During the Spring and Autumn Period, duke Huan of Qi played the banner of "Zun Wang Zhiyi" and helped many princely states as a hegemon, such as "saving Xing Cunwei" and sending troops to assist the Yan state against Shanrong. During the reign of Duke Huan of Qi, civil unrest broke out in the State of Chen, and a prince of the State of Chen took refuge in the State of Qi, and Duke Huan of Qi kindly took him in. No one thought that more than two hundred years later, Jiang Jiang's surname Qi Guo would be usurped by the descendants of Chen Guo's son.
The source of the matter has to start from Chen Guo. In 699 BC, Chen Ligong was killed, and his nephew Duke Chen Zhuang took the throne, while Chen Ligong's son Gongzi could only serve as a doctor and had no chance to take the throne. A few years later, Chen Zhuanggong fell ill and died, and his younger brother Chen Xuangong took the throne. Chen Xuangong fainted and wanted to make the son born of the concubine the crown prince, so he killed the crown prince Yukou. Gongzi and Crown Prince Yukou, fearing that he was also implicated, fled from Chen Guo.
Gongzi came to the State of Qi and received courtesy from duke Huan of Qi. Duke Huan of Qi also wanted to appoint Gongzi Quan as a secretary of state, but Gongzi Quan resigned, and finally assumed the position of Gongzheng, that is, the official who controlled the hundred workers. Yi Zhong, the shangqing of the State of Qi, was also very appreciative of Gongzi Quan and wanted to marry his daughter to him, so he found someone to calculate a gua, and the gua ci was very good, "It is called FengHuang Yu Fei, and Ming Zhen." After having a concubine, she will be bred in ginger. The fifth Qichang and Zhengqing. After the Eighth Dynasty, Mo Zhi and Jing".
During the State of Qi, Gongzi Wan, unwilling to use the surname of his homeland, changed chen to Tian, from Chen Quan to Tian Quan, and since then, his descendants have been serving the State of Qi. Tian Wan's son is Tian Mengyi, Tian Mengyi's son is Tian Mengzhuang, Tian Mengzhuang's son is Tian Wenzi, Tian Wenzi's son is Tian Huanzi, and an important figure in the Tian Huanzi Tian family, his name is Tian Wuyu. Tian Huanzi became an important vassal of the State of Qi.
Tian Huanzi had two sons, Wuzi Kai (田開) and Tian Zi (田乞), who, when he was serving as the doctor of the State of Qi, used Xiaodou to collect taxes, used Dadou to provide grain to the people, and used the wealth of the state to buy people's hearts. At that time, Yan Bao, a heavy minister of the State of Qi, discovered this problem, and he repeatedly raised this problem with Qi Jinggong, but Qi Jinggong ignored it. Later, when Yan Bao sent an envoy to the Jin Dynasty, he privately said to the Great Master of the Jin State, "The political pawns of the State of Qi belong to the Tian clan. ”
It should be said that Yan Bao had already seen the power of the Tian family, threatening Jiang Qi's Jiangshan, but Qi Jinggong did not feel the crisis. After the death of Duke Jing of Qi, Qi Ziqi became a powerful vassal of the State of Qi, and even openly deposed the monarch, "mourning the establishment of the Gong, Tian Beg as the Prime Minister, and the dictatorship of Qi". Since then, the military and political power of the State of Qi has actually been transferred to the hands of the Tian family. After Tian Qi's death, his son Tian Chang succeeded him as a chancellor, killed the Duke of Qi, and established the Duke of Qi instead.
During Tian Chang's reign, he continued to implement his father's policy of "lending with big buckets and collecting with small buckets" to buy people's hearts and enhance his political prestige. Zhuangzi once said a very famous saying, "Those who steal the hook are cursed, and those who steal the country are princes." The latter phrase "thief of the country" refers to Tian Chang, who kills the monarch and uses the wealth of the state to buy people's hearts. After several generations of "hard work", the Tian family finally took a step toward usurping the country when they reached Tian He, Tian Chang's great-grandson.
In 391 BC, Tian He established himself as the monarch of the State of Qi, and exiled the Duke of Qi Kang to the seashore, giving only one city as a fief. The following year, Through the means of force and diplomacy, Tian He demanded that the States of Wei, Chu, and Wei ally and seek to be princes. In 386 BC, King An of Zhou formally issued an edict and made Tian He the Marquis of Qi, and since then Tian Shi has become the monarch of the State of Qi, known in history as "Tian Shi Dai Qi".
References: 1. "Records of History"; 2. "Zizhi Tongjian"