Chapter 6 The battle for the succession of the puppet emperor

In 527 BC, the royal family had a bad year.In June, the eldest son Shou of King Jing of Zhou passed away.In August, Da Zishou's mother, Empress Mu, also passed away because of excessive grief. In December of the same year, Empress Mu's funeral was held in Luoyi. The Jin State gave it enough face and sent a delegation headed by Xun Li (li), the deputy commander of the following army, to attend. After the funeral, King Jing of Zhou hosted a banquet for Xun Li and his deputy Ji to talk.It is understandable that the royal family was flattered by the funeral of important members of the Jin faction, but it is obviously inappropriate to treat guests to dinner at this sad time.After all, the Son of Heaven is also a human being, and his wife has just been buried, so even if he pretends, he has to pretend that he can't eat!

What is even more unbelievable is that the wine vessel used during the banquet is obviously not an ordinary thing. In terms of specifications, let alone entertaining Xun Li, even the Marquis of Jin, or even offering sacrifices to ancestors is grand enough. "This is a tribute from the State of Lu this year." Maybe seeing the doubts of Xun and Ji, King Zhou Jing took the initiative to introduce. Xun Li let out an "oh", as if he understood something, instead of answering King Zhou Jing's words, he secretly winked at Ji Tan.Ji Tan nodded slightly with a smile, meaning don't worry, I'll take care of it.

Sure enough, after drinking two cups, King Jing of Zhou suddenly said to Xun Li, "Uncle, I don't understand something, and I want to ask my uncle for advice." Uncle and uncle are originally the emperor's affectionate titles for princes with the same surname, so they are naturally very polite when used on Xun Bi. Xun Li hurriedly said, "Please tell me." King Jing of Zhou said: "In recent years, no matter how big or small, the princes have paid tribute to the royal family with ritual vessels, but Jin has not. Why?" "About this question..." Xun Li said calmly, "I invite you to answer for the emperor."

Ji Tan had been prepared for a long time, first bowed to King Jing of Zhou, and then said slowly: "I heard that when the princes are entrusted to the emperor, the emperor will grant them a ceremonial weapon (a guard of honor) as a token of empowerment. It is a symbol, so that they can appease the country and stabilize the people. On the other hand, the princes presented Yi vessels (ceremonial vessels for sacrifices) to the royal family to show their obedience to the leadership of the royal family. This has been common sense since ancient times. It stands to reason that Jin also You should pay tribute to the royal family." At this point, Ji's conversation changed: "It's just that you must also know that the situation of Jin is a bit special. It is located in a remote area, and it has been living with people from Rong and Di for a long time, and is far away from Wang Ji. The royal family We can't enjoy the blessings, but we are so busy dealing with Rong Di that we really don't care about offering Yi wares to the royal family!"

The implication is that the royal family and the feudal lords communicated respectfully, and the royal family did not confer Ming artifacts to the Jin State, and the Jin State had no reason to present Yi artifacts to the royal family. "Uncle!" King Jing of Zhou referred to Ji Tan as his uncle, "You probably forgot that Uncle Tang, the ancestor of the state of Jin, was the younger brother of King Zhou Cheng. Zhou and Jin have such a close relationship, how could it be possible that they didn't confer the artifact? " Ji Tan was startled, and forced himself to calm down and said, "I would like to hear the details."

King Zhou Jing said: "You should have heard that the drum of Mixu and the chariot of Da Ren were used by King Wen of Zhou to inspect the army; the leather armor of Que Gong was worn by King Wu of Zhou to attack the Shang Dynasty. These precious items , the previous kings rewarded Uncle Tang, let him guard the fief, and commanded Rongdi. Later, King Zhou Xiang rewarded Duke Wen of Jin with the clothes of the army and the army, as well as bows and arrows, axes, wine and tigers, and awarded him Nanyang. Land, let him lead the countries in the east. These things are recorded in the annals of the royal family, and presumably in the annals of Jin, so how can it be said that no artifacts have been granted?"

Xun Li's face turned red, and Ji Tan hurriedly lowered his head. King Jing of Zhou took advantage of the victory to chase after him: "You just talked about blessings. I think that the state of Jin owes much to the royal family. The royal family has recorded them in their files and never forgotten them. They rewarded them with land, appeased them with Yi vessels, and praised them with car clothes. , Use banners to give glory, and children and grandchildren will remember these things, this is a blessing. Who dares to say that Jin has not enjoyed the blessings of the royal family? If such blessings are not counted, what does uncle think should be counted?"

