Although King Zhuang of Chu was not a born wise king or a saint who never made mistakes, because he accepted advice with an open mind and had a group of ministers who were good at advising him in clever ways, King Zhuang of Chu was very good at discovering and correcting himself. Many mistakes were made, and You Meng, a court entertainer of Chu State at that time, was one of them. You Meng is a Jingzhou native who makes his career as an actor. He is eight feet tall and is good at debating. He often uses tactful and cryptic words to persuade.
It is said that King Zhuang of Chu had a horse. Because he was so favored, he often wore gorgeous silks and satins. King Zhuang let him live in a luxurious palace and prepared a special bed for him. The horse ate preserved dates every day. Because its life was too comfortable, it later became very obese and died of illness. King Chuzhuang was very sad to lose his beloved horse. He ordered the ministers of the court to mourn the horse and planned to use a coffin to bury the horse according to the specifications of a doctor's funeral. Officials from both the DPRK and China felt that this was going too far, and rushed to come to advise him. King Zhuang was very angry when he saw the minister admonishing him, and ordered: "Whoever dares to come to admonish the horse burying matter again will be executed immediately!"
Youmeng heard about this and came to advise him. He walked into the palace and cried to heaven. King Chuzhuang was surprised when he saw him and asked him why he was crying like this. Youmeng cried and told him: "This horse is the king's most beloved thing. The Chu State is a grand country with a rich and powerful people. What does it want? However, the king just buried his most beloved horse with the doctor's specifications. Too You treat it poorly. I think Your Majesty, you should give it a royal burial."
After hearing this, King Zhuang of Chu asked, "What should we do?"
Youmeng said: "The coffin used should be made of beautiful jade with carved patterns, and the outer coffin should be made of fine catalpa wood with fine texture, using precious woods such as linden, maple, Yu, and Zhang." Be the coffin bearers. When digging the grave, thousands of soldiers should be sent, and the elderly and children should carry the soil to build the grave. When the burial is carried out, the envoys sent by Qi and Zhao should accompany the sacrifice in front. South Korea and The envoys sent by the State of Wei guarded the back. After it was buried, a temple was built for it. When worshiping it, Tailao rituals were used, and a city with ten thousand households was ordered to be dedicated to worshiping it. The princes and countries heard about this. After what happened, everyone will definitely know that the king regards people as very humble, but regards horses as very precious."
After hearing this, King Chuzhuang sighed: "Oh my god, I was so wrong! In your opinion, what should I do now?"
Youmeng told him: "Please allow me to bury it in the same way as animals. Use a long stove as an outer coffin, a large copper pot as a coffin, season it with some ginger and dates, and add some magnolia inside. Use straw." Make a sacrifice, make a shroud with firelight, and bury it in people’s bellies.”
King Zhuang agreed to You Meng's request, sent someone to deliver the horse to the eunuch in charge of meals, and told the officials in the court not to publicize his original idea of burying the horse generously.
At that time, Sun Shuao, the prime minister of Chu State, valued Youmeng very much and knew that he was a wise man. When Sun Shuao was seriously ill and was about to die, he told his son: "If after I die, you become very poor because you have lost your support, you can go to Youmeng. Just tell him that you are Sun Shuao's son, and he will definitely Will help you."
After a few years, Sun Shuao's son became very poor indeed and relied on carrying firewood for others to make a living. One day, he met Youmeng and told him: "I am the son of Sun Shuao. Before my father passed away, he told me that if one day I live in poverty and have a hard time, I should go and see Youmeng." Youmeng looked at it. Look at him and say to him: "Stay at home and wait for news from me. Don't go far."
After that, Youmeng went home. He asked someone to make a set of clothes and hats similar to those worn by Sun Shuao, put them on himself, and then began to imitate Sun Shuao's speech and behavior. After practicing for more than a year, he became so similar to Sun Shuao that even King Zhuang of Chu and the ministers in the court could not tell them apart.
