Chapter 20 Jin Jinggong's ZTE

When the state of Chu was expanding its power in the Central Plains, Jin Jinggong followed the advice of the doctor Bozong, gave up confronting the Chu people head-on, withdrew from the affairs of the Central Plains, and turned his attention to his own rear. In June 594 BC, the state of Jin launched an attack on the Chidi Lu clan.The Lu clan is a branch of Chidi, nomadic in today's Lucheng area of ​​Shanxi.For a long time, the state of Jin has adopted a policy of both carrots and sticks towards the Lu family, sometimes to appease and sometimes to strike.When Jin Chenggong was in power, he won over the Lu family by means of marriage, and married his daughter (that is, Jin Jinggong's sister) to the leader of the Lu tribe, Bao Bao, and the two parties established an in-law relationship.In the spring of 594 BC, Feng Shu, who was known as a strong man, took control of the Lu clan's power. He brutally killed Jin Jinggong's sister and shot the baby in the eye.The baby fled to the state of Jin and asked his brother-in-law Jin Jinggong for help.Jin Jinggong thought that this was the best opportunity to eliminate the Lu family and stabilize the rear of Jin, so he held a military meeting to solicit everyone's opinions.

At this meeting, the officials of the Jin State overwhelmingly opposed the attack on the Lu family. The reason was that "Feng Shu has three talents", that is, Feng Shu has three extraordinary abilities, so it is better to wait for him to die before making plans.There are no historical records of Feng Shu's three extraordinary abilities.Judging from the records in "Zuo Zhuan", Feng Shu should be a very prestigious person in the Chidi tribe, otherwise Zhao Dun would not have sent Hu Shegu to discuss important matters with Feng Shu. Hearing that everyone was against attacking the Lu family with one voice, Bo Zong, who had urged Jin Jinggong not to send troops to rescue Song, stood up again this time and gave a completely opposite suggestion: "We must attack! Fengshu has five sects The first crime is not offering sacrifices to ancestors, the second is drinking too much, the third is not following the advice of the sage Zhongzhang and robbing Li's land, the fourth is killing our princess, and the fifth is shooting and wounding one's own leader. For the five deadly crimes, no matter how powerful Feng Shu's methods are, how can it help? You know, a person who has talent but no virtue can only aggravate his crimes."

Bo Zong turned his back to everyone, spread his hands and said, "Now everyone wants to wait for Feng Shu's death, and the Lu family has no successors, and then take action against the Lu family. This is actually a missed opportunity! Because the person who replaces Feng Shu may There is no superior ability, but he may be a virtuous person. What reason do we have to attack a virtuous person? Gentlemen, you don't say "crusade the guilty", but say "wait for the incompetent" Man', isn't that ridiculous?" Bozong's words hit Duke Jing of Jin's heart. He overcame all opinions and sent Father Xun Lin to attack the Lu family.Sure enough, the Jin army defeated the Di army in the Quliang area. Feng Shu fled to the state of Wei in a hurry. The people of the state of Wei arrested him and sent him to the state of Jin.

In retrospect, since the Battle of Bi in 597 BC, Jin Jinggong's series of performances are remarkable. First of all, he followed the suggestion of the Scholars Association, pardoned Xun Lin's father's death penalty, and let him still serve as the Marshal of the Chinese Army, which shows that he is a sensible person.Xun Lin's father's ineffective command was naturally one reason for the failure of the Battle of Bi, but the more important reason was the discord among the people.The generals of the three armies of the Jin State are basically descendants of famous families. Relying on the shadow of their ancestors, they did not pay attention to the coach Xun Linfu at all.What's more, because his self-interest was not satisfied, he only wanted to hope that the Jin army would be defeated.It was not Xun Lin's father's responsibility to bring the team into this state, but the history of the Jin state since Zhao Dun took power, and it can be said that it is hard to return.Jin Jinggong was determined to reverse this situation.After the Qingqiu Alliance, the Di people invaded the Jin Kingdom. Jin Jinggong resolutely seized the opportunity and sentenced the rebellious Shangjun Deputy Commander Xiangu to the crime of exterminating the nine clans. Arrogant and arrogant, the ethos of the Jin country is one of the whole.

