Chapter 8 Duke Wen of Jin

China's Spring and Autumn Period was an era in which the weak preyed on the strong, and an era in which the brave ruled.As long as the overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period is mentioned, the unanimous saying is: Qi Huan Jin Wen. Qi Huan here of course refers to Duke Huan of Qi State, while Jin Wen refers to the above-mentioned Prince Chonger of the State of Jin, that is, the later Duke Wen of Jin. It is no exaggeration to say that these two are the overlords among the overlords of the Spring and Autumn Period. Jin State is a vassal state located on the north bank of the Yellow River. Jin Wengong is the second son of the country's king Jin Xiangong, named Chong'er.When Duke Wen of Jin was born, there was a monarchy dispute between the main wife and the partial house in the state of Jin. As a result, the partial house gained the upper hand in this battle and unified the Jin state, and Jin Wengong Chong'er was the descendant of the partial house.

Duke Wen of Jin has an older brother named Shen Sheng. This prince is knowledgeable, filial and compassionate. He has already been established as the prince and has become the successor of the next generation of monarchs. Originally Jin Wengong's family lived a prosperous and peaceful life, and the father, son and brother also got along very harmoniously, but the appearance of a woman broke their original peaceful and peaceful life. This woman's name is Li Ji, and she is a beautiful woman. Jin Wengong's mother passed away shortly after giving birth to him. Li Ji entered the family as the successor of Jin Xiangong. Li Ji gave birth to her own son shortly after marrying Jin Xiangong. Flesh and flesh boarded the throne of the monarch, Li Ji began to move around, relying on Jin Xiangong's favor, to put it more bluntly, relying on her beauty, Li Ji completely controlled Jin Xiangong, she kept in Jinxian In the ear of the prince, she said bad things about the prince Shensheng, and fabricated that the prince had a rebellious intention, and she also tried to prevent the ministers' advice from being passed on to Duke Xian of Jin. In the end, Li Ji used the hand of Duke Xian of Jin to force Shen Sheng to commit suicide.

So far, the matter is not over yet. In order to let her son safely ascend to the throne of the monarch, Li Ji also used various means to force Jin Xiangong to exile the other sons headed by the prince Jin Wengong Chonger to other places. His son became the crown prince of Jin. In order to avoid being persecuted by Li Ji, Jin Wengong found an opportunity to escape to the north, and came to the birthplace of his biological mother Fox Ji to live in seclusion, waiting for the opportunity to return to the country. Soon Duke Xian of Jin died, and Li Ji's son ascended the throne of the monarch. However, because Li Ji's mother and son acted arbitrarily, public anger was aroused. Duke Wen of Jin came back to the throne. Hearing the news, Duke Wen of Jin was overjoyed and immediately started preparing to return home, but Hu Yan, who had been following him all along, strongly opposed it:

Isn't it like taking advantage of the fire to go back to China like this?Although the ministers of the court are sending people to welcome you back to the court, you must know that they are criminals who killed the new king!Although there are many faults in the new king, killing the king has been regarded as treason since ancient times. If you let this kind of person assist you, can you be close to the people and practice good governance?Hu Yan's words come from the bottom of his heart. It does make sense. Duke Wen of Jin followed Hu Yan's advice and did not return to the state of Jin, but began a long-term wandering life.Since Duke Wen of Jin did not return to the country to ascend the throne, it was Duke Wen's younger brother Yiwu who finally took the throne. Yiwu, who had just ascended the throne, regarded his brother Wengong as a thorn in his side. He sent killers to assassinate Chong'er. Duke Wen of Jin left the north and walked towards the east. From then on, he began a miserable life of wandering without food and water until he met Duke Huan of Qi.

oh!Are you Chonger, son of Jin? Although Duke Huan of Qi was still the overlord at this time, he was already quite old, but a hero is a hero after all. As soon as Duke Huan of Qi saw Duke Wen, he saw that this person's future was limitless, so he not only received Jin Jin with the etiquette of a monarch, Wengong also betrothed his daughter to Chong'er as his wife. In Qi State, Jin Wengong temporarily found a place to stay. But the good times didn't last long. After Duke Huan of Qi passed away, several sons of Qi State also fought over the issue of inheritance rights, and the country was also in chaos.

Except for Hu Yan, the other ministers who wandered with Duke Wen of Jin were worried that their lord would stay in Qi for the rest of his life and would never return to his hometown, so they found an opportunity to get Duke Wen drunk, and then took advantage of Duke Wen While sleeping soundly, they fled the capital of Qi State collectively. When he woke up and learned of this, Duke Wen of Jin was so angry that even his most trusted subordinates betrayed him.In order to realize his ambition, Duke Wen of Jin set foot on the road of wandering again. From Qi State to Wei State, from Wei State to Cao State, from Cao State to Song State, and from Song State to Zheng State, and finally Jin Wengong went south from Zheng State to Chu State. The fate of Duke Wen changed a lot. King Cheng of Chu not only treated him kindly, but also promised to help Duke Wen return to the state of Jin and ascend the throne of the king of Jin.

