The Ruo Ao clan was the most powerful duke clan in the early Spring and Autumn Period of the Chu State, and could be called the first grand duke clan. However, there was a huge doubt about ruo ao clan: was Dou Bobi really the son of Chu Jun Xiongyi?
According to the "History of the Chu Family", Xiong Yi was the monarch of the Chu state at the turn of two weeks, who died in 764 BC and was called "Ruo'ao" by posterity. Fifty-eight years later, Douberbi appeared on the stage of history. The "Sixth Year of the Duke of Huan" records that on the occasion of the king of Chuwu's reign, Dou Bobi appeared to consult. Because of such a large time interval, the academic community usually believes that Dou Bobi should be the grandson of Xiong Yi, not the son of Xiong Yi.
However, the "Four Years of Zuo Chuan Xuangong" clearly records: "If Ao marries Yu Yu, he will give birth to Dou Bobi." "What's going on here? Some scholars believe that Xiong Yi's son is the first generation of the Ruo Ao clan, also known as "Ruo Ao". Dou Bobi, who should be the son of Ruo Ao, is the grandson of Chu Jun Xiong Ao.
This assertion is based on the credibility of the records of the Chronicle of History. As far as the records of the pre-Qin history can be regarded, there are many errors in time. Not only the State of Chu, but also the records of Tai Shi Gong on Wei Guo, Qin Guo, Jin Guo, and many other countries are more or less wrong, which is not enough to rely on.
In addition, although the Zhou Dynasty had the custom of using the title of father as the name of the clan, it was almost impossible to see an example of using the title of father as the title of son. Therefore, the speculation that Ruo'ao's son is still called "Ruo'ao" is also not credible.
From a personal point of view, it is more believed that the "Records of History" misremembered the lineage of the chu monarch, rather than the speculation that Dou Bobi was xiong yi's grandson.
If Ao had many children, the historical records record that there are Dou Lian, Dou Jiao, Dou Qi, Dou Bobi, Dou Qiang and so on. These five people should be the first generation of the Ruo Ao clan. After King Wu of Chu usurped the throne, the four dou brothers were all highly valued and active in the political arena of the Chu state.
Among the many brothers, the most legendary figure should undoubtedly be Bobby Dou.
Dou Bobi was the son of the Meteor Girl, and after Ruo'ao's death, he followed his mother back to the Meteor Kingdom. Since then, Dou Bobi has slowly grown up in the Fallen Kingdom Palace. Later, dou bobi, who grew to adulthood, had an affair with his cousin the daughter of the monarch of the fallen kingdom, and also gave birth to a son: Dougu Yuyu (wūtú), which later became the famous Chu state sage, Ling Yin Ziwen.
From this incident, it can be seen that the young Dou Bobi was somewhat absurd. But after growing up, Dou Bobi matured rapidly.
In 741 BC, Chu Jun died. At this time, Xiong Tong suddenly intervened, killed his nephew, and established himself as a king. Although Xiong Tong was a majestic and strategic king, he was unable to break through the Han River for more than thirty years in his reign, and he seemed to have no idea about it.
Just when King Chu Wu was extremely confused, Dou Bobi pointed out the way out at a critical moment. In 706 BC, King Wu of Chu went to attack Suiguo. Before negotiating peace with Suiguo, Dou Bobi said: "The reason why our Chu state has been slow to break through the Han River and expand eastward is entirely to ourselves. We like to show off our force to others, and others are afraid that they will naturally unite against the Chu state, but it is difficult for us to separate them. Among the kingdoms east of the Han River, Suiguo is the most powerful; Suiguo is proud of itself and will abandon other small countries. In this way, it would be extremely beneficial to the Chu State. The person who came to participate in the peace talks this time was a young teacher who accompanied the country and was arrogant. We can hide the elite, and only let the old and weak soldiers be seen, so that we can confuse him. ”
Doctor Xiong Lu listened and disagreed: "With the presence of the state-owned Sage Doctor Ji Liang, what is the advantage of doing this?" ”
Dou Bobi insisted, "This is for the sake of long-term planning, and the young master is being favored by the monarch of the accompanying country." King Chu Wu thought about it for half a day, and finally heeded Dou Bobi's advice.
