Chapter 4 The tragedy of human relations between father and son

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the royal family was in decline, and the vassal states fought against each other to compete for the limited market of "the world".In the nearly one hundred years since King Ping of Zhou moved east to the rise of Duke Huan of Qi, although the countries in the Central Plains were different in size, their strengths were not very different. Using modern market theory, it was a period of perfect competition.After the rise of Duke Huan of Qi, relying on his strong national power, he used military and diplomatic means to coerce or induce other countries to obey his leadership under the slogan of "respect the king and fight against barbarians", and hegemony politics also emerged, and the history of the Spring and Autumn Period entered monopoly competition. During this period, a few oligarchs rose one after another, each leading the way for decades, resulting in the so-called "Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons", namely Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Xiang of Song, Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Mu of Qin, and King Zhuang of Chu.

Of course, later generations have always had many different opinions on the term "Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons". For example, Duke Huan of Qi was called the overlord, and he deserved it.However, King Cheng of Chu, who rose at the same time as Duke Huan of Qi, was not inferior to Duke Huan of Qi in terms of strength and achievements, and seemed to be slightly better in some aspects.When it comes to hegemony in the Spring and Autumn Period, King Chu Cheng should not be left out. For example, Duke Xiang of the Song Dynasty was ambitious and lacking in talent, lost his benevolence and righteousness, lost his teacher and humiliated the country.At best, he was a buffoon with a white ointment on his nose, but just because he had convened one or two unsuccessful alliances, he was also included in the Five Hegemons, which is suspected of being a sham.

For another example, Zheng Zhuanggong coerced the emperor to order the princes to unite the two countries of Qi and Lu. He was invincible across the river and Luo. One tyrant, and the first tyrant? Even Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin are the two most uncontroversial candidates, there are still many controversies in later generations. The focus is: who is better? From different perspectives, there are many interpretations of the focus issue. For example, when dealing with the expansion of Chu State, Duke Huan of Qi never had the courage to fight Chu State, and was on the defensive strategically; gradually.From this point of view, Duke Wen of Jin wins.

However, the reason why Duke Huan of Qi did not confront Chu directly had his own reasons.The Zhaoling Alliance may not be as brilliant as the Battle of Chengpu, but under its limited conditions, it may be the best result possible. It is not convincing to judge heroes based on the success or failure of the war.When it comes to helping those in need and carrying forward the spirit of international humanitarianism, Duke Huan of Qi seems to be better than Duke Wen of Jin.In such an argument, if the public says the public is right, and the woman says the woman is right, there may never be a conclusion.

My opinion is: Qi Huan and Jin Wen are all heroes, and it is difficult to distinguish them from each other in terms of personal achievements.But Qi Huan's hegemony is only a personal hegemony. Because he didn't pay attention to the cultivation of successors, after his death, Qi State fell into chaos, and the situation of the country went from bad to worse. .The hegemony of Jinwen is the hegemony of the Jin state. Although its hegemony disappeared as soon as it was achieved, under the joint efforts of a large number of capable people and lofty ideals, the hegemony of the Jin state not only did not decline, but became stronger day by day.

The battle of confusion took place before Jin Wengong's funeral was held.The Battle of Chaos is not only a military victory, but also a symbolic event of the ascendant hegemony of Jin. From the perspective of comprehensive and sustainable development, Duke Wen of Jin completely beat Duke Huan of Qi. The main reason for his victory is that he insisted on putting people first, paying attention to the use of talents and the cultivation of national quality. Jin Wengong's human resources strategy is actually very simple: boldly employ non-public scholar-bureaucrats and let them hold real power.After the death of Jin Wengong, it was Hu Yan, Zhao Shuai, Xian Zhen and other non-public nobles who continued to assist Jin Xianggong as the main pillars of the Jin state and maintained the stability and development of the Jin state.

Jin Wengong used people on merit, to the point of being eclectic. "Zuo Zhuan" records that Xuchen Jiuji, a minister of the Jin State, was ordered to go to another country and stayed overnight in the outskirts of Ji (a place name in Jin). He saw a farmer named Que Que working in the field, and his wife sent him Meals, the attitude is very respectful, husband and wife respect each other as guests.Jiu Ji thought it was very strange, so he asked others, and found out that this Que Que was the son of the criminal minister Que Rui. (In 636 BC, Lu Nephew and Qie Rui conspired to set fire to the palace and murder Jin Wengong, but were killed.) Yu Ji brought Que Que back to Jiangdu, and after reporting the situation of the mission to Jin Wengong, he introduced Que Que. : "I found a virtuous person, and hereby recommend it to you."

