Chapter 30 Chapter 29 Being the overlord is hard work

At the end of 662 BC, Chidi, an ethnic minority tribe in the north, sent troops to harass the Central Plains and entered Xing State. Xing State is the feudal state of Zhou Gongdan's fourth son, and its location is today's Xingtai City, Hebei Province.This place was also an area where ethnic minorities had frequent activities in ancient times, so there were frequent wars between Xing State and the Di people in the north. This time, Xing Guo failed to stop Chidi's attack.Chidi is a branch of Di people in the north. They mainly live in the eastern part of Shanxi Province today, and their combat effectiveness is relatively strong.After Chidi invaded Xing State, he burned, killed and looted wantonly, and Xing State was almost robbed.Xing Guo quickly sent someone to ask Duke Huan of Qi for help.If there is difficulty, find the overlord. This is the consensus of the princes of the Central Plains.

At this time, it was only two years since Duke Huan of Qi helped the country of Yan defeat Shanrong.Duke Huan of Qi considered that the battle to save Yan was fought very hard, and his national strength had not yet fully recovered, so he hesitated to send troops to rescue Xing. Guan Zhongke understood the stakes in this. He said to Qi Huangong: "Rongdi wolves, you can't hate them; Zhu Xia is intimate, you can't abandon them." , If you rob something today, you will come to rob it tomorrow, so you must fight resolutely.The princes of the Central Plains are like brothers and cannot abandon them.The so-called "Zhu Xia" refers to the princes in the Central Plains.As the overlord of Qi, if they do not rescue the princes who are in distress, not only will the invasion of Rong and Di be intensified, but the appeal of the overlord will also decline.

Duke Huan of Qi gritted his teeth, knowing that Guan Zhong was right.It seems that no matter how difficult it is, this soldier will still be sent.Therefore, in the spring of 661 BC, Duke Huan of Qi sent troops to rescue Xing State and attack Chidi. Qi's army fought bravely and drove Chidi back to his hometown.Xinghou was grateful for Qiguo's help, and praised the overlord's wisdom and greatness again and again.After Chi Di fled, the army of Qi State immediately returned to the country. But we know that the ethnic minorities in the north are mostly nomadic tribes.Most of these people fight on horseback, coming and going like the wind.As soon as the Central Plains army counterattacked, they withdrew.As soon as the Central Plains army left, they returned.

In the winter of 660 BC, the army of the Di people came in again.Xing Guo had just been beaten, so he was prepared and his defense was relatively tight.The Di people could not take advantage of Xing State, so they turned their attention to Wei State, another northern prince. The current monarch of Wei State is Duke Wei Yi, whose name is Chi.This Wei Yigong was probably the most famous monarch of the Wei State in the Spring and Autumn Period, but unfortunately he was a negative example.We might as well first understand some personal information about Duke Wei Yi. Wei Yigong's grandfather Wei Xuangong's character is not very good. A simple summary of his characteristics is that he is lustful and shameless.He robbed his father's wives and concubines, and his son's daughter-in-law, which can be described as extravagant.After he robbed the daughter-in-law of his son Gongziji, he had two more sons with her, one named Shou and the other named Shuo.

Gongzi Shou is very kind and has a good relationship with Gongzi Ji.And that young master Shuo had the most bad ideas despite being the youngest.He kept running to Wei Xuangong to speak ill of Gongzi Ji, and finally Wei Xuangong was finally instigated by him and sent assassins to kill Gongzi Ji. After Gong Zishou learned of this conspiracy, he couldn't bear to see his half-brother killed, so he pretended to be Gong Ziji and was killed by the assassin.After the son anxiously learned about this, he lamented his brother's deep love and friendship, and he didn't want to live by himself, so he asked the assassin to kill him.In this way, Gongzi Shuo killed his two elder brothers (one of whom was also a brother of the same father and mother), and finally won the throne of the monarch, and he became Duke Hui of Wei.

As the rogue son of Wei Huigong, Wei Yigong's behavior well interprets the saying "like a father, like a son".Of course, we cannot accept the view that a person's conduct is completely determined by heredity, but the absurdity of the three generations of Wei Xuangong, Wei Huigong, and Weiyigong also makes us have to admit that in some cases However, the influence of family genes on a person is still not small. Since Duke Wei Yi came to the throne, he hasn't done any treacherous and evil things, but he has a little personal hobby - raising cranes. In our Chinese cultural tradition, cranes are very elegant animals, and various poems, calligraphy and paintings often use cranes as themes.Therefore, it is not a bad thing for Duke Wei Yi to raise cranes.From the point of view of personal hobbies, it is better for Mr. Wei Yi to keep pets than for his grandfather to take care of women endlessly.

