Long before the Qin army set out on the expedition, the old minister Uncle Jian had tried his best to persuade Qin Mugong not to send troops, but Qin Mugong listened to the words of the Qin general Qizi who stayed in Zheng State, and decided to go his own way to go on an expedition to Zheng State. Among the three people who were ordered by Qin Mugong to lead the Qin army on the expedition, Meng Mingshi, Xi Qishu and Bai Yibing were the sons of Uncle Jian, and Meng Mingshi was the son of Baili Xi, the doctor of Qin. Uncle Jian and Baili Xi knew that the Qin army had committed a taboo in the army, and it would be more than auspicious, so they each held their son's hand and mourned when they saw them off, crying and saying: "Child, I watched your army leave, but I couldn't see you coming back!" ”。

Qin Mugong was about to give the order to march the army with great interest, but he was upset by the cries of these two old ministers, so he said very unhappily: "I sent a large army to fight, but you stopped the army from crying and shaking morale, what is this for?" Uncle Jian and Baili Xi endured their grief, stopped crying and replied: "The minister did not dare to stop the army and shake the morale, but the army was about to start, and our respective sons were about to leave; We are old and weak, and we do not live long, and if they come back late, we may not see each other again, so we mourn. ”

Uncle Jian privately explained to his son: "Your army is about to be defeated, and the people of the Jin Kingdom will definitely stop you in Yanshan, which has two mountain mausoleums." The mountain mausoleum to the south is the tomb of Hou Gao of the Xia Dynasty; The mountain mausoleum in the north is the place where King Wen of Zhou once took refuge from the wind and rain. If you die in battle, you will be between two mountains, and then I will go there and collect your body. ”

No matter how Uncle Jian and Baili Xi repeatedly hinted that the Qin army would definitely be defeated, but considering that there was Qizi in Zheng State to make an internal response for the Qin army and open the gate of Zheng Guo's capital for the Qin army, Qin Mugong still confidently ordered the army to set off to the east.

Later, the Qin army met Zheng Guo merchant Xiangao on the road, and the conspiracy to attack Zheng Guo was also discovered, and the Qin army could not attack Zheng Guo as originally planned, so they had to return to the army Qin State, in order not to return empty-handed, they also destroyed the small country surnamed Ji on the way, and then continued to march towards the Jin State through which they must return home.

At that time, Duke Wen of Jin had just died and had not yet been buried, and the successor Xianggong of Jin learned the news that the Qin army had returned from the expedition without success, and thought that this was a good time to combat the arrogance of the Qin army and consolidate the hegemony of the Jin state. couldn't even wait for the mourning period to pass, so Jin Xianggong used ink to dye the white mourning clothes black and then united Jiang Rong's army to set up an ambush between the two mountains and mausoleums in Yinshan. Meng Mingshi, Xi Qishu and Bai Yibing, the three generals did not take their father's warnings and instructions to heart, and did not raise their vigilance when passing through this canyon that was very easy to be ambushed, and easily entered the ambush circle of the Jin army, under the ambush of the Jin army and Jiang Rong's army, they soon fell into the annihilation of the whole army, and the three generals of Meng Mingshi, Xi Qishu and Bai Yibing were also captured by the Jin army, which is the famous battle of Qin and Jin in history.

Meng Mingshi and the three of them were not only generals who were deeply trusted by Qin Mugong, but also the sons of Baili Xi and Jian Shu, who were high-ranking and powerful doctors in the Qin State, respectively, and the Jin State captured them and naturally couldn't let them go easily. Generally speaking, there are probably two fates waiting for the three of them, one is that they are the generals of the enemy army, since they can't be used by me, naturally they can't let the tiger return to the mountain, leaving him with trouble coming back, so they can only cut the grass and eradicate the roots, and kill them quickly; Second, as the sons of Qin Mugong's valued generals and powerful ministers in Qin, they can also use this value to negotiate with Qin, and use them in exchange for Qin to cede some land to Jin. In any case, the three Qin generals became prisoners of the Jin State, and normally they could not be released easily.

