Chapter 12 Chapter 11 The emperor went mad, the consequences were serious

With the end of the coup d'état in the Song Dynasty, one of Zheng Zhuanggong's main enemies has subdued. In today's Henan Province, Zheng Guo is already the well-deserved boss.Just when Zheng Zhuanggong was full of ambition, Luoyi, the nominal co-lord of the world, felt uncomfortable again. Since King Zhou Huan forced Zheng Guo to exchange land in 712 BC, Zheng Zhuanggong has never made a pilgrimage to the emperor.In 711 BC, Duke Zhuang of Zheng paid for a piece of high-quality jade and asked to exchange land with the State of Lu.The state of Zheng wanted to exchange the land of the state of Lu in exchange for the land of the state of Lu near the border of the state of Xu.Duke Huan of Lu had just ascended the throne and lacked political experience. He felt that he could earn a piece of jade by exchanging land. This deal was suitable, so he agreed.If his mind is not so simple, he should think that when Duke Lu Yin was in power, Zheng Guo also asked for land exchange, but Duke Lu Yin did not agree. Could it be that Duke Lu Yin was stupid?

The land of Xie is the Tangmu town where the emperor of Zhou offered sacrifices to Mount Tai. That is to say, as long as the emperor goes to Mount Tai to sacrifice, all the corresponding expenses will be paid from this place.Zheng Zhuanggong exchanged this place to Lu State, which meant to tell King Zhou Huan that if you come to Mount Tai to play rock climbing in the future, I will not serve you anymore. King Zhou Huan didn't give Zheng Zhuanggong a good face, so he simply took back all Zheng Zhuanggong's power, and appointed Guogong Lin's father as Shangqing to take charge of the government.Guogong Linfu is the son of Guogong Jifu.From then on, Zheng Bo was no longer an official of the royal family.

What both sides are doing is intensifying the conflict.This time King Huan of Zhou completely lost his temper, Duke Zhou Heijian couldn't persuade him anymore.In 707 B.C., King Huan of Zhou, in a fit of rage, finally went berserk. He issued an announcement to the world, condemning Zheng Bo for not coming to the pilgrimage for a long time, repeatedly embezzling the name of the emperor, and despising the emperor.Now the Son of Heaven is going to raise six divisions to attack Zheng Guo.At the same time, he ordered the princes of the world to raise troops to serve the king, and followed the emperor to attack Zheng Guo.

But it is a pity that the situation that King Huan of Zhou imagined and the world responded did not appear, which made King Huan tremble with anger.These ungrateful guys were entrusted to you by our Dazhou back then, but now you don't want to repay them, and even collude with that rebellious Zheng Yusheng.I don't have time right now, I'll teach you guys one by one when I have my hands free. Of course, just saying harsh words can't solve the practical problem, so King Huan had to send envoys to various countries to urge him.After tossing and tossing, in the end, only Chen Guo, Cai Guo and Wei Guo responded to the call and raised their troops to serve the king.The two countries of Cai and Wei were beaten by Zheng Guo, and they have always had enmity with Zheng Guo.Chen Guo was originally an ally of Zheng Guo, and was also defeated by Zheng Zhuanggong.However, in 707 BC, after the death of Chen Huangong, civil strife broke out in the country of Chen. Chen Huangong's younger brother killed the legal heir of the monarch and succeeded to the throne himself.The new monarch has not yet been beaten by Zheng Zhuanggong, and he wants to establish prestige in the country, so he reversed the previous monarch's friendly policy towards Zheng, hoping to gain some benefits from following the emperor.Thus, a coalition army led by Zhou Tianzi was formed in this way.

