"Whoosh"!
The sharp sound of the arrow's feathers breaking through the air, with unstoppable force, hit the shoulder of Emperor Zhou impartially. The arrow penetrated the thick armor and pierced hard into the flesh.
At this time, King Huan of Zhou, who was in his thirties, was commanding the allied forces of Zhou, Wei, Chen, and Cai to retreat from the battlefield. He fell down in response, his body lying on Che Shi, and blood slowly flowed out. Regret arose in his heart. He regretted that he should not have come to this experience. What he regretted was that Zheng Zhuanggong dared to openly oppose him and shoot him with an arrow. The regret in my heart at this moment far exceeded the physical pain. . .
He knew that from now on, the Zhou Dynasty would no longer be able to control Zheng Guo, and the authority of the Emperor Zhou would also be wiped out from now on.
" Zhu Dan, no!"
Zheng Zhuanggong shouted, stopped and was about to rush the car forward, and took down Emperor Zhou's Zhu Dan in one fell swoop.
Zheng Guo then simply cleaned up the battlefield, ordered the gold to withdraw his troops, let go of the emperor's chariot and fled away.
It was the autumn of 707 BC, when Zheng Guo was in trouble.
King Huan of Zhou was struck by an arrow
A sign of the collapse of rites and music - a cross-examination between Zhou and Zheng
In 743 BC, Duke Zhuang of Zheng Ji Huansheng succeeded to the throne. After 21 years of keeping a low profile and accumulating strength, in 722 BC, Duke Zhuang of Zheng finally eradicated his younger brother Taishu Duan and placed his mother Wu Jiang under house arrest. Duke Zhuang of Zheng had monopolized power. Now he alone has the final say in the state of Zheng. Throughout the process, Duke Zheng Zhuang behaved loyally and honestly, like a submissive filial son and wise brother. In fact, he was cunning and tolerant of changes. He gradually cultivated Taishu Duan's sins and led him to the abyss of "any unjust behavior will lead to self-destruction". However, he won the support of ministers and the people, and gained power and fame.
Duke Zhuang of Zheng was not just the king of Zheng, he was also a minister of the Zhou Dynasty, similar to a prime minister. Why can he still serve in the central government since he is a feudal official? All because of the good deeds accumulated by our ancestors. His grandfather, the founding king of the Zheng Kingdom, Zheng Huan Gong , was the biological uncle of King You of Zhou . He died to protect King Zhou You during the Quanrong Rebellion. His father, the second generation king Zheng Wugong , protected King Zhou Ping from moving eastward to Luoyi and made great contributions, so he was named a minister by King Zhou Ping. After Zheng Wugong died, the ministers were naturally succeeded by Zheng Zhuanggong.
However, in the past twenty years, Zheng Zhuanggong was busy dealing with domestic affairs and could not attend to Zhou Chao 's work. If an executive is absent from work for too long, no other leader will feel comfortable. King Zhou Ping was thinking about how to reduce Zheng Zhuanggong's power in the central government, so he promoted Xi Guo Kingdom monarch Guo Gong Ji's father to check and balance Zhuang Gong through decentralization of power.
Duke Zhuang's spy in the court had already reported the news to Duke Zhuang. Duke Zhuang drove to Luoyi as soon as possible, met with the Emperor of Zhou, and started his performance.
Zheng Zhuanggong's movie-level performance
Gong Zhuang said aggrievedly: "I have been favored by Your Majesty, and my father and son have been in charge of the country one after another. However, I am really untalented and am ashamed to occupy my position. I am willing to return my position as a minister and return to my country to become a vassal, in order to keep my integrity."
Ping Wang said in surprise: "What are you talking about? Because you have not been to the court for a long time, I miss you so much. Now that I see you well, it is too late for me to be happy."
