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King Chuzhuang is the famous "Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period" one. His surname was Mi, Xiong, and his surname was Lv. He ascended the throne in 613 BC. During his 23 years in office, he worked hard to govern, not only greatly increasing the strength of the Chu State, and becoming the dominant overlord of the Central Plains, he became an all-powerful overlord. He was also admired by future generations of insightful people for his excellent political character and charisma.
At the beginning of his ascension to the throne: three years without singing, three years without flying
The most well-known story of King Zhuang of Chu is probably his "blockbuster" story.
Historical records show that in the early years after he ascended the throne, he indulged in drinking, sex, and having fun without paying attention to government affairs. He also ordered ministers not to give advice, otherwise he would be punished by death. There was a minister named Wu Ju who couldn't bear the decline of the country, so he thought of a way to use riddles to give advice. Wu Ju went to see King Zhuang and said, "There is a big bird in the state of Chu. It lives in the highest place. It doesn't sing or fly for three years. May I ask, my lord, what kind of bird it is?" King Zhuang understood Wu Ju's intention in his heart, so he replied: If this bird doesn't sing, it will make a big splash; if it doesn't fly, it will soar into the sky!
However, since then, he has remained the same as before, with no improvement.
Another minister, Su Cong, could not stand it and went to remonstrate with him crying loudly. He said to King Zhuang: I am about to die, and the Chu State is about to perish. I know clearly that if I come to remonstrate, you will kill me, but I can't bear the Chu State to perish like this! Even if I die, I can still gain the reputation of being a loyal minister, but if you continue like this, you will bear the reputation of being a king who has subjugated the country! My life is so useless, you might as well kill me! After hearing this, King Chuzhuang unexpectedly forgave him and said emotionally: How could I kill you for your loyal words? From now on, I will do what you say!
From then on, King Zhuang of Chu changed his normal behavior, accepted advice with an open mind, selected talents and appointed capable people, opened up territory and expanded territory, and quickly achieved the hegemony of Chu State. However, why did such a heroic King of Chuzhuang indulge in enjoyment in the first few years after he ascended the throne, "not singing for three years, not flying for three years"?
Domestic situation: The powerful family is monopolizing power and is being hijacked
In fact, when King Chuzhuang came to the throne, the situation at home and abroad was very complicated. Within the Chu State, he first faced the monopoly power of a large family, the Ruo'ao family. If the Ao family is a descendant of the previous king of Chu, it is divided into two branches: the Dou family and the Cheng family. From the era of King Chu Wen to the era of King Chu Zhuang, this family had many famous officials who held important positions, such as Dou Bobi, Ziwen, and Douban of the Dou family, Cheng Dechen, Cheng Daxin, and Cheng Jia of the Cheng family, etc. . Among them is Ziwen, who is said to have grown up eating tiger milk. He served as a magistrate (equivalent to a prime minister) of the State of Chu. He had noble moral character and outstanding political achievements, and was deeply convinced and respected by people at home and abroad in Chu. This further strengthened the prestige of the Ruo Ao family and made the Ruo Ao family's path to autocratic power in Chu State go smoothly. When King Zhuang of Chu came to power, he was faced with the entangled forces of the Ruo'ao family, which made it difficult to distinguish between loyalties and traitors. He was unable to make the decision on many things and was powerless. At this time, a kidnapping incident occurred, which left King Chuzhuang with lingering fears.
The thing is this: In 613 BC, at this time, the magistrate of Chu State was Cheng Jia of the Cheng clan of the Ruao clan. Because several small affiliated countries rebelled, Chengjia and another general Pan Chong led troops to quell the rebellion. Those left behind in the capital were Gongzi Xie and Dou Ke from the Dou clan of the Ruao clan. These two people became dissatisfied with Chengjia during the political dispute and discussed plotting a rebellion. They killed the family members of Cheng Jia and Pan Chong who had stayed in the capital, and at the same time sent people to assassinate Cheng Jia who was going on an expedition. As a result, the assassination failed and the matter was revealed. Cheng Jia and Pan Chong quickly returned to attack them. As soon as Prince Xie and Douke discussed it, they kidnapped King Zhuang, who had just ascended the throne and had no power, and prepared to escape and start a new business. Fortunately, he met a doctor from Lujili on the way. He found out that King Zhuang had been kidnapped, so he trapped Prince Xie and Douke to death. King Zhuang was rescued and returned to the capital in fear.
