The seeds of murder were actually planted a year ago.

It turned out that Qi Xianggong began to worry about safety soon after sending Wei Huigong to the throne. Qian Mou jumped up and down in Cheng Zhou, bitterly recounting the heinous crimes committed by the Qi people against the royal family and the guards; He wept bitterly and came forward to speak, and tried his best to persuade the doctors to retaliate against Qi Guo.

In the end, he saw that he had succeeded in stirring up the dissatisfaction of the Zhou people, but the effect was still a little bit less; He sacrificed a killer weapon: "You may think that there are no atrocities on the battlefield, or you may think that the second son of the left and right subverted the office first, so you did not regard Qi Zhu'er as a tyrant; However, please don't forget Qi Zhu'er's wife, Princess Wang Ji! The little princess was imprisoned in the cold palace by him just because she couldn't get used to Qi Zhu'er's promiscuous life, and died of hunger and cold! Isn't the persecution of innocent royal princesses still an atrocity? ”

Although King Zhou Zhuang has not yet officially expressed his position, some ministers can no longer control their anger; On the one hand, they tried to unite a wider range of forces, and on the other hand, they were ready to jointly put forward a bill to punish Qi State.

Qi Xianggong was very nervous because of this. Later, there was gossip that at the instigation of Qianmu, Qi Xianggong's enemies had secretly reached an agreement and were preparing to attack Qi. During his ten years of reign in Qi, Duke Xiang of Qi had many enemies among the princes, and he had a deep self-knowledge of his notoriety, and he did not dare to take it lightly, so he immediately began to deploy defensive forces.

There is a small river named "Shishui" in the west of Linzi, which is the natural barrier of Linzi. Shishui originates about 40 miles southwest of Linzi, and the small river meanders up along the north-west, and flows northeast into the Bohai Sea at a distance of 10 miles from Jishui. On the east bank of Shishui, there is a city called Kwai Hill (also known as Qu Qiu), which guards the Shishui Ferry, so it is called the west gate of Linzi. If the dynasty's army attacked from the west, it would have to occupy Aoi Hill first.

Qi Xianggong decided to send Lian Cheng and Guan Zhi's father to lead the army to defend Kwai Hill. During the Spring and Autumn Period, due to the low social productivity, the vassal states did not have a standing army except for the garrison; Therefore, unless there are special circumstances, no country will recruit troops to garrison a city for a long time.

It's a difficult and unprofitable chore! Kuiqiu is a small town, far less than the prosperous Linzi, life is monotonous and boring, and the soldiers are all energetic young people, so the two commanders are very concerned about the duration of the garrison.

At this time, it is the seventh month of the summer calendar, which is the season for melons to be on the market. Qi Xianggong picked up a melon and said to the two: "Take the melon ripening period in the lunar year, and replace the melon." ”

The year passed "slowly" quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was the season of ripening melons. The garrison period had expired, but there was no news from Linzi, as if the two men and the defenders no longer existed.

The two of them looked at Linzi and wanted to see it, but they couldn't see the messenger of the monarch. So the two specially presented two extra-large melons and a bunch of small melons to Qi Xianggong, and wrote a letter to remind him euphemistically not to forget his promise.

However, the king's reply was very arrogant and rude, asking: "Why are the melons you sent not ripe?" "And said that now is the busy farming season, the farmland has suffered a large area of insect infestation, everyone is busy with pest control and disaster reduction, and you are the only one in the entire Qi country who has nothing to do. In that case, why don't the two of them stay in Kwai Hill and enjoy the blessings? Even if you can't help, don't make any more trouble for the widows.

Far from appeasing the people, this letter had a side effect: because even the fiefdom in charge of the two people had been plagued by insects, and the soldiers were all people with land, which meant that the loss of their farmland was probably the worst in the whole Qi country. Therefore, everyone in the army is anxious and anxious. Some people even speculate that shaking the hearts of the army may be what Qi Xianggong wants to achieve; He just wanted this army to mutiny.

Both of them have deeply understood Qi Xianggong's bad temper. They did not dare to continue their demands and had to look for other avenues of redress.

