Chapter 12 To be able to do things, but also to be able to speak

As mentioned earlier, in 555 BC, in order to monopolize the power, Gongzi Jia took advantage of Gongsun Bun to lead the army, lured wolves into the house, and recruited Chu people to Zheng State. Tens of thousands, all without success.This incident caused Gong Zijia's prestige in the state of Zheng to plummet, and he became the target of criticism. In April 554 BC, Gongsun Qun died of illness.Zheng Guoren sent the obituary to Jin State.According to Zhou etiquette, when a senior official in a vassal state dies, the obituary is only issued to the corresponding senior official.But after Shigai received the obituary, he remembered what Gongsun Pun had done for the state of Jin, and while being grateful, he reported this to Duke Ping of Jin.Duke Ping of Jin didn't know which nerve was touched, and he wrote a letter to King Zhou Ling himself, asking the royal family to pay attention to Gongsun Pun's funeral.King Zhou Ling was happy to be a favor, and with a swipe of his pen, he ordered to give Gongsun Pun a "Dalu" car.The so-called "big road" is said to be the chariot used by the princes of the emperor when offering sacrifices to heaven, and it is also the general term for the chariot rewarded by the emperor. In short, it is extremely precious.It can be said that Gongsun Pun was buried in a road car as a vassal minister, which can be said to be an odd number, which caused a sensation in the world, and this is exactly what Shigai hoped to achieve.

In Chinese history, the death of a respectable person often became an opportunity for people to vent their dissatisfaction and denounce the unjust.In Xinzheng City in 554 BC, an undercurrent of yearning for Gongsun Pun and criticizing Gongzi Jia finally broke out after Gongsun Pun's funeral. Later generations have no way of knowing whether people invented big-character posters at that time—judging from the technical conditions at that time, it seems unlikely that the bamboo slips are not suitable for posting all over the street after all—but the several major crimes committed by Gong Zijia were known by people. Spread the word:

First, during the Weizhi Rebellion in 563 BC, Weizhi, Sichen, Hou Jin, Du's father, and Zi Shifu sent assassins to kill the important officials such as Gong Zi, Gong Zifa and Gongsun Zhe, and Gong Zijia knew the situation in advance Instead of exposing, he sat back and watched his colleagues get killed; Second, after the Weizhi Rebellion, Prince Jia came to power and acted arbitrarily, asking people to write a letter of alliance to be loyal to him, but he gave up because of Zichan's dissuasion; Third, wolves were introduced into the house in 555 BC. The crowd in Xinzheng City was turbulent, and Young Master Jia also realized that the danger was approaching, so he raised the level of security. Every time he went out, he was guarded by his retainers and clan soldiers.But doing so didn't make him any safer.In the autumn of 554 BC, Gongsun Shezhi and Gongsun Xia suddenly launched an attack and led the residents of Xinzheng to rebel against Gongzi Jia, killing him and dividing up his family.

Gongzi Jia is the son of Zheng Mugong.At that time, Duke Zheng Mu had two concubines, one named Song Zi and the other Guigui.Song Zi gave birth to sons Jia and Ziran, and Guigui gave birth to son Zhi.Song Zi and Gui Gui love the same sisters, and brothers Gong Zijia and Gong Zi Zhi also love brothers and sisters, they are like a family.Zi Ran and Gong Zizhi died early, but their descendants Zi Ge and Zi Liang regarded Gong Zi Jia as their father, so they were implicated in this coup and were forced to flee to Chu State.Zige later became the right Yin of Chu State, known as Zheng Dan or Ran Dan, and was reused in the era of King Ling of Chu.Of course, this is something to do later, so I won’t mention it here.

After the death of Gongzi Jia, the political situation of Zheng State was reshuffled. Gongsun Shezhi became the head of Zheng State (chief minister), Gongsun Xia was in power, and Zichan also joined the ranks of Qing, and served as Shaozheng (official name, quite Yu Yaqing), ranked fourth among Zheng Guozhong. Zichan's appearance is very strange. According to unofficial history records, "Zichan Sun Angle", that is, the frontal bone protrudes to form a small sun, which is comparable to the later Baogong.Although he is not as well-known as Duke Bao in folklore, his status is extremely lofty in the field of history and thought, far beyond that of Bao Heizi.

