Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-Two

The name of the crown prince established by King Hui of Zhou was Zheng. According to the eldest son succession system, the mother of the crown prince Zheng was the queen.But this queen died early, so King Hui of Zhou established a new queen.The son born to the new queen is Prince Dai. King Zhou Hui asked the prince Zheng and the prince belt to come out to receive Xi Peng, and Xi Peng could tell that King Zhou Hui wanted to improve the status of the prince belt.You think, appeasing the princes is also a big deal. With the prince here, why do you need other princes to come out?It seems that Prince Zheng, the former son and daughter, has been disliked by King Hui of Zhou.The emperor is likely to make the prince his successor.

Xi Peng shared his thoughts with Duke Huan of Qi, and Duke Huan of Qi thought it made sense, so he asked Guan Zhong, "Then what should we do?" Guan Zhong said: "My lord, the reason why all the countries in the Central Plains obey you and respect you as the overlord is because you are the protector of the royal family and Zhou rituals. Now, the emperor has plans to abolish the elders and establish the younger ones. The rituals of Zhou are inconsistent. We must find a way to stabilize the position of Prince Zheng." Qi Huangong said: "Okay, of course we must help the prince to consolidate his position, otherwise the royal family will be in trouble again. Then how can we strengthen the prince's position?" Guan Zhong said with a smile: "This will use the name of your overlord Yes. As long as you can convene a meeting of princes and let all the countries in the Central Plains respect the crown prince, even if the emperor wants to abolish the crown prince, I am afraid it will be difficult to achieve it."

Duke Huan of Qi felt that this method was good, so he sent invitations to the princes of the Central Plains, asking everyone to go to Shouzhi (belonging to the state of Wei, at the junction of Zheng and Wei, in today's Henan Province) in the summer of the second year (655 BC). Sui County southeast) meeting.At the same time, he sent a memorial to Zhou Tianzi, asking Zhou Huiwang to send Prince Zheng to participate. In the summer of the second year, the eight monarchs of Qi, Song, Lu, Chen, Wei, Zheng, Xu, and Cao gathered together.The Zhou royal family sent Prince Zheng as a representative to convey the greetings from Emperor Zhou.

In the first line, Duke Huan of Qi and the princes showed enough respect for Prince Zheng everywhere.Prince Zheng was so moved that he told Duke Huan of Qi all about his grievances over the years.After my mother died, my father gradually alienated me, my stepmother didn't want to see me, my father wanted to abolish me and replaced me with a prince, and so on.When it comes to the emotional part, it is really tearful! Duke Huan of Qi patted his chest and said: Don't worry, Prince, I will lead the princes of the world to support you together! Prince Zheng was very grateful, and felt that he had a backbone now, so he wanted to say goodbye to the princes and go back to Luoyi.Duke Huan of Qi persuaded him, saying: "The longer you stay here, the more you will let the emperor understand the intentions of our princes, and he will not dare to move your crown prince casually."

In this way, Prince Zheng lived in Shouzhi until August.At this time, Duke Huan of Qi signed the meeting declaration with the other princes of the seven countries, and issued a joint communique to the outside world, expressing that they would work together to assist the royal family and maintain Zhou etiquette. The emperor in Luoyi, no matter how stupid he was, could guess what Duke Huan of Qi was up to.However, his queen and prince were still making noise around him every day, and the evil fire in King Zhou Hui's chest could no longer be suppressed. King Hui of Zhou called Zhou Gong Zai Kong ("Zhou Gong" refers to his title in the royal family, "Zai" is the official name, that is, Tai Zai, and "Kong" is the name of this person) and said: "Qihou is the first to stop. Supporting Prince Zheng and making it known to the whole world, isn’t this intentional to make things difficult for me? Now Chu State has come to submit to me, and Chu State is no less powerful than Qi. Let the princes of the world support me!"

Kong, the Duke of Zhou, persuaded King Hui of Zhou and said: "Chu's surrender depends on the power of Marquis Qi? Marquis Qi has been assisting the royal family for a long time, and he has never been rude. How about abandoning the hard-working Marquis of Qi and relying on the newly surrendered barbarian Chu?" What he said was reasonable, and it is said that King Hui of Zhou was wrong about this matter.Duke Huan of Qi supported Prince Zheng at the first line, but at the same time he was maintaining Zhou rituals, that is, maintaining the foundation of your old Zhou family's rule.As the Son of Heaven, you King Zhou Hui, how can you not distinguish between right and wrong?

