<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > song xianggong chapter of the leading big brother in the Spring and Autumn Period (7).</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > chief writer: Idle Lesheng</h1>
In the spring of 639 BC, the three great powers of the Song, Qi, and Chu states met at Lushang (宋邑, southeast of present-day Juye County, Shandong), at which Song Xianggong asked the two great men of Qi and Chu to invite the princes of the world to hold the largest meeting of clothes in history (a friendship alliance in which all countries did not bring military vehicles and only wore dresses), and jointly promoted Song Xianggong as the leader of the alliance.
In the face of Song Xianggong's facelessness and skinlessness, Qi Xiaogong could only think of himself as a snake. Although song xianggong led troops to escort him to Linzi to take the throne in the civil unrest in Qi, it was embarrassing that Song Xianggong did not measure up to become the overlord. After all, the State of Qi is a superpower, although it is damaged by internal turmoil and national strength, it is impossible to be the younger brother of the State of Song, fortunately, Qi Xiaogong is an honest man, he does not want to turn his face with Song Xianggong, so he casually hit a haha and confused things in the past.
Although King Cheng of Chu is a generation of tyrants, but after all, he is an outsider, has always been regarded as a barbarian by the central plains powers, Song Xianggong thought of taking him to play is already to give him face, he can not support the widow?
However, Song Xianggong's brother-in-law, Song Guoxian's courtier Muyi, thought that King Chu Cheng was not a troublemaker, and that Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong had been plotting for decades, and they couldn't figure out this Nan Batian, and Song Xianggong wanted to let this tyrant look up for himself with only his little cleverness, how could this be possible?
Photo: Tomb of Meguchi on Weishan Island
Therefore, when the August meeting was approaching, and Song Xianggong really prepared a bodyguard to go to Ludi (宋邑, northwest of present-day Ju County, Henan) to participate in the alliance meeting without a bodyguard, Gongzi Muyi hurriedly advised him: "The chu yi state is also strong and unjust, please go with the military vehicle." ”
Song Xianggong said, "No." I have made a covenant with him to ride a ride, to do it for myself, to fall into self-depravity, and not to do it! ”
Gongzi saw that Song Xianggong did not listen to the advice, and his heart was anxious. You are a gentleman, you want to treat people with sincerity, and you refuse to rebel, this is a good quality, but not everyone is a gentleman, do you think King Chu Cheng is like a gentleman? It is better to send more soldiers, after all, this is the territory of the Song Kingdom, and the Chu people dare not take what we do!
Song Xianggong sighed, "If Wuguo is victimized by the Chu people, the son will return to the country, and the country of the son of the country will also be." It is I who do not follow the words of the Son to this end. ”
Gongzi Yi saw that Song Xianggong had sacrificed himself for hegemony, and he actually entrusted the aftermath to himself, and he could not help but sigh in a long voice: "The rise and fall of the country, everyone has the responsibility, you don't say that I will do the same." (Although the king does not speak of the country, the country of the former subjects of the country also)
Song Xianggong was indeed an old-fashioned man, but he was not a crazy and stupid person, did he really not know the dangers of this alliance meeting? Lu Guo is a state of etiquette, didn't Ke Zhimeng still shamelessly kidnap Qi Huangong? Even if the Lu people do not talk about credit, the barbarian Chu is more likely to not talk about credit. When the alliance of the Tombs was first summoned, Chu Guoming and the Nine Kingdoms of the Central Plains made an alliance with blood, and swore that the alliance would be good from then on, and the blood stains had not dried, and the State of Chu beat Xu Guo to a crying father and called his mother, where was his credit?
But there is no way, on the national strength, Song even Chu a little finger can not compare, Chu really wants to be unfavorable to Song, Song Xianggong more than took military vehicles to go is useless, is not the same as the same can not beat people? And this is even worse, people will say that Song Guo did not pay attention to credit first, Chu Guo played well, and fought reasonably!
