After King Chu Ling came to the throne, instead of restraining his previous domineering attitude and self-willed way of doing things, he intensified his actions, becoming more and more omniscient in both his personal lifestyle and the handling of domestic and foreign affairs, leading Chu State step by step to the bottomless. of abyss.
In history, there is a very typical summary of King Chu Ling's personal life preferences, which is: "The King of Chu has a slim waist." In "Warring States Policy", it is reflected through a dialogue. This conversation took place between King Wei of Chu and Minister Mo Ao Zihua. King Wei of Chu was suffering from the difficulty of finding talents, so he asked Mo Ao Zihua, saying that there was a shortage of talents at present, and how could he find talents like several famous ministers of Chu State in the past.
Mo Ao Zihua answered with an allusion, saying that King Ling of Chu liked a small waist very much, so in order to suit his wishes, the princes, princes and ministers all resorted to dieting to create a "slim waist". They only ate one meal a day and ended up starving. Dizzy. A person cannot stand up alone and must rely on the wall; when getting off a carriage, one must rely on Cha Shi. Everyone loves delicious food, but in order to have a small waist and please the king, they insist on eating less, even if they starve to death. As the saying goes, "If the superiors do something good, the subordinates must follow suit." So if the ruler loves wise ministers, and the ministers strive to become such people, it will not be difficult for the Chu State to have wise men who can rival the famous ministers of the previous generation. .
Through this story, we can see that King Chu Ling’s preference for “thin waist” has been passed down from generation to generation. In other classics, "The king of Chu loves a thin waist" is often used in parallel with "The king of Yue loves bravery", which illustrates the fact that the king's personal preferences often determine the fate of the country and the people. It warns those who are kings to always exercise self-restraint and self-reflection to avoid repeating the mistakes of their predecessors.
However, in the course of historical evolution and changes in the social and cultural context, the connotation of "The King of Chu has a thin waist" gradually changed. Initially it was only used to describe the influence of King Chu Ling's personal preferences on his ministers, and it existed as an allegorical allusion. However, the word "thin waist" actually changed from referring to courtiers to referring to women in the palace, and the meaning of "The King of Chu loves a thin waist" has also become an annotation highlighting his love of beauty and promiscuous behavior in the palace. .
One thing that can be confirmed is that King Ling of Chu is well known for his arrogance, extravagance and lewdness, and the "Sanxiu Terrace" he strongly advocated is the best proof. "Sanxiutai" is another name for Zhanghuatai. It is a palace built by King Ling of Chu in ancient Huarong County in 535 BC. It took several years and the whole country to build it, and it is dozens of feet high. The reason why it is called the "Three Rest Platform" is because people need to rest three times on the way up the stairs before reaching the top, which shows the grand scale of this platform.
In addition to the "Sanxiu Terrace", Zhanghua Terrace is also known as the "Slender Waist Palace" because the personal preferences of King Chu Ling became the aesthetic trend throughout the Chu Kingdom. The palace maids did their part and went on a diet to get in shape in order to satisfy the King of Spirits. For a time, beauties with slim waists filled the palace, singing and dancing, and Zhang Huatai was named "Slim Waist Palace".
Ironically, "The king of Chu had such a thin waist that the whole country starved to death" has become the best evaluation of King Chu Ling in history. It can be said to be a double entendre. When King Chu Ling was immersed in the dancing postures of slim-waisted beauties—of course, there may also be “beautiful men” with relevant historical records, because King Chu Ling’s personal orientation is also controversial—the ministers in the temple were racking their brains to think of ways to When one satisfies the needs of the Spiritual King in order to seek glory, wealth, and a smooth career, the people who pay for all of this are undoubtedly the people of the country. Therefore, "all the people in the country are starving to death", but not all of them die because of dieting to lose weight.
After the Zhanghua Terrace was completed, King Ling of Chu naturally wanted to show off, so he invited all the princes to participate in the celebration. Unexpectedly, he received a cold reception and almost no one responded, because the princes were deeply disdainful of King Chu Ling's mediocrity and debauchery, and they were unwilling to associate with him. In desperation, the state of Chu had no choice but to resort to rogue means and threaten to invade with force to force the king of Lu to attend the meeting. Duke Zhao of Lu came to Zhanghuatai to cheer for King Ling of Chu. King Ling was considered "loyal" and did not treat Duke Zhao ill. He gave the Chu State's traditional treasure, the Daqu Bow Bow, to Duke Zhao of Lu. But the funny thing is that King Chu Ling's move was impulsive. After he calmed down, he regretted it so much that he ordered his ministers to ask Duke Zhao of Lu for it back.