Secondly, in 595 BC, when the Chu army besieged the Song State, Jin Jinggong originally wanted to send troops to rescue the Song State, but after listening to Bo Zong's words, he gave up that plan.But this time against the Lu Clan, the officials overwhelmingly expressed their opposition, only Bo Zong insisted on fighting, and he followed Bo Zong's suggestion, and finally won a big victory.This shows that Jin Jinggong has a certain insight into the situation and is not stubborn. As long as someone gives advice, he can make a correct judgment. While the Battle of Quliang was going on, Jin's old enemy, Qin, took the opportunity to launch an offensive against Jin.At this time, the ruler of the state of Qin was Duke Huan of Qin, the grandson of Duke Kang of Qin. He personally led the army across the Yellow River and arrived at Fushi (place name) of the state of Jin.

Duke Jing of Jin got the news and set off from Jiangdu immediately. At the same time, he ordered Father Xun Lin, who had just finished the battle of Quliang, to gather his army to Jidi (the place name of Jin State), where he held a grand military parade and announced that Di Ren All of the land in Jin was merged into the territory of Jin.After completing these tasks in an orderly manner, Jin Jinggong personally led the army to the west and arrived at Luocheng (the place name of Jin State, not Luoyi), forming a confrontation with the Fu clan's Qin army. Under Duke Huan of Qin's subordinates, there was a fierce general named Du Hui, who was brave beyond all means.Every time he charged, Du Hui was bare-armed and charged at the front with an outrageously large machete. He killed people and cut horses when he encountered horses. escape.

There was a general in the Jin army named Wei Ke. His father, Wei Ji, was a famous warrior in Jin Wengong's time. However, Wei Ke didn't seem to have inherited his father's martial prowess. His martial arts were mediocre, and he was an unknown person in the Jin army. .During the Battle of the Fu Clan, Wei Ke's defense line was breached by Du Hui, and he himself was driven around by Du Hui, in a state of embarrassment. "This Du Hui is too scary!" Wei Ke was still terrified when he returned to the camp at night.As soon as he closed his eyes, Du Hui's ferocious face and the blood-stained sword appeared in front of him, scaring him into a cold sweat.Thinking of facing Du Hui tomorrow, Wei Ke couldn't sleep anymore. He tossed and turned on the camp bed, watching the stars outside the tent go on and off.

In a trance, I heard someone say three words in my ear.Wei Ke was stunned for a moment, rubbing his eyes, it was still dark in the military tent, only the armor hanging by the bed gave off a cold light, he subconsciously touched the long man beside him. Sword hilt. "Green—grass—slope—" the voice seemed to come from the remote underground. Wei Ke closed his eyes and chewed those three words.Strange to say, these three words were like a mantra, and after repeating them several times, Wei Ke fell into a deep sleep. Early the next morning, just after dawn, the Jin army's front line was in a commotion.Wei Ke hurriedly put on his clothes, only to see that vicious Du Hui rushing towards with a Qin army. The red "Du" banner seemed to be dyed with blood, which was extremely eye-catching.

Wei Ke stepped forward bravely, and within three rounds of fighting Du Hui, he felt exhausted.Du Hui's saber weighed forty to fifty catties, and every time Wei Ke received his saber, his arm went numb, and he could hardly hold the halberd.Nadu Hui also saw that he was a soft persimmon, and he chopped harder than the last knife. After seven or eight knife strikes, he forcibly chopped the long halberd in Wei Ke's hand into two pieces. Wei Ke couldn't hold on any longer, threw away the broken halberd, and ran away.Du Hui was chasing after him, and when he was about to catch up, he staggered suddenly and fell down on a piece of green grass.Wei Ke looked back, Du Hui was getting up from the ground, just about to take a step, but fell forward again.This time Wei Ke saw clearly that there was an old man holding a straw rope in his hand and "stumbling" in front of Du Hui.Strangely, Du Hui seemed to turn a blind eye to the old man. He got up three times and was tripped three times in a row.The last fall was especially hard, and Du Hui rolled on the ground in pain, throwing the big knife aside, holding his head and screaming.Wei Ke came back to his senses, pulled out his short knife, rushed to Du Hui, put the knife against Du Hui's throat and shouted: "Don't move, if you move again, I will kill you!"

In this way, the famous fierce general Du Hui became Wei Ke's prisoner.Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Jin army launched a full-line attack and defeated the Qin army in one fell swoop. Wei Ke handed Du Hui over to his subordinates, and then carefully looked at the place where Du Hui fell, which was a sloping grassy slope.And that mysterious old man has long since disappeared. The Battle of the Fu Clan ended with the victory of the Jin State. Wei Ke became the greatest hero in this battle and was rewarded by Duke Jing of Jin.On the night when Du Hui was captured alive, Wei Ke had a dream about that mysterious old man.The old man bowed deeply to him and said, "I am the father of the woman you married. You saved my daughter, so I come here to repay you."

