Chapter 2 Chapter One

Although we regard the year when King Zhou Ping moved to the east as the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, the chaos in the world did not happen overnight.The four largest vassal states in the Spring and Autumn Period-Qi, Jin, Qin, and Chu, all grew up slowly. However, as descendants of us, we should be a little surprised that it was not the big countries such as Qi, Jin, Chu and Qin who came out to disrupt the situation first, but a vassal state with neither big nor small, nor high nor low title--Zheng Guo. The founder of the State of Zheng was Duke Huan of Zheng, surnamed Ji and named You, who was the tenth emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, King Zhou Li. within), his elder brother is King Xuan of Zhou, the eleventh emperor.After Zhou Xuanwang became the emperor, he sealed his little brother in Zhengdi.Zheng Di is in what is now Shaanxi Province.

We use a picture to illustrate the relationship between Duke Huan of Zheng and the royal family of Zhou: The arrows in the above picture of Zheng Zhuanggong represent the relationship between the upper generation and the lower generation.For the sake of brevity, the inheritance process of the eight Zhou kings from Zhou Chengwang to Zhou Yiwang is omitted in the second box. Duke Huan of Zheng had been the monarch for a while, and he did a pretty good job.Generally speaking, if the local government does well, there is a chance to raise the central government.The same is true for Zheng Huangong, who was appointed as Situ by the central government of Dazhou to be in charge of civil affairs and education.However, when he was promoted to the central government, it was already the era of King Zhou You.After witnessing a series of absurd practices of King Zhou You (such as the beacon fire drama of princes and so on), Duke Huan of Zheng strongly felt that the emperor was very unreliable.

Duke Huan of Zheng just wanted to find a sensible person to point out the way. It sounded like he was going to calculate good and bad fortune. So he wanted to ask the Taishi of the Zhou Dynasty.We call this Tai Shi Bo Tai Shi Bo, but this is not a real name.In ancient times, brothers were arranged in order according to the order of "brother, uncle, uncle".It's called Tai Shibo, which means that this is the eldest brother of the brothers in their family.Taishi is an official title, equivalent to the curator of the library, who manages the royal family's books and archives, and is also responsible for calculating celestial phenomena and recording some major activities of the king.In addition, it is also in charge of divination.This is an official position that only educated people can do. Later, Lao Tzu held the same official position.

One day after work, Duke Huan of Zheng stopped Tai Shibo and said, "Brother, are you free tonight? My younger brother would like to treat you to a drink, would you appreciate it?" Tai Shibo thought to himself, I am Qingshui Yamen, you people who hold real power usually don't like to answer me.Now that he has nothing to do to be courteous, he must not be holding back any good thoughts.However, I have no real power anyway, and I am not afraid of making mistakes, so I agreed to it. In the evening, the two exchanged cups and drank happily.But they are all talking about unnutritious chores, nothing more than "Your father and I are best friends", "How old is your son now? Is there a date?" and so on.After the wine has passed three rounds and the dishes have tasted five flavors, it is time to tell the truth.Duke Huan of Zheng asked: "I see, the royal family is very restless recently. It seems that something is going to happen to our emperor. Tell me, if something unexpected happens, where should I go?"

Tai Shibo said: "In my opinion, it is better for you to move the country to the east of Luoyi and south of the Yellow River." Duke Huan of Zheng asked again: "Really? But now there are two countries, Dongguo and Qi, in that place. If I go, can I have territory?" Tai Shibo replied: "The monarchs of Dongguo and Nai are prodigal sons. The common people don't like them. You can buy the land with some money. And when you were a Situ, you already spread your good reputation to that area. As long as you go, the people there still don’t treat you like a family member?”

Duke Huan of Zheng thought about it and it made sense.But he was still a little worried, and asked again: "Is it too close to run to the east? There are many princes and states in that area, and the international relations are too complicated. I am afraid that the descendants will not be safe. I want to run far away. How about going south?" Tai Shibo said: "The south is not a good place either. There is a state of Chu over there, and the people there are not good men and women. When our great week is over, the state of Chu will definitely prosper. Are you looking for death if you go there?"

"Then why not hide in the west?" Zheng Huan asked. "The west is full of ethnic minorities. They are so backward and the folk customs are tough. I'm afraid you won't be able to suppress them. If you go there, you won't be able to stay for long. In my opinion, it's better for you to go to the east." Tai Shibo said.When Zheng Huan heard it, it seemed that I could only run east.That being the case, I might as well ask again, who can control the world after this great week?Let's see how good this Taishi's prophecy is.Duke Huan of Zheng said: "You are very good, so I will do as you say. There is another question. I am afraid that the Great Zhou Dynasty will come to an end. After the Zhou Dynasty declines, which countries can be the bosses?"

Tai Shibo thought for a while and said, "Probably Qi, Qin, Jin, and Chu?" Duke Huan of Zheng was skeptical about this prophecy, but he still decided to follow Tai Shibo's arrangement and said, "Well, I will follow your advice and move east." Therefore, Duke Huan of Zheng went to the emperor of Zhou to ask for permission to move.It stands to reason that the princes should help the emperor to defend the capital. If you say so and move, you will move, which is really irresponsible.But how could King Zhou You at that time think that disaster would be imminent soon?What's more, Zheng Huan's fiefdom has changed, but he still has to serve in the court, and it's not yet time to retire and go home to enjoy the blessings.So King You agreed without even thinking about it.