Therefore, if you don't talk about credit, you will be beaten in vain; if you talk about credit, you will at least occupy a moral advantage, at least in exchange for the sympathy of the princes for the Song State and the hatred for the Chu State, thus recreating the grand situation of the Eight Kingdoms of Chu in that year.
Therefore, Song Xianggong was even more bullish than the later Guan Gong, and without even carrying a single knife, he went to the meeting empty-handed, still holding a little illusion in his heart: The people of the Chu State should not dare to openly default in front of the princes of the world, right?
Song Xianggong was wrong, if he wanted King Chu Cheng to talk about credit, the old sow would go up to the tree, and there was no hegemony in this world. The reason why King Chuping agreed to Song Xianggong so happily was not because he gave song Xianggong face, but because he had other plans. Since Qi Chu summoned the alliance of Lingling, King Chu Cheng had always wanted to enter the Central Plains, only because the princes of the Central Plains had adopted a strategy of joint resistance against Chu, making it difficult for the Chu State to advance northward, and now the self-made clever Song Xianggong took the initiative to send him to the door, and King Chu Cheng just killed him and took the core of the Central Plains of the Song Kingdom, then the world could get it!
What was even more wrong with Song Xianggong was that the princes of the world did not come as he expected. The princes he himself went to invite, except for Cao Guo, who was frightened by him, the rest did not give face, and even Qi Xiaogong did not come to participate; as for the princes of the Chu State, Chen, Cai, Zheng, and Xu, they all came, but they were all younger brothers of the Chu State, and they did not even dare to put a fart under the obscene power of the Chu State, and they were useless at all.
As a result, of course, King Cheng of Chu took off the sheepskin on his body at the alliance meeting, exposed his mouth full of wolf teeth, ambushed the soldiers, and arrested poor Song Xianggong like a chicken boy, and then coerced Chen, Cai, Zheng, and Xu, together with Cao, who was about to defect, to attack the Song kingdom.
At this critical moment, the great powers of Qi, Lu, Jin, Qin, and the Central Plains did not send troops to rescue each other as Song Xianggong expected, and the combined forces of the Chu state surrounded the Song capital Shangqiu in groups, and for several months, half of the reinforcements did not arrive.
Everyone's attitude could not be clearer: this is the contradiction between your Song State and the Chu State, we can't control it, it is deserved to be played, it is beaten to death, it is even more stupid to talk to the Chu people about credit, and it is even more stupid to want to get some sympathy points here, there is no way!
It is forgivable that other countries did not save the Song Kingdom, and the internal turmoil in Qi was all settled by song Xianggong's help, but at this time there was still no soldier, so it can be seen that in the face of national interests, the so-called benevolence and righteousness, the so-called diplomatic relations, are all just, only Song Xianggong still takes it as a treasure, in a vain attempt to use this to dominate the world, is not it very stupid and naïve?
Song Xianggong was taken hostage, watching his country fall into danger, we don't know how his mood was, but judging from the development of the later events, he did not have the slightest regret for his adherence to the faithful, such a fossil-level old stubbornness that has never been seen in ancient times, what do you call us to say about him?
On the other hand, The prince Muyi, who fled back to the Song kingdom in chaos, had already taken the throne as a king in the Song capital Shangqiu, and led the countrymen to put up a deadly resistance to the Chu army, and King Cheng of Chu could not win for a while, so he sent people to threaten the Song people, saying: "If the son does not cooperate with our country, I will kill the son Junyi!" ”
However, the Song people did not eat this set, and they replied to the king of Chu, "The gods of Wulai Sheji, our country has already been kinged." Life and death are at your disposal, and you can't do it if you want to! "It means that the Song Kingdom has established a new monarch, and the Chu State should not try to use the original monarch to blackmail the Song State, tear up the ticket and tear the ticket, afraid of you!"