However, exceptions always occur from time to time, and although Jin Xianggong is eloquent, he is easily swayed by other people's words. Jin Xianggong's father, Wen Ying, the wife of Jin Wengong, was from Qin and was the daughter of Qin Mugong, and she was very worried when she heard that the three most important generals of Qin were defeated and captured in the Battle of Yin. She knew that although Qin's strength had increased suddenly, it was a border country after all, and if the three of them were killed, it would be a very serious blow to Qin's military strength and national strength, and it might even cause civil strife, so she racked her brains to think of a good strategy, wanting the three of them to return to China safely.

Wen Huan thought of a way to go to see Xianggong of Jin, and said to him: "The three of them provoked the relationship between Qin and Jin for their own fame and fortune, my father already hates them to the core, if you let them go back to China, my father will be very happy and kill them to vent his anger, why bother you to kill them?" Jin Xianggong thought about it and didn't think there was anything wrong, so he nodded and agreed.

Later, Jin Xianggong sent Yang Virgin Father to hunt down the three people, but at this time, Meng Mingshi and the others had already arrived at the ferry in the Yellow River, and Yang Virgin was eager to find the ferry to catch them up. However, Yang Virgin Father is a wise man, he looked at the distant shadow of the ship, and came up with a solution. Yang Virgin untied the horse that was driving on the left side of the carriage he was riding, and shouted at Meng Mingshi and the others on the boat: "Three of you, please stay, this is a horse given to the three by the king, please come ashore and take it back to Qin with you!" ”

However, Meng Mingshi was not a brave and unscrupulous person, he saw through that Yang Virgin only wanted to lure the three of them back to the shore to arrest him, but it was inconvenient to expose his lies, so he saluted on the boat and said: "Thanks to the grace of your monarch, he did not kill us captives, and allowed us to return to China to accept our crimes, if the monarch pardons us according to the kindness of the king of Jin, we will come back in three years to thank us for today's gift." After speaking, the boat has drifted away, once it crosses the Yellow River, it is the territory of Qin, and this time it will be impossible to catch up with the tiger and return to the mountain.

When the three of them returned to the capital of Qin, Qin Mugong had already received the news and personally dressed in plain clothes to meet him in the suburbs. Qin Mugong helped them up one by one, and then said sincerely: "It was I who didn't listen to Uncle Jian's good words and insisted on sending troops to cause a few of you to suffer the humiliation of defeat, this is my sin, what are the sins of the three of you?" And I can't use this mistake to erase the previous merits and great virtues of the three three, and I will ask you to do your best to assist me in clearing this shame in the future. ”

This is what a wise monarch should do, and Qin Mugong, one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, should not be underestimated.

After that, Qin Mugong ordered the restoration of Meng Mingshi, Xi Qishu, and Bai Yibing's original official positions, and did not alienate them because of this defeat, but treated them more favorably than before. The fiasco of the Battle of Yan calmed down Qin Mugong's ambition to dominate the Central Plains, and realized that the current strength of Qin was not enough to defeat Jin and open up the road to the east, so he concentrated on opening up westward development, crusading against Xirong, and opening up the hegemony of Qin in the western border.

The fiasco of the Battle of Yan was the first heavy blow suffered by Qin Mugong on the road to hegemony, so Qin Mugong did not forget to defeat the Jin State to avenge his hatred, so he ordered Meng Mingshi to lead his army to the Jin State a year later. Jin Xianggong personally led the troops to resist, first and Ju as the general of the Chinese army, Zhao Yuan as the Chinese army Zuo, the Qin army and the Jin army fought a decisive battle in Peng Ya, as a result, the Qin army was defeated by the Jin army again, lost the armor and fled, the Jin people sarcastically the Qin army as "the teacher of worship".

Just when Qin Mugong was at a loss because he was defeated by the Jin army again, an opportunity to open up westward came to the Qin State. There are many Rong tribes living in the west of Qin, and since the founding of Qin, they have been entangled like a nightmare in Qin, which is a major problem on the road of Qin's development and expansion, and it is also a worry about Qin's eastward expansion. King Rong heard that Qin Mugong was a very virtuous and heroic monarch, and was worried that the strength of Qin would be detrimental to the Rong people, so he sent his minister You Yu to envoy Qin to investigate the situation.

