There are two main signs of the coming of the Warring States Period. One is the division of the three families into the Jin Dynasty, and the other is the replacement of the Qi Dynasty by the Tian family.
The Tian family was able to truly realize Dai Qi's plan, first of all because the Tian family's power had gradually surpassed that of the monarch surnamed Jiang; secondly because the Tian family had a deep mass base in Qi. The former has become a fact, and the latter still requires careful management by the Tian family's nobles. Therefore, the Tian family adopted this strategy. During times of famine and spring plowing, large buckets were used to lend grain and seeds to the people, and during autumn harvests, small buckets were used to collect taxes.
In this way, everyone is convinced that the Jiang era has passed away, and there is almost no memory of it. Naturally, the other nobles of Qi would not just watch Tian's family grow stronger. For this reason, they attacked Tian's family many times. In order to maintain their power, those nobles suggested Qi Pinggong to implement virtuous government as early as the time of Tian Chengzi, but they left the punishments that the people did not like to the Tian family. But in this way, the Tian family took the opportunity to basically eliminate or suppress the opposing nobles in Qi State, and also divided themselves a fiefdom larger than the jurisdiction of Qi Pinggong. Qi Jun became a decoration in name only.
In the Tian He era, the ornament of the monarch surnamed Jiang finally became a thorn in their side, and the time was ripe, so Tian He demoted Qi Kanggong to a small town by the sea, and made a living by fishing from then on.
After that, the State of Qi officially came under the rule of the Tian family, and the State of Qi was reorganized. In 365 BC, King Qi Wei of the Tian family came to the stage of Qi history. In the same year, Duke Kang of Qi of the Jiang family also died, leaving no children. The Tian family achieved the complete unification of Qi State in fact and in name.
I wonder what the founding father Jiang Shang and Jiang Ziya would think if he knew about it? But these are normal, the world changes. Is it rare that a minister kills the king and seizes the throne for thousands of years?
The newly appointed King Qi Wei of the Tian family is not quite the same as the previous generations of monarchs. After experiencing the hard work of our ancestors and fathers, Qi has continued to grow stronger. But when he arrived at King Qi Wei's place, it seemed that he was no longer as arrogant as before. At that time, King Wei of Qi had just ascended the throne. Like Zhao Liehou of Zhao and Wei Wenhou of Wei, he was particularly obsessed with music. Therefore, in the eyes of Qi's courtiers, King Qi Wei was just a monarch who did not do his job properly. Historical evaluation says that when King Wei of Qi was first established, he "wanted to indulge in obscene pleasures all night long, and was entrusted with government affairs by officials. The officials were in chaos, the princes invaded, and the country was in danger at dawn and dusk." ("Historical Records·Funny Biographies")
Because the monarch of Qi State ignored political affairs, the three emerging countries of South Korea, Wei State, and Zhao State came to invade Qi State with great ambitions. Even the Lu State, which had always been peaceful, came to invade on the grounds that the Tian family of Qi State was in power. For a time, the entire Qi State was completely in a situation where "the princes attacked together and the people of the country were not governed".
The entire Qi Kingdom was wondering what happened to King Qi. Can Qi be saved? In the first year of King Wei of Qi, the three Jin Dynasties were leaderless due to the mourning of Qi, so they sent their troops to Lingqiu to attack Qi. Six years later, the state of Lu was not willing to be lonely and came to attack Qi. The army marched all the way into Yangguan. Another year later, the Wei army attacked Qi and captured Xue Ling. After another two years, Yue attacked Qi and captured Zhen. Seeing that the State of Qi was like fat meat on a chopping board, being constantly divided and eaten away, the King of Qi learned from the painful experience and decided to change the current situation of the State of Qi. At the right time, a wizard came to the State of Qi, and this person was Zou Ji.
Zou Ji, born in 385 BC and died in 319 BC, was a native of Qi State. He was called the son of Zou Ji in "Historical Records". Before King Wei of Qi ascended the throne as Dabao, Zou Ji served as a minister of Qi.
At this time, King Qi Wei was determined to reform, and he was thirsty for talents. When Zou Ji heard about this, he recommended himself. King Qi Wei was very happy and appointed him as the prime minister of Qi State. He was granted the title of Chenghou in Xiapi (now southwest of Pi County, Jiangsu Province). As soon as Zou Ji took over Xiangyin, Chunyu Kun went to visit him and gave him five suggestions for governing the country. For example, "If a cart is not calibrated, it cannot carry the specified weight; if a harp is not calibrated, it cannot achieve the five tones." Chunyu Kun explained that the running of carts and the playing of chords on harps are the same as the politics of a country. They must have institutional constraints in order to be well-organized. So Zou Ji decided to propose to the King of Qi to promulgate laws and establish a mature management assessment and reward and punishment system. Under Zou Ji's advice, King Wei of Qi decided to reward ministers, officials and even the people for their remonstrances. Secondly, it is necessary to revise strict laws and regulations, rectify the official system, reward good and punish evil.
