Before Cao Mo struck, no one expected that Lu would enlarge the move at the Qi-Lu alliance.
The Spring and Autumn period is full of CP, Qi and Lu like Qin and Jin, a pair of happy rivals, together when you want to die for you, divided on the death of my heart will not die.
The founder of Qi is the famous Jiang Taigong, the founder of the state of Lu is the Duke of Zhou Ji Dan, these two people in the war of King Wu to destroy Zhou great credit, after the success of the revolution, one was sealed Qi, one was sealed Lu.
Hierarchically, the state of Lu was the head of almost all the vassals. Because the Duke of Zhou not only assisted King Wu to conquer the Zhou Dynasty, but also helped King Cheng of Zhou to pacify the “Three Supervisors’ Rebellion”, which was a great achievement, King Cheng specially approved that the Duke of Zhou’s feudal state, Lu, could also hold a ceremony to worship Heaven and set up a temple to worship King Wen of Zhou, enjoying the same treatment as the Son of Heaven.
However, later on, Qi embarked on the road of reform and strength, while Lu clung to the old ways and held on to the Zhou rituals, so the gap between Qi and Lu gradually widened.
In 681 B.C., it was the thirteenth year of the reign of Duke Zhuang of Lu in the state of Lu. The state of Lu had been established for more than 300 years, and was a famous ancient civilized state among the vassals, a state of etiquette, because the Zhou royal Family was no longer viable and the Zhou rites were in Lu.
Sima Qian’s evaluation of Duke Zhuang of Lu in “The Records of the Grand Historian” is just two words: good power (good pronunciation hào). In other words, Lu Zhuang Duke had also devoted himself to building a country militarily and dreamed of a strong Lu.
Unfortunately, he was not born at the right Time, because his rival, Qi, was the reign of the first hegemon of the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Huan of Qi. The Duke of Qi Huan’s name was Xiaobai, but his rule was not Xiaobai, and with the help of his famous minister Guan Zhong, Qi quickly became a superpower among the Eastern vassals, and it was only a matter of time before it became hegemonic.
Duke Huan of Qi had Guan Zhong, Duke Zhuang of Lu had who?
The main character of this article: Cao Mo.
In “The Records of the Grand Historian”, Cao Mo’s persona was that he had “courage” and could fight, so Duke Lu Zhuang made him a general.
But Cao Mo’s “bravery” may only be used internally, but not externally. According to Sima Qian, “Cao Mo was the general of Lu and fought against Qi, but lost three battles. The Duke of Lu was afraid, so he offered the land of Sui Yi to make peace.” Cao Mo fought against Qi and was defeated repeatedly, so the Duke of Lu was afraid and ceded his land to seek peace.
This was a slap in the face to him, who was dreaming of a strong Lu, and it was normal for other rulers to be infuriated and execute Cao Mo’s nine clans.
Strangely enough, Duke Lu Zhuang “still thought he was a general”. He still trusted him and continued to appoint him as a general.
What about Cao Mo?
Originally, the ruler heard that you could fight and reappointed you with a high official salary, but you lost many battles, so instead of committing suicide to repay your kindness, you should have resigned, right? Cao Mo, on the contrary, continued to be his dry rice man.
After all, there are many people with thick skin in history. But Cao Mo is a person who can’t rest and always wants to make a big news. Not long after, a decision of the Duke of Qi Huan, and gave him the opportunity to steal the show.
At that time, the strength and weakness of Qi and Lu, the Duke of Qi Huan can not care about him, directly send troops to destroy the state of Lu is, but he did not do so, because he has a more ambitious goal: to dominate the vassals.
Although the state of Lu was weak, it was also a direct feudal state of the Zhou royal family, a genuine Ji family, and to destroy Lu was to go against the Zhou royal family. Although the Zhou royal family had lost control of the vassal states, but nominally still the boss, and the boss against the reason to give the other small brothers to join forces to dislike you.
Therefore, Duke Huan of Qi should have taken Guan Zhong’s advice and adopted another way to achieve his political ambitions without bloodshed: to pull Lu to sit down and talk, on one condition, that Lu must recognize Qi as the boss and not to make things worse.
Qi was willing to sit down and talk, and Duke Lu was eager to do so. So, the two countries met at Ke Yi to make an alliance.
Where is Ke Yi? It’s in Dong’a, Shandong Province today. It had been a sacred territory of the state of Wei since ancient times, but nine years earlier, in the fourth year of Duke Lu’s reign, Lu had taken it by force. Five years later, under the banner of seeking justice for Wei, the then ruler of Qi, Duke Qi Xiang, attacked Ke Yi and drove the Lu invaders away, then incorporated Ke Yi into the territory of Qi, without even bothering to say “set aside the dispute and develop it together.
You are strong, you are justified, Qi did so, and neither Lu nor Wei dared to say anything. Now the Duke of Qi Huan has decided to make Ke Yi an alliance site, which is a clear reminder to Duke Zhuang of Lu, don’t forget that you have also done something dirty, because Lu and Wei were both surnamed Ji, proper comrades and brothers. If you are capable, you can take it back by force.
I didn’t expect that Cao Mo would really do that at the alliance ceremony.
First of all, let’s look at the “Historical Records – Assassins”.
