In the third year of King Jian of Zhou Dynasty (583 BC), two years after moving the capital away from Xinjiang, where the Zhao family had strong influence, and changing the capital to Xintian, Jin Jinggong had formulated a plan with the officials (mainly the Luan family and the Que family). The action plan to deal with the Zhao family was ready, and everything was ready; so Jin Jinggong convened the ministers in Xintian, the capital, for a meeting to prepare for the final blow against the Zhao family.
In order to make his teacher famous, Jin Jinggong asked Zhao Shuo's widow and his biological sister Zhuang Ji, who was living in the palace, to participate in the court meeting, and came forward to make the first accusation against the Zhao family, saying, "Yuan and Ping generals will rebel!" ( "Yuan and Ping" are the fiefdoms of brothers Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo.)
Later, Duke Jinggong of Jin used Zhuang Ji's first complaint as an excuse to discuss with the ministers attending the meeting - General Luan Shu of the Central Army, Zuo Xungeng of the Central Army, Zuo Queqi of the Upper Army, Zuo Hanjue of the Lower Army and others. How to deal with the situation of "Zhao's rebellion"; at that time, the Chinese general Luan Shu and the superior army Zuo Queqi had secretly formed an "anti-Zhao alliance" with the monarch and planned to deal with the Zhao family; therefore, after Jin Jinggong spoke , Luan Shu and Que Qi were the first to stand up and testify to Zhuang Ji, proving that the Zhao family had long been preparing for a conspiracy to cause rebellion, and asked the monarch to take a preemptive strike to eliminate the hidden danger of the Zhao family that threatened the stability of the country.
Among the twelve ministers of the Jin Kingdom at that time, the three ministers of the Zhao family (the lower army general Zhao Tong, the new middle army general Zhao Kuo, and the new lower army general Zhao Zhan) would naturally not be summoned by Jin Jinggong to attend the meeting, while the upper army officers and soldiers Xie was on an envoy at this time and was unable to attend the meeting; except for the Zhongjun General Luan Shu and Shangjun Zuo Queqi who first spoke in support of the monarch's attack on the Zhao family, the other ministers - Zhongjun Zuo Xungeng (中行geng) The Xun family (branch Zhongxing family, Zhi family, Cheng family) and the Luan family represented by Xun Zhui (Cheng Zhuo), the new superior army general, and Xun Feng (Zhi Feng), the new lower army general, have always been on good terms, and the Xun family (Zhong Xing family) has always been on good terms. There was also a huge conflict between the Xun family) and the Zhao family. Therefore, Xun Geng, the head of the Xun family, immediately spoke in support of Luan Shu and Que Qi's opinions and asked the monarch to send troops to attack the Zhao family.
Gongshuo, the assistant of the New Chinese Army, was soft-spoken and weak, and the head of the main clan was not present (Gong Shuo was from a branch of the Shi clan, and Shi Xie, the head of the Shi clan, was not at the court meeting at this time, so it was difficult for Gong Shuo to speak alone), so he did not attend the meeting. Express your opinions at the meeting.
Therefore, in this court meeting specifically targeted at the Zhao family initiated by Jin Jinggong, among the eight ministers who participated in the meeting, they had not yet expressed their opinions on the monarch's proposal to "conquer the Zhao family", and only Xiajun Zuohan was left. Jue, the new general of the army, Han Chuan, went to the Han clan; under Jin Jinggong's repeated urging, the subordinate of the army, Han Jue, had no choice but to express his opinion on the matter, but what is surprising is that Han Jue did not agree to launch a 'crusade' Zhao's actions.
The reason why Han Jue did not agree that the monarch directly sent troops to attack the Zhao family was because, firstly, Han Jue was grateful for the kindness Zhao Shui and Zhao Dun had given him in raising him, and was unwilling to add insult to injury; secondly, Han Jue also thought about the monarch, the Luan family, and the Que family. The secret plan to eliminate the Zhao family has long been understood, and he believed that this was the monarch venting his personal anger and plotting to seize the private property of his ministers.
Therefore, Han Jue took great political pressure and disagreed with the monarch and ministers in the court meeting to send troops to attack the Zhao family based on Zhuang Ji's words. Han Jue suggested that the monarch first call Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo to come and testify, so as to clearly distinguish the authenticity of the matter and find out whether Zhao had any intention to rebel before acting.
The meaning of Han Jue's statement was to ask the monarch to put the matter on the table. It is best to solve the problem through communication. Even if the Zhao family cannot be helped out in the end, it can still allow the Zhao family to retain part of the family's wealth and fiefdom. , and exiled a large number of members of the Zhao family to other places to make trouble, just like Zhao Dun did to the Hu family. This way of settling the matter without bloodshed is good for the Jin State, the Zhao family, and other Qing clans.
