In an era when the magnate clan was dominant, the most important question for the elderly monarch was how to ensure that orphans and widows would not be bullied after their deaths.
Before his death, Zheng Wugong, the second monarch of the State of Zheng, must have left a lot of military and political resources for his wife and two concubines, but because his two sons were young, they could not use these resources for the time being.
Zheng Wugong's approach was not too much of a problem, but the ultimate problem was with his wife Wu Jiang.
Zheng Zhuang Gong (寤生) is the eldest son, Gongzi Duan is the second son, the parents of the general family always prefer the younger son, which belongs to human nature, plus Wu Jiang Sheng Zheng Zhuang Gong had difficulty giving birth, frightened, so he did not like his eldest son.
Birth to the prince, the difficulty of birth, and the birth, Mrs. Fu love.
It is said that because Wu Jiang favored his second son, Gongzi Duan, he also made a request to her husband Zheng Wugong, hoping to make Gongzi Duan the crown prince, but Zheng Wugong did not agree.
Madame asked the duke to make Duan a prince, and the public listened.
Emotionally speaking, Wu Jiang's preference for the second son is reasonable. But from the perspective of balance of power, Wu Jiang obviously hopes that the power between the two sons will not be too different, so that he can be the referee in the middle and become the most powerful person in Zheng Guo.
In this way, Wu Jiang could not only guarantee his own power over the top, but also ensure that the eldest son, Zheng Zhuanggong, did not dare to mess with the second son, Duan.
Based on the above two considerations, Wu Jiang asked Zheng Zhuanggong to divide Jingyi to his younger brother Gongzi Duan.
In the year of Zhuang's reign, he was given the title of Duan Yujing (段于京), the prince of the imperial household. Matsuri Said: "Kyo is greater than the country, so it is not so sealed." Zhuang Gong said, "Wu Jiang wants it, I dare to take it." ”
Jingyi is one of the most important cities in the Zheng Kingdom, and its military, political and economic status can be completely compared with the capital of the Zheng State, Xinzheng.
Do you think it's familiar? That's right, this is a replica of the Battle of The Golden Kingdom's Quwo Wing City.
In 745 BC, Marquis Wenhou of Jin died, his younger brother Gongzi Chengshi occupied Quwo, the second largest city in the Jin Dynasty, and the son of Marquis Wenhou of Jin occupied the capital of the Jin Dynasty, Yicheng, thus opening the prelude to the sixty-seven-year-long firefight between the two brothers of the Marquis wen of Jin.
In 743 BC, Duke Wu of Zheng died, and Duke Zhuang of Zheng occupied the capital of the State of Zheng, Xinzheng, and his younger brother Gongzi Duan occupied Jingyi, the second largest city of the State of Zheng, and their mother clearly supported the second son.
Comparing the two, what do you say the future of the Zhengzhuang brothers will be? If nothing else, this is bound to cause a brotherhood wall.
The only difference is that the Battle of Quwo Wing City in the Jin Dynasty lasted for sixty-seven years and lasted for four generations, and finally Xiaozong defeated Emperor Dazong, that is, the Gong clan defeated the monarch.
The dispute between Zheng Guo's new Zheng Jingyi lasted only twenty-one years, and ended in the generation of zhengzhuang's brothers, and finally Emperor Dazong defeated Xiaozong, that is, the monarch defeated the gong clan.
In 743 BC, Zheng Zhuang was fourteen years old and Gongzi Duan was eleven years old; in 722 BC, Zheng Zhuang was thirty-five years old, Gongzi Duan was thirty-two years old, and the brothers fought openly and secretly for twenty-one years, and finally made a decision.
The reason why I say that Zheng Zhuanggong is a person who cannot be skipped by history in the early Spring and Autumn Period is because this person's life has experienced legends, and in dealing with his younger brother Gongzi Duan, Zheng Zhuanggong's forbearance is amazing.
Gongzi Duan was aggressive with the support of his mother Wu Jiang, but Zheng Zhuanggong repeatedly gave in, and many people advised him to fight back, but he still retreated again and again.
Zheng Zhuanggong's practice is to habitually use the Gongzi Duan: If you are arrogant, I will amplify your arrogance; if you are proud, I will magnify your pride. When your arrogance reaches the point of no end, I will consider fighting back against you.
Therefore, in the face of the persuasion of the crowd, Zheng Zhuanggong said a famous saying: "Many unrighteous deeds will kill themselves."
Many years later, the Jin dynasty had a Han big man and a Wei big man, and was bullied by a Zhi big man.
