In 299 BC, news of King Huai being detained in Xianyang reached Yingdu. At the insistence of Qu Yuan and Zhaoju, Chu State sent people to Qi State to falsely declare national mourning and wanted to bring back Prince Xiong Heng who was a hostage in Qi State. .

In 299 BC, the news that King Huai was detained in Xianyang spread to Yingdu . At the insistence of Qu Yuan and Zhaoju, Chu State sent people to Qi State to falsely report the national mourning. Welcome back the prince Xiong Heng who was a hostage in Qi State. During this process, a series of episodes occurred between Qi and Chu.

The people in Qi State at that time were already King Min of Qi , Lord Mengchang Tian Wen was the prime minister. The affairs of King Huai were already known to the whole world at that time, and the monarchs and ministers of Qi State were naturally aware of it. Someone suggested to Lord Mengchang: "The King of Chu was detained in Xianyang, and the Prince of Chu was held as a hostage in Qi State, which is a rare commodity. You might as well detain the Prince of Chu in exchange for the five hundred miles of land east of Chu State close to Qi State." " Warring States Policy" According to "Qi Ce San", the author is Su Qin.

Lord Mengchang felt that there was something wrong with this matter, so he said: "This is not good. If we detain the prince, then Yingdu will definitely establish a new king, and then the prince of Chu will be nothing. We are guarding nothing. Not only will we not get any benefits, but the people of Chu and the world will feel that we are unkind and unjust."

Lord Mengchang is a benevolent and righteous person. Although he did not adopt this suggestion, King Qi Min is not so good. An easy person to talk to.

The envoys from Chu State rushed to Linzi, the capital of Qi State, day and night, and Prince Xiong Heng of Chu State went to King Qi Min to resign. King Qi Min deliberately blocked it and said: "If you promise to give me the five hundred miles of land east of Chu State and close to the border of Qi State, I will send you back to the country; if you don't give it, then the prince will never even think about returning to the country." The prince was at a loss for ideas. , and replied to the King of Qi: "I have a master, please let me go back and ask his opinion."

Xiong Heng's master Shenzi told the prince: "If the prince dedicates it to the land of Qi, it is so that we can return home safely. If you don't go back to pay your respects to the late king because you are stingy with the land, it would be an unjust act. Please agree to donate the land to the king of Qi." So the prince reported to King Qi Min: "I am willing to donate five hundred miles of land to show my loyalty. The country's gratitude. "

In this way, Prince Xiong Heng was able to return to the Chu Kingdom smoothly, and with the support of Qu Yuan, Zhaoju and others, he succeeded to the throne. This was the Qingxiang King in the history of the Chu Kingdom. The first year of King Qingxiang was 298 BC. In this year, Qu Yuan was forty-five years old.

As soon as King Qingxiang came to the throne, Qi State sent an envoy to ask for the promised five hundred miles of land on the border between Qi and Chu. Of course King Qingxiang didn't want to really cede the land, but the king had no words to say, and Qi couldn't afford to offend him. How to deal with it, King Qingxiang had no idea for a while. Master Shenzi asked him to summon the officials to ask for advice.

The ministers proposed many plans. King Qingxiang was confused again and didn't know who to listen to, so he went to Shenzi for advice. Taking into account the different opinions of the ministers, Shenzi provided King Qingxiang with a three-step strategy: the first step was to send an envoy to Qi to offer 500 miles of land to fulfill the original promise; On the second day, the general was sent to lead his troops to guard the land on the eastern border; the third step was to send people to the west to Qin State to request support on the second day after the general's departure.

In this way, the Chu State did not go back on its promise, but showed a posture of fulfilling its promise; but when the King of Qi sent people to take over the land, the Chu army stationed there refused to retreat; the King of Qi was furious and would send troops to attack Chu, but he heard that It was said that Qin's reinforcements had been sent, but the King of Qi did not want to confront Qin yet, so he had to withdraw his troops. In this way, the state of Chu did not waste a single soldier, and the land on the eastern border of the state of Chu was also preserved. The story is shown in "Warring States Policy·Chu Ce II", which is slightly different from what is recorded in "Historical Records·Chu Family". .

