Although his family lives in poverty, Confucius knew since he was a child that he should study hard and be a good person. He has been concentrating on studying in order to enter the official career after he grows up and restore his family's former glory.
In 532 BC, Confucius found a position in the management of a warehouse in Ji's family, responsible for managing cashiers and other matters. Although the matter is very complicated, Confucius did it carefully and accurately and did not make any mistakes.
During this period, Ji's family was Ji Pingzi. Ji Pingzi attaches great importance to Chongyang Tiger. Yang Tiger's status in the Ji family is very important, and his power is getting stronger and stronger, and he gradually controls the entire Ji family.
Yang Hu, who was at the top of Ji's power, saw Confucius' gaze as he looked no different from before, and was still as arrogant as before, and was arrogant and arrogant as before.
2, famous
Although Confucius lived in poverty since he was a child, he was a descendant of the nobles of the Song Dynasty and was very knowledgeable, so he was famous and highly praised by the literati and officials at that time. Meng Aizi, Sikong of Lu, was one of them.
Meng Aizi once followed Dong Zhaogong of Lu to visit Chu and Zheng. In this process, he could not handle diplomatic affairs with appropriate etiquette, and was deeply ashamed of this, and therefore realized the importance of learning "etiquette".
When he was dying, Meng Aizi warned his two sons, Meng Yizi and Nangong Jingshu: " Confucius is the descendant of a saint. Although he is unknown now, with his youth and kindness, he will surely be virtuous in the future. After I die, you must worship him as your teacher."
After Meng Aizi passed away, Meng Yizi and Nangong Jingshu followed his father's last wish to worship Confucius as his teacher and followed him to learn etiquette.
Meng Aizi belongs to the Meng Sun family, one of the "Three Huans", and is a legitimate class. Because there are these two disciples of the Meng Sun family, when Confucius proposed to go to the capital to visit Laozi and ask for advice, the king of Lu happily agreed and specially sent a carriage and horse and servants, and Confucius was able to take Nangong Jingshu to the journey.
Since then, Confucius began to open a library to teach his disciples, and his reputation has become increasingly greater. When the king of Qi, Duke Jing of Qi, who is adjacent to Lu, would come to visit Confucius specifically when he visited Lu.
3. A tortuous career
Although he is famous, Confucius' career did not go very smoothly, especially in 517 BC, Lu was in chaos, and Duke Zhao of Lu was forced to flee, and Confucius also left Lu and went on tour to lecture in various vassal states.
At the same time, Yang Hu's power is getting bigger and bigger. After Ji Pingzi's death, his son Ji Huanzi succeeded to the throne and became the head of the Ji family. When the young master came to power, Yang Hu was the first to express his dissatisfaction. He actually rebelled against the enemy and imprisoned Ji Huanzi. In the end, Ji Huanzi agreed to Yang Hu's conditions before he was free.
After this incident, Yang Hu didn't take Ji Huanzi seriously. He even began to cross the Ji family's interference in major affairs of Lu. His power was so great that it completely surpassed the new king of Lu--- Duke Ding of Lu .
There are retainers like Yang Hu who are tyrannical. The literati and officials of Lu no longer abide by the etiquette system, and Lu is once again in chaos.
The powerful Yang Hu also noticed Confucius' reputation, so after Confucius returned to Lu, he made a special trip to pay his respects, hoping to get Confucius' support.
Confucius directly rejected him.
At the same time, Duke Ding of Lu, who was underwritten by Yang Hu and the "Three Huans" family, was also seeking a way to strengthen his help. His eyes for help finally fell on Confucius.
Dong Duke of Lu knew that Yang Hu and Confucius were not in harmony, and also knew Confucius' influence. Using the current chaos in Lu State and "ritual" to govern chaos may be the correct way.
So Duke Ding appointed Confucius as "Zhongdu Zai", that is, the chief executive in charge of a city.
4, entrusted with important tasks
The appointment from Duke Ding of Lu is obviously more legitimate than Yang Hu's favor, so Confucius accepted it happily.
After Confucius took office, his ideological proposition that he focused on the "ritual system" was successfully implemented. The record of " Confucius' Family Words " is:
system is a festival for health preservation and death. The elders and young people eat differently, the strength and weakness are different, and men and women have different paths, no way to pick up the leftovers, and no false tools are carved. It is a four-inch coffin and a five-inch coffin. Because hills are tombs, they are not sealed or trees. After one year of his journey, the princes of the West were there.
After Confucius took office, he formulated rules to ensure the lives and burial of the people: respect the elders, and the food for the elders and young people should be different when eating; the strong and the weak should undertake tasks according to different abilities; men and women should walk separately; do not pick up what others have lost on the road; do not carve too much decoration.
people should be buried after death with four inches of coffin and five inches of coffin wood. They should be buried on hills without building other high tombs or planting trees around the tomb. After one year of implementation of the system like
, it achieved good results, and the various vassal states followed suit.
Dong Duke Lu was very happy to see that Confucius allowed a city to be well managed, so he asked him, "Is it okay to implement your method in Lu?"
Confucius replied, "It is okay to implement it all over the world, not just Lu!"
So, Duke Lu Ding appointed Confucius as Sikong. According to the characteristics of the country's land, Confucius planted different crops on different lands. The crops had good growth conditions and harvested a lot, and the food supply of the people was guaranteed.