However, Jin Jinggong, Luan Shu, Que Qi and others began to make preparations two years ago in order to kill the thorn in their side, the Zhao family. They had already made an action plan to annihilate the Zhao family by force. To this end, they did not hesitate to move the capital. Plan, this matter is on the line and has to be carried out; the (so-called) "original and Ping general rebellion" first reported by Zhuang Ji is just an excuse for Jin Jinggong. Such a big action cannot be because of Han Jue alone. If he objected, he would easily stop sending troops to attack the Zhao family and let the Zhao family (big clan) who had already offended the public anger be spared.
Therefore, Jin Jinggong chose to ignore Han Jue's advice to "investigate first, then communicate, and confront the Zhao brothers". Then, on the grounds of protecting the safety of the Jin ancestral temple and the country, he further issued orders to the ministers to let other officials All ministers must send troops together with the official office to attack the Zhao family (big clan) who is rebellious; the private soldiers of the public servants and ministers must unite to surround and attack the Zhao family's fiefdoms of Yuan, Pingliangyi and Xiagong, in order to win one fell swoop. Eradicate the Zhao family (big clan) who is "domineering and premeditated to cause chaos"; just like after the "Battle of Bi", the emperor and his ministers worked together to eliminate the Xian family who united with the Di people to rebel.
Under the monarch's order to "defeat Zhao", the Luan family and the Que family, who had been well prepared, were the first to respond. Luan Shu and Que Qi immediately led their respective families' private soldiers to mobilize in large numbers and joined the official army to attack the lower palace where the Zhao family's main clan was located. launched an attack. After Gongshi, Luan and Que sent troops, other Jin families, such as the Xun family and the Shi family, also sent troops one after another, and followed the Gongshi army to launch an attack on the Zhao family.
In this attack on the Zhao family, among the families of ministers in the Jin Dynasty, only the Han family, where Zuo Han Jue and the new general Han Chuan were located, insisted not to send troops to attack the Zhao family, but the Han family Lord Han Jue did not go to help the Zhao family, but ordered the members of the Han family to stay behind closed doors and not help each other. Han Jue used this method to express his opposition to the monarch and the Luan and Que families, as well as his contempt for the Luan and Que families (as well as his helplessness at not being able to help the Zhao family).
It was not until the allied forces of the monarch and other ministers' families surrounded the lower palace that the current heads of the Zhao family, brothers Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo, realized that the monarch was going to take over the Zhao family! Therefore, Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo hurriedly arranged a counterattack against the armies surrounding the lower palace. However, facing the sudden attack on the army, they were unprepared. Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo were confused and did not know how to deal with it. The messy situation cannot be reversed.
At first, Zhao Tong wanted to send an envoy to Jin Jinggong to plead for mercy, but Jin Jinggong refused. Then Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo organized the Zhao family in despair. The private soldiers actively counterattacked the army besieging the lower palace several times, aiming to restore the military decline.
However, the members of the Zhao family (big clan) underestimated the determination of Jin Jinggong and the Jin family to completely eliminate the Zhao family. They did not expect that the monarch would actually take the lead this time and launch the first army to attack the Zhao family. . Therefore, the defense of Xiagong was still a little slow, and the counterattack of Zhao's private soldiers could not pick up the speed; soon, Zhao's private soldiers were defeated by the coalition forces, and Xiagong was also besieged and attacked from all sides by the coalition forces.
Because they are alone and outnumbered (in fact, if the strength is compared individually, the power of the Zhao family is stronger than that of the Jin Gong clan, and any other family of ministers in Jin cannot compare with the strength of the Zhao family; but this time In the battle to defeat Zhao, Jin Jinggong did not follow the routine at all. Instead, he led other ministers' families to swarm in and fight in a group; the result of the group fight was that the Zhao family's strength was not enough). Under the fierce attack of the joint forces of the Jiashi and Qingshi families, the Zhao family (big clan) was finally defeated. Yuan and Ping were captured, and the lower palace was also declared to have fallen. All members of the Zhao clan in the fiefdom, regardless of gender, old and young, were slaughtered. Brothers Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo also died in the rebellion; the Zhao family (big clan) that had dominated the Jin Dynasty for more than fifty years was wiped out.
This thrilling civil strife in Jin Dynasty was the famous "Difficulty in the Lower Palace" in history.
In order to ensure that Zhao Wu, his close nephew and a member of the Zhao family, would not be implicated in the attack on the Zhao family, Jin Jinggong personally made a statement before sending troops to attack Zhao - this time he sent troops to "pacify the Zhao family" "Rebellion", the ministers only allowed to crusade against the rebellious Zhao family, and the Zhao Shuo lineage (the only male member of this lineage, Zhao Wu himself) who was already the Zhao Xiaozong was not included; in order to better In order to unite the ministers and stabilize the authority of the office, Jin Jinggong also specifically pointed out that the Handan family (Zhao Chuan and Zhao Zhan), which belonged to a separate branch of the Zhao family, did not belong to the rebellious parties of Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo, and was not included in this crusade. .