Lian Cheng has a little cousin in Qi Xianggong's harem, and she once boasted to Lian Cheng that she was a collection of thousands of favors, and Qi Xianggong would not be able to live for a moment without her (this was really fulfilled later). Liancheng immediately wrote a letter to his sister, asking her to blow the wind on her pillow. However, Concubine Lian wrote back that she was now more eager to see Qi Hou than Lian Cheng, because she hadn't seen her husband for half a year.

Just when the two of them were anxious, Gongsun Wuzhi sent a letter, saying that he had sent his own farmers and slaves to help them in the disaster, and that their losses were not very large, so please rest assured; Then the conversation changed and said, such a thing as guarding Kuiqiu has never happened in Qi State, and the princes are very quiet, and there is no sign of war breaking out, so there is no need for you to continue to garrison; As for why the monarch still insists on doing this, the two of them had better think about it.

As mentioned earlier, Duke Qi has a half-brother named Yi Zhongnian, and his eldest son is Gongsun Wuzhi, who is very similar to the prince Zhu'er in terms of appearance, figure, and morality.

Duke Qi was particularly fond of Yi Zhongnian, and gave him and his grandson ignorant very high treatment; Yi Zhongnian became a figure who could almost be equal to the Marquis of Qi, and Gongsun Wuzhi was also on an equal footing with the crown prince. At that time, the people of Qi could often see Ignorance wearing the same dress as the prince, following behind Duke Qi side by side; The doctors see ignorance as if they were princes.

Some ministers advised the Duke of Qi, saying that a country cannot have two princes, otherwise it will open up the undesirable desires of others, which will create hatred and cause chaos. The Duke of Qi turned a deaf ear to this, and his doting fostered ignorant pride and ambition, as well as the dissatisfaction and hostility of the crown prince.

After Qi Xianggong ascended the throne, he gradually abolished the ignorant treatment given by the ancestors, and embarrassed him at every turn—placing him at the back of the ranks of ministers during ceremonies; When the banquet was held, he was asked to sit in the most remote corner, and the food utensils on the table were simple and shabby, and the food was all in them.

Ignorant and angry, he said that he was sick, and Qi Xianggong instructed others to sue the ignorant black state and take away his family property little by little. As a result, the resentment between the two sides has risen to the level of irreconcilable, life-and-death: Qi Xianggong is looking for excuses, ignorance is looking for opportunities to get rid of the other party.

If we link the current situation of Shouaogaoka with the political struggle between the two men, it is not difficult to find the answer.

At this time, the two woke up like a dream. It turns out that they used to have a very close relationship with Ignorance (who wouldn't want to talk to Ignorance when he gained power), and it was only after Ignorance fell that they began to distance themselves from him (who wouldn't want to stay away from him after Ignorance lost power). However, Qi Xianggong has always suspected that the two are secretly colluding with ignorance and preparing to overthrow their own rule, so Qi Xianggong believes that this pair of wings must be cut off before ignorance can be eradicated. As a result, Gongsun Wuzhi's behavior of helping the two doctors to exterminate insects strengthened Qi Xianggong's understanding.

The people of Qi know very well in their hearts: according to the usual practice, the period of garrisoning the border must not exceed one year. Failure to recall after the deadline will lead to mutiny - the soldiers are all people with small family and property, and their horses, equipment, miscellaneous military service, rations, and pocket money must be provided by their own families, and long-term service will make the family impoverished.

In the event of a mutiny, the first person responsible is the general, and the military law is extremely strict on the responsibility of the generals; At that time, if the two don't want to be beheaded, they will have to flee. More importantly, Kwai Qiu itself was an ignorant fiefdom, and after Qi Xianggong forced Lian and Guan to leave, it was easy to find a few more witnesses to accuse him of ignorance, and put him to death on the charge of planning a mutiny. You can find a lot of charges by flipping through them, but what is missing is timing.

Once they spied on the clues, Lian and Guan decided to take countermeasures. By this time the soldiers were all grumbling, and the restlessness spread like a plague, and some of the most courageous or psychologically fragile had fled.