Gao Changgong, the king of Lanling, is one of the four beautiful men in ancient China, well-known to the world, his appearance gene still comes from his grandfather Gao Huan, the Shenwu Emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Gao Huan warlord life, starting from the end of the micro, but created the division of the Northern Wei Empire. Gao Huan, the word He Liuhun, was born in Huaishuo Town, the appearance is quite high, according to the historical records, its sixth ancestor was in the Western Jin Dynasty as the Taishou, and his grandfather Gao Mi was in the Northern Wei Dynasty when Emperor Xiaowen was the official to pay homage to the imperial history. But there are two theories about Gao Huan's father, Gao Shusheng, in history, the first one comes from the book of Wei in the Northern Qi Dynasty: Gao Huan's father was the general of Zhenyuan, the governor of Dadu, and posthumously crowned the king of Bohai after his death. The "Epitaph of Gao Shusheng and His Wife", which is now in the library of Luoyang Normal University, also proves this. The second is the "Book of Northern Qi" and "Northern History" written in the Tang Dynasty: Gao Shusheng was not involved in family business, and he was idle, so that Gao Huan could only be fostered in his son-in-law's house after he was born. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was not uncommon to package family history, and Wei Shui was also famous for not writing a history, so the second theory is more convinced. But the two have one thing in common, Gao Huan's self-identity is still Han. Gao Huan's family was poor in his early years, but he was calm and stable since he was a child, and he had the ambition to clarify the world. The period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties was relatively chaotic, and the time for Gao Huan to soar soon came. In the second year of Xiaochang (526), the Xianbei soldiers revolted, swept Hebei with hundreds of thousands of troops and approached Yecheng, and the Northern Wei Dynasty minister Er Zhurong greeted him with 7,000 elite soldiers, and Gao Huan was under the account of Er Zhurong as a general at this time. But before, Gao Huan had been in the rebel army and knew the inside of the rebel army, so he suggested that Xu Yili disintegrate, and Er Zhurong sent Gao Huan to persuade him to surrender, and at the same time captured the leader of the rebel army. Gao Huan successfully recruited the remnants of the rebel army, and his own strength was expanded. In the third year of Yong'an (530), Emperor Xiaozhuang killed Erzhurong, and the Erzhu family immediately rebelled and killed Emperor Xiaozhuang, and established Yuanye, the king of Changguang, as the emperor. At this time, Gao Huan did not help any party, and chose to preserve his strength. He found that many of the alien soldiers under the Erzhu clan were dissatisfied with the harsh rule and repeatedly rebelled, and Gao Huan took the opportunity to win the trust of the Erzhu clan and got the opportunity to recover these soldiers for his own use.

In the second year of Zhongxing (532), Gao Huan and Erzhu completely broke up, and the two sides fought in Guang'a, Gao Huan won more with less, and since then he has continued to advance and win repeatedly. In the second year, the Erzhu clan was defeated and the remnants surrendered, and Gao Huan recruited them and became the new powerful faction of the Northern Wei Dynasty. At the same time, this also made Emperor Xiaowu Yuan Xiu jealous, and the contradictions between the two sides soon surfaced. In the third year of Yongxi (534), Yuan Xiu went to Guanzhong, Gao Huan failed to catch up, and returned to Luoyang to support Yuan Shanjian as the emperor, and moved the capital to Yecheng for Emperor Xiaojing. At this point, the Northern Wei regime disappeared from the stage of history and was divided into Eastern Wei and Western Wei. In the spring of 639 B.C., the three great powers of Song, Qi, and Chu met in Lushang (Song Yi, now southeast of Juye County, Shandong), at which Song Xianggong asked the two bigwigs of Qi and Chu to invite the princes of the world to hold the largest clothing meeting in history (the friendly alliance of all countries did not bring military chariots and only wore ceremonial dresses), and jointly elected Song Xianggong as the leader of the alliance.

