Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Zou Ji, the "treacherous official" who made Qi rise

The first powerful country in the Warring States Period was the Wei State after the reform of Wei Wenhou. However, with the collapse of Wei State, the rise of Wei State was successively replaced by Qi State in the east and Qin State in the west. The rise of these two countries was also due to reforms, and the feudal reforms of the two countries were also completed in a top-down manner.The reform of Qin State was the famous Shang Yang Reform, which was the most thorough and effective policy reform in the entire Warring States Period.And at the same time that Shang Yang was reforming and trying to become stronger, the Qi State in the east also started the same process.Just as Qin State had a capable reformer like Shang Yang, Qi State also had a similar but opposite talent-Zou Ji.

It is said that Zou Ji and Shang Yang are similar, because they have similar identities, they are both outstanding reformers, and their achievements are also similar, and they have both made their countries strong.But they are opposite, one is opposite in personality, Shang Yang is resolute and decisive, has an arrogant and domineering personality, and does what he says. In contrast, Zou Ji is a very "tactful" person. But I like the "satire remonstrance" of hypocrisy and condescension.If Shang Yang is "the most rigid", then Zou Ji is "the most soft", and the endings of the two are completely opposite. Shang Yang, who made great achievements, could not escape the doom of being liquidated after the death of Qin Xiaogong, and he is also a reformer. Zou Ji, however, was granted the title of marquis and worshiped the prime minister, and he was rich and honored all his life.Today, Shang Yang, who is "most rigid", is already a well-deserved "famous reformer"; Zou Ji, who is "most soft", has a much lower reputation than Shang Yang, and there are many criticisms behind him. , courtiers, courtiers.Compared with the familiar Shang Yang, what kind of character is Zou Ji, who has both reputation and reputation?

Zou Ji, also known as Zou Jizi in the Historical Records, was a minister during the period of Qi Huan Gong (Qi Huan Gong in the Warring States Period), and served as the prime minister during the reign of King Qi Wei.In Qi's feudalization reform, he was the main designer and executor. Speaking of Zou Ji's contribution to the Qi State, let's first talk about the political and military situation of the Qi State after the Tian family replaced Qi.In the early Warring States period, Qi State successfully completed the transition of power, but in terms of state status, it was bullied miserably by Wei State.In the two generations of Wei Wenhou and Wei Wuhou, Qi State had many wars with Wei State, but they were defeated in almost every battle, and even suffered from "Weiphobia".Qi's army, in the early days of King Qi Wei, almost collapsed when it encountered the Wei army. The saying "Qi's martial arts cannot meet Wei's soldiers" was also spread during this period. Although it described the strength of Wei's military power, it also showed that Qi was beaten badly during this period.

In the early days of the founding of the Qi State by the Tian family, there were relatively few records in the history of the Warring States Period, and those who played more times were often defeated in wars, especially the defeat in the war against Wei Guo.During Qi Jinggong's era, the Qi State regained strength, and most of the Jin State's land that it seized was almost completely taken back by the Wei State during this period.The state of Wei has also joined forces with Korea and Zhao many times to invade the hinterland of the state of Qi, and even approached the Great Wall of Qi.However, the real revival of Qi State began when Qi Wei Wang Tian Yinqi ascended the throne in 356 BC.

In the early days of King Qiwei's ascension to the throne, he was a very unreliable person just like the King Chuzhuang back then. He was also unreliable for a long time, even as long as 9 years.In the past 9 years, he was obsessed with pleasure day by day, and he was repeatedly defeated in foreign wars. At the beginning, he was only defeated by a big country like Wei, but later, even a small country like Lu could bully him.At the most serious time, Qi State fell into a situation where "the princes attacked and the people of the country died", that is, every prince would come and beat you twice, and he was an ordinary person, so he didn't have any confidence in you.Under such a situation, Zou Ji stood out as a minister.Like many ministers, he also made admonitions to King Qiwei, but compared to everyone's straightforwardness, Zou Ji's method was very tactful. He pretended to play the piano for King Qiwei, which aroused King Qiwei's interest, and then used the topic to make a big play. Talking about music theory, how could King Wei of Qi understand this? While listening to it, he urged Zou Ji to play quickly. At this time, Zou Ji said seriously: "Your Majesty is getting impatient when he sees that I don't play but only talk about the truth. I haven't played it for many years, and everyone is very impatient." With these words, King Qi Wei, who had been eating and drinking for nine years, cheered up.From then on, like a different person, he was determined to forge ahead, reform and strengthen himself. The strength of Tian's Qi State actually started from this time.