This incident deepened King Chuzhuang’s understanding of the domestic political situation, so he chose to lie dormant for a long time, pretending to be indulging in fun, in order to paralyze the hostile forces, secretly observe the situation, and cultivate his own power. , always ready to weaken political opponents and make himself truly the dominant power in Chu State.
International situation: Jin State is fighting for hegemony and rebellions are everywhere.
Similar to the complex domestic situation, the international situation faced by King Chuzhuang after he came to power was also extremely severe.
In 613 BC, Zhao Dun, the chief minister of the Jin State, led his army southward and forced the Zheng State, which was originally close to Chu, to surrender to the Jin State. Immediately afterwards, Zhao Dun summoned the Central Plains princes for an alliance. Chen, Song and other countries that originally relied on Chu turned their heads to Jin during the alliance. The rebellion did not stop, and gradually extended to Chu's die-hard allies. In 612 BC, Zhao Dun sent General Que Que to lead an army to attack Cai, Chu's staunch ally. Cai's capital fell and Cai was forced to surrender to Jin. When Cai State was attacked, he sent envoys to Chu State to ask for help. However, King Zhuang of Chu felt that he was not mature enough to control the military and political affairs, so he ignored Cai State's request for help.
The fall of Cai State made other countries feel the weakness of Chu State. In 611 BC, a great famine occurred in Chu State, so the surrounding Shan Rong, Yi and Yue tribes took the opportunity to cause rebellion and invaded many lands on the border of Chu State. The Lu State, which had recently surrendered, also gathered the Yi tribes and prepared to attack the capital of the Chu State. Even the small country Yongguo, which had always submitted to Chu, raised its flag of rebellion and actively encouraged surrounding ethnic minorities to participate.
The international situation that King Chuzhuang faced at this time was not just as simple as the loss of political and military alliances and the destruction of the balanced situation established by his ancestors. Even the survival of the Chu State regime was in a precarious state of despair. and in a tense atmosphere. Since then, the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty could no longer sit still, and even the Ruo'ao family felt that something had to be done. King Chuzhuang felt that the opportunity he had been waiting for had arrived.
Breaking through the barriers: suppressing the rebellion, establishing prestige, and straightening out the internal affairs.
The most important thing for the Chu State at that time was how to deal with the rebellion of the Yong State.
If members of the Ao family think the current situation is terrible, they should run away. But a minister named Jia objected. He believed that it should be conquered. He said that all other countries now believe that we are suffering from famine and are incapable of fighting, so they are gearing up. As long as we raise troops to conquer the Yong Kingdom, the Lu Kingdom and other ethnic minorities will be frightened and cease their activities. After hearing this, King Chuzhuang was very happy and decisively chose Jia's opinion. He demanded that the whole country should be used to rummage through boxes and cabinets, raise military rations, and go to conquer the mediocre country. Although after some twists and turns, the war against mediocrity finally won. This battle greatly shocked the state of Chu, and the surrounding rebel forces ended sadly.
With the recovery of Chu's national power, Zheng took the lead in rebelling against Jin and forming an alliance with Chu in 608 BC. Later, some small countries in the Central Plains also moved closer to Chu. After that, the Chu State further expanded its power by attacking Chen, Song, and rescuing Zheng. In 607 BC, King Zhuang of Chu led an army to attack Lu Hun's army, and fought all the way to Luoshui, near the royal city of Emperor Zhou. When the Emperor of Zhou sent Wang Mansun to reward the Chu army, the famous story of "Aspiring to Become the Royal Family" happened. King Chuzhuang asked Wang Mansun: How big is the Zhou family's tripod, how heavy is it, how many carts can it hold, and how many horses can it pull? The tripod is a symbol of royal power, and aspiration for the tripod is provocative. This incident showed the ambition of King Chuzhuang to replace the Zhou royal family, and also showed the unprecedented strength of Chu's national power.
