After King Qin Zhaoxiang came to the throne, a huge force appeared behind the Qin State-Yiqu State. The jurisdiction of Yiqu State mainly covers today's Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia areas. It is not a single nation. Since ancient times, many nomadic peoples with different names and customs have been active here.
"Book of the Later Han·Biography of the Western Qiang" records: "At the end of King Ping's reign, Zhou Sui Ling was late, and the Rong invaded all Xia. From the east of Longshan to Yi and Luo, there were often Rong. So there were Di, Yi, and Qiu at the head of Wei. , the Rong of Ji, the Rong of Yiqu in the north of Jing, the Rong of Dali in Luochuan, the Rong of Li in the south of Weinan, the Rong of Yang Ju and Quan Gao between Yi and Luo." Due to the constraints of the natural geographical environment, these numerous Rong, The Di people developed extremely slowly at the beginning. Even in the Spring and Autumn Period, they were still in the transition period from primitive society to feudal society. Their economy, culture, and social organization were lagging behind those of the Central Plains, but their military strength should not be underestimated.
Prior to this, in the year of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Quan Rong (i.e. the 烃狁) rebelled against the Zhou Dynasty and led his troops southward, killing King You at Mount Li. King Ping of Zhou, who restored the rule of the Zhou royal family, moved the capital to Luoyi (today's Luoyang) because he was afraid of Di Rong.
During the period of civil strife in the Zhou Dynasty, Yiqu Zhirong announced that it would break away from the rule of the Zhou Dynasty and formally established Fang State (the capital is in Xigou Village, Jiaocun Township, 50 miles northwest of present-day Ning County), that is, Yiqu State. Not long after the founding of the Yiqu Kingdom, due to its strong troops and horses, it quickly sent troops to annex Peng Lurong (in today's Pengyang, Zhenyang, and Qingyang Pengyuan), Quyan Rong (in today's Yanchi, Ningxia), and Toushi Rong (in today's Jingchuan, Gansu). , Lingtai), Yuzhirong (in today's Qingyang, Huanxian, Heshui, Gansu) and other places, the territory was expanded. The entire Yiqu Kingdom reaches Qiaoshan in the east, Xihaigu Grassland in the west, Jingshui in the south, and the Ningxia Hetao in the north. It covers an area of about 100,000 square kilometers. It is unprecedentedly powerful and has gradually developed long-term conflicts with the Qin State that rose in the Wei River Basin. of confrontation.
When King Ping moved east to Luoyi, Duke Xianggang of Qin was granted the title of a prince for his meritorious service, and Qishan became his fiefdom. From then on, the Qin State took full responsibility for the extermination of the Western Rong and Di. However, in the eyes of the eastern princes, the Qin State at this time was actually not much different from the Rong and Di tribes. It was not until Qin Mugong, with the assistance of Baili Xi and others, that Qin defeated Jin, and Qin's status was able to rise.
In 624 BC, Duke Mu of Qin adopted the strategy of Yu Yu, a minister of the Rong tribe, and led an army to attack Yiqu in the north. "Historical Records" said: "The country will be benefited twelve times, and the land will be opened thousands of miles." The Qin State began to dominate Xirong.
After dominating Xirong, Qin's biggest goal was to dominate the Central Plains. However, Jin was powerful at that time, and Shu had not yet been included in Qin's possession. The road leading out of the Central Plains in the east was blocked. After the Qin State failed to conquer the Wei State several times in the east, it simply turned its guns and marched to the northwest in an attempt to clear its northwest territory and attack the Yiqu State.
In 444 BC, Qin led an army of 100,000 to attack Yiqu. The army of Yiqu State was defeated like a mountain. The Qin army soon defeated Yiqu State to pieces. Even its king was captured by the Qin army and brought back to Qin State. Although the people of Yiqu State lost their troops and territory, they did not recover from the disaster. After their defeat, they learned their lesson, strengthened their troops, and recuperated their strength. Fourteen years later, in the thirteenth year of Qin Xianggong (430 BC), they attacked Qin with all their troops. At that time, the Qin State was sending troops to the east of the Wei State. Unexpectedly, it turned out that it was unprepared and was defeated. The army of Yiqu State attacked directly from Jingbei to Weinan, and Qin State lost a vast area of land.