In fact, there was more than one Zhanghua Terrace. King Ling of Chu took a fancy to the beautiful scenery of Qianxi, so he once again wasted money and people and made an "original copy" of "Zhanghua Terrace" there to satisfy his personal enjoyment.
King Chu Ling's preference for city pavilions was no less than his "skinny waist". After building two Zhanghua Towers, he was still not satisfied and chose sites all over the world. In 538 BC, he sent his younger brother Qiji to build Xucheng; in the same year, he also built Zhongli, Chaozhou and other cities; in 531 BC, he continued to carry out large-scale construction and built the two cities of Chen and Cai. These projects often consume people's efforts, cause widespread complaints, and lose people's support. They also cause a serious loss of productivity, creating a situation where nothing is done and everything is empty, which lays the foundation for endless hidden dangers. Doctor Shen Wuyu's words became a prophecy: "The head of Chu's disaster will be here."
Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty used "water" and "boat" to describe the relationship between the king and the people, pointing out that "water can carry a boat and also capsize it." As a human king, King Ling of Chu did not seek welfare for the people and the country. Instead, he abused magical weapons to satisfy his own pleasure. And the people under his rule suffered for this. The deep waters of the Chu Kingdom were disturbed by him again and again, so that the wind and waves suddenly rose, and what finally capsized was King Chu Ling's seemingly powerful, but actually vulnerable, boat.
The domineering power of King Chu Ling is more reflected in his decision-making and handling of foreign affairs. The King of Chu likes to summon princes to come to his country for alliance, which reflects the status of Chu as a great power. This is in line with the King of Chu's impetuous mentality of eager for quick success and his consistent high-profile acting style.
In the third year of King Ling of Chu (538 BC), Chu State sent envoys to Jin State, saying that Chu State wanted to hold an alliance and invited Jin State and its allies to come and meet. The State of Jin was not enthusiastic about this at first, because the two countries were large countries in the Central Plains and the other was a large country in the South. Fighting between dragons and tigers was indispensable. Therefore, the State of Jin did not want to do anything that would enhance the ambitions of others and destroy its own prestige.
Sima Hou came to admonish Duke Ping of Jin and said, "You should still go to the alliance. King Chu Ling is now in full arrogance and acting recklessly and without regard for the consequences. The reason why God allowed him to be proud for a while may be to make him resentful. King Chu Ling With such virtue, the people will naturally not be of the same mind as him, so even if he wants to compete with us for hegemony, he will be powerless."
Duke Ping of Jin disagreed, saying that the Chu State was in internal strife, and that the Jin State itself had a difficult and dangerous terrain and rich products. In such a good situation, how could we just sit back and watch Chu rule the roost?
Sima Hou replied that he could not take advantage of the fact that other countries were in trouble and his own country was rising to dominate. Doing so would make oneself unjust and very dangerous. King Zhou of Shang was dissolute and immoral, while King Wen of Zhou was generous and kind. The former was eventually replaced by the latter. It can be seen that virtue is very important if you want to become a person in the world.
The Marquis of Jin adopted Sima Hou's suggestion and asked someone to reply to the Chu envoy saying that the king was busy and could not participate in the alliance. As for Jin's allies, they themselves had already submitted to Chu, so Chu could invite these countries without informing Jin. country. The Marquis of Jin also agreed to King Chu Ling's marriage request.
King Ling of Chu was unsure about his alliance proposal, so he asked Zichan of Zheng for advice on how the princes would respond to the alliance. Zichan said that the Jin State would definitely allow its allies to come and participate, because the Jin State's king was incompetent and his ministers were enriching their own pockets and becoming a worm in the country. Therefore, the Jin State had no great ambitions. Moreover, there was an agreement made at the Song Dynasty's military annihilation meeting that year, and Jin could not breach the agreement at the risk of losing credibility. The allies of the Jin State, firstly, are afraid of the powerful military power of the Chu State, and secondly, they hope to make peace with the Chu State, so they will come to join the alliance. However, four countries may be absent, namely, Cao, Lu, Wei, and Zhu.
The alliance was held as scheduled, just as Zichan said. Cao and Zhu claimed that there was a disaster in the country, Lu pretended to worship their ancestors, and Weihou said that he was ill and could not come. Doctor Jiaoju privately told King Chu Ling that this alliance was related to Chu's hegemony and that no mistakes should be made. They also listed Xia Qi's Juntai enjoyment; Shang Tang's Jingbo's destiny; Zhou Wu's Mengjin meeting; Qi Huan's Zhaoling meeting; Jin Wen's Jiantu alliance for King Ling of Chu to choose, and King Ling decided to follow suit. The meeting at Zhaoling, Duke Huan of Qi.
