Spring and Autumn and Warring States - Qi State

I have been very fond of the history of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period since I was a child. The history at this time was lively, grand, and had a positive feeling. I wrote an article about the patriarchal system some time ago. I originally planned to write "Warring States - A Age of Great Conflict" next to it. This "Warring States" includes the Spring and Autumn Period and mainly tells the story of several countries competing for supremacy. After searching a lot of information, I feel that many current descriptions of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods are not quite the same. The Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods should be an era of intertwined traditional tribalism and bureaucracy. It is also an era of great social changes. Only by understanding the changes, can we Only then did I understand why there was a fight later, and this fight was not a fight, but a fight for change. So as I wrote, I got off topic again, but I couldn't figure it out. In the end, I simply laid out the history of various countries in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The first is Qi State.

The founding of Qi State

Qi State was first enfeoffed by Jiang Taigong, the famous Jiang Ziya. He was among the first batch of feudal princes after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty. The purpose was to prevent the invasion of Dongyi. "King Wu has made peace with the Shang Dynasty and ruled the world. He named his master and his father in Qi Yingqiu." As mentioned above, the feudalism of the Zhou Dynasty was just a blank check and needed to be cashed by himself. As soon as Jiang Taigong was granted the title, he faced the "lai people" of the local indigenous people. "Lai people" refused to cash the check for Jiang Taigong. "Lai Hou came to fight with him for Yingqiu. The Lai people, Yi Ye, were in chaos at the beginning of Zhou Dynasty and failed to gather. Far away, I was fighting for the country with Taigong." This record comes from the Zhou people, so the "Lai people" became the invaders. The actual situation is probably that the Lai people themselves are the natives of Yingqiu, and the Jiang family is the invaders. The Lai people are a branch of Dongyi. Dongyi has always been a strong ethnic group during the Shang Dynasty. King Zhou sent troops to attack Dongyi many times. "Zhou conquered Dongyi and perished." Without the war between King Zhou and Dongyi, King Wu of Zhou would not have easily succeeded in the Battle of Muye.

After Jiang Taigong arrived at Yingqiu, he repelled the attack of the "Lai people" and began to establish the Qi State in this strange land. Jiang Taigong was a pragmatist. As early as King Wu's defeat of Zhou At that time, the divination was unlucky, so Jiang Taigong urged King Wu to ignore the divination results and start to attack Zhou. Therefore, the State of Qi established by Jiang Taigong did not force the Zhou people's living habits on the local people, but adjusted the Zhou people's living habits to adapt. When Taigong came to the country, he "reformed government according to its customs, simplified its etiquette, and promoted trade and industry. With the benefit of fish and salt, more people will gather together." Under such a concept of governing the country, the people of Qi State pay attention to reality. Although it is an orthodox Zhou people's country, it still has some barbarian temperament. This temperament can be described in the comment of Qi Yigong in "Historical Records" as "arrogance", arrogance, arrogance, Arrogant.

After Jiang Taigong, there are very few records about the Qi State. In "Historical Records? Qi Taigong Family", there are only a few words about the history of the Qi State in the early one hundred years, "There are more than 100 Taigong soldiers." When Duke Ding died, his son Yi Gong was established. When Duke Gui died, his son Ai Gong was not established. "It can be imagined that the Jiang family from ancient Zhouyuan was in a strange state. The Qi State was established on the land of Qi. Faced with the surrounding barbarians, the Jiang family united and expanded its territory. Survival became the main theme of the ancient Qi State. Under strong external pressure, no major changes occurred within the Qi State. .