When the "Disaster in the Lower Palace" occurred and all the Zhao clan was destroyed, Zhao Wu, who was protected by his uncle Jin Jinggong, was still safe and lived in the palace in Xintian with his mother Zhuang Ji as usual. Zhao Zhan, a member of the Zhao family branch who was the new military commander at the time, also drew a clear line with the clan in time under the protection of Jin Jinggong, and escaped the fate of being attacked and exterminated by the other jealous families of the ministers. .
After the Zhao family was destroyed, the property, fiefdoms, and subjects accumulated by the Zhao family in the past decades were divided up by the Jin Dynasty, headed by Jin Jinggong, and the families of the ministers who sent troops to attack Zhao. . As for the part of the Zhao family's fiefdom that was returned to the public domain, Jin Jinggong gave it to the Yangtishi family of Jin, a branch of the Jin Gong family.
After the Zhao family (big clan), who was domineering and tyrannical and had offended almost everyone, was exterminated, in order to better divide the existing scope of interests and enhance the participation and control of the Qingshi family in the Jin court, in the battle to defeat Zhao Luan Shu, the general of the Chinese army who showed great strength, took the opportunity to put forward his own suggestions to Jin Jinggong - reduce the current size of Jin's army and compress the positions of ministers in the court, so that the king can directly control most of the power of the court ( In fact, he is taking the opportunity to win more benefits for Luan.)
Duke Jinggong of Jin was convinced of Luan Shu's proposal, and now it was time to make personnel adjustments in the court again; therefore, after completing the execution of the Zhao family (big clan), Duke Jinggong of Jin changed the original six members of the Jin state. The system of twelve ministers in the army was reduced to the system of eight ministers in the four armies; among the four positions that were abolished, except for the two original positions of the Zhao clan - the general of the lower army (Zhao Tong) and the general of the new middle army (Zhao Kuo) ), Jin Jinggong also added a new general (Han Chuan) owned by the Han family who was unwilling to send troops to attack Zhao, and a new general owned by the Shi family who were relatively weak and not very active in attacking Zhao. The positions of the two ministers, Jun Zuo (Gong Shuo), were also cancelled.
In addition, Jin Jinggong also merged Jin's original new upper, middle and lower armies into a new army. At this time, the Jin State only had the upper, middle, lower and new armies.
After Jin Jinggong destroyed the power of Zhao, re-adjusted the positions of ministers in the court, and reduced the size of the Jin army, the new eight ministers of Jin were ranked as follows: Luan Shu, the central general and the ruling official, Zhongjun Zuo Xun Geng (Zhongxing Geng), upper army general Shi Xie (Fan Xie), upper army Zuo Queqi, lower army general Han Jue, lower army Zuo Xunfeng (Zhi Feng), new army general Zhao Zhan, new army general But arrived.
The newcomer Quezhi who entered the court this time and served as the new military assistant at the end of the Eight Ministers is also a member of the Que family; The younger brother of Qi's great-grandfather, Cherui, they both have the same great-great-grandfather, namely Cher Bao, the founder of the Cher family). Quezhi's grandfather, Queyang, had a fiefdom in Buyi, so he also took Yi as his surname and was called Bushi; Quezhi's own fiefdom was in Wenyi, and because he ranked third among his brothers, he was also called Bushi. Known as the 'warm season'.
After Quezhi was promoted to the court by Jin Jinggong and served as the new military assistant at the end of the Eight Ministers, the Que family had two positions in the newly built Eight Ministers. Their strength was greatly enhanced and they could compete with the Luan family of Luan Shu. They are on a par with each other (the Que family was originally a long-established nobleman of the Jin Kingdom, and their background was no worse than that of the Luan family, or even better).
After previously making suggestions to Jin Jinggong to reduce the army and reduce the number of ministers, and getting Jin Jinggong's approval, Luan Shu believed that his family had assisted the monarch in killing powerful ministers (Zhao family), and followed the monarch's footsteps. , Adjusting the balance of power in the court, Luan should be rewarded by the monarch no matter what, and the number of ministers in the court should be increased.
However, Jin Jinggong has been in the position of Marquis of Jin for a long time, and he has long been familiar with the way of controlling power and controlling the ministers. Therefore, among the new Eight Ministers after the personnel adjustment, no Luan family members except Luan Shu were promoted. The family members became the new ministers, but they deliberately supported the Que family, another hero of the campaign against Zhao, and appointed Que Zhi, the younger brother of Que Qi, the head of the Que family, as the new military assistant, in order to commend the Que family for their outstanding achievements in the campaign against Zhao. "Outstanding contribution" made in the process.