King Zhou Huan was still satisfied, and he had nothing to do if he was not satisfied.Divided the army into three parts: the central army was led by King Huan himself, mainly the troops directly under the Zhou royal family; Army, the left army is mainly composed of Chen Guo's army. Here we need to pause the story and talk about the war pattern in the Spring and Autumn Period in detail.As mentioned earlier, most of the wars in the Spring and Autumn Period still followed the constraints of military etiquette, and the wars were all head-on confrontations.In a battle, both sides of the war must divide their forces into three parts, that is, the middle and two wings.In terms of name, some countries call it the upper, middle, and lower armies, and some countries call it the left, middle, and right armies.The Chinese army is the main force. Generally, the commander-in-chief of the entire army will personally command the Chinese army. The Chinese army is naturally the unit with the strongest combat effectiveness.The left and right armies are mainly responsible for protecting the two wings and assisting the central army in combat.

After the Warring States period, this combat method gradually disappeared, but its influence has always existed.For example, we often say "soldiers of the three armies" and "up and down of the three armies". "Three armies" refers to all combat troops, which is derived from this tradition.Of course, when we talk about the "Three Armed Forces", we often refer to the three branches of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. This is because the changes of the times have given new meanings to traditional words. Another cultural knowledge is also involved here.According to the "Zhou Rituals", the army organization of the Zhou Dynasty was: five people constituted one "wu", five five constituted "two", four two constituted "pawns", five pawns constituted "brigades", five brigades constituted "divisions", and five brigades constituted "divisions". The division is an "army". After calculation, there are 12,500 people in an army.In each vassal state, there are three armies in a big country, two armies in China, and one army in a small country.As the co-lord of the world, the Son of Heaven directly owns the troops of the Six Armies.

The "army" here, as a first-level army organization, is not the same concept as the left army, middle army, etc. mentioned in the previous paragraph.When we look at the history of the Spring and Autumn Period, we will find that in every battle, no matter how many troops there are, the two sides will be divided into three armies. Of course, this does not mean that in every battle, the two sides will dispatch three troops of 12,500 people.Even if your army only has more than 10,000 people, that is, the establishment of one army, when it comes to the battlefield, it must be divided into three armies.Therefore, the "army" as an army must be distinguished from the "army" of the "three armies" on the battlefield.The "three armies" on the battlefield refer to three square formations, and an "army" as an organization is a group composed of 12,500 people.

In fact, the records in "Zhou Li" are not necessarily reliable. This book was written by Zhou Gongdan in name, but in fact it was probably written by people in the late Warring States period.If we examine some more reliable historical materials, such as inscriptions on some unearthed artifacts, we will find that the largest army organization from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring and Autumn Period may only be at the "division" level.Before King Ping of Zhou moved east, Zhou Tianzi's army was divided into six divisions in "Zongzhou (that is, the area around the original capital Haojing)" and eight divisions in "Chengzhou (Luoyi and its surrounding areas)". The full count is 35,000 people, which is far from the scale of 75,000 people recorded in "Zhou Li" that the emperor had six armies.From this, we can also know that until the early Spring and Autumn Period, the scale of the war was not large, and the number of troops participating in the war was actually very limited.

Alright, let’s go back and talk about the situation in Zheng Guo.Zheng Zhuanggong was a little at a loss when he learned that the emperor came to conquer him in person.In the past two years, I have fought here and there under the banner of the Son of Heaven. Now that the Son of Heaven has come to fight me, should I fight this battle?If you fight, you will resist the master Wang, and you will become the target of the princes. What's more, the emperor led the armies of the four countries, and they were so powerful that they might not win if they fought.But if you don't fight, you have to admit it yourself and let the emperor punish you.What should I do?

The doctor Ji Zuyou said: "Or, let's apologize. It's against the master, it's not nice to say it." Zheng Zhuanggong felt extremely wronged when he thought that his grandparents and grandchildren lived and died for the royal family, but in the end the emperor sent troops to attack him.At the same time, I hate King Huan of Zhou so much, what's so great about your emperor, that the emperor can bully people casually? "The emperor took my position and brought soldiers to attack me, forgetting all the merits that our grandparents and grandchildren have made for the royal family. If I give in, I am afraid that even the title will be taken back by the emperor. This battle, I am afraid Still have to fight."

