During the Warring States Period, the Yan State was unique because many special things happened in it.
In 318 BC, King Kuai of Yan became obsessed with admiring sages and sages, and abdicated the throne to his prime minister Zi Zhi. Sima Qian believed that King Kuai of Yan's move went against the trend of history and would eventually lead to the destruction of the country and the nation.
What Sima Qian meant was that the Warring States Period was a time of chaos, with monarchs fighting endlessly for land and not caring about benevolence, justice and morality. King Yan is unconventional and wants to go back to the past. If he goes against the general trend of history, he will suffer consequences.
Here's how it all happened.
In 321 BC, King Yi of Yan died and his son King Kuai of Yan succeeded to the throne. Immediately afterwards, Su Qin was cut into pieces by Qi's five horses. After the death of Su Qin, the pillar of the country, the status of his children's in-laws, namely the Prime Minister of the Yan Kingdom, was greatly improved. Su Qin's younger brother Su Dai followed Su Qin's example and also made a career in lobbying. Zizhi had close contacts with Su Dai, which also helped him gain power.
King Kuai of Yan was obsessed with the abdication methods of Yao, Shun, Yu and other sages. He often favored the past over the present in front of his courtiers, and showed his eagerness to imitate the abdication. The Prime Minister of the State, Zi Zhi, seized the opportunity. He successively Let several groups of talented and famous people come to do the ideological work of King Yan.
The first person to carry out ideological work was Su Dai, who had just returned from his mission to Qi State. In this year (318 BC), the five kingdoms of Yan, Chu, Han, Zhao and Wei jointly attacked Qin. However, before the war was concluded, King Kuai of Yan suddenly ordered the withdrawal of his troops.
King Yan asked Su Dai, who had just returned home, what kind of person King Qi was. Su Dai replied categorically that the King of Qi must not seek hegemony.
"Why?" Su Dai said so absolutely. If he didn't give a reason, King Yan couldn't believe it.
King Yan took the bait, and Su Dai explained that it was because King Qi did not trust his ministers. What Su Dai means is that if he wants the country to last, the king should trust his ministers.
From then on, King Kuai of Yan re-appointed him as the prime minister of the country and presented him with a hundred yi of gold from the Su Dynasty as a reward. Before that, Zizhi was already in charge of all affairs of the country. King Kuai of Yan actually gave him more power, which was simply a legacy of raising a tiger.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Maoshou lobbied King Kuai of Yan. Lu Maoshou means that the people of the world praise Yao because Yao surrendered the world to Xu You. If King Kuai of Yan wanted to win the praise of the people in the world, he should learn from Yao. What's more, Yao ostensibly surrendered to the world, but Xu You did not accept it. In the end, the world was still under Yao's control. Therefore, even if King Kuaichan of Yan offered the world to his son, he would not dare to accept it. In this way, Yan King Kuai can gain a good reputation and continue to dominate the world.
After listening to Lu Maoshou's words, King Kuai of Yan directly entrusted the country to Zizhi. However, Zizhi was still not satisfied and sent people to continue the ideological work of King Kuai of Yan.
What these lobbyists meant was that Yu handed over the entire country to Boyi, but still appointed his sons as court officials. As long as the prince is an official in the court, the hearts of all the civil and military officials are still towards the prince. I think back then, Dayu was too old to be in charge of the situation, Boyi did not manage the country well, and Prince Qi still regained his position as king by raising an army to resist.
These people want to tell King Kuai of Yan that even if the son enjoys the country through abdication, it is only in name. The real state power is still in the hands of King Kuai of Yan and his son.
After hearing this, King Kuai of Yan immediately acted and handed over all the seals of officials with a salary of more than three hundred shi to Zizhi, which showed that Zizhi fully enjoyed the power of the king.
What King Kuai of Yan did not expect was Zi Zhi's unpromising virtue. Instead of refusing, he happily accepted.
Zizhi is sitting on the throne of the king, and King Kuai of Yan calls himself a minister. He is willing to accept the orders of the former prime minister. He is really doing his own evil. Although King Yan was willing to be a minister, Prince Ping was ashamed of it, so he decided to resist.