Since then, the Yiqu Kingdom has established its geographical boundaries stretching from northern Shaanxi in the east, to Longxi in the west, to the Hetao in the north, and to the Weishui River in the south. It has entered the most powerful period of the Yiqu Kingdom.
More than a hundred years later, Yiqu State had civil strife, which gave Qin an opportunity. The Qin State sent troops to quell the chaos, so the Yiqu State surrendered to the Qin State. Of course, this surrender was just a temporary measure. After the Qin army withdrew from Yiqu State, the Yiqu Army soon sent troops to attack. In desperation, Qin attacked Yiqu again in 327 BC and captured Yuzhi City (today's Qingcheng) of Yiqu State. Yiqu once again declared itself a vassal to Qin.
At this time, Qin's strategic focus had shifted to the six eastern countries, and it was determined to conquer the Central Plains. Therefore, he did not worry about the movements of Yiqu State in the west, but went all out to attack Wei State. Taking advantage of the melee among the Central Plains countries, Yiqu State rebelled against Qin in 318 BC and ostensibly surrendered to Wei State. Taking advantage of the opportunity of Zhao, Han, Yan, and Chu to join forces with Wei to attack Qin, Yiqu State invaded Qin State in the west. The army launched an attack.
In order to avoid being attacked by the five eastern countries and the Yiqu Kingdom in the west at the same time, Qin State used "thousands of brocades and hundreds of beauties" to win over Yiqu, hoping that Yiqu Kingdom could see the situation clearly. Unexpectedly, Yiqu State had long been disobedient. Not only did it reject Qin's "good intentions", it also took advantage of the situation to march, defeating Qin Li Bo and killing tens of thousands of his troops. In desperation, Qin could only postpone its plan to march into the Central Plains after pacifying the Eastern Alliance, and re-examine Yiqu State, which had been competing with it for 300 years.
In 314 BC, in order to completely stabilize the rear and lay a solid foundation for the Eastern Expedition, the Qin State mobilized more than 200,000 troops to attack Yiqu from the east, west and south. 25 cities of Yiqu State fell one after another, and their strength was greatly reduced. But the Qin army understood that the Yiqu Kingdom had once again entered the stage of recuperating, refurbishing its troops, recharging its strength, and making progress just like it did more than 100 years ago. Only this time, would Qin give the Yiqu Kingdom the same opportunity?
In 306 BC, after the Qin State experienced chaos, Queen Mother Zhaoxiang became regent.
Just when the Qin State was about to settle down, the Chu State took advantage of the fact that the Qin State had no time to look eastward due to civil strife, and besieged the Yong family of South Korea (now northeast of Yuzhou, Henan). At that time, the Chu State was very powerful, and the six eastern countries either lacked the strength or did not want to be enemies with it. In the whole world, only the Qin State had the strength and intention to send troops to the Chu State. Therefore, South Korea repeatedly asked Qin for help, hoping that they could come to rescue South Korea. Since the Qin State had just stabilized, Empress Dowager Xuan negotiated with Wei Ran not to send troops, lest Zhao and others take advantage of the situation.
However, South Korea, which had suffered repeated defeats, still refused to give up, and finally sent Shang Jin, known as South Korea's think tank, as envoy to Qin. As soon as Shang Jin arrived, he went directly to the point. He talked about the current situation of South Korea, Chu State and Qin State, and believed that the relationship between Qin State and South Korea was actually a relationship of "the lips are dead and the teeth are cold, and the houses are broken down and the houses are in danger". In the event of a war, South Korea can serve as Qin's barrier and passage out of the mountains. It can be said to be a country that will benefit Qin without any harm. Now that South Korea is in trouble, how can Qin not rescue it?
What Shang Jin said was reasonable, but Empress Dowager Xuan still did not send troops in the end. The reason was that the Qin State had just experienced civil strife and its national strength was greatly damaged. In addition, Empress Dowager Xuan was also afraid that if she failed to win, the domestic opposition would take advantage of the situation to rebel. Even if she won, it would not be of any benefit to the Qin State at present.
However, when Queen Mother Xuan replied to Shang Jin, her words were vulgar. She even used her own private affairs as an example to explain why Qin was unwilling to send troops.