A vigorous reform that determined the fate of Qi State began. However, no one knows who will be the recipient of rewards for good and punishment for evil. Some people are often impeached, and King Qi Wei often hears about their bad deeds. Therefore, after such people understand their situation, they will be in panic all day long. On the other hand, some people are just good-natured people who can be said to have everything they want in both the government and the public, and everyone talks about their merits. Therefore, such people are complacent and think that they are about to rise to prominence.
The first type of people is represented by the officials of Jimo (now southeast of Pingdu, Shandong). This man was an upright man and did not know much about the ways of being an official. He did not know how to give and receive bribes and win over the people around the monarch. Therefore, people often made slanderous remarks to King Wei of Qi. However, under his careful management, the Jimo area was opened up on a large scale, and thousands of acres of fertile land were obtained, and the people were rich and prosperous. The second type of people was represented by the officials of Acheng (now northeast of Yanggu, Shandong). This person is useless, leaving the local fields barren, the warehouses empty, and the people living in poverty. But he had one advantage: he was good at dealing with the central court. In the ears of King Qi Wei, he could often hear good things about Dr. Acheng.
King Qi Wei decided that the reform to rectify the officialdom would start from these two people. To this end, the King of Qi conducted a thorough investigation, and after obtaining the true facts, he made two preparations. The first hand is a reward of land for ten thousand households; the second hand is a steaming cauldron filled with boiling water. Of course, the former is invisible, and only the latter makes the officials think, what kind of medicine is sold in King Qi's gourd?
This time, King Qi Wei did not hesitate at all. When the two officials of Jimo and Acheng were in court, he decisively awarded the land of ten thousand households to the officials of Jimo. It was only then that Dr. Acheng felt something was wrong, but it was too late.
Since then, Qi State has continued to grow stronger, and King Wei of Qi has also developed the ambition to dominate the world. He even cast a tripod to symbolize the highest power and declared to the world: "The emperor is filial to Duke Huan of Wu, and respectful to the great Mo Kecheng. The only reason is Qi, Yanghuang Kao Zhaotong, the great ancestor Huangdi, and his successor Huanwen, went to court to ask the princes, and jointly promoted Jue virtue." ("Warring States Policy·Qi Ceyi")
It can be seen from this that King Wei of Qi has made up his mind to carry forward the name and virtue of his father Duke Huan with the achievements of Huangdi, Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin and other ancient emperors. Under the guidance of this idea, King Qi Wei worked hard to strengthen border defense. He sent Tian Pan to resist Zhao in Gaotang, Qianfu to defend Xuzhou to resist Yan, and Tanzi to defend Nancheng to resist Chu. Use Zhongshou as the commander of the army to secure the territory; worship Tian Ji and Sun Bin as commanders and military advisers respectively to teach the troops how to fight and plan conquests. In his opinion, no national treasure is as important as these talents.
As we all know, King Qi Wei was once a very fond of playing the piano. Because King Qi Wei was addicted to it all day long, the civil and military officials in the court thought that he was a person who was not doing his job properly, and he was neglecting the government in his sensuality. But he was able to identify talents through the medium of Qin. This talented person refers to Zou Ji.
Zou Ji recommended himself through the drum and harp, and won the respect of King Qi Wei. The so-called meeting a bosom friend in the mountains and flowing water is in a withered harp. King Qi Wei got Zou Ji, but he did not intend to let Zou Ji take on the big responsibility, but kept him. Be by your side so that you can discuss things with him in your spare time.
On this day, King Qi Wei took out his beloved Qin as usual and entertained himself intoxicatedly in the room. At this moment, Zou Ji walked in without any notice. At the same time, they clapped their hands and cheered loudly.
King Qi Wei pulled out his sword and asked Zou Ji displeasedly, "What's so good about my piano skills?"
Zou Ji was a master of piano skills and could easily describe the beauty of King Qi Wei's music. King Qi Wei finally put down his sword.
Seeing that King Qi Wei's anger had subsided, Zou Ji continued, "The king of a country is like the big string of a qin, and the small string is like the prime minister of a country. Only when the big strings and small strings are well-proportioned can the sound of the qin be good. Perfect connection; only when the king and the prime minister live in harmony and work together can the country be in order. This is the saying that the world is governed by the sound of the harp."
King Qi Wei suddenly understood that Zou Ji, who claimed to be a "qin master", was actually a capable person who could rule the country and bring peace to the world. So he asked Zou Ji to be the prime minister of Qi State and preside over the great reform of Qi State. Unlike Shang Yang, what Zou Ji wanted was to make Qi strong by improving the monarch, while what Shang Yang wanted to do was to completely change the status quo of Qin based on fundamental issues such as the system.
