Chapter 21 The Seizure of Power by the Dukes: San Huan Specialized in Lu

In the spring of 592 BC, Qi State on the coast of the East China Sea ushered in a grand diplomatic event.Marshal Que Ke of the Jin State Army, Ji Sun Xingfu, a powerful minister of the State of Lu, and Sun Liangfu, a doctor of the State of Wei, came to Linzi to pay a pilgrimage to Duke Qing of Qi. Que Ke was a descendant of a well-known family in the Jin State, but his father, Que Que, once served as the Marshal of the Central Army of the Jin State and held the military and political power of the Jin State.Chak himself was also battle-hardened.During the Battle of Bi, Shihui served as the marshal of the upper army, and Choke served as the deputy commander of the upper army.Later, the Shihui was promoted to the Marshal of the Chinese Army, and Choke took over the position of the Marshal of the Shangjun as a matter of course-this position in Jin State is second only to the Marshal of the Chinese Army and the Deputy Marshal of the Chinese Army. Number three.

In the past few years, Jin Jinggong has re-established the image of a great country in the world through a series of diplomatic and war methods, and restored the former domineering power of Jin.He felt that it was time to call the princes to form an alliance and compete with Chu in the Central Plains, so he planned to hold a conference of princes in Duandao (the place name of Jin) in the summer of 592 BC.Out of a prudent consideration, and at the same time to show the importance attached to the Qi State, he sent Queke to the Wei State and the Lu State first, and persuaded the two countries to send envoys to the Qi State to invite Qi Qinggong to join the alliance .

However, Qi Qinggong's absurdity made Queke's mission very unpleasant, which led to serious diplomatic disputes. According to historical records, Choke had a little physical problem—a hunchback.When Qi Qinggong's mother, Mrs. Xiao, heard this gossip, she became curious and asked Qi Qinggong to see the envoy of Jin with her own eyes. Doesn't Qi have a hunchback?Mrs. Xiao's curiosity itself is a bit surprising.The absurd thing is that Qi Qinggong was also very interested in his mother's request, and specially arranged a program to make the old lady happy. Coincidentally, several envoys who visited Qi at that time had some physical defects: Choke was a hunchback, Ji Sun Xingfu was a lame man, and Sun Liangfu was a one-eyed man.When these few people get together, it has a very comedic effect.In order to highlight this effect, Qi Qinggong also found three people with the same physical defects to serve as ceremony officials.As a result, when receiving the envoys, Choke was led by a hunchback, Ji Sun Xingfu was led by a lame man, Sun Liangfu was led by a one-eyed dragon, and Mrs. Xiao hid behind the curtain, leaning back and forth with joy, laughing with tears. Out.

A scholar can be killed, but not humiliated, let alone an envoy of a big country?In order to make his mother smile, Qi Qinggong dared to make fun of the envoys of the three countries. This kind of filial piety is really hard to compliment. Choke and others suppressed their anger and did not explode on the spot.When he came out of Qi Qinggong's palace, Chuoke swore: "If I don't avenge this revenge, I won't cross the Yellow River!" So he left without saying goodbye, and left his deputy Luan Jinglu in Qi State before leaving, saying: "Be sure to complete the mission and invite me Marquis Qi will join the alliance this summer, otherwise you don't have to return to your country!"

There are two interpretations of Quoke's words: first, he himself no longer wants to deal with such rude people as Qi Qinggong, but the mission of the monarch cannot be abolished, so Luan Jinglu must complete it; Qinggong was invited to the meeting so that he could have the opportunity to avenge himself.According to the former understanding, Queke is a person who distinguishes between public and private; according to the latter understanding, Queke is a bit indiscriminate between public and private, with the intention of avenging public and private revenge. No matter what the purpose is, after returning to the country, Keke truthfully reported to Jin Jinggong what happened in Qi State.The humiliation of the envoys is equivalent to the humiliation of the country. It is conceivable that Jin Jinggong was very annoyed, and the ministers of Jin State were also very angry.Queke asked Jin Jinggong to immediately send troops to attack Qi State and punish Qi Hou for his crime of disrespect.

