Ziyuejiao, also known as Doujiao, is also known as Ziyue and Bofen. He is a descendant of the Ruo Ao family. Ruo Ao is the ancestor of the Chu State, Xiong Yi, the king of the Chu State at the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the beginning of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. After Xiong Yi inherited the throne, he began to be called "Ruo Ao". This was the first king with a special title in the history of Chu State. Xiong Yi married the daughter of Yuezi, and later gave birth to Dou Bobi, who took Ruao'o as his surname. His fiefdom is in Dou Yi, so he is also the ancestor of the Dou family.
Dou Bobi gave birth to Ziwen and Ziyu, who later served as magistrates of Chu State, and Ziliang, who served as Sima. Ziyu made great contributions in the process of defeating Chen, and Ziwen gave Ling Yin's position to him. Ziwen's son was named Ziyang, and later Ziyang also became the magistrate of Chu State. Ziliang's son is Ziyuejiao. When Zi Yuejiao was born, Ziwen went to celebrate him and was very surprised when he saw him. He said that he was like a tiger and a bear and his voice was like a jackal. He also told Ziliang that he looked ambitious and should not be raised.
Ziliang couldn't bear to kill his son, so he didn't follow Ziwen's suggestion. Ziwen always believed that the Ruo Ao clan would eventually be destroyed at the hands of Zi Yuejiao, and he was still worried until he died. Before he died, Ziwen gathered the Ruoao clan members and told them that if one day Zi Yuejiao came to power, he asked them to leave Chu State quickly. Only in this way can they avoid being implicated by Zi Yuejiao. He sighed: "The ghosts need someone to sacrifice to them from time to time." If there is some food, the ghosts of the Ao family may starve in the future."
When Zi Yuejiao grew up, he was very brave and good at leading troops to fight. Thirty years ago, when Jin and Chu fought in Chengpu, Zi Yuejiao followed his uncle Ziyu to participate in the battle. During the battle, Duke Wen of Jin fulfilled the promise he had made when he fled to Chu many years ago and took the initiative to retreat. Ziyu ignored King Chu Cheng's previous warning and led his army to advance rashly. He was attacked from both sides by the Jin army and was ultimately defeated. This defeat of the Chu army intensified the conflict between the Ruao family and other nobles of the Chu state. However, it is worth mentioning that Ziyuejiao's performance in this battle was remarkable.
Jiang Jia, courtesy name Bo Ying. When Ziwen was the magistrate of Chu State, the military parade lasted only one morning, and the soldiers were not often punished. After giving way to Ziyu, Ziyu spent a whole day in military parade and punished many soldiers. Many old ministers congratulated Ziwen, saying that he knew people well and was good at handling tasks. Ziwen and Ziyu were very happy. A young man watching the military parade on the side not only did not congratulate him, but also mocked Ziyu, saying that he neither knew how to govern a country nor how to use troops. If he led an army of more than 300 times, he would definitely be defeated. This newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers is Jiang Jia.
When King Mu of Chu was on the throne, he sent his son Yue Jiao to various countries many times. Zi Yuejiao's overbearing character was gradually exposed, and his attitude was often very arrogant and unpleasant. Later, Ziyang became the Lingyin. At this time, Ziyuejiao was the Sima of the Chu State, and Jiang Jia was the Gongzheng. Gongzheng was an official position in charge of hundreds of workers. Zi Yuejiao was dissatisfied with Ziyang, and there was a split within the Ruo Ao family. In the fourth year of Duke Xuangong of Lu (605 BC), Jiang Jia falsely accused Ziyang and Ziyang was executed. Zi Yuejiao was appointed Ling Yin, and Jiang Jia succeeded him as Sima. After Zi Yuejiao came to power, King Zhuang of Chu used Jiang Jia, Qu Dang, Zizhong and others to decentralize power over Zi Yuejiao. The ambitious Zi Yuejiao criticized this. In the fourth year of Duke Xuangong of Lu (605 BC), he relied on the strength of his own people to imprison and kill Jiang Jia, who had framed Ziyang for him, in Shiyang, the city of Chu.