The dialogue between Zou Ji and King Qi Wei established an important character in his life: irony and remonstrance.All his political opinions are expressed in this euphemistic way, by quoting from many sources that seem to be irrelevant, and speaking the truth in a roundabout way, and get things done without offending the monarch.If Shang Yang, who presided over the reform of Qin State, was a hardliner, then Zou Ji, who presided over the reform of Qi State, was a moderate. Therefore, compared with Shang Yang's tough reform policy, Zou Ji's various policies seem to be very gentle on the surface: the first one is to speak out widely and accept advice with an open mind.By explaining his own appearance, he explained to King Qi Wei that as a king, if you listen to it, you will be clear and you will believe it, but you will be dark. Man is innocent.The second is to clearly distinguish rewards and punishments and to appoint talents.Through various channels, recruit talents from various vassal states, and at the same time clean up the administration of officials, implement the policy of "severe punishment and heavy rewards", reward officials with political achievements, and severely punish officials with bad deeds, so as to improve the administrative efficiency of the entire country with clear rewards and punishments .Another far-reaching policy is to improve the construction of Jixia Academy.Jixia Academy is a famous cultural sanctuary in Qi State. It was first established in the period of Duke Huan of Qi. In the era of King Qi Wei, it underwent a new expansion and reform and became the main carrier of Qi State to attract talents from all over the world. Three principles were established, namely, "discuss state affairs without taking office", "discuss without governing", "no official guard, no responsibility for speech".Scholars who come here are encouraged to speak freely and discuss freely.On the surface, these seem to be three very common policies.

But under the ordinary appearance, there is an extraordinary truth.Encouraging the common people to offer advice and asking the monarch to accept advice with an open mind is only the first step, but the latter is to really adopt everyone's opinions, so as to promote various feudal reforms in Qi.It was in the process of humbly accepting advice that Qi State eliminated the last residual politics of slavery in the state system. Like Wei State, it abolished the hereditary policy of slavery, canceled the salary enjoyed by the slave owners, and established a perfect Centralized management system.While purging the administration of officials and punishing them severely, the State of Qi formulated comprehensive laws and formed a feudalized and centralized state system.The influence of the establishment of the Jixia Academy may have been unexpected even by Zou Ji himself. The Jixia Academy has become a paradise for scholars in the troubled times of the Warring States Period. The atmosphere of free discussion in Chinese culture is precisely in this small academy. Formed, most of the classics of various schools of thought were completed in this small school, and the scholars with origins here include Mencius, Mozi, Xunzi and almost all cultural celebrities in the Warring States Period.After two thousand years of turmoil, the princely hegemony has long been dusted, but the ancient culture derived from the Jixia Academy is still being passed down by the modern society.Even at that time, the Jixia Academy was also of great significance: what the State of Wei gave to talents was generous salaries and official positions, while what the State of Qi gave to talents was respect for personality and freedom in learning.

Another important thing that Zou Ji did during his tenure as Prime Minister of Qi State was to excavate water conservancy projects. In Zibo, Jinan and other places today, there are ruins of Qi State water conservancy projects. Qi State’s agricultural economy has made great progress during this period. Great progress.Zou Ji's economic policy is "compassion for the people and support for the war". During this period, the Qi State continued the policy of combining soldiers with agriculture established in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it has been further developed. For families serving in the military, the government Give economic subsidies and rewards to improve the enthusiasm of soldiers to fight.The wealthy Qi State, under the diligent rule of King Qi Wei, is transforming its rich economic capabilities into powerful military combat capabilities.

The rise of Qi State gradually became a reality during the middle and late period of King Qi Wei's reign.According to the "Warring States Policy", although King Qi Wei increased his prestige by opening up his voice in the early stage of his administration, Han, Zhao, Wei and other countries sent envoys to the court one after another, and received the result of "victory over the court".However, the game of national power, "surrender the enemy without fighting", was unrealistic in the Warring States Period, and the status of a powerful country still has to be seen on the battlefield.

The main opponent that Qi State faced during this period was Wei State. During most of the reign of King Qi Wei, his main opponent was King Wei Hui, the third monarch of Wei State.This is the period from prosperity to decline of Wei State. Before Wei Huiwang, the Wei State experienced Wei Wuhou's long-term expansion. It not only made enemies on all sides, but also formed its mighty power to sweep the world.In 369 BC, King Hui of Wei sent troops to fight fiercely with Qin State, defeated Qin Mugong who attacked Xihe, and forced Qin Mugong to withdraw his troops.However, after the victory in this battle, King Wei Hui changed his course and did not take advantage of the victory to pursue and destroy Qin. Instead, he took the initiative to move his capital to Daliang. China's severe external situation at that time.As the land of the Four Wars, Wei State's national strength cannot bear the consumption of fighting on all sides. If it wants to consolidate its overlord status, it must be targeted, adopt a defensive policy against one of the strong enemies, and concentrate its forces on relatively weaker opponents.In the eyes of King Wei Hui, although Qin State has repeatedly lost to Wei State, its people are strong and its potential for war is strong. It cannot be pacified overnight. Therefore, it is best to seize the opportunity and pick relatively weak opponents first. means of hegemony.