"As for you, Uncle," Zhou Jingwang said more and more excitedly, "If I'm right, my uncle's ancestor, Sun Boyi (yan), was in charge of the Jin Dynasty's literature and classics, and had a high position and authority, so 'Ji' was his family name. Since you are a descendant of the Ji clan, you have mastered the classics for generations and have memorized them by heart, how can you turn a blind eye to these important historical facts?" Ji Tan didn't expect that the Emperor Zhou was so knowledgeable and memorized that he even knew his own family history clearly.

At the end of the banquet, King Jing of Zhou was still unsatisfied, and sighed to several of his close ministers: "I am afraid this book talk will never be seen again. He talked about historical classics, but forgot the responsibility of his ancestors." Ancestors)!"——"Numbering classics and forgetting ancestors" as an idiom, that's how it came about. It is worth mentioning that 30 years later, Ji Tan's son, Ji Qin, died in the civil strife in Jin, and the Ji clan was extinct from then on, as King Jing of Zhou said. After Ji Tan returned to China, he reported the situation to his uncle in charge of diplomacy. Uncle Xiang said: "I am afraid that the emperor will not die well! I heard that people often die in the things they like. The emperor encountered two funerals this year, and the mourning clothes were not removed. It is incomprehensible to invite the mourning guests to drink, and it is incomprehensible to have the cheek to ask others for Yi utensils. When the time limit expires, drinking and having fun just after the funeral, I think he is too happy to be happy."

King Zhou Jing's greed for money and good goods is not only reflected in his cheeky extortion of tribute from the princes. In 524 BC, King Jing of Zhou issued a currency reform decree, ordering Wang Jinei to use the newly minted big money uniformly.In other words, it is to print and issue large-denomination coins and abolish the original small-denomination coins. Anyone with a little bit of economic common sense knows what it means to unilaterally increase the currency denomination without improving the quality of the currency in the age of metal currency—it means the government's naked plunder of private capital.

