A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 46: Duke Wen dominates, the gentleman of the Bai family

The fifth year of Duke Wen of Jin and the one hundred and thirty-ninth year of Bai Kingdom

The end of May

Duke Wen of Jin presented to the Emperor Zhou the trophies captured from Chu, including a hundred armored four-horse chariots and more than a thousand infantry.

King Zhou Xiang sent Prince Hu to announce the appointment of Duke Wen of Jin as the overlord, and gave him a large chariot, a red bow, a hundred red arrows, ten black bows, a thousand black arrows, and a sword. Liquor brewed from black millet and vanilla, a jade spoon with a handle shaped like a gui, and three hundred warriors.

Duke Wen of Jin repeatedly declined, and finally kowtowed and accepted. The historian of the Zhou Dynasty wrote "The Marquis of Jin Wen":
"The Emperor of Zhou said: Jin Gong Chong'er used benevolence and righteousness to make the princes harmonious, which greatly demonstrated the achievements of King Wen and King Wu. Because King Wen and King Wu could prudently cultivate their virtues, illuminate heaven, and spread their fame to the world, so God gave them the mission of emperors. You have given birth to King Wen and King Wu, and let their blessings be extended to future generations. Now you will help me inherit the imperial legacy of my ancestors and be the emperor forever."

So Jin Wengong began to dominate among the princes. Since then, Duke Wen of Jin Chong'er officially became the second overlord after Duke Huan of Qi.

On the day of Guihai, Prince Hu held an alliance with the princes at Jiantu's palace.

In the winter, Duke Wen of Jin convened the princes on the order of King Xiang of Zhou to make an alliance with Qi Zhaogong, Song Chenggong, Lu Xigong, Cai Zhuanghou, Zheng Wengong, Wei Shuwu, Ju Zi and Bai Gongyu in Jiantu.

On Ding Chou day, all the vassal states surrounded Xu state. Some of Cao Bo's ministers advised Duke Wen of Jin: "The purpose of Qi Huan's alliance with the princes is to support the countries with different surnames, but now you, the monarch, are allying with the princes to destroy the countries with the same surname. Cao State is the descendant of Shu Zhenduo; Jin State , is the descendant of Uncle Tang. It is against etiquette and law to ally with the princes and destroy the kingdom of brothers." After hearing this, Duke Wen of Jin was very happy and restored Cao Bo to the throne.

At this time, the Jin State began to create three armies: the left army, the middle army, and the right army. Xun Linfu commanded the middle march, Xianhu commanded the right march, and Xianmi commanded the left march.

The sixth year of Jin Wengong and the 140th year of Bai Kingdom
In the summer, Chong'er, Wang Zihu, Song Gongsun Gu, Qi Guifu, Chen Yuantaotu, and Qin Xiaozixun allied in Zhaiquan (now Mengjin, Henan) to consolidate the alliance of Jiantu and plan an attack on Zheng. Because he was weak and the Duke of Jin supported Renyi in the world, he refused to send troops, so Duke Wen of Jin agreed.

The reason is that when Duke Wen of Jin fled and passed through Zheng State, the king of Zheng State did not treat Duke Wen politely, and Zheng State helped Chu State during the Battle of Chengpu.

In the seventh year of Jin Wengong, in the 141st year of Bai Kingdom

In order to prevent the Chu State from advancing northward and at the same time retaliate against the Zheng State, Duke Wen of Jin and Duke Mu of Qin led troops to surround the State of Zheng, and spread the word that they wanted to get Uncle Zhan, Chong'er's benefactor when he was in exile in the State of Zheng.

Uncle Zhan is the younger brother of Zheng Wengong, the monarch of Zheng. When Chong'er was exiled to the state of Zheng, Duke Wen of Zheng showed no courtesy to him. Uncle Zhan advised Zheng Wengong to treat Prince Chong'er well, saying that Prince Chong'er can live to this day not only because he has many talents among his subordinates, but also because he has the virtues of a gentleman and does benevolent and righteous deeds. God will bless him in this way, even Bai Gong We must treat him with courtesy, let alone us? Duke Wen of Zheng refused to listen. Uncle Zhan said that he should kill Chong'er to avoid becoming a future trouble for Zheng Guo, but Zheng Wengong still refused to listen.