The purpose of Jin Jinggong's move was to carry out further political planning to prevent the already powerful Luan family from taking credit for assisting him in annihilating the Zhao family, and thus gained more court benefits. , will accelerate the rapid growth of the power of the Luan family and form a new family of powerful ministers; therefore, Jin Jinggong did not choose members of the Luan family, but promoted them to the court, in order to use the Que family to contain Luan Shu and the Luan family to achieve political balance in the court.
As for whether Luan Shu was convinced or not, whether Luan was resentful or angry at Que, and how Que Qi and Luan Shu would get along in the future, Jin Jinggong did not care about this matter. Even this was what Jin Jinggong wanted. (If there is a conflict between ministers, wouldn't it be better for the monarch to divide and rule?)
Let's talk about the other side - after the collapse of the Zhao family, Han Jue, who had received generations of kindness from the Zhao family, did not want his former benefactor's family to decline and die, so he found an opportunity to advise Jin Jinggong, saying that the Zhao family was really He has made great contributions to the Jin State. The meritorious service of Cheng Ji (Zhao Shuai) and the loyalty of Xuan Meng (Zhao Dun) are obvious to all in the Jin Dynasty.
Now, due to the dishonesty of some descendants, the Zhao family has no one who can inherit the family honors. If such an outstanding family loses the qualification to retain the family honors and honors because of the imprudence of future generations, then Which family will be willing to continue to fight to the death for the country and the monarch in the future?
Therefore, Han Jue asked Jin Jinggong to re-establish the eldest son for the Zhao family, so as to inherit the posthumous sacrifices of Zhao Shui and Zhao Dun and the honor of the Zhao family, and rebuild the Zhao family of Jin.
Jin Jinggong originally wanted to promote his nephew Zhao Wu and let him inherit the Zhao family's title after the Zhao family was exterminated. However, Han Jue's request to "let Zhao Wu inherit the Zhao family" was in line with Jin Jinggong's request. Therefore, with Han Jue's advice, less than a year before the end of the "Trouble in the Lower Palace", Jin Jinggong officially appointed his eight-year-old nephew Zhao Wu as the eldest son of the new generation of Zhao family. Inherited the inheritance of the Zhao family, and was responsible for the sacrifice of the "good ministers" of the three generations of Zhao Shui, Zhao Dun and Zhao Shuo.
After establishing Zhao Wu as the eldest son of the Zhao family and reestablishing the Zhao family, Jin Jinggong returned part of the original Zhao family's fiefdom that had been transferred to the Yangyu family to Zhao Wu (part of it), and then appointed the only remaining Zhao family Zhao Zhanlai, a close relative, the head of the Handan family of Jin State and the current new army general, is responsible for assisting and taking care of the young Zhao Wu and handling the internal affairs of the Zhao family.
In this way, the glory and revival of the entire Zhao family fell on Zhao Wu, who was only eight years old.
In the third year after the end of the "Trouble in the Lower Palace", at the beginning of the fifth year of King Jian of Zhou Dynasty (581 BC), Jin Jinggong, who had reigned for 19 years, suddenly fell seriously ill, causing him to be unable to sleep day and night; and even if he finally managed to sleep After that, Jin Jinggong often dreamed that the ghosts of brothers Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo came to him with bloodstains all over their bodies to ask why he innocently killed the Zhao family, and then sought revenge on him with weapons in hand.
Therefore, suffering from the double torture of heart and external diseases, Jin Jinggong often had nightmares and suffered from serious illnesses. He fell on the bed and was unable to continue to handle the heavy government affairs.
The king is ill and unable to govern, but the country cannot be without a leader. In desperation, Jin Jinggong had no choice but to order Pu Dai, the prince of Jin, to preside over state affairs. He appointed the top two military generals Luan Shu and Zuo Xungeng among the officials to assist the prince in governing the country (Shangjun Zuo Queqi and others Ministers have a lower rank and are not qualified to assist the government).
In the summer of the fifth year of King Jian of Zhou Dynasty (581 BC), Jin Jinggong, who suffered from physical and mental pain for half a year amid endless anxiety and deep fear, was finally relieved and died of illness in the palace in Xintian, the capital of the country ( There is also another theory of the death of Jin Jinggong. He accidentally fell into the toilet while going to the toilet and was drowned by feces. Since it does not involve the focus of this article, I will not elaborate here. Rewrite an article specifically to tell the story of Jin Jinggong’s death).
