In 660 BC, Duke Cheng of Qin died, and his brother Ren Hao succeeded him as Duke Mu of Qin.
In 621 BC, Duke Mu of Qin died.
In these 39 years, Qin Mugong expanded thousands of miles, served the east and strengthened the Jin Dynasty, dominated xirong, and became one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period.
However, the virtuous and powerful Qin Mugong was criticized after his death, because 177 people were martyred for him, and the Qin State lost a large number of talents, and the Book of Poetry and Yellow Bird wrote about this matter to condemn Qin Mugong.
Even Sima Qian said that It was right that Duke Mu of Qin could not be the ally of the princes, because he "died and abandoned the people, and took his good subjects and obeyed death." ”
However, in later generations, there were also people who stood up to speak fairly for Qin Mugong, such as Su Shi, who once said: "If Gong Xi did not curse Meng Ming, would he have the day of death and endure his goodness?" ”
Sure enough, it was right and wrong, and it was left to be commented on by future generations.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, King You of Zhou was besieged by shenguo, jiaoguo, and inurong, and Qin Xianggong led troops to rescue and escort the king of Zhouping to move east, thus becoming a prince, at that time, the king of Zhouping said: "Rong has no way, invade the land of Qi and Feng, Qin can attack and drive Rong, that is, there is a land." ”
Since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the Qin State has officially become a princely state, and as long as it can take land from the Dog Rong, it is the Qin State, which is easy to say, but it is very difficult to operate in practice. The Qin people have been operating in the west for many years, but they are only in the west, always far away from the Central Plains, and have never been able to participate in the Disputes in the Central Plains.
It was not until Duke Mu of Qin succeeded to the throne that the situation in the middle of the Qin state was changed, and the Duke Mu of Qin was the fifth grandson of Duke Xiang of Qin and the ninth monarch of the Qin state.
After succeeding to the throne, Duke Mu of Qin actively expanded eastward and tried to participate in the affairs of the Central Plains, but the biggest obstacle to the eastward expansion of the Qin state was the rising Jin state, when the king of the Jin state was the Duke of Jin.
The Duke of Jin xian laid a solid foundation for the hegemony of the Jin state, he "merged the country seventeen, served the country thirty-eight", so that the Jin state expanded thousands of miles, in the face of such a strong monarch, all Qin Mugong had to do was to make peace with the Jin state.
Qin Jin's goodness is the result of Qin Mugong's hard work in public relations.
In 656 BC, Duke Mu of Qin proposed to Duke Xiangong of Jin, and Duke Xiangong of Jin married his daughter Mu Ji to Duke Mu of Qin, which was the first step in the friendship between Qin and Jin. From this, he also got a rare talent, that is, Baili Xi.
Since the day of His succession to the throne, Qin Mugong's ambitions are enormous, and his vision is also very far-reaching, and in order for the Qin State to move eastward to intervene in the affairs of the Central Plains, it is necessary to strengthen itself, and then expand the eastward expansion, in this process, it is necessary to rely on various talents, and Qin Mugong is thirsty for talents, and does not stick to talents at home and abroad, as long as it can be used by him, he will find a way to get it
Bai Lixi was captured by Qin Xiangong in the process of false road cutting, and became a slave for Mu Ji's dowry, and followed Mu Ji to the Jin Kingdom.
But on the way, Bai Lixi escaped to the Chu state and was caught by the Chu people as a cattle herder, and Qin Mugong knew about it and tried his best to buy Bai Li Xi back with five sheepskins.
Qin Mugong talked with Baili Xi for three days and three nights, and determined that this was the talent who could assist him in achieving great things, and later it turned out that Qin Mugong's vision was very good, and it was Baili Xi who assisted Qin Mugong to dominate Xirong.
Bai Lixi was originally a doctor of the State of Yu, familiar with the culture of the Central Plains, he advocated civilization and indoctrination in the Qin State, assisted qin Mu Gong to repair the national government, and made the Qin state really strong.
After the domestic development of the Qin state, Qin Mugong began to expand abroad. In 651 BC, Duke Xian of Jin died and the State of Jin fell into civil strife, and Duke Mu of Qin took the opportunity to interfere in the internal affairs of Jin, first helping him succeed to the throne at the request of Gongzi Yiwu, the Duke Hui of Jin.