In fact, Jizu also knew that with Zheng Zhuanggong's temper, how could he be subdued?Don't say you are the son of heaven, even the heavenly father, Zheng Zhuanggong would dare to fight.When he said this, it was just to arouse Zheng Zhuanggong's anger so that he could make up his mind to fight.Now that the path of surrender and pleading guilty cannot be taken, let's settle down and think about how to fight this battle. The son Ziyuan said: "Since we want to fight, let's analyze the enemy's situation. Although Cai and Wei have enemies with us, they have long been feared by us, so as long as we show a strong side, it will not be difficult for the armies of these two countries to fight against us." We were defeated. And Chen Guoben was our ally. Now the country has just ended civil strife, and people's hearts are unstable. And based on our previous experience, the combat effectiveness of Chen Guo's army is really not worth mentioning. I don't think it is better to defeat the left army first. If we attack the right army composed of Cai and Wei, and then concentrate our forces to attack the emperor's central army, we will be able to eliminate them all." Zheng Zhuanggong said: "That's right, first pick the soft persimmons and pinch them, that's all." The doctor Gao Qumi said again: "Even so, the royal army is powerful after all, and we are fighting alone. We have to think of a perfect strategy. I think that there was actually no coordination between our infantry and chariots in the past. , the chariots lined up in a row, the infantry lined up in a phalanx, no one can take care of each other. Now let's rearrange the formation, put the chariots in front, and the infantry scattered behind the chariots to make up for the gap between the chariots In this way, the impact of the chariot and the flexibility of the infantry can be fully utilized. This kind of formation is as flexible as a school of fish in the water, so I call it the 'Yuli formation'." Zheng Zhuanggong was very happy when he heard this, and patted Gao Qumi on the shoulder: "Very good, very good, we must dare to innovate. Let's set up such a beautiful formation and fight against the emperor!" So Zheng Guo's army was also divided into three phalanxes. The right phalanx was led by the doctor Manbo, who was mainly attacking the Chen Guo army who was on the left army of the emperor; Zheng Zhuanggong personally served as the chief general of the Chinese army, assisted by doctors Gao Qumi, Yuan Fan and others, and dealt with the main force of the emperor's Chinese army. When King Huan of Zhou heard that Zheng Bo not only did not come to apologize, but actually dared to raise troops against Wang Shi, he was suddenly furious.The army advanced all the way, arrived, and met Zheng Guo's army. For the convenience of expression, we use a simple diagram to show the situation of the two armies: From such a situation diagram, we can see that Zhou Tianzi's army placed the most powerful Chinese army at the front, and the left and right armies were arranged slightly behind.This is the so-called "geese formation" that we often hear, a bit like a wild goose spreading its wings.This kind of formation is more orthodox, which is conducive to making a frontal breakthrough with the main force. For Wang Jun: Wang Jun's advancing direction Zheng Jun's advancing direction left moment (left square array) right moment (right square array) Commander: Sacrificial Foot Commander: Manbo Zhongju (middle square) Commander: Zheng Zhuanggong Assistant: Gao Qumi, Yuan Fan, etc. Zheng Jun: Zheng Jun, on the other hand, arranged the Zhongmo (middle phalanx, which is equivalent to the Chinese army) with stronger combat effectiveness slightly at the back, and arranged the left and right armies more forward.The purpose of this is to avoid the premature encounter of the strongest Chinese army on both sides, but to take advantage of the relatively weak characteristics of the two wings of the king's army, first defeat the two wings of the king's army with his own two wings, and then concentrate on dealing with Zhou Tianzi's center army. King Zhou Huan's army was like a big arrow, trying to stab Zheng Zhuanggong in one fell swoop.Zheng Zhuanggong's army is like a big net bag, waiting for Zhou Tianzi's army to get in and catch them all.Therefore, some people say that the so-called "Yuli formation" refers to this net-like formation, and "Yuli" means fishing net.This statement can also be used as a reference. 