But everything has a degree.Duke Wei Yi took great care of his precious cranes, that's all.But he actually conferred official titles on these cranes, and the high-class cranes can enjoy the treatment of Qing, this is nonsense. According to Zhou rituals, the status of the son of heaven is the most honorable. Below the son of heaven are princes, below princes are ministers, below ministers are officials, below officials are scholars, and below scholars are common people (common people).In a vassal state, apart from the monarch, the status of Qing is the highest.There are not many ministers in a vassal state. The position of minister, today, is at least a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

We can imagine that if the rulers of a country are all "bird people", then the country will be in chaos.Wei Yigong is so powerful that he didn't even use the "bird man" and used birds to manage the country directly.When we describe a country's political darkness, we often say that the country is "traitorous officials in power", but traitorous officials can still do some serious things anyway.Weiguo is "the crane is in power", can the common people not suffer? In that era when the nations were in constant war and there was no tomorrow, what Wei Yigong did was called "cuosi" in Beijing dialect.

When Wei Yigong was having fun playing with birds, Chidi from the north rushed into Weiguo like a gust of wind, causing Weiguo to be in chaos.Only then did Duke Wei know that he was in a hurry, and he hurriedly mobilized the people of the country to join the army and defend the country (in the early Spring and Autumn Period, only the people of the country had the obligation to serve as soldiers, or it could be said to be the right, as explained earlier). The people of the country don't pay for it at all. You stupid king has known how to raise cranes all these years, and you don't care about our lives. You still want us to work for you?The people of the country said: "Since the king gives the crane such a high treatment, let the crane go to war. How can we be used?"

Only then did Duke Wei realize his remorse, and he asked the doctor Shi Qizi (the descendant of Shi Que, the doctor of Wei who appeared in Chapter 6 of this book): "I know I was wrong. If I don't raise cranes now, will the people of the country support me?" ?” Shi Qizi said, “It’s the only way to go now. As for whether the people of the country will forgive you, it’s hard to say.” Let the dead horse be a living horse doctor, Wei Yigong released all the cranes raised in the palace.The cranes have also been spoiled for a long time, enjoying all the glory and wealth in the world, and are unwilling to go back to the mountains and forests.All of them lingered in front of the palace gate, refusing to leave.Wei Yigong sent people to bombard them, but they refused to fly away, and some of them were caught by the Chinese people who watched the excitement and made them as snacks.

