Regarding the "Spring and Autumn Five Powers", there are many versions in history. But no matter which version, Qi Huangong must be among them, and rank first. He is the deserved head of the Spring and Autumn Five.
If we turn our eyes back to 2700 years ago, we will find that Qi Huangong almost rubbed shoulders with the Spring and Autumn Five.
Duke Huan of Qi was the son of Duke Xiang of Qi, with the surname Jiang and the name Xiao bai. Even called "Jiang Xiaobai", of course, it has nothing to do with the current well-known liquor brand. We are usually honored as Gongzi Xiaobai. Duke Xiang of Qi was a faint and incompetent monarch who often caused trouble and made the political situation a mess. In this case, Gongzi Xiaobai had to come to Juguo to hide under the protection of Bao Shuya. Gongzi Xiaobai's older brother Gongzi Gui, under the protection of Guan Zhong and Zhao Kuo, took refuge in the country of Lu.
Sure enough, in the twelfth year of the Duke of Qi Xiang (686 BC), something major happened to the State of Qi: the chancellor Gongsun killed the Duke of Qi Xiang in ignorance and established himself as a king. Gongsun's ignorant position as monarch was not yet hot, and the following year, the Yonglin people killed Gongsun Ignorance again and prepared to re-establish a monarch in the descendants of Duke Xiang of Qi.
When Gongzi Gui and Gongzi Xiaobai heard the news, they immediately rode in a carriage and rushed back to the State of Qi to seize the position of monarch. Guan Zhong, who escorted Gongzi Zhen, led his troops to intercept Gongzi Xiaobai and personally shot an arrow - if this arrow killed Gongzi Xiaobai, there would be no trouble for him in the Spring and Autumn Battle.
Fortunately, Guan Zhong's arrow hit the hook of Gongzi Xiaobai. Gongzi Xiaobai fell down in response to the sound and made a dead appearance. Guan Zhong and Gongzi Zhen thought that Gongzi Xiaobai was really dead, so they slowly rushed to the State of Qi and walked for 6 days before returning to the State of Qi.
However, no one thought that Gongzi Xiaobai was pretending to be dead. After he deceived Guan Zhong, he quickly returned to the State of Qi and was made the monarch, which was later the famous Duke huan of Qi.
At this time, Gongzi Was still on the road and slowly rushed to the State of Qi. Duke Huan of Qi sent troops to defeat the Lu army that was escorting Gongzi Gui. Under the threat of Duke Huan of Qi, Lu Guo killed Gongzi Gui, summoned Him to commit suicide, and sent Guan Zhong to the State of Qi.
Guan Zhong thought that he would undoubtedly die. After all, he had shot an arrow at Gongzi Xiaobai. How could Qi Huangong not repay this vengeance with an arrow? But he never expected that after returning to the State of Qi, the Duke of Qi Huan would actually treat him with good food and drink, and asked him how to claim the title of king and hegemon...
It turned out that Qi Huangong did have the intention of killing Guan Zhong. However, Bao Shuya persuaded him. Bao Shuya said, "Guan Zhong's talent is far above me. If you want to dominate, you must appoint Guan Zhong as xiangguo. ”
After a fierce ideological struggle, Duke Huan of Qi finally adopted Bao Shuya's idea, took Guan Zhong back, appointed him as Xiang guo, and appointed Bao Shuya as the grand advisor.
Subsequently, with the assistance of Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya, the Duke of Qi Huan governed the State of Qi in an orderly manner, making the country strong and the people rich, becoming the first princely state to dominate during the Spring and Autumn Period.
The reason why Qi Huangong was able to dominate was largely due to the full exploitation of the power of Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya.
Looking at the situation in the early Spring and Autumn Period, Zhou Tianzi was becoming more and more weakened, and his rule over the princely states was increasingly reduced to a formality. Among the princely states, the State of Qi was not the most extensive and powerful princely state, whether it was the State of Zheng or the State of Jin, it had the strength to suppress it. The state of Qi was able to run out of the chaotic situation in the early Spring and Autumn Period, although there was a reason for Qi Huan's great talent, and it was also the assistance of Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya.
In the case of Guan Zhong, he provided many practical suggestions for Qi Huangong. When Qi Huangong accepts these suggestions, national governance will become very smooth; when Qi Huangong does the opposite, national governance will become very difficult.
For example, once the Song State offended the Duke of Qi Huan, and the Duke of Qi Huan became angry and wanted to send troops to attack the Song State. Guan Zhong knew that although the Song Kingdom was weak, it was very popular in the princely states, and there was no need to attack it. The Duke of Qi Huan did not accept Guan Zhong's advice and insisted on sending troops to attack the Song state. Sure enough, as Guan Zhong expected, the rest of the princely states came to the rescue of the Song state and defeated the Qi army.
When the national strength became relatively strong, Guan Zhong believed that it was necessary to clean up one or two small countries to improve the prestige of the State of Qi. Duke Huan of Qi listened and destroyed the Kingdom of Tan and the State of Sui according to Guan Zhong's advice. As a result, the prestige of the State of Qi rose unprecedentedly, and the small and medium-sized princely states of Lu, Song, Chen, Cai, and Wei all defected to the State of Qi and became the younger brothers of the Duke of Qi Huan. Qi Huangong also took advantage of the favorable situation of civil unrest in Zheng Guo to mediate... In this way, in the seventh year of the Duke of Qi Huan (679 BC), the Duke of Qi Huan summoned the princely states to meet at Juan (鄄, in modern Juancheng, Shandong) and established his hegemony.
In the aspect of Bao Shuya, although he is inferior to Guan Zhong, he has self-knowledge and knows how to advance and retreat, and is Guan Zhong's right-hand man. Many of Guan Zhong's ideas were implemented and implemented under the operation of Bao Shuya.
Therefore, when we mention the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons Qi Huangong, we must not forget the two men standing behind him: Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya.