Wu Zixu's tomb
When we mention Wu Zixu, a historical figure, we will think of his story of avenging his father and brother, which was once recited by posterity, and even Sima Qian praised his behavior and called him "husband of the fierce".
According to Sima Qian's book "Shiji Wu Zixu Lie", there is this record:
"It is to dig the tomb of King Chuping, and to bring out his corpse, and to whip three hundred, and then it has been."
The meaning of this passage is that Wu Zixu dug up the tomb of King Chuping, dug up the body of King Chuping, and whipped him three hundred times.
It can be seen how much Wu Zixu hates King Chuping.
Since the Han Dynasty, Wu Zixu's deeds of avenging his father and brother have been spread among the people, and of course there are many more absurd places.
Wu Zixu, formerly known as Wu Yuan, was a famous politician and military strategist of the Wu state in the late Spring and Autumn period. It was precisely because of his existence that he even affected the fate of countries such as the State of Chu, the State of Wu and the State of Yue.
If you want to understand Wu Zixu, you must put aside the interpretation of the people and combine the records in the historical materials to restore the true image of Wu Zixu in history.
Statue of Wu Zixu
The crown prince Jian married a relative, but became the bride of King Chuping
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, various princely states broke away from the Zhou royal family, divided their localities, and claimed hegemony in the local area. The vassal states were at war with each other, and small countries could only be annexed by large countries or dependent on the protection of large powers.
In the end, four powerful vassal states appeared. The state of Qi in the east was based in Shandong, the state of Jin in the north dominated Shanxi, the state of Chu in the south controlled the Yangtze River basin, and the state of Qin in the west occupied Guanzhong .
According to statistics, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Chu annexed a total of 45 princely states, and its land area was the largest among the princely states.
In the beginning, many tribes appeared in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the State of Chu was only one of them. Later, the capital was built in Yingdi (present-day Jinancheng, Jingzhou, Hubei) and continued to expand outward. During the reign of King Zhuang of Chu, after the Battle of Qi, he defeated the then powerful Jin state in one fell swoop, thus winning the Central Plains.
In order to compete for the hegemony of the world, the State of Jin and the State of Chu formed a feud, and the two sides constantly pulled together gangs and factions to find helpers.
Wu Zixu was originally a native of the State of Chu and a descendant of the royal family, and his family was deeply respected by the people in the State of Chu, and also had a high reputation.
At that time, the king of the State of Chu was King Chuping, and at the beginning of his succession, in order to train his son Prince Jian, he found two ministers to assist.
- One is Wu Zixu's father, Wu Fu, who served as the crown prince;
- The other was Fei Wuji, a traitor of the State of Chu, who served as the young prince.
In order to fight against the sworn enemy of the State of Chu, the State of Jin, King Ping of Chu specially sent people to win over the State of Qin in an attempt to establish an alliance with the State of Qin. In this context, marriage between the two countries is undoubtedly the simplest and most effective political means.
Therefore, after some deliberation, King Chuping decided to marry a daughter of the Emperor of Qin for his son Crown Prince Jian, and the most suitable candidate was Meng Huan, the sister of the Duke of Qin.
In 527 BC, according to the instructions of King Chuping, the young prince Fu Fei Wuji led a welcoming party to the Qin state to pick up the bride.
However, when Fei Wuji saw his bride Meng Huan in the Qin Kingdom, he found that she looked very beautiful. So, a daring plan began to come to his mind.
King Chuping in the play
According to the records in the "Shiji Chu Shijia", Fei Wuji was on the way back to the Chu state with a welcoming party, when he suddenly mounted a fast horse and returned to the capital of Ying first.
Fei Wuji came to the palace and reported to King Chuping: "The bride is a peerless beauty unparalleled in the world, it is a pity that such a beauty marries Crown Prince Jian, or the king marries her!" ”
Instigating the old man to marry his daughter-in-law, Fei Wuji's idea is a bit different.
After hearing this, King Chuping was stunned, and Fei Wuji continued: "Prince Jian and the bride have not yet officially married, and it is the same to marry anyone. Moreover, Prince Jianrenxiao, he will not have any complaints. The king can also give the crown prince another wife, so that he has the best of both worlds. ”
Because King Chuping coveted Meng Huan's beauty, under Fei Wuji's persuasion, he really risked the world's disapproval and married his daughter-in-law.
In order to build an explanation for the crown prince, King Chuping had to help him marry a woman from the State of Qi.
