second link, the proof link. You said that Boyu's family is a small family in Pengmen, please show evidence. You said that you made contributions to the eastward migration of the Zhou Dynasty, and please show evidence." Uncle Wang's housekeeper was dumbfounded. Where can I find evidence? Boyu's housekeeper had already prepared for it, and produced the alliance letter from that year.At the beginning, there were eight copies of the alliance book, and the royal family and the seven families each kept one copy. "I testify that our family also has a copy of this alliance letter. It seems that the king should also have a copy." Shan Jinggong raised his hand as a personal witness. "My lord, is that so?" Fan Pai asked Zhou Lingwang, Zhou Lingwang had no choice but to nod. This is the end of the proof stage, and the judgment stage is entered. "Whoever the king of Zhou helps, we will help; whoever the king of Zhou does not help, we will not help anyone. Now, the king naturally helps those who have evidence, so we also help those who have evidence. I declare that Bo Yu won .” Fan Gai made a verdict. Shan Jinggong smiled, but Zhou Lingwang remained expressionless. On the same day, Uncle Wang and Chen Sheng fled to the state of Jin. The next day, Shan Jinggong took the place of Uncle Wang Chen Sheng, served as a minister, and jointly managed the country with Boyu. So far, in this power struggle, the royal family has suffered a disastrous defeat.