Wei Ke remembered that his father, Wei Ji, had a concubine whom he loved and had never given birth to.Wei Ji was seriously ill, and told Wei Ke: "If I die, you will let her remarry." When he was dying, he changed his words and said: "I like this woman so much, you must let her be buried for me." After Wei Ji's death, Wei Ke asked the woman to remarry, and explained to others: "When a person is about to die, his sanity is lost. What he said doesn't count. I still listen to what my father said when he was sober." Unexpectedly, Wei Ke's kindness was rewarded so generously.Later generations often use "knotting grass to hold a ring" as a metaphor for being grateful and repaying virtue, and never forgetting it until death, and the "knotting grass" comes from this. After the Battle of the Fu Clan, Duke Jing of Jin rewarded the newly annexed land together with more than a thousand households of slaves from the Di people to Father Xun Lin, and also rewarded Guayan (place name) to the Scholars Association, saying: "The state of Jin can get the land of the Di people." The land is your credit. If you hadn't dissuaded me, I would have lost Xun Linfu, a great general." Two consecutive war victories greatly boosted the morale of Jin.Jin Jinggong couldn't help but sent Zhao Tong to Luoyi, the king's city, to present the Di captives to King Ding of Zhou. According to the etiquette and law of the Zhou Dynasty, it is in accordance with the rules for the princes to offer captives to the emperor for their meritorious service in conquering "non-ethnic" ethnic minorities.After the battle of Chengpu, Duke Wen of Jin also offered the captives of Chu to the emperor, but he deliberately treated Chu as a barbarian.Now Jin Jinggong sent people to offer captives to King Ding of Zhou, naturally he wanted to reproduce the glory of Jin Wengong in the past, and it was also a concrete manifestation of Jin's emphasis on hegemony. Jin Jinggong has good intentions.However, the performance of his envoy Zhao Tong in Luoyi can be described as "disrespectful". The royal minister Liu Kanggong secretly said to people: "In less than ten years, this person must be in great trouble, because God has already took away his soul." In 593 B.C., the state of Jin took advantage of the victory to pursue and sent Shihui to lead troops to wipe out Chidi's Jia and Liuyu tribes.After the war, Jin Jinggong once again sent people to Luoyi to present prisoners, and asked King Ding of Zhou to personally appoint Shihui as the Marshal of the Chinese Army of Jin State, and concurrently serve as the post of Dafu. As mentioned above, in the early years of the Zhou Dynasty, in order to strengthen the control of the vassal states, the royal family established a system in which the royal family appointed princes and officials.To put it simply, the vassal states set up three ministers, two of whom were appointed by the emperor Zhou and were called Shangqing; one minister was appointed by the princes themselves and was called Xiaqing.After King Ping of Zhou moved to the east, the royal family declined and lost control over the princes. This system was gradually forgotten, and even the emperor himself probably forgot about it.Therefore, when Jin Jinggong took the initiative to ask the emperor to appoint Shihui as his minister (Marshal of the Chinese Army is the head of the six ministers of Jin), the thoughts of the royal family may be the same: since you want to act, then act, don't Just forget about giving the royal family a little favor. However, for the Scholars Association, Jin Jinggong's approach made him very grateful.Marshal of the Chinese Army is a position under one person and above ten thousand people in Jin State. He combines military and political power in one person, which is equivalent to the current Chief of Staff and Premier of the State Council; Da Fu is an official in charge of etiquette and criminal law, which is equivalent to the current diplomatic Minister and Attorney General.Jin Jinggong not only appointed these important positions to the Scholars Association, but also issued orders in the name of Zhou Tianzi, which can be said to be extremely trustworthy and courteous.Even when Zhao Shuai, Hu Yan, Xian Zhen and others were valued by Jin Wengong, they never enjoyed such treatment! If we look back at history, the scholar society should indeed be entrusted with important tasks.The grandfather of the Shihui, Shi Rong, was an important minister in the era of Duke Xian of Jin. He was once appointed as Da Sikong, and was highly valued by Duke Xian of Jin; Because of Zhao Dun's treachery, the Scholars Association once fled to Qin State and became Qin Kanggong's right-hand man. Later, the people of Jin State used bitter tricks and sent Wei Shouyu to Qin State to contact the Scholars Association. The Scholars Association obeyed the call of the motherland and returned to Qin. In the state of Jin, he has always held an important position; in the Battle of Bi, Shihui served as the commander of the upper army. Even when the middle and lower armies collapsed, he still stabilized his defense line and ensured that the upper army was undefeated.Scholars will be low-key, prudent, rational, and responsible. Jin Jinggong entrusts him with important tasks, and intends to increase his social status, which shows that Jin