Although under the persuasion of Ji Liang, the king of Suiguo was not deceived this time, but two years later in the Battle of Suqi (in present-day Yingshan, Hubei), because of the light enemy of the young division, the army was defeated by Chu and forced to surrender to the State of Chu. After temporarily deterring suiguo, the Chu people took the opportunity to expand east of the Han River.
In 701 BC, the Chu army defeated the Fallen Kingdom at Pusao (present-day northwest of Yingcheng, Hubei), repelled the forces of Sui, Qiang, Zhou, and Tate, and successfully formed an alliance with the Kingdom of Yi (present-day Guangshui, Hubei) and the State of Yi (present-day west of Yingcheng, Hubei), not only splitting the states of eastern Han, but also smoothly expanding the sphere of influence of the State of Chu to the east of the Han River.
The Chu state was able to break through the natural dangers of the Han River, and Dou Bobi's strategy undoubtedly played a crucial role. Not only that, but later Dou Bobi also successfully predicted the defeat of Mo Ao's qufeng, proving that he was not only brilliant in strategy, but also intelligent.
In addition to Dou Bobi, Dou Lian is also an excellent leader.
Before the Battle of Suqi in 701 BC, the five kingdoms of Sui, Qi, Zhou, Tateshina, and Xia joined forces against the Chu state. The Chu army commander Mo Ao was worried about this, and was deeply afraid that he would be outnumbered. However, at this time, Dou Lian stood up and took the initiative to ask him for a battle: "The meteorites are stationed in the suburbs, and they must be neglecting to take precautions." Moreover, they looked forward to the rescue of the other four countries day and night, and they were too dependent on the city and had no heart to fight. You led an army in the suburb of Ying (present-day Zhongxiang, Hubei) against the other four kingdoms, and I led a crack army to attack the meteorite army. The fallen army was defeated, and the other four countries naturally retreated in fear. ”
When he heard that he was going to divide his troops to fight, Qu Feng was deeply afraid of the shortage of troops, and said worriedly: "Why don't you ask the king for reinforcements?" ”
Dou Lian replied confidently: "The army's victory in the battle lies in the unity of the upper and lower levels, not in the number of troops. Although the King of Shang had many soldiers, he was eventually defeated by king Wu of Zhou, which is something you know well. I went out as an army of my own, why should I increase my troops? ”
Seeing that Dou Lian was so confident, Qu Feng still had some hesitation: "Why not divination?" ”
Dou Lian said firmly: "Divination is to solve doubts, now there is no doubt, why do you still want divination?" ”
At Dou Lian's stubborn request, Qu Feng finally agreed to his battle plan.
Dou Lian then led his army to Pusao and quickly defeated the meteorites. Seeing that the meteorites were defeated by the Chu army, the other four armies were overwhelmed with fear and retreated in panic. Mo Ao qufeng successfully completed his alliance with the Kingdom of Yi and the State of Yi and returned to the State of Chu safely.
Although Dou Bobi and Dou Lian have made great achievements many times, Dou Miao among the brothers has made a big mistake. After King Wu of Chu destroyed the state of Quan, he changed the state of Quan to Quan County and ordered Dou To be the county of Quan Yin. However, soon after, Dou Miao rebelled and was killed by King Chu Wu. The rebellion of Dou Miao made King Wu of Chu also have some concerns about the Ruo Ao clan, and did not let them be alone.
However, after the defeat and suicide of his son Mo Ao, King Wu of Chu had to rely more heavily on the Ruo Ao clan. In his later years, King Wu of Chu placed Ling Yin above Mo Ao and Dou Qi the title of Ling Yin. This shows that although Dou Miao had rebelled, the Ruo Ao family had won the trust of the Chu state office.
However, after King Wen of Chu came to power, he did not pay special attention to the Ruo Ao clan.
Ling Yin, Sima And Mo Ao, and so on during the reign of King Wen of Chu are not accurately recorded; but the most famous of them was Peng Zhongshuang, a prisoner of the Southern Shen State. King Wen of Chu did not hesitate to promote Peng Zhongshun to Ling Yin, allowing the State of Chu to successfully annex the State of Nanshen and the State of Xie, breaking through the Nanyang Basin.
After the death of King Wen of Chu, he left behind his wife Concubine Xi and two sons who were less than ten years old: Jiān (芈囏) and 芈恽. Wives and weak children were young, which laid a hidden danger for Chu's internal turmoil.