After saying these words, King Cheng of Chu jokingly asked Duke Wen of Jin: If I help you achieve your goal, what kind of gift will you give me in return? The state of Chu is a rich and powerful country. There is nothing in the world that you, the king of Chu, can’t get. You don’t pay attention to everything in the state of Jin, so I have nothing to give you!Wen Gong said. What if I must ask you to repay it? Duke Wen thought about it carefully for a while: Then I promise you to stay away! Here I want to explain that when wars broke out in ancient times, the mileage of a day's march was one house.

The meaning of backing away from Sanshe is very clear. In the event of a war between the Jin army and the Chu army in the future, in order to show respect to the King of Chu, the Jin army will first retreat to the place of Sanshe. The conversation between the two was overheard by General Ziyu of Chu State. What an arrogant person! Ziyu was furious and wanted to kill Duke Wen, but King Cheng of Chu stopped him. King Cheng of Chu warmly entertained Duke Wen of Jin and sent him to the State of Qin with great fanfare. Duke Mu of Qin knew what King Cheng of Chu meant, so he tried his best to help Duke Wen achieve his dream of returning to China. When Duke Wen of Jin ascended the throne, he was already young Over sixty.

After Wengong came to the throne, he reduced and exempted taxes internally, appeased the people, and adopted a positive attitude externally. With the support of neighboring countries, the national power of Jin soon became stronger. As an excuse, he really launched a war with Chu. But the Jin army did not forget the promise Wen Gong made to King Cheng, and they retreated before the battle, even so, they still defeated the Chu army. Since Jin Wengong was already old when he came to the throne, he only reigned for nine years, and died in the twenty-fourth year of Zhou Xiangwang (628 BC). ︱ ︱ ︱

Note: A brief history of Jin During the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, the Ji surname was a vassal state.In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Cheng entrusted his younger brother Shuyu to Tang (now west of Yicheng, Shanxi), which was one of the important feudal states at that time.Shu Yu Zixie changed his name to Jin, and later moved his capital to Quwo (now Wenxi, Shanxi), Jiang (that is, Yi, now Yicheng, Shanxi), Xintian (now Houma, Shanxi) and other places. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, Marquis Wen of Jin supported King Ping of Zhou and moved his capital to Luoyi, and killed King Xie who had established himself in the old place of Western Zhou. He made great contributions to the establishment of Eastern Zhou and was rewarded by King Ping.At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a long-term struggle between the public house and the nobles for the throne within the Jin State.From the first year of Jin Zhaohou's first year (745 BC) when his uncle became a teacher in Quwo, until the 28th year of Jin Minhou's 28th year (679 BC) Duke Wu of Quwo was officially appointed as Marquis of Jin. In the 60s or 70s, Dazong was replaced by a side branch, and the country was re-established.The new state of Jin was full of vigor. The son of Duke Wu, Duke Xian (reigned in 676 BC, 651 BC), vigorously expanded. Etc.Later, due to the struggle for the throne, there was a short-term civil strife in Jin, but it was established in the period of Wen Gong (reigned in 636 BC 628 BC).

In the Battle of Chengpu, Jin State defeated Chu State, assembled the princes, and was formally appointed as the overlord by King Zhou Xiang.In the future, big countries like Qin and Qi will not be able to fight against it. Only Chu can compete with Jin for a long time.The overlord at that time had the right to levy tribute and taxes from various small countries, and all of them were greedy.Officials of the state of Jin once said: Lu is in Jin, and there is no shortage of tributes.Therefore, Zheng Guozichan said to the Jin people: "Since my city is too small, it is between a big country and there is no time to punish me. Therefore, I dare not live in peace. I have learned about current affairs since I asked for my Fu."He even declared sadly: If you don't pay for your contribution, you will die soon.Second-tier countries like Lu and Zheng felt that it was hard to afford it, and one can imagine how severe the hegemony's exploitation was. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, Chengshi, the prince entrusted to Quwo, continued to expand his power and finally won the throne.Bearing this historical lesson in mind, Duke Xian of Jin adopted the strategy of killing and banishing people with the same surname, and appointed ministers with different surnames as assistants.Later, the influence of ministers with different surnames became more and more powerful. For example, during the reign of King Li (reigned in 573 BC, 580 BC), the Que family had three ministers and five officials in one family. three armies.In order to strengthen the government and weaken the strong ministers, King Li used the contradictions among the ministers to kill the Que family, but then he was also killed by the other two ministers, the Luan family and the Zhongxing family.During the reign of Gong Gong (reigned in 558 BC in 572 BC), the power of the monarchy had been strengthened, but it failed to reverse the situation.After Duke Zhao (526 BC, 531 BC), six powerful ministers emerged in China, including Fan, Bank of China, Zhi, Han, Zhao, and Wei. The struggle for power has intensified.In the time of Duke Ding (511 BC, 475 years ago), Fan and Bank of China were the first to be defeated. In the fourth year of Duke Ai (453 BC), the three families of Han, Zhao, and Wei wiped out the Zhi family, and three of them were divided. The land of Jin has actually been divided among the three families.In the nineteenth year of Duke Lie (403 BC), King Weilie of Zhou officially recognized Han, Zhao, and Wei as vassal states.In the second year of Duke Jing (376 BC), Duke Jing of Jin was abolished by Han, Zhao, and Wei, and the state of Jin, which had been established for nearly 700 years since then, perished.