The weaker opponents in Wei Huiwang's eyes are South Korea and Zhao, which were Wei's allies.During the period of King Wei Hui, the original hard-core relationship between Han, Zhao and Wei had basically broken down.And King Wei Hui also took the unification of the three Jin lands and the suppression of Qi as the strategic focus of this period.After that, King Wei Hui temporarily suspended the use of foreign troops, built the Great Wall in the west to resist Qin's invasion, strictly guarded the country's gates, built water conservancy projects in the country, developed production, and accumulated strength.Since the period of Marquis Wu of Wei, the situation of severe production damage and exhaustion of people's strength in Wei State has been changed, and the strength of Wei State has continued to increase.During this period, King Qi Wei, who had worked hard to govern, had become the main enemy of Wei State. The contest between King Qi Wei and King Wei Hui started with failure.After King Wei Hui moved east to Daliang, there were many wars with Qi State. Although Qi State had rectified its army at this time and its combat effectiveness was greatly improved, it was still not the opponent of Wei State. The fighting quality is much higher than that of Qi people, not to mention that they also have an outstanding military commander-Pang Juan.Such a powerful army cannot be defeated overnight unless there is help from a god. And it seems that God is also taking care of King Qi Wei. The Qi army who was defeated by Wei State several times soon got a "man of God" who could reverse their fate-Sun Wu's descendant Sun Bin. As an outstanding military strategist in Chinese history, Sun Bin is already a household name today. The entanglement between him and Pang Juan, the commander of the Wei State, is also a topic of constant discussion for future generations.Both Sun Bin and Pang Juan first studied under Gui Guzi, a military strategist in the Warring States Period, and Sun Bin even got the ancestral heritage taught by Gui Guzi on his behalf - "Sun Tzu's Art of War".Pang Juan, as Sun Bin's senior brother, was jealous of Sun Bin's talent, pretended to invite Sun Bin to develop in Wei, and later turned his face and framed Sun Bin as collaborating with the enemy.Relying on his forbearance and the help of the envoys of Qi State, Sun Bin finally fled to Qi State. After being appreciated by King Qi Wei, he was appointed as the military adviser of Qi State. It is said that Sun Bin was the key figure who turned the tide of the Qi-Wei war, not only because of his talent, but also because of his fighting style, which hit the "death spot" of Wei State.Under the circumstances that the gap in the combat effectiveness of the Qi and Wei armies cannot be widened for the time being, there is only one way to defeat Wei: we must use a strategic vision that is superior to the opponent, lead the opponent by the nose, and try our best to disperse the enemy's strength , Concentrate on your own advantages to fight the war of annihilation.But the chief general of Wei State is not a reckless man, but the equally resourceful Pang Juan. Only Sun Bin can deal with this cunning commander and this sturdy army. After Sun Bin arrived in Qi State, although he became a military adviser, he seldom showed his face in public. He focused his energy on training the army and improving its combat effectiveness.During this period, the State of Wei, after defeating the State of Qi in the east and blocking the strong Qin in the west, began to boldly attack the neighboring States of Zhao and South Korea.Especially for the State of Zhao, he was even more determined to win. If he occupied the State of Zhao in the north of the Central Plains, Wei State would form an advantageous strategic position of "facing the south from the north" to the princes of the Central Plains. This is how the State of Jin dominated Jiangbei. In 354 BC, the State of Wei aggressively attacked the State of Zhao. Zhao State had no choice but to seek help from the State of Qi. After many years of forbearance to the State of Wei, King Qi Wei decided to fight back this time. He took Tian Ji as his general, Sun Bin was a military adviser and led 80,000 elite troops to help.It was in this battle that Sun Bin took out his unique tactic of "surrounding Wei and saving Zhao". Wei Guo's nose went away.Sure enough, Wei Guo was led by the nose. Nearly 100,000 Wei Jun slavishly chased them away. When they arrived in Guiling, they were made dumplings by the Qi Jun who was waiting for work.The Qi army with high morale met the wei army with no men and horses. Naturally, the tiger descended the mountain, the battle was no suspense, and Qi won a big victory! The Battle of Guiling was an important battle on the road to the rise of Qi State. Qi State's hearty victory through this battle not only broke its own "fear of Wei disease" for many years, but also showed its powerful strength to the princes of all countries.However, the vitality of the Wei State was not lost because of this. Just two years after the end of the Battle of Guiling, the Qin State, South Korea, Zhao State, and Chu State, which thought that Wei State’s vitality was seriously injured, formed a coalition