The Revenge of the Ninth Generation of the Qi Dynasty

More than a hundred years after the founding of Qi, Duke Ai of Qi came to the throne. The meanings of many ancient words are different from those of modern times. For example, posthumous names for "spiritual" are generally ineffective. , the person with the posthumous name Xi does not mean that he likes to play, but the person with the posthumous name of Lai is generally unlucky. The king of Ji State reported the complaint of Duke Ai of Qi to King Zhou Yi, "Ji Hou Xian Zhi Zhou". It should be a false accusation, at least other princes thought so. The king of Zhou ordered Qi Duke Ai to be cooked and killed. The king of the country was boiled in a pot. Throughout the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou royal family rarely interfered in the internal affairs of vassal states, and the execution of vassals was even rarer. Who is the king of Ji State? There are very few records of Ji State in history books. "Qingzhou Prefecture Chronicle" records: "Ji, Marquis, surnamed Jiang; descendant of Emperor Yan's Miao. Such records indicate that Ji State is likely to be a branch of Dongyi." After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, he surrendered to the Zhou royal family and received a title. His status in the Zhou Dynasty was naturally different from that of Qi. However, it was true that Duke Ai of Qi was framed by such a low-ranking prince and was killed by the King of Zhou Yi. The specific reason is not recorded in historical records. There is a poem in the Book of Songs that satirizes Duke Ai of Qi for his love of hunting. It is also said that Duke Ai of Qi had an act of rebellion and moved the capital to Duke Hu. To Bogu. There is no record of the specific reason for moving the capital. It was probably because the new king wanted to get rid of the influence of the old clan or to avoid the persecution of Ji Guo. This Bogu was 25 kilometers away from Yingqiu, and he only walked 25 kilometers. Moving the capital also showed the weakness of Qi State at that time. Later, King Ai and his mother and brother killed Duke Hu and moved the capital back to Yingqiu. The political situation of Qi State became stable again, but the feud between Qi State and Ji State was also forged. , Ji State will also pay the price for this act.

Qi Xianggong’s Revenge

After more than two hundred years of development, when Qi Zhuang Gong and Qi Xi Gong, the Qi State’s national power gradually became stronger. The situation of "Zhuang Xi Xiaoba" emerged, and by the time of Qi Xianggong, Qi had become a powerful country. In April of the fourth year of Qi Xianggong, Qi Xianggong held a banquet to entertain Duke Huan of Lu, and sent the powerful man Peng Sheng to him. After helping Duke Huan of Lu board the carriage, he was about to strangle Duke Huan of Lu to death. The reason was that Duke Huan of Qi had an affair with Duke Huan of Lu's wife and was discovered by Duke Huan of Lu. The bloody thing was that Duke Huan of Lu's wife was his biological sister.

