As a feudal state of the Zhou Dynasty, the State of Qi is very famous in history, and the first of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period as we know it is the State of Qi. The seven warring states behind also have a place in the State of Qi, which shows the strength of the State of Qi.
The reason why the State of Qi is so strong is naturally inseparable from the economic and slight aspects of its monarch, and moreover, people's innate conditions are good.
The first monarch of the State of Qi was the famous Jiang Ziya, who had made great contributions in the war against the Shang in the Xingzhou Dynasty, so he was enfeoffed in Qidi.
Because the State of Qi was located in the far east, and the Zhou royal family was far away in the Central Plains, it lacked effective jurisdiction over the land of Dongyi, so the State of Qi was placed high hopes by the King of Zhou as soon as the state was established. What's more, the first monarch, Jiang Taigong, was also related to the Zhou royal family (Jiang Ziya was the father-in-law of King Wu of Zhou).
Therefore, for the purpose of controlling Dongyi, the King of Zhou gave the State of Qi its unique war power in the East at the beginning of the division.
What do you mean? That is, the Zhou royal family divided so many princely states, in fact, the princes could not start wars at will (the Spring and Autumn And Warring States period lile collapsed does not count), but to obey the unified dispatch of the Zhou royal family. To put it simply, wherever the King of Zhou pointed out, the princes had to fight unconditionally, even if they were allowed to harm themselves, the princes could only be "the king wants the subject to die, and the subject has to die."
But there is an exception here, the State of Qi can launch a war against the surrounding areas without the order of the King of Zhou, which is equivalent to the second center of the Zhou Dynasty. This also greatly boosted the ambitions of the Monarchs of the State of Qi, and laid the foundation for the first to jump out and hold various kinds of princely alliances.
Until later, duke Huan of Qi ascended to the throne, regardless of his previous suspicions, he reused Guan Zhong and officially led the State of Qi to dominate the princes.
After the death of Duke Huan of Qi's father, Duke Qi, he was succeeded by his eldest son, duke Xiang of Qi. However, due to the confusion of the government decree, the Duke of Qi Xiang forced his two younger brothers, Gongzi Gui and Gongzi Xiaobai, to flee to other countries. Duke Xiang of Qi was also later killed by his cousin Gongsun Ignorance, who established himself as a monarch after Killing Duke Xiang of Qi, but was soon killed again, at which time the position of Monarch of the State of Qi became vacant.
Gongzi Gui and Gongzi Xiaobai in other countries both wanted to rush back to the State of Qi as monarchs, and in the end it was Xiao Bai who succeeded to the throne, that is, the Duke of Qi Huan.
Qi Huan's ability to dominate stemmed from the fact that he inherited the throne of the monarch, but the process of inheriting the throne of the monarch was extremely dangerous, and one careless step could be the disaster of killing himself. It is reasonable to say that a person who has such an experience should have a very clear arrangement for what happened behind him, so as to avoid his sons from killing each other for the throne.
However, in his later years, especially after Guan Zhong's death, Duke Huan of Qi became unusually dimwitted, which directly led to the fierce struggle of his sons for power and throne after his death.
These sons are also known as the "Five Princes", and the five princes have successively become the monarchs of the State of Qi, which shows how chaotic the State of Qi was during this period, and the Spring and Autumn Hegemony of the State of Qi also fell apart in this fierce internal friction.
Those five princes patronized infighting, what happened to their father Qi Huangong's death?
According to historical records, the fight between his sons began after Qi Huangong became seriously ill. In order to concentrate on the struggle, the princes built a high wall around the residence of their father Qi Huangong and surrounded Qi Huangong inside. In the heat of the fight, he forgot to deliver food to his father on time, so that a generation of overlords starved to death.
After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the sons not only did not restrain themselves, but became more courageous. I didn't want to do a funeral for my father, but just dumped on each other, so that Qi Huangong's corpse lay in the residence for 67 days, and the maggots that were nourished crawled all over the house, and even began to overflow outside the house.
The absurdity in the palace of the State of Qi had long been seen by the princes, and even the king of a small country such as Song Xianggong also issued the sigh of "today, give up who I am", which shows that the national strength of the State of Qi at that time was not as strong as that of Song Guoqiang, in fact, the five princes of the Prince Zhao was supported by Song Xianggong, which is really a pity for a strong country.