Chapter 37 Chapter 36 Don’t Brag If You Don’t Have Strength

Prince Zhao of the State of Qi ran to the State of Song, and cried out his tragic experience to Duke Xiang of Song with snot and tears. After finishing, he said: "The former king of our country entrusted the future of me and the country of Qi to you, Your Majesty. You can’t just leave it alone, our country of Qi is counting on you.” Song Xianggong of course agreed, what a chance to interfere in Qi's internal affairs.In that era, it was normal to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. When some countries broke out, they still expected the powerful countries to intervene.

So Song Xianggong went to find his elder brother Muyi (the son Muyi, whose name is Ziyu, I will try my best to use the name Muyi, but when necessary, I will also call him Ziyu, everyone knows that it is the same person on the line) to discuss.Mu Yi is not greedy for the throne, and is the most trusted person of Song Xianggong. Song Xianggong said: "Ziyu, the opportunity of our Song State has come! The overlord Qihou is dead, and the Qi State is in chaos. We can take this opportunity to send troops to help Prince Zhao return to the country and establish the prestige of our Song State. Career, as the overlord, this is also a good time for us to revive Dashang."

Mu Yi said: "Your Majesty, don't be so busy thinking about good things. Our big merchants have been subjugated for more than 400 years. Is it so easy to revive? You should do what you should do." Song Xianggong was poured cold water, But he didn't care.The previous overlord, Duke Huan of Qi, entrusted me with his funeral. Looking around the world, who else is more qualified to be the overlord than me?In 641 BC, Song Xianggong personally led the army of Song State and escorted Prince Zhao back to the country to succeed him.In order to increase his momentum, Song Xianggong also summoned the princes to attack Qi State with him on the grounds of Qi Huangong's will.

After convening for a long time, Wei Guo, Cao Guo and Zhu Guo responded to Song Guo's call.What's more troublesome is that Song Xianggong's call had the opposite effect in some countries.For example, in the state of Lu, Duke Xi of Lu felt that Duke Huan of Qi actually entrusted the state of Song, but not his neighboring state of Lu, so he was quite dissatisfied.Didn't you Song Guo support Prince Zhao?I support Wukui. If there is a son, there will be a son, and if there is no son, there will be a leader. It is not wrong for us to support Wukui. Song Xianggong only summoned three princes, which was very disappointing.But he thought about it, when Duke Huan of Qi first held a meeting in Beixing, wasn't there too few people who responded?You can't get discouraged by a little setback, can you?

Song Xianggong summoned the allied forces of the princes, and the country of Qi was not stable.Thanks to Yi Ya and Shu Diao, the ruling foundation is quite weak. When the news that Song State sent troops to escort Prince Zhao came, the opposition forces in Qi State immediately became active.The aristocratic clans of the Qi State, represented by the Guo and Gao families, have always disliked Wukui. If they hadn't succumbed to Yi Ya and Shu Diao's despotic power, they would not have recognized Wukui's status. So, with the support of Guo and Gao, the doctors of Qi State united and killed Yi Ya and Shu Diao, and sent Wu Kui to see the king of Hades.Qi State opened the city gates to welcome Prince Zhao back to the country.

Song Xianggong didn't expect that his first major event would be so smooth. After he protected Prince Zhao to succeed to the throne smoothly, he led his troops back to Song State.According to the experience of the former overlord Duke Huan of Qi, one cannot ask others for rewards for doing such a good deed.This is the only way to get the approval of the princes. Prince Zhao became the new monarch of Qi State, named Duke Xiao of Qi.Duke Xiao of Qi came to the throne happily, and before the chair was warmed up, he was knocked down by his brothers.Wu Kui is dead, but Qi Xiaogong still has four brothers, and everyone is thinking about the throne of the monarch.

Qi Xiaogong saw that the situation was not good. One hit four, and I was at a disadvantage.No way, let's run now.So he ran to Song State again. As soon as Song Xianggong returned to the country on his front foot, Qi Xiaogong followed him on his back foot.Song Xianggong was very surprised and asked Qihou why you came back again?Qi Xiaogong said, those unlucky brothers of mine are going to rebel again, and I can't stop it, so I'd better trouble you to make another trip.Song Xianggong said that there is no problem, and he will help you to the end. You must be able to sit securely in the seat of the monarch, otherwise, wouldn't it be a breach of Qi Huangong's entrustment?