"Mencius" records such a story: Someone gave Zichan a fish, and Zichan asked his servants to stock it in a pond.The servant secretly cooked the fish and ate it, and reported back: "When I put it down, it was still half dead. After a while, it swam away wagging its tail, and then disappeared." Zichan was very happy when he heard that, and said repeatedly. : "It's in its right place! It's in its right place!" (Go to where it should go, go to where it should go.) After the servant came out, he said to others: "Who says Zichan is smart? I obviously ate the fish in my stomach. He's still talking about going where it's supposed to go."

Did Zichan know that the servant had already eaten the fish?Mencius' answer was unpredictable: "A gentleman can deceive him with reasonable things, but it is difficult to deceive him with unreasonable things." There are many interpretations of this sentence in history. The most common understanding is: a gentleman has a benevolent heart and is deceived. It is inevitable to be deceived; but a gentleman's judgment will not deviate from common sense, and it is impossible to deceive a gentleman with those absurd things.According to this understanding, Zichan didn't care if the fish were put into the pond or eaten into the belly of the servant.Everyone inevitably has their own little calculations, and they have to be forgiving and forgiving.This is like when you meet a beggar on the street, he may really need help, or he may be here to deceive, but you don't have to find out the root cause before throwing him a steel coin.

Judging from this story, Zichan is a careless, good-natured person who believes in a philosophy of life that is rarely confused.But don't think that good people are easy to bully, and when good people get angry, it is simply the anger of thunder. In the summer of 551 BC, the State of Jin sent an envoy to Xinzheng, ordering Zheng Jiangong to go to Xintian for a pilgrimage.Zichan received the envoy of the Jin State as a Shaozheng, and complained all over his face: "Our Zheng State is close to the Jin State. You are like grass and trees. We are just the smell of the grass and trees. How dare you have any dissatisfaction with you? As long as you When the order is issued, we will join the alliance or come to the Hajj. When there is no Hajj, we will not send people to visit for a year, and there will be no major event that we will not follow. However, your country’s decree does not have a standard, so that all countries Very sleepy, unexpected things happen so often that we don't stay vigilant for a day, we are too tired!"

The envoy of the State of Jin did not expect Zichan to come to such a trick, and he didn't react for a long time. Zichan's grievances were actually aimed at the marshals of the Chinese army in the state of Jin. According to "Zuo Zhuan", since Shi Gai came to power in 554 BC, Jin's foreign policy has become more stringent than ever. When Xintian made a pilgrimage, or mobilized the princes to send troops to fight, the princes were overwhelmed and complained a lot, so Shigai also won the reputation of "Old Food". In the country of Jin, Shigai's reputation is not very good.According to the "Guoyu" records, Shigai once competed with the doctors of Heyi (place name) for land property, and they had been at loggerheads for a long time.Shi Gai intends to use the power in his hands to use the army to subdue the opponent.This incident caused a lot of trouble. Some of the officials of Jin State maintained a neutral attitude, some expressed their willingness to attack Heyi, and more expressed their opposition tactfully. Only by convincing him will we not make trouble.

The most disturbing thing is that the main reason for the Luanying Rebellion in 550 BC was that the scholars had distracted thoughts, acted unfairly, and deliberately suppressed the Luan family.Although Luan Ying ended in failure in the end, Shi Ge's actions made the people of the country very disgusted. There were many discussions between the government and the opposition, and the reputation of the Shi family fell to the lowest point in history. But Shi Gai himself doesn't seem to care much about all this, and he still feels very good about himself.In the spring of 549 BC, the State of Lu sent Shusun Bao to visit the State of Jin, and Shi Gai received him on behalf of Duke Ping of Jin.After talking about state affairs, Shi Gai asked Shu Sun Bao a question:

"What is immortality?" Shu Sunbao couldn't answer. Shigai gave him a history lesson: "Our ancestors, Shigai, can be traced back to the Taotang clan above Yushun. In the Xia Dynasty, it was the Yulong clan, in the Shang Dynasty, it was the Pig Wei family, and in the Zhou Dynasty, it was the Tang clan. The Zhou royal family declined, Jin became the lord of the feudal lords, and we lived in Fan for generations, and we were also called the Fan family. What people call immortality, they are talking about a family like ours!" Shusunbao was not pleased when he heard that, so he said bluntly to Shigai: "This cannot be called immortality, but 'Shilu'." "Oh?" Shi Gai didn't expect to encounter a soft nail. Shusun Bao said: "There was a former doctor Zang Wenzhong in the state of Lu. Although he had been dead for a long time, his words were always remembered in people's hearts. This is called immortality. Contributing meritorious deeds, once again making a statement, even though it has lasted for a long time, it still lives in people’s hearts. This is called immortality. If it’s just the continuation of the family, the incense in the ancestral temple continues, and there are people offering sacrifices from generation to generation. There are such families in every country. I can only say that your family officials have done well. Big, can't be counted as immortal." Shi Gai was speechless for a long time. In February of the same year, Duke Jian of Zheng visited the state of Jin accompanied by Gongsun Xia, and Zichan asked Gongsun Xia to bring a letter to Shi Gai. "You are in charge of the state of Jin, and the neighboring princes did not feel your good character, but only felt a heavy burden. I am deeply puzzled by this. I heard that a gentleman leads a country and a family, not worrying about not having money, but fearing not being good. Fame. The wealth of the princes is gathered in Jin Jun’s house, and there will be different voices within the alliance. If you take this as an interest, Jin’s internal unity will not be united, and your family will be damaged. Why don’t you understand How can a person, a family, or a country need so much wealth?" "A good reputation is a car loaded with moral character; moral character is the foundation of a country and a family. The foundation is solid so that it will not be destroyed." Zichan continued, "One must have good moral character to be happy for a long time. The poem says , "A happy gentleman is the foundation of a country. (A happy gentleman is the foundation of a country.) "This is because of virtue!" .)' This means having a good reputation! Use tolerance and understanding to carry forward the virtues, then you can pretend to go forward with a good reputation, people from afar will come to join you, and people nearby will feel at ease. Are you Do you want others to say to you, 'You fed me', or 'You squeezed me to feed yourself'? Let me tell you, elephants ruined themselves because of their ivory, more money is not necessarily a good thing!" During the Spring and Autumn Period, people used bamboo slips to write characters.After reading this letter, Shi Gai was sweating profusely for two reasons: First, there are too many characters and the bamboo slips are too heavy; Second, Zichan scolded too harshly. Good medicine tastes bitter and is good for the disease.After Shi Gai finished sweating, he sorted out the bits and pieces since he came to power, reflected on it, and suddenly came to his senses, as if recovering from a serious illness.Soon after, he issued an order, announcing that the number of princes' pilgrimages would be reduced, and the burden of tribute from all countries would be reduced. Zheng Jiangong's visit to Jin had two purposes. On the one hand, he asked to reduce the burden of tribute, and on the other hand, he hoped that Jin State would approve Zheng State's crusade against Chen State. There is a reason why Zheng State used troops against Chen State: In 550 BC, in order to support Qi Zhuanggong, King Chukang personally led an army to invade Zheng State, and Chen State, as a vassal state of Chu State, also participated in this operation. Since Jin and Chu struggled for hegemony, the small countries in the Central Plains were like candles in the wind. They either followed Jin to attack Chu, or followed Chu to attack Jin. It is also common for small countries to meet swordsmen and soldiers. It is not worth getting angry.It's just that what Chen Guoren did in Zheng Guo was a bit excessive-everywhere Chen