Mi Fei was the eldest brother, and was first supported as the King of Chu to block Ao. However, a fierce power struggle broke out in the Chu royal family at this time, and in the end, The brother of King Wen of Chu, Zi Yuan, took Qi Yun hostage and killed Duo Ao, and then supported Qi Yun to become the King of Chu, for the king of Chu Cheng.
With the merits of support, and the young king of Chu Cheng, Ziyuan unceremoniously monopolized the power of the Chu state. Later, Ziyuan once wanted to forcibly occupy The Concubine, but was strongly opposed by the Ruo Ao clan. Ziyuan was very arrogant and openly arrested the Warrior Archers of the Ruo'ao Clan. This triggered great anger from the Ruo'ao family - so, Shen Gongdouban, the son of Dou Qiang, angrily intervened, killed Ziyuan, and quelled the rebellion of Ziyuan!
In gratitude to the Ruo Ao clan, King Cheng of Chu appointed Dou Bobi's son Dou Gu Yu Yu (斗谷于菟) as Ling Yin (令尹), the famous Ling Yin Ziwen (令尹子文).
During Ziwen's tenure as Ling Yin, it was the key moment when the Chu state had just stepped out of the Nanyang Basin and participated in the central plains hegemony. In order to alleviate the national difficulties, Ziwen actually donated all the family property, resulting in his family not having a day's food, and often hungry when he went to the dynasty. Over time, King Cheng of Chu also knew about the dilemma of the Ziwen family, and every day when they met, they had to prepare a piece of meat and a grain to give to him.
With the full assistance of Ziwen, King Cheng of Chu fought for supremacy with the first overlord of Eastern Zhou, Duke Huan of Qi, for more than twenty years, and on the surface he was inferior, but in fact he took advantage of everything: during this period, the territory of the State of Chu successfully expanded to the middle and lower reaches of the Huai River.
Ziwen's great contribution made him a sacred model in the minds of successive Chu kings: King Zhuang of Chu pardoned Ziwen after destroying the Ruo'ao clan; King Chuping killed the arrogant Man Chengran, but because he was Ziwen, he pardoned his two sons!
After Ziwen, another branch of the Ruo Ao clan also suddenly rose. The earliest figure of the Cheng clan to appear on the historical stage was Cheng Dechen, that is, Ling Yin Ziyu, who succeeded Ziwen.
The historical data on Ziyu's origin are also different: some say that Ziyu is Ziwen's brother, some say that he is a cousin, and some say that he is Ziwen's cousin.
In the case of the Cheng clan, ziyu is unlikely to be ziwen's brother. The Cheng clan is likely to be after Dou Lian or Dou Qi, because of the great merit and single independent clan. Because Dou Qi appeared the most recent among the ruo ao brothers, and had the highest status in the chu state, it is likely that dou qi was awarded the title of Chengyi after dou qi, so that it was possible to separate the clan. Judging from his age, Cheng Dechen is most likely the son of Dou Qi and the cousin of Ziwen.
Cheng Dechen is a controversial figure, although he is self-conscious, but his talent is extremely prominent.
In 637 BC, Gongzi Zhong'er went into exile in the Chu state, and Zi Yu saw that his words were good, and decided that he would definitely pose a great threat to the Chu state in the future, so he asked to kill Zhong'er, but was refused by King Cheng of Chu. Five years later, Duke Wen of Jin did indeed lead the Jin people to defeat the Chu army led by Zi Yu and successfully dominate Eastern Zhou. It can be seen from this that Cheng Dechen is quite knowledgeable.
However, Cheng Dechen's strengths and weaknesses were too prominent, so that the Chu people were not too convinced of him. In his later years, Ziwen repeatedly recommended Cheng Dechen to replace him, but he was constantly questioned by the Chu people from top to bottom. Even after Cheng Dechen independently led the army to achieve great military achievements, the Chu people still said that he was "just and rude", and the unified troops could not return home safely if they exceeded three hundred.
However, with ziwen's support, king Cheng of Chu had to appoint Cheng Dechen as Ling Yin to replace ziwen.