Zou Ji was eight feet tall and a handsome man. One day, Zou Ji put on his clothes, looked in the mirror, and asked his wife: "Xu Gong in the north of the city is known as the most beautiful man in Qi. Who is more beautiful between me and Xu Gong?"
The wife replied without thinking: "Of course you are more beautiful."
Xu Gong in the north of the city was recognized as the most beautiful man in Qi State. Zou Ji didn't believe that he was more beautiful than Duke Xu, so he asked his concubine: "Compared with Duke Xu, who do you think is more beautiful?"
The concubine thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Xu is not as good as you."
The next day, a guest came to visit. When Zou Ji was sitting and chatting with him, he remembered this question again, so he asked him again: "In your eyes, who is more beautiful between me and Mr. Xu?"
The guest said: "Xu Gong is not as beautiful as you."
Another day later, Xu Gong from the north of the city came. Zou Ji looked at him carefully up and down, and suddenly felt that Xu Gong was more beautiful than himself. After looking in the mirror again, I realized that I was far inferior to Mr. Xu.
Zou Ji was lying in bed at night, thinking about this matter over and over again, and finally realized: "My wife thinks I'm beautiful because she prefers me; my concubine thinks I'm beautiful because she's afraid of me; and my guests think I'm beautiful just because they want me." To me."
So Zou Ji went to see King Qi Wei and told King Qi about the incident. And Po Xialu said that the King of Qi, like him, was also deceived in governing the country, "Today's Qi State has a land of thousands of miles in radius, with almost 120 large and small cities. As a result, the concubines and ministers Because they love the King of Qi, they would deceive him on certain things; it is reasonable for ordinary ministers to deceive the King of Qi because they are afraid of the majesty of the King of Qi; the entire Qi State relies on the King of Qi to live, so in order to survive, they tell lies It’s inevitable.”
After listening to Zou Ji's discussion, King Qi suddenly felt enlightened. Then an edict was issued to the entire Qi State. Anyone who could accuse him of his faults face to face would receive a high reward; if someone gave him advice in writing, he would also receive a medium reward; No one dares to write letters, but those who discuss in private will receive certain rewards as long as he knows about it.
Suddenly, many people came to remonstrate throughout the Qi Kingdom, and the main hall of the King of Qi was crowded with people. The king of Qi State learned a lot from this method, and the politics of Qi State became clearer and clearer.
Through reforms, Qi's national strength has been greatly improved. But there is also a lot of darkness and crisis hidden behind the prosperity. There are many moths hidden within Qi State, which ordinary people have no way of knowing. Under such high pressure, they are forced to change their appearance, but as long as the current situation changes, they will return to their old ways, and the harm will be greater than ordinary people. Borers are more serious.
Of course, there are some exceptions. Under the guidance of this trend, people have become more honest and honest, thus opening up a new situation in the history of Qi State. For example, Tian Pan, who guarded Gaotang (today's Yucheng, Shandong), loved the people like a son and was very strict in running the army. He set an example and was upright, so that the fierce Zhao army did not dare to go south to fish in the Yellow River. Another example is Qianfu who guarded Xuzhou (Xue County, today's Tengzhou, Shandong Province). Because of his political clarity, agricultural development, and economic prosperity, more than 7,000 people from Zhao and Yan immigrated here and became people of Qi. Another example is Tan Zi, the minister responsible for guarding the southern border city. Because of the powerful army and clever strategy, the 12 vassal states in the Sishui Basin were stunned. Qi followed suit, and Chu did not dare to give in easily.
In addition, the minister Zhongzong made comprehensive arrangements and took into account all parties. Most of the various criminals in Qi were arrested. The whole Qi State was said to have a clear sky and clear air, and the people did not pick up lost items on the road. Of course, this may be an exaggeration, but from a certain level, Qi State has undoubtedly reached its heyday in history at this time.
When the other countries saw this, they were uneasy. Because they once occupied the land of Qi State, and now seeing that Qi State was rich and powerful, they were worried that their own countries would be retaliated by Qi State, so they returned the occupied lands to Qi State. Since the Warring States Period, it is rare in the world for people to act in unison. After Qi became rich and powerful, it directly threatened Wei's status among the vassal states. Of course, King Wei Hui could not sit idly by and ignore it.
King Wei Hui, who had a military prodigy like Pang Juan and an unparalleled general, was ready to teach Qi a lesson. However, the movement of history seems to have deviated from Wei Guo's expectations, and Wei Guo seems to have continued to evolve from history's darling to history's outcast. Led by another military genius, Sun Bin, the Qi army achieved an unprecedented victory in the battle against the Wei army.
