Xiaobai, a famous Qi Huangong, was the son of Qi Huangong (73 BC1-698 BC). After the founding of the People's Republic of China, after the development and expansion of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Qi became a big country in the East. At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, the territory of the State of Qi was east to the sea, south to Mulingguan and Taishan, west to the ancient Yellow River, and north to the junction of Hebei and Shandong. Its territory is second only to Chu and Jin, but larger than Qin, Yue, Lu, Wei and Zheng. Due to its vast territory and growing national strength, in the early years of the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Zhuang of Qi and Qi Huangong became the overlords of the East, known in history as "Qi Zhuang, Nuo He (Ba)". After the death of Qi Huangong Xi, the sons of the Prince succeeded to the throne and became Qi Xianggong. Qi Xianggong was a dissolute and cruel monarch. He was moody, killed improperly, broke his word and cheated the minister many times. And an affair with my sister Wen Jiang. Wen Jiang was the wife of the monarch of Lu at that time, so he sent someone to kill him. His unruly behavior made the social contradictions sharp and the political situation of Qi was turbulent. Gong's two sons, Gong and Gong's son, were afraid of disaster and went into exile. Childe arrived in Ju 'an under the escort of Doctor Bao, and Childe arrived in Lu under the escort of Doctor Guan Zhong for a long time. Soon, Qi was in turmoil. In 586 BC, he was killed by Sun Ignorance, who became the monarch of Qi. But less than a year later, Sun's ignorance was killed by Dr. Qu Qiu, and Qi lost its monarch for a while. When Xiaobai and Miyako got the news, they both wanted to return to China to inherit the throne, and the power struggle between them began. With Bao's assistance, there are two domestic companies, Gao and Guo. The situation is very favorable. But Gong Zijiu's assistant Guan Zhong is resourceful. He fought for Lu to send troops to escort Gong Zijiu back to China to compete for the throne, and volunteered to lead the troops to intercept him on the only way from Ju to Qi. Guan Zhong saw the team from a distance, so he laid an ambush and hit the hook with an arrow. Xiaobai pretended to be dead and fell to the car. Guan Zhong came back to me when he saw that he was successful. Gong Zijiu saw the death of his rival Xiaobai and postponed his trip back to China. However, he urged the horse to travel day and night, and with the help of Gao and Guo, he reached the throne of Qi first.
At the beginning of his accession to the throne, he repelled the Lu army that established Gong Zijiu, sent a package to lead the Qi army to encircle Lu, forced Lu to kill Gong Zijiu, and demanded that Guan Zhong be delivered to Qi. So it was Bao's idea. Guan Zhong is a good friend of my uncle. Guan Zhong was a native of Yingshang (now Yingshang, Anhui). Bao Shu was well aware of Guan Zhong's personality and firmly believed that Guan Zhong was a rare talent for governing the country, but he did not meet a wise monarch and a blessing. So when Qi Huangong offered to make him prime minister, he resolutely resigned and recommended Guan Zhong. He said to him, "If you want to govern Qi well, I can help you, but if you want to be the overlord of the world, then you must be in power." Following Bao's advice, he abandoned the past, broke the traditional employment system of "meanness can't make you rich, poverty can't make you rich, and scarcity can't make you close" and carried out drastic reforms. Guan Zhong's reform aims to enrich Qiang Bing.
First of all, politically, the administrative system reform of "taking part in other countries but neglecting them" was implemented. The so-called "unite with other countries and be light" means dividing the country into three and the barbarians into five. The Zhou Dynasty implemented the system of "national wilderness", and generally divided the country into two parts: "state" and "wilderness", which were divided and ruled. "Guo", also known as "capital", refers to the city and its suburbs that were the ruling center and defended by the armed forces at that time. People living in the "national capital" are members of the ruling class and constitute the main part of the ruling class, so they are called "China people". Can be divided into nobles and civilians. At that time, the leaders and officers of the army were nobles and the soldiers were civilians. "Wild", also called "mean", refers to the wild land outside the city. People living in the "age of ignorance" are members of the ruled family and constitute the main part of the ruled class, so they are called "barbarians". Savages were the main undertakers of social productive labor at that time, but they had no political rights and were exploited economically. The division between "state" and "wild" reflected the political class opposition at that time. Guan Zhong played down the political connotation of the "national field" system, and tried to provide a foundation for military system reform and economic development through the reform of local administrative system.
