Chapter 27 The king of Chu is so thin

In 537 BC, the friendly relationship between Jin and Chu was further strengthened on the surface.In the spring of this year, King Ling of Chu sent Yin Ruoba and Mo Ao Qusheng as principal and deputy envoys to the state of Jin to marry the daughter of Duke Ping of Jin. When Xie Ba and Qu Sheng passed through the state of Zheng, they were warmly received by the king and ministers of the state of Zheng.Zheng Jiangong personally went out to host a grand banquet in Fandi (place name of Zheng State) to entertain Xi Ba, and to entertain Qu Sheng in Tushi (place name of Zheng State).Originally, according to the regulations of Zhou Li, it was enough for envoys from other countries to send a doctor to receive them.Now the monarch personally consoles and treats the envoys and deputy envoys separately, which is also Zheng Guo's special respect for Chu State.

Ling Yin is the most important minister of Chu State, and Mo Ao is also a figure of Qing level.In order not to be rude to the state of Chu, Duke Ping of Jin sent a mission to escort the princess to the state of Chu. The sending mission passed through the state of Zheng and was comforted by Han Hu and Uncle Zi.The reception specification also exceeded the standard, but it was obviously not grand to receive the Chu people.Fortunately, Jin people don't care about these things, and Han Qi happily accepted Han Hu's banquet.During the dinner, Uncle Zi worriedly said to Uncle Xiang: "The king of Chu is arrogant and indulgent, and he does things too much. You must be careful."

"He is arrogant and indulgent, which is his own disaster. How can he hurt others?" Uncle Xiang smiled and said, "We are here to see off relatives, not to declare war. It’s fine to be humble. Whatever he asks, we obey without loss of proportion, respect without loss of status. When encountering problems, we use the teachings of ancient sages to remind ourselves, follow the traditional laws and put the overall situation of the two countries as the most important thing. Although the King of Chu is arrogant, what can he do to us?" "Having said that, please be vigilant. The king of Chu is a human being and cannot be judged by common sense." Uncle Zi said.

"Thank you for reminding me." Uncle gave a deep bow to Uncle Chaozi. Uncle Zi's worries are by no means superfluous.On the second day after the sending mission arrived in Yingdu, King Ling of Chu called the ministers together for a meeting to discuss how to treat the Jin envoys. "The State of Jin is the old enemy of the State of Chu. As long as we can attack the State of Jin, we can do whatever it takes. Now they have sent people, one is Shangqing and the other is Shangdafu. Everyone, think about it, if we let Han Qi take care Men, let Uncle Xiang be an eunuch, how can the people of Jin have any face? Let’s talk about it, can this be done?” Chu Ling Wang was the first to speak.

But the brick was obviously too big, knocking all the officials unconscious.Everyone lowered their heads, and no one dared to answer.Maybe everyone is thinking in their hearts, what kind of thing is this?If they were caught on the battlefield, it would at least make sense to deal with them this way; now that they are here to see off their relatives, what kind of heroes are you to insult them?This trick is too bad, it is really too bad. King Ling of Chu stared, looking at this and that, and was about to lose his temper, when he suddenly heard a loud voice: "I see!" Following the sound, it turned out that it was the prime minister Xie Qiqiang.

King Ling of Chu was overjoyed and said, "Then please tell me!" "I think it will work!" Xie Qiqiang cleared his throat, "Isn't it just to humiliate the state of Jin? What's wrong with that? It's just that to humiliate an ordinary person also prevent him from retaliation, and to humiliate a country must be done well first." Prepare." "Continue." Chu Lingwang faintly felt something was wrong. "The ancient kings of our Chu State have always paid attention to the promotion of etiquette and did not take pleasure in humiliating others. When receiving foreign guests, although they set up a table (the ancients sat on the ground, a table next to them can be let go) and do not rely on it, the nobles take advantage of it. Filling up with wine but not drinking too much, preparing gifts for banquets, adding special dishes when eating, sending people to the suburbs to comfort VIPs entering the country, and presenting financial gifts when leaving. These are the highest forms of etiquette. If you think it is cumbersome, don’t want to implement it These etiquettes, even if you want to do the opposite, you have to be prepared for battle. Back then, Jin State won the battle of Chengpu, and since then it has never taken Chu State seriously, so it suffered a defeat in Bidi; Chu State won the Battle of Bi, but did not guard against Jin State, so it was defeated by Jin State in Yanling. After the Battle of Yanling, Jin State has learned from experience and is always on guard against Chu State. Peace and friendship are on the lips, so we couldn't find a chance to avenge Yanling, so we had to seek relatives and marry to enhance the friendship between the two countries. Now that the two countries have become relatives by marriage, and want to humiliate them, the people of Jin retaliated, and again The war is raging and the lives are dying, who will take this responsibility? If someone is willing to take it, then humiliate them. If not, please think again, don't lose the big because of the small."

"You mean, are we in Chu still afraid of the threat of war from Jin?" King Ling of Chu's face became ugly, and his brows frowned.Everyone sweated for Xie Qiqiang. "Of course not. But the Marquis of Jin treats the king well, in the eyes of his subordinates. If you want to marry the princes, he will bring the princes with you. If you ask for marriage, he will marry his daughter and send Shangqing and Shangqing. The doctor sent off the relatives. Under such circumstances, you still want to humiliate Jin, and you must seriously consider the consequences." "What consequences?" King Ling of Chu raised his eyebrows, a fierce light shot out from his eyes, and he stared at Xie Qiqiang viciously.

"Leave Han Qi here, they still have Zhao Wu, Xun Wu, Wei Shu, Shi Yang, Xun Ying and other five ministers; if Shu Xiang doesn't go back, there are Qi Wu, Ji Tan, Nv Qi, Liang Bing, Zhang Gu, and so on. Miao Benhuang and the other eight senior officials. These people are all virtuous and well-known people in the world, and the princes wish to have more such people under their command. Do you think that the state of Jin will be completely helpless if it loses Han Qi and Shu Xiang?" "That's not going to happen." King Chu Ling said sadly. "In addition, the Han family is deeply rooted in the state of Jin. Han Xiang served as a senior official of the public family, and Han Xu was appointed as an envoy to handle diplomacy at a young age. Jixiang, Xingdai, Shuqin, Shujiao, Ziyu and other branches all have a large number of people. , a big family with strong financial resources. Shu Xiang’s family is a famous family in Jin State, and they are not idle people. If you imprison these two people, the five ministers and eight officials of Jin State will stand up against the enemy. Only Han Qi and Shu Xiang At that time, Bo Hua (Shu Xiang's elder brother) advised them, Xun Wu and Wei Shu led them, and mobilized The princes of the world come to attack Chu, do you think you can resist it?"

"This..." King Ling of Chu obviously didn't think of this level. "Speaking of which, Your Majesty is the master of the state of Chu. He can do whatever he wants, and he has the right to turn a friendly incident into a disaster without considering any consequences, so as to attract the enemy's attack and send us ministers down to die. If so If it can satisfy you, what’s wrong with it? So, I think it’s okay, so let’s do it!” "Don't talk about it, doctor." King Ling of Chu blushed, "It's because Bugu thought wrong about this matter, you can't do it like this, thank you doctor for reminding me."

As mentioned earlier, "Bu Gu" is a modest title for the monarch, which is more humble than "widow", and it is usually said when a mistake is made.Judging from this incident, although King Ling of Chu is arrogant, it is not unreasonable, and it is still acceptable to reason with him. Because of Xie Qiqiang's arguments, Han Qi and Shu Xiang's trip to Chu State was safe and sound, and they received corresponding courtesy.It is said that King Ling of Chu was still not reconciled, and tried to tease him with some things that Shu Xiang didn't know, but ended up getting frustrated——Shu Xiang was a well-known scholar in the state of Jin, and King Ling of Chu found the wrong partner.