From the perspective of national dignity, Chaoke's request was not too much, but it was not in the interests of Jin at that time.Over the years, the State of Chu has brought Song, Zheng, Chen, Cai, Xu and other countries into its sphere of influence. The State of Qin and the State of Chu echo each other from afar. , unstoppable.If Jin State wants to compete with Chu State, Qi State is a key card.If even the state of Qi is wooed by the state of Chu, the state of Lu must openly throw itself into the arms of the state of Chu, and the state of Wei is also very likely to play against the wind.In that case, the state of Jin would be completely surrounded by hostile forces, and it would be difficult to guarantee even its own safety, let alone dominating.

Out of the above considerations, Jin Jing'an appeased Choke and tactfully rejected his request.Queke didn't bother, and immediately said, please allow me to lead my clan soldiers east across the Yellow River to settle accounts with Marquis Qi.This request was of course rejected. After careful analysis, the reason why Chaoke raised these two requests is probably just to show his attitude.Because in the eyes of the Chinese, if a person has no thought of revenge after being insulted, it is not "bloody", so he must shout twice to express his attitude.Think about it, even if the hundreds of clan soldiers under Yikeke went to Qi State, they were just going to die. What kind of revenge are they talking about, is Qioke so stupid?

From this point of view, Queke is a sensible person with a sense of the overall situation, but because he was insulted for no reason, he was very upset and a little impulsive.At that time, Shihui watched Queke's performance, sympathized and worried. After returning home, he said to his son Shixie: "My son! I heard that the two emotions of joy and anger are rarely in line with etiquette. There are many etiquettes. The poem says, "A gentleman is like anger, and the chaos is frustrating; a gentleman is like happiness, and the chaos is already." , that would be very dangerous, and it would definitely contribute to the chaos. If the current anger of Choke has not been vented on Qi, I am afraid that it will cause trouble in Jin. I plan to retire and return to my hometown, and let Choke take over my position If you fulfill his wish, you may be able to avoid disasters. You must remember to follow a few doctors, behave respectfully to him, and don't offend him!"

From these words, it is not difficult to see that the scholar thinks highly of Chake, but he also knows that as a dignified man, if he has bad emotions smoldering in his heart and cannot vent them, there is no guarantee that he will do something. If something stupid happens, it is better to vent it to Qi State than to Jin State.Out of the consideration of protecting talents, the Scholars Association resolutely decided to give way to Chaike, and let him let go of his grievances-this is also out of trust in Choke. , It not only maintains one's own dignity, but also benefits the country's plans.

Reading history to this point, is another sigh: the leaders in the Spring and Autumn Period took the initiative to take care of the emotions of their subordinates; but many leaders now need their subordinates to coax them to be happy. On the Qi side, ever since Qi Ke left without saying goodbye, Qi Qinggong also knew that he had made a mistake, but he was not quite sure how big the mistake was.So when Luan Jinglu repeatedly urged him to attend the meeting of princes, he played a trick and decided to send Gao Gu, Yan Ruo, Cai Chao, and Nan Guoyan to Duan Dao on his behalf. As mentioned earlier, Gao Gu is the head of the Gao family, a traditional aristocrat in the Qi state, that is, the strong man who forcibly married the princess of the Lu state.It's not too rude for Qi Qinggong to send him as the chief representative to participate in the Duan Dao League.However, what was unexpected was that when the four-member mission came to Lianyu, the more Gao Gu thought about it, the more something went wrong. He was afraid that the Jin people would take their anger on him, so he fled back to Qi halfway!