After Yu arrived in the Qin Kingdom, Qin Mugong took him to visit his palace and the treasures and belongings that continued in the past dynasties, and Yu Yu looked at it and said: "If these palace savings are built by ghosts and gods, then ghosts and gods will also be tired; If it is for the people to build, then it is for the people to work. Qin Mugong heard that he did not praise his beautiful palace and rich savings, but said that he worked hard for the people, and felt very strange and asked: "The Central Plains countries use poetry, books, rituals and laws to deal with government affairs, but there are still disasters from time to time. Isn't it difficult? ”

Yu Yu's ancestors were originally from the Jin Kingdom, and later fled to the Rong Land for refuge, and it was passed on to the Yu generation that he could still speak the dialect of the Jin Kingdom, and he also knew more about the situation of the Central Plains countries than most Rong people, so the King of Rong would send him to the Jin Kingdom. Now when Qin Mugong asked about the way to govern the country, he replied: "Governing the country with poetry, books, rituals, and music is the fundamental reason why the Central Plains countries are in trouble. Since the ancient sage Yellow Emperor created the law of ritual music and personally took the lead in practicing it, he has only achieved a small degree of governance. ”

In the times that followed, the monarch became more and more extravagant and lascivious. Relying on the power of the law to demand and supervise his subjects and people, the people were so tired that they resented the monarch for not being able to practice righteousness. When the time comes, the lord and his subordinates complain to each other and cannot satisfy themselves, and even usurp the throne and kill the king, and destroy the whole clan, which are the banes planted by the law of etiquette and music. The Rong people do not govern the country in this way, the king of Rong treats his subjects well with pure benevolence, and the subjects serve the king with faithfulness, and the political affairs of the whole country are as natural as managing their own bodies, and there is no need to know what way to govern the country, this is the way of the real sage to govern the country. ”

Although this is an exaggeration, can a small nomadic country be so good? These are all off-topic.

Qin Mugong lowered his head and pondered silently after hearing this, and afterwards he summoned Liao, the king of the inner history, to ask for advice: "I heard that there are saints in neighboring countries, and this is the sorrow of the enemy country. Now that Yu Yu is so virtuous, this is my scourge, how should I be good? "Neishi Wang Liao thought about it for a while and came up with a solution for Qin Mugong:

"King Rong is in the middle of nowhere, and he has never heard the music of the Central Plains. You can give him kabuki music and indulge him in lewd pleasures to kill his ambitions. Then he asked the king of Rong to postpone his return to China on behalf of Yu Yu, so as to alienate the relationship between their monarchs and ministers; At the same time, he kept Yu Yu and did not send him back to China, so that he could not return to China on time. King Rong must have felt that there was something strange about this matter, so he suspected Yu Yu. If there is a gap between their kings and ministers, they can defeat the Rong people. What's more, King Rong likes music, so he must not have the heart to deal with government affairs. ”

Qin Mugong listened to the strategy of the inner history king Liao and felt that it was very reasonable, so he decided to act according to the plan. So Qin Mugong set up a banquet to invite Yu Yu, and made an exception to connect the seats of the two to show courtesy, and pushed the cup with him to exchange the lamp and drink the banquet happily. After three rounds of drinking, Qin Mugong began to ask You Yu about the terrain and military strength of the Rong clan. Seeing that Qin Mugong was so hospitable, he also moved his mind, so he described the situation of the Rong people to Qin Mugong in detail one by one, and after the banquet, Qin Mugong ordered the king of the inner history Liao to select sixteen kaki to send to the king of Rong, and the king of Rong happily accepted, and since then he has been addicted to women's music and ignores political affairs, and does not take into account the matter of nomadic migration, resulting in the exhaustion of pasture grass and the death of half of the cattle and horses.