Shan Mugong, a member of the royal family, strongly opposed the plan of King Jing of Zhou. He pointed out: the emperor abolished light coins and made heavy coins, and the people would lose a lot of money. The people are taxed heavily, but the people can't afford it, so they can only find ways to escape from their homes. Wang Ji's political economy is bound to fall into a vicious circle. "Searching for folk wealth to enrich your warehouse is like blocking a river to store water. There are only a few days before the water source will dry up. Please think carefully and don't act rashly." Shan Mugong said earnestly. However, King Zhou Jing still forcibly pushed forward the reform of the currency system. For a while, prices in Luoyi soared, and the people complained. King Zhou Jing made a lot of money, and suddenly became rich.In the spring of 521 BC, he issued an order in a high spirited manner to cast a big bell in Luoyi, the royal city, and name it "Wushe (yi)". Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty wrote in "The Story of Shizhong Mountain": "Those who groan (hong) are the king of Zhou Jing's no shot, and those who are kan (kan) and boring (tangta) are also the song bell of Wei Zhuangzi." As mentioned earlier, the song bell of Wei Zhuangzi was the musical instrument awarded to general Wei Jiang by Duke Mourning of Jin Dynasty.Equally famous is the Wushe of King Zhou Jing. Wushe is one of the twelve standard tones of ancient Chinese music.It is not so easy to cast the Bell of No Shooting, because it is very large and the rhythm is difficult to determine.But for Zhou Jingwang, who is well versed in the past and the present and is proficient in rhythm, this is not difficult. He ordered to cast a smaller "Dalin" bell first, which was used to audit the sound for Wushe. Shan Mugong once again expressed his objection: "The reform of the currency system in the past has seized a lot of people's fat and anointment. Now it is necessary to cast a big bell. How can the common people bear it? Besides, the previous kings had strict regulations on making clocks, and the weight should not exceed one hundred. Twenty catties, now the clock you want to make is far beyond this specification, so that the ears can't distinguish voiceless and voiced sounds, and can't hear whether they are harmonious and moderate. It is not good for music, but it is a waste of money for the people. What's the use?" King Zhou Jing retorted: "Isn't the former king's rites and music designed to stabilize the people? Now I just want to carry forward the rites and music of the former king, so I deliberately made the bell bigger. Is there a problem?" Shan Xianggong said: "The ear hears the sound of harmony, the mouth speaks beautiful words, and promulgates them as decrees to the people. People follow the monarch's laws wholeheartedly and never get tired. The country can achieve great things and not change easily. This is What does the highest state of music have to do with size? Besides, think about it, if you build such a big clock, if the rhythm cannot be harmonious, wouldn’t it be a shame to throw it at home?" These words reminded Zhou Jingwang that it is still necessary to seek the opinions of professionals in making clocks.So he called Yueguan Zhoujiu, told Zhoujiu what Shan Mugong had said, and asked him what he thought. Zhou Jiulian shook his head: "Oh, I'm just a music official, how can I understand such advanced political theory?" But he said, "If you must ask me what I think, I think the big bell cast now has a musical tone. Exceeding the rhythm without shooting is indeed a kind of harm to the music, disharmony. And in order to cast it, too much metal is used, resulting in a lack of money. The sound is disharmonious and a waste of money. I am afraid that such an instrument is not available to our Yuefu Got it." King Zhou Jing's face darkened, Zhou Jiu quickly shut up. In this way, the Bell of No Shooting was cast under the pressure of all parties.King Zhou Jing sent a musician to check, and the musician came back and reported: "The bells are very harmonious." King Zhou Jing was very proud, and said to Zhoujiu: "Look, even without your help, the bells are still harmonious." "It's too early to say that now." Zhoujiu muttered back. "why?" "The Son of Heaven makes musical instruments, and the people are happy because of it. This is harmony. Now the people are tired and complaining about making bells. What kind of harmony is this! I heard that as long as it is what the people want, nothing is impossible; if On the contrary, there is nothing that cannot be abandoned. As the old saying goes, united will makes one city, and united mouths make money. In the past three years, you have worked so hard on these two major events (currency reform and casting the big clock), I am afraid that one of them is destined to succeed. was discarded." King Zhou Jing flicked his sleeves and said, "The older you get, the more confused you become, you know nothing!" After Zhoujiu retreated, he said to people, "The Son of Heaven is probably going to die because of a heart attack." Others quickly blocked his mouth: "Don't talk nonsense!" Zhoujiu said: "This is not a joke. The emperor made music according to folk customs, carried it with instruments, and expressed it with sounds. The sound of small instruments is not delicate, and the sound of large instruments is not rough. This is harmony. Everything is harmonious. This music is beautiful. The harmonious sound enters the ears and hides in the heart. If the heart is at ease, it will be happy. If it is too rough, the heart will be restless, and the restlessness will cause illness. Look at the big bell