Faced with Song Xianggong's facelessness and skinlessness, Qi Xiaogong could only think of it as a snake. Although there was civil strife in Qi that year, it was Song Xianggong who led the troops to escort him to Linzi to take the throne; But now that Song Xianggong doesn't want to be the overlord with all his might, it's embarrassing. After all, Qi is a superpower, although the national strength is damaged by civil strife, it is impossible to be the younger brother of Song Guo, fortunately, Qi Xiaogong is an honest man, he doesn't want to turn his face with Song Xianggong, so he casually snorted and fooled things over.

And although King Chu Cheng is a generation of heroes, he is an outsider after all, and has always been regarded as a barbarian by the big countries of the Central Plains, Song Xianggong wants to bring him to play is already giving him face, and he can't support the widow?

However, Song Xianggong's cousin, Song Guoxian's minister Muyi thought that King Chu Cheng was not a person to be messed with, back then, Duke Qi Huan and Guan Zhong had been scheming for decades, but they couldn't get this Nan Batian, Song Xianggong just relied on his little cleverness, he wanted to let this hero open his eyes, how could this be possible? Therefore, when the August meeting was approaching, Song Xianggong really prepared a bodyguard to go to Yudi (Songyi, northwest of present-day Juxian County, Henan) to participate in the alliance meeting according to the appointment, Gongzi Muyi hurriedly persuaded him: "Chuyi is also strong and unrighteous, please go to the meeting with a military chariot." ”

Song Xianggong said: "No." I made an appointment with him to take a ride, and I did it for myself, and I fell into it, and I said that it was impossible! ”

Gongzi Muyi saw that Song Xianggong did not listen to persuasion, and his heart was very anxious. You are a gentleman, you want to treat people with sincerity, and you are unwilling to go back on your word, this is a good quality, but not everyone is a gentleman, do you think King Chu Cheng is like a gentleman? It's better to send more soldiers, after all, this is the territory of the Song Kingdom, and the Chu people don't dare to take us!

Song Xianggong sighed: "If I am harmed by the Chu people, the son will return to the country, and the country of the son will also be the country." It is that I do not follow the words of the Son to this end. ”

Gongzi Muyi saw that Song Xianggong sacrificed his life for hegemony, and entrusted the future affairs to himself, and couldn't help but sigh loudly: "Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the country, and if you don't say it, I will do the same." (Although the king does not speak of the country, the country of the old ministers is also)

Song Xianggong is indeed an old-fashioned person, but he is not a crazy and stupid person, doesn't he really know the danger of this alliance? Lu is a state of etiquette, didn't Ke Zhimeng shamelessly kidnap Duke Qi Huan? Even the people of Lu don't talk about credit, and the barbarians are even more likely to be not trustworthy. At the beginning of the alliance of the Tombs, the state of Chu was obviously a blood alliance with the nine countries of the Central Plains, and swore that the alliance would be good from now on, but before the blood stains dried, the state of Chu beat Xu Guo to cry and call his mother, where is his credit? Is there no way, in terms of national strength, Song can't even compare to Chu's little finger, Chu really wants to be unfavorable to Song, it's useless for Song Xianggong to bring more military vehicles, it's not the same that he can't beat others? And this is even worse, people will say that Song Guoxian is not trustworthy, and Chu Guo fought well and reasonably!

Therefore, if you don't talk about credit, you will be beaten in vain; Being beaten for creditworthiness at least occupies a moral advantage, at least in exchange for the sympathy of the princes for the Song State and the hatred of the Chu State, so as to recreate the grand occasion of the Eight Kingdoms attacking Chu back then, this is not a bitter trick.

So, Song Xianggong was more bullish than Guan Gong in later generations, and he didn't even bring a single knife, so he went to the meeting empty-handed, and he still had a trace of fantasy in his heart: The people of Chu should not dare to blatantly breach the contract in front of the princes of the world, right?