In October of the same year, King Ling of Chu gathered Cai, Chen, Xu, Dun, Shen, Xu, Yue and other countries and the Dongyi tribe in Huainan to invade Wu.Xie Qiqiang's troops were looking for the main force of the Wu army for a decisive battle, and they were ambushed in Que'an (place name), and they were defeated and returned. After the battle, King Wu Yimei immediately sent his younger brother Jiyou to the camp of King Ling of Chu to reward the Chu army.Since the alliance between Jin and Chu, Wu State's attitude towards Chu State has quietly changed. It has changed from blindly being an enemy in the past to a combination of war talks-not admitting defeat on the battlefield, and not being rude in diplomacy. Typical To promote peace. King Ling of Chu would definitely not accept this kind of "slapping a candy".As soon as he entered the tent of King Ling of Chu, he was arrested by warriors and tied up tightly. He seemed to have known about this kind of treatment for a long time, and he neither resisted nor protested, and honestly let him go.This calm performance made King Ling of Chu feel very uncomfortable. It stands to reason that the Wu people should be so scared that they peed their pants!He purposely elongated his voice, and asked in a neutral tone, "Do you know what kind of fate is waiting for you next?" Kuiyou shook his head. King Ling of Chu made a beheading gesture: "The widow intends to use your blood to sacrifice the drum, how about it?" "Leave the King alone." Keyou still had the attitude of a dead pig not afraid of boiling water. "Then," King Ling of Chu decided to torture him in another way, "Did you ever tell your fortune before you came here?" "Oh, forget it." "Was it auspicious?" "Auspicious. Who will come if it is unlucky?" Jiyou said carelessly, "When the widow heard that the king's army was coming, he used the tortoise shells in the temple for divination, and prayed: 'The widow sent someone to reward the Chu army. How angry the king is, please God let me know good or bad in advance.' It turned out to be auspicious." "Really? Then I will chop off your head now, do you still think it is auspicious?" Kaiyou smiled: "Of course it is auspicious. If you welcome me happily and treat me with good wine and meat, we will relax our vigilance, forget about the danger, and we will not be far from extinction. Now you will move as soon as you see me." The Fury of Thunder, wanting to cut off my head to sacrifice to the drum, is to remind us to strengthen our vigilance. Although Wu State is weak, as long as it is ready to fight, Chu State may not be able to take advantage of it. You killed me, and Wu State will be able to Survival, of course, is auspicious! The widow’s divination in the temple is for the country, but for me alone?” King Ling of Chu thought for a while, and ordered that he should be locked up first and brought back to the state of Chu.This time he invaded the state of Wu and returned without success.In order to prevent the Wu people from taking the opportunity to counterattack, King Ling of Chu also sent Shen Yinshe and Xie Qiqiang to set up defenses in the nest and Yulou respectively. Since ancient times, it has been a recognized international law that the two countries should not engage in military conflict.However, this rule does not work for King Ling of Chu. As long as he is happy, envoys from enemy or allied countries (sometimes even monarchs) may become his prisoners.Insulting envoys from other countries seems to have become one of his great pleasures. There is a story familiar to Chinese people. Duke Jing of Qi sent Yan Ying as an envoy to the state of Chu.Known for his resourcefulness, Yan Ying is short and dark.Of course, King Ling of Chu would not give up this good opportunity to insult people, so he asked someone to open a small door beside the city gate, and let Yan Ying enter through that small door. "Hey, did I come to the country of dogs?" Yan Ying asked the official in charge of the reception of the Chu country. "how do I say this?" "Only people who are envoys to the dog country enter through the dog hole. Chu is not a dog country, why open a dog hole?" The Chu people were so ashamed that they had no choice but to open the gate to welcome Yan Ying. When King Ling of Chu saw Yan Ying, the first thing he said was: "I'm afraid there is no one in the Qi Kingdom, so how can I send you as an envoy?" "Look at what you said! There are more than 7,000 households in Linzi, the capital of the Qi State. Everyone spreads their sleeves to cover the sky and the sun, and sweats like rain. No one else?" "In this case, why did you send someone like you to be an envoy?" King Ling of Chu said, looking Yan Ying up and down deliberately, reminding