At the Battle of Jicheng, less than half a year after the fiasco of the State of Qi, in 698 BC, the depressed Duke qi, with infinite sorrow and sorrow, passed away.
Before dying, he called his eldest son, Jiang Zhu'er, to the head of the bed and explained three things:
First, ji guo's new hatred and old hatred must not be forgotten, and Ru Jin's succession to the throne should be regarded as the most important thing. To be able to destroy the Kingdom of Ji is to be filial piety. You can't take revenge, you can't go into the Temple!
Second, Lu Guo cannot be trusted or befriended. The Song Kingdom on the lu side, like us, are princes with foreign surnames, and they can help, not crusade.
Third, your cousin Gongsun is ignorant, and you must treat him well. The dress and rank treatment are the same as before I was born, and your uncle Yi Zhongnian is only this bit of bone and blood. Your two younger brothers, Xiao Bai, were born timid and could not bear to be frightened, and you also need to be kind to them, and you should not kill each other.
After saying that, as soon as he closed his eyes, he died. Jiang Zhu'er was taught for the first time and cried loudly.
Summing up the life of the thirteenth generation of Qi Gong Jiang Lufu in one word, it is a "谥号", which is a "僖" character. In today's terms, he was a man who was always careful and respectful; a man who giggled, a man who was never restrained and spoiled his children and relatives, a man who did not accomplish great things if he wanted to, a man who had made no mistakes.
These different meanings can all be boiled down to the same word: "僖." This is already the highest evaluation of the slightly absurd and harmless king of mediocrity and incompetence. It is not enough to be "Zhuang", not to call it "Wen", let alone "Wu", after all, it is still a little pejorative in the usual.
Therefore, after his death, the nickname "Duke of Qi" was permanently recorded in the annals of history. Subsequently, the crown prince Jiang Zhu'er, with the support of Zhu Dafu, took the throne after death, and changed the next year to the first year, which was the fourteenth monarch of the State of Qi, known in history as the Duke of Qi Xiang.
This Qi Xiang Gong Jiang Zhu'er has a sister and a younger sister.
The older sister, known as "Xuan jiang", married the monarch of the Wei state; the younger sister, called "Wen Jiang", married the monarch of the state of Lu.
In fact, what exactly the names of these two beautiful princesses are called, posterity has no way to examine. Because at that time, women's names were difficult to enter the annals of history, and the reason why they were called Xuanjiang and Wenjiang was just a code name in the history books, not their real names.
For example, Xuanjiang, because after her husband died, was given the title of "Wei Xuangong", so it was "Lady Wei Xuangong Jiang", so she used "Xuan" to call her. Wen Jiang, because she is very cultured and good at writing love poems, so she uses "Wen" to call her.
Xuan and Wen are all code names given according to their characteristics. The character Jiang means that they are women with the surname of Jiang Qiguo. So it's not their real name, it's just a code name. However, for the sake of narration, let's take them as their names.
Strictly speaking, they are not really "princesses" in the true sense of the word. The reason why it is called this way is also to facilitate the narrative. After all, it is not wrong that most people are accustomed to referring to the daughters of aristocratic monarchs as princesses in general.
So, who is the princess in the true sense of the word? That is the daughter of Zhou Tianzi (or sister, because Tianzi's sister must also be the daughter of Lao Tianzi).
Even the daughter of Tianzi did not know what her real name was, because there were only two words in the history books, "Wang Ji", which was just a code name.
Generally speaking, when a daughter gets married, the father cannot send it personally, otherwise he will be short. Because the son-in-law is only a junior, the father-in-law must choose a relative with a higher status, but slightly lower than himself, to send relatives, so as to match the identity of the son-in-law.
Since most of Tianzi's daughters were married to princes (princes), Tianzi was inconvenient to come forward to send relatives, so among the relatives of his family with the same surname, he invited a person who was a "gong" to officiate at the wedding. Because the father is the subordinate of the Son of Heaven, just as the son-in-law is the next generation of the father-in-law.
In this way, the marriage of the daughter of the Great Prince of Tianzi is basically presided over by a person whose status is "gong". Only when the daughter of the Son of Heaven gets married, she will be presided over by the "gong", so such a woman will be referred to as a "princess" figuratively.
This is where the word "princess" comes from. Later, it was inherited into the Warring States and evolved into a formal title.
When gong's daughter got married, gong himself was inconvenient to come forward, and could only be presided over by a "doctor" (qing) who was slightly lower than Gong.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the etiquette of the princes was strictly regulated. If you marry an enemy country or a small country, you will be sent by the lower doctor; if you marry a big country, you will be sent by the upper doctor; if you marry the son of heaven, the doctors will go together to send relatives to show respect. Never a father personally gave a gift to his daughter.
From this point of view, when Duke Qi married his younger daughter Wen Jiang to Duke Huan of Lu, he could only send relatives by his younger brother Yi Zhonglian (Shang Dafu) and son Jiang Zhu'er (Crown Prince). However, Qi Gonggong was afraid that his son would pestering his daughter to do bad things in the middle of the road, so he had to send it himself, so he was also short.
In this way, historians will naturally have to talk about this phenomenon of disobedience.
Now, after the 27-year-old Jiang Zhu'er succeeded to the throne, he felt that his father had been a mediocre person all his life, and he could no longer be willing to be mediocre! However, the state of Qi has just suffered a big loss, and its strength has been severely damaged, so how can it try to build a strong rope?
Jiang Zhu'er carefully calculated that compared with other princes, he also had one of the biggest advantages, that is, among the four princes, he was the youngest, and he was not yet married.
Therefore, Jiang Zhu'er very boldly and presumptuously wrote a letter to the Heavenly Son King, expressing his admiration and respect for the royal family, hoping to marry a royal woman.
The Son of Heaven ignored him, like a stone sinking into the sea.
Jiang Zhu'er continued to write letters, give gifts, and did not marry the daughter of the royal family.
This persistence is a four-year-long pursuit! By 694 BC, the miracle had finally come
Appearing, Zhou Tianzi showed great compassion and promised to marry his sister "Wang Ji" to Jiang Zhu'er.
Jiang Zhu'er's value suddenly doubled.
When Wang Ji got married, Tianzi had to choose a "gong" from their family named Ji to send relatives, pick and choose, and finally choose Lu Huan to send relatives. First, the identity of the Duke of Lu and the Duke of Qi and the Sons of Jiang Zhu'er are the most appropriate, and second, the State of Lu is closest to the State of Qi, which is the most convenient.
In the end, Lu Cabinet still felt ashamed of his father-in-law, so he was also very willing to come to the State of Qi to marry, just so that the two families could turn gan ge into jade.