Jun went, he filled wells, felled trees, burned houses, destroyed farmland, and did everything he could to destroy Zheng Guoren. . Zheng Jiangong hoped to take revenge on Chen Guo.However, beating a dog depends on the owner.Chen Guo is easy to fight, but Chu State is not easy to mess with. Once Chu State intervenes, things will get worse.Zheng Jiangong needed the consent of the state of Jin before he dared to do it.In other words, when beating a dog, you have to look at both the dog owner and your own owner. But the attitude of the Jin people on this matter is very ambiguous, they do not support, do not oppose, and do not express their views.Duke Ping of Jin sent an official to talk with Duke Jian of Zheng, and asked Zheng Guo to restrain his behavior and not to attack Chen Guo rashly. "Let's let the past be over. Once the war breaks out, it will cost people money and money, which is not good for everyone. Tell me, why bother?" Shi Gai persuaded earnestly. Zheng Jiangong did not argue with him, but suddenly bowed down to the scholar.Shi Gai was startled, and hurriedly avoided, expressing that he did not dare to accept it. Although the state of Jin is large, Shigai is always just a minister, and Zheng Jiangong is a prince-level figure. The two cannot be equal, let alone reverse the status.Shi Gai was completely confused by Zheng Guojun and his ministers: Zichan wrote a letter scolding him bloody, but Zheng Jiangong humbly kowtowed to him. What kind of drama is this singing? At that time, Gongsun Xia was accompanying Zheng Jiangong, and Shi Gai repeatedly hinted at Gongsun Xia with his eyes, meaning that you said something, what's going on? Gongsun Xia also kowtowed to Shigai, and then said: "Chen State relied on Chu State to invade Zheng State, and the Widow asked to question Chen State for his crimes. How dare you not bow to you?" The meaning is very clear, we He also expressed his attitude and kowtowed his head. As for Jin Guotong's disagreement with this matter, Chen Guo must beat him anyway. Zheng Guoren did what he said.In June 548 BC, Zheng Guo sent Gongsun Shezhi as the general and Zichan as the deputy general, and led 700 chariots to crusade against Chen Guo.Zheng Jun moved quickly, taking advantage of Chen Guoren's inattention, attacked Chen Guo's capital Wanqiu at night, and easily entered the city. In a panic, Chen Aigong fled to a cemetery in the suburbs and hid under the protection of his eldest son Yanshi.It happened that Sima Yuan Qiao passed by the cemetery in a chariot, and the two shouted, "Take us, take us!" Yuan Qiao was in a hurry to escape, so how could he care about them?With a whip whip, he ran far away, leaving a classic answer in the night: "I'm hurrying to patrol the city!" Not long after, the doctor Jia Huo drove his mother and wife by in a carriage.Seeing Chen Aigong and the eldest son Yanshi, Jia Huo asked his mother and wife to get out of the carriage and handed the carriage to the eldest son Yanshi, telling them to flee for their lives.Chen Aigong felt very sorry, and asked Jia Huo's mother to get in the car (one car could carry three people).Jia Huo said, "You are an honorable king. It may be unlucky if you ride with my mother." So he and his wife helped the old mother into the cemetery and hid.Chen Aigong and his son were able to escape. What's interesting is that although the people of Zheng State came aggressively, after entering Wanqiu, they behaved in a gentle manner. Not only did they not offend the people of Wanqiu, even Chen Guo's palace was not disturbed.In order to prevent someone from taking advantage of the chaos and robbing, Gongsun Shezhi and Zichan personally guarded the gate of the palace, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving. After inquiring about what Zheng Guoren did in Wanqiu, Chen Aigong made an accurate judgment: Zheng Guoren did not come to destroy Chen Guo, but to ask for an explanation.If so, things will be much easier.He immediately sent Yuan Qiao back to Wanqiu, and took a batch of treasures from Chen Guozong's temple to see Gongsun Shezhi and demanded surrender. The so-called treasures in the ancestral temple are nothing more than some bronze containers or musical instruments, collectively called ritual vessels.The age of these ritual vessels is a bit long, and many of them were cast in the early years of the Zhou Dynasty, and they were considered cultural relics at that time.However, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the value of cultural relics of