Duke Wen of Jin raised his eyebrows and asked, "How do you know he is a virtuous man?" Jiu Ji described what he saw in the fields in the suburbs of Hebei, and said: "Respect is a manifestation of virtue; husband and wife respect each other as guests, and they must have great virtue. They can help you govern the people. I implore you to give it a try!" Seeing that Jin Wengong was still hesitating, he said: "Going out is like meeting a distinguished guest, and doing things is as prudent as a sacrifice. Such a kind-hearted person is useful!" Duke Wen of Jin pondered for a while, then asked doubtfully: "His father committed a felony, can such a person be employed?"

"This man is the pillar of the country, and we should not consider the crimes of his ancestors. When Gun failed to control the waters, Shun punished him with death, but he appointed Gun's son Yu as his successor; Guan Zhong of the modern Qi State almost killed him. Duke Huan of Qi died, but Duke Huan of Qi appointed Guan Zhong as his chancellor regardless of the past, and Qi became strong because of this. Please use his talents boldly, without considering other factors." Duke Wen of Jin followed Jiu Ji's advice and appointed Qi Que as a subordinate officer. After the death of Duke Wen of Jin, the Di tribe in the north invaded the Central Plains again, first they invaded the Qi State in the east, and then pointed their finger at the overlord Jin State in the west.Jin Xianggong personally led the army to meet the attack, met the Di army near Jidi, and defeated the Di army.However, he was grateful for Jin Wengong's kindness of knowledge and encounter, bravely killed the enemy, and captured Bai Dizi, the leader of the Diren tribe, with his own hands.

The Battle of Ji was another major military victory won by the young Duke Xiang of Jin after the Battle of Self Confusion.It should be pointed out that it was not Que Que, the doctor who captured the enemy's chieftain, who made the first contribution to this battle, but Xian Zhen, Marshal of the Chinese Army. Xian Zhen was originally the deputy commander of the lower army in the reign of Duke Wen of Jin Dynasty.Before the battle of Chengpu, Quegu, the marshal of the Chinese army, died of illness. Duke Wen of Jin valued Xian Zhen's character and directly promoted him to be the marshal of the Chinese army.During the Battle of Ji, Xian Zhen, as a commander in chief, suddenly took off his armor, held the banner of the Chinese army, and drove into the Di people's camp alone without avoiding arrows.This suicidal frenzy caused great confusion among the Di people, and the Jin army, inspired by Xian Zhen's courage, seized the opportunity to launch a full-scale assault and defeated the Di army in one fell swoop.