In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a very popular saying called "Zheng Huang Song Crazy", which means that Zheng Guo people are cunning and love to play hooligans, and Song Guo people are mentally ill and paranoid; there is also a sentence called "Zheng Zhao Song Deaf", which means that Zheng Guo people have bright eyes, are good at seeing the wind, change at any time, and flexible in strategy, so they know how to judge the hour and size the situation and change the boss; and the Song people are all deaf who can't listen, the bones are super hard, they prefer to bend and admit death, and the Chu state wants to subdue the Song kingdom many times, and has not succeeded once, this strong and indomitable cultural spirit, Instead, during the Warring States period, the Song State died behind the Zheng State.
Therefore, a few months passed, the Song Kingdom was beaten very badly, but it never yielded, and although the Chu army was strong, it did not rut for a while.
Originally, the Song Kingdom was located in the vast Eastern Henan Plain, the terrain was flat, there was no danger to strangle, for the four wars of the ground, the enemy could drive straight in, the Song people for self-protection, hundreds of years have been constantly building the city, relying on the tall and strong walls and the moat of the wide abyss to resist external troubles. Among the nations, only the Song state had an official named "Sicheng", who was not only responsible for supervising the construction of the city, but also sometimes as the ruler of the Song state, holding a high position of authority.
According to modern archaeological excavations, most of the cities and pools of the Song Dynasty were as high as 11.5-12 meters, far exceeding the major powers at that time. The Song capital Shangqiu, a super defensive fortress surrounded by swampy areas on all sides, although the Chu army was strong, it was probably not so easy to easily bite down this hard bone. Basically, in the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu attacked the Song Dynasty, most of them were siege battles, and only by fighting at a cost, the attack could not be attacked. During the Warring States period, Chu also asked Lu Ban to create a ladder to attack Song City, but as soon as mozi, the defender of the Song Kingdom, came out, even Lu Ban could only retreat.
In fact, the reason why Zi Father dared to fight with Qiang Chu and fight for alliances was that in addition to his self-esteem and benevolence, he also relied on the Song Dynasty to defend the city easily and difficult to attack.
Pictured: Shangqiu Ancient City Wall
Sure enough, King Chu Cheng could not continue in the end, and then such a bitter consumption not only could not be fought by the Song Kingdom, but would consume both defeats and injuries to let other princes take advantage of the opportunity, it was better to take advantage of it, and give the Song Kingdom a lesson.
So King Cheng of Chu sent the doctor Dou Shenyi to the State of Lu to offer victory, and gave some of the booty obtained from the fight against the Song Kingdom to Duke Lu, not to say it, but actually wanted him to be a mediator and give himself a good step, after all, it was a bit faceless to retire like this.
Lu Xiangong understood the spirit, so he laughed at these booty, this little slippery head was not interested in such a thankless thing as saving Song, but it was certainly obligatory to mediate such a flattering and effortless thing. Therefore, in the autumn of that year, the Duke of Lu and the princes of the State of Chu met at Bodi (bodi) (present-day northern Shangqiu, Henan), and persuaded King Cheng of Chu to release his father and retire to make peace with the State of Song.
King Chu Cheng had long wanted to let go of Zi Father, this waste in addition to playing with treasure has no use value, it is simply a garbage stock, long-term holding is pure waste, not only can not appreciate the value but consume food; killing it is equivalent to dirtying his own hands, but also a big loss of popularity, no different from cutting meat on the stock market; it is better to quickly get rid of it and return it to Song Guo. Besides, Song Guo's Muyi looked quite powerful, and it was better to let him be the monarch than to let Zi Father, a stupid bird with great ambition and talent, because the stupidity of the enemy was his own luck!
So King Chu Cheng put zi father on the slope of the donkey, not only changed hands of a rotten stock, but sold Lu Gong's affection and made a small profit, why not enjoy it?
Although his father regained his freedom, he already had a new monarch in the country, so he ran to Weiguo and was reunited with his mother.
In just a few days, from the overlord to the prisoner, from the prisoner to the civilian who had nothing, after so many things, the father was tired, he wanted to live a peaceful and happy life, and completely forgot this unpleasant memory. As for the future of the Song Kingdom, let's leave it to the new Junmuyi, who was calm and calm in the time of national disaster, and did a good job, so let's continue to work.
