As everyone knows, if a guest visits, the so-called "friends come from afar, and they are happy", they should be treated with courtesy. However, in history, some people did not treat the visiting guests with courtesy, but thought about how to tease the guests, and as a result, they broke into a catastrophe.
Speaking of Qi Qinggong in the Spring and Autumn Period, many friends may not have heard of him. But when it comes to his grandfather, it is well known to everyone - yes, the grandfather of Qi Qinggong is the famous Spring and Autumn Overlord Qi Huangong.
I think that back then, Qi Huan was dominating the Central Plains, so it was not prestigious! After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the hegemony of the State of Qi also ended, and history gradually entered the stage of the Jin-Chu struggle for hegemony.
However, although the State of Qi ceased to be the hegemon of the Central Plains after the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the State of Qi was still a powerful and influential country, second only to the Jin and Chu states. The Jin and Chu states also competed to win over the State of Qi. For example, during the reign of Duke Wen of Jin, the Jin army was assisted by the Qi army in the Battle of Chengpu and then defeated the Chu army. During the reign of King Chu Zhuang, the two countries of Chu and Qi were well connected, which became a boost for King Chu Zhuang to achieve hegemony. It can be seen that the State of Qi played a rather important role in the Jin-Chu struggle for hegemony. Whichever side it helps, it will add a lot of odds to that side.
During the reign of Duke Qi, the Jin state reigned as the Duke of Jinjing. In order to revitalize the hegemony of the Jin state, the Jin Jinggong hoped to communicate with the State of Qi to attack the State of Chu. To this end, the Duke of Jin Jing sent the general Hao Ke (郤克) as an envoy to the State of Qi.
When He Ke came to the State of Qi, it coincided with the visit of Ji Sun Xing's father (Lu Guoshiqing), Sun Liangfu (Wei GuoShiqing), and Gongzi Shou (Cao Guo's clan). The four of them then entered the dynasty together and made a pilgrimage to Qi Qinggong. When Qi Qinggong saw the four people, he couldn't help but laugh in his heart. However, Qi Qinggong laughed, not because "there are friends from afar", but for some very speechless reasons.
It turned out that the envoys of the four countries each had physical defects. The envoy of the Jin Dynasty, Hao Ke, had a disability in his eyes and was a one-eyed dragon; the emissary of the State of Lu, Ji Sun Xingfu, had a bald head on his head; the emissary of the State of Wei, Sun Liangfu, had a disability on his leg; and the emissary of the State of Cao suffered from a hunchback disease. Therefore, Qi Qinggong thought it was funny.
After the death of Qi Qinggong's father, Qi Huigong, Qi Qinggong's mother, Lady Xiao, missed her husband and often cried bitterly. Qi Qinggong was very filial to his mother. Whenever he heard an interesting story, he would tell his mother to make her happy.
On this day, Qi Qinggong went to pay homage to His Wife and told his mother about the visit of the envoys of the Four Kingdoms. These four physically handicapped men gathered together as if they were a group of ghosts in the court, and the son-in-law thought it was too funny. Mother, would you like to see it? Madame listened and was immediately interested.
When Guo Zuo, the Grand Master of the State of Qi, heard about this incident, he hurriedly dissuaded Qi Qinggong: "The visit of foreign envoys is a major state affair, how can the lord and prince be so foolish?" Guo Zuo's words were very reasonable, but Qi Qinggong just didn't listen to advice.
In accordance with the customs of various countries, Qi Qing publicly hosted banquets to entertain the envoys of the four countries. However, Qi Qinggong deliberately arranged for a blind coachman, a bald coachman, a lame coachman, and a hunchback coachman, to act as the driver of the four messengers, and let the wife "watch" in the place where the emissary's convoy must pass. When the lady and her entourage saw this "interesting scene," they laughed incessantly and resounded through the air, only to be heard by the emissaries. When the envoys inquired after the feast, they learned that Qi Qinggong was deliberately teasing them. They were very angry, so they agreed: After returning to China, they must take revenge!
Hao Ke returned to the Jin Kingdom angrily and tried his best to explain to the Jin Jing Gong the benefits of Vaqi, saying that the Jin Jing Gong was moved. At this time, the Duke of Qi also learned the news that Jin and Lu were planning to jointly cut Down Qi, and simply attacked first to be strong, and raised troops to fight Against Lu. Qi was strong and Lu was weak, and the Lu army was inferior to the Qi army. In order to reinforce the State of Lu, the Wei State sent troops to Cut Qi. Qi Qinggong moved his troops to cut down the guards, and defeated the guards.
Lu and Wei were unable to defeat the State of Qi alone, so they asked the State of Jin for help. Jin Jinggong finally made up his mind and ordered Hao Ke as the commander to lead 60,000 troops on the expedition. The three kingdoms of Lu, Cao, and Wei also sent their own troops to join the Jin army. Qi Qing heard the news and personally led a large army to attack. The Qi and Jin armies faced each other in the saddle. The two sides agreed: the next day the battle. The Qi general Gao Gu single-handedly broke into the Jin camp and captured a Jin general. The Qi army was overjoyed, believing that the Jin army was not enough to be afraid.
The next day, the Qi and Jin armies officially went to war. Under the order of Qi Qinggong, the Qi army fired ten thousand arrows in unison. The Jin army suffered countless casualties, and even the commander Hao Ke was hit by an arrow. But Hao Ke is also a good man. He continued to beat the drum in pain and encouraged the Jin generals to continue fighting.
As a result, unexpectedly, the Jin army heard the drums, did not know the truth, and thought that their side had won. The Jin army was greatly boosted by this oolong and rushed to pursue the Qi army. The Qi army could not resist the Jin army and began to retreat.
After the defeated Battle, Qi Qinggong retreated to a mountain, and the Jin general Han Yu arrived with his troops. Qi put the ugly man into Qi Qinggong's clothes, and let Qi Qinggong disguise himself and escape. Han Wei was deceived and tied up the ugly man back to see Hao Ke. Qi Ke, who had seen Qi Qinggong's true appearance, found that Qi Qinggong was gone. However, he also admired the ugly man as a loyal servant and did not kill him.
After this battle, Qi Qinggong sent people to inquire about the whereabouts of the ugly husband, and on the other hand, he sent Guo Zuo to ask the Jin state for peace. Hao Ke proposed many harsh conditions. Guo Zuo was furious and angrily rebuked Hao Ke for being unreasonable, turned his head and left.
Seeing That Guozuo turned away, Hao Ke suddenly realized: On the one hand, although the State of Qi was defeated, its strength still existed. On the other hand, once the State of Chu sent troops to aid the State of Qi, then the previous victory of the State of Jin was likely to be in vain. Therefore, Hao Ke hurriedly sent someone to invite Guo zuo back to Jinying, apologized to him, and released the ugly man. The Qi and Jin countries ceased fire and formed an alliance. This saddle battle caused by Qi Qinggong teasing the guests also came to an end.
Because of Qi Qinggong's playful behavior of teasing the guests, it led to a war, and he almost became a prisoner of the order. In retrospect, Qi Qinggong must have regretted it very much.