One day, King Zhuang of Chu held a banquet, and Youmeng went to attend wearing clothes like Sun Shuao's. When he came forward to toast King Zhuang to celebrate his birthday, King Zhuang was surprised and thought that Sun Shuao had been resurrected and wanted to make him prime minister again. Youmeng said to King Zhuang: "Please allow me to go back and discuss it with my wife. After three days, I will come back as prime minister."
Three days later, Youmeng came again. King Zhuang of Chu asked him: "What did your wife say? Do you agree?"
Youmeng answered him: "My wife does not agree with me being the prime minister. She thinks that the prime minister of Chu is not worthy of being the prime minister." King Zhuang expressed his disbelief. Youmeng told him that his wife believed that when Sun Shuao was the prime minister of Chu, he was loyal, honest, conscientious, dedicated, and dedicated, and made a huge contribution to King Zhuang becoming the overlord of the country. However, after his death, his son was so poor that he didn't even have a place to stand. He could only make a living by carrying firewood for others all day long. If you are like Sun Shuao, you might as well commit suicide now.
Then, he sang: "Living in the countryside, making a living by farming, living in abject poverty, it is difficult to even maintain food and clothing. When you go out to be an official, if a greedy person does not care about his shame, he will try his best to accumulate wealth for himself. After his death, his family will Although the family can become rich, they are afraid that doing evil, taking bribes and bending the law will eventually make a big mistake and lead to death. At that time, the family will also be killed because of being implicated. It can be seen that corrupt officials It cannot be done. If you want to be an upright and law-abiding official, you will never do anything wrong in your life. But what is the point of being an upright official? Sun Shuao, the prime minister of Chu State, was honest throughout his life and insisted on integrity until his death. Now his wife and children Aren’t we still in poverty, struggling to survive with only firewood? From this we can see that being an upright official is not worth it!”
King Chuzhuang was very ashamed after hearing what You Meng said. He immediately apologized to You Meng and summoned Sun Shuao's son. He ordered four hundred families in Qinqiu to offer sacrifices to Sun Shuao. Sun Shuao's wife and children had a secure life, and the incense was passed down for ten generations. Sun Shuao's foresight and You Meng's wisdom can be seen from here. It is precisely because of such talented ministers and people who are brave and good at pointing out the mistakes of the king that the Chu State is able to prosper day by day, and even has the ambition to conquer the Central Plains. and strength.
In the sixteenth year of Duke Wen of Lu (611 BC), the Chu State suffered a rare natural disaster, and famine broke out throughout the country. At this time, although King Zhuang had begun to cheer up, the state of Chu was relatively weak. Seeing that Chu State was suffering from famine, the surrounding ethnic minorities took the opportunity to come to provoke trouble. First, Shanyi invaded the border of Chu State. As soon as the Shanyi were driven away, Yongren led his men to betray Chu State. At the same time, Lu Ren led Baipu to gather in the selected area and prepared to attack Chu State. At this time, the Chu State was suffering from internal and external troubles, and its future was very dangerous.
Under such a situation, King Zhuang of Chu quickly concentrated his troops and began to respond. In order to avoid attacks from northern princes, the northern gates of the northern frontier were closed. Some ministers suggested moving the capital, but Jiang Jia felt that he could not give in and show weakness at this time. He believed that as long as he resolutely resisted the Zun and Baipu who came to attack during the famine, these people would soon retreat on their own initiative. He advocated attacking the mediocre people.
King Zhuang of Chu accepted Jiang Jia's suggestion, and after half a month, Bai Pu retreated without a fight. In this way, the only enemy Chu faced was mediocrity. King Zhuang of Chu quickly decided to raise his troops to defeat mediocrity. This was the first time he led troops to fight. In the first battle, the mediocrity had the upper hand. When Luji Li attacked Yong's Fangcheng, he was captured alive by the mediocrity. Three days later, Luji Li returned and proposed to King Zhuang of Chu that he should withdraw his troops. Uncle Shi, the Minister of Chu State, objected to this. He believed that we should take advantage of the situation. If we show weakness to Yong, the subsequent battles will be more difficult. At the same time, he proposed arrogant tactics to King Chuzhuang, and King Chuzhuang accepted his suggestion. Later, when fighting Yongshi, King Zhuang of Chu pretended to be defeated seven times. Yongzhu really became arrogant and felt that Chu Shi was not afraid, so he relaxed his vigilance. Chu State soon wiped out Yong in one fell swoop.