Here, after Uncle Zhan heard that Duke Wen of Jin wanted him, he had to commit suicide in order to save Zheng Guo. The people of Zheng brought Shuzhan's body to Duke Wen of Jin, but Duke Wen of Jin said, "I will only be willing to get Lord Zheng."

Duke Wen of Zheng was afraid, so he secretly sent Zhu Zhiwu to provoke Duke Mu of Qin:
"Qin and Jin besieged the State of Zheng. The State of Zheng already knew that it was about to perish! If the destruction of the State of Zheng would be beneficial to you, how could you dare to disturb you with this matter? You crossed other countries and set up border towns in the distance. You Knowing that this is bad, how can we use the destruction of Zheng to strengthen the strength of neighboring countries?

As your neighbors become more powerful, you become less powerful. If Zheng is not destroyed and becomes your friend on the road to the East, and your envoys pass by, Zheng will be able to provide them with food, accommodation and supplies. This will not do you any harm!

Besides, you were once kind to Duke Hui of Jin. He promised to give you Jiao and Xia. However, Duke Hui of Jin just crossed the river to return home in the morning and built a city for defense there in the evening. This is what you know.

How could such a Jin country ever be satisfied? Since it takes Zheng as its eastern boundary, it must expand its western boundary. If it does not harm Qin's interests, where can it go to seize land? Harming the Qin State and benefiting the Jin State is such a thing that is harmful to oneself but not beneficial to others. Even a child is not willing to do it! I hope you will give this matter more thought. "

After hearing this, Duke Mu of Qin thought it was reasonable, and because Jin State was always competing with him, he formed an alliance with Zheng State and sent Qi Zi, Feng Sun, and Yang Sun to help defend Zheng State, while Duke Mu of Qin himself returned home first.

Jin Wengong believed that it was difficult to support the army alone and planned to withdraw his troops as well. At this time, the official Zifu said: Qin Gong betrayed his trust and asked to attack the Qin army. Duke Wen of Jin decisively refused and said: "No, if it weren't for Duke Qin's power, I wouldn't be where I am today. It's unkind to rely on others' strength to harm others; it's unwise to lose allies; it's unwise to use chaos. Attacking each other instead of uniting is not in line with martial ethics. Let's go back!"

Although Jin did not destroy Zheng, Zheng Wengong never dared to be rude to Jin again.

In the ninth year of Jin Wengong, in the 143rd year of Bai Kingdom

When Zheng Wengong passed away, Gongzi Lan came to the throne as Zheng Mugong. Duke Mu of Zheng was always an important follower of Jin during his reign.

On Ji Mao Day in December, Duke Wen of Jin passed away. Prince Huan ascended the throne and became Duke Xiang of Jin. Regarding the issue of successors, Duke Wen of Jin learned from the lessons of Duke Xian of Jin, in order to prevent the covetousness of the throne among the common people, and implemented the policy of "no public clans in the country".

During the reign of Duke Xiang of Jin Dynasty, in order to prevent Marquis Wen from having an old incident, he followed the example of Marquis Quwo and Wu Wu to usurp the throne, so he massacred all the clans, which resulted in the state of Jin having no clans. However, the clans here refer to Duke Xian's uncles, brothers, Close relatives such as sons and nephews.

At the time of Jin Wengong, in order to prevent the public from usurping the throne, he generously rewarded the meritorious officials who followed him in exile and supported him. "The big ones were granted fiefdoms, and the small ones were honored." In addition, Duke Wen of Jin vigorously activated and exterminated a number of branches of the old duke clan (the branches of the descendants of previous monarchs from Duke Xian of Jin to Duke Wu) and nobles.

In this way, most of the land in the country is in the hands of himself and nobles with different surnames, making it impossible for the public family to become powerful. There are 11 main families promoted and enabled by Jin Wengong, namely the Xu family, the Ji family, the Hu family, the Ji family, the Luan family, the Que family, the Bai family, the Xian family, the Yangyu family, the Dong family, and the Han family. In addition, Zhao Shui and Wei Ji, who followed Duke Wen of Jin in exile, were also used.

Duke Wen of Jin selected outstanding talents from these families and appointed them to official positions, letting "the good ones of Zhu Ji" serve as middle officials, and let "people with different surnames" serve as distant officials. "Zhizhiliang" refers to the outstanding talents among the descendants of the old princes. Because the Jin clan has Ji as their surname, these old princes have the same surname as Ji; "different surnames can" refers to the capable and wise men among the nobles and nobles who do not have the surname of Ji. .