him to pay attention to his height. Yan Ying smiled: "The State of Qi has its own rules for sending envoys. Those who are talented and virtuous will be sent as envoys to a big and powerful country; A country that has entered the stream. As for me, I am short, ugly, and have no skills, so I was sent to Chu State." King Ling of Chu coughed several times and quickly changed the topic.Later, King Ling of Chu hosted a banquet in honor of Yan Ying.While drinking happily, two petty officials walked past the hall with a prisoner tied. "Who is this?" King Chu Ling asked loudly on purpose. "It's from the state of Qi, and it's a crime of theft." The official replied loudly. "Oh..." King Ling of Chu gave Yan Ying a meaningful look, "Look, doctor, are people from the Qi Kingdom born good at stealing things?" "My lord, you are wrong!" Yan Ying said, "You must also know that orange trees grow in the south of the Huaihe River, and they bear oranges, which taste very sweet; once they are transplanted to the north of the Huaihe River, the fruits produced are very bitter. People call it Zhizhi. The reason for this is that the water and soil conditions are different. The person in front of me was born in Qi State and never steals, but he committed the crime of stealing in Chu State. Could it be that the soil of Chu State is rich in thieves?" King Ling of Chu smiled awkwardly: "The widow is joking, doctor, don't take it seriously." This is why later generations used "South Orange and North Trifoliate" as an idiom.It is also worth mentioning that the story of Yanzi envoy Chu to Chu can be found in "Yanzi Chunqiu", which says "King of Chu" and does not specifically indicate "King Ling of Chu".However, if it is true, judging from the time and character of the characters, this king of Chu must be King Ling of Chu.Think about it, he even wanted to insult the marshal of the Chinese army sent by the state of Jin to see off his relatives, let alone the doctor from the state of Qi. The insults to the envoys became more and more outrageous.In 536 BC, Yi Chu, the eldest son of Xu State, was ordered to go to Chu State as an envoy, but for some reason he was arrested again by order of King Ling of Chu.Yichu didn't want to die in the state of Chu without knowing why, and fled back to the state of Xu secretly, taking advantage of the lax supervision of the people of the state of Chu. King Ling of Chu was furious and sent his doctor Xie Xie to attack Xu.Wu Guo sent troops to rescue Xu Guo.King Ling of Chu sent Yin Yuba to crusade against Wu, but he was defeated in Fangzhong (place name, today's Mengcheng, Anhui Province).Xie Ba put the responsibility for the defeat on Xie Xie, arrested him and killed him. If it is said that insulting envoys is a major vice of King Ling of Chu, his other hobby makes people laugh and cry. In the spring of 535 BC, despite losing two consecutive wars against Wu, Yingdu, the capital of the Chu State, was immersed in an atmosphere of excitement—the Zhanghua Palace, which took several years to build with King Ling of Chu employing more than 100,000 craftsmen, was finally completed. It's done.This magnificent royal garden covers an area of ​​40 li, built more than 3,000 pavilions and pavilions, and planted thousands of exotic flowers and plants.The most striking thing is that Zhanghua Terrace, a 30-ren-high landscape platform built in the center of the garden, was the tallest building in China at that time.It is said that people need to rest three times in the middle from the base to the top of the platform, so Zhanghuatai is also called "three breaks". In Chinese history, Zhanghua Palace is well-known by another nickname, which is "Slim Waist Palace".It turned out that King Ling of Chu has a special hobby, he likes beauties with thin waists.In order to please him, the beauties in the palace tried their best to lose weight, and some even starved to death or died young due to malnutrition.In the Tang Dynasty, Du Mu wrote in a poem: "The rivers and lakes carry wine, and Chu's waist is slender and light in the palm." It can be seen that even in the Tang Dynasty, when fat was considered beautiful, beauties in Chu still regarded thinness as beautiful, and King Ling of Chu contributed a lot to the initiative. King Ling of Chu was also the first monarch in history to measure officials by their stature.In his court, the favored officials must be slender and handsome men, while those with thick waists are discarded and even punished.All of a sudden, Chu State set off a climax of weight loss campaign.Those scholar-bureaucrats who used to be beautiful in martial arts are now suffering from anorexia, rejecting the temptation of all delicacies, and they are all dizzy