After the surrounding areas were calmed down, King Chuzhuang began to raise his troops and march north. At this time, Jin was the leader of the Central Plains Alliance. In the first year of Lu Xuan Gong (608 BC), Chu State attacked Chen State, and Jin State sent Zhao Dun to rescue Chen State. The Chu State did not engage in a head-on confrontation with the Jin State, but instead turned to attack the Song State, and the Jin State followed to rescue the Song Dynasty. The Chu army went to relieve the siege, but still did not fight against Jin. Later, the state of Jin attacked the pro-Chu state of Zheng. King Chuzhuang sent Jiang Jia to rescue Zheng. Jin and Chu fought, and the Chu army captured Jin general Xie Yang alive. Jin suffered a defeat.
Jin raised troops to attack Qin, hoping to force Qin to sue for peace and use Qin's power to confront Chu. However, this plan did not succeed, and Qin still refused to have good relations with Jin. In the struggle between Jin and Chu for hegemony, Chu State has always had the upper hand. In the spring of the second year of Lu Xuangong (607 BC), King Chuzhuang ordered Zheng Guogong to return to his life and attack the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty was defeated. In order to avenge Song's humiliation, Jin, as the leader of the alliance at that time, united with Chen, Wei, Song and other countries to attack Zheng. King Chuzhuang sent his son Yuejiao to rescue Zheng, but before the two sides fought, the Jin army retreated.
In the third year of Duke Xuangong of Lu (606 BC), the state of Chu was already very powerful. King Zhuang of Chu led an army to attack Lu Hun's army. In order to show off his military power to the Zhou royal family, he deliberately sent his army to Luoyi, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty. At that time, King Ding of Zhou had just ascended the throne. When he saw the menacing Chu army, King Ding quickly sent his doctor Wang Sunman to express his condolences. As soon as they met, King Chuzhuang began to ask Zhou Jiuding about his importance. Faced with the obvious ambition of King Chuzhuang, Wang Sunman said with dissatisfaction: "Achieving hegemony mainly depends on talent and virtue, not Jiuding." King Chuzhuang threatened him and said: "Don't stop me from watching Jiuding. There is nothing strange about it. , our Chu soldiers broke off the beaks on the hooks, and it was enough to make the Jiuding."
Faced with the threat of King Chuzhuang, Wang Sunman was not afraid at all. He reprimanded: "Have you forgotten the origin of Jiuding? When the Xia Dynasty was prosperous, princes from far away came to surrender, and Jiuding was cast with the copper they contributed. The nine tripods were painted with the mountains and rivers of Kyushu, which symbolized the world. Later, Xia Jie was mediocre and immoral, so the tripod was moved to the Shang Dynasty. After another six hundred years, the Shang Dynasty was desolate and tyrannical, and the tripod was moved to the Zhou Dynasty. . If the government is pure and clear, even though the tripod is small, it cannot be moved; if the ruler is unprincipled, no matter how big the tripod is, it cannot be preserved for a long time. It is the will of God that the Zhou Dynasty set the tripod in the Central Plains. Nowadays, although the morality of the Zhou Dynasty is declining day by day, but The destiny has not changed yet, how dare you ask for the importance of the title?"
Wang Sunman took out the destiny and refuted King Chuzhuang, temporarily dispelling King Chuzhuang's coveting of the tripod. However, the Zhou royal family used the words of a doctor to eliminate the arrogance of the Chu state. Although they could find temporary stability, due to their own moral decline, even though their destiny remained unchanged, they no longer had authority in the eyes of the powerful Chu state. Although King Chuzhuang did not directly use force against the Zhou royal family, he no longer took it seriously.
