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Chapter 5 Harvesting the Son of Heaven's Wheat

Duke Zheng Zhuang was firmly on the throne, but bad news came from the royal family. The ears and eyes planted by Duke Zheng Zhuang in the Zhou royal court came with the news: The emperor of Zhou wanted to give up his position as a minister and replace him with Duke Guo.

.This matter is so important that we cannot but ask about it.

Duke Zhuang of Zheng hurried to Luoyi. Along the way, he was thinking: Logically speaking, King Zhou Ping had always relied on him, so this kind of problem should not have happened. He felt that there must be a villain who was slandering. Finally, he came up with a way to retreat.

Strategies for progress.

As soon as Zheng Zhuanggong saw King Zhou Ping, he said: "Thanks to the favor of the emperor, my father was made the minister of the imperial court. After my father died, I was made the minister of the imperial court. My talents are limited and I am not worthy of a high position. Therefore, I asked the king of heaven for permission to allow me to do so."

Return to the Kingdom of Zheng and manage your territory with peace of mind."

King Zhou Ping didn't expect Guild Zhengzhuang to say this, so he quickly comforted him: "I haven't seen you for a long time, and I've been thinking about you. Seeing you now is like a fish seeing water. I just need you to share the worries of the court. How can you

Why don't you give up and quit?"

Duke Zhuang of Zheng said: "Because my talents are not as good as those of Duke Guo and Ji's father."

King Zhou Ping was immediately embarrassed. It turned out that Duke Zheng Zhuang had not come to court for a long time, so King Zhou Ping planned to ask Duke Guo and his father to manage some affairs of the court on behalf of Duke Zheng Zhuang. Duke Guo and his father knew that Duke Zheng Zhuang was not easy to mess with, so he did not dare to take on this problem. Unexpectedly

, the private discussion between the two of them actually reached the ears of Duke Zheng Zhuang, causing Duke Zheng Zhuang to make a preemptive strike for King Zhou Ping.

Seeing that Zheng Zhuanggong had made his words clear, King Ping of Zhou no longer concealed it. He said: "The thing is like this. Some time ago, there were some things in the court that no one took care of. It happened that Duke Guo's uncle came to pay tribute, so I wanted to ask him to replace you.

Take care of it first. But he refuses to agree, life or death. I have already sent him back to Guo Kingdom. Now that you are here, of course, you are still responsible for handling the affairs in the court."

King Zhou Ping said sincerely, but Zheng Zhuanggong put on airs and said nothing. King Zhou Ping pleaded: "The Zheng family has always contributed to the court. From Huan Gong, Wu Gong, to you, for more than forty years,

We are all ministers. I have always relied on you. Do you have any doubts?"

Duke Zhuang of Zheng continued to play dumb and shook his head in refusal.

King Zhou Ping became anxious and lost his posture. He said in a low voice: "Hey, if you don't believe it again, I will mortgage the prince to you. In this way, you will believe it, right?"

Since the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor of Zhou has never mortgaged the prince to the princes as a hostage. Therefore, when King Zhou Ping said this, Duke Zheng Zhuang was shocked. He quickly said: "How can this be done? The emperor has always used people.

The emperor has the final say. If the king uses the prince as a pledge, all the princes in the world will think that I am threatening the emperor. It is absolutely impossible, absolutely impossible."

King Zhou Ping smiled and said: "Don't talk about the mortgage. You govern the State of Zheng well. I will send the prince to the State of Zheng to study. Isn't that okay?"

Having said this, all the courtiers and ministers felt ashamed. Someone came out to remonstrate and proposed a compromise plan: ask Duke Zhuang of Zheng to also send the prince to the royal court to study. This is called sending princes to each other to learn from each other.

This plan not only saved the face of King Zhou Ping, but also did not offend Duke Zheng Zhuang. So everyone accepted it.

Soon after, Prince Hu, the prince of King Ping of Zhou, went to Zheng, and the prince of Zheng Zhuang suddenly arrived in Luoyi. To the outside world, they called it mutual learning, but in fact they took each other's princes as hostages.

Duke Zhuang of Zheng continued to stay in the Luoyi court as a minister. This shows the decline of the royal family of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

In 720 BC, King Ping of Zhou died after reigning for 51 years.

Duke Zhuang of Zheng and Duke Heijian of Zhou managed the government together. While they were attending to the funeral, they sent people to the State of Zheng to pick up Prince Hu and return him to Luoyi, preparing for him to inherit the throne. At the same time,

They also released the pledge of Prince Zihu of Zheng State and allowed him to return to Zheng State.

After receiving the news of his father's death, Gongzihu hurried to Luoyi. He left in a hurry and was anxious. He slept and ate in the open all the way, hurrying and taking his time, even if he felt cold, he finally made it to Luoyi.

Yi, but the funeral of King Zhou Ping was over. He did not see his father for the last time.

Prince Hu ran to the tomb of King Ping of Zhou and cried loudly. No one could stop him, and he cried until he fainted. They sent him back to the prince's palace. He couldn't get sick from then on. He stayed up for ten days and passed away to the west.

