Of course, the most indispensable thing is Guan Zhong!
Guan Zhong was a descendant of King Mu of Zhou, and at the age of 38, he was the head of the Qi state to assist the Duke huan of Qi, and for 41 years, his prestige was outstanding, and everyone in the world was convinced. After his death, he was called "the master of the saints", "the protector of Chinese civilization", "the first phase of the ancient world", "the first phase of China" and so on.
In the ancient "Ten Sages", in addition to Taigong wang ranking first with "political correctness", it was Guan Zhong. And personally, I feel that in addition to "political correctness", Jiang Taigong seems to be worse than Guan Zhonglai.
Guan Zhong has made great contributions to Huaxia, he is the guardian of Chinese civilization, and his ability is very strong!
In Middle-earth at that time, there were not only princes of the Zhou royal family, but also many primitive peoples who were called "Shanrong", "Beidi" and "Dongyi" at that time.
Under the production conditions at that time, these "Rong Di" still lived a life of mushrooms and blood drinking, and their civilization was far behind the "feudal system civilization" established by the Zhou royal family.
The "Rong Di Shan Rong" repeatedly launched wars of annihilation against the small princely states, which was the same as the nature of the later steppe nomads attacking the Central Plains Dynasty. In those days, it was Guan Zhong who saved these crises again and again.
For example, in 662 BC, Shanrong attacked the State of Yan, and the State of Yan asked the State of Qi for help, and Guan Zhong accompanied the army to attack Shanrong to rescue the State of Yan, and fought until Lone Bamboo returned to the division. There is also the story of "old horse knowing the way".
In 660 BC, the Di people in the northwest attacked the Central Plains again, first attacking the state of Xing (邢国, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), and Guan Zhong persuaded the Duke of Qi Huan to save the state of Punishment; in the same year, the Di people attacked the State of Wei again, and under the leadership of Guan Zhong, the State of Qi finally sent troops to defeat the Di people, and the State of Wei, with the help of Guan Zhong, was finally restored.
The nations calculated each other, which was a social phenomenon at that time. If there is no Guan Zhong, then the other princely states will only sweep the snow in front of their own doors, and they will not care about the frost on the tiles of others, they will only sit idly by and ignore these "wars between Huayi and Yi"; if there is no Guan Zhong, then the various princely states in the Central Plains will not form a joint force to deal with those Yidi Shanrong together.
As long as Yidi Shanrong becomes a climate, then the entire Central Plains will be occupied by Yidi, the feudal system will be destroyed, and the entire sergeant may regress to the primitive civilization of the tribal era. Therefore, Guan Zhong has a great favor for Huaxia, which is why posterity will call him "the guardian of Chinese civilization".
In order to save the Chinese civilization and radiate the culture of the Central Plains, Guan Zhong pioneered the system of "honoring the king and ordering the princes" and invented the political means of "respecting the son of heaven and ordering the princes".
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao was famous for "holding the Son of Heaven to order the princes", in fact, this method has many names, which can be called "respecting the Son of Heaven and not being a subject", or "holding the Son of Heaven to cut down disrespect" and so on. But this political means is actually a copy of Guan Zhong's "Zun Wang Zhiyi".
The pipe type not only has superb diplomatic means, but also has great economic means. He was the first person to nationalize the taxation of salt and iron and to use the tax to promote the political ideal of "rich country and strong army"; and in the history books, he was the first person to launch a war of "goods and currency" against the enemy country; an economist who could beat the Zhao state to "shake the foundation of the country" just by "floating grain prices".
Therefore, we conclude that if there were no Guan Zhong, there would be no "Nine Princes" of the Duke of Qi Huan.
From another point of view, it was precisely because of the absolute trust of the Duke of Qi Huan that Guan Zhong won the absolute dominance of the "Nine Princes" and also the absolute right to formulate the national policy of the State of Qi.
Guan Zhong and Duke Huan of Qi also reached the highest ideal state of the relationship between the ancient "scholar" and the king, that is, "junren and loyal". How trusting and great it was for a king to entrust the dominance of national policy to a courtier.
Therefore, before Zhuge Liang came out of the mountains, he often "compared himself to pipe music" and "good for Liang's father", in fact, it was not that Zhuge Liang's "arrogance and pride", but Zhuge Liang was expressing his attitude to the world - "If you want to use me, you must trust me, and this trust should be like the attitude of Qi Huangong trusting Guan Zhong and Yan Zhaowang trusting Le Yi", of course, Liu Bei later did it.
Guan Zhong's idea of governing the country still has a huge guiding role to this day. For example, his "Nine Princes, Not with Military Vehicles", embodies the idea of "cautious warfare" in "Sun Tzu's Art of War"; "a one-year plan, like a tree valley; a ten-year plan, like a tree; a lifelong plan, like a tree person", also has a guiding effect on the current talent training system; and "etiquette, righteousness, and shame are called four dimensions; four dimensions are not open, and the country is destroyed", which makes people feel impactful and practical!