Zhuang Gongdao: "There is a rebellious rebellion in the country (referring to Taishu Duan's rebellion), so I have been absent from duty for a long time. Now that the state affairs have been decided, I came to see you at starry night. On the way, I heard that the emperor was going to the court. I entrusted the government to Guo Gong, and I also felt that Guo Gong was ten thousand times more talented than me, so I simply resigned from my post and could no longer live as a vegetarian. "
When King Ping heard that he already knew about Guo Gong, he blushed instantly. He also felt that he was in the wrong, so he hurriedly comforted him: "Your Majesty is not in the court, and some important matters are not handled by anyone, so I asked Guo Gong to handle the political affairs for you. I have no other intention. Qing and his son have made great contributions to the country in the past forty years. How can I not be clear in my heart? "
However, Duke Zheng Zhuang has become an actor, and he keeps saying over and over again that your Majesty is right, but that I am at fault, and that I am not capable enough, so I should resign.When King Ping saw that the misunderstanding could not be eliminated, he had no choice but to say: "If you still don't trust me, then let's exchange hostages!" At that time, the practice of exchanging hostages was very common among the princes, but the exchange of hostages between the emperor and the princes was unprecedented.
Duke Zhuang was shocked and said: "How is this possible? How can there be any reason in the world for the emperor and his ministers to exchange hostages? People in the world will think that I am threatening your majesty."
After several refusals, Duke Zhuang said: "Well, let's let it go The prince came to our Zheng State for a period of time to inspect, and my eldest son Zi suddenly came to Luoyi to serve His Majesty, accept His Majesty's teachings, and learn the Zhou rites well."
So the prince Hu of the Zhou Dynasty went to the Zheng Kingdom to be a hostage, and the Zheng Kingdom's prince Zi suddenly came to the Zhou Dynasty to be a hostage.
Zhou Zheng's cross-examination was the first landmark event of the Eastern Zhou " ritual collapse and music destruction ". The once lofty Emperor Zhou fell from the altar and was reduced to the same level as the princes. Zuo Qiu Ming said: If faith cannot be trusted, quality is of no use. True trust actually does not require hostages.
Duke Wu of Zheng and Duke Zhuang were the ministers of the King of Ping. The king went to Guo, and Zheng Bo resented the king. The king said: "There is no such thing." So Zhou and Zheng confronted each other. Prince Hu was a hostage to Zheng, and Master Zheng was suddenly a hostage to Zhou. "Zuo Zhuan·Yin Gong Three Years"
Wheat Cutting Incident
In 720 BC, not long after the confrontation between Zhou and Zheng, King Zhou Ping died, and Prince Hu returned to the country under the escort of Zheng to succeed him. However, it is unknown whether it was due to the fatigue of the journey or the sadness of his father's death that Prince Hu died on the road. His son Ji Lin succeeded to the throne and became King Huan of Zhou.
King Huan was very resentful towards Duke Zhuang of Zheng because his father humiliated himself as a hostage in Zheng and died on the way. He began to use his grandfather's method again, reusing Guo Gong and reducing Zhuang Gong's power. The young and vigorous King Huan was not like his grandfather, King Ping, who had lived in poverty all his life. He was a bit like the noble countryman Cao Mao of later generations, who was determined to fight against the powerful ministers to the end.
Zheng Zhuanggong returned to the state of Zheng angrily. When the ministers saw this, they were all aggrieved. For example, Gao Qumi suggested "Kill Luoyi and seize the bird position." Uncle Ying Kao suggested that Duke Zheng Zhuang continue to be patient. You have endured even your younger brother for twenty years, let alone the emperor. If the wise man sacrifices enough, he will take the wrong approach. He suggested cutting the wheat of Zhou Kingdom and imposing small punishments to see how the Zhou Dynasty reacts.
Zheng Zhuanggong adopted the plan of to satisfy .
In April, Jizu led his soldiers to Wendi in the territory of King Ji of Eastern Zhou Dynasty . Each soldier prepared a sickle to cut all the wheat in the fields and returned home with a full load. Zhou Guo made no response.
In mid-July, Jizu led his soldiers to Chengzhou in the Kingdom of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He asked his soldiers to pretend to be businessmen, lie in ambush in the forest during the day, swarm up at the third watch in the middle of the night, harvest all the wheat, and then withdrew at the fifth watch.