After the death of Jin Jinggong, the Chinese Army General Luan Shu and the Chinese Army Zuo Xungeng, who had the "power to take care of orders", supported the Jin Crown Prince Zhou Pu to inherit the position of Jin Hou. This was Jin Ligong. The historical process of Jin State thus opened a new page. In the third year of King Jian of Zhou Dynasty (583 BC), two years after moving the capital away from Xinjiang, where the Zhao family had strong influence, and changing the capital to Xintian, Jin Jinggong had formulated a plan with the officials (mainly the Luan family and the Que family). The action plan to deal with the Zhao family was ready, and everything was ready; so Jin Jinggong convened the ministers in Xintian, the capital, for a meeting to prepare for the final blow against the Zhao family.
In order to make his teacher famous, Jin Jinggong asked Zhao Shuo's widow and his biological sister Zhuang Ji, who was living in the palace, to participate in the court meeting, and came forward to make the first accusation against the Zhao family, saying, "Yuan and Ping generals will rebel!" ( "Yuan and Ping" are the fiefdoms of brothers Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo.)
Later, Duke Jinggong of Jin used Zhuang Ji's first complaint as an excuse to discuss with the ministers attending the meeting - General Luan Shu of the Central Army, Zuo Xungeng of the Central Army, Zuo Queqi of the Upper Army, Zuo Hanjue of the Lower Army and others. How to deal with the situation of "Zhao's rebellion"; at that time, the Chinese general Luan Shu and the superior army Zuo Queqi had secretly formed an "anti-Zhao alliance" with the monarch and planned to deal with the Zhao family; therefore, after Jin Jinggong spoke , Luan Shu and Que Qi were the first to stand up and testify to Zhuang Ji, proving that the Zhao family had long been preparing for a conspiracy to cause rebellion, and asked the monarch to take a preemptive strike to eliminate the hidden danger of the Zhao family that threatened the stability of the country.
Among the twelve ministers of the Jin Kingdom at that time, the three ministers of the Zhao family (the lower army general Zhao Tong, the new middle army general Zhao Kuo, and the new lower army general Zhao Zhan) would naturally not be summoned by Jin Jinggong to attend the meeting, while the upper army officers and soldiers Xie was on an envoy at this time and was unable to attend the meeting; except for the Zhongjun General Luan Shu and Shangjun Zuo Queqi who first spoke in support of the monarch's attack on the Zhao family, the other ministers - Zhongjun Zuo Xungeng (中行geng) The Xun family (branch Zhongxing family, Zhi family, Cheng family) and the Luan family represented by Xun Zhui (Cheng Zhuo), the new superior army general, and Xun Feng (Zhi Feng), the new lower army general, have always been on good terms, and the Xun family (Zhong Xing family) has always been on good terms. There was also a huge conflict between the Xun family) and the Zhao family. Therefore, Xun Geng, the head of the Xun family, immediately spoke in support of Luan Shu and Que Qi's opinions and asked the monarch to send troops to attack the Zhao family.
Gongshuo, the assistant of the New Chinese Army, was soft-spoken and weak, and the head of the main clan was not present (Gong Shuo was from a branch of the Shi clan, and Shi Xie, the head of the Shi clan, was not at the court meeting at this time, so it was difficult for Gong Shuo to speak alone), so he did not attend the meeting. Express your opinions at the meeting.
Therefore, in this court meeting specifically targeted at the Zhao family initiated by Jin Jinggong, among the eight ministers who participated in the meeting, they had not yet expressed their opinions on the monarch's proposal to "conquer the Zhao family", and only Xiajun Zuohan was left. Jue, the new general of the army, Han Chuan, went to the Han clan; under Jin Jinggong's repeated urging, the subordinate of the army, Han Jue, had no choice but to express his opinion on the matter, but what is surprising is that Han Jue did not agree to launch a 'crusade' Zhao's actions.
The reason why Han Jue did not agree that the monarch directly sent troops to attack the Zhao family was because, firstly, Han Jue was grateful for the kindness Zhao Shui and Zhao Dun had given him in raising him, and was unwilling to add insult to injury; secondly, Han Jue also thought about the monarch, the Luan family, and the Que family. The secret plan to eliminate the Zhao family has long been understood, and he believed that this was the monarch venting his personal anger and plotting to seize the private property of his ministers.
Therefore, Han Jue took great political pressure and disagreed with the monarch and ministers in the court meeting to send troops to attack the Zhao family based on Zhuang Ji's words. Han Jue suggested that the monarch first call Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo to come and testify, so as to clearly distinguish the authenticity of the matter and find out whether Zhao had any intention to rebel before acting.
The meaning of Han Jue's statement was to ask the monarch to put the matter on the table. It is best to solve the problem through communication. Even if the Zhao family cannot be helped out in the end, it can still allow the Zhao family to retain part of the family's wealth and fiefdom. , and exiled a large number of members of the Zhao family to other places to make trouble, just like Zhao Dun did to the Hu family. This way of settling the matter without bloodshed is good for the Jin State, the Zhao family, and other Qing clans.