Xian Zhen used his life to win a victory for Jin.After the war, the people of Di returned Xian Zhen's head to the people of the state of Jin. It is said that his face remained unchanged and lifelike.The suicide note he left to Duke Xiang of Jin was only a short sentence: "I have shown my ambition in front of the king. Although you don't blame me, how dare I not blame myself?" The so-called ambition of a common man, of course, refers to the fact that after the battle of Huozhi, Duke Jinxiang released Meng Mingshi, a prisoner of war from Qin, and three others. After the Battle of Ji, Duke Xiang of Jin rewarded meritorious deeds. First, he appointed Xian Zhen's son Xian Qieju as the marshal of the Chinese army; ), commended and said: "It is your credit to recommend Que Que." The third is to appoint Que Que as Qing, and to reward Que Que with the confiscated Qierui's fief Ji. In 627 B.C., the state of Jin had three foreign wars. The first was the Battle of Confucianism in the summer, and then the Battle of Ji in the autumn. In winter, the State of Jin fought again and joined forces with Chen and Zheng to attack the State of Xu. It was the state of Xu who still secretly colluded with the state of Chu and refused to obey the leadership of the state of Jin. Although defeated by Jin State in the Battle of Chengpu, Chu State's strength was not devastated.King Cheng of Chu reacted quickly and sent Yin Doubo to lead his troops northward to invade Chen Guo and Cai Guo. After forcing these two countries to surrender, Dou Bo approached Zheng Guo with his troops according to the original plan. Zheng Guo, the heart of the Central Plains, the country under the emperor's feet, has been the main target of King Cheng of Chu for many years.He once put Zheng Wengong firmly under his control, thus gaining the most favorable position in and out of the Central Plains.However, with the rise of Jin Wengong and the death of Zheng Wengong, coupled with the defeat in the Battle of Chengpu, Zheng Guo obviously left Chu and entered Jin and became a vassal of Jin. King Cheng of Chu learned a lesson from his former opponent Jin Wengong. This time, he had not only military preparations for the crusade against Zheng, but also political preparations—he ordered Doubo to bring a man with him. flaw. As mentioned earlier, Zheng Wengong had three wives who bore him five sons, all of whom "died early due to sin".In a rage, Zheng Wengong drove all the sons born to other concubines out of the country.Among them, Gong Zilan fled to Jin State, and returned to Zheng State with the help of Jin Wengong, inherited Zheng Wengong's throne, and became Zheng Mugong in history.There is another one, the young master Xia we are going to talk about now, who fled to the state of Chu. What King Cheng of Chu wanted to do was to repeat what Duke Wen of Jin had done back then: to help Prince Xia ascend to the throne of the State of Zheng and achieve the goal of controlling the State of Zheng. The army of the State of Chu drove straight in, and soon reached the gate of the die in the outer suburbs of Xinzheng, and the State of Zheng was in danger.At this moment, an unexpected thing happened. Young Master Xia's carriage had a traffic accident, and both people and the carriage overturned into "Zhou's Wang", which is the pond of Zhou's family.Prince Xia himself was captured by a servant named Kun Tun and sent to Duke Zheng Mugong, where he was beheaded. Seventy years ago, Duke Zheng Li conspired with Yongjiu to get rid of Jizhong, and when Jizhong learned about it in advance, he killed Yongjiu first, and threw his body as "the king of the Zhou family".From this point of view, the Zhou Family Pond should be in Xinzheng City, at least not in the outer suburbs of Xinzheng.However, the Chu army is still attacking the Juzun Gate, and the son Xia has a car accident in Xinzheng City, isn't it strange? The reasonable explanation is that Gongzi Xia sneaked into Xinzheng in advance, intending to gather party members, cooperate internally and externally, and let Chu people enter the city. Unexpectedly, a car accident happened, and the accompanying servant Kuntun dedicated him to Zheng Mugong. Soup. When Duke Wen of Jin supported Gong Zilan, when he attacked Zheng State, he ordered Gong Zilan to stand by on the eastern border of Jin State to prevent him from putting himself in danger. Obviously, he was more considerate than King Cheng of Chu.It seems that Chu Chengwang, who has been on the battlefield for decades, should really read the book "Details Determine Success or Failure". King Chu Cheng sent Dou Bo to attack Zheng Guo, and Jin Xianggong also sent Yang Chufu to invade Cai Guo to contain the Chu army.Sure enough, Dou Bo couldn't sit idly by, and with the death of his son Xia, it was meaningless to attack the State of Zheng, so the Chu army gave up attacking the State of Zheng, and instead rescued the State of Cai, facing the Jin army across the river at the Zhi River . Five years after the Battle of Chengpu, the two heroes of Jin and Chu met again on a narrow road. Dou Bo obviously learned the lesson of the Battle of Chengpu, and stationed his troops on the bank of the Lishui River, ready for battle.Both sides have built solid defensive positions, closely watching each other's movements, standing still, and the battle lines are in a stalemate.Under such circumstances, whoever crosses the river first and takes the initiative to attack will probably suffer a disadvantage.The main generals of both sides, Dou Bo and Yang Chufu, are well aware of this, and have adopted the same strategy of sitting still, waiting for the other side to make mistakes. Because of the lessons learned by Cheng Dechen, Dou Bo was cautious and remained indifferent to the provocations of the Jin army.After a long time, Chufu Yang became a little impatient, so he sent someone to send a letter to Dou Bo, which said: "I heard that writing does not violate