Fei Wuji in the play
Duke Qin's sister Meng Huan was originally going to marry Prince Jian, but something happened halfway through and she eventually married King Chuping. For Duke Qin Wei, this was originally a political marriage, no matter who Meng Huan married, it didn't seem to be so important.
In this matter, the reason why Fei Wuji wanted to persuade King Chuping to marry Meng Huan was mainly because of the delicate relationship between him and Prince Jian.
In fact, although Fei Wuji and Wu Fu jointly assisted the prince Jian, there was a big gap between the two.
Wu Fu was loyal and benevolent, and won the trust of King Chuping, and Prince Jian respected him even more. And Fei Wuji is treacherous, always likes sycophancy, and is not treated by Prince Jian.
Because he did not have the trust of Prince Jian, Fei Wuji could only climb another high branch, so he took advantage of the opportunity to go to the Qin state to marry his relatives, and recommended Meng Huan to King Chuping, in order to win the favor of King Chuping.
In this way, Fei Wuji completely offended the prince.
Fei Wuji encouraged King Chuping to build a garrison in the city
Even if there was no instigation from Fei Wuji, if Meng Huan really married Prince Jian at that time, who could guarantee that King Chuping would not have crooked thoughts when he saw his beautiful daughter-in-law in the future?
In fact, King Chuping is also a very scheming person, and he is unscrupulous in order to achieve his goals.
According to today's people's concepts, King Chuping married his daughter-in-law, which is indeed against ethics and morality. However, he did not only do something unethical, he once won the position of king of the Chu State by conspiracy.
King Chuping's name was Xiong Qiqiao, and he had four older brothers, namely the eldest brother Xiong Zhao (King Chukang), the second brother Xiong Wei (King Chuling), the third brother Xiong Bi, and the fourth brother Xiong Huang.
At the turn of spring and summer in 529 BC, Xiong Wei, the king of Chuling, spent a long time playing in Qianchen (xi), resulting in the dragons of the capital of Ying being leaderless. At this time, Xiong Bi and Xiong Huang, who were in exile, agreed with Xiong Jiu and led the army and people to stage a coup d'état.
After capturing the capital of Ying, in the order of seniority and inferiority, Xiong Bi was established as the new king of the state of Chu, known as the early king of Chu.
At the same time, King Chu of Chu appointed his fourth brother Xiong Huang as Ling Yin, who was mainly in charge of day-to-day imperial affairs; The fifth brother Xiong Qiqi was appointed Sima, mainly in charge of the army power of the State of Chu.
However, when the country of Chu fell into chaos, King Chu Ling, who was playing in Qianchen, suddenly disappeared, and there was no one alive, no corpse in sight.
One night, someone rumored that "King Chu Ling has returned to the capital of Xing!" ”
As soon as these words came out, the people of Xingdu were panicked, and the order in the city was chaotic.
On the evening of May 17, 529 BC, the news of "King Chuling's return to the city" spread again in the capital of Ying.
At this time, Xiong Qiqi's subordinate general Manchengran led his soldiers to the palace, and he reported to King Chuchu and Ling Yin Xionghuang: "King Chu Ling has returned to the city, and they are shouting that they want to kill the traitors who usurped power and seize the throne, and they are now pouring into the palace. ”
Just when King Chuchu hesitated, news came again, saying that "King Chu Ling is almost at the palace."
Listening to this, King Chuchu and Ling Yin Xiongxiong were instantly frightened. They were worried that once they fell into the hands of their second brother King Chu Ling, they would definitely be tortured, so they committed suicide.
The next day, the city of Ying Capital was quiet again, and King Chu Ling did not return at all, it was completely a rumor.
However, since the king of Chuchu has died, the country cannot be left without a king. Under these circumstances, Xiong abandoned his hurry and took the throne, becoming the new king of the state of Chu, known historically as the King of Chuping.
I have to say that the brothers Chu Chuwang and Ling Yin Xionghuang died a little too unjustly.
A few days later, the body of King Ling of Chu was salvaged from the Han water and hastily buried, finally stabilizing the political situation in the state of Chu.
In fact, everything that happened in the capital of Ying was a conspiracy elaborate by King Chuping to seize the throne.
The previous rumors about "King Chu Ling returning to the capital of Ying" were all spread by King Chuping and deliberately created chaos in the city. Moreover, he also sent Manchengran to the palace to scare his two timid brothers, causing them to commit suicide.
In addition, in order to stabilize the hearts of the people of Xingdu, King Chuping specially arranged for his henchmen to kill a person who looked like King Chu Ling, so as to impersonate King Chu Ling and secretly throw him into Hanshui.