cast by the Son of Heaven. How rough it is, I'm afraid he won't be able to bear it in his heart, and it won't last long." In other words, the harmony does not lie in the loudness of the voice. The hoarse the voice is, the more likely it is to cause a heart attack. According to historical records, the Bell of Wushe was first placed in Luoyi. After the Qin Dynasty unified the world, it was moved to Xianyang. During the Han and Jin Dynasties, it was placed in Chang'an. In the end, it was ordered to be melted down by Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty.All in all, it has existed in the world for more than 1,100 years and has witnessed the rise and fall of many dynasties. In fact, King Zhou Jing's heart disease did not lie in the fact that the unshooting bell disturbed his mind, but something else. It turned out that after the eldest son Shou passed away, his younger brother Wang Zimeng was established as the eldest son.But King Zhou Jing didn't like Wang Zimeng very much, but liked the concubine Wang Zichao, and he also favored Wang Zichao's master Binqi. In a feudal society, it was a taboo to abolish a prostitute and establish a concubine, and even the emperor of Zhou did not dare to make this decision at will.In addition, Wang Zichao and Bin Qi's reputation in the court is not very good, especially Wang Zichao, because of his rude words, he offended many people, including Qingshi Liu Xiangong and Shan Mugong.The two families of Liu and Shan became the biggest resistance to the prince's ascension. Speaking of Shan Mugong, he has some connection with Shu Xiang. "Guoyu" records that a long time ago, when Shuxiang visited Luoyi, Shan Mugong's great-grandfather Shan Jinggong hosted a banquet for Shuxiang. When seeing off, it was only sent to the outskirts of the city.Uncle Xiang did not flatter Lord Shan Jing face to face, but said to his retainers: "Strange, I heard that a dynasty will not prosper twice, but after seeing Mr. Shan, I feel that the Zhou Dynasty is likely to break this rule. The ancients said that "the most polite behavior is respect, the best at housekeeping is frugality, the best character is humility, and the most standard way of doing things is to ask when you don't understand." I think Mr. Shan has all these virtues Yes. With him as a minister, there is no reason for the Zhou family not to prosper!" And it is deduced that Duke Shan Jing will protect his career and have the blessing of prosperity for his descendants. Shan Mugong has already made Zhou Jingwang very unhappy about the currency reform and the casting of the big clock. In addition, he opposed Zhou Jingwang on the matter of abolishing the heir and establishing the concubine. Shan Mugong undoubtedly became Zhou Jingwang. A thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh. In April 520 BC, King Jing of Zhou hunted Beishan and ordered the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty to accompany him. He wanted to take advantage of the hunting opportunity to kill Liu and Shan.However, people are not as good as heaven, and just when he was about to do it, he suddenly had a heart attack and died at the home of the doctor Rong Qi. Of course, this is an official record. When it came to King Zhou Jing's conspiracy, he acted first and sent someone to poison King Zhou Jing. Equally strangely, a few days later, Liu Xiangong also died suddenly.Liu Xiangong had no sons, and his concubine, Bo Fen (fen), originally worked under Shan Mu Gong and had a good relationship with Shan Mu Gong, so Shan Mu Gong was the master, and Bo Fen inherited the family business.In this way, the situation was basically controlled by Shan Mugong. In May of the same year, Liu and Shan jointly dispatched troops, killed Bin Qi, supported Prince Meng as king, and made an oath of allegiance to Prince Meng with the other sons of King Jing of Zhou in Duke Shanmu's house. Wang Zichao was not reconciled to losing the throne that was about to be obtained.This descendant of the declining royal family, like his father King Zhou Jing, is a man who has read poetry and books and has high self-esteem.He has ambition, but also has the ability to act.In June of the same year, King Zhou Jing's funeral was held in Luoyi.Wang Zichao took the opportunity to launch an attack and led his troops to attack the Liu family.Bo Yan got the news and fled in a hurry.Shan Mugong was unflappable in the face of danger, he first ran to the big temple and took the prince who was in mourning for King Jing of Zhou to his home, then closed the door tightly to take extra precautions. However, Wang Zichao is obviously playing a better game, and has already planted a nail beside Shan Mugong - Wang Zichao.Shan Mugong did not expect such a dangerous lurker beside him at all.That night, taking advantage of Shan Mugong's unpreparedness, the prince hijacked the prince into a chariot and sent him to the prince's residence without stopping. This time, the host and the guest changed positions.Shan Mugong loses his trump card, and seeing the growing power of Wang Zichao, he has no choice but to follow in the footsteps of Bo Yan and escape from Luoyi. Wang Zichao pursued him closely, and fought Shan Mugong at Pingzhi (zhi) near Luoyi.The result was unexpected, Shan Mugong, who was at a disadvantage, won a complete victory, killing eight enemy generals including the prince.The prince fled toward the desert.Shan Mugong took advantage of the victory to pursue, and Bo Yan also came from Liudi to help in the battle. The two fought back to Luoyi and snatched the prince again. Just five days later, the battle situation turned again.Wang Zichao regrouped the remaining party to counterattack, and