Many people said to the two big men of Han and Wei, "We should fight back, otherwise we will be shorter in the future when facing the Zhi clan." ”
The result? The opinions of the two big men were surprisingly similar: we didn't fight back, he hit us on the left side of the face, and we immediately put the right side of our face to hit him.
All in all, we just have to get used to Zhishi like this! When he saw that bullying people was so easy and so cool, he would definitely bully others. If there is a person who is not willing to endure his bullying and decides to stand up to him, we will work with this person to destroy the Zhi clan, wouldn't it save time and effort?
Duan Zhi said: "Zhi Bo is good at profit and is ashamed, and if he does not do so, he will cut me down; it is better to be with him." He who has gained the land will invite others, and if others do not have it, he will send soldiers to him. Then I will be free from suffering and will be treated with change. ”
Ren Zhangyue: "If you ask for the land for no reason, the doctors will be afraid; the land of me and the land, the wise man will be proud." He is proud and despises the enemy, and this fear is close to each other. Treat those who are light enemies with blind dates, and the life of the Zhi clan will not be long. The Book of Zhou says: 'He who desires to be defeated will be supplemented by gu, and he who will take what he wants will be gu with him.' 'The Lord might as well be proud of his wisdom, and then he may choose to befriend the wise men. Why don't you take me as the quality of the Zhi clan! ”
Sure enough, the Zhi clan big guy later wanted to bully a Zhao big guy, and the Zhao big guy was not willing, so he secretly united with han and Wei two big guys to fire the Zhi clan in one fell swoop and get out.
In the fourth year of the Duke of Lai, Zhao Xiangzi, Han Kangzi, and Wei Huanzi killed Zhi bo and did their best.
This is the story of the three families in history, and naturally the three famous families are divided into jin.
Returning to the truth, Zheng Zhuang endured for twenty-one years, and finally put his younger brother Duan Huo out of the game, but on the issue of the aftermath, he left a handle on people.
After killing Gongzi Duan, Zheng Zhuanggong began to complain about his mother: My brother was originally a lovely person, if you were not biased, I would have to seal Jingyi to him, he would not be so inflated, and our brothers would not have met with swords and soldiers.
In a word: the reason why we have brothers and sisters is to blame you for being an incompetent mother!
It is said that when the zhengzhuang brothers were in the stage of stalemate, it was the younger brother Gongzi Duan who took the lead in sneaking up on Xinzheng, while the mother Wu Jiang disregarded the death or death of the eldest son Zheng Zhuanggong and was bent on giving the younger son Duan Duan an internal response.
Twenty-two years later, Duan Guo attacked Zheng, and Wu Jiang was the internal response. Zhuang Gong sent troops to cut down the section, and duan walked. Vajing, Jingren Pan Duan, Duan Ran Yan. Yan collapsed, and Duan ran out of the communists.
With this excuse, Zheng Zhuanggong said a very famous sentence: "Unless I arrive at Huangquan, I will never meet you (referring to my mother Wu Jiang) again." ”
So Duke Zhuang moved his mother Wu Jiang to Chengying and vowed: "Do not go to Huangquan, do not see each other." ”
When Zheng Zhuanggong said this, he obviously had the meaning of venting his emotions: Everyone is a brother of a mother's compatriots, just because I am older, plus my mother had difficulty giving birth to me, so should I not be welcomed? Why?
Emotionally speaking, Zheng Zhuanggong's suffering deserves sympathy; but from the perspective of the power game, Zheng Zhuanggong's approach is obviously inappropriate.
Gongzi Duan has been able to compete with Zheng Zhuang gong for twenty-one years, and there will certainly be no fewer people standing behind Gongzi Duan. These people certainly did not all of them be executed, but waited with trepidation for Zheng Zhuanggong's fall.
But when Zheng Zhuanggong came out like this, these people would definitely think: "You can't even accommodate your own biological mother, how can those of us who are attached to Gongzi Duan have a good ending?" ”
If these people are desperate, it is difficult to ensure that they will not have any idea of jumping the wall, and Zheng Guo, who has not been stable for a long time, is afraid that he will immediately face a second turmoil.
In this context, the chancellor Yingkao Uncle met with Zheng Zhuanggong and used a more ingenious way to persuade Zheng Zhuanggong to bow his head, and Zheng Zhuanggong thought left and right, or decided to compromise with reality.