Faced with the king being killed by other countries, the State of Lu condemned the State of Qi, but such condemnation was also very weak, "The few monarchs are afraid of the power of the monarch and dare not live in peace and practice the rituals. The rituals are fulfilled without rebelling, and there is no For those who are blamed, please ask Peng Sheng to remove the ugliness to the princes." The state of Qi only killed Peng Sheng to cause trouble. In July of the same year when Duke Xiang of Qi got drunk and killed Duke Huan of Lu, Duke Xiang of Qi held an alliance at the head of Wei State, and the gentleman Qi of the state of Zheng was killed by Duke Xiang of Qi. In the fourth year of Duke Xianggong of Qi, the state of Qi attacked and destroyed the four kingdoms of Ji, Xi, Yi, and Pi. In the ninth year of Duke Xiang of Qi, in the name of King Zhouzhuang, he led an army to attack the Wei, killed the left and right young masters of the Wei, and escorted Duke Hui of Wei to return to his throne. The states of Lu, Zheng, and Wei were all powerful states in the Central Plains in the early Spring and Autumn Period. The state of Lu was first named after Zhou Gongdan, who was the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou. He assisted King Cheng of Zhou to quell the rebellion of Guan Cai, and in fact established the Zhou Dynasty. The official system and enfeoffment system; Zheng Guo was first enfeoffed by Zheng Huan Gong, who was the younger brother of King Zhou Xuan. At the time of Zheng Zhuang Gong, Zheng Guo had the strength to openly confront King Zhou Huan and shot and wounded Zhou Huan in the war; Wei Guo was first enfeoffed Uncle Yu Kang, the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou, was entrusted with the homeland of the Yin and Shang dynasties. He was a prince who monitored the old people of the Yin and Shang dynasties after the Guan Cai Rebellion. Moreover, as royal clans, these three vassal states have always been under the central government of the Zhou Dynasty. Holding an important position, he was a powerful country at that time in terms of national strength and diplomacy. At the time of Qi Xianggong, Qi State could influence the politics of Zheng, Lu, and Wei, which shows that Qi State was strong at that time. As mentioned above, the State of Ji once falsely accused Duke Ai of Qi, which caused Duke Ai of Qi to be executed by the Emperor of Zhou. At the time of Duke Xianggang of Qi, the State of Qi annexed the State of Ji. The "Spring and Autumn Annals" recorded it as: The Marquis of Ji went to his country. "Gongyang Zhuan" believes that this is a kind of Spring and Autumn style of writing, which is a compliment to Qi Xianggong, "Who is going to die? Destroy it. Which one will destroy it? Qi will destroy it. Why doesn't He say that Qi will destroy it? It is taboo for Xianggong. Spring and Autumn Period How can you be so virtuous as Duke Xiang? What is wrong with Duke Xiang? The posthumous title of Duke Xiang of Qi is Xiang. The so-called "Xiang" is called Xiang if he has virtue in opening up the land; he is called Xiang if he has hard work in his armor; he is called Xiang if he is successful in doing things; he is called Xiang if he has a strong heart. He is called Xiang; if he praises and succeeds, he is called Xiang; if his power and virtue serve him far away, he is called Xiang. This is a good posthumous title, which reflects the Qi people's approval of Qi Xianggong's actions, and also reflects the Qi people's confidence in the national power at that time. But from another point of view, Qi Xianggong had an affair with his sister, was good at killing other monarchs, and deceived ministers, so he could not deserve such a good posthumous title. This may be a reflection of the "arrogant" national character of the Qi people. They don't care much about such private virtues. The Qi people believe in strength. Qi Xianggong solved the threat of Qi and made Qi become the most powerful country in the east. Then he can be worthy of the character "xiang".

Regarding deceiving ministers, this is worthy of discussion. Judging from historical data, "Gongsun Wuzhi planned to cause rebellion", it proves that the mastermind of this case, "Gongsun Wuzhi", has always planned to cause rebellion. Who is Gongsun Wuzhi? The cousin of Duke Xiang of Qi. When Duke Xiang's father, Duke Xi, was in power, Duke Xi liked this nephew very much and treated him the same as the prince. The treatment is "ignorant and ignorant, ignorant and resentful". Therefore, the actual situation is probably that when Duke Xi of Qi was in power, Gongsun Wuzhi and Duke Xianggong of Qi had been vying for the position of crown prince. Duke Xianggang of Qi won, but Gongsun Wuzhi began to rebel. In order to limit Gongsun Wuwu's power, they were transferred away from the capital. Facing Qi Xianggong's pressing step by step, the three of them decided to give it a go and kill Qi Xianggong. Later events also proved that the rebellion of these three people was not popular. In the same year that Gongsun Wuzhi killed Qi Xianggong, Gongsun Wuzhi was killed by the "Yonglin people", and the Qi people did not give Gongsun Wuzhi the status of king. He was not given a posthumous title. For the nobles at that time, it was a great insult to die without a posthumous title. This was also the first coup and regicide in the history of Qi State. After that, Qi State ministers began to appear on the stage of history.

