The Spring and Autumn Five Lords of Chu Zhuang were actually an iron man?

Stills of King Chuzhuang

Just as the so-called "history is a little girl dressed up by others", most of the kings recorded in the history are relatively positive, most of them are written about their heroism and wisdom, and they are presented to the reader through a large number of "beautifications".

Therefore, we often cannot see the true character of the king in the canon. However, we can read the deeds of some of the people around the monarch by tapping on the side, and we can more likely recognize the true side of the king.

Today's big instrument to tell you is, "History. The biography of Youmeng in The Funny Column Biography.

Youmeng was not an aristocratic scholar or an official of prominent status, but a senior musician in the Chu Palace, who, with many years of seniority and character, rose to become the internal servant of the King of Chu and a blower.

Of course, we are mainly talking about Youmeng today, but king of Chuzhuang. Only a few events revolve around Youmeng, on the one hand, highlighting the quality of Youmeng, on the other hand, it also shows the true side of King Chuzhuang, that is, he is a humble man.

The reason for this is that people in ancient times always called their sons dogs, while modern people regard dogs as sons, and King Chuzhuang is a modern person in ancient times, full of Hermes.

He had a beloved horse, loved it so much, and treated him like a son. Build it a house, give it good clothes, and don't forget to ask for warmth on weekdays, eat well and live well. As a result, this horse actually died fat, and the king of Chuzhuang was sad and said that he would be buried according to the etiquette of the scholar, which caused the opposition of the courtiers. The king of Chuzhuang, who was in love with the depths, was furious, saying that whoever opposed this matter would follow the burial, and everyone would not dare to speak.

At this moment, the witty Youmeng jumped out and cried like a mournful concubine at the court meeting, and even the King of Chuzhuang was frightened and asked him what was going on? You Meng said: "The king of Chu's beloved horse has gone like this, I am a great chu, and the burial of the scholar's number of ceremonies is really too wronged for your horse, and it should be buried according to the number of the monarch's ceremony, so that the princes of the world can come together to mourn." ”

King Chu Zhuang seemed to realize that he had done something wrong. Embarrassed to ask Youmeng what to do?

Youmeng said: "This is easy to do, so isn't it better for the fat horse to go directly to the kitchen and let the horse be buried in our belly?" King Chu Zhuang listened, and felt as if this was the case and did it, and no one mentioned the burial of horses again.

From this small story, we can know that the King of Chu Zhuang is actually quite humble, and even said that he is a little dizzy. But he is not mediocre, winning in good temper, can accept the opinions of others and continue to grow, and eventually became one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period.

As for Youmeng, we have seen what it means to be indulgent, and sometimes it is necessary to persuade a person to first agree with him.

Reading Sima Qian's historical records, you will find a very interesting phenomenon, Sima Qian's writing is very deep, very good at knocking on the side or pointing at the mulberry scolding, through the positive description of one person, to show another person. It feels like it's clearly written about this person, but after reading it it feels like you're talking about another person.