Song Xianggong was wrong, he wanted King Chu Cheng to be credited, and the old sows would go up the tree, and there was no overlord in this world. The reason why King Chuping agreed to Song Xianggong so readily was not because he gave Song Xianggong face, but because he had other plans. Since the alliance of Qi and Chu Zhaoling, King Chu Cheng has always wanted to enter the Central Plains, just because the Central Plains princes have adopted a strategy of uniting against Chu, making it difficult for Chu to advance northward, and now Song Xianggong, who is self-proclaimed, took the initiative to send it to the door, and King Chu Cheng just killed him and obtained the core of the Central Plains of the Song State, then the world can get it!

What Song Xianggong was even more wrong was that the princes of the world did not come as he expected. The princes he went to invite himself, except for Cao Guo, who was scared by him, did not give face, and even Qi Xiaogong did not come to participate under the pretext of not coming; As for the princes of Chu State, Chen, Cai, Zheng, and Xu all came, but they were all the younger brothers of Chu State, and they didn't even dare to let go of a fart under the obscene power of Chu State, and they didn't use it at all.

As a result, of course, King Chu Cheng took off his sheepskin at the alliance meeting, exposed his mouth full of wolf teeth, ambushed his troops, and arrested poor Song Xianggong like a little chicken, and then coerced Chen, Cai, Zheng, Xu, and Cao, who was on the verge of rebellion, to send troops to attack the Song State.

At this critical moment, Qi, Lu, Jin, Qin and the Central Plains did not send troops to rescue as Song Xianggong expected, and the coalition forces of Chu surrounded Shangqiu, the capital of Song, for several months, and half of the reinforcements did not arrive.

Everyone's attitude couldn't be clearer: This is the contradiction between your Song State and Chu State, we can't control it, we deserve to be played, we are looking for death if we are beaten, and it is even more stupid to talk to the people of Chu about credit, and we still want to earn some sympathy points here, no way!

It is understandable that other countries do not save the Song State, and the civil strife in Qi is all dependent on Song Xianggong's help to pacify, but at this time there is still no soldier, it can be seen that in the face of national interests, the so-called benevolence and righteousness, the so-called diplomatic relations, are all shit, only Song Xianggong still uses it as a treasure, in a vain attempt to dominate the world, isn't it stupid and naïve?

Song Xianggong became a hostage, watching his country fall into danger, we don't know how he felt, but judging from the development of things later, he has no regrets for his stubbornness.

On the other hand, the prince Muyi, who took advantage of the chaos and fled back to the Song State, had already ascended the throne as the king of Shangqiu, the capital of the Song Dynasty, and led the people to carry out the Chu army.

So King Chu Cheng sent the doctor Dou Shenyi to Lu to offer his victory, and gave some of the spoils obtained from the Song Kingdom to Lu Xugong, not saying anything, but actually wanted him to be a mediator and give himself a step down, after all, it was a bit faceless to retreat like this.

Lu Xigong comprehended, so he smiled at these spoils, this little slippery head is not interested in such a thankless thing as saving Song, but of course it is incumbent on mediating such a flattering and effortless matter. So, in the autumn of that year, Duke Lu and the princes of Chu met in Bodi (now north of Shangqiu, Henan) and persuaded King Cheng of Chu to release his father and withdraw his troops to make peace with the Song State.

King Chu Cheng has long wanted to let his father go, this waste has no use value except for playing treasure, it is simply a garbage stock, and it is a waste to hold it for a long time, not only can it not rise in value but consumes food; Killing it is equivalent to dirtying your own hands, and it will be very disheartening, which is no different from cutting meat in the stock market; It's better to get rid of it and return it to Song Guo as soon as possible. Besides, that Mu Yi of the Song Kingdom looks very powerful, and it is better to let him be the monarch than let the father of Zi, a stupid bird with great ambition and talent, be the fool of the enemy, and the stupidity of the enemy is his luck!

So King Chu Cheng got off the donkey and let go of his father, not only changed hands on a rotten stock, but sold Lu Xigong's favor and made a small profit, why not do it?

Although his father regained his freedom, there was a new king in the country, so he ran to Weiguo and reunited with his mother.