Qin Mugong saw that the time was ripe, so he let Yu return to China, and Yu saw that King Rong was discouraged, and he was no longer the heroic appearance of the heroic lord of the year, so he was so anxious that he admonished him many times, but King Rong could not listen to any advice, which made Yu very angry and helpless. Qin Mugong learned that King Rong and Yu Junchen had a gap between the two, so he sent people to secretly invite Yu to come to Qin several times, and Yu knew that King Rong was hopeless, and he would not do anything in Rongdi, so he had to leave the Rong clan and return to Qin. Qin Mu was very happy to see Yu Lai's return, and treated him with the courtesy of a guest, and consulted Yu about attacking the Rong clan.

King Rong has been exhausted, indulged in pleasure all day long, Qin Mugong went to the trouble of his henchmen, so he sent Meng Mingshi and others to lead the army to attack the Jin State again, after the Qin army crossed the Yellow River, the ferry boat used to cross the river was burned, in order to show that the Jin army would never return. With such courage to break the cauldron and no longer have to worry about the future, the Qin army really defeated the Jin army, captured the royal officials and land of the Jin state, and avenged the fiasco of the Battle of Yan, and the nearby Jin army stuck to the city and did not dare to fight.

So Mu Gong crossed the Yellow River from Maojin to build a tomb for the Qin soldiers who died in the battle of Yin, mourned on a large scale, and wept bitterly for three days. Qin Mugong also swore in front of the army: "Soldiers! Don't make a noise, listen to me and swear to you: the ancients consulted and consulted the opinions of the elderly, and there would be no fault. I repeatedly thought that I didn't listen to Uncle Jian and Baili Xi at the beginning, so I made such a vow here, so that future generations can remember my mistakes! When people of insight heard about this, they were moved to tears and said: "Qin Mugong treats people thoughtfully, and finally gets the joy of Meng Ming and others' victory over the Jin army. ”

After the great victory of the Jin army, Qin Mugong attacked the Rong people in the west with the might of the army, added twelve subject states, opened up thousands of miles of territory, and finally became a generation of overlords in the Xirong region. Zhou Tianzi also sent Zhao Gongguo to Qin with cymbals, drums and other tools for commanding the army to Qin Mugong as a congratulatory gift for his defeat of the Rong people.

Qin Mugong's ability to dominate Xirong has a lot to do with his extensive recruitment of talents, knowing people well, and treating people leniently. "Zuo Biography" commented on Qin Mugong: "Qin Mugong is also a king, a man of Zhou, and a person." That is to say, Qin Mugong, as the monarch, has a comprehensive consideration for the selection of talents, and it is true that he has made friends with talents. The two doctors who helped Qin Mugong achieve hegemony, Meng Mingshi and Zisang, worked tirelessly, and knew how to be prepared for danger in times of peace; The other is loyal, good at recognizing people and recommending talents, "Zuo Chuan" commented on the two of them: "'Sleepy night to solve the problem, to do things alone', Meng Ming has a good idea." 'Yi Que Sun Mou, with Yan Yizi', Zi Sang Youyan. "It is precisely because Qin Mugong can appoint talents to different official positions according to their respective talents, that he can open up a hegemony.

Qin Mugong is not only good at knowing and employing people, but also good at using the way of generosity and benevolence to win people's hearts. Once, Qin Mugong lost a rare horse, so he personally led people to look for it, but when he found it near Qishan, he found that more than 300 people had already captured the horse and eaten it, leaving only a skeleton. Seeing this, Qin Mugong's entourage planned to arrest the horse-eaters and punish them, but they were very frightened when they saw that the owner of the horse turned out to be the king.

Qin Mugong stopped his entourage, and instead said: "A gentleman should not hurt people because of livestock, I heard that eating good horse meat and not drinking wine will kill people." Seeing that the king did not blame himself, but that he cared so much about his body and rewarded him with wine to prevent himself from hurting himself, these people who had eaten the horses were very grateful for Qin Mugong's kindness.

Later, Qin Mugong led the army to fight with Jin Huigong in Hanyuan, and these horse-eating people also participated in the army and went out with Qin Mugong. In the battle array, Jin Huigong broke away from his own army to fight, Qin Mugong saw that he could not lose the opportunity, and hurriedly chased after him, but he was caught up by the main force of the Jin army and fell into a heavy siege, and the situation was very critical. When the three hundred horse-eating soldiers heard that the monarch was surrounded, they remembered Qin Mugong's kindness, and they all held weapons and shouted "You can die to repay the grace of eating horses and wine" to fight desperately for Qin Mugong, not only relieved the siege for Qin Mugong, but also captured Jin Huigong and returned to China, creating a dominant position for Qin in diplomacy with Jin.