Those words are really unpalatable to traditional Confucian scholars, and they are dirty and dirty. Even in the Qing Dynasty, Wang Shizhen, who was worshiped as the Minister of Punishment, commented on it: "Such obscene words came from the mouth of a woman, entered the ears of messengers, and were recorded in the annals of history. It is really outrageous."
According to historical records, although Wei Ran and Empress Dowager Xuan Mi Bazi are half-siblings, they also have an ulterior close relationship. After Wei Ran was named Ranghou, he relied on the relationship between the Queen Mother Xuan and Ying Ji, the king who supported Qin Zhaoxiang, to dominate the government and the public, covering the sky with one hand. In order to better control the power in his hands, he often visited the palace and had trysts with the Queen Mother Xuan. Empress Dowager Xuan was also happy to use him to manage the Qin Kingdom.
In 304 BC, after experiencing a great defeat, the Yiqu State learned from the pain and finally reconciled with the Qin State to recuperate and recuperate. The Queen Mother Xuan was also tired of dealing with the wars against the eastern countries. In order to obtain a stable rear area, the Queen Mother Xuan and Wei Ran After discussion, it was decided that the king of Yiqu State should come to the Hajj to discuss matters related to the reconciliation of the alliance between the two countries.
Coinciding with the crowning ceremony of King Zhaoxiang of Qin Yingji, the King of Yiqu State came to Qin State and saw that although Queen Mother Xuan was already a wife and mother, she was still extremely beautiful, charming the country, and graceful. King Yiqu quickly fell under his pomegranate skirt. As the saying goes, heroes are saddened by beauty. Originally, the king of Yiqu State came to Qin State to make peace with Qin State, so as to gain a good environment and enough time for Yiqu State to recuperate and recharge, and finally realize the former Yiqu State. The glory of the country's thousands of miles of borders from east to west. It's a pity that King Yiqu fell into an impossible situation. He was indulged in having sex with Queen Mother Xuan of Qin all day long, and never paid attention to his grandiose career. Thirty years passed by in a flash, and King Yiqu's ambitions had long been extinguished by his personal relationship with Queen Mother Xuan. Qin State used this period of time to attack everywhere. The situation in the entire Central Plains has undergone tremendous changes. Among the six eastern countries, only Zhao still has the strength to barely compete with Qin.
In the thirty-fifth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (272 BC), the State of Qin was already strong enough, but the State of Yiqu was gradually declining under the arbitrary actions of King Yiqu. Empress Dowager Xuan's goal seemed to be achieved, so she suddenly launched an attack in Wenrou Township, killing the relationship that had lasted for 30 years, and killed King Yiqu in Ganquan Palace. Immediately, the Yiqu State was quickly defeated under the iron cavalry of the Qin army. It took the Qin State more than 300 years to finally completely annihilate the Yiqu State and establish Longxi, Beidi and Shangjun in the old areas of the Yiqu State.
Such was the grudge between Empress Dowager Xuan and King Yiqu.
The love affair between Queen Mother Xuan and King Yiqu finally ended under the iron fist of Queen Mother Xuan. What history leaves us is not only the process and the final outcome of the process, but also the reasons throughout. Just like this, it was actually not necessary for Empress Dowager Xuan to kill King Yiqu, because King Yiqu was already in his dying years and his head was not clear, so how could he protect his family and country? So why did Empress Dowager Xuan kill the elderly King Yiqu? Taking into account various factors, the following points can be summarized:
First, King Yiqu has no use value. At first, the Qin State did not want to completely wipe out the Yiqu State. First, over the years, the Qin State tried many times. After severely damaging the Yiqu State, they were always able to make a comeback; secondly, the Qin State was busy with the wars between the six eastern countries. , for the western tribal countries, they have always focused on appeasing them. Especially after the Queen Mother Xuan came to power, her control over the West became even tighter, and there was no need to eradicate them; thirdly, the Queen Mother Xuan gave birth to two sons for King Yiqu, I hope they can inherit the throne of Yiqu State and make better use of Qin State. Therefore, the key to Empress Dowager Xuan's final execution of King Yiqu may lie in his two sons, because in subsequent historical records, the two sons born to Empress Dowager Xuan and King Yiqu were missing, and they may have died in infancy. , Empress Dowager Xuan no longer had any worries, and she could not let chaos occur in the Yiqu Kingdom after the death of King Yiqu, so she simply did not stop and took the initiative to kill King Yiqu. With the enemy leaderless, she quickly annihilated the Yiqu Kingdom.
