Chapter 38 Chapter Thirty-Seven

In the spring of 639 BC, Song Xianggong, Qi Xiaogong, and Chu Chengwang held a preparatory meeting for the Central Plains Princes Conference in Lushang. At the meeting, the monarchs of the Three Kingdoms were very humble on the surface, but when deciding the ranking, Song Xianggong emphasized that they should be ranked according to the title.In this way, Song Guo is the Duke, so he is naturally the first.Qi Guo is the Marquis, ranking second.Although the state of Chu is called the king, it is only a viscount in terms of title, ranking third. Of course King Chu Cheng was not happy with Song Xianggong's arrangement.But since he came, King Chu Cheng was not in a hurry to tear up his face, but to see what further moves Song Xianggong made.

The position has been determined, and Song Xianggong will be the main ally, holding the cow's ear (the ancient princes would cut off the cow's ear and drink the blood. The cut off cow's ear will be placed in a copper plate and held by the main ally. It is called Zhi Niu Er. Later, "Zhi Niu Er" became a common term, referring to occupying a dominant position in a certain aspect).How could King Chu Cheng be convinced?However, it was not easy to attack, so he reluctantly swore a blood alliance with Duke Xiang of Song Dynasty. Song Xianggong took out an invitation card and said: "You two monarchs, we are meeting this time to prepare for the Yudi (now Sui County, Henan Province) alliance this autumn. Our influence is limited, so we need to rely on two With the prestige of the position, come to summon the princes. I have already signed this invitation card for the princes, so I invite both of you to sign it."

After all, Song Xianggong took the invitation to King Chu Cheng and asked him to sign it.Qi Xiaogong is not happy here.You obviously look down on our country of Qi. King Chu Cheng said: "The widow will not sign it. With your signature, Duke Song, are you afraid that the princes will not come?" Song Xianggong thought to himself, if I can call the princes, why do I still ask you?So he said with a smile on his face: "Now Chen, Cai, Zheng and other countries all regard you as the boss, so naturally they have to rely on your strength." King Chu Cheng smiled inwardly, and signed his name.Song Xianggong asked Qi Xiaogong to sign it again.Qi Xiaogong was depressed and unwilling to sign, so he said: "My king was determined by Song Gong for me. Our Qi State has long recognized Song State as the boss. Besides, with the signature of Chu State, we don't need our Qi State." .”

Song Xianggong thought that Qi Xiaogong was just being humble with himself, so he didn't think much about it, so he put away the invitation and prepared to show it to the princes. The three countries agreed on a date for the meeting, and Song Xianggong also proposed to imitate Qi Huangong and hold a "clothes meeting", that is, everyone will not wear bulletproof vests or drive armored vehicles, but will sit in Cadillacs and wear suits and leather shoes to show mutual trust. When King Cheng of Chu returned to his country, he disdained Song Xianggong very much.The ministers of the Chu State also saw that Song Xianggong could not achieve great things, so they advised Chu Chengwang not to participate in the alliance.King Cheng of Chu said: "I promised others, how can I not go? I don't do such dishonorable things. However, participation belongs to participation, and how it will be done at that time is not up to Song Gong. "

Qi Xiaogong is also dissatisfied with Song Xianggong, since you look down on me, why should I join in the fun with you?Our country of Qi is a hegemonic country, and now we have to rank behind Song and Chu. I really can't afford to lose this person.I won't go to the Yudi Huimeng. Of course, Song Xianggong didn't know what the kings of Qi and Chu were planning. He believed that as long as the Yudi League could be held as planned, his goal of dominating the princes would be realized. Song Xianggong is having a sweet dream, but his son Muyi sees it and is anxious in his heart.This Mu Yi is also very interesting. It was good for you to be the king yourself, but you insisted on giving it up to your younger brother, which makes you anxious now and there is no other way.

When the date of the alliance arrived, Song Xianggong rushed to Yudi happily.Before leaving, Mu Yi advised him: "Your Majesty! You must be on guard against others. You should take the army with you, just in case." Song Xianggong was furious and said, "Ziyu, what are you talking about? If a widow wants to dominate, he must move the world with faith. I said, this alliance is a meeting of clothes. How can I break my oath? What? I thought you, Ziyu, had the virtue of letting the country go, and you should be a noble person, but I didn't expect you to be so insidious, alas, I am so disappointed."

Mu Yi was so choked by Song Xianggong that he rolled his eyes, thinking, how could I have such a muddled monarch?The Yudi League was held as scheduled, and many princes attended the meeting, including Song, Chu, Chen, Cai, Zheng, Xu, and Cao.Everyone really saved face, except that the king of Chu brought more followers, none of them brought any troops.Only Qi Xiaogong had a temper with Song Xianggong and did not come. Even though Qi State didn't come, Song Xianggong felt that he was a bit overlord.The seven heads of state delivered speeches to each other, showing intimacy. They all said not to forget the friendly relationship in the time of Duke Huan of Qi, and that everyone should unite as one to support the royal family, and so on.