In this way, the whole country of Zheng State migrated to the east.The monarchs of Dongguo and Qi accepted Zheng Guo's bribes and actually gave up the land of 10 towns.In ancient times, "Yi" was a settlement with a large scale and a large population.In this way, Zheng Guo has a new place to stay. After that, the story of King Zhou You's abolition of Queen Shen happened, which eventually led to the invasion of dogs and the destruction of the country and family.Duke Huan of Zheng was serving in Haojing at that time, so he led his army to fight the dog army. Because he was alone and lonely, he died with King Zhou You in the end.If Duke Huan of Zheng could live a few hundred years longer, he would definitely admire Tai Shibo with all his heart.This old man's prophecy has basically come true.

The trajectory of history is just as Tai Shibo predicted. After the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty moved eastward, the four vassal states of Qi, Chu, Qin, and Jin occupied the four directions of southeast, northwest, and greatly expanded their power.They became the most powerful four vassal states in the Spring and Autumn Period.Although the so-called "Spring and Autumn Five Overlords", in addition to Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Mu of Qin, and King Zhuang of Chu, there was also Duke Xiang of Song, but Duke Xiang of Song was not strong enough to actually become the overlord. It was lost, so it is obviously a make-up and cannot be counted.It seems that the curator of the National Library of Great Zhou has an avant-garde vision.

And Zheng Guo itself, as Zheng Huan Gong worried about, is surrounded by strong neighbors.In the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, they were also tossed about by the great powers.However, this did not affect the development of Zheng Guo in the early Spring and Autumn Period.After the death of Duke Huan of Zheng, the people of the country supported his son to succeed him, Duke Wu of Zheng.Zheng Wugong knew that his father died at the hands of Quan Rong, so he was very sad and angry, so he hurriedly sent troops to King Hao Jingqin, just in time to meet the newly succeeded King Zhou Ping who was fleeing in a hurry.Zheng Wugong took the army to escort him and settled King Ping of Zhou until Luoyi before returning home. It can be said that during the time when King Zhou Ping moved to the east, Zheng Guo was really in a good mood.You think, a king of the state of Zheng died in a national calamity, and the Zhou royal family moved eastward, and the state of Zheng was indispensable on the way.When the situation is stable, rewards will be given for meritorious deeds. Zheng Guo is loyal to the royal family, and he must set an example for the princes of the world no matter what.So Zhou Tianzi always has to express something.The reward is that Zheng Wugong will succeed his father and continue to serve in the central government. Even the instigator of the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Shenhou, tried his best to win over Zheng Guo and married his daughter to Zheng Wugong.This Marquis Shen is really not simple. One daughter is the queen of Zhou Youwang, and the other daughter is the wife of Zheng Wugong.It seems that it was not accidental that he was not arrested as the culprit after King You's death.Let me add one more thing here, Shenhou’s family was originally a branch of the Jiang tribe in the west, and they intermarried with the Zhou family named Ji very early. The wife of King Wu of Zhou was also from the Jiang family, and I think Qi State His ancestor, Jiang Ziya, also belonged to this family.It can be seen that this family is not easy to mess with. Since Zheng Wugong's wife is surnamed Jiang, later generations call her "Wu Jiang".This is a convention, and we will see many similar examples, such as Qin Mugong's wife is called "Mu Ji", and Jin Wengong's wife is called "Wenying".It should be noted that these are respectful titles, not personal names. King Ping of Zhou arrived in Luoyi and settled down, and the world was at peace.King Ping of Zhou felt that he had survived this catastrophe. Although his father left such a mess, but if we work hard, we may be able to bring about a "great order in the world".The war is over, and the princes of all walks of life should also live in harmony. Let's fight for the goal of peace in the world and people living and working in peace and contentment!King Ping of Zhou hoped earnestly. But there was someone who didn't buy his account, and this person was Zheng Wugong who he placed high hopes on and set up as a positive model.It turned out that not long after Zheng Wugong succeeded to the throne, he had a crooked idea of ​​expanding his territory.The two countries, Dongguo and Qi, once again became the goals of Zheng State. In the past, when Duke Zheng Huan moved, he still spent money to buy land, and he went through the transfer procedures before moving in.This time Zheng Wugong didn't care about that set, and just robbed it.Dongguo and Qi were destroyed by Zheng Wugong who had planned for a long time.If the monarchs of these two countries had known such a result, they probably would not have let Zheng Huan, a tiger, move in just for that little money.This is the real way to lure wolves into the house! Of course King Ping of Zhou knew about this.But what if you know?Zheng Guo is right under the eyes of his own capital, if he wants to control the princes, he has to rely on the power of Zheng Guo.If there is a quarrel with Zheng Guo, and Zheng Wugong's donkey temper comes up, how about leading troops to kill him?Wouldn't it be another catastrophe if they colluded with Dongyi and Nanman again?Lessons from the past are not far away! So King Zhou Ping could only acquiesce.Ordinarily, this matter is already heartwarming enough, but King Ping of Zhou must have never imagined that more heartwarming things are yet to come.His descendants will be greatly humiliated in front of Zheng Guo.