In 632 BC, Cheng Dechen, who was self-conscious, fell into a trap under the elaborate design of the Jin people, and finally defeated the Jin state at Chengpu! After the defeat, Cheng Dechen had no face to go back to see King Cheng of Chu and had to commit suicide to apologize.
Ling Yin Ziwen and Ziyu were both the second generation of the Ruo Ao clan, ziwen became a model for the world, but Ziyu became a sinner due to defeat. The defeat at the Battle of Chengpu was the first major setback for the Ruo'ao family.
Although Ziyu was the culprit in the defeat of Chengpu, he was also conscientious and wrong, so King Chu Cheng did not pursue the crimes of the Ruo Ao family. After Ziyu's death, Ruo Ao Doubo (子上) and Ziyu's son Cheng Daxin served as Ling Yin successively. It can be said that although the Battle of Chengpu was lost, the favor of the Ruo Ao clan did not fade.
However, after the defeat of Chengpu, the Chu State Office's defensiveness against the Ruo Ao clan was significantly increased.
The Ruo Ao clan had long occupied two crucial positions of Ling Yin and Sima Shi, which made the Chu state office vaguely feel threatened by the Ruo Ao clan. In 627 BC, Ling Yin and Cheng Daxin (子玉's son, most likely Sima at this time) led an army to invade the two kingdoms of Chen and Cai, encountering the Jin army led by Yang's father. Father Yang led his army straight into the water, trying to cut off the retreat of the Chu army.
Seeing that a big battle was about to be inevitable, but Yang's father induced the Chu army to take the initiative to retreat, and then hurriedly withdrew after the Chu army retreated, and all the way he was showing off that "the Chu army fled"! For this fearful act of the Yang Father, the son is both ridiculous and angry. Unexpectedly, this battle turned out to be his last battle.
Afterwards, the crown prince Shangchen, who was originally dissatisfied with zishang, falsely accused him of accepting bribes from the Jin state and fled without a fight. King Chu Cheng listened, and without any hesitation, he immediately killed Zi Shang! With the wisdom of King Chu Cheng, can't you tell that this is an unjust case? But the reason why he wanted to kill his son was that he still had to strengthen his defense against the Ruo Ao clan.
A year after the death of Zi Shang, Shang Chen's father usurped the throne successfully for King Chu Mu. During the reign of King Chu Mu, the Ruo Ao family was still favored by the public office. But another thing happened, but it was enough to prove that the gap between Ruo Ao and the office had been born.
During the Battle of Chengpu, Dou Yishen (Zixi) served as Sima (司馬). After the defeat, he wanted to commit suicide with Ziyu, but fortunately waited for king Chu Cheng's pardon and escaped death. Thereafter, Sima Zixi was relieved of his post, and King Cheng of Chu renamed him the Duke of Shang. Later, due to rumors, Zixi voluntarily surrendered to The Capital, winning the trust of King Cheng of Chu again and changing his name to Gong Yin. Perhaps because of this, Zixi was grateful to King Chu Cheng. In 617 BC, Gong Yin Zixi conspired with people to kill King Chu Mu and avenge King Chu Cheng. Unexpectedly, King Chu Mu discovered Zixi's plot and unceremoniously killed him!
From Dou Bo to Dou Yi Shen, King Chu Mu had killed two Dou Clan people, would he still trust ruo Ao clan so much?
If Dou Bo and Dou Yishen are still loyal to the office, then the other act of the Ruo Ao clan is to participate purely in the power struggle.
In the first year of the reign of King Zhuang of Chu (613 BC), Duke Douke of Shen rebelled with Gongzi Xie and kidnapped King Zhuang of Chu, only to be killed by the Chu people.
Dou Ke was previously the Duke of Shen, but was unfortunately captured by the Qin in the Battle of The State of Chu. Later, although he was released by the Qin people, his position as Duke of Shen was already occupied by others. It was because of his long-term depression that Dou Ke launched a civil unrest.
The Douke Rebellion is enough to prove that there has been a change within the Ruo Ao clan, no longer loyal to the country, and slowly breeding ambitionists. In this way, how could the Chu State Office not strictly guard against the Ruo Ao Clan?