The leader of the Spring and Autumn Period - Duke Huan of Qi

After the death of Gongsun Wuwu, the State of Qi began to discuss who would succeed the king of Qi. There are two candidates at this time, Gongzi Jiu and Gongzi Xiaobai. Young Master Xiaobai was in the State of Ju at this time, and Young Master Jiu was in the State of Lu. The Gao family and the Guo family of Qi State supported Xiaobai's accession to the throne and were the first to notify him to return to the country. When Prince Jiu returned to the country, he was escorted back by the State of Lu after receiving the news. "Lu heard that Wu Wuzhi died, so he also sent troops to send Prince Jiu off." The following story is that Guan Zhong blocked Prince Xiaobai from entering the State of Qi, and Prince Xiaobai faked his death and returned to the country. The state of Qi ascended the throne. Therefore, the situation at that time should be that after Gongsun Wuwu died, the result of the discussion among several big clans in Qi was to support Prince Xiaobai as the throne. At this time, Lu State got the news and decided to support Prince Jiu and sent troops into Qi State. One group was led by Gongzi Jiu and entered the capital of Qi State, and the other group was led by Guan Zhong to intercept and kill Gongzi Xiaobai. Prince Jiu's domestic support in Qi may be very limited, so he needs the strong support of Lu. The so-called "Those who send Jiu from Lu will be late" are more because Lu needs enough time to summon the army and rely on external force to subdue all Qi states. clan. Prince Xiaobai had supporters at home, so he quickly ascended the throne after returning to China and led his army to surround the Lu army. "When they fought with Lu at Qian, the Lu army was defeated and the Qi army blocked Lu's return." The time when this conflict began It is spring, and the time when the Qilu war begins is autumn. In other words, after Prince Xiaobai came to the throne, Prince Jiu did not admit defeat, nor did Lu give up. Instead, Chen sent troops to Qi to put pressure on Qi. Subsequently, the Lu army was defeated and surrounded by the Qi army.

At this point the overall situation has been decided, and the next question is how to solve the problem of Gongzi Jiu. Duke Huan of Qi showed extremely high political literacy. The State of Qi did not ask the State of Lu for Prince Jiu. Instead, the State of Qi put pressure on the State of Lu and asked the State of Lu to kill Prince Jiu. Duke Huan of Qi said, "Brother Zijiu cannot bear to be punished. Ask Lu to commit suicide. Zhao Hu and Guan Zhongyu are willing to kill him. Otherwise, they will surround Lu." This way of handling the situation not only saved Duke Huan of Qi from having to bear the reputation of fratricide, but also brought great harm to the state of Lu. In an embarrassing situation, if Prince Jiu is not killed, Qi will have reason to continue attacking Lu; if Lu kills Prince Jiu, Lu will lose its trust in front of all the princes, and the princes will no longer dare to ally with Lu against Qi. The internal opposition forces in Qi will not dare to form an alliance with Lu. Later generations have been deifying Guan Zhong, as if Qi's hegemony could not have been created without Guan Zhong, but the role of Duke Huan of Qi was weakened. However, from a series of actions before and after Duke Huan of Qi came to the throne, we can find that Duke Huan of Qi himself has extremely high political and military qualities, and Guan Zhong's role in Qi's hegemony may not be as great as imagined. Or it may be that later generations of Confucian scholars attached themselves to the dream of "becoming the emperor's teacher".