defeated Shan Mugong's allies Gong Jiangong and Gan Pinggong at the city of Luoyi.Shan Mugong felt that the situation was critical and decided to ask Jin for help.In July of the same year, he left the prince to stick to Luoyi, and he took the prince to take the road to Pingzhen to a place called "Huang". Naturally, Wang Zichao knew that Ye Chang had many dreams, so he rushed to attack Luoyi, and at the same time sent his confidant Xunxi (xunxi) to lead troops to attack the imperial land, trying to snatch the prince back.As a result, he had no way to use his troops. After losing the battle, he himself became a prisoner.At the same time, Wang Zichao defeated the enemy army who came out of the city to meet him under the city of Luoyi, and his army was greatly boosted.The rest of the party in Luoyi City heard the news and launched a rebellion to support the prince's dynasty and besieged Shan Mugong's mansion, but failed miserably.The two sides have victories and losses, and the war has reached a stalemate. In October of the same year, Jin finally sent troops. The Jin State still sent a combination of Xun and Ji-led by Xun Li and Ji Tan, leading the "Kyushu Rong and the divisions of Jiao, Xia, Wen, and Yuan", which is obviously not the main force.Perhaps in the eyes of the people of Jin, to solve this little dispute in the royal family is to kill a chicken with a sledgehammer. As long as the banner of the Jin army appears, the prince will surrender in anticipation! Shan Mugong obviously thought so too.Hearing the news of Jin sending troops, he and Bo Yan immediately set off from the imperial land and headed straight to Luoyi with the prince.Unexpectedly, Wang Zichao didn't buy into Jin's account at all, and not only defeated the Shan and Liu Lianjun, but also defeated the vanguard of Jin who came to rescue.Wang Zimeng was also seriously injured in this battle. In November of the same year, Wang Zimeng died in the suburbs of Luoyi. A few days later, another son of King Zhou Jing, Prince Gai (gai), was proclaimed emperor by Shan Mugong, who was King Zhou Jing in history. Up to now, the state of Jin did not dare to take Wang Zichao lightly, and sent reinforcements to enter Wangji continuously.By December, the number of Jin troops pressing against Wangzichao from all over the country had increased to seven, and King Zhou Jing himself led an army to besiege him, capturing several cities in succession, and pushing Wangzichao to a dead end. In the spring of 519 BC, King Zhou Jing, who was proud of his horseshoe, thought he was sure of victory, and sent someone to send a letter to the commander of the Jin army, Xun Li, to the effect that the prince’s dynasty was at an end, and the power of the royal family alone was enough to defeat him. Lao Jinjun will help again.The Jin army then withdrew to the country. This letter caused Wang Ji's war to be extended for three full years. In the early summer of the same year, Wang Zichao launched a counterattack in Yin, defeated Shan Mugong's troops, and invaded Luoyi in one fell swoop, declaring himself king.There is a wonderful scene of two kings standing side by side in the small Wangji: the prince lived in Luoyi and was called the West King; Zhou Jing lived in Diquan and was called the East King.You come and go, the two sides have a great time fighting. In June 518 BC, Uncle Zi accompanied Zheng Dinggong to visit the state of Jin and met Shi Yang.Shi Yang asked Uncle Zi: "How should we deal with the affairs of the royal family?" Uncle Zi's answer was very humorous: "I can't even handle the affairs of Zheng Guo. How can I dare to take care of the affairs of the royal family? But as the saying goes, widows You don’t worry about not having enough weft yarn for your own weaving, but you worry about the decline of the royal family because you are afraid that disasters will harm you. Now that the royal family is in turmoil, we small countries are of course afraid. As for what your big country thinks, we don’t know. You If you want to stabilize the royal family, you'd better do it as soon as possible. After all, the royal family is in turmoil, which is also a disgrace to Jin!" Uncle Zi's words made the state of Jin make up its mind to convene a meeting of princes and intervene strongly in the royal chaos.However, the actions of the Jin State were really slow. It was not until the summer of the second year (517 BC) that the princes and officials' meeting was held in Huangfu (place name, in today's Shanxi Province). On behalf of the state of Jin at the Huangfu Huimeng was Zhao Wu's grandson, Zhao Yang, who ordered all countries to provide financial aid to the royal family (Wang Su) and armed protection (Gu Shuren).But when it comes to when to help King Zhou Jing restore the country, it turned out to be "the king will be accepted next year", which delayed the time for another year. In December 516 BC, King Zhou Jing finally returned to Luoyi with the help of the Jin people.Seeing that the situation was over, the prince fled to the state of Chu with his followers.When he left, he did a drastic job—swept away all the classics collected by the royal family, and brought them all to Chu State. It is conceivable that there are long mountains and rivers from Luoyi to Yingdu, and the prince was in a hurry, so it is very likely that this batch of precious classics will be damaged a lot on the way.Chinese scholars do not seem to pay much attention to this period of history, but in the "Zuo Shi Hui Jian" compiled by the Japanese, they called this event "Dae", thinking that it was the destruction of Chinese culture before Qin Shihuang burned books and buried Confucianism. largest damage.