This is an episode when King Qingxiang returned to his country and ascended the throne, but it can be seen from it that King Qingxiang was not a brave and strategic king. So, if the prince successfully ascends the throne, what changes will happen to the political affairs in Chu State?

The fact is that after King Qingxiang came to the throne, he faced a severe situation of internal and external difficulties.

First, let’s take a look at the external situation.Although the State of Qin once sent reinforcements to help King Qingxiang intimidate the State of Qi, the State of Qin sent troops not for the benefit of the State of Chu, but to protect its own interests. Chu State was in danger at this time and was no longer a match for Qin State. Qin State did not take Chu State seriously at all. On the contrary, Qi State in the east was quite powerful. If Qi State gained another 500 miles of the eastern border of Chu State, Chu State was in danger. Of course, Qin State would not just watch Qi State become stronger and stronger, so it sent troops to stop Qi State.

On the other hand, the purpose of Qin's detaining King Huai of Chu was to obtain land. Now not only did the land not come to him, but it also prompted Chu to establish a new king to deal with Qin. King Zhaoxiang couldn't help but became angry and immediately sent an army. Go south, go out of Wuguan , and attack the state of Chu.

King Qingxiang had just ascended the throne and had not had time to take a breath. How could he deal with the menacing Qin army? In this battle, the Qin army defeated the Chu army, beheaded 50,000 people, and captured fifteen cities of the Chu state, giving King Qingxiang a severe disdain.

Let’s look at the internal affairs of the government.

Qu Yuan followed King Huai's instructions and successfully welcomed the prince back. He naturally hoped that King Qingxiang would care about his father who was still imprisoned in Xianyang and try to welcome his father back to the state of Chu. He repeatedly advised King Qingxiang with earnest words, but King Qingxiang just dealt with it and didn't take it seriously, let alone summon his ministers and invite everyone to make suggestions.

I guess that King Qingxiang was also feeling quite complicated at this time, because his feelings for his father, King Huai, were also very complicated. Although King Huai always dotes on his younger son, he and King Qingxiang are also father and son after all, and he has never mentioned the matter of deposing the crown prince and replacing him with Zilan. King Qingxiang still has a father-son feeling for him; however, Now that he is the king of Chu, if he welcomes his father back, how will the two kings of Chu get along with each other? Logically speaking, he should return the throne to his father. But he had worked so hard to find a way back from Qi, and now he gave up the throne. How could he be willing to do so? Besides, Qin is so powerful, why should I touch the tiger's beard?

The subtle and complicated mentality of King Qingxiang is very similar to the mentality of Song Gaozong Zhao Gou in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty: Song Gaozong's father Song Huizong and his brother Song Qinzong were all captured by the Jin Kingdom . The people of the Song Dynasty had high hopes in Gaozong, hoping that he could regain the Central Plains, save their father and brother, and avert the national humiliation. However, the peace policy pursued by Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty repeatedly disappointed people. In Gaozong's heart, how could he really hope that his father and brother, the two emperors, would return home safely? If they return to the country, can they still keep their throne?

The same is the mentality of King Qingxiang. Therefore, he was only perfunctory with Qu Yuan's repeated advice, and privately he was quite unhappy with Qu Yuan's ignorance. It's just that Qu Yuan is an old minister and insists on supporting him to succeed him as king, so he doesn't want to embarrass him too much yet.

However, even if King Qingxiang could tolerate Qu Yuan, some people could not tolerate him and tried every means to get rid of him. Who is this person?

Zilan!

When King Qingxiang did not return home, Zilan and others tried to replace him, but they failed because of the obstruction of Qu Yuan, Zhaoju and others. Zilan is such a cunning person. Seeing that the throne of King Qingxiang has been firmly established, and he has the support of important ministers such as Shenzi, Zhaoju, Qu Yuan, etc., and the army is also on the side of King Qingxiang. At present, it seems that the attempt to establish the throne is It can only be a bubble. The tactful Zilan immediately changed his tune and tried his best to flatter King Qingxiang: He immediately confided in front of King Qingxiang how he had defied all opinions and insisted on welcoming back the prince's brother, and made great contributions to the smooth return of the prince's brother; After a while, he patted his chest and expressed his position. No one can be as close as a real brother. Now that his father has a family and cannot return, the revival of Chu State depends on Brother Wang. Zilan is willing to die for Brother Wang and swear allegiance to him...etc.