The real King of Chu Ling hanged himself after King Chuping and his two brothers staged a coup d'état.
Judging from these things done by King Chuping, he is a person who will stop at nothing to achieve his ends. Therefore, for him, marrying his own daughter-in-law is not a big deal.
Fei Wuji helped King Chuping to facilitate this great event, and was favored by King Chuping, and he was very satisfied in his heart. However, he also knew that once King Chuping died and Prince Jian succeeded to the throne, he would definitely be retaliated by Prince Jian at that time.
Therefore, Fei Wuji decided to strike first, taking advantage of the favor of King Chuping at this time, and tried his best to bring down Prince Jian.
In 523 BC, Fei Wuji came up with an idea when he proposed to King Ping of Chu: "Build a military town on the border of the Chu state, Chengfu (now Chengfu Town, Bozhou City, Anhui Province), and let the prince build troops to guard here."
Ruins of the City Father
Fei Wuji said to Chu Ziyu: "Jin Zhi Boye, far from Zhuxia; And Chu is secluded, so Fu can fight with each other. If the father of the great city and the great son, in order to lead to the north, and the king to the south, it is the world. The king said, from it. Therefore, the crown prince built a residence in the city father. ”
King Chuping also understood in his heart that he had snatched the daughter-in-law who should have belonged to Prince Jian, and it was inevitable that he would have to meet Prince Jian in the palace of the capital city, so he was embarrassed, so he directly agreed to Fei Wuji's suggestion.
Although Fei Wuji was a traitor in history, and this suggestion was also made to drive Prince Jian out of the capital of Ying, it has to be said that this suggestion is indeed very strategic.
The center of civilization in the State of Chu at that time was concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and Fei Wuji's proposal to build a city father on the border was equivalent to setting up a headquarters on the front line. The State of Chu could have used this as a base to expand northward. Moreover, it can also form a trend of echoing the north and south, and it can be attacked and retreated.
Accompanied by the crown prince Fu Wufu, the crown prince Jian left the capital of Ying in this way and was ordered to lead an army to garrison the city father.
Framed for rebellion, Wu Fu was arrested, and Prince Jian fled
Although Fei Wuji's scheme succeeded, he was still not at ease, because he had completely offended the crown prince.
Fearing retaliation in the future, Fei Wuji thought about it and simply came up with a more vicious method, that is, "get rid of the prince and create a new prince."
One day in 522 BC, Fei Wuji began to say bad things about Prince Jian again, and he said to King Chuping: "It has been several years since he married the daughter of the Emperor of Qin, but Prince Jian did not show any dissatisfaction, it is really unreasonable, there must be a big conspiracy in Prince Jian's heart!" ”
After hearing this, King Chuping was silent, and Fei Wuji continued to instigate on the side: "I heard that since the prince Jian guarded the city, he has cleaned up the army internally, made friends with the princes externally, and has frequent exchanges with them. Once the time is ripe, I am afraid that Crown Prince Jian will unite with other princely states and attack the capital of Ying. ”
Fei Wuji's words were simply a crime to add, which was enough to show his sinister cunning.
And King Chuping actually believed Fei Wuji's nonsense, and immediately ordered Wu Yu to be recalled to the capital of Ying to inquire about the matter in detail.
King Chuping was suspicious by nature, because his own ascension was a conspiracy, and he would never allow the same incident to repeat itself.
Receiving the summons of King Chuping, Wu Yu hurried back to the capital of Xing.
After listening to King Chuping's accusations, Wu Fu understood that it was Fei Wuji who was provoking the father-son relationship between King Chuping and Prince Jian again, and this time he framed Prince Jian for plotting rebellion.
Seeing that the situation of Prince Jian was very dangerous, Wu Fu risked his death to advise King Chuping: "The king and the prince are close relatives of flesh and blood, and they must not listen to outsiders' provocations at will, and alienate the relationship between father and son. ”
Hearing that Wu Fu pointed the finger at himself, how could Fei Wuji give up, he immediately counterattacked and said to King Chuping: "The matter is already clear, Wu Fu and Prince Jian are accomplices, if the king does not take the opportunity to make a decision, their conspiracy will succeed, and then the king will become a prisoner of the lower ranks." ”
Sure enough, Fei Wuji's radical method successfully angered King Chuping, and he immediately ordered Wu Fu to be arrested and imprisoned.