In just a few days, from the overlord to the prisoner, from the prisoner to the destitute civilian, after going through so many things, my father was tired, he wanted to live a peaceful and happy life, and completely forgot this unpleasant memory. As for the future of the Song Kingdom, leave it to the new monarch Muyi, he was calm and calm at the time of the national crisis, and did a good job, since this is the case, then continue to do it.

But Mu Yi didn't want to take over this hot potato, so he personally came to Weiguo to ask his father to go back and continue to preside over the work, and said: "The country is guarded by the king, why can't the king enter?" ”

Mu Yi is wise, although he temporarily took the position of king, but his father still has a large number of supporters in the Song Kingdom, in case these people are not convinced and cause any trouble, how can it be good?

Song Xianggong returned to the Song State to restore the throne, there was no regret in his heart, only resentment, this time he was humiliated, he did not complain about the heavens or the earth, only the princes of Zheng Xu, Chen Cai, Cao and other countries, and hated them to death in his heart, even more than hating King Chu Cheng. This gang of spineless "Xia traitors" are openly flattering and shameless, and they obviously give the right to manipulate China to the hands of Jing Chu barbarians.

Shame, shame, Song Xianggong himself did not feel very ashamed of being imprisoned, but he felt ashamed of Zhuxia.

Song Xianggong learned from the pain, he finally understood that the alliance alone could not solve the problem of the Chu State, and he had to fight a battle, a dignified battle, to show the spirit of the Song State and revive the courage of Zhuxia! Regardless of whether he wins or loses this battle, only benevolence and righteousness are emphasized, because only benevolence and righteousness can unite the Chinese princes together. In Song Xianggong's view, the alliance of interests has no cohesion, and only benevolence and righteousness are king!

Therefore, Song Xianggong actively prepared for war, trained his troops day and night, and prepared to fight a battle of benevolence and righteousness with the Chu State at the right time. He firmly believed that the benevolent man was invincible, and even if he was defeated repeatedly, the final victory would definitely belong to the Song Kingdom; Because he firmly believes that even if his benevolence and righteousness cannot move Jing Man, he will definitely move Heaven and all the Chinese princes.

To tell the truth, although Song Xianggong's pedantic legacy has been laughing for thousands of years, in such a long era, "benevolence and righteousness" is still very marketable, so although King Chu Cheng of Bo Zhihui became the leader of the alliance as he wished, his untrustworthy and unrighteous actions also made some Chinese princes feel disgusted, so after the meeting, some of the princes who were attached to Chu (Xu and Chen Erguo recorded in the history books) fell to the side of Song Xianggong and refused to recognize the hegemony of King Chu Cheng. Therefore, although King Chu Cheng had quite a record in his life, he had destroyed the eleventh country, forced the Duke of Qi Huan, and defeated the Duke of Song Xiang, but he still could not be ranked among the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period.

Basically, the term "hegemon" in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the later generations are full of arbitrary and domineering meaning of force is still different. "The five tyrants can dominate because they work hard to appease the princes and lead everyone to obey the orders of the Son of Heaven. This is the true meaning of "hegemon". Therefore, when the historian Ban Gu discussed the candidates for the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons, he said: "Song Xiang is a Qi, if he does not capture Ermao, he does not drum and does not form a column." "The Biography of the Spring and Autumn Period" said: "Although the battle of King Wen was not over. 'Know its hegemony. "The Legend of the Ram in the Spring and Autumn Period" also believes that Song Xianggong "does not forget the great gift when he is about a big event", he is actually a gentleman, and can even be compared with King Wen of Zhou. The implication is that Song Xianggong was a moral model in the Spring and Autumn Period, even if his martial arts were a little worse, he was enough to rank among the five tyrants. In short, although Song Xianggong suffered a series of failures, but he preached benevolence and righteousness, and made a name for himself, he was full of confidence and felt that the situation was very good, and he decided to take this opportunity to raise troops to take revenge and dominate the cause in one fell swoop!

So, on those rainy nights, Song Xianggong still had dreams in his arms and fell asleep peacefully. In my dream, it was a sea filled with the smell of warm sunshine......