After killing Jiang Jia, Zi Yuejiao was unable to dismount from the tiger. At that time, King Zhuang of Chu was leading his troops in the Northern Expedition. Zi Yuejiao took advantage of him to launch a rebellion in the Central Plains. He garrisoned in Jiaoye (now Xinye, Henan Province) to prevent King Chuzhuang from returning to his country. Because Zi Yuejiao's rebellion was sudden, King Chuzhuang was caught off guard. At first, as a delaying tactic, he planned to sue for peace from Zi Yuejiao, and captured the sons of King Chu Wen, King Chu Cheng, and King Chu Mu as hostages to negotiate with Zi Yuejiao, but Zi Yuejiao flatly refused. He was ready for an armed contest and set up a battlefield in Zhangnan to wait for a decisive battle with Wang Shi.
In July of that year, the Wangshi led by King Zhuang of Chu and the Ruoao clan led by Ziyuejiao had a desperate battle in Gaohu. Zi Yuejiao shot arrows at King Zhuang of Chu twice, but King Zhuang escaped by chance. When Master Wang saw the menacing rebels, he felt a little scared and had a tendency to retreat. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, King Zhuang of Chu hurriedly sent people to inspect the army and spread a lie he made up. This lie is that the two arrows used by Zi Yuejiao were stolen from the royal family. After King Chu Wen conquered the country of Xi, he obtained three magic arrows, two of which were stolen by Zi Yuejiao. Now the two arrows have been used up. There's nothing scary about them anymore.
After the morale of Wang's army was stabilized, the combat effectiveness suddenly increased. The soldiers beat drums while advancing. If the Ao clan was defeated, Zi Yuejiao and many of his clan were killed. At that time, the punishment system of Chu State was the same as that of other countries in the Central Plains. It implemented continuous sitting and clan execution. However, Ziwen's grandson Kehuang luckily escaped and was not executed by King Zhuang of Chu. This is because when Ziyuejiao rebelled, Kehuang, who was Zhenyin at that time, was on a mission to Qi as the envoy of Chu.
On the way back to Chu State, when passing through Song State, Kehuang heard about Zi Yuejiao leading the Ruoao clan to launch a rebellion. His entourage advised him not to return home for the time being, but Kehuang believed that he was sent as an envoy to Qi by the king's order. Now that he was facing a rebellion among his people, if he refused to return because he was afraid of being implicated, he would be violating his mission. If he does not return to his country now because he is afraid of disaster and is living in exile, no country will respect and accept him.
Out of such considerations, Ke Huang put his life first and returned to Chu. As soon as he arrived in Yingdu, he took the initiative to plead guilty. King Chuzhuang saw that Ke Huang was not afraid of life and death and insisted on returning to his country in order to return to his life. He also thought of his grandfather Ziwen's efforts to make the Chu country strong and felt that Ke Huang was as loyal and upright as Ziwen. people. Therefore, he finally decided to pardon Ke Huang and save him from being imprisoned.
This is the biggest internal crisis that King Chuzhuang has faced since he ascended the throne. The rebellion of the Ruo'ao clan was put down, Ziyuejiao was eradicated, and the threat to the power of King Chuzhuang from the big clans of the King of Chu was eliminated. After that, King Chuzhuang, who no longer had any worries, began to focus on competing for external hegemony.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the struggle for hegemony between Jin and Chu was very fierce. Many small countries between the two big countries, such as Chen, Zheng, Song, Cai, etc., experienced very tragic wars. As tributaries of two big countries, these small countries have no ability to protect themselves. Generally, whichever of the two parties fighting for hegemony has the upper hand will belong to which country. As the focus of competition between Jin and Chu, these countries are always at war.
When the Chu State fell into civil strife, the Chen State, which originally submitted to it, turned its back on Chu and turned to Jin under the force of Jin. After King Zhuang of Chu put down the rebellion, he led his troops to Chen Guoxing to investigate the crime. Under the threat of the Chu State, the Chen State had to break its alliance with the Jin State and re-alliance with the Chu State. Although Chen State surrendered to Chu State, King Zhuang of Chu was still worried and even wanted to turn Chen State into a county of Chu State. Fortunately, he was dissuaded by the Chu doctor Shen Shushi and Chen State was retained.
As a country with a larger land area than Chen State, Zheng State suffered more serious war disasters during the struggle between Jin and Chu for hegemony. From 608 BC to 596 BC, Jin State alone used troops against it five times, and Chu State attacked Zheng State seven times. For thirteen years, Zheng Guo suffered from war almost every year. At the most serious time, it was even attacked by two big powers. A small country sandwiched between big countries will never have a good environment.