So, Song Xianggong came to Qi State again with his army.Qi Xiaogong's four brothers also organized an army to fight back against Song.The state of Qi had just ended the chaos, and people were already uneasy.And these four young masters belonged to a temporary alliance, so the combat effectiveness would naturally not be high.When the army of Song State hurt Haibian, they beat up the army of Qi State.The four brothers Qi Xiaogong saw that they didn't practice enough, and they couldn't beat others, so let's admit it.So those who surrendered surrendered, those who fled fled, and Qi Xiaogong sat safely on the throne of the monarch.

Song Xianggong's first international peacekeeping operation was successful in this way.Song Xianggong rejoiced and felt that he was getting closer and closer to the goal of being the overlord of the princes. How can you become the overlord?Based on the experience of Duke Huan of Qi, as the overlord, he had to find an opportunity to curry favor with the emperor of Zhou and get his approval.Then it is necessary to convene a meeting of princes to allow the princes to admit their leadership.If these two points are achieved, then you are the overlord. But now there is nothing wrong with King Xiang of Zhou, there is nothing that Song Guo needs to intervene in, and there is no way to please the emperor.Then there is only one other thing to do first, which is to convene a meeting of princes.

Song Xianggong racked his brains thinking about how he could become the overlord, but his elder brother Mu Yi couldn't stand it anymore.Mu Yi said: "My lord, Qi State can dominate because Qi State is a big country in the first place, and Duke Huan of Qi was assisted by sages such as Guan Zhong, Bao Shuya, Xi Peng, and Ning Qi. But our Song State is a small country after all, and there is no What kind of talent, you always think about fighting for hegemony, you are looking for trouble for yourself." Song Xianggong said: "Why isn't our Song country a big country? We are dukes. No matter how powerful Qi is, he is only a marquis. He can be the overlord. Why can't I? Besides, we just fought against the army of Qi. After the battle, the so-called teacher of the overlord is nothing more than that. As long as I can do righteous deeds, everyone in the world will support me."