Second, the needs of Qin’s expansion policy. After 30 years of struggle, the Qin State not only stabilized Rongdi Yiqu State, but also caused Yiqu State to continue to decline through the inaction of King Yiqu. On the other hand, the Qin State continued to expand its territory in the east and conquered cities. Although the world was large, it no longer had an evenly matched opponent. At home, it continued to develop production, reform politics, recruit talents, and the country continued to grow stronger. Under this situation, Qin State and Yiqu State were no longer opponents on the same level. In addition, Queen Mother Xuan and King Yiqu actually have feelings. Otherwise, the Qin State could have easily wiped out the Yiqu State ten years ago. However, this kind of relationship is impure. It starts from the national level. Intertwined with personal feelings, while Empress Dowager Xuan enjoyed the blessings of others, she also continued to endure psychological pain. When the fake becomes real, the real is also fake, and when the real is fake, the fake is also real, but whether it is a fake play, whether it is a real play, or a real play, it should be over at this time.
Third, Queen Mother Xuan’s personal reasons. The Queen Mother Xuan was not a devoted person, and King Qin Zhaoxiang Yingji also knew his mother's nature. As long as it did not threaten the country and the country, he would turn a deaf ear to her even if he was in charge. Therefore, in addition to Wei Ran and King Yiqu, Empress Dowager Xuan also had many male favorites, the most famous of which was Wei Choufu. Historical records show that after Fan Ju entered the Qin Dynasty, he formulated the international strategy of "diplomacy far away and attack near". Qin's offensive in the east was invincible, whether politically, diplomatically or militarily. This triggered King Qin Zhaoxiang to dominate the world. After his ambition, he inspired the will and iron fist to kill his relatives and regain power. The Empress Dowager Xuan's family ruled the Qin State for 40 years, and power finally returned to the hands of King Ying Ji of Qin. From then on, the Empress Dowager Xuan began to live a long life. However, Mi BaZi, who was in his dying years, did not give up to loneliness. Instead, he fell in love with the male favorite Wei Choufu and used emotional enrichment to make up for his political frustration. Therefore, it can be seen that the reason why Empress Dowager Xuan was able to handle all parties with ease was actually related to her character. In order to seize the opportunity and completely stabilize the Qin State, she did not hesitate to kill King Yiqu who had been following her for 30 years and was inseparable every day.
A person like Queen Mother Xuan is not only a successful woman, but also a successful politician. She captured King Qin Huiwen's many visits with her unique beauty. She made King Qin Wu unprepared for him with her feminine weakness. With her unique temperament, she wiped out King Yiqu's fighting spirit. She also used the woman's view of a woman in the eyes of men. The image of being weak, short-sighted, narrow-minded, and unambitious appeared on the historical stage of the Qin State, cultivating his own power, and supporting his son Qin Zhaoxiang, King Yingji, to ascend the throne. His stepmother regarded her son as the most noble and became a powerful figure in the Qin State.
Of course, King Zhaoxiang of Qin Yingji was also a monarch who was well versed in the art of concealment. He was able to reign for 56 years, achieve great success, and open up territory for Qin. He must be outstanding.
Since King Qin Zhaoxiang came to the throne, he has made a comparative analysis between himself and his mother, Queen Mother Xuan: He is young and not a direct descendant. He is not as good as ordinary princes in Qin State, so he has no prestige and lacks ability and experience. On the other hand, Queen Mother Xuan, She has a smart political mind. From an ordinary woman in the harem to the position of queen mother, she even holds the power of the country. It can be said that she plays power at the palm of her hand, and there are few opponents in the Qin State. After weighing the left and right, King Qin Zhaoxiang obediently obeyed the rule of Empress Dowager Xuan, and did not make any move to take charge. During this period, Wei Ran and others were rewarded lavishly, causing them to neglect themselves.