army, and the three kingdoms of Zhao, Chu, and Han surrounded the main force of the Wei State. In Xiangling, the main force of Qin State aggressively attacked Wei State's West Riverside City.The battle went smoothly at first. The Wei army, which fought on multiple fronts, was unable to support it and fell into a bitter battle. The Qin army also made smooth progress on the western front, regaining the lost land of Xihe that had been occupied for many years.However, the Wei army in desperation once again broke out with powerful fighting power. Wei State first defeated the Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms in Xiangling, and then rushed westward to repel the invasion of Qin State. There was a sputtering.In the struggle for hegemony between Qi and Wei, there is actually no winner at this time. In the ten years after the end of the Battle of Guiling, neither Qi nor Wei had a large-scale war.Before 342 BC, Wei State re-established its status as the number one military power through successive victories in foreign wars, while Qi State was keeping a low profile and watching Wei State's arrogance.In 342 BC, the State of Wei launched another attack on South Korea. King Wei of Qi took action quickly and sent Tian Ji and Sun Bin to rescue them again. Pang Juan also learned his lesson. They were not in a hurry to pursue, but slowly followed behind Qi's army, quietly waiting for the opportunity to come.When the opportunity finally came, Pang Juan found that the number of stoves used by the army of Qi State camped out day by day was decreasing day by day. Being accustomed to military life, he immediately made a confident judgment: the people of Qi State were collapsing and fleeing.After being judged, Pang Juan acted quickly, trying to wipe out the Qi army in one fell swoop. When he led the light cavalry to chase and kill them to Maling Road, he found that he had been fooled again. Wei army.Pang Juan, who was extremely regretful, sighed: "Unexpectedly, I still made this kid Sun Bin famous among the princes." After sighing, he took the initiative to rush to the Qi army camp and died heroically. After the two battles of Guiling and Maling, Wei Guo successively reimbursed more than 100,000 elite combat troops carefully built after Wei Wenhou's reform.And the strength of Qi State, and Qin State were later called the Second Emperor, sharing the hegemony for a time, which is also a matter of course. In the process of the rise of Qi State itself, Zou Ji, as the "Prime Minister", has made great contributions, but also in this process, his personal actions have been criticized too much. Zou Ji received the most criticism because of his feud with Tian Ji. According to the "Warring States Policy", these two ministers who were both king Qi Wei's hard-working ministers had "disconnected" for many years.According to historical data, Zou Ji was jealous of Tian Ji and Sun Bin's great achievements, and designed to frame him.After the Battle of Maling, Tian Ji and Sun Bin returned victoriously. Zou Ji deliberately set up a trap to frame Tian Ji in the name of divination, and framed Tian Ji for rebellion. As a result, Tian Ji fled to the state of Chu. After persuading Tian Ji to no avail, he also left and went back to seclusion with excuses.Thanks to Zou Ji, the state of Qi lost a general who was good at fighting, and a military strategist who counted as exhaustive. It is precisely because of this incident that in the eyes of many people later, those contributions made by Zou Ji are not worth mentioning.But in many historical materials, we also see another Zou Ji, a broad-minded Zou Ji who is loyal to the monarch and helps the country.In the whole process of Qi's rise, he was actually the designer of various national policies of Qi, and his talent is beyond doubt.Compared with his many "good deeds", the act of framing Tian Ji seems contradictory, but it is actually quite normal.The most important feature of Zou Ji's character is "femininity". He pays attention to going around in circles in everything, and can't be sideways. Putting it on admonishment is called wisdom, and putting it on the whole person is cunning and hypocrisy.The act of framing Tian Ji is one of them. But compared with the staunch Shang Yang, the feminine Zou Ji ended up much better. His femininity left a good impression on the monarch of "respecting the leader". He gave the monarch enough face in everything, and he was obedient and able to work. Naturally, any leader likes a good cadre, so the two generations of monarchs, King Qi Wei and King Qi Xuan, trusted him a lot, and he was promoted and appointed as a marquis.But also because of his "femininity", the so-called reform of Qi State, the gentle process leads to its effect is also feminine.Compared with Qin, the biggest feature of Qi's reform is the rule of man rather than the rule of law. In terms of administrative system construction and judicial construction, it is far behind Shang Yang's reform.This difference determines that Qi's reform can only rely on the individual quality of the monarch, rather than the constraints of the entire system.It is this gap that determines that it is impossible for Qi to have the last laugh in the Warring States competition.