All the words on the face are very nice.When it was time to swear the blood oath, Duke Song Xiang took the plate of Sheng Niu'er as a matter of course, and wanted to be the first to sip the blood.King Cheng of Chu raised an objection. How can you, Duke Song, dare to be the leader?This leader of the alliance needs everyone to be convinced. Song Xianggong didn't expect that King Chu Cheng would play such a hand with him, and he was very angry.But with so many princes watching, it was not easy to get angry, so we had to say in a fit of anger: "Then we will judge meritorious deeds, and judge meritorious deeds." Song Xianggong's idea is, who of you dare to say that you have any credit?In terms of titles, I am the Duke of Song, of course I am number one.

King Cheng of Chu said: "Okay! Although you are a duke in Song, I have already been king in Chu. No matter how big your duke is, he can't be as big as a king. It seems that this time the alliance has to be led by a widow. "As he spoke, he wanted to grab the plate of cow ears. Song Xianggong was dumbfounded, this country of Chu is indeed a barbarian, and he went to grab it directly.He hurriedly protected the copper plate, and said: "You Chu State is an arrogant king, and this king does not count. Back then, Duke Huan of Qi didn't beat you because of this matter, so it was to save face for you. How dare you take that of yours?" Fake king to suppress me, the legitimate duke?"

King Cheng of Chu looked at the distraught Song Xianggong as if looking at a frightened prey. He deliberately teased Song Xianggong: "Since you think that I am a fake king, why do you still ask me to come to the meeting?" Union?" Song Xianggong was really anxious, and argued: "This is the agreement of the Lushang League. Do you think I am willing to call you?" King Chu Cheng said: "Well, then you can ask the princes here, are you here because of your order, or because of my order?" Among the princes present, since the death of Duke Huan of Qi, none of them are afraid of the state of Chu, and they all said: "We are all ordered by the king of Chu to join the alliance."