However, Jin Jinggong, Luan Shu, Que Qi and others began to make preparations two years ago in order to kill the thorn in their side, the Zhao family. They had already made an action plan to annihilate the Zhao family by force. To this end, they did not hesitate to move the capital. Plan, this matter is on the line and has to be carried out; the (so-called) "original and Ping general rebellion" first reported by Zhuang Ji is just an excuse for Jin Jinggong. Such a big action cannot be because of Han Jue alone. If he objected, he would easily stop sending troops to attack the Zhao family and let the Zhao family (big clan) who had already offended the public anger be spared.
Therefore, Jin Jinggong chose to ignore Han Jue's advice to "investigate first, then communicate, and confront the Zhao brothers". Then, on the grounds of protecting the safety of the Jin ancestral temple and the country, he further issued orders to the ministers to let other officials All ministers must send troops together with the official office to attack the Zhao family (big clan) who is rebellious; the private soldiers of the public servants and ministers must unite to surround and attack the Zhao family's fiefdoms of Yuan, Pingliangyi and Xiagong, in order to win one fell swoop. Eradicate the Zhao family (big clan) who is "domineering and premeditated to cause chaos"; just like after the "Battle of Bi", the emperor and his ministers worked together to eliminate the Xian family who united with the Di people to rebel.
Under the monarch's order to "defeat Zhao", the Luan family and the Que family, who had been well prepared, were the first to respond. Luan Shu and Que Qi immediately led their respective families' private soldiers to mobilize in large numbers and joined the official army to attack the lower palace where the Zhao family's main clan was located. launched an attack. After Gongshi, Luan and Que sent troops, other Jin families, such as the Xun family and the Shi family, also sent troops one after another, and followed the Gongshi army to launch an attack on the Zhao family.
In this attack on the Zhao family, among the families of ministers in the Jin Dynasty, only the Han family, where Zuo Han Jue and the new general Han Chuan were located, insisted not to send troops to attack the Zhao family, but the Han family Lord Han Jue did not go to help the Zhao family, but ordered the members of the Han family to stay behind closed doors and not help each other. Han Jue used this method to express his opposition to the monarch and the Luan and Que families, as well as his contempt for the Luan and Que families (as well as his helplessness at not being able to help the Zhao family).
It was not until the allied forces of the monarch and other ministers' families surrounded the lower palace that the current heads of the Zhao family, brothers Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo, realized that the monarch was going to take over the Zhao family! Therefore, Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo hurriedly arranged a counterattack against the armies surrounding the lower palace. However, facing the sudden attack on the army, they were unprepared. Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo were confused and did not know how to deal with it. The messy situation cannot be reversed.
At first, Zhao Tong wanted to send an envoy to Jin Jinggong to plead for mercy, but Jin Jinggong refused. Then Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo organized the Zhao family in despair. The private soldiers actively counterattacked the army besieging the lower palace several times, aiming to restore the military decline.
However, the members of the Zhao family (big clan) underestimated the determination of Jin Jinggong and the Jin family to completely eliminate the Zhao family. They did not expect that the monarch would actually take the lead this time and launch the first army to attack the Zhao family. . Therefore, the defense of Xiagong was still a little slow, and the counterattack of Zhao's private soldiers could not pick up the speed; soon, Zhao's private soldiers were defeated by the coalition forces, and Xiagong was also besieged and attacked from all sides by the coalition forces.
Because they are alone and outnumbered (in fact, if the strength is compared individually, the power of the Zhao family is stronger than that of the Jin Gong clan, and any other family of ministers in Jin cannot compare with the strength of the Zhao family; but this time In the battle to defeat Zhao, Jin Jinggong did not follow the routine at all. Instead, he led other ministers' families to swarm in and fight in a group; the result of the group fight was that the Zhao family's strength was not enough). Under the fierce attack of the joint forces of the Jiashi and Qingshi families, the Zhao family (big clan) was finally defeated. Yuan and Ping were captured, and the lower palace was also declared to have fallen. All members of the Zhao clan in the fiefdom, regardless of gender, old and young, were slaughtered. Brothers Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo also died in the rebellion; the Zhao family (big clan) that had dominated the Jin Dynasty for more than fifty years was wiped out.
This thrilling civil strife in Jin Dynasty was the famous "Difficulty in the Lower Palace" in history.
In order to ensure that Zhao Wu, his close nephew and a member of the Zhao family, would not be implicated in the attack on the Zhao family, Jin Jinggong personally made a statement before sending troops to attack Zhao - this time he sent troops to "pacify the Zhao family" "Rebellion", the ministers only allowed to crusade against the rebellious Zhao family, and the Zhao Shuo lineage (the only male member of this lineage, Zhao Wu himself) who was already the Zhao Xiaozong was not included; in order to better In order to unite the ministers and stabilize the authority of the office, Jin Jinggong also specifically pointed out that the Handan family (Zhao Chuan and Zhao Zhan), which belonged to a separate branch of the Zhao family, did not belong to the rebellious parties of Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo, and was not included in this crusade. .
