Chapter 4 Chapter 3 The Ineffective Second Generation Ancestor

The Kingdom of Wei was also an important vassal state in the early Spring and Autumn Period. It was the fiefdom of Kang Shu, the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou. The main ruling area was the central area of ​​the original Shang Dynasty.The capital is the capital Chaoge in the late Shang Dynasty.The purpose of establishing the Wei State at the beginning was to control the survivors of the Yin and Shang Dynasties and defend the eastern border of the Zhou Dynasty.Therefore, Weiguo is also a powerful country militarily. There is an old saying: "If you are not afraid of bad things, you are afraid of bad people." Zheng Zhuanggong didn't want to kill his younger brother after he beat his uncle. This is also an explanation to his mother.Uncle Duan ran to the common ground, no matter whether he committed suicide or not, anyway, he is alone and has little influence.But his son, Gongsun Hua, is not a cheap lamp either. His father has already failed in the fight for the throne of the monarch, and Gongsun Hua himself is still dreaming of becoming a monarch.But with his own reputation, he couldn't do anything, so he pinned his hopes on Zhou Yu, the half-brother of the King of Wei.

Gongsun Hua and Zhou Yu, the two playboys, hit it off right away and became good friends immediately.After the two exchanged their experience of bullying men and women, Gongsun Hua kept encouraging Zhou Xu to attack Zheng Guo, and promised a lot of benefits, such as ceding land and so on.In short, as long as I can help my Gongsun Hua return to the Zheng Kingdom to succeed, then any conditions can be negotiated. Zhou Xu is a militant, and he gets excited when he hears that he is going to use a knife or a gun.Gongsun Hua was chattering with Zhou Yu non-stop here, and Zhou Yu turned around and chattered with Duke Wei Huan.In order to persuade Duke Huan of Wei, Zhou Yu made up a lie, saying that Duke Zheng Zhuang drove away his brothers and exiled his mother in the country, and the people of the country did not support him.Duke Huan of Wei is also a person who has no idea. If he can really support Gongsun Hua, wouldn't he be able to take a large area of ​​Zheng State's territory into his own hands?This advantage is not taken for nothing.

But the ministers of the court and the central government are not as easy to deceive as Duke Huan of Wei.Shi Que, a veteran of the former Wei Zhuanggong era, has retired, but when he saw that his monarch was about to have a fever, he hurried out to pour cold water on him: "Uncle Duan is a rebel, you help the descendants of the rebels attack the orthodox Your Majesty, isn’t this asking for trouble for yourself? Not to mention whether we can win, even if we can defeat Zheng Guo, the international public opinion will condemn us.” Duke Huan of Wei said: "Don't be so worried. Gongsun Hua said that Zheng Yusheng (that is, Zheng Zhuanggong) drove away his younger brother and exiled his mother. The public opinion in the country is criticizing him. Once our army arrives, we will definitely get the response of the Zheng people. We can usually take the seat of Wusheng by destroying the dead. Then he will make Gongsun Hua the king of Zheng Guo, and he will cede a lot of fertile land to us. What a bargain! We are not going to destroy Zheng Guo, People in the world don't know what to say." Duke Huan of Wei looked forward to a bright future, and his saliva almost flowed down.

Is that cheap so easy to take advantage of?Shi Que persuaded earnestly: "Can you believe Gongsun Hua's words? If Wusheng is really so unpopular, how did Gongsun Hua's father lose? Take ten thousand steps back and say, even if you win, even the emperor doesn't care about it." , but you are also helping the rebels seize the throne, aren't you showing off to the careerists in the country? If they follow suit in the future, what will you do?" Zhou Xu thought to himself: Mr. Shi, you have already retired, why are you messing around?Now you are a consultant, do you know what a consultant is?Ask if you can, don't ask if you can't.So he said to Duke Huan of Wei: "My lord, it is normal for the old man to be timid as he is getting older. If you ask him about state affairs, it is better to ask his son Shi Hou."

Shi Hou is the son of Shi Que, and also a swinger, a character who has a similar taste to Zhou Yu.Shi Que couldn't control his own son, let alone this confused ruler, so he had no choice but to let them go.In the winter of 722 BC, in the name of escorting Gongsun Hua back to the country to succeed to the throne, the State of Wei sent troops to attack the State of Zheng, occupied Linyan of the State of Zheng, and placed Gongsun Hua there. Is Zheng Zhuanggong easy to provoke?Don't forget that he also served as the official of Zhou Tianzi.The position of Qing Shi is equivalent to one of our current Politburo Standing Committee members, who have the right to speak in front of the emperor.He asked King Ping of Zhou for instructions: "I drove away that unworthy younger brother who was coveting the throne, but Wei Guo helped my younger brother's son to take my throne. This is the following offense and violates our ancestor Zhou Gong. Family law. If you don’t take care of it, I’m afraid the princes will have perverted ideas in the future.” Zhou Ping Wang felt that it made sense, so he personally ordered Zheng Zhuanggong to lead the troops of Zheng State and Guo State to teach Wei State under the banner of Zhou Tianzi.