The system of "three countries despise each other" divides "country" into 2 1 township, that is, 6 industrial and commercial townships and 15 scholar townships. The hometown of industry and commerce specializes in industrial and commercial production and does not accept military service. There are 15 townships, of which five townships are under the jurisdiction of Huan Gong, Gao Zi and Guo Zi, which constitute grass-roots administrative and military organizations. In the capital, the administrative division is five roads, 10 road is Li, 4 roads are Lian, and 10 road is an item, which is managed by Taoist priest, Li Si, company commander and Xiang Xianggong (or township doctor) respectively. Bi Ye is divided into five genera, with specific administrative divisions as follows:
30 are cities, and cities have departments; 10 is a township, and the township is handsome; Sanxiang is a county, and the county has a county handsome; There are doctors in ten counties. * * * Set up five doctors, who are responsible for the custom. The fifth is the post of doctor, who reports to Huan Gong for one year in the first month of each year to recommend talents. The monarch appoints the "Five Righteousness" to supervise the five genera and report the situation to the monarch in time. The core content of the reform of respecting foreigners is to strengthen the centralized rule of the monarch. Prior to this, the feudal system of layers of enfeoffment divided the power of the state, resulting in unreasonable government decrees, diversified political affairs and weakened the power of the monarch. The system reform of "taking part in him but neglecting him" has established a new local administrative system according to the different situations of "state" and "wild". Local officials at all levels are appointed and removed by the monarch, and they are responsible to the monarch, which improves the efficiency of the government, establishes the political authority of the monarch, and smoothes the channels from top to bottom, thus achieving the goal of "giving orders like water and following the people's will". In addition, a new official selection system has been established, and a set of personnel training and selection mechanism has been formed. The system stipulates that officials at all levels have the responsibility to recommend talents. If local officials bury and suppress talents, they will be punished by "shielding goodness" and "shielding light". The principle of appointing officials by the state is "don't listen to the requests of the left and right, reward according to one's ability, and reward according to one's achievements." This system of selecting officials makes "everyone is good and can get it", which leads to the social fashion of "encouraging everyone to be good" and makes the political situation of Qi State look brand-new.
The system reform of "participating in other countries and despising other countries" put forward the idea and measures of "separation of four people" for the first time. Gu said: "Scholars, farmers and businessmen are called the four great masters, and their theories began with pipes." According to the occupational concentration, we attach importance to the technical exchange within the industry and do not advocate the horizontal connection between the industry and the occupation. In order to strengthen the occupational barriers of the "four people", slogans such as "Jpua is a scholar", "Jpua is a farmer", "Jpua is a worker" and "Jpua is a businessman" were even put forward, requiring local farmers, workers and businessmen to do their own things, concentrate on development and not interfere with each other, so as to further clarify and institutionalize the social division of labor.