When the "Disaster in the Lower Palace" occurred and all the Zhao clan was destroyed, Zhao Wu, who was protected by his uncle Jin Jinggong, was still safe and lived in the palace in Xintian with his mother Zhuang Ji as usual. Zhao Zhan, a member of the Zhao family branch who was the new military commander at the time, also drew a clear line with the clan in time under the protection of Jin Jinggong, and escaped the fate of being attacked and exterminated by the other jealous families of the ministers. .
After the Zhao family was destroyed, the property, fiefdoms, and subjects accumulated by the Zhao family in the past decades were divided up by the Jin Dynasty, headed by Jin Jinggong, and the families of the ministers who sent troops to attack Zhao. . As for the part of the Zhao family's fiefdom that was returned to the public domain, Jin Jinggong gave it to the Yangtishi family of Jin, a branch of the Jin Gong family.
After the Zhao family (big clan), who was domineering and tyrannical and had offended almost everyone, was exterminated, in order to better divide the existing scope of interests and enhance the participation and control of the Qingshi family in the Jin court, in the battle to defeat Zhao Luan Shu, the general of the Chinese army who showed great strength, took the opportunity to put forward his own suggestions to Jin Jinggong - reduce the current size of Jin's army and compress the positions of ministers in the court, so that the king can directly control most of the power of the court ( In fact, he is taking the opportunity to win more benefits for Luan.)
Duke Jinggong of Jin was convinced of Luan Shu's proposal, and now it was time to make personnel adjustments in the court again; therefore, after completing the execution of the Zhao family (big clan), Duke Jinggong of Jin changed the original six members of the Jin state. The system of twelve ministers in the army was reduced to the system of eight ministers in the four armies; among the four positions that were abolished, except for the two original positions of the Zhao clan - the general of the lower army (Zhao Tong) and the general of the new middle army (Zhao Kuo) ), Jin Jinggong also added a new general (Han Chuan) owned by the Han family who was unwilling to send troops to attack Zhao, and a new general owned by the Shi family who were relatively weak and not very active in attacking Zhao. The positions of the two ministers, Jun Zuo (Gong Shuo), were also cancelled.
In addition, Jin Jinggong also merged Jin's original new upper, middle and lower armies into a new army. At this time, the Jin State only had the upper, middle, lower and new armies.
After Jin Jinggong destroyed the power of Zhao, re-adjusted the positions of ministers in the court, and reduced the size of the Jin army, the new eight ministers of Jin were ranked as follows: Luan Shu, the central general and the ruling official, Zhongjun Zuo Xun Geng (Zhongxing Geng), upper army general Shi Xie (Fan Xie), upper army Zuo Queqi, lower army general Han Jue, lower army Zuo Xunfeng (Zhi Feng), new army general Zhao Zhan, new army general But arrived.
The newcomer Quezhi who entered the court this time and served as the new military assistant at the end of the Eight Ministers is also a member of the Que family; The younger brother of Qi's great-grandfather, Cherui, they both have the same great-great-grandfather, namely Cher Bao, the founder of the Cher family). Quezhi's grandfather, Queyang, had a fiefdom in Buyi, so he also took Yi as his surname and was called Bushi; Quezhi's own fiefdom was in Wenyi, and because he ranked third among his brothers, he was also called Bushi. Known as the 'warm season'.
After Quezhi was promoted to the court by Jin Jinggong and served as the new military assistant at the end of the Eight Ministers, the Que family had two positions in the newly built Eight Ministers. Their strength was greatly enhanced and they could compete with the Luan family of Luan Shu. They are on a par with each other (the Que family was originally a long-established nobleman of the Jin Kingdom, and their background was no worse than that of the Luan family, or even better).
After previously making suggestions to Jin Jinggong to reduce the army and reduce the number of ministers, and getting Jin Jinggong's approval, Luan Shu believed that his family had assisted the monarch in killing powerful ministers (Zhao family), and followed the monarch's footsteps. , Adjusting the balance of power in the court, Luan should be rewarded by the monarch no matter what, and the number of ministers in the court should be increased.
However, Jin Jinggong has been in the position of Marquis of Jin for a long time, and he has long been familiar with the way of controlling power and controlling the ministers. Therefore, among the new Eight Ministers after the personnel adjustment, no Luan family members except Luan Shu were promoted. The family members became the new ministers, but they deliberately supported the Que family, another hero of the campaign against Zhao, and appointed Que Zhi, the younger brother of Que Qi, the head of the Que family, as the new military assistant, in order to commend the Que family for their outstanding achievements in the campaign against Zhao. "Outstanding contribution" made in the process.