When these old ministers were appointed, they were weak and their political strength was relatively low. They were all deeply grateful to Duke Wen of Jin for his reward and use. In order to obtain better development opportunities and to repay the kindness of Jin Wengong, these old clan ministers united under the command of Jin Wengong, contributed to Jin Wengong's dominance, and made outstanding contributions to the development and growth of Jin State. This is also an important reason why Jin Wengong can dominate.

Baiguo
Bai Gong Bai Yuzheng and his son Bai Jun discussed the issues of Jin. Bai Yu said: "Jin Wen Gong has passed away, and I don't know when the next overlord will be!"

Bai Jun said: "Father, will the old incident of Qu Wo succeeding Jin happen again in Jin?"

"I think the policies implemented by Duke Wen in the country should no longer cause problems such as the rise of the public family."

"What about our princes from the Bai Kingdom?"

"Haha! Although our direct lineage of the Bai family can only have a dozen people at the same time at most, but because we have the natural divine seal, the branch lineage of the public family will not become a big one, not to mention that the pulse masters of the branch lines are all appointed by our direct lineage members. , each generation is the brother or uncle of the head of the family.

Since I became the founder of Zuyan, my family tradition has gradually changed from martial virtue to literary virtue. All the children in the family like to pursue the wind and pursue elegance, and they all want to become the gentleman in "The Way of the Gentleman" written by Ren Zufeng. !

In addition, our country of Bai does not have actual titles, but only adopts titles. Although there are many public clans, if they do not perform meritorious service, they will all become common people after three generations, and the number they can maintain will not be very large. So nothing will go wrong. "

"Father, now I, the Bai family, am trapped in the Taihang Mountains. What should we do?"

"Recharge your batteries and be a wise man. You must know that the world cannot be governed by one family. We must cultivate many talents who can govern the people and govern the world on our behalf!"
God gave us the Bai family's divine seal, not to lie on the bodies of people in the world and suck blood. Why would the divine seal appear on a slave?

Why didn't it appear on Wu Wangfa, or Zhou Gongdan, or Taigong Wang? Have you ever thought about this problem? "

"Father, I think this is the hope and support God gives to the people at the bottom, and it is also the responsibility given to me, the Bai family, because only ants can understand the pain of ants."

"That's right! But will the world change because of the power of ants? I don't think so. This is why the ancestors tried their best to improve the lintel of the Bai family!

With the existence of the divine seal, at least the aspirations of our ancestors will not be lost or distorted in the inheritance. Our greatest mission is to protect this ambition of praying for the people from being lost!

Therefore, we cannot explicitly support the resistance of the common people. We can only provide them with support, which is not limited to knowledge and talents. Common people never lack courage, but they lack the knowledge to use courage.

If we are powerful enough, we can certainly protect the lives of some people. This is what we in the White Kingdom are doing now, but we cannot come to the forefront, otherwise we will become the target of public criticism.

The battle of Chushan 20 years ago proved that once we make a tendency to plead for the common people, we will become the enemy of all careerists, not only externally, but even internally. "

"Then why do we still train talents like Guan Zhong, Baili Xi, and Hu Yan to help ambitious people?"

"Let me ask you, are they from common people?"

"Yes."

“Have they stabilized the country?”

"Yes."

"Did the people of Qi, Jin and Qin live better when they were in power?"

"of course."

"In this way, hasn't our goal been achieved?"

"My child understands that what we want to do is the earth, not just all things. As long as the Bai family is still there, the fire of the common people will never be extinguished. Even if the Bai family is from a poor family at the bottom or a royal family at the top, there may be means. Different, but the purpose is the same.

Anyone who is a friend of the common people is Bai's friend; whoever is an enemy of the common people is Bai's enemy. "

"This is why Injo wrote "The Way of a Gentleman". Anyone who can be a gentleman and wants to be a gentleman will definitely become a friend of the Baek family."

"The child has learned a lesson."
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A gentleman always has a heart of benevolence and righteousness. When he sees benevolence and righteousness, his heart will be filled with joy and he will sing songs. A gentleman who always performs benevolent and righteous deeds, no matter how big or small, can be said to have the demeanor of a gentleman; if he does unbenevolent and righteous deeds, no matter how many, he can be said to have no virtue of a gentleman.

——"The Way of a Gentleman"

　Thanks to the end of the song_AC for the book coin reward, the boss is very generous! ! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)