Chapter 5 Chapter 4 The Unreliable Son of Heaven

Let's put aside the matter of Weiguo for now, let's take a look at what the emperor in Luoyi has been up to recently. Zheng Zhuanggong borrowed the banner of King Ping of Zhou to teach Wei Guo a lesson.As for King Ping of Zhou, he also felt that he had a lot of face.You see, although the royal family has weakened a bit after moving eastward, don't you have to obediently pay for my name as the Son of Heaven?This brat, Wu Sheng, just swiped my banner, and Wei Guo immediately confessed.Isn't this my emperor's arrogance at work? As a result, the over-excited Emperor Zhou exercised his emperor's power with confidence.722 BC was the year that Zheng Zhuanggong drove away his younger brother Shuduan, and it was also the first year that Lu Yingong, the king of Lu, came to the throne.Lu Yingong's father was Lu Huigong, who died in 723 BC.

The State of Lu was the fiefdom of Boqin, the son of Zhou Gongdan, and bordered the great eastern country Qi State. Its ruling area was mainly in the southeast of Shandong today, and its capital was Qufu.Lu State and Zhou Tianzi have the same surname, both surnamed Ji, and they were originally big countries, but as we will see later, in the Spring and Autumn Period, this country was always inferior to its neighbor Qi State. Now let's take a look at some of the grievances between father and son Lu Huigong and Lu Yingong.Lu Huigong's first wife passed away without leaving him a son and a half.A concubine of Duke Hui of Lu gave birth to a son named Xi.Since Duke Hui of Lu had no direct son, he made Xi the crown prince.

When Xi was the prince, Duke Hui of Lu married Zhongzi, the daughter of the king of the Song Dynasty for him (it doesn't look like a girl's name, but it was a common practice at that time, and many girls' official names were like this).When Zhongzi arrived in the state of Lu, Duke Hui of Lu saw it and said, "Oh, this girl is beautiful, so let me have it."So the father forced his son's daughter-in-law to marry him.We will see in the future that this kind of incident of a father marrying his son and daughter-in-law by force was not the only one in the Spring and Autumn Period.

As a son, Prince Xi has no room to resist, so he had to admit it.But his bad days were not over yet.Not long after, Zhong Zi was officially registered as his wife, that is to say, he became the official wife of Duke Hui of Lu.Not long after, Zhongzi gave birth to Lu Huigong a son, named Yun.According to the eldest son succession system established by the Duke of Zhou, as a concubine, Xi's status as the prince was automatically cancelled, and the younger brother Yun became the legal successor of Duke Hui of Lu. However, when Duke Hui of Lu died, Crown Prince Yun was still a child, so the people of Lu State unanimously elected Prince Xi to be the regent, that is, Duke Yin of Lu.Duke Yin's reign as a monarch was not very good. Because of his status as regent, he didn't even hold an enthronement ceremony.In any case, at least being the king of the country can be regarded as a little comfort to Mr. Yin's heart that has been injured in these years.

As the fiefdom of Zhou Gongdan, Lu State is a vassal state closely related to Zhou Tianzi.When the king of the Lu Kingdom passed away, the Emperor of Zhou would send someone to express his condolences as usual.However, from the death of Duke Hui of Lu in 723 BC to the accession of Duke Yin of Lu in 722 BC, there was no movement at all from the Emperor Zhou.We are not afraid to speculate with the most malicious attitude that Lu Yingong's mood must be complicated.On the one hand, I probably feel a little bit gloated over my father being so neglected by the royal family: Who told you to rob my daughter-in-law, did you suffer retribution?If you are dead, the emperor will ignore you.On the other hand, it must be dissatisfaction with Zhou Tianzi: Yes, as the emperor, you are the boss of our princes, but as the boss, you can't ignore the life and death of your subordinates. If this continues, who is willing to follow? What about you?

Of course, King Zhou Ping would not be ignorant of the death of a monarch in the state of Lu. All princes and monarchs who passed away and new monarchs succeeded to the throne must report to the emperor.It is estimated that when the Lu State envoy came to report, Zhou Tianzi was busy visiting his concubine, said "I know", and put the matter behind his neck.When the emperor thought about it again, Duke Yin of Lu had been on the throne for several months. What?Lu Hou died?Oh, look, I'm busy with state affairs, so I forgot about it.In terms of seniority, this Marquis Lu is still an elder.Quickly pass on my will, and send Zaiheng with a wreath and elegiac couplet to express condolences.By the way, Lu Hou has worked hard for the country all his life, so we will reimburse the funeral expenses in full.

Therefore, in 722 BC, that is, in the autumn of the first year of Lu Yin, the funeral supplies for the state of Lu were delivered by Emperor Zhou.At this time, Lu Huigong had passed away for more than a year, and had been buried for several months.It was only at this time that the things for the funeral were brought over, which made the Lu people dumbfounded.Lu Yingong was also in a dilemma, the funeral was over, why do you need these things?Do you want me to dig out my father's coffin and bury him again?But it doesn’t matter if you don’t accept it, this is a funeral ceremony bestowed by the emperor, who would dare to refuse it?