these ritual vessels was limited, and people paid more attention to their political value, that is, they represented the symbolic meaning of ruling power. Gongsun Shezhi agreed to Chen Aigong's request. In this way, Chen Aigong returned to Wanqiu from the place of exile.He put on mourning clothes, held the god of the country, and asked the men and women of the clan to tie their hands behind their backs, line up separately, and wait in the court hall.Similar ceremonies have been described many times before, and they are similar and will not be introduced here. Gongsun Shezhi met Chen Aigong with a rope, held a wine glass, wished Chen Aigong good health, and presented Chen Aigong with a pair of jade.The rope is used to tie the horse's feet.It was a gift for ministers and servants at that time to hold a rope to see them, to show the meaning of serving the prince. After Zichan came in, he just counted the number of male and female prisoners before going out.Then the people of Zheng State held the ceremony of "Zhu Yu" in front of the shrine of Chen State. On the one hand, they apologized to the God of Sheji in Chen State for invading Chen State; ominous.In short, what Zheng Guoren did in Chen Guo did not intend to show off his martial arts at all, but he was cautious in everything, and he could be called a teacher of benevolence and righteousness. When Zheng Jun entered the city, the officials of Chen State fled one after another, leaving the household registration book for civil affairs management, military amulets for military power, and land deeds representing land ownership to Zheng Guo people.After Chen Aigong surrendered, Gongsun Shezhi ordered the household registration book to be returned to Situ of Chen State, the military amulet to Sima, and the land deed to Sikong, and then returned to the country with the army. In September of the same year, Zheng Jiangong sent Zichan to the state of Jin to "present victory", that is, to report to the state of Jin the results of the crusade against the state of Chen, and at the same time offer captives and spoils of war. As mentioned earlier, the rituals of Zhou have clear regulations on the presentation of victories. If the princes defeat the Siyi, they will offer victories to the emperor. Other than that, they are all "inappropriate etiquette".Chen Guo is not Siyi, and Jin Pinggong is not the emperor. Therefore, Zheng Guo's victory this time seems to have ulterior motives, and he is suspected of dragging Jin into the water.What makes the people of Jin feel particularly paradoxical is that, as the plenipotentiary representative of Zheng State, Zichan unexpectedly put on the military uniform unconventionally. Shi Gai had resigned from the position of Marshal of the Chinese Army a month ago, and he was replaced by Zhao Wu, the "Orphan of the Zhao Family".There are three fires for the new official to take office. Zhao Wu's first order after taking office is to announce that he will further reduce the tribute burden of the princes and improve the etiquette standards for receiving princes.He also publicly stated: "From now on, we must fight as little as possible, and it is best not to fight. The civil strife in Qi has just been quelled, and the Cui family and the Qing family are eager to show favor to the princes. Feng has passed away, and Qu Jian took over) and I have a deep personal relationship. As long as we act according to the etiquette, be cautious in words and deeds, and stabilize the princes, the war can be eliminated!" Before the ink on the new decree was dry, Zichan came to offer the victory, and he was still wearing a military uniform to offer the victory. Wasn't this deliberately playing against Zhao Wu? Shi Ruo, the son of Shi Zhenbo, was ordered to meet Zichan, and asked him to explain clearly the reasons for attacking Chen Guo before talking about the victory: "You must also know that last year Zheng Bo came to ask for instructions to attack Chen Guo, but we did not agree. .How much crime is there in the Chen country that makes your country insist on going its own way and must attack them? I hope to hear a satisfactory explanation." Anyone who wants to play rhetoric with Zheng Guoren is just playing big swords in front of Guan Gong's gate.Hearing Shi Ruo speak to himself in such an impolite tone, Zichan was not angry, but replied in a calm tone: "Yu Yan's father served as Taozheng (Minister of Pottery Industry) of the Zhou Dynasty and served our ancestors. King Wu of Zhou saw that he was diligent