When Confucius was 41 years old, the sixth year of Lu Zhaogong's exile, the Jin state began to care about the turmoil in the state of Lu, and this time the nobleman of the Jin state who was responsible for quelling the internal strife in Lu was called Fan Xianzi.
He led his army to the border of the State of Lu, and Ji Pingzi knew that the great trouble was coming, so he hurried to Fan Xianzi's military camp and apologized to the Jin people, saying that he would definitely correct his mistakes and welcome Zhaogong back to China.
As an oligarch, Fan Xianzi certainly did not want to really help Lu Zhaogong, so he accepted Ji Pingzi's bribe, and then took Ji Pingzi to see Lu Zhaogong and advised Zhaogong to quickly follow Ji Pingzi back to China.
Lu Zhaogong firmly disagreed. Because he knew that as long as Sanhuan's forces were still there, he would have to continue to be a puppet after he returned.
Fan Xianzi felt that he had done his best, so he said to Ji Pingzi: It seems that the anger of your monarch is very great, and it cannot be solved for a while and a half, so you should first return to China to act as the monarch's work!
The mediation of the Jin people was so over.
In the second year of the Jin state's intervention, Zhaogong fell ill and died.
Soon, the exiled small court scattered as birds and beasts, and then fell apart.
Originally, during his exile, Duke Zhao had appointed a prince, but Sanhuan would certainly not want this heir. They also chose a younger brother of Duke Lu Zhaogong to be the monarch. This was the later Lu Dinggong, an obedient puppet.
In this way, Confucius's choice to follow Zhaogong to the State of Qi was a complete failure. If it was an investment, he would end up with nothing.
According to the Records of History, Confucius had already returned to the country of Lu when Duke Lu Zhao died. This year, Confucius was 42 years old.
In his later years, Confucius summed up his life as thirty and standing, forty not confused, and fifty knowing the Mandate of Heaven.
The literal meaning of the phrase "forty without confusion" is that it is not until the age of 40 that everything is clearly understood and there is no longer any confusion.
It sounds like an empty summary, with no amount of information. But if we combine Confucius's experience at that time, we can understand why Confucius returned to China before the age of 42.
The civil war between Lu Zhaogong and Sanhuan took place when Confucius was 35 years old. He then followed Zhaogong to the State of Qi, where he lived for several years. Then, at the age of 41, the Jin state's intervention was abandoned halfway, declaring that Lu Zhaogong's exile was completely unsolvable.
Considering these backgrounds, some scholars understand that Confucius's "forty without confusion" can be understood as: a year before the Jin state's intervention, Confucius himself had already figured it out and was determined to return to China.
However, there is also another possibility, that is, the miscarriage of the intervention of the Jin state, which made Confucius realize that there was no way out in exile in the state of Qi, thus giving birth to the idea of returning to the state of Lu.
When Confucius was about 40 years old, he suddenly found that his previous actions were meaningless, and he was completely tired of the exile life of the State of Qi and determined to return to his hometown of Lu.
Another famous quote of Confucius in the Analects: "Gentlemen are reserved but not contentious, and the masses are not party." "That is, a gentleman should be more reserved, should not fight with people, should make friends, but should not form a party to engage in interest alliances."
This principle of life is likely to be the lesson that Confucius summed up from his exile in the State of Qi.
Because this was the first time in Confucius's life that he tried to engage in the "party", that is, he tried to join a political faction, but he did not succeed. This lesson must be profound.
Confucius's remarks of "forty not confused" and "gentlemen are not party" have been circulated to a high degree and have become idioms in later generations.
But the context they produced was slowly forgotten by posterity.
Even the experience of Confucius following Lu Zhaogong is known to few people.
Confucius's real purpose in the State of Qi this time, and his experience of dealing with the government-in-exile, are not positively described in historical books such as the Book of Rites.
Confucius's exile also created a butterfly effect. The two most prominent oligarchic students of the "Seventy-Two Disciples of Confucius", namely Meng Yizi and Nangong Jingshu, were not among them.