If King Min of Qi did not make, Qin can annex the world, although it is not easy to say, at least he himself did not have to die so badly, Qi also did not have to be destroyed in advance of the round.
The most famous thing he did after he came to the throne was to make Mr. Nan Guo, who was so prosperous in his father’s Time, King Xuan, unable to be indiscriminate anymore.
But that was just a fable written by Han Feizi, the historical King Mindi of Qi really spent more than ten years to toss himself into the most abusive “yu” in the history of Qi.
Originally, when King Min of Qi came to the throne, the two previous kings of Qi – King Wei of Qi and King Xuan of Qi left him a powerful state that all the vassals envied and hated. In the words of Su Qin, the state of Qi at that time was “broad in virtue and extensive in land, rich in state and people, strong in generalship and strong in army” (Warring States Strategy – Zhao Ce II).
However, not long after King Min of Qi came to the throne, he sent his general Kuang Zhang, who had set a record of destroying Yan in 50 days during the reign of King Xuan, to lead a coalition of Qi, Wei and Han to defeat Chu’s army at Zhisha (modern Tanghe, Henan Province) and kill Chu’s general Tang Ma.
After this battle, Chu was so strong that it withdrew from the first tier of hegemony and sent its prince to Qi as a hostage. At the same time, King Zhao Xiang of Qin also sent his brother Jing Yang to Qi as a hostage to curry favor with the state.
Three years later, Meng Changjun, the minister of Qi, launched another war between the allied forces of Qi, Han and Wei to invade Qin. This battle was also led by the Qi general Kuang Zhang, and the allied army of the three countries once entered the Hangu Pass, forcing Qin to cede land and beg for peace.
This was one of the most humiliating times in the history of the Warring States for Qin, and one of the most powerful for Qi.
A few years later, King Zhaoxiang of Qin sent Wei Ran to entice King Min of Qi, saying, “The only heroes in the world are the King of Qi and I. We are no longer worthy of our great achievements, so why don’t we both become emperors, with the King of Qi as the East Emperor and I as the West Emperor?
King Min of Qi also happily accepted.
However, this time the title of emperor was only for a while, and it was cancelled soon after the persuasion of Su Qin and his brother Su Dai. Although The Emperor‘s name was cancelled, but the situation of the world at that time, the west to Qin is strong, the east to Qi is the hegemony, is an indisputable fact.
How did King Min of Qi smash such a good hand?
The direct reason was the brazen destruction of Song.
Although Song is not big, but rich, is a piece of fat meat coveted by all seven masters, but no one dares to act rashly, because Song is also the heart of King Zhao Xiang of Qin, destroy Song, afraid of the mantis catching the cicada and the yellow bird in the back. However, King Min of Qi was so ambitious that he raised an army to destroy Song in 286 B.C. and incorporated Song into the territory of Qi.
Even, according to “Shi Ji – Tian Qi Shi Jia”, after the destruction of Song, Qi also “cut the Huabei of Chu in the south, invaded the three Jin in the west, want to merge with the Zhou Dynasty, as the son of heaven. The lords of Si, Zou and Lu, all claimed to be vassals, and the lords were afraid.
To the south, forcing Chu to cut Huabei land; to the west, Han, Wei, Zhao and Jin were beaten out of temper; King Min of Qi even wanted to extinguish the Zhou royal Family in name only, himself as the son of heaven. At this time, it should be the last glory of Qi and King Min of Qi’s Life, Zou, Lu and other small countries are suffering from “fear of Qi”, do not know when the doom and gloom.
Small countries are afraid, big countries are angry. As the saying goes, the wrath of the people is hard to offend, Qi is strong, but also can not compete with a number of countries. As a matter of fact, the second year after the destruction of Song, Qin raised an army to invade Qi, the Qi army was caught off guard and was defeated nine cities; after another year, Qin combined with Yan, Chu, Han, Wei and Zhao, six countries jointly attacked Qi, the Qi army was crushed and collapsed.
Qin, Chu, Han, Wei and Zhao taught Qi a lesson and retreated when the purpose was achieved, but the general of Yan, Le Yi, in order to avenge the destruction of Yan by King Xuan of Qi, invaded the capital of Qi, Linzi, and King Min of Qi fled in fear, and all the treasures of the country were plundered by the Yan army.
Up to this point, if King Min of Qi could face the reality and repent, there might be a chance to turn the tide.
He did not, and continued to make his way to escape.
First, he fled to the state of Wei. The king of Wei treated King Min of Qi as an old friend of the people of Wei, and even gave up his palace for him to live, and he also called himself a vassal to King Min of Qi. But King Min of Qi not only did not cherish, the Wei Sijun call and drink really treated as a little brother, which angered the people of the State of Wei, the group attacked, no choice, had to continue to flee. When he arrived at the small states of Zou and Lu, which were afraid of him, the rulers were respectful of him, but he did not learn his lesson, and he was so bossy to the rulers of these small states that the last bit of respect was lost, saying that you are not welcome by our people, so go away.
He had to flee to another small vassal state, Ju.
To the Qi state, Ju should be considered a lucky place. In the past, Duke Huan of Qi had also endured humiliation in Ju, and finally became the hegemon of his generation.
When King Min of Qi also fled to Ju, the opportunity came again: Chu, for the purpose of checks and balances, did not want Qin to dominate after the destruction of Qi, and sent its general Nao to Ju to help King Min of Qi against Yan’s army.
History, gave the last straw for King Min of Qi.
But he froze and relied on his own talent and talent, this straw rubbed into a rope for hanging.
In the end, he was killed by Nao Te.
The only sentence in “Shi Ji – Tian Qi Shi Jia” is: “Nao Ya then killed King Min (Min) and shared with Yan the invasion of Qi’s land and weapons.”
However, in “Strategies of the Warring States – Chu Strategy IV”, Sun Zi’s letter to Chun Shen Jun cites several kings who died tragically as examples, including: “Nao tooth used Qi, pushed the tendons of King Min, hung on his temple beam, and died overnight.”
King Min of Qi was hung on the beam by Nao teeth, skinned and drawn, screaming for a day and a night before he died.
Thousands of years of history, many kings died tragically, but the most tragic death, no one is worse than King Min of Qi.
What made him die so badly?
The destruction of Song was only an objective cause of public anger. Comprehensive all historical data, or the same sentence: character determines fate.
First of all, self-confidence in a large country, arbitrary and domineering.
It is easy to see from his performance on the way to flee through various small countries that this was such a bold and domineering monarch, who had fled, but still did not put anyone in his eyes. It is also recorded in the “Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals” that when King Min of Qi sent an army to attack Song, King Zhao of Yan sent his general Zhang Kui to lead an army to help in order to please Qi, but King Min of Qi even killed Zhang Kui. Later, the six countries attacked Qi, why only the Yan long drive, this is also a very important reason.
Secondly, militarism.
The Warring States Strategy – Zhao Strategy II, Su Qin said to the king of Qin, when King Min of Qi was strong, “forced Han Wei, south to attack Chu, west to attack Qin, Qin for Qi soldiers trapped in the Bancai”, Han, Wei, Chu, Qin, were beaten by the Qi army out of temper, but after ten years, these countries are still standing strong, while Qi has become a ruin, what is the reason? “It is then felled Chu attacked Qin and then suffered from it”.
No other, too warlike.
If the above two points are still external missteps, resulting in enemies on all sides, then, the internal high pressure, is the most fundamental internal causes of the tragic death of King Min of Qi.
For example, the clampdown on speech.
After King Li of Zhou, who “prevented the mouth of the people more than the river”, King Min of Qi was the second king who was convicted by his words. In “Strategies of the Warring States – Qi Strategy VI”, it is stated that
The people of Qi negative Guo have a fox sobbing person is right, King Min hacked the sandalwood, the people do not attach; Qi Sun room son Chen raised straight talk, killed in the eastern capital, the clan centrifugal.
There was an old man named Xu sob xuān in the suburbs of Linzi, the capital of the state, who was deluded about the government, so King Min chopped his head off in the market, causing the people to be divided; there was a man named Chen Ju in the office of the state of Qi, who was outspoken and critical, so King Min also executed him in public at the east gate of Linzi, causing the public clan to be divided.
The court and the field from the top to the bottom, are dissatisfied with King Min of Qi, the end is also predetermined.
The second is the unfairness of reward and punishment.
The “Warring States Strategy – Qi Strategy VI” also recorded that Yue Yi led the army of Yan to press the border, Qi’s general Touchzi led the army to meet the enemy, a battle and defeat, Touchzi fled in his chariot. The other general, Dazi, gathered the remnants of his troops, boosted their morale and fought again against the Yan army. When the war was in full swing, Dazi asked King Min of Qi for a reward for his soldiers, but King Min refused to give it to him, so the army was dispersed and fled.
This is also the most ridiculous. King Min of Qi refused to give any reward to the soldiers who died in the battle, but in the end, all the Gold and silver treasures of Qi fell into the hands of the Yan army.
The people were not attached, the morale of the people was not revived, and all of the above only made King Min of Qi doomed to die. What made his death so miserable was also this.
He was indifferent to the people’s sufferings.
When Chu’s general Nao Ya was sent to save Qi, he couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know that it rained blood in a certain area of Qi for hundreds of miles around?”
King Min of Qi said I don’t know.
“There is another place in Qi where the land is cracked and underground water is coming up, do you know about it?”
King Min of Qi also did not know.
“Someone was crying in front of the palace, and when the officials went there, they could not see anyone, and when they went away, the crying started again.
King Min of Qi had not heard of it either.
Nao tooth could not bear to say, the world’s blood rain, is the sky in the warning; the earth cracked out of water, is the earth in the reminder; people in front of the palace gate crying, is the people in the advice. Heaven and earth people coincidentally issued a warning to you, but you do not take warning, still act against heaven, I do not kill you kill who.
In this way, a king who could have achieved a great renaissance of Qi not only died a horrible death, but also led to the destruction of his country and the devastation of his people.
After the death of King Min of Qi, although there was Tian Dan’s restoration, the state of Qi fell into ruin. King Min’s son, King Xiang of Qi, and grandson, King Jian of Qi, not only failed to restore the state of Qi, but also retreated step by step and watched Qin’s encroachment on the eastern countries, and was finally officially destroyed by Qin decades later.
This is really in line with the famous saying of “Zhou Yi – Under the Ties”: “If one’s virtue does not match one’s position, there will be calamities. Virtue is thin and the position of honor, wisdom is small and big, small strength and heavy duty, rarely less than carry on.”
For a king like King Min of Qi, the “Lv’s Spring and Autumn Annals – Acts” teaches a very insidious and at the same time effective trick: the king of Qi killed the king of Yan who sent him to kill him.
King Min of Qi killed Zhang Kui, the general sent by the king of Yan to help him attack Song, the king of Yan was furious and intended to send troops to attack Qi, but was dissuaded by minister Fan Cao yáo. He asked the king to put on his mourning clothes and live in the countryside, and at the same time sent an envoy to Qi to thank the king, saying that since the king had killed the general we had sent, it must be because of our misuse of personnel, and now we were willing to change the envoy to show our guilt.
When the ambassador arrived at Qi, King Min of Qi was drinking with all the officials and ordered the ambassador to come to the hall. When the ambassador conveyed the king’s words, King Min of Qi pretended that he did not understand them and asked the ambassador to repeat them aloud, so as to humiliate Yan and show off his prestige to the officials. Then, King Min of Qi sent the lowest ranking envoy to convey his message and invited the king of Yan to return to the palace, thus humiliating the king of Yan.
The author of “The Doctrine of Conduct” says that “pride and cruelty” were the reasons for the failure of King Min of Qi, and concludes, “If you want to destroy something, you must weigh it down; if you want to prostrate it, you must lift it up.”
If you want to destroy something, you must first help it stand up; if you want to bring down someone, you must first hold him up high.
This saying, and the Western philosophers that “God wants its destruction, must first make it crazy” has a similar meaning. The East and West in the treatment of this kind of do not do not die on the king, but really the same way, the same world, the same kind of dream.
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