As soon as Prince Hu died, the ministers appointed his son to the throne, King Huan of Zhou (719 BC - 679 BC)

One thing that bothered King Huan of Zhou after he ascended the throne was that he felt uncomfortable every time he saw Duke Zhuang of Zheng. He believed that it was because of Duke Zheng Zhuang that his father went to Zheng as a hostage, and because of this, his

His father died a long time ago. Now that he is the emperor, how can he still tolerate this annoying person hanging around in front of him all day long?

King Huan of Zhou said to Zhou Gong Heijian: "I don't want to see Uncle Zheng. I plan to replace him with Duke Guo Ji's father."

Duke Zhou Heijian said: "King, Zheng is a powerful country. Uncle Zheng is not an ordinary person. This man's power is obvious to all. If the king doesn't use him as soon as he comes to the throne, he will definitely hate you. Maybe there will be civil strife. Then there will be no

It ends well. Please think twice."

King Huan of Zhou Dynasty was young and energetic, and he said calmly: "What are you afraid of him doing? I don't want him, just to see if he can rebel against heaven."

Seeing that the young and energetic new emperor was determined to have his own way, Zhou Gong Heijian did not dare to persuade him.

When he went to court the next day, King Zhou Huan said to Duke Zhuang of Zheng: "You are an old minister of the late king. You have worked hard for many years and have made great achievements. I am a junior. Why should I be wronged to serve as an errand under me? Go back to Zheng."

Duke Zhuang of Zheng composed himself and said: "When the late king was here, I asked for resignation several times. It was the late king who persuaded me to stay. Now that the king understands me and asks me to go back and take care of myself in old age, I am extremely grateful." After saying this, he turned around and walked out proudly.

.

All the ministers were frightened because they all knew that Duke Zheng Zhuang was not an economical person.

When Duke Zhuang of Zheng returned to the state of Zheng, the ministers of the state of Zheng were indignant. Some people suggested that they send troops to Luoyi to show the king of heaven. Some people said that they should be patient for a while and then teach him a lesson when the time is right. There was a lot of noise in the court.

The chief minister Jizu said: "It is autumn now and the wheat is ripe. My lord, I will take some soldiers and horses to Luoyi to borrow some grain. If the king of heaven sends troops to attack us, we will have something to say. If the king of heaven ignores us, then we will have something to say."

So that he can know our attitude. What do you think, my lord?"

Duke Zhuang of Zheng said: "It's a good idea. Let's do it. You go and borrow food."

There was a city on the border of Luoyi, called Wenyi, which was in the southwest of today's Wen County, Henan Province, and belonged to the territory of Emperor Zhou. As soon as the people and horses for the sacrifice had entered the boundary of Wenyi, the Wenyi doctor came with his people and horses.

Jizu said, "There is a famine in Zheng. Let's borrow some food."

Doctor Wenyi said: "Is it okay to borrow food? Is there an order from the King of Heaven?"

Jizu spread his hands and said, "No."

Doctor Wenyi said: "I am just a small local official. How can I dare to lend you food without the order of the King of Heaven?"

Jizu said: "Saving lives is like putting out fire. By the time the King of Heaven gives the order, we will have died of hunger long ago. I won't make it difficult for you. The fields are full of ripe wheat. You don't need to do anything. We can do it ourselves."

After Jizu finished speaking, he waved to the soldiers. The soldiers pulled out the sickles that had been prepared and rushed into the wheat field like wolves and tigers. Doctor Wenyi saw that Jizu's soldiers were strong and strong, so he did not dare to take action, so he could only look at the Zheng soldiers with a sad face.

Cut away the wheat.

Jizu cut the emperor's wheat, but met no resistance and saw no reaction from the court. He felt that the expected goal had not been achieved. After a while, he led his troops to the emperor's Chengzhou (today's northeast of Luoyang) to "borrow a

Return food”.

That time, Jizu ambushed his army in the mountains and forests, and at night, they all worked together to cut all the wheat and millet for weeks. By the time the local officials of Chengzhou got the news, Zheng's army had already

Gone without a trace.

The wheat in Wenyi was cut, but King Huan of Zhou endured it. Now, the wheat in Chengzhou was cut again, and King Huan of Zhou couldn't bear it any longer. He clamored to punish Zheng Guo for raising troops.

Zhou Gong Heijian advised: "Maizi is a small matter, but raising an army is a big deal. Uncle Zheng may not know about such small border matters. If he really raises an army to investigate the crime, it will make the matter bigger. It's better to do this, we will not pursue it. I

I think Bo Zheng will feel ashamed. When the time comes, he will naturally come to the King of Heaven to apologize."

King Huan of Zhou also knew that he could not go to war with Zheng Guo. He suppressed the anger and went down the steps with the help of Zhou Gong Heijian's words: "Just do as you say, and there will be no further investigation. However, I warn the soldiers to guard the borders and not to

This happens again.”

The attitude of the Zhou royal family made Zheng Zhuanggong uneasy. He thought that the fact that he cut the emperor's wheat twice without angering the emperor showed that King Huan of Zhou not only saw through his tricks, but also had extraordinary endurance. This should not be underestimated.

Look at it. He thinks he should go to Luoyi to pay tribute.


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