Not only that, Fei Wuji said to King Chu Ping: "Wu Fu also has two sons, one named Wu Shang and the other named Wu Yuan (Wu Zixu), if these two people are allowed to escape, they will definitely become a big trouble for the Chu State in the future." ”
Wu
Just as King Chuping was about to send people to arrest Wu Shang and Wu Zixu, Fei Wuji said: "We can pretend to absolve Wu Fu of the death penalty, trick the Wu Shang brothers over, and when they enter the capital of Ying, they will be executed immediately, and cut the grass to remove the roots." ”
King Chuping asked suspiciously, "Will the two of them come?" ”
Fei Wuji replied with a smile: "Great King, please rest assured, the Wu brothers have always had the name of benevolence and righteousness, how can they ignore their father's life and death, they will definitely come." ”
- The first team went to Wu Shang and Wu Zixu's residence to lure them back to the capital of Ying;
- The other team, led by Sima Fenyang of the city father, led an army to kill Prince Jian.
Soon, news came from Fenyang, which turned out to be "Prince Jian has left the city father and fled."
In fact, the person who leaked the news to Prince Jian in advance was Fengyang, because he knew that Prince Jian was wronged.
When he received the order from King Chuping, he could not refuse, so Fengyang led the soldiers to walk slowly. At the same time, he secretly sent people to the city father to report to the crown prince.
Therefore, by the time Fengyang led his troops to reach the city father, Prince Jian had already fled the city father and fled to the Song Kingdom for refuge.
Bei Yang knew in his heart that this matter was very important, and King Chuping would definitely not give up. In order not to implicate others, he took the initiative to go to the capital of Ying and asked King Chuping to punish him.
King Chuping was very angry and sternly rebuked: "As a human subject, you should be faithful to your duties, why do you have different hearts?" ”
Fengyang explained: "At the beginning, on the order of the great king, he assisted the prince in building a town and guarding the city. The great king once said in his own mouth that he would serve the prince Jian like the great king. I have always obeyed the orders of the Great King and served Crown Prince Jian wholeheartedly. Now that the king has issued another order to hunt down the prince, I don't know which order should be carried out. In the end, I carried out the previous order and let the prince go. But then I regretted it, but it was too late, and I regretted it! ”
King Chuping asked again: "Since you let the prince go, why do you dare to come to see the widow?" ”
Fengyang replied: "I have not completed the task given by the great king, I have already made a big mistake, if I do not come to see the great king again, it will be a mistake and an added mistake, so I came to ask the great king for sin." ”
King Chuping sighed and said, "That's it, return to the city father and continue to be your Sima!" ”
Wu Zixu, with hatred, fled the State of Chu
Fengyang deliberately let him go because he sympathized with Prince Jian, and did not receive any punishment from King Chuping. But Wu Fu was arrested and imprisoned just by speaking out, and the treatment of the two is very different.
The reason why King Chuping did not punish Fenyang was because through dialogue with Fenyang, he determined that Fanyang was a loyal and reliable person and could not bear to pursue it further.
In sharp contrast, under Fei Wuji's provocation, Wu Yu's blunt advice was considered an act of betrayal by King Chuping. Moreover, at that time, Wu Fu, as the crown prince, was inseparable from the prince Jian every day, and the prince Jian's conspiracy to rebel must be inseparable from Wu Fu.
Therefore, Wu Fu and Prince Jian are grasshoppers on a rope, both of which belong to the focus of King Chuping to eradicate.
When King Chuping sent another person to the Wu brothers' mansion, he said, "The king has investigated the matter clearly, and Wu Yu has indeed been wronged. In order to apologize, the great king intends to make the two marquises, please return to Xingdu with me to restore his life. ”
After listening to the messenger's words, Wu Shang said happily: "After my father was imprisoned, the son was worried about the safety of his old man every day. As long as my father is safe and sound, I will be satisfied, and where dare I hope to be knighted. ”
However, Wu Zixu was not as excited as his brother Wu Shang, and he said to the messenger: "The order of the great king, how dare we not obey, let us arrange the affairs here a little, and immediately go with you." ”
Then, Wu Zixu pulled his brother into the house and said solemnly: "Don't be deceived by the illusion of being a marquis, the king told us to return to the capital of Ying, perhaps because he was worried that we would escape, so he took his father as a hostage." I am afraid that the day we return to the capital is when the father and son are killed. ”
Wu Shang hurriedly explained: "Where I am greedy for wealth, I also see that this is a trap, and I returned to the capital with them, hoping to meet my father." ”
Wu Zixu said, "If that's the case, let me go to Xingdu to rescue my father!" The king is jealous of my bravery, and should not harm my father. ”
Wu Shang also said: "I went to Xingdu this time with the determination to die. The only thing I could do was to die with my father. It is easy to be filial, but it is difficult to take revenge, our Wu family's blood and sea deep feud, it depends on you to repay, you hurry up and escape! ”
According to the moral concept of the Spring and Autumn Period, if Wu Shang and Wu Zixu both fled, it was called abandoning their father. If both of them go to Yingdu to die, it is called abdication of responsibility, and neither is desirable.