Secondly, a new military system was established. The reason why Qi implemented the system of "uniting with foreigners" was to establish an administrative foundation for the new military system to a great extent. It can be said that the system of "participating in other countries and despising other countries" is actually a system of military and political integration and soldiers entering the people. The so-called integration of military and political affairs, Guan Zhong called it "the internal affairs of issuing a military order", that is, the content of military reform was attached to the reform of administrative system. For example, the administrative establishment of the middle track, Li, Lian and Xiang in junior high schools can also play the role of military establishment, and the "three services" system implemented by Qi State is based on this. "Guoyu Qiyu" said: "Five families are the tracks, so five people are friends, and the track length rate is high; Ten tracks are included, so fifty people are arrogant and have teachers inside; Sili is a company, so 200 people are pawns, and the company commander leads; The World Federation is the hometown, so two thousand people are traveling, and their hometown lovers are leading; Five townships are handsome, so ten thousand people and one army are handsome in five townships. Therefore, the three armies have the drums of the China Army, the drums of the sons of the country and the drums of high posture. " Qi implements the "three-service" system and is the standing army of the country. Qi Huangong leads Zhong Jun and is actually the highest military commander. The establishment of the three armed forces is divided into five levels: military, filial piety, pawn, brigade and army, which just matches the five-level administrative divisions of iron, Lebanon, company, township and Wuxiang, and the chief of each level concurrently serves as the military chief at the same level. This system of military and political integration is also a system of military and civilian integration. For a family of eight, the burden of military service is not too heavy. These people often carry out military training and exercises, which improve the military quality and technical and tactical level of the army. Because the military system of Qi is the unity of military and political affairs, the unity of soldiers and civilians, which is easy to manage, and is conducive to improving the organization and cohesion of the army and stimulating its combat effectiveness. In this regard, Guoyu Strange Language said: "The same martial arts, the same sacrifice happiness, the same pity for life and death, the same disaster * * *, people live in the same domain, family and family live together, less travel. So the sound of the midnight oil is enough not to take it; In the daytime, eyes meet, enough to know each other, enough to die. It is the same rule to be born in the same joy, to walk in the same peace, and to die in the same sorrow. So is the war. " Make use of natural geographical relationship and blood relationship to enhance the internal cohesion of the army; With the help of strong organizational ties between the administrative authorities and the army, the organization of the army has been strengthened. After the military reform, an army with strong fighting capacity was finally established.
Third, we have carried out economic reforms aimed at benefiting the people and enriching the country. Different from Lu traditional culture, utilitarianism is an important part of Qi traditional culture. Guan Zhong believes that economic strength is the foundation of the country. "Governing the country must first enrich the people, the rich are easy to govern, and the poor are difficult to treat." "If the country has more money, people from afar will come; When the land improves, people stay. In fact, the granary knows etiquette, and food and clothing know honor and disgrace. " Only with a solid economic foundation can we build a high-quality superstructure and a good social atmosphere.
Regarding the content of economic reform, the first content is "the decline of land" and the Western Zhou Dynasty implemented the "mining field" system. Well field system is a national land distribution system. Land ownership belongs to the state, and then through layer-by-layer distribution, it leads to private possession. Because the well-field system is a hierarchical possession system, after a person's social identity is determined, he occupies a certain amount of land, so the taxation method implemented at that time was the method of taxation by person. After entering the Spring and Autumn Period, with the appearance of ironware, social productive forces have made great progress, enabling people to cultivate land as "public land" and spare no effort to reclaim land. These newly-opened lands are different from "mineral fields" and their nature is "private fields". Later, because the harvest of "private fields" was completely owned by themselves, driven by interests, people focused on reclaiming and managing "private fields", and the mined fields were gradually abandoned, resulting in a situation of "no fields, arrogance and rashness", and the national fiscal revenue was decreasing day by day. In order to increase agricultural fiscal revenue, Qi is implementing the reform of "tax reduction". The so-called "land-related decline" means "depending on the beauty and evil of the land and its production, the severity of the levy is different." In the past, the well-field system was taxed by people, but now it is taxed by land. The reason is that the possession of land has changed, and "land-based diminishing expropriation" is aimed at the change of land possession. No matter "public land" or "private land", taxes are levied according to the quantity and quality of land, thus greatly increasing the country's agricultural tax sources and fiscal revenue. The reform of "decreasing land acquisition" actually broke the traditional "minefield" system and led to the transformation of state-owned land system to private land system. Privatization of land will inevitably stimulate the production enthusiasm of landowners and liberate the agricultural productivity of Qi State.
The second content of economic reform is to implement the monopoly system of Guanshanhai and Salt and Iron. In order to increase fiscal revenue and make good use of the mountain and sea resources of Qi State, Guan Zhong advocated strengthening the management of "mountain and sea" natural resources, and put forward the national monopoly on economic undertakings such as salt and iron. Salt is the most important seasoning in life, and iron is the most important metal material for making production tools. People's lives are inseparable, so the social needs are extensive and the profits are rich, which is related to the national economy and people's livelihood. The state monopoly of salt and iron can not only obtain huge profit income, but also be an important means to manage and adjust the national social and economic life. The so-called "monopoly of salt and iron" does not mean that all the production of salt and iron is owned by the government, but that people still have the right to produce, but the products cannot be sold privately, but are purchased by the government, which operates in a unified way and regulates sales, so as to obtain rich income. Because the selling price of salt and iron is set by the state, the state has added a part of tax to the price of salt and iron. On the surface, there is no tax name, but it has gained the benefits of tax. While alleviating social contradictions, it has increased the income of the country.