However, this Duke Hui of Jin was really unsympathetic, and after becoming the monarch of the State of Jin, he forgot the request to promise the land of Hexi to the State of Qin.
Qin Mugong did not care, and later there was a famine in the Jin state, and Qin Mugong also received the Jin state, which actually fulfilled the good covenant between Qin and Jin, and then the Jin Huigong once again defeated qin Mugong. Two years later, the Qin state was famine, and the Jin Huigong not only did not receive the Qin state but also took the opportunity to send troops to attack the Qin state.
The battle was fought, but The Duke Hui of Jin did not take advantage of it, and was also captured by the Duke of Qin Mu, this time the Duke of Jin Hui obediently obeyed, gave the land of Hexi to the State of Qin, and also sent the Prince of Gongzi to the State of Qin as a proton, in exchange for the Return of the Duke of Jin.
Duke Mu of Qin married his daughter Huai Wei to Gongzi Yuan, who knew that this prince was not more reliable than his father, Duke Hui of Jin. After the death of Duke Hui of Jin, Gongzi Yuan left Huai Wei and ran back to the Jin state to succeed him, in order to serve the Duke of Jin Huai.
Humiliated three times and twice, Qin Mugong's heart was really depressed, and later Gongzi Zhong'er also wandered to the Qin Kingdom, and once again got the attention of Qin Mugong, and Huai Wei married Zhong'er again. In 636 BC, Duke Mu of Qin escorted Zhong'er back to the Jin state to succeed to the throne as Duke Wen of Jin.
After Duke Wen of Jin succeeded to the throne, the road of Qin Mugong's eastward advance was even more difficult, and Qin Mugong's participation in the affairs of the Central Plains could only be tied to the State of Jin, for example, if Duke Wen of Jin wanted to attack the State of Zheng, he persuaded Duke Mu of Qin to join him in the crusade against the State of Zheng.
Fortunately, Zheng Wengong sent a candle to persuade Qin Mugong to retreat, and Jin Wengong also retreated. Before the death of Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Mu of Qin had no chance to expand eastward. He didn't expect in any way that the position of overlord he had in mind was taken by the Jin Wengong he had supported.
However, Duke Mu of Qin reigned long enough to kill several Jin monarchs, including Duke Wen of Jin, and in 628 BC, Duke Wen of Jin died, and Duke Mu of Qin wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to fight for hegemony in the east, ignoring the obstruction of Baili Xi and others, insisting on attacking the State of Zheng.
Duke Mu of Qin sent Meng Mingshi, Xi Qishu, and Bai Yibing to lead troops to sneak up on Zheng Guo, but after being detected by Zheng Guo, he had to return to his division and destroy the Jin vassal state Shui Guo on the way. At that time, Duke Wen of Jin had not yet been buried, and When Duke Xiang of Jin heard about this, he was furious and sent troops to defeat the Qin army in The Land of Qi, and captured Meng Mingshi, Xi Qishu, and Bai Yibing to the Jin State.
Duke Xiang of Jin wanted to kill all three generals, but Huai Wei said to Duke Xiang of Jin: "The State of Qin has lost the battle, and Qin Mugong hates these three people to the bone, if you put them back, then Qin Mugong will definitely cook them quickly." ”
As soon as Jin Xianggong heard that it was reasonable, he let the three people go, and what Jin Xianggong did not expect was that Qin Mugong did not blame the three people, but instead went to the suburbs in plain clothes to greet the three people, and cried:
"Why is it that the third son is guilty of insulting the third son by not having to be a hundred miles old or uncle? Zi Qi is carefully ashamed and does not slacken off. ”
It was even more important to reinstate them and continue to train the Qin army in the hope of winning the battle in the future, but their second attack on the Jin state still ended in failure, Meng Mingshi felt embarrassed and wanted to commit suicide, Qin Mugong still did not blame them, or used it as always, because in Qin Mugong's view, the defeat was not the general's fault, but the timing was wrong.
When they attacked the State of Jin for the third time, they won the victory and took the wang official and the land, but in general, the losses of the Qin State in these three eastward advances were quite huge, especially in the Battle of Qiu, the Qin army was almost completely destroyed, and the three generals were captured, which made Qin Mugong deeply realize that the Jin State had deep roots and could not be shaken by the current Qin State.