Zheng Zhuanggong's army quickly regained Linyan, and Gongsun Hua fled in embarrassment, and ran back to the state of Wei.Zheng Guo's army chased Gongsun Hua and fought all the way to the border of Wei State. This time, Wei Guo entered a state of emergency.Duke Huan of Wei hurriedly summoned the ministers to discuss. Zhou Yu still refused to accept anyone, and urged Duke Huan of Wei to say: "What are you afraid of when Zheng Guo's army comes? Let's fight. They have come to call, what else can we discuss?" But this time, Duke Huan of Wei will not take it lightly. Listen to him again.

Shi Que said: "Zheng Guo came under the banner of the emperor. If we really fight, we will fight against the king. This crime cannot be afforded. It is better to write a letter to Zheng Guo and admit the mistake. There is nothing wrong with our two countries. Isn’t the deep hatred for a Gongsun Hua? Zheng Bo (Zheng Zhuanggong’s title is an earl, so he is called Zheng Bo) is a sensible person, and he will not make things difficult for us.” Duke Huan of Wei's brain had calmed down, just at this time Duke Zhuang Zheng also sent an envoy to deliver the letter.There was a lot of truth in the letter, but what really moved Wei Huan was this sentence: "This time you help the rebellious forces seize the seat of the orthodox monarch, are you afraid that people in your country will follow suit?" Shi Que said differently. Coincidentally.

So Duke Huan of Wei wrote a letter to admit his mistake, and Zheng Guo's army withdrew.Because of his mother's plea, Zheng Zhuanggong didn't want to kill his younger brother's offspring, so Gongsun Hua escaped. So far, the matter has been satisfactorily resolved.However, for Zhou Yu, the representative of the patriotic hawks who tended to get hot-headed, he was not very happy.Half of the "credit" for Weiguo's calamity this time should be attributed to him.Zhou Xu failed to make a big splash on the battlefield, and he kept complaining in his heart that Duke Huan of Wei was weak and incompetent, and that Shi Que was a capitulator.

In fact, this incident and countless facts in subsequent history will prove that in the country's foreign affairs, those who advocate toughness are not necessarily loyal ministers, and those who advocate compromise are not necessarily capitulators.A lot of things were just messed up by the hardliners. Let's not discuss this issue in detail, but let's go back and talk about Zhou Yu.Back then, one of Duke Wei Zhuang's favored concubines gave birth to Zhou Yu. Duke Wei Zhuang loved him very much, so he let him mess around.In today's words, Zhou Yu is a second-generation ancestor who is useless.It would be fine if he only knows how to eat, drink, and have fun, but this Zhou Yu is a military enthusiast, and he likes to use the army as his toy.Duke Wei Zhuang didn't care about him either.

Shi Que had already seen that this was not a good thing, and persuaded Wei Zhuanggong many times: "You are too spoiled with children, and Zhou Yu is messing around like this, so why don't you take care of him?" Duke Zhuang of Wei glanced at Shi Que and said, "Why don't you take care of your son first?" Shi Que was at a loss for words.Shi Que's sons, Shi Hou and Zhou Yu, are like fish looking for fish and shrimp looking for shrimp, and they smell like each other.The two of them did bad things together, Shi Que tried to stop Shi Hou, but it didn't work at all.

Shi Hou got into trouble and ran to Zhou Xu.Zhou Xu got into trouble, so he asked his father Wei Zhuanggong to come forward to solve it.Therefore, it was often Shi Que who wanted to teach his son a lesson, and in the end it was Duke Wei Zhuang who came out to intercede.Do you dare not give the monarch face?Boy, don't want to live, do you? Now Wei Zhuanggong came to tease Shi Que with Shi Hou, Shi Que thought to himself, isn't it all your good deeds!However, if you complain about the monarch, you cannot say it face to face.He had no choice but to persuade Duke Zhuang from another angle: "Now that you dote on Zhou Yu so much, he has already surpassed the crown prince. After a hundred years from you, the crown prince becomes the king, can Zhou Yu feel at ease under the crown prince?" Duke Wei Zhuang didn't take it seriously: "Zhou Yu has a child's heart, it's just for fun, how can he have so many ideas?" Shi Que was in a hurry and had nothing to do. Soon after, Duke Zhuang of Wei became seriously ill, and he took Shi Que's hand to entrust Gu.Zhuang Gong said: "Old Shi, after I die, Wan (that is, the name of Duke Huan of Wei) will be entrusted to you. You have to help him well." Don't go into this muddy water. Once you die, I will retire." After Duke Huan of Wei succeeded to the throne, although Shi Que retired, he was worried about his own country after all, and he still had to care about the things he should care about.What made him feel uneasy was that Duke Huan of Wei, the elder brother, did not impose any restrictions on his younger brother Zhou Yu. Still the same sentence, children can't be spoiled all the time, it is easy to cause accidents if they are always spoiled.Zhou Yu was really worried about being his son.Wei Guo was taught a lesson by Zheng Guo, which made Zhou Yu very embarrassed, and at the same time he had the ambition to grab his brother's seat.