The third content of economic reform is "establishing nine governments". The state regulates the relationship between social supply and demand, stabilizes prices and increases national fiscal revenue by monopolizing currency issuance. The so-called "weight" refers to the price relationship between money as a special commodity in universal equivalents and other commodities. Guan Zhong pointed out that the casting and distribution of money should be controlled by the state, and the economy should be adjusted through changes in the money supply. To this end, the "Nine Houses", a relevant institution for managing the economy, was established. Guan Zhong believes that there is an opposite relationship between the value of money and the value of other commodities. "Money is more important than everything, and money is lighter than everything." Therefore, the state can balance prices, restrain mergers and increase national income by controlling currency and adjusting the relationship between currency and other commodities. Through a series of economic reforms, Qi achieved the goal of "enriching the country with money" and laid a solid material foundation for dominating the Central Plains in the future.
In order to dominate the Central Plains, Qi Huangong put forward the slogan of "respecting the king and rejecting foreign countries" according to the situation. The slogan of "respecting the king and rejecting foreign countries" has its historical rationality. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, with the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the royal family moved eastward to Luoyi. As the birthplace and base of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the "Zhou Zong" area has become a place of military honor, and Ji Wang, a region directly controlled by the royal family, known as "Thousand Miles", has lost most of its money, and its economic strength has been greatly weakened. Economic decline led to political decline, and the political authority and dominance of the Zhou royal family plummeted, and its prestige was gone. The vacillation of the Zhou royal family's dominance in the world made Huaxia in the Central Plains fall into a leaderless situation, and the traditional ruling order was in chaos. In this eventful autumn, the invasion and oppression of foreigners around the Central Plains have intensified. Foreign military oppression mainly comes from the north and the south. From the north, the nomadic people in the grassland area, the so-called northern land, have been developing southward to the Central Plains. The southward advance of the Northern Emperor caused the jagged situation of Huaxia and Di nationalities in some areas of the Yellow River Basin. The agricultural civilization with the Chinese nation as the main body is facing the impact and challenge of the nomadic civilization of the Di nationality, and the nomadic civilization often shows a blind destructive power in the process of advancing southward, which may cause devastating damage to the precocious Chinese culture at a higher stage of civilization development. From the south, the main threat of the Central Plains to China comes from Chu. Chu, after Zhu Rong, belongs to Mi. It was first in Jianghan area, and then gradually annexed the surrounding small countries and became a powerful country in the south. Chu culture lives in seclusion in the Yangtze River valley, far away from the Central Plains, and develops independently, which is different from the so-called China orthodox culture. Therefore, Xiong, the monarch of Chu State in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, went ill and declared, "I am a barbarian and don't deserve the title of China." Later king and zhou royal family. During the Spring and Autumn Period, after occupying the middle reaches of the Yangtze River with the expansion of its strength, Chu made every effort to develop into the Central Plains and became a strong enemy of all Chinese countries. Under the oppression of the north and south nationalities, the Huaxia nation in the Central Plains is in jeopardy. When describing the situation at that time, The Biography of the Spring and Autumn Ram said: "The friendship between Nanyi and the Northern Emperor is endless, and so is China." In this situation, China countries urgently need a strong leader to shoulder the responsibility and lead them to resist foreign aggression. Qi Huangong will adapt to the needs of the situation, and with its strong national strength, it will assume the responsibility of being the overlord of China countries. But after all, this overlord is a new force that has just risen, and it is necessary to borrow Zhou Wang's signboard. Although the status of the Zhou royal family was declining, it was still the nominal owner of Huaxia in the Central Plains at that time, a symbol of Chinese orthodoxy and a banner of Huaxia, which was due to the influence of traditional culture. Therefore, under the planning of Guan Zhong, in order to enhance the centripetal force of Huaxia nation, Qi Huangong played the banner of "respecting the king and rejecting foreign countries".