and effective in his work, and considering that he was a descendant of Shun, he married his eldest daughter Taiji to His son, GUI Man, named him Marquis of Chen, which is also a sincere respect for Shun. Therefore, Chen Guo is actually a descendant of our Zhou Dynasty, and has always relied on the Zhou Dynasty to continue." Zichan's words were clever.Jin State and Zheng State both have the surname of Ji and are descendants of the Zhou royal family; while Chen State has the surname of Gui and are descendants of Shun.By reviewing this relationship, Zichan narrowed the distance between Jin and Zheng, and excluded Chen. Zichan went on to say: "After the death of Duke Huan of Chen, there was turmoil in the country of Chen, and the people of Cai country wanted to interfere in the internal affairs of the country of Chen. The former king Zheng Zhuanggong supported his son Tuo as king, but was killed by the people of Cai country. Later we established Duke Chen Li, and even Chen Zhuanggong and Chen Xuangong were established by Zheng Guo. Because of the Xiaji Rebellion, Chen Chenggong was displaced, and we let him return. Now Chen Guo has forgotten the great kindness of the Zhou Dynasty and ignored the various favors given by Zheng Guo , Abandoning our in-laws since ancient times, and going to be close to Chu State, relying on Chu State's large numbers of people to invade our country, filling wells, cutting down trees, and doing everything possible to destroy. We are very worried This will bring shame to Taiji. Fortunately, God has hated Chen Guo and inspired us to attack Chen Guo. Now Chen Guo also knows his crimes and is willing to accept punishment. Therefore, we dare to show victory to your country. !" Shi Ruo said: "Then when you attack Chen Guo, you are also bullying the small with the big, which is not in line with international principles." "This statement is wrong!" Zichan said, "the former king ordered that as long as there is a crime, it must be punished. How can it be said that the big bully the small? Besides, what is a big country? According to the regulations of the ancestors, The territory of the Son of Heaven is thousands of miles, the territory of the feudal lords is hundreds of miles, and the current big country is thousands of miles away. If it is not through the invasion and occupation of small countries, how can it be so big?" The implication is that the reason why Jin became a big country is not the sacrifice of countless small countries. Did you achieve it? Shi Ruo blushed, and quickly changed the subject: "Then why are you here in military uniform?" "My predecessor Zheng Wugong and Zheng Zhuanggong both served as the emperor's ministers. After the Battle of Chengpu, Jin Wengong issued an order saying, 'Everyone should return to their old positions', and Zheng Wengong was required to wear military uniforms to assist the emperor, so as to grant and accept the state of Chu. Dedicate my captives to the Son of Heaven—I dare not forget the Son of Heaven's command if I do this today!" The scholar was weak and rational, and his words were poor. After returning, he reported the situation to Zhao Wu truthfully.Zhao Wu said: "His words are logical. If we violate these principles, I am afraid it will be unlucky." So he accepted Zheng Guo's victory. Confucius commented on this matter, saying: "Words are enough for ambition, and writing is enough for words. If you are not good at words, who knows what you are thinking? Therefore, people without literary talent can't achieve great things. Zheng Guo attacked Chen Guo, If it wasn't for Zichan's diction, it wouldn't be credit." To put it bluntly, if you do a good job, you must also sing well, and a hard-working style of work is not advisable. In the spring of 547 B.C., Zheng Jiangong rewarded Gongsun Shezhi for his meritorious service for invading Chen State, and gave Gongsun Shezhi a carriage, a set of "Three Life Clothes" and eight cities; A set of "clothes" and six cities. Zichan accepted the carriage and the "clothes of re-life", but refused to accept the city. He said to Zheng Jiangong: "From top to bottom, the amount of rewards is reduced by two. This is the rule. I am ranked fourth among the officials. Logically speaking, six cities cannot be accepted. Besides, Zizhan (Gongsun She's name Zizhan) has contributed the most to the battle in Chen, I dare not ask for rewards, please take back the city!" Zheng Jiangong insisted on rewarding him, so Zichan had no choice but to accept the three cities.