Jinggong is very good at employing people. The ruling and opposition parties of the Jin State were also unanimously optimistic about the military and political situation being presided over by the Scholars Association.According to "Zuo Zhuan", once the appointment of the scholar association was announced, the thieves in the state of Jin immediately felt that it was a disaster, and they ran to the state of Qin to make a living.All of a sudden, the law and order in Jin State improved significantly. The doctor Yang Tongzhi sighed and said: "I heard that Dayu promoted a good man to be an official, and the bad man ran away quickly. This is what he said. The poem said, 'Trembling with trembling, as if facing an abyss, as if walking on thin ice', it is because the good man In the world, there are no people who are lucky in the country. The proverb says, 'the people are lucky, the country is unfortunate', because there are no good people in power!" Under the leadership of Jin Jinggong, although the Jin State did not directly compete with the Chu State, by attacking Chidi, resisting the Qin State, getting close to the royal family, and appointing virtuous officials, the Jin State's domineering spirit has gradually recovered.You know, since Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Jing of Jin has already set out on the so-called achievements of the overlord, namely "respect the king and fight against barbarians". Coincidentally, in the past few years, some things have happened in the royal family, which gave Jin Jinggong the opportunity to intervene in the internal affairs of the royal family to solve problems for the emperor of Zhou, thus getting a high score in the matter of "respecting the king". In 594 B.C., when the state of Jin was attacking the Lu family, Wang Sunsu, the royal minister, competed with the hereditary officials Zhao and Mao for political power. The conflict between the two sides intensified. It caused serious riots in Luoyi city. In the summer of 593 BC, a fire broke out in the palace of Luoyi. "Zuo Zhuan" specifically explained that this is a man-made fire, because "human fire is called fire, and if it is natural fire, it is called disaster."As for who was the arsonist, there is no record in historical materials.However, it is not difficult for future generations to speculate that the fire was set by Wang Sunsu or the party members of the Zhao family and the Mao family, with the intention of causing greater disturbances and taking advantage of the chaos. In the autumn of the same year, clansmen of the Zhao and Mao clans launched a counterattack.Wang Sunsu fled to Jin State and asked for political asylum. How could Jin Jinggong give up such a good opportunity?With his help, Wang Sunsu was sent back to Luoyi.Immediately afterwards, the Marshal of the Central Army of the State of Jin and the Taifu Shihui came to Luoyi to represent the conflicts between Jin Jinggong and the important officials of the royal family. King Zhou Ding, who had been exhausted by the internal struggles of the important ministers, expressed his great welcome to the Scholars Association. He personally hosted a banquet for the Scholars Association, and sent Yuan Xiang, a royal doctor, as the master of ceremonies. At this banquet, King Zhou Ding ordered people to "confuse the steam" for the scholars. According to the etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty, whenever a sacrifice or banquet is held, the animal is placed on top of the container, which is called "steam"; if it is a whole animal and is not cooked, it is called "full steam"; Animals are called "Fang Chen". "Quanzhen" and "Fangzhen" are both decorations, which can only be seen but not eaten.If the animal is dissected, and the bones and meat are steamed, it is called "mixed steam", which is both beautiful and delicious. Although the scholar society is the marshal of the Chinese army of the Jin State, it is half a bucket of water on the etiquette of the royal family. Seeing that the table was not full, he couldn't help but secretly asked Yuan Xianggong: "I heard that the etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty is still the same. It hasn’t faded, may I ask what kind of etiquette is used for today’s banquet?” The implication is that I came to Luoyi as a minister of a great country, why can’t I enjoy the highest standard of full steaming? After King Zhou Ding heard about this incident, he specially called the Shihui to explain it, and said: "Old Four (the Shihui ranks fourth among brothers)! Haven't you heard of it? The emperor sacrificed to heaven with Quanzheng; the emperor and the princes stand and salute, use the room; the emperor hosts a banquet to entertain relatives of the same clan, use the muddy. You are the minister sent by my uncle (referring to Jin Jinggong), and you are the envoy to reconcile the royal family. Therefore, I entertain you with the etiquette of the same clan, this is the etiquette of the royal family!" After hearing this, the scholars would feel very ashamed of their ignorance, dare not say anything, and bid farewell to the emperor respectfully.After returning to the state of Jin, he ordered people to collect the classics of the Zhou Dynasty everywhere, and organized and revised the laws and regulations of the state of Jin based on these classics.