Among the four missionaries, Gao Gu's identity is Shangqing, and the other three are doctors.Gao Gu's escape was tantamount to the head of the regiment fleeing the battle, and the rank of the mission immediately dropped a lot.If this happened now, Yan Ruo should immediately call and report to his superiors, waiting for further instructions.But that was in the Spring and Autumn Period, when mountains and rivers were far away, and information was blocked, it was unrealistic to write a report.Yan Ruo and the others made up their minds and decided to proceed according to the original plan and bring Qihou's greetings to Duan Dao. According to the "Spring and Autumn Annals", the princes who participated in the Duan Dao League in the summer of 592 BC included Duke Jing of Jin, Duke Xuan of Lu, Duke Mu of Wei, Duke Xuan of Cao, and Zhu Zi, the king of the Kingdom of Zhu (the name cannot be verified).When Yan Ruo and others came to Duandao and handed over the letter of credence to Jin Jinggong with an unnatural expression, Jin Jinggong, who has always been gentle, finally lost his temper—all the princes who came to the meeting here, you Qi Qinggong can’t come That's all, sending a Shangqing to escape halfway, leaving only a few doctors to attend the meeting, this is too arrogant!So these people were all driven out, and Qi was refused to join the alliance. For Yan Ruo and others, the worst thing is not here.Coming out of the broken road, the Qi State Mission traveled eastward, preparing to return home.After walking for a few days, Yan Ruo found that they had become unwelcome and unprotected people in the state of Jin. Wherever they went, they met hostile eyes and deliberate provocations.It's no wonder that the people of Qi first insulted the envoys of Jin, and now they insulted the king of Jin. How could the people of Jin not be angry? The delegation of the State of Qi went to Yewang (place name) and was besieged by local officials and residents, and Yan Ruo was imprisoned.Although the rest escaped by chance, they did not run very far. A few days later, Cai Chao and Nan Guoyan were arrested in Yuancheng and Wencheng respectively.Jin Jinggong turned a blind eye to what happened to these people, and acquiesced to the actions of local officials and the masses; and among the ministers in the court, although some people thought it was inappropriate to do so, they considered that they were restrained. emotions, and it is inconvenient to express opinions.If a man named Miao Ben (ben) Huang hadn't appeared in time, Yan Ruo and others might have become the ghosts of the Jin people. As mentioned earlier, after King Zhuang of Chu came to power, Doujiao launched a rebellion and was defeated and killed.But Doujiao's son, Benhuang, was not killed in that battle, but fled to the state of Jin. The people of Jin granted him Miaoyi (place name), so he was also called Miao Benhuang.When Yan Ruo was arrested in Yewang, Miao Benhuang happened to pass by Yewang and saw this scene.After returning to Jiangdu, he shook his head and said to Jin Jinggong: "What is the crime of the great officials of the Qi State? In the past, the princes served the ancestors, and they were in a hurry for fear that they would not be able to catch up. Later, they all said that the officials of the Jin State Because of the lack of trustworthiness, the princes began to be half-hearted. Qihou was afraid that he would not get the due courtesy, so he sent these four people, and someone said to Qihou, "If you don't go abroad, the people of Jin will definitely take revenge on our envoy." Gao When Gu heard this, he ran away again. The remaining three, Yan Ruo, insisted on fulfilling their mission and encouraged each other, saying, "If the friendly relationship between the two countries is severed because of us, I would rather be executed." That's why they are willing to take risks. Come to the meeting. We should treat them well, so that everyone who comes will be moved, but we just arrested them, so that what the Qi people say is right. I don’t know what is the benefit of doing this? Let the people who run away If there is a reason to run away, it hurts the person who fulfilled the mission, and the princes have opinions, what is the use of this?" After hearing these words, Jin Jinggong remained silent, neither agreeing nor refusing.After a period of time, the Jin people deliberately relaxed the guards of the envoys of the Qi State. They took the opportunity to escape and returned to Qi State one after another. It is worth mentioning that Yan Ruo had a very famous son named Yan Ying, who was generally called Yan Zi in history. After the Duan Dao Huimeng, the Scholars Association formally submitted their resignation to Jin Jinggong, and Que Ke took over as the Marshal of the Chinese Army, and Jin entered the period of Que Ke's ruling. The new official took office with three fires.In the spring of 591 BC, less than half a year after Choke came to power, the state of Jin launched a war against the state of Qi against the United Wei state.The coalition forces defeated the Qi army in Yanggu (a place name in Qi State).Facing the angry Jin people, Qi Qinggong did not dare to be naughty anymore, and ran to the Jin army camp in Zangdi (the place name of Qi State, near Yanggu) to ask Jin Jinggong for peace.The two sides signed a peace