The purpose of Jin Jinggong's move was to carry out further political planning to prevent the already powerful Luan family from taking credit for assisting him in annihilating the Zhao family, and thus gained more court benefits. , will accelerate the rapid growth of the power of the Luan family and form a new family of powerful ministers; therefore, Jin Jinggong did not choose members of the Luan family, but promoted them to the court, in order to use the Que family to contain Luan Shu and the Luan family to achieve political balance in the court.
As for whether Luan Shu was convinced or not, whether Luan was resentful or angry at Que, and how Que Qi and Luan Shu would get along in the future, Jin Jinggong did not care about this matter. Even this was what Jin Jinggong wanted. (If there is a conflict between ministers, wouldn't it be better for the monarch to divide and rule?)
Let's talk about the other side - after the collapse of the Zhao family, Han Jue, who had received generations of kindness from the Zhao family, did not want his former benefactor's family to decline and die, so he found an opportunity to advise Jin Jinggong, saying that the Zhao family was really He has made great contributions to the Jin State. The meritorious service of Cheng Ji (Zhao Shuai) and the loyalty of Xuan Meng (Zhao Dun) are obvious to all in the Jin Dynasty.
Now, due to the dishonesty of some descendants, the Zhao family has no one who can inherit the family honors. If such an outstanding family loses the qualification to retain the family honors and honors because of the imprudence of future generations, then Which family will be willing to continue to fight to the death for the country and the monarch in the future?
Therefore, Han Jue asked Jin Jinggong to re-establish the eldest son for the Zhao family, so as to inherit the posthumous sacrifices of Zhao Shui and Zhao Dun and the honor of the Zhao family, and rebuild the Zhao family of Jin.
Jin Jinggong originally wanted to promote his nephew Zhao Wu and let him inherit the Zhao family's title after the Zhao family was exterminated. However, Han Jue's request to "let Zhao Wu inherit the Zhao family" was in line with Jin Jinggong's request. Therefore, with Han Jue's advice, less than a year before the end of the "Trouble in the Lower Palace", Jin Jinggong officially appointed his eight-year-old nephew Zhao Wu as the eldest son of the new generation of Zhao family. Inherited the inheritance of the Zhao family, and was responsible for the sacrifice of the "good ministers" of the three generations of Zhao Shui, Zhao Dun and Zhao Shuo.
After establishing Zhao Wu as the eldest son of the Zhao family and reestablishing the Zhao family, Jin Jinggong returned part of the original Zhao family's fiefdom that had been transferred to the Yangyu family to Zhao Wu (part of it), and then appointed the only remaining Zhao family Zhao Zhanlai, a close relative, the head of the Handan family of Jin State and the current new army general, is responsible for assisting and taking care of the young Zhao Wu and handling the internal affairs of the Zhao family.
In this way, the glory and revival of the entire Zhao family fell on Zhao Wu, who was only eight years old.
In the third year after the end of the "Trouble in the Lower Palace", at the beginning of the fifth year of King Jian of Zhou Dynasty (581 BC), Jin Jinggong, who had reigned for 19 years, suddenly fell seriously ill, causing him to be unable to sleep day and night; and even if he finally managed to sleep After that, Jin Jinggong often dreamed that the ghosts of brothers Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo came to him with bloodstains all over their bodies to ask why he innocently killed the Zhao family, and then sought revenge on him with weapons in hand.
Therefore, suffering from the double torture of heart and external diseases, Jin Jinggong often had nightmares and suffered from serious illnesses. He fell on the bed and was unable to continue to handle the heavy government affairs.
The king is ill and unable to govern, but the country cannot be without a leader. In desperation, Jin Jinggong had no choice but to order Pu Dai, the prince of Jin, to preside over state affairs. He appointed the top two military generals Luan Shu and Zuo Xungeng among the officials to assist the prince in governing the country (Shangjun Zuo Queqi and others Ministers have a lower rank and are not qualified to assist the government).
In the summer of the fifth year of King Jian of Zhou Dynasty (581 BC), Jin Jinggong, who had been suffering from physical and mental pain for half a year amid endless anxiety and deep fear, was finally relieved and died of illness in the palace in Xintian, the capital of the country ( There is also another theory of the death of Jin Jinggong. He accidentally fell into the toilet while going to the toilet and was drowned by feces. Since it does not involve the focus of this article, I will not elaborate here. Rewrite an article specifically to tell the story of Jin Jinggong’s death).
After Jin Jinggong passed away, the Chinese Army General Luan Shu and the Chinese Army Zuo Xungeng, who had the "power to take care of orders", supported the Jin Crown Prince Zhou Pu to inherit the position of Jin Hou. This was Jin Ligong. The historical process of Jin State has thus opened a new page.