Wei Ran was once arrogant and arrogant because he controlled the country's army, but he was afraid of Queen Mother Xuan. Therefore, when King Qin Zhaoxiang was preparing to confer a reward to the royal family, Wei Ran did not hesitate to hand over the power to the Empress Dowager Xuan, because he believed that his position could only be guaranteed if the Empress Dowager Xuan was in power.
Therefore, under the control of Queen Mother Xuan and Wei Ran, the State of Qin raised the other two sons of Queen Mother Xuan and King Qin Huiwen Ying Si: Gongzi City and Gongzi Kui to the position of crown prince. This greatly weakened the actual power and prestige of King Qin. Of course, the King of Qin is still the only monarch of the Qin State. Although the Queen Mother Xuan controls the actual power of the Qin State, the sanctity of the King of Qin is still inviolable. Because the King of Qin is the nominal monarch of the Qin State after all, only by ensuring his authority can the State of Qin be able to make strict government orders and communicate them from top to bottom, and the country can be in order. Especially in foreign wars, Qin only had one monarch to maintain the unity of Qin's military orders. Only then could the Qin army feel that they were working for Qin, not for the Queen Mother's family. The club is invincible.
These subtle relationships in the Qin court were clear to both inside and outside the court, but they seemed to have formed a certain tacit understanding, and were accustomed to Qin's political form with Empress Dowager Xuan in charge of government orders, King Zhaoxiang as the representative, and Wei Ran in charge of the military and ministers. The mode of political operation in which each person performs his or her duties faithfully. Therefore, it can be said that the situation that Qin was in that day was the result of the cooperation between Queen Mother Xuan, Wei Ran, King Qin and all the officials in the court. It was only when the Qin State turned from chaos to order, from weakness to strength, and when King Qin Zhaoxiang Yingji accumulated enough strength, that King Qin decided to cut off the power of the Queen Mother Xuan's family group.
Although the King of Qin did not hesitate to take action against his uncle Wei Ran, he only deprived Empress Dowager Xuan of her political power. He didn't care about Empress Dowager Xuan's love affairs. Perhaps this should be regarded as a compromise between power and personal affairs.
Even when Empress Dowager Xuan was seriously ill and was about to die, she still insisted on asking Wei Choufu to be buried for her. As the saying goes, "A long journey can tell a horse's power, and time can tell a person's heart." When he heard that the Empress Dowager Xuan actually wanted to bury him, Wei Choufu was very unwilling, so he took the initiative to go to the Empress Dowager Xuan, hoping that through lobbying, she could give up her decision to bury him. .
Wei Choufu took great pains on matters concerning his life, and even asked minister Yongrui to help him make suggestions to the Empress Dowager Xuan. As soon as Yong Rui arrived at the Queen Mother Xuan's palace, she directly asked the Queen Mother Xuan: "After death, do people really go to hell or go to heaven? Can the human soul not be lost?"
Empress Dowager Xuan has always been a practical person, and she did not understand his intentions. She directly answered Yong Rui's question and said, according to my estimation, perhaps there is no such thing as a soul in this world, and people die like lamps. Extinction, dust returns to dust, dust returns to dust.
Hearing this, Yong Rui smiled calmly and said: "If people are unconscious after death, then the Queen Mother's move did not sacrifice the life of her sweetheart Wei Choufu in vain? If people are conscious after death, then the Queen Mother imagines that the late king (Qin) King Huiwen) Over the past few decades, he should have been resenting you. His soul after death must be thinking that one day you can give him a reasonable explanation. If the Queen Mother is unfortunate and goes to the underworld, it will be too late to make amends with the late king. How can There is still a chance to be romantically involved with Wei Choufu, so how can he still have the guts to engage in romantic affairs outside? If the late king discovers Wei Choufu, wouldn't it mean that he will have to endure the tragedy of Hongxing's affair and cause big trouble for the Queen Mother? ? I believe that you and Wei Choufu will be in trouble by then." Queen Mother Xuan thought about it, and it really made sense. She was going to die, so why bother dragging an innocent person to bury her? So he responded: "What you said makes sense, so I will do as you say." ("Warring States Policy·Qin Policy")
Wei Choufu gave a false alarm and finally calmed down the Queen Mother's thoughts of letting him be buried.