Mu Yi knew that Song Xianggong had just stabilized the Qi State, and it was a time when he was very angry, so he didn't say much, and hoped that the monarch would calm down as soon as possible.However, since Song Xianggong has made up his mind to fight for hegemony, he must take action.He began to imitate Duke Huan of Qi's style, sending out invitations everywhere and calling a meeting of princes. In the spring of 641 BC, Song Xianggong convened a meeting of princes in Cao State.He also knew that he didn't have much capital, so he didn't dare to invite big countries to participate, but only called some small countries around Song State.These small countries rarely appear on Duke Huan's alliance list, such as Zhu and Teng, which are basically vassal states. Even so, only Cao Guo and Zhu Guo attended the meeting as scheduled.The monarch of Teng also came, but it was too late.In a fit of rage, Song Xianggong detained King Teng. The monarch of the Kingdom of Yu also received the invitation from Song Xianggong, but he didn't take it seriously at first.But when he heard that Duke Xiang of Song had detained the Lord of Teng, the Lord of the Kingdom of Mian was very frightened.After all, he is a small country. Even if the Song country is not strong enough, it is still no problem to clean up itself.So he rushed to the meeting in a hurry. When the monarch of the state of Mao arrived in the state of Cao, it was two days later than the agreed date.Song Xianggong was very upset, so he also detained the monarch of the state of Yu.Song Xianggong heard that the Dongyi tribe had the habit of sacrificing ghosts and gods with living people, so he wanted to do the same, and wanted to gain the approval of the small Dongyi countries by offering sacrifices to the river god.As the sacrifice, he naturally chose the unlucky Monarch of the Kingdom of Yu.Song Xianggong wanted to kill people to build his prestige, but the young master looked at it and saw that it was broken, and the monarch wanted to mess around again, so he hurriedly advised: "In ancient times, the regulations on sacrifices were that small things should not be sacrificed. So some big animals are not used in irrelevant sacrifices, just because they don't want to kill indiscriminately, let alone people? The people are the masters of the gods. You take the living Sacrifice to the gods, which god dares to enjoy it? Besides, Duke Huan of Qi has been the overlord for 40 years, rescued three countries that were about to be destroyed (referring to the countries of Xing, Wei and Lu), and respected the king conscientiously. I think Duke Huan of Qi did not do well enough. Now that you have held a meeting and you have dealt with two monarchs, how can you convince the people of the world?" Song Xianggong couldn't listen to it, and insisted on killing the king of the state of Yu and feeding it to the fish.The monarch of the Kingdom of Mao never imagined that he would lose his head when he came to participate in an alliance. In fact, Song Xianggong also has cultural roots in doing so.The Song Dynasty came after the Shang Dynasty, and the Shang Dynasty liked to use living people as sacrifices or burials.Interested readers can visit the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan, and we can see that what the author said is true. Song Xianggong killed a monarch and imprisoned a monarch, which made Cao Guo, the only larger country present at the meeting, also feel dissatisfied, and fled halfway through the meeting.Of course Song Xianggong lost his temper and immediately sent troops to attack Cao Guo.Under the strict defense of Cao State, Song State did not take advantage of it. But the Teng people tried their best to say good things and gave great gifts, and finally let Song Xianggong release the Teng monarch.Teng Guoguo was frightened out of his mind, and vowed that Song Xianggong would preside over the meeting in the future, and he would not participate no matter what.We can take Song Xianggong's performance in this alliance to compare with Qi Huangong, and then think about it. With Song Xianggong's approach, can the princes support him?Song Xianggong organized an alliance in the east, and King Chu Cheng couldn't sit still for a long time.As soon as Duke Huan of Qi died, King Cheng of Chu felt that a mountain on his head had been pushed down, and immediately became active. The attitude of Zheng Guo, who is located in the cracks, can best reflect the growth and decline of power between the princes of the Central Plains and Chu State.As soon as King Chu Cheng showed his stance of going north, Zheng Guo immediately gave in, and sent someone to meet with Chu Cheng King, saying: "The overlord Duke Huan of Qi is dead. From now on, our Zheng State will follow Chu State." After accepting Zheng Guo, King Cheng of Chu trembled.He also called Zheng, Qi, Lu, Chen, Cai and other countries together in the winter of 641 BC, and held an alliance in the territory of Qi.The alliance was initiated by Chen Guo, nominally for the purpose of coordinating the relationship between the countries, don't forget the harmony and friendship during the period of Duke Huan of Qi.In fact, this is a manifestation of the compromise of the countries of the Central Plains to Chu. Comparing the participating countries of the two alliances, we can easily see which one is more influential, Song or Chu.Qi Xiaogong was originally enthroned with the help of Song Xianggong, but he weighed the pros and cons. If he didn't make an alliance with Song Guogong, who else could Song Xianggong win over? If Song Xianggong is a sensible person, seeing this situation, he should also know that he is not qualified to dominate at all, at least not for now.However, Song Xianggong was too obsessed with being the overlord. If one meeting was unsuccessful, he would launch a second and third meeting until all the princes of the Central Plains came to the meeting. Although Song Xianggong took Qi Huangong as an example, he didn't understand Qi Huan's way of governing at all.He always thought that if he could convene a few alliances and get all the princes to participate, he would be considered an overlord, but he didn't think about it carefully. Without strength, everything is nonsense. Therefore, Qi Huangong and Guan Zhong entrusted Song Xianggong with the funeral, which actually harmed Song Xianggong.If it weren't for the two of them admiring Song Xianggong, Song Xianggong might not have such great ambitions.It seems that this pair of virtuous monarchs and famous ministers also sometimes misses the point. The son Muyi always persuaded Song Xianggong to stop, but Song Xianggong insisted on organizing a larger alliance.The problem is that the larger countries ignore the Song State, and are more willing to mix with the Chu State. What should we do? Song Xianggong came up with an extremely bad idea. Didn't you not buy my account and only recognize the state of Chu?This time, I will also call Chu to join the alliance, and see if you will participate. Which country's monarch mainly has an IQ like Song Xianggong, he'd better stay in his own country honestly, and avoid causing trouble, that is the blessing of the country. It is a pity that Song Xianggong did not have this awareness. He was intensively preparing to hold an alliance in Lushang (in the territory of Song State, some people think it is the territory of Qi State, in the southwest of today's Juye County, Shandong Province). Through this alliance, the The two big countries, Qi and Chu, fought over in order to attract more princes. Mu Yi, the son of the Song Dynasty, was very anxious about the monarch's willful behavior.On the side of King Cheng of Chu, he was making ulterior plans.And all the knowledgeable officials in the countries of the Central Plains are waiting to see Song Xianggong's jokes.Disaster is about to befall Song Xianggong.