Shi Qizi helped Wei Yigong persuade the people of the country, and after a few good words, he finally got together a team and was ready to fight.Wei Yigong also understood that it was a daydream to expect this team to work together to deal with Chi Di.I have completely lost the hearts of the people, so this battle must be more or less auspicious. Now that he knew that victory was hopeless, Duke Wei Yi made arrangements for his funeral in advance.He asked Shi Qizi and Ning Zhuangzi (another doctor of Weiguo) to guard Chaoge, the capital of the country, and entrusted his wife to these two, giving them the power to deal with emergencies.Then Duke Wei Yi led the army out of the city to fight Chi Di. The result of the battle was exactly the same as Wei Yigong's estimate before the battle.The army of the defending country would collapse at the first touch, and it was not Chi Di's opponent at all.During the battle, Di Ren surrounded Duke Wei Yi's carriage.The guards on the left and right advised Duke Wei Yi to remove the banner representing the monarch, so as not to be seen by the Di people.However, Wei Yigong showed a rare heroism, resolutely not to remove the banner, but to fight Di Ren to the death as a monarch. In this way, Wei Yigong's banner attracted more enemies for him.Chidi had a target to attack, so he concentrated his forces to attack Wei Yigong and captured Wei Yigong.The battle ended in the total defeat of the Guards. According to historical records, the Di people were brutal and savage. After they captured Wei Yigong, they chopped up the king of the country into meat and ate them, leaving only a liver.It is said that later, a doctor named Hongyan of the Wei State came to collect the corpse of the monarch. When he saw that the monarch had only one liver left, he became loyal and broke out. He cut open his stomach and put the liver of Wei Yigong into his stomach. Bury yourself, even if the monarch has a whole body.This first case of visceral transplantation, which was documented in the literature, ended in failure. Whether Wei Yigong really became a snack, and whether Hongyan's deeds are true, we cannot verify in detail.However, it is true that Wei Yigong died at the hands of Di Ren.Pity the pioneer of China's animal protection cause, and finally ended up like this.The tragedy of Wei Yigong tells us that no matter what we like, we must stop in moderation.It is really unreasonable to dedicate love to animals when people can't support them. In addition to Wei Yigong, the Di people also captured the two Taishi Hua Longhua and Li Kong of Weiguo.Although there was no strict division of civil servants and generals in the Spring and Autumn Period, Taishi was basically a pure civil servant, and they all went to the battlefield to fight. It can be seen that this battle to defend the country is also going all out. These two Taishi are rich in knowledge, and they know that the more backward the people are, the more superstitious they believe in ghosts and gods.They said to the Di people who captured them: "The two of us are the Taishi of the Wei State. Do you know what the Taishi does? He specializes in sacrificing the gods. You came to our Wei State to fight and killed our monarch. These things are gods." You are all watching. You have to send us back to the country to pray to the gods, otherwise you will not only fail to defend the country, but the gods will also bring disasters to you." Di Ren was really obedient, and released the two Taishi, and asked them to go back to the country to sacrifice.Hua Long Hua and Li Kong ran back to the capital and told Shi Qizi and Ning Zhuangzi who were staying behind that the monarch was dead and the Di army was strong. Shi Qizi and Ning Zhuangzi did not dare to be negligent, and hurriedly organized the evacuation of the residents of the capital.They packed up the important items in the palace, escorted Wei Yigong's family members, left Chaoge City together, and retreated south.The people of Weiguo supported the old and the young, and followed behind.At this time, the sad news of the defeat of the frontline soldiers and the death of the monarch had spread throughout the country, and a pessimistic atmosphere permeated the whole country. It is conceivable that such a fleeing army cannot speed up.Di Ren's army was fooled by the two Taishi for a while, but not in the long run.They were soon in pursuit.On the north bank of the Yellow River, Di Ren's troops overtook the refugees of Wei State, and rushed to kill them, causing heavy casualties to the people of Wei State.On the banks of the Yellow River, dead bodies littered the field. At this time, Duke Huan of Song came to the rescue with the army of Song State.The Song people helped the Wei people cross the Yellow River, but the Di people did not prepare for the river, so they stopped pursuing. Only then did Shi Qizi and the others breathe a sigh of relief, and they thought that the country could not live without a king for a day, and they had to quickly support Wei Yigong's cousin, son Shen, to the throne.But he counted the number of people, and couldn't help feeling sad: the residents who escaped from Weidu Chaoge were only 730 people left.With such a small number of people, as a direct resident of the monarch, it is really inappropriate. Shi Qizi and Ningzhuangzi selected several thousand people from the two nearby towns of Gong (the city of Weiguo, in today's Hui County, Henan Province) and Teng (also the city of Weiguo, the exact location is unknown), and the survivors of the capital. A total of 5,000 people were gathered, all counted as Chinese, stationed in Caodi (southwest of Hua County, Henan Province today), and built simple houses.Then he supported the son Shen to be the king of the country, and he was Dai Gong of Wei. Wei Daigong was not in good health at first, and was frightened during the escape, so he died of illness within a few days after he ascended the throne.It doesn't matter if he dies, there is no one to inherit the position of the monarch of the Wei Kingdom.Shi Qizi thought for a while, and in Qi State, there is also a son of Wei State, named Hui, who is the brother of Wei Daigong.From the point of view of blood, this son Hui is the best heir.So Shi Qizi asked Ning Zhuangzi to go to Qi State to welcome young master Hui back to his country. Duke Huan of Qi was deeply regretful when he learned that the state of Wei had been broken by the Di people.It turned out that since the invasion of the Di people, the state of Qi had been trusted, but Duke Huan of Qi did not send troops immediately.Some people think that this is a conspiracy of Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong, to use the hands of the Di people to weaken the Wei state, and then rescue the Wei state when it is about to perish, so as to show the credit of the overlord. In the author's opinion, there is