treaty, Qi Qinggong admitted his mistake, expressed his willingness to obey the leadership of Jin State, and sent his son Qiang to Jin State as a hostage. The Battle of Yanggu was not large in scale, did not last long, was not intense, and there were not many casualties on both sides, so it was not famous in history.However, the failure of the Qi State in the Battle of Yanggu caused an unexpected consequence—Lu Xuangong, who had been obedient to the people of the Qi State since he ascended the throne, suddenly summoned up his courage and decided to wash away the humiliation suffered by the people of the Qi State over the years. Send troops to attack Qi. Lu Xuangong was suspected of taking advantage of others' dangers in doing so, but it may also be a last resort.According to the bold speculation of later generations, this decision was not the original intention of Lu Xuangong, but was forced by Jisun Xingfu, one of the "Three Huan"——Jisun Xingfu was also insulted in the diplomatic turmoil of Qi State in 592 BC One of the most famous people, after returning to the country, Ji Sun Xingfu naturally wanted to pester Lu Xuangong to avenge him, but Lu Xuangong refused. The reason is very simple: the Jin country has not made a big move, so why should our Lu country be strong?Because of this incident, Ji Sun Xingfu has been unhappy, and now he finally waited until Jin State took action against Qi State, and he also found a reason to put pressure on Lu Xuangong again, and strongly demanded to send troops to crusade against Qi State. Under such circumstances, Lu Xuangong had no way to refuse him, nor did he dare to refuse him.You know, when "San Huan" got angry, it was no joke.So Lu Xuangong proposed that a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Although Qi was newly defeated, it is still far stronger than Lu. Lu must have the support of a big country before Lu can launch a war against Qi. The so-called big countries are the three countries of Jin, Chu and Qin.One of Qin and Qi is in the west and the other is in the east. They are completely irrelevant, so don't worry about it.The state of Jin has just signed a peace treaty with the state of Qi, and the possibility of sending troops again is basically zero, so there is no need to consider it.In this way, only the State of Chu can rely on, and the State of Chu should also be very happy for the State of Lu to move closer to it. In the summer of 591 BC, Duke Xuan of Lu sent envoys to the state of Chu, asking King Zhuang of Chu to send troops to help attack the state of Qi. King Zhuang of Chu can also calculate the benefits of this transaction with his toes.In accordance with his consistent style of acting, he agreed to Lu Xuangong's request without any bargaining, and agreed: after the autumn crops were harvested, he would send troops, and Lu Guo should also make corresponding preparations. However, in the autumn of that year, Duke Xuan of Lu did not look forward to seeing the troops of Chu State, but instead received an obituary from the people of Chu State—King Zhuang of Chu passed away. Regarding the life of King Chuzhuang, later generations basically gave positive comments.Zhu Yuanying’s views in the Qing Dynasty were quite representative. He said: Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin ruled the world because of Guan Zhong and Hu Yan. Just follow their orders in everything; King Zhuang of Chu, all major matters are decided by King Zhuang of Chu himself, and his actions are basically in line with the laws of heaven and human relations, even if he is wrong, he can't go wrong.Restoring the state of Chen and forgiving the state of Zheng showed his open-mindedness;The internal affairs, diplomacy, and employment of King Zhuang of Chu are all manifestations of his inner release to the outside world. He often prefers to be kind rather than mean; he puts himself in a position of concession rather than competing with others. Zhu Yuanying also compared and said: The beauty of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin lies in their good performances; although Duke Mu of Qin and King Zhuang of Chu are not good at dressing up, they are better than being strong in their hearts.As far as merit alone is concerned, the first two can be regarded as the merits of a sage; but when it comes to moral achievements, the latter two cannot be forgotten by a gentleman. For Lu Xuangong, he didn't have much time to make a conclusion for King Chuzhuang.What he can't wait to solve now is how to suppress the increasingly arrogant arrogance of "San Huan". The ins and outs of "Sanhuan" have been mentioned many times before, so I won't repeat them here.However, it is necessary to introduce the lineages of the powerful officials of Lu during the reign of Duke Xuan of Lu: Gongsun Guifu: Son of Gongzi Sui, grandson of Duke Zhuang of Lu, because Gongzi Sui lived in the East Gate of Qufu for a long time, it is also called Dongmen clan. Zhongsun Mie: the son of Uncle Wen, the grandson of Gongsun Ao, and the great-grandson of Qingfu, that is, the Meng family in the "Three Huan". Shusun Qiaoru: The son of Shusun Dechen and the great-grandson of Shuya, that is, the Shusun family among the "Three Huans". Ji Sun Xingfu: the grandson of Ji You, that is, the Ji family among the "Three Huans". Among them, although Gongsun