Chu's prestige among other countries is growing day by day, but the Ruo'ao family, a powerful family in the country, cannot sit still. They discovered that King Chuzhuang turned out to be a promising monarch. In the past, he indulged in drinking, sex and hunting, which was all a forbearance strategy! In 605 BC, Yin Doujiao was ordered to kill Jia Jia, who was then Sima, and openly challenged King Zhuang of Chu. The rebellion was caught off guard, and King Chuzhuang was relatively passive, so he proposed to use the royal family's children as hostages in exchange for a harmonious relationship. Doujiao refused. So the two sides went to war. At this time, King Chuzhuang's own political and military strength had been cultivated and matured. He went to the front line in person to boost morale. The king's army shared the same hatred of the enemy and worked together to defeat Ruo'ao's army in one fell swoop, and Doujiao was also killed. Taking this opportunity, King Zhuang of Chu carried out a thorough liquidation of the Ruo'ao clan. Most of the Ruo'ao clan's forces were wiped out. Only the Dou clan's grandson Kehuang, the virtuous minister Ziwen, was left, and the Cheng clan also survived. However, the remaining Ruo Ao family could only hold middle and lower-level official positions, and never entered the center of power in Chu State again.
In addition, the King of Chuzhuang recruited talents from all over the world and appointed Sun Shuao and other virtuous ministers to govern the Chu State, which made the entire Chu State appear to be full of vitality and high-spirited.
Personality Charm: Decisive, rational, tolerant, and motivated
When the situation was not in his favor, King Chuzhuang chose to be patient and dormant; when the situation was in his favor, King Chuzhuang took decisive action , no sloppiness.
The way he acted to restore the country's prestige and eradicate the Ruo Ao family fully demonstrated his adaptability, perseverance and decisive political wisdom.
King Zhuang of Chu respected talented people, thirsted for talented people, and elevated struggle to the spirit of the entire country. From important officials in the court to talented people in the countryside, he treated everyone as if they were honored guests, and was not ashamed to ask his subordinates for advice. Every time he gets a talent, he can't help but feel happy. If he can't find a talent for a long time, he will be worried. He taught his ministers and troops: they must remember the arduous entrepreneurial history of their ancestors and always maintain a state of diligence and struggle; they must keep a clear mind, always be wary of disasters, and be neither arrogant nor discouraged.
He can always defeat emotions with reason and is good at accepting advice. His cherished horse died, and he thought for a moment that he wanted to bury the horse like a doctor's funeral. Youmeng made a joke and remonstrated, saying that the standard of the doctor was not enough, and that it should be more luxurious and grand, so that the princes would know that our country of Chu values ??horses over people! He suddenly woke up and gave up the idea. After the Chen State was destroyed, Uncle Shen remonstrated, saying that the punishment for destroying the country was too severe and morally unjustifiable, so he immediately helped the Chen State recover. Confucius praised King Zhuang of Chu for this: he valued a word but despised a country. Also after destroying Chen, King Zhuang of Chu saw Xia Ji, the most beautiful woman in the history of the Spring and Autumn Period. He was immediately overwhelmed by her beauty and wanted to take her as his own. At this time, the subordinate Wu Chen came to remonstrate, saying that the crusade against Chen State was justified, and it was unreasonable to take the weak women of other people's country as their own. King Zhuang of Chu followed this opinion.
King Zhuang of Chu was tolerant and tolerant. There is a story that at a banquet between kings and ministers, some ministers took advantage of the lights when they were out and offended King Zhuang's concubine. The concubine reacted quickly, took off the man's hat, and quickly told Prince Zhuang. Unexpectedly, King Zhuang asked the ministers to take off their hats and drink while the lamp was not lit, and did not pursue the minister who made the mistake. In a subsequent battle, a minister fought extremely bravely and tried his best to protect King Zhuang's chariot. It turned out that this person was the minister who had made mistakes before and was not held accountable by King Zhuang.
He is also good at reflection and full of humanitarian spirit. After winning the battle, his subordinates advised him to commemorate his merits. He said: Carving meritorious service to commemorate it was something that the sage kings and kings in the past did after they had eradicated great evil in the world. I, a small prince, checked against the "martial virtue" standards and found that none of them met the standards. Besides, there are corpses everywhere on the battlefield. Aren’t these people loyal to their king and country? I can't do it to commemorate myself!
In the "Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period", King Zhuang of Chu made great achievements in martial arts and martial arts. At the same time, his strong and pragmatic style and generous and loving character also influenced and inspired many people with lofty ideals in later generations. /3c6d55fbb2fb4316853d0bb32ba4462308f7d3dd?x-bce-process=image/resize,m_lfit,w_450,h_600,limit_1/quality,q_85
Author: Su Yunlong