But King Hui of Zhou couldn't control that much anymore. He insisted that Zai Kong go to persuade Zheng Bo to betray Qi and turn to Chu.Perhaps King Hui of Zhou could also see that this country of Zheng was not very firm, and he belonged to the kind of guy who was swayed by the wind. Zheng Wengong was also surprised to see the royal family coming.After Zai Kong conveyed the meaning of the emperor to him, Zheng Wengong's mind immediately became active.Thinking back to Zheng Zhuanggong of our Zheng State, he was the prince most trusted by the emperor. People called Zheng Guo a little bully, as if he was the leader of the princes in the world.Now that the Son of Heaven doesn't trust the overlord, but instead comes to me, doesn't this mean that I, Uncle Zheng, are about to shake up again?

Zheng Wengong had a daydream of being the overlord, but Zheng Guo didn't understand people.Uncle Kong, the doctor, persuaded Zheng Wengong, saying: "Last year, the Marquis of Qi traveled thousands of miles to attack Chu in order to save our Zheng. It is also a righteous act, and it is recognized by the princes of the world. If you betray the Qi State, it will be unreasonable both emotionally and rationally. Doing so will bring bad luck sooner or later." At this time, the Marquis of Shen who betrayed his friend came out and said: "Isn't the emperor representing the righteousness of the world? What's wrong with us obeying the emperor's orders? Besides, the state of Chu is powerful and not inferior to the state of Qi. Let's leave for now." Returning here, when the princes saw us leaving, they lost their hearts, and it’s hard to say whether he, Marquis Qi, will be able to complete this alliance, how can he spare time to attack us?”

Readers may find this strange.Marquis Shen and Duke Huan of Qi have no enmity. Earlier, he kept a secret from Duke Huan of Qi and got a reward from Duke Huan of Qi. How could he persuade Duke Wen of Zheng to betray Qi State this time? This starts with Shenhou's background.He was originally a doctor of Chu State, and he was favored by King Wen of Chu.After the death of King Wen of Chu, he went to the state of Zheng.So it is normal for him to have more affection for Chu State.Considering that this person is a duplicitous character, it is not surprising that he behaved like this. Zheng Wengong felt that what Shen Hou said was reasonable, so he sent someone to leave a letter to Qi Huangong, saying that there was something in the country, and he left without saying goodbye.

Duke Wen of Zheng left, and Duke Huan of Qi became angry, and he was about to send troops to attack the State of Zheng.Guan Zhong persuaded Duke Huan of Qi, saying: "Now the princes are still at the beginning, and the meeting has not yet finished. We must first make an oath of blood alliance with the princes, and then send troops to escort Prince Zheng back to the country. This is the purpose of our alliance this time." The purpose. Leaving a mere Zheng country will not hinder the overall situation, as long as we don't mess up, the princes will naturally have cohesion." Duke Huan of Qi followed Guan Zhong's advice and continued to hold meetings with the princes of the other six countries.Everyone made an oath of blood alliance, expressing that they would work together to protect the prince.After the meeting, Duke Huan of Qi ordered each of the six or seven countries to send a doctor to escort Prince Zheng back home with some troops.