rules, and martial arts does not avoid enemies. Now we have met across the river. Some days, you look at me all day long, and I look at you. It's really no fun, and it's against the way of a warrior. If you want to fight with me, I can retreat the army dozens of miles and let you cross the river to form an array , let's have a good fight. If you don't want to do that, it doesn't matter, then please back off and let our army cross the river to form an array. Otherwise, we are wasting time and money here, and it will do nothing to both sides Benefits." And put on a posture ready to break out the camp. Dou Bo thought to himself, it's really not an option to spend it like this, why not just cross the river and fight a battle as Chufu Yang said.Cheng Daxin, the son of Cheng Dechen, was serving as Dou Bo's general at this time. He stopped him and said: "The people of Jin are not trustworthy. Don't be fooled by the people of Jin. They will definitely attack our army while we are halfway across. They will regret it later." And. If you really want to fight, it is better for our army to retreat and let the Jin army cross the river, so that the initiative is always in our hands, which is beneficial and harmless." Dou Bo followed Cheng Daxin's suggestion and ordered the troops to retreat, so that Out of the land to cross the river for the Jin people. Cheng Daxin's consideration is correct.Chufu Yang is not Song Xianggong. If the Chu army took the initiative to cross the river, Chufu Yang would definitely attack halfway across the river.But Cheng Daxin did not expect that the Chu army retreated voluntarily, but the Jin army did not cross the river as promised, but declared to the outside world: "The Chu army has escaped!" Chufu Yang ruthlessly fooled the Chu people. However, the result he obtained was not just to fool the Chu people. After waiting for a few days, Dou Bo learned that the Jin army had already returned to the country, so he couldn't catch up, so he had no choice but to admit that he was unlucky, and withdrew the army and returned to the country. A few years ago, King Cheng of Chu wanted to make his son Shang Chen the eldest son, and asked Dou Bo for his opinion.Dou Bo said: "You are still in the prime of life, there is no need to consider the matter of establishing an eldest son now. You have many sons, and there are many favored ones. Now you are in a hurry to establish a merchant, and then you regret it and want to abolish it." If you lose him, there may be civil strife. Although the merchants are old, the tradition of our Chu State is to abandon the elders and establish the young, which is different from the countries in the Central Plains." The meaning was still unfinished, and he added, "Besides, the merchant People, with ugly faces and cruel actions, it is best not to think about him." What Dou Bo said was from the bottom of his heart.But he didn't understand that when King Chu Cheng asked him this way, he was not really asking for his opinion, but had already made up his mind and only hoped that Dou Bo's opinion would be in line with his own.At that time, King Cheng of Chu listened to Dou Bo's words, but he didn't take it seriously, so Li Shangchen became the eldest son.But because of this incident, Shang Chen hated Dou Bo to the bone.When Dou Bo returned to China after being fooled by Chufu Yang, he said bad things about Dou Bo in front of King Cheng of Chu: "Ling Yin retreated before firing an arrow, he must have been bribed by Jin State, and it was Chu State's What a disgrace, what a crime." If you want to add a crime, why do you have no excuses?King Cheng of Chu heard the slander of the merchants and sent someone to kill Dou Bo. 627 BC was the thirty-third year that Duke Xi of Lu came to the throne.In order to avenge the battle of Shengxing eleven years ago, the State of Lu sent troops to attack the State of Lu, and captured Zi (zi) Lou of the State of Lu.In the autumn, the son of the senior official of the state of Lu led an army to crusade against the state of Lu again and won the victory.In winter, Duke Xi of Lu went to the state of Qi to pay homage to Duke Zhao of Qi to show his neighborliness and friendship. At the same time, he expressed his condolences for the invasion of Qi.After returning to China, Duke Xi of Lu died of old age. It may be inaccurate to say that he died at the end of his life. The record in "Zuo Zhuan" is "death in a small bed".Later generations explained that the small bedroom is the wife's bedroom, and it is not as suitable to live in the small bedroom as it is to live in the road bedroom. The word "Xi" in Lu Xigong means to be careful and fearful.When he came to the throne, Duke Huan of Qi had already ruled hegemony; during his more than 30 years in power, the current situation changed, he experienced the decline of Qi State and the rise of Jin State, and witnessed the grand scene of Jin and Chu's struggle for hegemony.As a second world country, Lu State survived the struggle between the northern and southern powers. It was indeed trembling, cautious and cautious, and could not tolerate the slightest sloppy. After the death of Duke Xi, his son Xing came to the throne, which was Duke Wen of Lu in history.In the second year of Duke Lu Xi's death, King Cheng of Chu, who once dominated the situation and fought against Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin, also passed away. The death of King Cheng of Chu was related to his son Shang Chen. Not long after killing Dou Bo, King Cheng of Chu regretted that he hadn't followed Dou Bo's advice, and hastily made a merchant official his eldest son.He placed high hopes on Shang Chen's half-brother, Wang Zizhi, and began to consider abolishing Shang Chen and making Wang Zizhi the eldest son. The news accidentally reached the ears of Shang Chen.At the beginning, the information was not accurate, and the merchant was skeptical, so he asked his master Pan Chong: "How can we find out the old man's real intention?" Pan Chong held his sparse goatee and pondered for a while, then said, "You might as well inquire through Jiang Mi (mi)." Jiang Mi is a woman.Regarding Jiang Mi's identity, later generations have different inferences.One opinion is that Jiang Mi is the younger sister of King Cheng of Chu, who was married to Jiang, so she is called Jiang Mi; another opinion is that Jiang Mi is the concubine of King Chu Cheng.I am inclined to the former opinion, because Mi is the surname of the king of Chu. According to the tradition of "no marriage with the same surname", King Cheng of Chu is unlikely to marry a woman surnamed Mi as a concubine. Shang Chen invited his aunt Jiang Mi to come to his palace for dinner, and Jiang Mi readily attended the appointment.During the banquet, the merchant deliberately neglected Jiang Mi, and only cared about whispering to his servants, ignoring Jiang Mi.Jiang Mi talked to Shang Chen several times, but Shang Chen pretended not to hear.Jiang Mi jumped up against the crime and said angrily: "You bitch, no wonder the king wanted to kill you and set up a job!" Shang Chen pretended to be terrified to accompany Jiang Mi.After the banquet, the merchant came to Pan Chong and said, "Master is a good planner. The old man really intends to destroy me." Pan Chong asked blankly: "In that case, can you bow down to serve the prince?" "cannot!" "Then can you flee abroad to avoid disaster?" "cannot!" Pan Chong was silent for a while: "Then, do you have the guts to do something big?" Shang Chen stared at the master's eyes.According to the "Historical Records", merchant officials "have bee eyes and jackal voices", and their faces and pronunciation are very strange.The merchant stared at Pan Chong like this, and Pan Chong inevitably shivered in his heart.But he remained calm, looking at Shang Chen with a bottomless look. "Yes!" Shang Chen replied briefly and firmly. One evening in the winter of 626 BC, the merchants suddenly staged a coup and sent their own soldiers to surround the palace of King Cheng of Chu.The guards of the palace were quickly defeated, and the merchant came to the residence of King Cheng of Chu, surrounded by a group of dead men, holding a bloody long sword. For King Chu Cheng, bloody scenes in the palace are no strangers.When he was young, he also assassinated his own elder brother Du Ao and ascended to the throne of King Chu; later he instructed Shen Gongduban to assassinate his uncle Zi Yuan who was entrenched in Mrs. Wen's palace, so as to gain The true ruling power of Chu State.Now, in the waning years of his life, his son had learned his technique and applied it to him.All of this seems to have some kind of retribution in the dark. He smiled self-deprecatingly, and said to Shang Chen, "You are here." "Yes." Shang Chen replied in a muffled voice. "Want to kill me?" "yes." "The position of King Chu will be yours sooner or later, why are you in such a hurry?" "If I'm not in a hurry, I'm afraid this position won't be mine." Shang Chen squinted at King Chu Cheng, squinted his eyes and said, "The things I get are mine, aren't they?" King Chu Cheng sighed: "You have indeed grown up and understood a lot of truths." "That's because of your teaching." Shang Chen said humbly. "Time flies so fast." King Chu Cheng said with great emotion, "You know, when I look at you now, I see you as if you were just born, such a small child, wrinkled all over, like a bird The little mouse that can't open its eyes..." "Father!" Shang Chen interrupted him, "Now is not the time to recall the past." "Yes, yes, now is the time for father and son to meet each other." King Chu Cheng smiled wryly, and said with determination, "Come on, son!" Shang Chen looked around and motioned for them to come forward. "Wait!" "Father, what else do you want to say?" "This... I just asked someone to stew a bear's paw, and it will be cooked soon. If I can finish eating that bear's paw, I will die without regret." Shang Chen looked at him with an almost innocent smile on his face, and then burst out laughing.King Chu Cheng was stunned at first, and then laughed along with him, until he burst into tears. "Bear's paws are hard to cook, so don't count on it. Even if you wait a month, no one will come to rescue you." These were the last words Shang Chen left for King Chu Cheng.After saying this, he threw a long rope to King Chu Cheng, turned around and walked out of the gate. Outside the door, it was snowing heavily. In the south, such heavy snow is rare in ten years. According to "Zuo Zhuan", King Cheng of Chu died by hanging himself, but he did not rest in peace.At first people considered giving him a posthumous title of "Ling", that is, King Ling of Chu, but he was still glaring.Later, when people decided to give him the posthumous title of "Cheng", he closed his eyes and expressed his satisfaction. Shang Chen inherited the throne, that is, King Chu Mu in history.In order to thank Pan Chong, he gave Pan Chong the house he used to live in, appointed him as a master, and took charge of the palace guard. In his life, King Chu Cheng reigned for more than forty years, and there was no major fault.Under his leadership, the state of Chu is booming. Although Qi Huan and Jin Wen are strong, they cannot be subdued. The achievements of King Cheng of Chu are enough to be included in the list of overlords in the world.Treating Chong'er in exile, he did not kill him because of his rudeness, which showed generosity; before the Battle of Chengpu, he ordered Cheng Dechen to give up attacking the Song State and calm down the matter, which reflected the correct strategic vision and was quite a wise king. demeanor.However, it is too hasty in the selection of heirs, the abolition and establishment are uncertain, and there will be chaos throughout his life.Although the change of the palace seems to be a matter of days, isn't it a man-made disaster?