Song Xianggong did not expect that these princes of the Central Plains would be so unprincipled and fall to the barbarian state of Chu so easily.Song Xianggong still wanted to argue, but King Chu Cheng didn't want to play tricks with him anymore, so with a gesture of his hand, the entourage of the state of Chu under the Huimeng stage rushed forward, showed their weapons, and arrested Song Xianggong. It turned out that the entourage brought by King Cheng of Chu were all disguised soldiers.Song Xianggong wished to hold some kind of clothes meeting, but the state of Chu didn't care about your outfit. The son Muyi came to the meeting with Song Xianggong. Seeing that the monarch was arrested, he guessed that he had no way to rescue him.Moreover, Chu State will definitely attack Song State in the next step, so Mu Yi took advantage of the chaos and returned to the country to arrange defense. Sure enough, King Cheng of Chu led his army to attack the State of Song after meeting in Yudi.Mu Yi has already returned to China one step ahead of time, and has arranged for the defense of the capital.A minister asked: "Now that the state of Chu has captured the king, what if they use the king to blackmail us?" So someone suggested: "Young master Ziyu is old and capable, we might as well make Ziyu the king first, so as to stop Chu's idea of ​​using the king to threaten us." As soon as this proposal was put forward, everyone expressed their support.Mu Yi followed suit and became the interim king. Within a few days, the army of Chu State attacked the city of Suiyang in Song State.King Cheng of Chu saw that Suiyang City was well-defended and was afraid that it would be impossible to take it in a hurry, so he sent someone to shout to the city: "We have captured your monarch, you can still save your monarch's life if you open the gate and surrender. " The soldiers of the Song Dynasty on the top of the wall replied: "We have already established a new king. The original one is left to you. You can deal with it as you like. It is impossible for us to surrender. If we want to fight, we will accompany you." King Chu Cheng didn't expect that the Song people would play such a hand with him, and now Song Xianggong in his hand was completely useless.It seems that there are still sensible people in the Song Kingdom, but unfortunately, their monarch really lacks a string of brains. Song Xianggong is useless, how to deal with it?King Cheng of Chu wanted to kill Song Xianggong with a single knife.Cheng Dechen (Ziyu), a senior official of the Chu State, said: "Duke Song lost the hearts of the world's lords because he killed the king of the country. Now you can't learn from him. Besides, even if you kill Duke Song, you can't let him go. If Song Guo surrenders, it will only arouse their fighting spirit. How about letting Song Gong go, it will also show that we are self-cultivated." King Cheng of Chu was in a bit of a dilemma: "We failed to capture Song and released their king. It's as if we have lost a battle. We must find a way to go down, right?" Cheng Dechen said: "Yudi The alliance, Qi and Lu did not participate. We can organize another meeting of princes and ask Lu to come forward and propose the release of Song Gong, so we can go down the slope." King Cheng of Chu pondered for a while and thought it was a good idea, so he sent the doctor Yishen to deliver a letter to the State of Lu, saying: "Duke Song is arrogant and rude, and has been detained by the widow. Your country is a state of etiquette. I would like to invite you Come over for a meeting and discuss how to deal with Duke Song." When Duke Lu Xi heard that Duke Song had been arrested, he felt quite sad about the death of a rabbit and a fox, and he dared not disobey King Chu's order, so he followed King Chu's order and came to Bodi (now north of Shangqiu City, Henan Province) to participate in the meeting of princes. The princes attending the meeting were still those from the Yudi Huimeng, except that there was one more state of Lu.At the meeting, Zheng Wengong proposed to honor Chu as the leader of the alliance.Lu Xigong said: "The leader needs to make friends with the princes with faith, and Chu State hijacked Song Gong by force in Yudi. This kind of state terrorism, our Lu State firmly does not approve. If we want to respect Chu State as the leader of the alliance, we must Release Duke Song, otherwise the State of Lu will not obey." It seems that Lu Xigong still has some backbone. Originally, King Chu Cheng also planned to release Song Xianggong. When Lu Xigong said this, he happened to have a step down, so he said: "Since Lu Hou said so, how dare I disobey the order? Let Song Gong be released, and then we Swear a blood oath together." In this way, relying on Duke Xi's face, Duke Xiang of Song saved his life.The state of Chu released Song Xianggong, and asked him to represent the state of Song and make an oath with the princes to recognize the hegemony of the state of Chu. The meeting in Bodi was successfully concluded, and King Chucheng returned to his country full of ambition.The princes also dispersed, leaving only the lonely Song Xianggong. Song Xianggong also heard that Muyi had already been established as the king in the country, and he had nothing to complain about. Originally, he wanted to give up the position of king to Muyi.What's more, since I lost myself once in front of the princes, how can I have the face to return to the country and continue to be the king?But if he doesn't return to his country, where can he go for refuge? Song Xianggong was hesitating, and Muyi sent people to take Song Xianggong back to the country.Song Xianggong finally saw the people in his own country, and when he felt wronged, he lost his temper: "I won't go back, I'm ashamed, why go back? Let Ziyu be the king, I want to go to Weiguo to retire." The envoy conveyed Mu Yi's words: "I am the temporary regent for the purpose of defending the country and preventing the Chu State from using the monarch to blackmail us. The orthodox monarch of the Song Kingdom is still you, why don't you go back?" In this way, Song Xianggong returned home.The son Muyi welcomed Song Xianggong into the capital, and he himself was still in the position of a courtier.Song Xianggong was very emotional. It seems that our Song country is worthy of being a thousand-year-old country, and its quality is high.If this kind of thing happens in another country, can I still come back and continue to be the king? Song Xianggong said to Mu Yi: "After this alliance, I have learned a lesson. It seems that the title and faith alone are not enough to make the princes of the world obey. We must use strength as a backing." When Mu Yi heard it, the monarch was enlightened, and hurriedly said: "What the monarch said is very true." Song Xianggong went on to say: "So I want to attack Chu State, one is to avenge the capture this time, and the other is to show the strength of our Song State to the princes of the world!" Mu Yi just let go of his heart, but he brought it up again. It seems that the lessons of the Yudi League are not enough to warn Song Xianggong, so he advised: "Chu is powerful, and we are not rivals for the time being. My lord, you still have to fight." Think twice before acting." Song Xianggong pondered for a while, and felt that what Mu Yi said was not unreasonable.He has already seen the strength of the Chu State's military force, and I am afraid that it is really not optimistic to face head-to-head.Just at this time, someone sent information, and Zheng Wengong went to Chu State to pay homage.Song Xianggong's nameless fire broke out again. "This State of Zheng, since the death of Duke Huan of Qi, has been colluding with the State of Chu, and even offered to respect the State of Chu as the lord of the alliance, which completely betrayed our Central Plains countries. The widow will attack the State of Zheng first and ask them for their punishment." Seeing that Duke Xiang of Song had made up his mind, Yi could only sigh and said, "I'm afraid our country of Song is about to suffer a disaster." Song Xianggong raised troops from all over the country and attacked the state of Zheng.Zheng Wengong hurriedly asked Chu State for help.King Chu Cheng has just become the leader of the alliance, and he is very ambitious. How can he allow Song Guo to make trouble for him?So he sent troops to rescue Zheng.A big battle between Song and Chu is imminent.