Zheng Jun captured Chengzhou's grain
King Huan learned that Zheng had harvested wheat in the two areas, and he was furious. He was about to send troops to investigate. The auxiliary Zhou Gong Heijian hurriedly dissuaded him: "Starting a war because of harvesting wheat is a small gain at a loss." King Huan suppressed the anger in his heart.
The king died, and the people of Zhou were handed over to the government of Guo. In the fourth month, Zheng Jizu sent his commander to get warm wheat. In autumn, the crops of Zhou were harvested again. Zhou and Zheng were at odds with each other. "Zuo Zhuan Yin Gong Three Years"
Ten carts of millet and two carts of colored silk
In the winter of 717 BC, Duke Zhuang of Zheng went to Luoyi for the first time to meet King Zhou Huan. King Zhou Huan still had a grudge against Duke Zhuang because of the wheat harvesting, so he did not treat Duke Zhuang politely.
King Huan asked: "How is Zheng's harvest this year?"
Duke Zhuang replied: "Thanks to your majesty, there will be no drought or flood in Zheng this year, and the grain harvest will be bumper."
King Huan said: "Great, now the mild wheat, I can eat it by myself!"
Duke Zhuang heard the yin and yang of King Huan of Zhou, was speechless, and left the court. At this time, King Zhou Huan felt that he could humiliate Duke Zhuang again, so he sent ten carts of millet, telling Duke Zhuang that he could eat this if the harvest was not good in the future, and there was no need to go to wangji to cut wheat.
Zhuang Gong was filled with resentment.
Duke Zhou Heijian advised King Huan of Zhou: "Our Zhou Dynasty relies on Jin Kingdom and Zheng Guo to move eastward. We treat Zheng Guo friendly to encourage other princes, but we are afraid that others will not come, let alone not receive them politely? Zheng Guo is afraid that he will not come to court again in the future." Zhou Gong privately sent two carts of colorful silk to Zheng Zhuanggong in his own name.
After receiving the silk and satin, the counselor came up with a plan and told Duke Zhuang of Zheng: "We will cover the two carts of colorful silk on the ten carts of millet and declare it to the outside world as a reward from the emperor. Others will think that the emperor has rewarded us ten carts of colorful silk."
Gong Zheng Zhuang was overjoyed and acted according to the plan. The soldiers were asked to cover ten carts of millet with two carts of colorful silk, and they played and beat along the way, announcing that they had received a huge reward from the emperor, and that they had received the king's order to attack the sin of disobedience in the Song Dynasty. In this way, Zheng Zhuanggong perfectly turned King Zhou Huan's humiliation into a huge reward, and also became a cover for crusade against the Song Dynasty.
Zheng Boru Zhou, the first king of the dynasty Huan. The king is rude. Duke Huan of Zhou said to the king: "I moved east from the Zhou Dynasty, Jin and Zheng Yan followed. Those who are good at Zheng persuaded to come are still afraid, how can it be rude? Zheng won't come!" "Zuo Zhuan·Yin Gong Sixth Year"
The war that decided the situation in 500 years - Zhou Zheng htm In 715 BC, King Huan of Zhou appointed Guo Gong's jealous father as a minister of the Zhou Dynasty, but he was only a right minister. He also left a left minister for Zheng Zhuanggong, which was also a false position.
Zheng Zhuanggong was furious when he found out and never went to Zhou Dynasty again.
In 707 BC, King Huan of Zhou openly broke with Duke Zhuang of Zheng, dismissed Duke Zhuang of Zheng from all his posts, and determined to personally lead the six armies to conquer the state of Zheng. Both Zhou Gong and Guo Gong came to dissuade him. King Zhou Huan said: "Ji Yuansheng has bullied me not once or twice. If he continues to tolerate it, he will bully me again! Yuansheng and I are incompatible!"
King Huan of Zhou regarded this battle as a key battle to revitalize the Zhou royal family. As long as he defeated the little overlord Zheng Zhuanggong, the princes would surely come to court one after another. This would return to the situation in the Western Zhou Dynasty where the emperor had the final say. It is really exciting to think about it.