It's unreasonable enough to do this, but there are more embarrassing ones.King Ping of Zhou probably felt that he was a little sorry for the state of Lu for sending the funeral ceremony so late, so he simply bought one and got one free, and gave two copies.King Zhou Ping has something to say, and the other one is for Mrs. Lu Guoxianjun. As we said earlier, Lu Huigong's wife, Zhongzi, should have been Lu Yingong's wife.In terms of age, he is about the same age as Lu Yingong, and now he is living well, but Zhou Tianzi sent over the funeral expenses!It seems that if Lu Yingong wants to live up to the emperor's kindness, he can only bury his stepmother alive.

If you want to know Lu Huigong underground, you have to feel the emperor's foresight, right?Get ready for decades to come.People are always going to die, it's just a matter of time.Truth! The State of Lu still cared about the dignity of the royal family and did not make much fuss about this matter.After all, the one who was really sorry for what King Zhou Ping did was the dead Duke Hui of Lu.Dead people naturally don't speak and complain, and there's no need for living people to make trouble because of dead people. For individuals, it doesn't matter if you are wrong, the problem is to learn from it.It's a pity that King Zhou Ping didn't seem to have this kind of awareness. Soon, he did another thing that didn't make sense.This time, the protagonist of the incident is Zheng Zhuanggong.

As we said earlier, Duke Zheng Zhuang served as a scholar in the Zhou royal family.Qing is a title for senior officials, not a specific official title.As we said earlier, Zheng Zhuanggong's grandfather, Zheng Huangong, served as Situ of the Zhou Dynasty. This "Situ" is the real official title.If we look at it according to the records of "Zhou Li", Situ is a high-ranking official second only to the prime minister. Today, no matter what, he is equivalent to the status of a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and concurrently serves as a deputy prime minister.Zheng Wugong inherited Zheng Huangong's status as a minister, and we cannot strictly verify the specific position.It is said that when King Ping of Zhou came to the throne, Zheng Wugong and Wei Wugong were in power together.In the thirteenth year of King Ping, Duke Wu of Wei passed away. Since then, the government has been completely controlled by Duke Wu of Zheng, so that Duke Wu of Zheng is equivalent to the Premier of the State Council.Zheng Zhuanggong inherited the position of Zheng Wugong, so he was able to use the banner of Emperor Zhou to teach Weiguo a lesson.