Then King Ling of Chu asked Yu Zuo Shi and Zi Chan, and they each presented six items of etiquette for King Ling of Chu's reference. During the entire alliance, King Chu Ling kept the doctor Jiao Ju at his side, hoping that Jiao Ju could correct his improper conduct in etiquette. But Jiaoju didn't say a word from beginning to end. King Chu Ling asked him why, and Jiaoju had to answer that he didn't understand the etiquette that should be followed when Qi Huan met for an alliance. The mediocrity of Chu's monarchs and ministers was evident.
King Ling of Chu behaved extremely inappropriately in his treatment of the envoys from various countries participating in the alliance. King Ling of Chu was indulged in hunting and ignored the crown prince Zuo of the Song Dynasty who did not arrive on time. Finally, he sent an envoy to tell the crown prince Zuo that he was worshiping his ancestors and would offer gifts from the Song Dynasty. The arrogance is on full display. Compared with the king of Xu State, Prince Zuo's experience was even lucky. Because the king of Xu was a descendant of Wu, King Ling of Chu believed that he had double-minded intentions and arrested him.
King Chu Ling's arrogant behavior made him lose his support. The doctor Jiao Ju came to remonstrate, hoping that King Chu Ling could subdue others and use the example of Xia Jie's alliance and Youmin's betrayal; Shang and Zhou's alliance and Dongyi's betrayal; Zhou You's alliance and Rong Di's betrayal as a precedent to warn King Chu Ling. But King Ling of Chu turned a deaf ear. When Zichan met Master Zuo, he despised King Ling of Chu's behavior and said that King Ling of Chu had shown his true nature and was arrogant and uneasy, and would surely die. Master Zuo judged that King Ling would soon lose all people's hearts and would eventually be abandoned.
King Ling of Chu gathered the princes, but he still felt that he had not finished showing off his power, so he launched a large-scale attack on Wu. After conquering Wu's city Zhufang, he captured Qingfeng who had fled from Qi and killed all his people. Jiao Ju once again dissuaded King Ling from killing Qing Feng easily, saying that only perfect people are qualified to kill others. How could Qingfeng be so obedient as to be slaughtered here when he was doing all kinds of mischief in China? It would be troublesome if he spread rumors that were unfavorable to His Majesty, but King Chu Ling refused to comply.
King Ling of Chu ordered Qingfeng to parade through the streets and shout out his sins while walking. Unexpectedly, Qingfeng loudly shouted out the atrocities committed by King Chu Ling by usurping the throne, and urged the princes not to form an alliance with Chu. King Chu Ling was frightened and immediately beheaded Qingfeng.
King Ling of Chu continued his willful behavior and led the princes to attack Lai State. The king of Lai State bound his hands, held a jade in his mouth, and carried a coffin with his flesh exposed, and came to the Chu army's tent to apologize. King Ling of Chu finally listened to Jiao Ju's suggestion this time and treated him with courtesy by untying him, receiving the jade, and burning the coffin. Then he moved the people of Xu State into the territory of Lai State, leaving Dou Tail Turtle and Young Master Qiji to build the city, and then returned to the capital.
Unexpectedly, in July of the same year, the Wu army invaded the Chu border, forcing Chu to allocate manpower and material resources to strengthen defense. For a while, Chu was very passive. Naturally, the State of Chu would not give up. In the fourth and fifth years of King Chu Ling's reign, he launched large-scale troops against the State of Wu twice. Both times, the State of Chu was defeated because the State of Wu was well prepared. It was a fatal blow, but it also placed an additional burden on a country that was already struggling to make ends meet.
King Ling of Chu was unsuccessful in his attack on Wu, so he changed his direction and took advantage of the civil strife in Chen State to intervene in Chen's internal affairs. He sent his son Qiji to march eastward to attack and destroy Chen State. Subsequently, large-scale migrations were carried out in the newly acquired land, forcing people in several places to give up their long-established lives and move their families. Of course, King Chu Ling could not help but feel the deep pain these measures caused to the people's material lives and spiritual souls. You will feel something.
In the tenth year of King Chu Ling (531 BC), Chu State again set its target on Cai State. On the pretext of meeting an alliance, King Ling of Chu deceived the king of Cai to Shendi and set up an ambush to kill him. Subsequently, the Chu army surrounded Cai Guo. The Jin State gathered many countries to seek to rescue Cai, but the countries did not send troops. The Jin State did not have the confidence to fight against the Chu State on its own, so it had to send envoys to Chu, but naturally they returned without success. After the Chu State conquered Chen and Cai, it became increasingly powerful. King Chu Ling looked around, as if he had the intention of dominating the world.
No one dares to disobey King Ling of Chu's orders. If he wants to make an alliance, he will make an alliance with him. If he wants to attack, he can attack. If he wants to build a city, he can build a city. If no one restrains him, people and gods will be angry, and his life will be short.