King Huan of Zhou summoned the princes to join the war, but only received responses from Wei, Chen, and Cai.. Qi State and Lu State are now allies of Zheng State, and Song State also became Zheng State's follower after Prince Feng succeeded to the throne.
In the autumn of this year, Emperor Zhou led the allied forces of Zhou, Wei, Chen, and Cai to attack the state of Zheng with great momentum. King Huan of Zhou divided his army into three armies: the left, middle and right armies: the left army was the army of Chen State, commanded by Duke Zhou; the right army was the army of Wei State and Cai State, commanded by Duke Guo; the middle army was the central army of Zhou Dynasty, commanded by King Zhou Huan himself.
The king seized the power of Zheng Bo, but Zheng Bo did not rule. In autumn, the king sent the princes to attack Zheng, and Zheng Bo defended him. The king is the center army; Guo Gong Linfu will lead the right army, Cai people and Wei people belong to Yan; Zhou Gong Heijian will lead the left army, and Chen people belong to Yan. "Zuo Zhuan·Huan Gong's Fifth Year"
Zhou, Wei, Chen, and Cai attacked the Zheng State from all directions.
The coalition forces were massive, and they were able to defeat Zheng State's momentum in one fell swoop. However, if you analyze it carefully, you will know that this is a group of rabble:
1. Wei, Chen, Cai and Zheng Guo fought many times and were defeated repeatedly. They were afraid of Zheng like a tiger and had a serious fear of war;
2. The commanders of the left and right armies, Zhou Gong and Guo Gong, did not want to fight at all and were forced to participate in the war;
3. Although the central army of the Zhou Dynasty was elite, its combat experience was far inferior to that of the Zheng army that had been fighting everywhere for many years.
When Zheng Zhuanggong saw the king's invasion, he discussed with the ministers and agreed that they should attack the two wings first, and finally join the central army. After defeating the weak Wei, Chen, and Cai armies, Wang's army collapsed without a fight. Zheng Zhuanggong also divided the Zheng army into three groups:
The right army was led by Man Bo, the doctor, and attacked Chen's army on the left;
The left army was led by Ji Zu, and attacked Cai's army on the right;
The Three Armies of the State of Zheng faced off against the Three Armies of the King's Division
In this battle, Zheng Zhuanggong introduced a new strategy, the "Fish Li Formation": twenty-five chariots in a row, with five infantry between the chariots. This allows the tank and the infantry to support each other and prevent the tank from being divided and surrounded.In fact, it emphasizes the coordinated combat between tanks and infantry. It is similar to the coordinated combat between tanks and infantry of Guderian , and it is more than two thousand years ahead.
Manbo was on the right to reject, and Zhongzu was on the left. Yuan Fan and Gao Qumi served the public with the Chinese army, and served as Yuli's Chen. "Zuo Zhuan: The Fifth Year of Duke Huan"
Zheng's army
Zheng's army and the multinational forces of Emperor Zhou met in Suige, and a war that would determine the situation of the world for 500 years was ready to start.
The next day, the coalition forces formed a formation, waiting for Zheng Jun to come out to fight. However, Zheng Jun closed the camp gate tightly and did not go out to fight.
King Huan of Zhou was very puzzled. Zheng Jun did not play his cards according to the "Zhou Rites". The two armies should form an array together and fight according to the game rules of "Dignified Formation". King Huan of Zhou was also very depressed. He had already prepared a set of rhetoric and wanted to denounce Duke Zheng Zhuang in front of the two armies, but Duke Zheng Zhuang did not give him this opportunity.
After one morning, the morale of the coalition forces began to decline. At this time, a war drum suddenly sounded in Zheng's camp, the camp door opened wide, and Zheng's troops roared out, pounced on the coalition forces like tigers descending from the mountain. The armies of Wei, Chen, and Cai on the left and right flanks were caught off guard, and their positions were in chaos. They collapsed at the first touch and fled in panic.
The left and right armies retreated, and the Central Army of the Zhou Dynasty also began to lose its footing. At this time, the Zheng army's left and right armies began to join forces in the center. The Zhou Dynasty's central army could not resist and gradually retreated. At this time, King Huan of Zhou finally showed the emperor's responsibility and responsibility. He ordered all the armies to retreat and cut off the rear himself.