King Qingxiang was so drunk by his brother's ecstasy soup that he really thought that brothers were of the same mind and could cut through gold. When he was happy, he promoted Zilan to be his commander. Ling Yin was the highest official in the Chu State, equivalent to the prime minister. One person was less than ten thousand people, and he controlled the political power of the Chu State. Zilan was originally a playboy, and all he thought about was his own selfish interests. Once he was proud, how could he consider his father who was imprisoned in a foreign country? Who would consider the Chu State in dire straits?

As for King Qingxiang, he was not a rational and clear monarch. When he was still a hostage in Qin, he killed the ministers of Qin because of his bad temper. The experience of being a hostage outside for many years has made him feel unspeakably aggrieved. Now that he has finally come out, all he can think about is eating, drinking, having fun, muddle along, and enjoying life. He wishes he could hand over all the complicated government affairs. Let Zilan worry about it, and be happy and at ease.

Seeing King Qingxiang in a daze and Zilan covering the sky with one hand, Qu Yuan saw it and felt pain in his heart. He ignored Zilan's jealousy of him and King Qingxiang's impatience with him. He repeatedly gave out his advice and advised King Qingxiang to recruit good ministers and far-off men, select good generals, and train troops to strengthen border defense. And then plotted revenge. King Qingxiang and Zilan were angry that Qu Yuan had repeatedly disappointed them, and they always wanted to find a way to show Qu Yuan some color, so that he would not dare to "make irresponsible remarks" again.

It didn’t take long before the “opportunity” really came.

King Huai died in Qin, and the people of Chu vented their anger on Zilan. Because Qu Yuan, Zhaoju and other ministers tried to prevent King Huai from attending the meeting, it was Zilan who encouraged King Huai, which led King Huai to make up his mind to go to Wuguan. "The Chu people blamed Zilan for persuading King Huai to enter the Qin Dynasty instead of rebelling against him" ("Historical Records: Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng"). For a time, there were complaints among the people of Chu. When King Qingxiang came to the throne, Zilan was not punished as he should have been. Instead, he was promoted to Ling Yin and became a popular and powerful figure in the Chu court. This made the people of Chu even more resentful.

The person who hates Zi Lan the most is undoubtedly Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan had already hated Zilan for repeatedly encouraging King Huai to be deceived. Now, at a time when the country was in crisis, King Qingxiang and Zilan not only did not want to make progress, but indulged in pleasure, they were even more furious. With Qu Yuan's character of abhorring evil, even King Huai dared to criticize him outright, let alone King Qingxiang and Zilan now. Not only did he accuse Zilan many times in person of not thinking about state affairs and confusing the king, he also criticized Zilan many times among the courtiers without hesitation. When he got excited, he would even curse loudly, "Let Yin Zilan hear this." Furious" "Historical Records: Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng". Mr. Tang Bingzheng believes: "The so-called 'making Yin Zilan very angry' refers to the angry Qu Yuan's accusation against him, and the angry Chu State's censure against him." (See "Lectures on Chu Ci")

What is Zilan angry about? Woolen cloth? He was angry because Qu Yuan scolded him, and he was angry because Qu Yuan's verbal and written criticism made him lose face. While he was angry, he also had an ulterior fear: if Qu Yuan spoke freely and revealed his plot to usurp the throne, his position would be in jeopardy!

Therefore, Zilan determined to get rid of Qu Yuan. He joined forces with Shangguan official who had slandered Qu Yuan before, and kept speaking ill of Qu Yuan to King Qingxiang. It is said that Qu Yuan relied on his elders and important ministers, was arrogant in taking credit, and did not take the king seriously at all. He also spread rumors everywhere, saying that King Huai died in Qin because King Qingxiang was greedy for the throne and refused to go to save his father.

King Qingxiang already hated Qu Yuan's bad temper of "relying on his old man and selling his old age". Now after hearing such rumors from Zilan, Shangguan officials and others, he simply followed the trend and ordered Qu Yuan to be driven out of Yingdu.

This exile was tantamount to announcing the end of Qu Yuan's political life.

Excerpted from Yang Yu "The Return of the Soul: Listening to Yang Yu Talk about Qu Yuan"