The so-called "respecting the king" is a respect for the orthodoxy of the Zhou royal family far away. More importantly, it is to hold high the banner of traditional moral culture and establish the sense of belonging of the Chinese nation to the traditional culture it represents. To this end, Qi Huangong played the banner of "respecting the king". For example, in the 30th year of Huan Gong (656 BC), Qi joined forces with Lu, Chen, Wei, Zheng, Cao and other countries to attack Chu. King Chu Cheng sent an envoy to ask the reason why Qi attacked Chu, and Guan Zhong was ordered to reply: "Yesterday, Duke Kang was called the first gentleman, saying,' Nine uncles from five kings should be recruited to help Zhou Shi.' "It is under the banner of" Jia Fu Zhou "to illustrate the legitimacy of this action. When he explained Chu's sin to the ambassador of Chu, he said, "If you don't spend twenty cents, you can't drink without offering sacrifices. I am a soldier. Wang Zhao went to the south and never came back. I am asking. "Accuse the king of Chu of not paying tribute, and be responsible for having no return. Thus, the political ambition of hegemony is concealed under the "justice" behavior of "arguing the court" and the purpose of "holding the emperor to make the princes" is achieved. Under the banner of "respecting the king", Qi Huangong carried out a series of actions to safeguard the stability and authority of the royal family and give orders on its behalf.
In the thirty-third year of Huan Gong (653 BC), King Hui of Zhou died, and Prince Zheng Ji ascended the throne as King Hui. Before King Hui's death, Xiang Wang and his half-brother Prince Dai fought for the right to inherit the throne, or they would gather Song, Lu, Chen, Wei, Zheng, Xu and Cao to conclude a Covenant, thus confirming the orthodox status of the prince. This time, in the next life of King Hui, King Xiang was afraid that the prince would fight for the throne, and it would be difficult for him to gather together, so he asked Duke Huan to help him establish the throne. And Qi Huangong are called countries, in Tao (a grass. Today, Shandong Juancheng (Southwest) formed an alliance and finally established the throne of Wang Xiang. When describing his achievements, Qi Huangong said, "Nine princes, one conquers the world." The so-called "conquering the world" refers to this matter. The so-called "Nine Princes" shows that he has become a veritable overlord, giving orders to the world on behalf of the Zhou Emperor.
In the thirty-fifth year of Huan Gong (65 1 BC), monarchs and envoys of Lu, Song, Cao and Wei were invited to join the League, and the place was Kwai Qiu (now Lankao East, Henan Province). Zhou Wang ordered the Duke of Zhou to kill Kong in order to give money, gongs, roads and dragon flags as a token of respect and favor, and conveyed the king's decree: "Take my uncle's help and give me a first-class merit. No bow! " In order to set an example of maintaining the rites of Zhou, he replied, "Tianwei doesn't violate the rules at hand, but Xiaobaiyu dares to covet the life of the son of heaven and say,' I have nowhere to worship'? I am afraid that I will fall further and further, and I will be ashamed of my son. " According to Zhou Li's regulations, he obeyed the king's orders and then stood up to accept the king's gift, thus maintaining Zhou Wang's authority and dignity. Confucius once commented on the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period and said, "Jin Wen is arrogant, but Qi Huangong is not arrogant." It refers to Qi Huangong's maintenance of the traditional etiquette system. This maintenance of the traditional etiquette system should not be simply regarded as a conservative and backward behavior. Because the banner of national traditional culture is the spiritual bond that unites Chinese countries to resist external threats, and the "ritual" culture is the core and typical representative of Chinese culture at that time.