707 BC, the thirteenth year of King Huan of Zhou, was destined to become extraordinary because of this battle of Ge.In the summer of this year, the Zhou Zheng war broke out that shocked the world. In Ge, Zheng Zhuanggong looked at the menacing royal army on the opposite side, and his heart beat a little.In order to boost morale, he ordered his men to hold up the big banner "蝥蝉" that represented him, in order to inspire people's hearts.Jizu hurriedly dissuaded him: "Fighting a country like Song and Xu who did not obey the king's order, flying this banner can boost morale. But now we are the party that resists the king's order, isn't it funny to raise this banner again? The 'Fengtian' above Who is the big character of "asking for crimes" fooling?" Only then did Zheng Zhuanggong realize that the time when he used himself as a tiger's skin is gone forever.This time it was entirely up to him, even Qi Lu and other allies could not help.What a joke, who would want to be charged with fighting against the emperor?It would be interesting if you don't help the emperor to beat you. Zheng Zhuanggong put his mind to this point, is he still afraid of war? In fact, Zhou Tianzi had no idea.King Huan of Zhou thought that once his king's army arrived, he would be invincible. Zheng Bo didn't obediently come over to plead guilty (maybe there was no such word at that time, so let's not strictly research it)?So there was no detailed pre-war deployment at all.Who would have thought that Uncle Zheng was not a vegetarian, but he actually dared to resist Master Wang, which also made King Zhou Huan feel a little passive: What's the matter, buddy, do you really want to fight?However, he still believed that he was destined by destiny, and that his master Wang was invincible in the world, so what was a mere Zheng Bo? War broke out.Zheng Zhuanggong personally stood on the chariot of the Chinese army, ordered the square formations on both sides, and when he saw the banner of the Chinese army flying, he marched with drums. Wang Jun, who was advancing, saw Zheng Guozhong's army suddenly flying a large flag, followed by the earth-shaking drums.King Huan of Zhou was about to confront Zheng Jun's central army head-on. Unexpectedly, Zheng Jun's two wings rushed forward, but the Chinese army remained motionless. The phalanx of the Zheng Guoyou Army led by Manbo, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, entered Wang Zuojun's army.The Chen Guo army of the left army had no intention of fighting. When they saw the brave Zheng Guo soldiers attacking them first, they were frightened at once. Parents lost two legs.Zhou Gong Hei Jian stood on the command vehicle and tried his best to restrain the troops, but the so-called army was defeated like a mountain, how could he restrain it!He had no choice but to gather the soldiers around him and move closer to King Zhou Huan's central army. The news of the collapse of the left army soon spread to the right army.Wang Youjun's Cai and Wei armies were originally Zheng Guo's defeated generals. Seeing that the Zuo Army had been defeated, the fear in his heart increased.Jizu led Zheng Guozuo's phalanx to continuously attack Wang's position. The troops of Cai and Wei soon couldn't hold on, and they fled one after another.Guo Gong and Lin's father tried their best to prevent the army from collapsing, but the Cai and Wei armies had been frightened by Zheng Jun, and they couldn't restrain them no matter what.There was no way, Duke Guo and Father Lin could only bring the remnants and defeated generals to move closer to the Chinese army. At this time, Zhou Tianzi's Chinese army and Zheng Guo's Chinese army exchanged fire.And Zheng Guo's left and right armies have defeated the two wings of the king's army and encircled them from the left and right directions. King Huan of Zhou saw that something was wrong, and his Chinese army was in danger of being encircled.This emperor is not an idiot, he still knows how to fight.So he hurriedly gathered the army and changed the offensive posture to a defensive posture while retreating.King Huan was also a very bloody person. In order to prevent the retreat from turning into a collapse, he personally led the troops to cut off the rear.Wang Jun saw that the emperor was