Guifu was not included in the "Three Huans", because his father and son had made great contributions to Lu Xuangong's coming to power, he was especially favored by Lu Xuangong, so he also had power for a while, and constituted the State of Lu with the "Three Huans". of the four major families. As early as three years ago, that is, in 594 BC, under the impetus of Jisun Xingfu, the State of Lu carried out a major economic reform, which was called "the initial tax mu" in history, that is, taxes were levied according to the number of acres of land. According to the well field system of the Zhou Dynasty, fields were divided into public fields and private fields.The public office mainly relied on the tax revenue from public land as its source of income, while the private land owned by the Qing and doctor class was not taxed.With the development of productivity and the strengthening of the power of officials, the number of private lands is increasing, and the public lands are often abandoned.Some advanced countries have gradually recognized the legitimacy of private land, mainly relying on private land to maintain national taxation.For example, the state of Jin, as early as the period of Jin Huigong, had the reform of "Zuoyuantian", and embarked on the road of enriching the country and strengthening the army.At this time, the State of Lu implemented the reform of the initial tax per mu. It can be said that it was a mutual compromise between the government office and the "Sanhuan" and other officials.Objectively speaking, this compromise has increased the financial strength of the State of Lu, which is a manifestation of social progress, but it also made the "San Huan" harder and louder when they challenged Duke Xuan of Lu. "Biography"'s evaluation of Chu tax mu is: "It's indecent!" The contradiction between the two sides deepened step by step, and finally appeared.In the autumn of 591 BC, less than a month after receiving the news of the death of King Zhuang of Chu, Duke Xuan of Lu sent Gongsun Guifu to visit the State of Jin. He claimed that he was borrowing troops from the State of Jin to attack the State of Qi. Help, hoping to eradicate the "San Huan" through the intervention of the Jin State. However, when Gongsun Guifu visited the state of Jin, Duke Xuan of Lu suddenly died without a problem.According to the records of "Spring and Autumn", it was "the public died in the road bed", that is, he died on his own bed. This record left many speculations for later generations.After all, Lu Xuangong died at this critical time, and it was difficult for people not to have doubts.And the performance of "San Huan" is simply to directly identify himself as the murderer. Before Lu Xuangong's funeral was held, Ji Sun Xingfu hurriedly delivered a speech in the court hall. The full text reads: "The one who killed the son and established the concubine, and made the Lu country lose its great support, is Xiangzhong!" Xiangzhong is Gongzi Sui, the father of Gongsun Guifu.The four words "killing one's family and establishing concubines" are on the one hand accusing the son Sui of killing the son evil and the son Shi, and on the other hand reminding everyone that Lu Xuangong originally had no right to inherit the throne, but only because of the conspiracy of the son Sui. Get on stage.As for the loss of great aid, it means that Qi State has always been concerned about the death of Gong Zixi and Gong Zishi, so it has adopted a policy of superficially friendly but actually bullying towards Lu State. Ji Sun Xingfu pointed the finger at Gongzi Sui, and at the same time denied Lu Xuangong, but the ultimate goal was to attack Gongsun Guifu who was in Jin.Uncle Zang Xuanshu (the grandson of Tibetan Wen Zhong) felt that this kind of accusation was very disrespectful, and he responded face-to-face to Ji Sun Xingfu: "What happened in the past could not be held accountable at that time, so why should future generations be blamed? Don't you just want to get rid of Guifu? Then send me to do it openly!" "Sanhuan" would not be soft-hearted, and ordered all the Dongmen family to be expelled from the country.When Gongsun Guifu came back from Jin State and arrived at Shengdi (the place name of Lu State), he heard the news of Lu Xuangong's death and his family's expulsion.When he stopped, he built an earthen altar by the side of the road, surrounded it with cloth, and set up a mourning hall for Lu Xuangong; he called his deputy to him, and asked his deputy to go back to Qufu on his behalf, and return to Lu Xuangong's coffin .After finishing these things, Gongsun Guifu unbuttoned his clothes, exposed his left chest, tied up his hair with sackcloth, sat in front of the earthen altar and cried loudly, then stood up and stomped his feet three times, and then drove to the state of Qi in a carriage. .All he did was meticulously handled in accordance with the rules of Zhou Li.Maintaining a calm mind and a calm attitude in times of crisis were the qualities respected by the officials and scholars at that time. "Spring and Autumn" solemnly records: "Return to the father and return from the Jin Dynasty to the Sheng." It is a kind of praise for Gongsun to return to his father. In the spring of the following year, Heiji, the son of Duke Xuan of Lu, succeeded to the throne, also known as Duke Cheng of Lu in history.