In the autumn of the same year, the vassal States of the Qi Huangong League reached an agreement in Kwai Qiu: "Whoever forms an alliance with me will make peace after forming an alliance." Emphasize the unity of the Chinese nation. In order to regulate the behavior of countries and coordinate their relations, * * * made a covenant with them at the meeting. The Covenant said: "At the Kwai Chung meeting, the governors tied up the books without bleeding. At the beginning of my life, I said: if I don't teach, I won't grow up easily and I won't marry a concubine. Rebirth: Respect the virtuous, educate the talented and show virtue. Sansheng said: respect the old and love the young, and never forget the guests. The four orders said: There is no official in the world, no official affairs, no scholar will win, and no doctor will be killed. The five orders said, "We can't prevent it, we can't suppress it, we can't seal it without telling. "The first emphasizes the maintenance of the traditional patriarchal clan system and distinguishes the relationship between local and ordinary. The second item emphasizes respecting moral education. The third item reaffirms the virtues of respecting the old and loving the young and being friendly to guests. The fourth item puts forward requirements for the appointment of scholars, which not only opposes hereditary officials, but also protects their interests and opposes the killing of scholars. The fifth content mainly coordinates the political and economic relations between countries, requiring countries to ensure the smooth flow of rivers and oppose water and electricity cuts or beggar-thy-neighbor; Ensure the normal circulation of grain, an important material, and oppose hoarding and driving up prices; It is also required to report to the emperor when establishing new fiefs to let countries know about the political situation. The political part of the content of the Covenant basically emphasizes the reaffirmation and maintenance of the traditional order to highlight the theme of unity, but it also affirms and recognizes new things, such as "the lawless officials." The economic part of its content reflects the attempt to break the political regime required by the economic development at that time. The Kwai Chung Conference strengthened the political unity of China countries and made efforts to establish a unified economic market in the Central Plains. Through the Kwai Chung Conference, Qi Huangong's hegemony reached its peak.
Qi Huangong's Bustling Foreigners mainly includes the following deeds:
The first is against the Northern Emperor. Gu said in Memorabilia of the Spring and Autumn Period: "In the Spring and Autumn Period, Rong Di suffered a lot for China, and Di was the most. Of all the virtues, Lushi is the most. The power of Di is not in the world of Min and Nuo, destroying Xing and Wei and invading Qi and Lu. " The Northern Emperor was the most powerful threat to China in the Central Plains during the Spring and Autumn Period. In the twenty-second year of Qi Huangong (664 BC), Shanrong attacked Yan, and Qi Huangong led an army of thousands of miles to repel Shanrong. In order to show gratitude, he insisted on crossing the border to send Huan Gong into Qi. Duke Huan said, "If you are not the son of heaven, you will not be a vassal. I can't be rude to Yan. " So, he gave the government to Qi and Yan, and ordered the resumption of administration, diligence and tribute week. Qi Huangong's righteous act won the respect and support of China countries.
In the winter of the twenty-fourth year of Qi Huangong (662 BC), he attacked Xing (now Xingtai, Hebei), and the minister of Qi discussed how to save Xing. Guan Zhong said, "Let the emperor not hate wolves; Xia Qin can't abandon; The banquet is poisonous, not pregnant. " The poem says,' Don't you want to go home? Afraid of this short book. According to the distinction between Hua and Yi, Guan Zhong demonstrated the necessity of cutting De to save Xing, especially emphasized the sacredness of "Jian Shu", that is, the covenant of Central Plains countries, and advocated rescue. Qi sent troops to defeat Di Shi. In the 26th year of Sidi (660 BC), Loveway. At that time, Wei Yigong, Wang Wei, was a bad king. He liked to raise cranes, which cost a lot of money, but the soldiers were badly treated. The soldiers' morale was low, and they threatened to let the crane go to war. As a result, Wei Yigong was killed and the country was destroyed. Qi Huangong led the army to cross the Yellow River to save Wei, and moved the adherents of Wei to a grass, where he established a new monarch and helped build a new city. In the twenty-seventh year (659 BC), Xing was attacked again, and the soldiers and civilians of Xing were defeated. Qi joined forces with Song and Cao to save Xing, and once again repelled him. For the sake of Xing's long-term stability, he sent troops to escort Xing people to move (now southwest of Liaocheng, Shandong Province), and helped them build a new city, and sent troops to help defend. The righteous act of "saving Xing Cunwei" brought Xing and Wei back to life and lived and worked in peace. History says, "Move home, defend the country and forget to die". Qi Huangong's reputation is getting higher and higher.