Therefore, the only way to do this is for one of the two brothers to go to Xingdu to die, and the other to take revenge.
Under Wu Shang's repeated insistence, he resolutely walked towards the gate, but this time he went and said goodbye.
Looking at his brother's departing back, Wu Zixu had tears in his eyes, knelt on the ground, and said in his mouth: "Brother take care, Wu Yuan (Wu Zixu) said goodbye to his brother here." ”
As soon as Wu Shang walked out of the gate, he was arrested on the spot and escorted to Xingdu.
At this time, Wu Zixu, wearing a pair of armor and holding a bow and arrow in his hand, rode out on a fast horse and shouted to the messenger: "Go back and tell King Chuping that if you want the kingdom of Chu not to be destroyed, you should quickly release my father and brother." Otherwise, I must turn the capital into ruins. ”
After speaking, Wu Zixu shouldered the mission of revenge and began a life of desperation.
The former site of Yingdu
After many inquiries, Wu Zixu learned that Prince Jian had fled to the Song Kingdom, so he quickly fled to the Song State in an attempt to join Prince Jian.
However, with the gradual evolution of historical materials such as "Zuo Chuan", "Shiji" and "Wuyue Spring and Autumn", although the story of Wu Zixu's revenge for his father and brother has become more and more formed, his true historical image has become more and more blurred, and there are too many artistic images mixed in.
This is because Wu Zixu's act of revenge conforms to the ethics and values of people at that time and is considered a righteous act. Especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhao Ye's "Wuyue Spring and Autumn" has undergone a series of adaptations, interpretations and praises.
Wu Fu, who was trapped in the prison of Xingdu, heard that his son Wu Zixu had escaped from the Chu Kingdom, and he couldn't help but sigh and said: "If the staff runs, the Chu Kingdom will be in danger!" ”
In fact, before King Chuping sent people to lure the Wu brothers to the capital of Ying, he had an in-depth conversation with Wu Yu.
King Chuping asked, "If you summon your two sons to the capital of Ying, will they come?" ”
After hearing these words, Wu Yu immediately understood that King Chuping was going to kill his two sons.
Wu Yu thought for a while and replied, "My two sons have strong personalities, and the eldest Wu Shang has a good character and values filial piety. For my business, he is willing to risk his own safety and will definitely come. And the second eldest Wu Zixu is different, he is quick-witted, both civil and military, literary ability to govern the country and security, martial arts can stabilize the world, and can endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens in order to achieve great things. Can someone like him recall Ying Dulai? He must know that coming to the capital of Ying is a dead end, and he will definitely not come, but will flee to another country, and the border of the Chu State will never be peaceful in the future. ”
As expected, after Wu Shang was escorted to the capital of Ying, King Chuping ordered that Wu Shang be executed along with his father Wu Fu.
At this time, Wu Zixu had fled to the Yangtze River, and when he heard this bad news, he looked up to the sky and wept bitterly, and made a vow: "King Chuping has no way, and indiscriminately kills the loyal minister, this revenge is not rewarded, and it is in vain!" ”
From this moment on, Wu Zixu formed a deep blood feud with the State of Chu and vowed to take revenge.
end
"If the father is innocently killed by the king, as a son, he can take revenge."
The Spring and Autumn period was a patriarchal society, and kinship was the most basic interpersonal relationship. Avenging relatives has thus become a sacred patriarchal obligation.
It is often said that "since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety have been in a dilemma", and in the Spring and Autumn Era more than 2,000 years ago, if there was a contradiction between loyalty and filial piety, then "abandon loyalty and choose filial piety", which was generally recognized by society at that time.
Therefore, King Chuping listened to Fei Wuji's rumors and killed Wu Fu and Wu Shang's father and son innocently, and Wu Zixu, as a son, should have the legal right to avenge his father and brother.
Resources
- Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty, "Shiji Wu Zixu Lie"
- Eastern Han Zhao Ye's "Wuyue Spring and Autumn"
- At the end of spring and autumn, Zuo Qiuming wrote "Zuo Chuan"
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