At the beginning of the succession of King Zhuang of Chu, the Ruo Ao clan still occupied important positions in the Chu state. During the reign of King Zhuang of Chu, the first three Lingyin were Cheng Jia (Zi Kong), Dou Ban (Zi Yang), and Dou Jiao (Zi Yue). Among them, Cheng Jia was the younger brother of Cheng Daxin and the son of Cheng Dechen; Dou Ban was the son of ZiWen, and Dou Jiao was Zi Wen's nephew and son of Sima Ziliang.
During the reign of King Chu Zhuang, the grandson of King Cheng of Chu, the third generation of the Ruo Ao clan had grown up in an all-round way.
For the third generation of the Ruo Ao clan, Ziwen was worried. He believes that Dou Pepper is a "wolf ambition" that will bring great disaster to the Ruo Ao clan. Therefore, before his death, he had been persuading his younger brother Zi Liang to kill Dou Jiao to avoid any trouble, but Zi Liang did not listen.
After Ziwen's death, his son Ziyang became Ling Yin again. Perhaps because Uncle Da had slandered himself, Dou Jiao, who became Sima Shi, joined forces with Jia Jia to frame Zi Yang, causing Zi Yang to be unjustly killed by King Zhuang of Chu. After Zi Yang's death, Dou Jiao became Ling Yin, and Jia Jia became Sima (司馬).
However, soon after, Dou Jiao had a conflict with Pu Jia, not only killing Pu Jia, but also leading the Ruo Ao clan to prepare to attack the King of Chu Zhuang!
In 605 BC, King Zhuang of Chu defeated Dou Jiao at the Battle of Gao Hu and exterminated the Ruo'ao clan.
However, there is a huge doubt in the records of the Zuo Chuan: why after Dou Pepper killed Jia Jia, Dou Pepper would point the spearhead directly at King Chu Zhuang, so that he would "attack the king"?
When he was still a teenager, Gong Jia became famous for predicting that Cheng Dechen would "pass three hundred multiplied, and he would not be able to enter the house"; when Dou Fan served as Ling Yin, Qiu Jia joined forces with Dou Pepper to kill Dou Ban; after Dou Pepper became Ling Yin, he turned against Dou Pepper. It can be said that Pu Jia is simply ruo ao's nemesis. Why was Hagi so adamant against ruo ao?
Although the history of the Hagi family is even older than that of the Ruo Ao clan, it has always been under the Qu clan and the Ruo Ao clan since the Spring and Autumn Period. However, as the Ruo Ao clan became more and more powerful, the Chu state office naturally had to support other clans to resist the Ruo Ao clan. Qiu Jia repeatedly opposed the Ruo Ao family, if there was no Chu State Office behind him, how could he dare to do so?
Therefore, if the Ao clan is exterminated, it is likely that the Chu state office led a conspiracy: first let The Ao Jia provoke the internal strife of the Ruo Ao clan, and then let the Ao Jia go to confront the Dou Jiao; no, the Dou Jiao will force the truth before killing the Hau Jia, and then he will angrily lead the Ruo Ao clan to rebel.
If this inference is true, in the matter of destroying the Ruo Ao clan, the Chu State Office is indeed not acting in a fair and upright manner.
However, from the source, it was too powerful to threaten the rule of the public office, which was the root cause of the extermination of the Ruo Ao clan.
After the Battle of Gaohu, except for Ziwen and the descendants of Chengdechen, the Ruo'ao clan was either killed or fled abroad. Even if they stay in China, it will be difficult for the Ao clan to regain its former glory. When King Chu Ling was king, he even regarded Cheng Hu, a descendant of Cheng Dechen, as a remnant of the Ruo Ao clan, and involuntarily killed him--wouldn't it be sad that he ended up like this?
As the first grand duke of the Chu State after entering the Spring and Autumn Period, the Ruo Ao clan suddenly fell after three generations, which was sighing. Some people think that it was Dou Pepper who ruined ruo ao's clan. But in fact, it was precisely because the Ruo Ao clan was too powerful that the Chu state office had to eliminate the Ruo Ao clan: after the Ruo Ao clan was strong, its descendants were bound to be uneven, there were loyal patriots, and there were also ambitious people; in the end, the ruo Ao clan, which was uneven but powerful, became a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh of the Chu state office, and had to be eliminated quickly.
Therefore, the Destruction of the Ruo'ao Clan was not because of dou peppers, but precisely because the Ruo'ao Clan itself was too powerful and threatened the office.