Therefore, the mother and son of Zheng Zhuanggong and Wu Jiang met in the underground passage where the water was dug out, which was regarded as the full mother-child friendship, which is the origin of the allusion "Huangquan Recognizing Mother".
Zhuang Gong said, "I miss my mother very much, and I have an evil alliance, so why not?" Uncle Kao said: "When you wear the ground to Huangquan, you will see each other." So he obeyed, and saw his mother.
Man is really a strange creature, when he is at the bottom, he will always grit his teeth at the top and say all day long that if he is a big person at the top, he will be good to the bottom.
But one day, after this low-level person really climbs to the top, he will almost follow a similar strategy: how the predecessor treats the bottom, he will treat the bottom.
In the face of this situation, it is inevitable that some people will make a big comment: cry out! The Dragon Slayer eventually became the new Dragon.
For example, Zheng Zhuanggong, who himself is a victim of brotherly strife, and almost lost his biological mother, it is unlikely that Zheng Zhuanggong subconsciously does not hate his mother, or even the father who arranged this situation.
But what was zheng zhuanggong's turn to deal with the aftermath? His eldest son was Gongzi Kuo, who was supposed to be the undisputed successor, but Zheng Zhuang thought that the second son Gongzi Tu and the fourth son Gongzi Were also very good, so when cultivating the eldest son, he also vigorously cultivated the second son and the fourth son.
When the sacrifice is with him, he advises the envoy to take it, saying: "The prince is favored by many people, the prince will not stand without great help, and the three princes are all kings." "The so-called three sons, Prince Ku, his younger brother Tu, and the second disciple Qi Ye.
After the death of Duke Zheng Zhuang, around the throne of zheng guojun, Gongzi Ku and Gongzi Tu fought each other: first Gongzi Ku won, and Gongzi Suddenly fled to the Song Kingdom; later Gongzi Tu killed Zheng Guo with the help of the Song State and defeated Gongzi Ku himself as the monarch; then Gongzi Ku killed Zheng Guo with the help of domestic courtiers (sacrifice feet) and became the monarch again, but then was killed by another powerful minister (Gao Qumi), and Two of Gongzi Kuo's younger brothers (Gongzi Qi and Gongzi Bao) were successively killed and killed, and Gongzi Tu took the throne again.
To put it simply: the eldest brother defeated the second brother to become the monarch for the first time, the second brother defeated the eldest brother to become the monarch for the first time with the help of the power of the Song Dynasty, the eldest brother defeated the second brother to become the monarch for the second time with the help of the power of the courtiers, but was killed by another powerful minister, Gao Qumi, and two younger brothers were killed again, and finally the second brother became the monarch for the second time, and the turmoil subsided.
PS: This historical material is too long, in order to avoid too much copying and pasting, I will not move, you can check the "History of the Zheng Family".
Why is this happening? The root cause lies in the fact that Zheng Zhuanggong engaged in checks and balances between his two sons, and Zheng Zhuanggong's method was even more excessive than that of his father Zheng Wugong, who fell into civil strife after the death of Zheng Zhuanggong, and he himself could not blame him.
Zheng Wugong and Wu Jiang lived to become the appearance of their son Zheng Zhuanggong who hated it, and Zheng Zhuanggong also lived into the appearance of his son Gongzi And Gongzi suddenly hated.
In writing this, I do not criticize Zheng Zhuanggong from the perspective of God, but I hope to tell you a fact: in the era of aristocratic politics, strengthening the power of my brothers and nephews is an unavoidable choice.
Because zheng zhuanggong's sense of existence was too strong during the reign of Zheng Zhuanggong, everyone called this history "Zhuang Gong Xiaoba", and after zheng Zhuanggong's death, his sons competed for the throne, and many people thought that this was the root of Zheng Guo's decline.
In this regard, let's first look at the situation of the Jin and Qi states.
As I said above, when Zheng Zhuanggong and his younger brother Duan Ming fought secretly, the battle for quwo wing city in the Jin state had already begun, and more than twenty years after Zheng Zhuanggong's death, the internal turmoil in Jin was over.
After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the five sons were divided into five factions and fought for nearly half a century before they could be divided into victories and defeats.
Compared with the civil strife in the Jin and Qi states, the struggle for the throne between the sons of the Zheng state can only be regarded as a small fight, neither in scale nor in duration.
The civil strife in the Jin and Qi states was so terrible, and we have not heard the argument that these two countries have been in a slump since then, so how could Zheng Guo decline after experiencing a civil unrest?
The reason for the decline of Zheng Guo is that we must find reasons from other places, and we will talk about this next time.