What does this incident illustrate? An ordinary small gesture can also be a turning point in your personal future.

Since the Shang Dynasty, the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and even the Qin Dynasty have been popular funeral customs. The generals and doctors were killed, many dozens, and few widows. It can be seen that the popularity of the funeral system in the Spring and Autumn Period and the number of martyrs are related to the ancient people's world view, life and death and the attitude of "death is like life".

Once Qin Mugong held a banquet to entertain the ministers, the monarchs and ministers drank happily, and soon the wine was half-drunk, Qin Mugong saw that there were many talents in front of the hall, and they jointly created a hegemony, and the future was bright, so he said happily: "Life is happy together, death is sad together." "The three virtuous ministers of the Ziche clan, Dyingxi, Zhongxing, and Needle Tiger, were also in the banquet, they were originally very loyal to Qin Mugong, and when they heard Qin Mugong's words, they suddenly agreed, expressing their willingness to live and die with Qin Mugong.

In the sixth year of Lu Wengong (621 BC), a generation of overlord Qin Mugong died, Qin State was in full strength at this time, and Qin Mugong was a very promising monarch, so Qin State held a funeral for Qin Mugong. As many as 177 people were buried, which was the largest number of martyrs recorded since the Western Zhou Dynasty. Ziche's dying, Zhongxing, and needle tiger also fulfilled their promise and committed suicide to bury Qin Mugong. The people of Qin were very saddened by the suicide and martyrdom of the three virtuous ministers of the Ziche clan, so they made a poem to mourn them, which is the "Yellow Bird" in the "Book of Songs: Qin Feng":

Crossing the yellow bird, stopping at the thorns.

Who from Mu Gong? The car is dying.

This is dying, the special of centurions.

In its hole, I am worried.

He is the sky, and he destroys my beloved.

If it can be redeemed, people will be alive!

Handed over to the yellow bird, stopped at the mulberry.

Who from Mu Gong? The car is in the middle of the line.

Maintain this mid-line, the defense of the hundreds.

In its hole, I am worried.

He is the sky, and he destroys my beloved.

If it can be redeemed, people will be alive!

Handed over to the yellow bird, stopped at Chu.

Who from Mu Gong? Sub-needle tiger.

This needle tiger, the king of centurions.

In its hole, I am worried.

He is the sky, and he destroys my beloved.

If it can be redeemed, people will be alive!

A person of insight at the time commented: "Although Qin Mugong expanded his territory and dominated Xirong, and the east also competed with the overlord Jin State, it was not accidental that he failed to become the overlord of the princes in his lifetime. The death of the previous king also left the law of governing the world to the descendants, but after the death of Qin Mugong, he not only abandoned his own people, but even took away the talents of the country. The Book of Songs says: "When a man dies, the country is ruined." This means that the country has very few talents, so why take them away for burial? ”

"Zuo Chuan" commented on the funeral of Sanliang: "The kings of ancient times knew that their life was coming to an end, so they would select talents, establish a culture, record their own experience, formulate laws for future generations, set an example to guide them, give them laws and regulations, tell them the testament and rules of the previous kings, appoint them with certain positions, let them pay attention to local conditions, go with the flow, let the people trust them, and then they will leave." And now Qin Mugong has not done the above-mentioned holy king's practice and left the law for future generations, but has used the virtuous ministers and good generals to bury for himself, and people of insight can see from his practice that the Qin State will not have the strength to conquer the east in the future. ”

The development of history confirms the assertion of the "Zuo Chuan" that because Qin Mugong used outstanding talents for burial after his death, most of his children and grandchildren were mediocre and did not make great achievements. The vigorous development of the Qin State came to an abrupt end with the death of Qin Mugong, and in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Qin State failed to perform well on the political stage among the turbulent vassal states.