Later, Duke Huan of Qi appointed Guan Zhong as prime minister and started the reform, which laid a solid foundation for becoming the first hegemon of the Spring and Autumn Period. The main contents of the reform can be summarized as strengthening the assessment of officials in terms of personnel management and "clearly dividing duties and assigning merit"; in terms of economy, reforming taxation, encouraging industry and commerce, and implementing salt and iron monopoly "taking lessons from mountains and seas"; in administrative and military management, "participating in the country and serving in the country" "Qi Ji", the so-called "joining the country" refers to dividing the land around the capital into twenty-one townships (six villages of industry and commerce, fifteen townships of scholars). Among them, the five townships of Shixiang are the first army and the third army. The commanders of the three armies are respectively Qijun, Guozi and Gaozi, these three armies are not only a military establishment, but also a political establishment. Although this kind of reform has positive significance in strengthening Qi's national strength, it also paved the way for the Tian family to replace Jiang in the future. First of all, the reform retained some traditions. As mentioned before, in the Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, there were "countrymen" and "savages". The so-called countrymen were the people around the capital, and the savages were the conquered residents or immigrants. Guan Zhong's reforms designated the country's standing army as the three armies. All the soldiers in the three armies were "nationals", and "savages" still did not have the power to participate in war and politics. The form of war at this time was still an aristocratic war, which was essentially different from the national annihilation war that was mobilized across the country during the Warring States Period. At this time, the Qi State could hardly be called an empire, and was more of a tribal alliance country. Such reforms were limited to the territory directly under the monarch. Through the reform, the monarch's wealth began to increase significantly. At the same time, the officials also began to participate in the management of the monarch's territory and the country's standing military force in an institutional form. When managing the monarch's wealth, the officials also had their own territories, and they were also small lords in their territories. This paved the way for future officials to continue to seize the monarch's land until they completely replaced the monarch. Therefore, this was the beginning of the strength of the Qi State and the beginning of the decline of the Jiang family of Qi State. The wealth accumulated through the reform directly supported Duke Huan of Qi to respect the king and resist the barbarians, unite the nine princes, support the Rong and Di in the north, and control Jingchu in the south. Many stories happened during this process, which are all familiar to us now. But from a historical perspective, Qi Huangong's role was not only to stabilize the situation in the early years of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and prevent the collective destruction of the Central Plains princes, but more importantly, to point out the direction for the princes to reform the existing system and start a new round of social development. reform.

The post-political strongman era

In the forty-three years of Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Huan of Qi was seriously ill, and each of his five sons established party members and began to compete for power. The party strives for success." After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the five princes began to attack each other, and a civil war broke out in Qi. "When Duke Huan died, they attacked each other." This situation was extremely rare in the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou people had a complete inheritance system, which was very rare. It is rare for multiple princes to blatantly compete for succession, and at this time Qi Huangong has already established his successor. There is absolutely no such situation in the history of Qi State.

In order to clarify this abnormal situation, it is necessary to introduce the parties involved in this civil war. First of all, the six sons of Duke Huan of Qi, Jiang Wugui, Jiang Yuan, Jiang Zhao, Jiang Pan, Jiang The merchants and Jiang Yong all participated in the civil war except Jiang Yong, and later became the kings of Qi. Among them, Jiang Zhao was the heir recognized by both Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong. He was established as the prince and entrusted to the care of Duke Xiang of Song. Duke Huan of Qi also expressed to his favored ministers that he would make Jiang Wugui the king of Qi. Secondly, there are the internal favorites of Duke Huan of Qi. Duke Huan of Qi has four favorites, Yi Ya, Shu Diao, Chang Zhiwu, and Wei Kaifang. These four people each have their own skills: Yi Ya is a chef who once cooked his own son for Duke Huan of Qi to eat; Shu Diao served Duke Huan of Qi from the palace for convenience; Chang Zhiwu is a wizard who favors Jiang Wu. Gui's mother; Wei Kaifang was a son of the Wei Kingdom. In order to serve Duke Huan of Qi, he did not return home for fifteen years. When his father died, he did not go back to attend the funeral. Finally, there are the ministers of the State of Qi, the Guo family and the Gao family. After Qi Huangong's reform, the Guo family and the Gao family served as the top ministers of Qi State, respectively, and were the commanders of the upper and lower armies.

After introducing the characters, start to introduce what happened. After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the five princes were dissatisfied with each other and started a civil war. Yi Ya, the favored minister of Duke Huan of Qi, entered the palace of the King of Qi. He and Shu Diao led the internal officials to kill all the officials. Zhao fled to the Song Dynasty. At this time, the civil war had lasted for two months.

In March of the following year, Song Xianggong led a coalition of princes to escort Jiang Zhao back to the country. Qi State's top ministers Gao and Guo took advantage of Yi Ya's army to fight against the princes' coalition and killed Jiang Wugui and Shu Diao in preparation to support Jiang Zhao. . The other four princes led their troops to drive away Jiang Zhao. Jiang Zhao fled the Song Dynasty again. The Song Dynasty sent troops to fight against the four princes. In May of that year, they defeated the four princes and established Jiang Zhao as Duke Xiao of Qi. The first phase of Qi's civil war ended.