After basically containing the northern emperor's attack on the Central Plains, Qi Huangong suppressed the forces of the southern strong Chu. As early as 20 years (666 BC), the State of Chu attacked Zheng with 600 chariots and was repelled by the allied forces of Qi, Lu and Song. However, Chu has always maintained a strong military pressure on the Central Plains countries, which made many small countries between Qi and Chu waver between them and hindered Qi Huangong's hegemony. In the later period of his rule, Qi Huangong strengthened his counterattack against Chu, defending the hegemony of the Central Plains by attacking Chu. In the twenty-seventh year of Huan Gong (659 BC), the State of Chu invaded Zheng on the pretext that Zheng was closely related to himself, and joined forces with Song, Lu, Zheng and Cao to discuss anti-Chu issues. Since then, the State of Chu has attacked the State of Zheng year after year, and the State of Zheng was overwhelmed and wanted to make peace with the State of Chu. To this end, Huan Gong actively contacted all countries in the Central Plains to seek joint resistance to Chu and support Zheng. In the 30th year of Huan Gong (656 BC), Qi joined forces with Lu, Zheng, Song, Chen, Wei, Xu, Cao and other countries to pacify Cai, an ally of Chu, and fled. The allied forces marched into Chu with victory, which caused the army to press the border. Seeing that the allied forces were menacing, King Chu Cheng led an army to meet the enemy and sent envoys to test the allied forces. The messenger of Chu asked Huan Gong why he invaded Chu. Guan Zhong said, "Er Mao is not a man. If you don't offer the king's sacrifice, there is no way to cut down on wine. I am a soldier. Wang Zhao has gone to the south, but I ask you! If we condemn Chu for not paying tribute to the king, we can also use this as an excuse. Dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Zhao of Zhou died of cutting Chu in the Yangtze River, which is obviously far-fetched. Therefore, the Chu messenger replied: "If you don't pay tribute, you will be guilty of being widowed and dare not provide it; "Wang Zhao is gone, you ask the seaside." The tone is still quite tough. Seeing that Chu refused to surrender, he sent troops to Hong (now Yancheng, Henan) in an attempt to force Chu to submit. Chu sent a doctor to make peace with the allied forces. Duke Huan invited Qu to patrol the military capacity of the allied forces in the same car, hoping to show off his force and force him to submit. He said to Qu Wan, "Who can resist this war? How can you attack the city with this? " However, when Qu finished, he replied, "Who dares to refuse if you are a vassal of Germany and Sui?"? If you use strength, Fangcheng of Chu regards it as a city, and Hanshui regards it as a pool. Although there are many Coalition forces, they are useless! " Qu Wan grasped Qi Huangong's self-flaunt of serving the world with virtue, claiming that serving people with virtue would lead to harmony in the world. If you press hard, you will not hesitate to fight! That's enough. Qi Huangong accepted Chu's peace and made a covenant with Chu in Zhaoling. The alliance of Zhaoling temporarily restrained Chu's northward advance, eased the situation in the Central Plains and won a period of peaceful development.
After Qi Huangong gained hegemony, he felt better and better. In his later years, he said to himself: "I went south to Zhaoling and looked at Woong San from afar; Northern expedition mountain glory, Lishi, solitary bamboo; Cut Xixia, wade in quicksand, tie a horse trailer, climb Taihang Mountain, and return to North Mountain. The vassal turned against me, and the chariot was three times, and the bus was six times. Nine princes, one conquers the world. What is the difference between the past three generations? I want to seal Mount Tai and seal the Zen father Liang. " It's like being ordered by the king of the world After Guan Zhong's death, Huan Gong's life became more and more luxurious, he was lucky to be appointed, and the state affairs were not good. In the forty-third year of Huan Gong (643 BC), he was seriously ill. His cronies, Yi Ya and Vertical Diao, took the opportunity to make trouble, and their five sons set up a party to compete for power, which led to chaos in Qi. Qi Huangong, the first generation hero, was starved to death alive, and his body was not cleaned for more than 60 days, so that it rotted and gave birth to insects. However, with the assistance of Guan Zhong, Qi Huangong held high the banner of "respecting the king and rejecting the foreign countries", and defended the advanced Chinese culture in the Central Plains at that time from the destruction of backward foreign cultures around him. Its historical achievements are as bright as the sun and the moon.