However, Mu Yi did not want to take over this hot potato, so he personally came to Wei Guo to ask His father to go back and continue to preside over the work, and said: "The country is guarded by the king, why does the king not enter?" ”
Mu Yi was wise, although he temporarily took the throne of the country, but Father Zi still had a large number of supporters in the Song Kingdom, in case these people did not obey and gave birth to any chaos, how could it be good?
Song Xianggong returned to the Song kingdom to restore the throne, there was no regret in his heart, only resentment, this time he was humiliated, he did not complain about the heavens and the earth, only complained about zheng Xu Chen Cai Cao and other princes of the state, and hated them in his heart, even more than hating King Chu Cheng.
These spineless "Xia traitors" openly flattered Yi and were completely shameless, and obviously gave the right to manipulate China to the hands of Jingchu Barbarians.
Shame, shame, Song Xianggong himself was not ashamed to be imprisoned, but he felt ashamed of Zhu Xia.
Song Xianggong was bitterly determined, and he finally understood that the alliance could not solve the problem of the Chu state by relying on the alliance alone, and it was necessary to fight a battle, a battle of dignity and integrity, to show the spirit of the Song Kingdom and revitalize the courage of Zhu Xia! Whether this battle is won or lost, it is only about benevolence and righteousness, because only benevolence and righteousness can reunite the Chinese princes. In Song Xianggong's view, the alliance of interests does not have any cohesion, and only benevolence and righteousness are king!
Therefore, Song Xianggong actively prepared for the battle, trained his troops day and night, and prepared to fight a benevolent and righteous battle with the Chu state at the appropriate time. He firmly believed that the benevolent man was invincible, and even if he repeatedly lost battles, the final victory would definitely belong to the Song Kingdom; because he firmly believed that even if his benevolence could not touch Jingman, he would certainly be able to move the heavens and move all the Chinese princes.
To tell the truth, although Song Xianggong's pedantic legacy has been laughing for thousands of years, in such a long era, "benevolence" is still very marketable, so although King Chu Cheng of Bohui became an ally as he wished, his untrustworthy and unjust behavior also disgusted some Chinese princes, so after the meeting, some of the princes who were attached to Chu (Youxu and Chen Erguo in the history books) fell to the side of Song Xianggong and refused to recognize the hegemonic status of King Chu Cheng. Therefore, although King Cheng of Chu had quite a battle record in his lifetime, he had destroyed the eleventh country, forced the Duke of Qi Huan to be leveled, and defeated the Duke of Song Xiang, but he still could not be ranked as one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Basically, the term "overlord" in the Spring and Autumn Period was still different from the tyranny and domineering meaning of later generations full of military colors, and in the "Second Year of zuo chuan chenggong", the diplomat of the State of Qi, BinMeiren, said: "The hegemony of the five uncles is also diligent and caressed, in order to serve the king's life." "The Five Hegemons can dominate because they have worked hard to appease the princes and lead everyone to obey the orders of the Son of Heaven." This is the true meaning of "overlord". Therefore, when the historian Ban Gu was discussing the candidates for the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons, he said: "Song Xiang cut qi, did not catch two hairs, did not drum and did not form a column." The Spring and Autumn Chronicle says: "Although the battle of King Wen was not over. 'Know its hegemony also. The "Spring and Autumn Ram Biography" also believes that Song Xianggong "did not forget the big gifts in the face of major events", and was actually a gentleman, even comparable to King Wen of Zhou. The implication is that Song Xianggong was a moral model in the Spring and Autumn Period, and even if his martial arts were a little worse, he was enough to rank among the five masters.
In short, although Song Xianggong suffered successive defeats, he preached benevolence and righteousness, broke out of the name, he was full of confidence, felt that the situation was very good, he decided to take this opportunity, raise the army to avenge, and set the hegemony in one fell swoop!
Therefore, on those rainy nights, Song Xianggong still held his dream and fell asleep peacefully. In the dream, it is a sea full of warm sunshine...