Under the escort of the princes' army, Prince Zheng returned to Luoyi in a splendid manner.King Zhou Hui had to put on a show, and held a celebration banquet to celebrate the return of the prince.Now that the princes of the world have expressed their attitudes, King Hui of Zhou is also dumb to eat coptis, and he can't tell what he suffers.His wife and young son had no idea, so they could only complain in private. The position of the prince seems to be unshakable.Only then did Duke Huan of Qi free up his hands to solve the problem of Zheng Guo. In the summer of 654 BC, the armies of Qi, Lu, Song, Wei, Chen, and Cao attacked Zheng in mighty force.Zheng Wengong asked Chu for help.The Zhaoling Alliance of the year before last caused a great psychological shadow to King Chu Cheng.When he was depressed, Zheng Guo's envoy for help arrived.King Chu Cheng immediately came out of the shadows.It is not my responsibility that you princes of the Central Plains are fighting among themselves.Now, our state of Chu finally has another reason to march north. King Cheng of Chu was about to send troops to rescue Zheng, so Yin Ziwen (official name of Chu State, equivalent to the Taizai and Prime Minister of other countries) came up with an idea and said: "Let's go directly to rescue Zheng State, and we will join forces with the princes led by Qihou. Head-on confrontation. Judging from the situation of the Zhaoling Alliance in previous years, we really do not have the strength to directly compete with the overlord of the Central Plains, so we might as well send troops to attack Xu Guo. Xu Guoguo is small and weak, and Qihou will definitely bring the princes to rescue Yes, won’t Zheng Guo be rescued in this way?” This idea is great, very similar to Sun Bin's strategy of "encircling Wei and saving Zhao" more than 200 years later.King Cheng of Chu certainly saw the benefits of this strategy, so he sent troops to attack the state of Xu.Duke Huan of Qi surrounded the new city of Zheng State (today's Mixian County, Henan Province) and was commanding the army to attack the city. Suddenly, he received a distress signal from the State of Xu, and the State of Chu sent troops to attack Xu! Xu Guo is one of Qi's most staunch allies, and Duke Huan of Qi had to go to rescue him.But Duke Huan of Qi also saw that this was Chu's strategy.When he was hesitating, Guan Zhong proposed: "Even if we know that it is the strategy of Chu State, Xu State will have to save it. Now Zheng State will not surrender in a short time. If Xu State is occupied by Chu State again at this time, then we will It's like losing two countries." So Duke Huan of Qi led the allied forces of the princes to break the siege of Zheng Guo and turned to Xu Guo.Seeing that the strategic goal had been achieved, Chu State withdrew its troops and returned home.Zheng Wengong breathed a sigh of relief.But in the second year, Duke Huan of Qi brought the allied forces of the princes to attack Zheng Guo again.This time, Chu State did not send troops to rescue.King Chu Cheng figured it out, he was not Qi Huangong's opponent yet, and he was not qualified to challenge Qi Guo head-on. Without foreign aid, Zheng Wengong was afraid.The doctor Kong Shu said: "At the beginning, I advised you not to break with Qi easily. You insisted on listening to Marquis Shen, but you offended the overlord. For now, we have to make peace with Marquis Qi." Zheng Wengong also other options?If he refuses to accept softness, the only thing waiting for him is the fate of destroying the country. In order to please Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Zheng killed the doctor Shenhou, and sent someone to tell Duke Huan of Qi: "The widow was confused for a while, and it was all instigated by Marquis Shen. I will kill him now, and ask for your forgiveness, the overlord." Now that Zheng Guo had given in, Duke Huan of Qi didn't want to force people too much, so he signed an alliance with Zheng Guo, and Zheng Guo returned to the embrace of the big family of the Central Plains.This time, King Chu Cheng was also honest, and he no longer wanted to compete with Qi for the small country in the middle.King Hui of Zhou had a whimsical plan to rely on the state of Chu to fight against Duke Huan of Qi, but this failed. In the winter of 653 BC, King Zhou Hui, who had been the emperor for 24 years, passed away with the regret of not being able to appoint his youngest son, Prince Dai, as his heir.Although Prince Zheng did not lose his status as the legal heir, but because he has not been favored by his father for a long time, Luoyi, the capital of the country, is already full of the influence brought by his younger brother Prince.Prince Zheng, who was alone and lonely, did not even dare to announce the death of King Hui of Zhou to the outside world.He sent people to Qi State urgently to report the news of the emperor's death to Duke Huan of Qi, and asked Duke Huan of Qi to send troops to help stabilize the situation. In the spring of 652 BC, Duke Huan of Qi summoned the princes of Lu, Song, Wei, Xu, Cao, Chen, and Zheng to hold a meeting in Taodi (at the junction of Lu and Cao, southwest of Juancheng County, Shandong Province today). , Prince Zheng also sent Zhou Gong Zai Kong to attend the meeting.At the meeting, Duke Huan of Qi decided to ask each of the eight countries to send out a doctor to lead the army to Luoyi to give Prince Zheng courage and protect him from succeeding to the throne. Doctors from the Eight Kingdoms came to Luoyi with their troops and surrounded Luoyi.At this time, Prince Zhengcai announced the death of King Zhou Hui and announced his succession to the throne. This is King Zhou Xiang.Wang Zidai saw that the princes' army had already controlled Luoyi, so he had no choice but to suppress his ambition for the time being, not daring to do anything out of the ordinary. So far, Duke Huan of Qi has become invincible all over the world, and he has truly fulfilled the duties entrusted by the emperor to Qi State: to the sea in the east, to the river in the west, to Muling in the south, and to Wudi in the north.There is no prince in the world that Duke Huan of Qi can't control. Don't look at Duke Huan of Qi interfering in the internal affairs of other countries so vigorously, but most countries are still convinced by him. Whenever something happens, they look forward to Duke Huan of Qi interfering.So, I am not afraid that you want to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, but I am afraid that you will not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.Duke Huan of Qi can be regarded as the person who developed the art of hegemony to its peak. Since King Ping of Zhou moved to the east, the vassals of the Central Plains have fought each other, and the surrounding barbarians have often invaded and harassed, and the world has been in chaos.After decades of hard work by Duke Huan of Qi, the princes of the Central Plains have finally united together in a decent manner (of course, only God knows how much of this unity is sincere and how much is false), and the invasion of the barbarians Rong Di , is not so crazy.At least on the surface, the situation in which the princes of the world were united and supported the emperor of Zhou in the Western Zhou Dynasty was restored. Duke Huan of Qi was very satisfied with his achievements, and both he and Guan Zhong felt that it was necessary to convene another meeting of princes to fix this temporary stable situation in the form of international law.Thus, the Kuiqiu League, which represented the pinnacle of Qi Huangong's hegemony, was held in this way.