Confucius was a big man, nine feet and six inches tall. People called him " the long man." He was also good at riding horses and archery. He was knowledgeable and could be called a strange man. However, Confucius was born in a poor family and had no relatives among the nobles of the Lu court. Some snobbish people looked down on Confucius. When Confucius was 17 years old, he went to the Ji family's mansion to attend a banquet. He was blocked by the servant of the Ji family, Yang Hu. At that time, Confucius thought that power, status, and money were all worldly possessions. If he had them today, he might lose them tomorrow. Knowledge and ability were where a person's value lay. If he learned well, he would be an official. If a person had profound knowledge and superb ability, he might have them tomorrow without power, status, and money today. He thought that Yang Hu was stupid and ridiculous. One day, his status would be far higher than Yang Hu. As always, he studied hard and paid attention to national affairs.
King Ling of Chu had destroyed the State of Chen and made Young Master Chu Qiji the Duke of Chen. At that time, Jin, Qin, Qi, Chu, Wu, and Yue were the six major vassal states that controlled the situation of the world. Hundreds of small vassal states struggled to survive in the cracks of the six major vassal states. Therefore, the Crown Prince Dao of Chen fled to Jin, hoping to rely on Jin's strength to restore the country. Duke Ping of Jin took him in.
Five years after King Ling of Chu destroyed Chen, Young Master Chu killed King Ling of Chu and became King Ping of Chu. When Confucius heard the news, he said," In the past, the kings of the vassal states had to be conferred the title of King by the Emperor of Zhou before they could become kings. They could not call themselves kings. Those who called themselves kings would be punished and would not end well. Therefore, the world was peaceful. Now that the order was in complete chaos, everyone could call themselves kings. The kings put themselves in danger and would be killed by those who fought for the throne at any time. There were too many kings who had been killed. Sigh, it would be great if the ritual system established by the Duke of Zhou could be restored.”
After King Ping of Chu ascended the throne, he wanted to win over the hearts of the people. At this time, he was already the monarch of Chu State and did not care about the position of Duke Chen. He also thought that the Crown Prince of Chen State, Dao, was eyeing the Jin State covetously and wanted to use the power of Jin State to restore the country. Jin State was not easy to provoke, so he took the Crown Prince of Chen State, Dao, back from Jin State and made him Marquis Chen, Duke Hui of Chen. From Duke Ai of Chen to Duke Hui of Chen, the position of monarch of the Chen Nation had been vacant for five years. When Laozi heard about this, he sighed and said,"Weakness triumphs over strength." Later on, many major events were hit by his words. In 478 B.C., the Chen Kingdom was completely destroyed by the Chu Kingdom. A hundred years later, the descendants of the royal family of the Chen Kingdom became the monarch of the Qi Kingdom. Jiang Ziya was conferred the title of the powerful Qi Kingdom, and in the end, the weak descendants of the Chen Kingdom replaced the throne. Zhao Shuai of Jin had followed Chong 'er on the run for 19 years. After he returned, he was entrusted with an important task. His descendants failed in the power struggle of the six ministers of Jin and were executed. Only Zhao Wu, an orphan of the Zhao family, was lucky enough to survive. The ancestors of the Wei family of Jin were exterminated by Xirong and defected to Jin. In 376 B.C., the powerful State of Jin was divided up by his subjects, the Wei, Han, and Zhao. These were all things to be discussed later.
The Wu and Yue Kingdoms, which had been silent for a long time, gradually became famous in the chaotic war between the vassals.
The ancestor of the State of Wu was Wu Zhongyong, the second son of Ji Dan, the King of Zhou. Wu Zhongyong and his eldest brother Taibo knew that their father wanted to pass the throne to Ji Chang, the son of Ji Li, the third brother. In order to eliminate the worry of passing the throne to the older generation, they took the opportunity to collect herbs for their father and fled to Jiangnan together. They settled in Meili (now Mei Village in Jiangsu Province) and established the State of Wu.
In 584 B.C., a senior official of the State of Chu, Duke Shen, eloped to the State of Jin with a beautiful woman. In order to avenge the extermination of his family, he asked his son to teach the State of Wu the art of war and the art of chariot warfare. From then on, the State of Wu began to associate with the Central Plains and fight with the State of Chu for territory.
The ancestor of the State of Yue, Si Wuyu, was a descendant of Yu the Great. He was the son of Emperor Shaokang of the Xia Dynasty. He was granted the title of Yue (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) by Shaokang and was responsible for guarding Yu the Great's tomb.
Starting from 584 B.C., the State of Wu rose with the support of the State of Jin and became enemies with the State of Chu. In order to contain the Wu Country from behind, the Chu Country also began to support the Yue Country. From then on, the Wu and Yue countries began to compete for power. In 544 B.C., the King of Wu, Yu Ji, was captured and killed by the Yue people who were acting as gatekeepers.
Under the assistance of Yin Ziwen, Yu Qiuzi, Sun Shuao, and other virtuous officials, Chu State continued to expand its territory and become the largest vassal state in the Central Plains. King Ling of Chu killed the son of King Kang of Chu and became the king of Chu. He had been engaging in war for years and expanding his territory. However, he had failed to return after several attacks on Wu. After King Ping of Chu killed King Ling of Chu and seized the throne, he went against what King Ling of Chu had done and adopted a policy of recuperation. The political situation of Chu became more and more stable, and the national strength gradually recovered. However, King Ping of Chu was greedy for women and used sycophants, leading Chu to the wrong path.
When Confucius heard of these things, he wanted to end the chaotic situation in the world and implement the rites of Zhou to benefit the world. In 533 B.C., Confucius was already nineteen years old, but he had yet to marry a wife." There are three ways to be unfilial.”Before handling the state affairs, he needed to solve his personal problems first, so he married the daughter of the official family of Song Country.
Since the age of 20, Confucius had wanted to be an official. He paid close attention to the world's affairs and often expressed his views on governing the country. He was appreciated by Ji Sun. This year, he was appointed by Ji Sun as a small official to manage the warehouse.
In 532 B.C., Qiguan gave birth to a son for Confucius. Duke Zhao of Lu sent a carp to celebrate. Confucius named his son carp, also known as Boyu.
Later on, Confucius was promoted to be a small official in charge of the ranch. No matter what he did, he was conscientious and conscientious, working hard to do his work perfectly. When he was a small official in the warehouse, he was fair and accurate in accounting for money and grain. When he was a rancher, he carefully managed and personally did the rough work. The livestock he managed were fat and strong, and they reproduced quickly and in large numbers. However, this was far from Confucius 'ideal. He wanted to manage the country's affairs and benefit the world.
However, everyone in the State of Lu knew that Confucius came from a poor family and had a low social status. He was very far away from the position of a court minister. Moreover, Ji Sun held the power of the court and could not let anyone else touch it. Confucius felt that it was difficult for him to make a name for himself in the State of Lu, so he wanted to learn from the guest ministers who had been put in important positions in other vassal states. He went to other vassal states to lobby, hoping to be put in an important position by the monarch and realize his ambition of governing the country and benefiting the world. However, his feelings were tied to the Lu Kingdom. He could not bear to leave the Lu Kingdom where he was born and raised. He felt very conflicted.
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