no need to think so badly about Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong.After all, Duke Huan of Qi has been exhausted in the past two years, fighting against ethnic minorities non-stop, saving the country of Yan and the country of Xing.These battles are not like the battles between the countries in the Central Plains, which are all point-and-shoot, but real fierce battles, so the national strength of the Qi country is greatly consumed. In that era when productivity was not very developed, even if Qi was a big country, it could not afford such frequent wars. I am afraid that Duke Huan of Qi did not want to send troops, but that he was unable to send troops. Now that Wei Guo came to ask directly, Duke Huan of Qi could no longer just sit idly by.He sent his son, Gongzi Wukui, with 300 chariots and 3,000 soldiers to escort him back to the country, and to help defend the Di people.Duke Huan of Qi knew that the state of Wei had just been breached and all his belongings had been robbed by the Di people, so he brought cattle, sheep, livestock and building materials to the state of Wei. The son was destroyed to the land of Cao, and he was established as the king of the country, it was Duke Wen of Wei.Because the army of Qi State was stationed, the Di people did not invade again, and Wei State finally settled down.660 BC, so passed.But Di Ren's greed knows no bounds.After they harmed the Wei country, they launched an attack on the Xing country in the next year.Xing Guo had no choice but to ask Duke Huan of Qi for help again.The past few years were probably the busiest years for Duke Huan of Qi.Rongdi's invasions came one after another, and Duke Huan of Qi, the overlord, was somewhat concerned about one thing and neglected another.There is no way, who made you want to be the overlord? Duke Huan of Qi summoned the armies of Song and Cao to rescue Xing.According to historical records, at this time, Duke Huan of Qi played a cautious role and deliberately stopped, waiting for the Di people to beat Xing Guo to the ground before sending troops.This is Guan Zhong's suggestion. The purpose is to wait until the Di people are tired and lead the allied forces of the princes to go there, so that they will be more confident; Sure enough, as Guan Zhong expected, Di Ren himself was exhausted when he cleaned up Xing Guo almost.At this time, the armies of Qi, Song, and Cao drove the Di people out of Xing State. So far, the north has settled down. Some people call Qi Huangong's practice of "raising chaos for meritorious service", but there is no record in the official history that Qi Huangong deliberately slowed down the rescue of Xing State.Let's refer to the battle of Duke Huan of Qi to save Yan. It should be said that Duke Huan of Qi's behavior does not seem to be such a clever trick. Duke Huan of Qi discussed with the kings of Song, Cao, and Xing. Xing has already been ruined. Moreover, this place is too close to the territory of the Di people. The Di people will leave today and come tomorrow, which will make us exhausted. This is not a long-term solution. .Simply move Xing country to the south, so that it is closer to the countries of the Central Plains and avoids the Di people. Wouldn't it be better to drink the northwest wind in the north? Mr. Xing Guoguo remembered that he had been beaten badly by the Di people all these years, and he really couldn't stay in the original place. If this is the case, then move.Therefore, the armies of Qi, Song, and Cao helped Xing to move.Duke Huan of Qi ordered the army not to take the opportunity to plunder the property of the Xing people.In this way, the moving team of Xing State came to Yiyi (now west of Liaocheng County, Shandong Province) in an orderly manner, and built a new city here. Qi Huangong gave full assistance to the new construction of Xing State, and the new city of Yiyi was established soon.This new capital of the Xing Kingdom is even more magnificent than the original capital.The people of Xing State are very happy. It is said in the history books that "Xing moved as if returning home", which means that the residents of Xing State did not suffer any pain of relocation and were very satisfied with their new home. With the successful experience of relocating to Xing State, Duke Huan of Qi wanted to extend this model to Wei State, which was also invaded by Di people.In fact, compared with Xing State, Wei State needs to migrate more.Chaoge, the capital of the Wei state, has been destroyed by the Di people, and the original land has been dilapidated.Wei Wengong only had a simple residence in Caodi, and the direct residents were only a few thousand people. This is tantamount to degrading from a king of a country to a tribal chief.Therefore, when Duke Huan of Qi proposed to move, Duke Wen of Wei naturally agreed with it. In 658 BC, Duke Huan of Qi moved the State of Wei to Chuqiu (to the east of Huaxian County, Henan Province today) and established a new city there.Wei Wengong took his 5,000 direct residents and settled down in Chuqiu. Wei Wengong learned the lessons of his predecessor, and worked hard for a while.With his efforts, the national strength of the Wei country was quickly restored.In the first year of his accession to the throne, he only had 30 chariots donated to him by Duke Huan of Qi in his army. By the second year of his accession to the throne, he had as many as 300 chariots in his hands.It is rare for the people of the Wei state to live a peaceful life. The history books call it "the state of Wei forgets its death", which means that the people of the state of Wei live a good life and forget about their subjugation. Let me add a sentence here, Weiguo, a vassal state, is also very interesting, and its life span is particularly long.A country like this usually dies in the Warring States period, but Weiguo survived tenaciously until Qin Shihuang unified China.When Qin Shihuang was dead, the state of Wei still existed.Calculated, the lifespan of the Wei State is about 840 years, which is longer than that of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It is really an alternative among the vassal states. Duke Huan of Qi spent a lot of effort to help Xing Guo and Wei Guo restore their country, temporarily stabilizing the situation in the north.Rong and Di in the north were also intimidated by the overlord Qi Huangong in the Central Plains, so they reduced their harassment of the Central Plains. However, "Southern Yi and Northern Di cross each other, and China is like a thread." Although Beidi has temporarily stopped, the Nanyi, the state of Chu that is more threatening to the Central Plains, has not stopped the pace of going north for a moment. If Duke Huan of Qi couldn't deal with the thorn in Chu's side, then not many people would be convinced of the title of overlord. The battle between Qi and Chu has inevitably begun.