Zheng Zhuanggong's own country also has a lot of troubles, especially in the past few years, his younger brother and uncle Duan have rebelled, and Wei Guo has also been involved, which is enough for Zheng Zhuanggong to be busy.I have taken care of the family affairs so much that I can't take care of the royal family. Just at this time, the king of the Guo State, Guo Gongji's father, was also working beside the Emperor Zhou.As we said earlier, during the rise of Zheng Guo, the two countries of Dongguo and Qi were destroyed, and the father of Guogong Ji was the king of Xiguo. Dongguo and Xiguo are countries of brothers, and the first monarchs were Guozhong and Uncle Guo, respectively, the younger brothers of King Wen of Zhou.In fact, there are many things worth discussing about Guo, an ancient vassal state.Even which one of Guo Zhong and Guo Shu was entrusted to Dongguo and which was entrusted to Xiguo, the historical records are different.Here we use the saying that Guo Zhong is in the east and Guo Shu is in the west.Dongguo's territory is mainly in today's eastern Henan. According to historical records, after the state of Zheng destroyed Dongguo, the state of Chu in the south took the opportunity to send troops to ask the emperor of Zhou why he allowed one vassal to destroy another vassal for no reason. Pinglu County, Shanxi Province, is called Beiguo.In fact, Chu State and Guo State had no kinship relationship at all. Zhou Tianzi acquiesced that Zheng State destroyed Dongguo.Therefore, Chu's dispatch of troops this time is really a dog and a mouse, and its actual purpose is to expand its own territory. And Xiguo is the fiefdom of Uncle Guo, in today's Baoji, Shaanxi.When King Ping of Zhou moved to the east, Xiguo, which was originally the western barrier of the royal family, also moved eastward. When it arrived in Shangyang, which is today's Sanmenxia City in Henan Province, it was called Nanguo.Guo Gongji's father was the king of the West Guo State, and he could also be called the South Guo State Lord. After Guo moved from west to east, some people stayed in Shaanxi and did not move away, so they united with the local ethnic minorities and established a political power, also called Guo State, which was called Xiaoguo in history.Later, this small Guo was destroyed by the state of Qin. After understanding the historical evolution of Guo State, let's go back to talk about this Guo Gong Ji father.His grandfather's reputation was not very good. He was King Zhou You's official Shifu Guogong. He was very flattering and often gave You King bad ideas.The idea of ​​the Fenghuo opera princes is the proud work of Guogong and Shifu.Later, the dog army rebelled, and Guogong Shifu also died in the rebellion army, and he was a traitorous official recognized by history. Guo Gongji's father seems to have inherited his grandfather's ability to speak well, with a very sweet mouth, and he got along like a fish in water with Zhou Tianzi, and coaxed Zhou Ping Wang into a mess.King Ping of Zhou saw that Duke Guo Ji's father was so in line with his own wishes, and then he thought that Duke Zhuang Zheng, who had held the position of a minister since his grandfather's time, hadn't come to pilgrimage for a long time, and felt uncomfortable in his heart.I gave you the position of prime minister to let you work for me. Fortunately, you don't care about the government if you have something to do at home.Then what do I want you to do?If you don't want to do anything in this position, then you can just move a place for me. So King Ping said to Guo Gongji's father: "Uncle Zheng and his sons have served in the royal family for two generations. Now Uncle Zheng has not come to the court for a while. I think he has something urgent at home, so let him deal with it first. But the position in court cannot always be vacant, so why don’t you replace Zheng Bo as an official? Don’t refuse.” As soon as Guo Gongji's father heard this, he sweated.Then Zheng Zhuanggong is a tiger, his clan Dongguo was killed by his father, how dare he provoke him?So Ji's father hurriedly resigned: "Your Majesty, if you want to appoint a humble official, it is an honor for the humble official. But have you considered Uncle Zheng's feelings? Uncle Zheng and his son have served the government for many years and have worked hard. If he does not come to see him, it is because of family problems. And you took his position because of this, I'm afraid you won't be able to convince the public. If Zheng Bo knew this, he would definitely resent the humble minister. The enmity between the humble minister and Zheng Bo is small, but he will also hate the king. " King Ping of Zhou also found it boring when he saw that Guo Gongji's father didn't buy his own face.If you think about it carefully, what they say makes sense.We had to let this matter go. However, there is no impenetrable wall. King Zhou Ping made small moves, and Zheng Zhuanggong knew it clearly.Hehe, you want to kick me away, but there is no door.So he drove to Luoyi and asked the emperor to question him face to face. King Ping of Zhou: "Aiqing is here? How are things going at home?" Duke Zheng Zhuang: "Thanks to your majesty, the disturbance has subsided. I haven't come to court for a long time. I heard that you want Duke Ji to replace you." I am a gentleman?" King Zhou Ping shook his head like a rattle: "There is no such thing, who did you listen to? Aiqing, don't listen to rumors. Your father and son have served the government for many years and have been diligent to the royal family. How can I let others replace you? These are all made up by troublemakers with ulterior motives, just to destroy the feelings of our monarchs and ministers, you can't be fooled." Zheng Zhuanggong became more and more unforgiving: "My lord, you are the son of heaven. Who do you want to use to assist the government? It's not a matter of one sentence? I also resigned to you this time. Since you trust Guogong Jifu, then I Just let Xian take care of himself, and it would be nice to retire and go home to enjoy the happiness. Do you think I would like to be this nobleman?" King Ping of Zhou: "Aiqing can't let you down, I still have to rely on you. You have to trust me, I really don't mean to ask others to replace you." Zheng Zhuanggong: "Don't say that, my lord. How dare you disbelieve your majesty? I really don’t want to do it anymore, so I’ll let Guo Gongji’s father replace me.” King Zhou Ping: “If you don’t believe me so much, then I can’t do anything about it. Well, I’ll let Prince Hu , go to your country of Zheng to be a hostage, to show my heart, is that all right?" Zheng Zhuanggong: "Your Majesty, you can't do this. Since ancient times, the sons of the princes have been held hostage by the emperor. How can the sons of the emperor be held hostage by the princes? How can I afford this! How about it? Hostage, it won't hurt Your Majesty's face if you say this." King Zhou Ping thought to himself, I have already exchanged hostages with you, so what face do I have as an emperor?But the matter has come to this point, there is really no other way to appease Zheng Zhuanggong.Therefore, the prince fox went to Zheng as a hostage, and the prince suddenly went to the royal family as a hostage.Of course, when the crown prince of Zhou Tianzi went to Zheng State, he could not use "hostages" Such a name, so in name he went to study and study in Zheng country. After this incident, it can be regarded as dishonoring King Zhou Ping.It stands to reason that Zhou Tianzi should be superior, but by doing this, he made his status the same as that of the princes.The exchange of hostages between the emperor and the princes has completely destroyed the order of superiority and inferiority.How else can King Ping of Zhou not do things well? He originally wanted to weaken Zheng Guo's power, but in the end he also lost his prince.Compared with the previous incident of paying funeral expenses to living people, this incident dealt a much more serious blow to the royal family. The more King Zhou Ping thought about it, the more he felt useless, and he reported to the ancestral temple in a few days.With his death, the world of the Zhou Dynasty became even more chaotic.