At this point, Qin Mugong turned to expand westward, and with the help of Yu Yu, who was familiar with Inuyasha, he won a great victory in the conquest with Inuyasha, "Yiguo Xi'er", expanding thousands of miles, dominating Xirong, and even Zhou Tianzi gave a golden drum to recognize Qin Mugong's merits of "Zhiyi".
Qin Mugong's efforts in the west made the western part of the Qin state stable and relieved the worries of the future, and the Qin state could move eastward wholeheartedly. Then it was disappointing that throughout the Spring and Autumn Period after the death of Qin Mugong, the Qin state failed to occupy a place in the Central Plains hegemony, but instead continued to compete for hegemony between Jin and Chu.
In the final analysis, after the death of Duke Mu of Qin, the Qin state was incompetent and virtuous, and thus fell into a period of decline for a hundred years. It was not until the Warring States period that it rose strongly. This was something that Qin Mugong had not expected, but such a result seemed to be inseparable from Qin Mugong.
At least as far as talent is concerned, after Qin Mugong's death, he took away a large number of talents.
In 621 BC, Qin Mugong died, and the Records of History recorded:
"From the one hundred and seventy-seven people of the deceased, the three sons of Qin Zhiliang's sons, known as The Dying, the Zhongxing, and the Needle Tiger, are also in the midst of death. The Qin people mourned, for the song of the yellow bird poem. ”
This incident caused great dissatisfaction among the Qin people, the Qin state originally lacked talents, Qin Mugong died, there were 177 people buried, many of them were able to be powerful generals, of which the three people who were dying, Zhongxing, and Needle Tiger were even good ministers of the Qin state, these people were martyred, and suddenly hollowed out the Qin state, how not to make people angry.
Therefore, the Qin people wrote a poem condemning Qin Mugong, that is, "The Book of Poetry , Yellow Bird", which is posted here:
"Cross the yellow bird and stop at the thorns." Who is from Mugong? The sub-car is dying. Viva is dying, Centurion. Near its cave, worried about its chestnut. Heaven forbid, annihilate my good man! If it is redeemable, the man is full of his body! ”
In fact, the burial can be traced back to at least the Shang Dynasty, and burial was also common in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and as far as the records and the current tomb excavations are concerned, most of the princely states in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty have been martyred.
The so-called "Son of Heaven kills martyrdom, hundreds of many, dozens of widows; the general and doctor kill martyrdom, the multitude is dozens, and the widow is several." However, the number of qin mugong martyrs this time was indeed quite large, and there was no shortage of capable generals of the qin state, which made the people at that time very angry, and therefore, even though Qin Mugong was generous, wise, and strong, and made great contributions to the development of the Qin state, he was also criticized for the martyrdom.
However, some people in later generations believe that martyrdom is actually a grave situation, some are forced to accompany the burial, and some are voluntarily buried with death.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ying Shao believed that the three people of Xiangxi, Zhongxing, and Needle Tiger were voluntarily buried with death, and Qin Mugong feasted on his courtiers before his death, saying, "Life is happy together, and death is mourned." "Therefore, after his death, many courtiers followed him, which was not controlled by Qin Mugong, and it can only be said that Qin Mugong was too wise and moved many courtiers, so that after his death, they were martyred for him.
Su Shi during the Song Dynasty agreed with this view very much, and he wrote a poem to explain this matter, one of which was: "If Xi Gongsheng did not curse Meng Ming, would he have the day of death and endure his goodness?" "That's a fair thing to say.
Qin Mugong was a virtuous monarch, he hoped that the Qin state would become strong, and eventually move east to dominate, his own unfinished business, hoping that his descendants could achieve it, how could he be willing to let the talents of the Qin state be martyred for him?
Even if he wanted to be martyred, he would only choose some harem concubines, palace servants, etc., and would never take away all the talents of the Qin Kingdom. In this matter, it is still pertinent to what Su Shi said:
"The ancients felt a meal and could still kill them." The present people do not see this again, but they doubt the ancients by what they see. The ancients could not hope, and the present people can be hurt. ”
After the death of Qin Mugong, how many people were passively martyred, and how many people took the initiative to die, we do not know, but Qin Mugong did make a great contribution to the rise of the Qin state, he expanded thousands of miles, dominated Xirong, and was listed by later generations as one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, and was one of the most wise monarchs in the Spring and Autumn Period.