So Duke Ding of Lu promoted Confucius to the Grand Secretary, and was specifically responsible for formulating and promulgating the legal system.
At this time, Confucius was over fifty years old.
5, Jiagu Meeting
In 500 BC, Duke Ding of Lu and Duke Jing of Qi decided to meet in Jiagu to discuss the alliance between the two sides. Duke Ding of Lu appointed Confucius to be responsible for the etiquette of this diplomatic diplomatic relations.
Qi State is a very important neighbor of Lu State. Whether it is territory or strength, Lu State is difficult to match it; Jiagu is also within Qi State, and it is unlikely that Lu Ding Gong will be able to grasp the direction of the talks by chance and against the weak.
However, because Confucius was present, the State of Lu took the lead in this talk.
Before departure, Confucius said to Duke Ding of Lu: "I have heard that there should be reserves for peace talks, and there should be preparations for peaceful diplomacy for military activities. When the princes left their territory, they would definitely bring civil and military officials with them. Please bring Sima with them." The records in "Confucius's Family Words" are:
Those who hear that there are literary affairs must be prepared for military preparations. Those who have martial arts must have literary preparations. In ancient times, when all the princes went out of the border, they would have to have officials to follow and ask for Sima on both sides.
Duke Ding of Lu obeyed Confucius' words, so he asked the left and right Sima, who was in charge of military affairs, to follow him, and also brought an army with him.
The formation set up by Qi State does not look like a peace talk: after the monarchs of both sides greeted each other, a team of prisoners of barbarians suddenly appeared on the Qi State. They shouted loudly to protest to Lu Ding, as if they were to hijack Lu Ding Duke.
Seeing this scene, Confucius quickly climbed up to the platform, protected Duke Ding of Lu with his body, and said to the soldiers of Lu: "Go and stop them! Our king is here to negotiate peace, and the prisoners of the barbarians dare to be so rude. This is definitely not a way of friendship and diplomatic relations! Doing this is an ominous act, followed by an unrighteous act of Tao, and it is rude to others. This is definitely not arranged by Duke of Qi , right?"
Duke Jing of Qi was very ashamed when he heard Confucius' questioning, and quickly asked the group of people to retreat and the peace talks could continue.
After a while, the Qi people began to play palace music, and many artists and dwarfs began to sing, dance and play in front of the stage.
Confucius climbed up the stairs again and said, "You people dare to insult the princes. You should be punished according to your crimes! Please punish the right Sima!"
The right Sima who followed Duke Ding of Lu, then immediately killed the dwarf and others.
Seeing this scene, Duke Jing of Qi showed shame but did not blame him.
When the alliance was concluded, the Qi people would add a sentence after the alliance: "When Qi sent troops, if Lu did not send 300 troops to support it, then it would be punished according to this alliance."
Confucius immediately responded: "Then we should also add a sentence: If Qi does not return the territory north of our Wenhe River, but only asks us to send troops to support it, Qi should also be punished according to this alliance!" After the alliance was signed, Qi returned the city and land of Lu that had been occupied as required.
Donald Qi Jinggong was obviously shocked by Confucius' performance during the peace talks. After returning to the capital, he blamed the ministers and said, "The ministers of Lu State used the way of gentlemen to assist their monarchs, but you taught me the way of barbarians, which made me suffer so much humiliation for nothing!"
6. After the nationwide implementation of
Jiagu meeting, Duke Ding of Lu attached more importance to Confucius and authorized Confucius to fully preside over the administrative work of Lu State.
Confucius was finally able to implement the etiquette system nationwide.
Confucius first solved the problem of "over-order" of the "Three Huans" family. The original cities of the Ji Sun family, Shu Sun family and Meng Sun family were far more than their identities. Confucius then sent Ji's retainer, Zhongyou , that is, Confucius' favorite disciple Zilu, to demolish the cities of these three families, so that they are more in line with their identities as ministers.
After the city compliance of the "Three Huans" family, the majesty and status of the king of Lu were strengthened and consolidated, and the order of the king's respect for his ministers was restored.
only took three months to rule the whole country. In the entire territory of Shandong, "the king, the minister, the father, the son and the son" were "the king, the emperor, the minister, the father, the son and the son". Men, women, the elders and young people all fulfilled their duties, and the order of the superiors and inferiors became a trend. After the news reached Qi State, Duke Jing of Qi was very scared of the great rule of Lu State. He was worried that as a neighbor, he would become the first victim, so he began to find ways to disintegrate the fighting spirit of the ruler and ministers of Lu State.
Postscript
Soon, Duke Jing of Qi found a solution: he sent someone to send 80 beauties to Duke Ding of Lu and Ji Huanzi to confuse the monarch and ministers of Lu.
Duke Ding and Ji Huanzi accepted the gift from Duke Jing of Qi very happily. They "accepted Qi female musicians and refused to obey the government for three days". From then on, they indulged in beauty and singing and dancing every day, and no longer had the heart to deal with the government.
Confucius persuaded me again and again, but unfortunately I was useless.
Confucius watched his efforts be lost soon. In addition, the Ji family regained power, Duke Ding of Lu had lost his trust in him. He felt that he had no hope of perseverance, so he left Lu and embarked on the road to travel around the countries.
References to this article: " Records of the Grand Historian·Historical Family ", "Confucius's Family Language·Xianglu"