Ever since he knew that King Yan had plans to abdicate, Tai Ziping had always wanted to intervene. However, because his power was far inferior to that of Zi Zhi, he could only let Zi Zhi do whatever he wanted.
Zi Zhi not only lacked virtue, but also lacked the ability to govern the country. Less than three years after he became king, he caused great chaos in the Yan Kingdom and made everyone fearful.
In 314 BC, after careful planning, Tai Ziping was determined to take advantage of this great opportunity to solve the problem in a unique way at the time, that is, with General Shi as the main general, he raised troops to resist Zi Zhi. Not to be outdone, Zi Zhi mobilized the national army and prepared to annihilate the rebels in one fell swoop to eradicate them.
The prince mobilized the country's regular army, but the prince's army was vulnerable to defeat and suffered defeats one after another. For personal gain, Shi was betrayed and turned around to attack Tai Ziping.
The rebel army and the regular army fought for several months. The young and middle-aged people of Yan State were killed and wounded countless people. The people fled one after another, and nine of the ten houses were empty. When the civil war broke out in the Yan Kingdom, a general suggested that King Xuan of Qi take advantage of the situation to rob him. King Xuan of Qi did not adopt it, but sent someone to tell Prince Ping that Prince Ping killed the rebellious ministers and traitors, which was in line with God's will and the people's will. Qi State gave him moral support and spiritual encouragement and support.
After several months of fighting, Yan State had become "a country without a country, and a family without a family." At this time, King Xuan of Qi quickly launched an army to invade the State of Yan without waiting for others' advice.
General Kuang Zhang of Qi led troops from five counties, plus troops from the border areas of Yan and Qi. Under the banner of "saving the people from water and fire", they swept towards Yan like a raging fire setting a prairie fire.
When a big country invades a small country after it has been in chaos for several months, the consequences can be imagined. "Historical Records" records that wherever the Qi army went, Yan's "soldiers did not fight and the city gates were not closed." This shows that the people hated the ruler of Yan very much.
In less than two months, the capital as a national symbol was occupied, Zizhi was chopped into pieces, and King Kuai of Yan did not end well. The farce of Yan King Kuai's abdication goes against the trend of history, and the final result can only be the destruction of the country.
The soldiers and people of Yan State did not resist Qi State's army. Their purpose was to hope that Qi State would expel the hateful ruler. However, what the people of Yan State did not expect was that the invaders were even more hateful than the rulers. The Qi army robbed the people of Yan wantonly and did not treat the people of Yan as human beings. If the people of Yan State cannot bear the mistreatment and rise up, Qi State will inevitably fall into a war in which all the people of Yan State are at war and cannot extricate themselves.
Mencius foresaw this serious problem and advised King Xuan of Qi to stop as soon as possible. At the beginning, one of the reasons why King Xuan of Qi sent troops was because Mencius told him that Yan State was already in great chaos and Qi State should fulfill its duty to safeguard justice.
The army had just occupied Yan State, and Mencius suggested withdrawing the army. King Xuan of Qi could not understand. He told Mencius that the Qi State sent out troops and occupied the Yan State in less than 50 days. This could not be achieved by manpower alone, but by God's will. What King Xuan of Qi meant was that the State of Yan had been annexed by the State of Qi, and there was no longer a State of Yan in the world.
Mencius disagreed with this view. He said that at first the people of Yan welcomed the Qi army because they hoped that Qi would help them quell the civil strife. Qi State was able to occupy Yan State within 50 days, which was all the result of the cooperation of the people. However, after the war was put down, the people of Yan State found that their father and brother were killed by the Qi army, their wives and daughters were insulted, and even their ancestral temples were destroyed. Since the Qi army wantonly harmed the people of Yan, the people would definitely rise up to resist.
As Mencius expected, soon the Qi army fell deeply into the quagmire of resistance from the Yan people. At the same time, due to public opinion among the princes, they had to withdraw their troops.
After experiencing great chaos, the Yan State could not form a decent country if it relied solely on its own strength. With the help of King Zhao Wuling, Yan Guo welcomed the prince who was still a hostage in South Korea to return to the country and succeed to the throne, known as King Yan Zhao.