and weak from hunger.The person sitting on the mat must stand up against the wall, and the person sitting on the carriage must rely on Che Shi to stand up.To make a digression, if all kinds of weight loss institutions in modern times want to enshrine the ancestors, it is right to hang the image of King Ling of Chu. After the completion of Zhanghua Palace, King Ling of Chu aggressively accepted escaped slaves and maidservants to enrich the palace.This behavior was deeply despised at the time.You must know that in that era, slaves were the private property of their masters, and accepting them was like putting other people's money in their own pockets, which violated the economic ethics of feudalism.But when King Ling of Chu did this, everyone dared not say a word. Who would offend the king for a few servants? But there are also people who don't believe in evil.There was a Taro Yin (official name) named Wuyu. When the gatekeeper heard that Zhanghua Palace was recruiting, he thought it was a good opportunity to improve his value, so he went there to get a job.Wuyu was furious, and took his servants to Zhanghua Palace to ask for someone, but was caught by the guards in the palace and sent to King Ling of Chu. King Ling of Chu was happy that day. He was drinking with some beauties who were too skinny. He didn't deal with Wuyu immediately and said, "I'll give you a chance to talk about my reasons. If you say well, you will be let go. If you don't speak well, you will be released." ...Hmph, let's settle the old account and the new account together!" It turned out that Wuyu had already offended King Ling of Chu when he was still Wang Ziwei.At that time, Wang Ziwei served as Ling Yin, but he used the banner of the king of Chu to go hunting. Wu Yu, who served as a judge in the army, ordered someone to cut off the streamer of the banner, saying: "One country and two masters, who can bear it?" King Ling of Chu has always kept this matter in mind, and has long wanted to find a chance to take revenge. Readers must have guessed that King Ling of Chu is not an unreasonable person, and as long as he is reasonable, he will basically obey him, a typical hard-hearted and soft-hearted man.Wuyu said: "The emperor governs the world, and the princes govern the territory. This is the rule since ancient times. Therefore, the poem says, 'Under the world, is there any king's land; on the shore of the land, is there any king's minister." Within the territory of Chu , where is not the king's land; who is not the king's servant who eats the things produced on the ground?" "That's right!" King Ling of Chu said, "Since this is the case, how dare you go to the palace to arrest people?" "Your Majesty, listen to me. Although they are all servants of the King, there are still ranks. The king rules the princes, the princes rule the officials, the officials rule the scholars, and the officials rule the civilians and slaves. This is the social order. My servants run away. I went to the palace, and if I don't go to the palace to arrest, where should I go? Zhou Wenwang issued a decree saying, "If there are fugitive slaves, they must be searched throughout the country", so they won the world. The ancestor of Chu State King Wen also said, "Those who hide stolen goods for thieves are guilty of the same crime as thieves", thus expanding the territory of Chu State. In the past, King Wu of Zhou denounced the crimes of King Zhou of Shang and said, "Zhou is the harborer of fugitives from all over the world." Follow King Wu of Zhou desperately to attack King Zhou of Shang. Your Majesty, you want to order the world, but follow the example of King Zhou of Shang. Is it not appropriate to do so?" King Ling of Chu pondered for a moment, and said, "Take your slave away. There is one of the biggest thieves here who is being favored by the heavens, and he has not been caught yet!" Wuyu was stunned for a moment, and quickly kowtowed to thank him.Doesn't the so-called biggest thief refer to King Ling of Chu who killed his nephew and stole the country of Chu?This moody king is really frank and elusive. "Zuo Zhuan" records that in order to celebrate the completion of Zhanghua Palace, King Ling of Chu invited the princes of the world to participate in the celebration, but very few of them went.Firstly, the transportation is underdeveloped, the distance is long, and it is extremely inconvenient to come and go; secondly, King Ling of Chu has a bad reputation, who knows what kind of "courteous treatment" he will receive if he runs there?Seeing that the celebration might be cold, Xie Qiqiang decided to relieve King Ling of Chu's worries, and went to Lu State to invite Lu Zhaogong in person, finally stabilizing the scene.