Duke Huan and Zhuang Gong both alliance on the altar, Cao Mo dagger robbed the Duke of Qi Huan, the Duke of Huan around not dare to move, and asked: “What will the son want?” Cao Mo said: “Qi is strong and Lu is weak, and the great powers invade Lu is also very much. Now the city of Lu is bad, that is, the pressure on the territory of Qi, the king of its figure.”
At that time the Duke of Lu was speaking: “We attach great importance to the strategic partnership with the State of Qi ……” coldly Cao Mo suddenly jumped on the stage, one hand around the neck of the Duke of Qi Huan, holding a dagger in one hand, against the throat of the Duke of Qi Huan, shouted. “Qi bullying the weak, encroaching on our territory, too much, now you say what to do?”
It seems that General Cao is not good at fighting, but he is still quite “brave” at sneak attacks.
The incident was so sudden that everyone present was dumbfounded. As the leader of a superpower, Duke Huan of Qi had never been subjected to such coercion, but with the tip of the sword at his throat, it was better to live, so he “promised to return all the encroached lands of Lu”, promising to return all the encroached territories of Lu.
Once these words came out, Cao Mo threw away the dagger in his hand and sat back in his original seat, his face did not change color and heart did not jump, still talking and laughing with the surrounding area, as if he had just had a madness.
Cheeky more, psychological quality is so hard, there is no one else.
Qi side, the knife left the throat, Qi Huan Gong is angry, thinking you a defeated weak country, I am willing to sit down with you to talk is to give you face, but you not only do not cherish, but also let a defeated army will make such a scene, I do not get you killed, how to give orders in front of the vassals ……
The key moment, or Guan Zhong calm, rushed to stop the Duke of Qi Huan: “Do not be impulsive, impulsive will fall for his trick. Retaliation is a momentary pleasure, but breaking faith with the vassals will spoil the hegemony, it is better to keep the promise and return the land to them, to show our style of great power.”
One of the reasons why Duke Huan of Qi succeeded was that he listened to Guan Zhong’s advice, “so Duke Huan was able to cut off Lu’s invaded land, and all the land lost in the three battles of Cao Mo was restored to Lu”.
In the whole farce, what kind of reaction was the Duke of Lu Zhuang, and whether Cao Mo was rewarded or punished afterwards, Sima Qian did not write, so we do not know. It is only known that Cao Mo made such an appearance in history, and after that, the reign of Duke Zhuang of Lu had another nineteen years, but there is no more word about Cao Mo in the history books of Lu.
So, did Lu become the biggest winner in the alliance of Ko Yi?
On the surface, Cao Mo’s goal was achieved, Qi returned the occupied land, and Duke Lu could even take the opportunity to announce at Home that “Lu had achieved another glorious diplomatic victory”.
But in reality, the consequence of this hijacking was not that Lu or the most won, but that Qi had already won.
Just imagine, if the Duke of Qi Huan was not blackmailed, would Cao Mo dare to really kill him?
It is difficult to say, because it is clear to everyone that killing Duke Huan of Qi would only bring ruin to himself and the state of Lu, and would not change the situation of strong Qi and weak Lu at all.
But the Duke of Qi Huan returned the land under duress, and this act won him a great reputation among the vassals that could not be bought even with a large amount of money, and countries have come forward to recognize the boss, sitting in the Spring and Autumn period the first hegemony.
It can be said that the hegemony of Duke Huan of Qi began with the alliance of Ke Yi and the divine assistance of General Cao Mo of Lu.
Therefore, after the hijacking incident, Qi and Lu were stronger and weaker. And Cao Mo’s behavior, not only with the justice is not related, and even than the previous three war are north shameful.
Although the Spring and Autumn period has been “ritual and Music“, but the military can not do others, but by rogue means to achieve diplomatic purposes, this is the only time. Especially when it happened to Lu, it made the world stare in amazement.
So you are such a country of manners.
It is also unbelievable that Sima Qian had Cao Mo listed in the “Biography of Assassins”, which was a shame for the real assassins such as Yu Jin, Nie Zheng and Jing Ke. If they knew, they would not be able to cover the coffin lid.
Of course, Cao Mo’s deeds are only found in “The Records of the Grand Historian”, and in “Zuo Zhuan”, which is earlier than “The Records of the Grand Historian”, the record of the alliance of Ke Yi in “the thirteenth year of Duke Zhuang” is only one sentence: “In winter, the alliance was made in Ke, and it began to reach Qi Ping.” In the winter, the alliance was made with Qi at Ke, and from then on, Qi and Lu made peace.
Moreover, according to Zuo Zhuan, during the reign of Duke Zhuang of Lu, there were only two wars with Qi, namely the Battle of Qian Shi and the Battle of Chang Spoon, one was lost and one was won, and no land was ceded for peace.
There is also a saying that Cao Mo is actually the famous “Cao Đi Đi Đi” in Cao Đi Đi. This is even more incredible, Cao Jun became famous in the battle of the long spoon, where to “three battles are north”? Besides, the IQ is so high Cao Đi, how can three years later turned into a big-breasted reckless man?
So many historians suspect that Cao Mo and his story is only the fiction of those self-published writers of the Warring States period, and then Sima Qian adopted the letter, to blackmail.
If Cao Mo really did happen, it might be because, in ancient times, Cao Mo was either kicked in the head by a donkey, or he ate too much donkey meat, and was so good at spilling and rolling.
Recent Comments