fighting bloody battles, and his fighting spirit was also up. They protected Zhou Huan and fought to the death, and the situation was stalemate for a while. Zheng Zhongjun had a doctor named Zhu Dan with very sharp eyes, estimated to be above 2.0 eyesight now, and he could see King Zhou Huan's mansion at a glance.Zhu Dan is also young and energetic, plus he has a good skill with bow and arrow, so he rushed to shoot with one arrow. King Zhou Huan was directing the battle there, he suddenly felt his shoulders sink, and then he felt a heart-pounding pain.Looking down, which bastard is this, who actually shot the arrow on the shoulder of the emperor?Fortunately, there is armor protection, so the injury is not too serious.He held back the pain and continued to command the battle, but the enthusiasm of the soldiers of the Wang Army just now was extinguished a lot. At this time, Guo Gong Lin Fu and Zhou Gong Hei Jian had moved closer to cover King Huan.Zhou Gong Hei Jian said: "Your Majesty, Zheng's army is attacking fiercely, you should retreat quickly." King Zhou Huan had no choice but to turn around the car and retreat under the cover of Guo Gong Lin Fu and Zhou Gong Hei Jian. Zhu Dan was very excited, and was about to catch up with the car, and the soldiers of Zheng Jun behind were all eager to try.Zheng Zhuanggong quickly stopped Zhu Dan, and ordered Jin to withdraw his troops.Zhu Dan didn't understand: "Why did you call for gold? If you let me catch up, I will definitely capture Emperor Zhou alive!" Zheng Zhuanggong patted Zhu Dan on the head and said, "You stupid young man, why don't you use your brain? Most people will fight you with their lives if they are in a hurry, let alone the emperor, not your little soldier. If you want to catch it, you will catch it. Let’s talk about us princes, what’s the matter with arresting the emperor? You can’t fight or touch, and you have to go home to worship, we don’t want to make this trouble.” Zheng Jun also took the initiative to retreat and broke away from Wang Jun.The two sides separated a safe distance and set up their camps. In the evening, Zheng Zhuanggong also sent a sacrificial foot to visit the emperor Zhou in his camp.According to records, it seems that King Huan of Zhou was quite polite to Jizu, and the conversation was quite harmonious.Sometimes we really admire our ancient Chinese's ability to deal with interpersonal relationships. They obviously tore up their faces and fought violently in the daytime, but they can still sit down and chat amicably at night. In short, King Huan of Zhou went back in despair, and Duke Zheng Zhuang won a major military victory. For the Zhou royal family, this was a complete failure, not only losing troops, but also losing prestige. From then on, the Zhou royal family became weaker and weaker to the princes, and never dared to send troops to crusade against disobedient princes. For Zheng Zhuanggong, this battle was indeed a military victory, but politically, it was hard to say that he was the winner.The little political capital that was built up in the name of the royal family in the past is basically gone.From then on, Zheng Guo used his fame and righteousness to suppress other princes, and no one listened. Therefore, from the perspective of power expansion, the battle of Ge is a sign of the peak of Zheng's power, but from a political point of view, it is a sign of the decline of Zheng Zhuanggong's hegemony (if Zheng Zhuanggong really has hegemony). Of course, no matter how you say it, Zheng Zhuanggong was also the most active prince in the early Spring and Autumn Period. Later generations called him "Xiaoba", and he deserved his name.But the "little tyrant" did not grow into a real overlord in the end. This is because of the limited strength of Zheng Guo on the one hand, and on the other hand because of the constraints of the times.Although the Zhou royal family has declined, the era of calling for the overlord has not yet come.So it is said that the times make heroes. Although Zheng Zhuanggong became the first person to disturb the authority of Zhou Tianzi, it is a pity that he did not catch up with the good times. Moreover, although Zheng Zhuanggong himself was a hero, after his death, the state of Zheng gradually declined. The reason is that the transfer of power was not done well. Why are Zheng Zhuanggong's sons so uneasy?