In the third year of Lu Xuangong (606 BC), the Jin State launched a crusade against the Zheng State because Zheng State turned its back on Jin and went to Chu. The Jin army fought all the way to Xidi. In order to protect itself, the Zheng State had no choice but to make peace with it. That summer, the Chu State sent troops to question him. In the tenth year of Lu Xuangong (599 BC), Zheng made peace with Chu under the threat of force from Chu. Soon, Jin united with Song, Wei and Cao to attack it. Zheng also He had no choice but to carry Chu and go to Jin. That winter, Chu came to attack again.
Sandwiched between the two great kingdoms of Jin and Chu, the State of Zheng was attacked by the State of Jin from the Chu Hui, and was attacked by the State of Chu from the Hui of the Jin. In desperation, Ziliang, the official of the Zheng State, proposed the policy of "fighting those who come with him". In fact, it is a policy of going with the wind, not sticking to the alliance with any party, and offering a gift to whoever leads the army to attack as a sign of obedience. The wall-mountain strategy proposed by Ziliang was the best way for Zheng Guo to survive in that situation.
Zheng's clever maneuvering policy received the acquiescence of Jin, but Chu was very dissatisfied with it. After Zheng and Chu formed an alliance, the Chu State saw that Zheng State was still in close contact with the Jin State, so it launched an attack on the Zheng State. In the spring of the twelfth year of Lu Xuangong (597 BC), the Chu army surrounded the capital of Zheng. After being besieged for three months, Zheng Xianggong saw that Jin still refused to rescue him, so he had to go to the Chu army in person to make peace. Finally, the two countries entered into an alliance, and Ziliang, the younger brother of Duke Xiang, was sent to the State of Chu as a hostage.
The state of Zheng had been defeated and surrendered, so the state of Jin sent Father Xun Lin to lead the three armies to rescue Zheng. The Jin army marched to the Yellow River and learned about Zheng Chu's peace treaty. Xun Lin's father was about to return to the army, but Xian Yu, the deputy commander of the Chinese army, firmly disagreed. He believed that in order to maintain Jin's hegemony, a decisive battle with Chu was necessary. Xianyu's actions were supported by Zhao Kuo and Zhao Tong. He led his troops across the Yellow River and prepared to attack the Chu army. Xun Lin's father realized that if Xianyu failed, he, as the commander, would bear full responsibility, and if the whole army failed to cross the river, the responsibility would be shared among all the generals, so he also crossed the river.
After the King of Chuzhuang captured Zhengdu, he was about to return to the court when he heard the news that the Jin army had crossed the river. Minister Wu Shen of Chu State saw that there was discord within the Jin army and that the general Xun Lin's father had no prestige, so he felt that this was a good opportunity to defeat the Jin army. King Zhuang of Chu adopted Wu Shen's advice and set up camp in the area, waiting for the arrival of the Jin army. In fact, although King Chuzhuang knew that this was an excellent opportunity to defeat the Jin army, he was unwilling to fight the Jin army. He sent people twice to make peace with the Jin army. Xun Lin's father agreed to make peace with the Chu army, but his subordinates had been disturbed by Xian Yu and refused to obey his command.
The war ended with the defeat of Jin. This was the most disastrous defeat that Jin had faced since the struggle between Jin and Chu for hegemony. The original purpose of King Chuzhuang's expedition was to conquer Zheng State, but he did not expect to receive such a big surprise. Thirty-five years ago, the Chu State suffered the humiliation of defeat when it fought with the Jin State in Chengpu. Looking at the entire process of the Battle of Bi, the failure of the Jin army was no accident. The Jin army was not united, and the generals had different ideas. The commander-in-chief, Xun Linfu, had no prestige, could not convince the crowd, and had no commanding ability. He was undefended against the enemy on the battlefield.
However, despite the defeat in the Battle of Bi, the vitality of the Jin State was not dampened, but the status of the alliance leader was slightly shaken. After that, Jin still had the ability to compete with the princes of the Central Plains. The failure of the Battle of Bi exposed the many hidden contradictions within the Jin State. This battle was a turning point in the struggle between Jin and Chu for hegemony. Since then, Chu State has had the upper hand in the struggle for hegemony for more than 20 years.
This shows how difficult it is for a small country sandwiched between big countries. The struggle for fame and fortune between major powers is going on all the time and will never stop.