During the period of Duke Huan of Qi, the political and military forces of Qi were divided into three parts: the central army directly under the jurisdiction of Duke Huan of Qi, the upper army and the lower army commanded by the Guo family and the Gao family. The favored ministers of Duke Huan of Qi are part of the forces directly under the jurisdiction of the Lord of Qi, and the followers of each prince are also part of the forces directly under the jurisdiction of the Lord of Qi. Yi Ya and Shu Diao killed the officials, and the four princes' followers fought against the Song Dynasty, which undoubtedly did not consume the Qi Jun's strength. The civil strife in Jingguo greatly damaged the power of Qi's official office.

In the following more than forty years, although there was no civil strife on the same scale as when Duke Huan of Qi died, the aftermath of the civil strife in the palace continued to affect the situation in Qi. Duke Xiao of Qi reigned for ten years, and his younger brother Jiang Pan came to the throne as Duke Zhao. Duke Xiao of Qi's son was killed by Wei Fangkai. In the 19th year of Qi Zhaogong's reign, his younger brother Jiang Shangshang killed Qi Zhaogong's son and came to the throne, who was named Yigong. Qi Yigong reigned for four years and was killed by Bingrong and meongzhi. The reason was that Qi Yigong had a hunting competition with Bingrong's father and was unable to compete. Qi Yigong cut off Bingrong's father's feet and dismissed Bingrong as a servant. "Cut off Bingrong's father's feet, and "He made Bingrong a servant" and brought his mediocre wife into the inner palace. The two had grudges, so they killed Qi Yigong. The people of Qi deposed Qi Yigong's son and supported Jiang Yuan as Duke Hui. This Qi Yigong's approach is exactly the same as Qi Xianggong's approach. This temperament of Qi people can be inherited. After Hui Gong reigned for ten years, his son Jiang Wuye succeeded to the throne, and was known as Qi Qinggong in history. At this time, Qi Jun returned to the track of succession after the death of father, marking the basic end of the civil strife in Qi State. But at this time, the Qi State was no longer as prosperous as it had been in the past.

Qi Huangong’s situation seems to have become a historical necessity. Every political strongman will bring great chaos to the country after his death. Qin Shihuang swept away Liuhe, and the Sand Dune Revolution occurred after his death, and the Qin State fell into civil strife; Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty drove the Huns from the north and conquered the Baiyue in the south, but then the Western Han Dynasty showed signs of subjugation; Emperor Kangxi was known as the one emperor through the ages, and there were also nine emperors in the later period. The chaos of the son seizing the legitimate son. The reason is that political strongmen often exist beyond the political system. They concentrate unlimited power through political reforms, and at the same time they also rely on centralization to promote political system reforms. Such reforms can objectively enhance the power of political strongmen and concentrate enough power to achieve goals. Just as Duke Huan of Qi relied on reforms to strengthen the monarch's power, he could support his nine princes and dominate the world. However, this kind of reform only completed the redistribution of social resources in the short term rather than increasing the total amount of resources. That is, the reforms promoted by Duke Huan of Qi often only concentrated all social resources in the hands of the monarch, and then he used these social resources to complete The feat of dominating the world also depleted the wealth of Qi. In addition, in order to enhance his execution power, Duke Huan of Qi vigorously appointed his favorites and ousted the nobles of Qi State. The brilliance of Duke Huan of Qi as a political strongman concealed the existing contradictions in Qi State. However, the contradictions will not disappear and will only accumulate until political power becomes stronger. After the decline, cracks appeared in Qi State. In fact, in the later years of Duke Huan of Qi, the state of Qi was already showing signs of decline. With the support of Guan Zhong and other ministers, Duke Huan of Qi made Prince Zhao the crown prince, but with the support of his favorites, he agreed to make Jiang Wugui the prince. Classes have actually been divided, so to a certain extent, the state of Qi prospered and fell due to Duke Huan of Qi.