When the Zhou army was retreating, General Zhu Dan of the State of Zheng saw the emperor's Huang Gai from a distance. He expected that the person in the car must be King Huan of Zhou, so he took aim with his bow and shot an arrow, hitting the emperor's left shoulder. Zhu Dan wanted to continue chasing, but Duke Zheng Zhuang hurriedly stopped him.
Zheng Jun stopped chasing, and the injured King Huan of Zhou led his army to flee back to the camp. After Zhu Dan returned to camp, he complained that Zheng Zhuanggong had lost an opportunity to capture the Emperor of Zhou. Zheng Zhuanggong reprimanded him: "Confused! He is the king and I am the minister. How can I feel guilty after catching him? What if he dies of serious injuries, I am not Are you charged with regicide?"
Fighting in Sui Ge, Ming Er refused and said: "If you move, let's drum." Cai, Wei, and Chen all ran away, and the king's soldiers were in chaos. Zheng's army joined forces to attack, and the king's soldiers were defeated. I wish Dan shot the king in the shoulder, and the king will be able to fight. Zhu Dan please follow. The duke said: "A gentleman does not want to have many superiors, how much more dare he mausoleum the emperor! If you save yourself, the country will not be destroyed, there will be more." "Zuo Zhuan·Huan Gong's fifth year"
The king's army was defeated in the Battle of Suige
That night, Duke Zhuang of Zheng ordered him to sacrifice his feet and bring more than a hundred cattle and sheep to the Zhou camp, and apologized. King Huan of Zhou Dynasty was unable to send more troops to conquer, so he had to break his teeth and swallow it in his belly. He stroked his shoulder wound and accepted peace in humiliation.
At night, Zheng Bo made a sacrifice to King Lao and asked about his left and right. "Zuo Zhuan: The Fifth Year of Duke Huan"
From then on, King Huan of Zhou never mentioned attacking Zheng again.
The back of a lonely Emperor Zhou is gradually drifting away. The Zhou royal family moved from the political center to the marginalized, and the world has since entered a situation where princes are competing for hegemony..
The death of Duke Zhuang of Zheng and the end of Zheng’s golden age
Everyone will die.
hero is no exception.
In 701 BC, on May 7, the forty-third year of Duke Zheng Zhuang, the great hero Zheng Zhuang Gong came to the end of his life. The first male protagonist of Spring and Autumn came to an end.
Throughout his life, he was forbearing and cunning, scheming and good at fighting. He single-handedly stirred up the turmoil in the early Spring and Autumn Period. Politically, he put down Taishu Duan's rebellion, and brought a relatively stable situation to Zheng; economically, he focused on agriculture and commerce, and continuously enhanced the country's economic strength; diplomatically, he was good at dancing, splitting up and disintegrating the anti-Zheng alliance of Song, Wei, Lu, Chen, Cai and other countries, and forming a close alliance with Qi and Lu; Almost all of his neighboring countries at the same time were defeated by him, including Song, Wei, Chen, Cai, and even the Zhou Dynasty. He brought Zheng Guo into the golden age in one fell swoop, which was the only peak period in Zheng Guo's more than 400-year history.
Mr. Zheng Zhuang deserves the title of "Little Bull"!
A generation of heroes, Duke Zheng Zhuang
However, the glory of Zheng State cannot be separated from Zheng Zhuanggong's extraordinary talents and perseverance. After the death of a generation of heroes, the decline of Zheng State became inevitable, and frequent civil strife aggravated the speed of decline.
Before Zheng Zhuanggong died, he was still asking which son should be established as the king. Zihu, Zitu, Ziqian, and Ziyi were all qualified to be kings. What he did not expect was that these four sons triggered the civil strife of the Zheng State. The Zheng State declined from then on and never returned to the golden age that only belonged to Zheng Zhuanggong. For the story behind
, please read my trilogy "Twenty Years of Rebellion in the Kingdom of Zheng".
Twenty Years of Chaos in the State of Zheng (Part 2) - Who is the final winner?
