In the seventh year of the reign of King Cheng of Lu (BC584), the state of Lu began to prepare for the upcoming suburban festival. Lu Chenggong personally went to the cattle farm to select sacrifices for the suburban sacrifice. After the sacrifice was chosen, he was taken to a warm, dry place to be fed alone.

A few days later, the cattle keeper found that the horns had been gnawed by the mole. If there is a defect in the sacrificial body, it cannot be used for sacrifice. After divination, the Lu people chose another cow, but the horns were broken by the naughty mole, so the cow was not sacrificed in this year's suburban sacrifice.

This year is an extremely important year in the history of the Spring and Autumn Period, because it was in this year that the detailed records of the people of Wu appeared for the first time in the annals of the Spring and Autumn Period.

The history of the state of Wu can be traced back to the time when King Wu of Zhou (or King Cheng of Zhou) carried out the Great Division.

In that year, King Tai of Zhou (Gong Gong's father) planned to set up his third son Ji Li as his heir, and did not want his eldest son Tai Bo and second son Yu Zhong to pose a threat to Ji Li, so he ordered Tai Bo and Yu Zhong to take an army and an army to immigrate to Luping, Shanxi Province to establish the ancient Yu State.

Tai Bo became the founding monarch of the Yu Kingdom, but he had no descendants, so he made his brother Yu Zhong his heir.

After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Tianzi selected one person from Yu Zhong's descendants and named him to Gusu, as a viscount, and the country name was Wu. At that time, the Huaxia region and the south were full of Fang states established during the Xia and Shang periods, and Yue was one of the powerful countries, and the geographical location of Wu was on the only way for Yue to go north, so the intention of the Zhou people to feudal Wu was very intriguing.

At that time, Gusu was in a barbaric land in the southeast, and there was no country within 500 miles, only tribes of different sizes. Juwu is bordered by the sea in the east, Qunshu in the west, Qiantang River in the south as the moat, and Xu, Tan and other countries in the north. The climate of Wu is humid and hot, the water system is vertical and horizontal, and the products are abundant; The people are tattooed, brave and brave, and live a comfortable life.

The Zhou royal family is like a wandering and merciful son, who forgot about it after planting a seed in Gusu. For hundreds of years, due to the lack of roads, geopolitical and strategic direction problems, the state of Wu and the royal family have basically cut off contact, and it has become a lost country beyond the reach of the royal family's heavenly power and grace.

The Wu people were not civilized for a long time, and the Chinese regarded the Chu people as "barbarians", but the Chu people regarded the Wu people as "barbarians", and the Chinese regarded Wu as barbarians among barbarians. However, the Wu State Office did not follow the Zhou rites, but because it could not be influenced by the Central Plains civilization, and did not know what the Zhou rites were.

Since there were no strong enemies around, Wu did not have a strong army and unified equipment; The people of Wu did not raise horses, so they did not have chariots but only infantry. However, Wu's shipbuilding technology was quite developed, and the navy was invincible in the vicinity. Due to the hot climate, the soldiers also did not wear armor and usually fought bare-chested.

It is such an unfettered country that has enjoyed great peace for more than 400 years, and has not left any traces of history in these 400 years. It was not until the eighth year of Lu Xuangong (BC601) that the name of Wu first appeared in the Zuo Chuan: in that year, the monarchs of Wu, Chu, and Yue met near Chaohu Lake and made an alliance.

In the sixth year of Lu Chenggong, Wu Zishoumeng ascended the throne and became the first generation of monarchs in the history of Wu with unknown order. As a result, in the middle and early Spring and Autumn Period (if the 270 years of the Spring and Autumn Period are divided into three periods, then the 90 years from the 28th year of Lu Xuangong to the 31st year of Lu Xianggong are equivalent to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period), the people-to-people contacts between Wu and China gradually became frequent and close.

Shou Meng's father's name was "Qu Qi", and during his reign, he began to formulate and implement a national expansion strategy, which in the initial stage was to gather crowds to fight against the surrounding small tribes and force them to submit or relocate. After more than ten years of fighting, the territory of Wu has expanded several times and has become the leading power in the region.

When he went to Qi, he sent people to the country of China to invite some knowledgeable people back and ask them about the history and culture of China. The people of Wu were envious of the splendid Chinese civilization, but this kind of exchange was limited to the people, and the Wu government never sent envoys to get in touch with the Chinese princes, perhaps because of the inferiority of the Wu people, or because of the arrogance of the Wu people.

In the spring of this year, Shou Meng finally decided to open the door to China by way of aggression. He led his army north to attack the state of Tan, which was located near present-day Tancheng in Shandong, and was a descendant of Shaohao. The small Tanguo office was extravagant, the people were tired, there were no strong soldiers inside, and there were no reinforcements outside, so they soon gave up resistance and sued for peace with the Wu people.

Ji Wenzi said: "China's sluggish brigade has caused the barbarians to invade, and Huaxia can't help Tan to fight against foreign enemies!" This is the alliance leader's unkindness! The Book of Songs says: 'If you don't hang Haotian, chaos will be determined.' That's what happened!

"If the leader of the alliance is not good, how can the allies not suffer? The country is dying! From then on, the state of Lu began to strengthen its garrison to defend against foreign enemies. At that time, it was said: "Know the fear and take measures, and the country will not perish." ”

Regarding the northern invasion of Wu, the Jin people showed indifference and even a laissez-faire attitude; Moreover, Jin Jinggong not only did not regard Wu as an enemy who endangered China, but instead sent envoys to Wu this year and began to vigorously help Wu develop armaments. This envoy was the doctor of the state of Chu who defected to the Jin state, Shen Gong Wuchen.

The reason for this has to start with the family of Zizhong and Zianti persecuting Shen Gong Wuchen. It turned out that after the state of Chu made the state of Song submit, Zizhong thought that he had made a great contribution to the establishment, so he asked the king of Chuzhuang, hoping that the king of Chuzhuang could reward him with Shen County and Lu County.

King Chuzhuang had already agreed, but Qu Wu said, "No. Shen and Lü have always been owned by the royal family and bear the military endowments of the Chinese army; The two places are also the northern gateways of the country, and they are responsible for defending against the enemy's southern invasion. If it was given to the minister, the royal family lost control of both places; The two ** teams of Jin and Zheng will pass through Shen and Lu and go directly to Hanshui. ”

Therefore, the king of Chuzhuang withdrew his order and used other cities as a reward for his son. Zizhong has held a grudge against Qu Wu since then.

Zizhong and Zi are the brothers that King Chuzhuang trusts and relies on the most, but there is a deep estrangement between these two brothers. Zizhong has an introverted temperament, is calm in encountering things, and is invisible, while Zizhong has a flamboyant personality, acts impatiently, and likes to hide from others.

When Zianti was still a doctor, he had no scruples to cover it up one by one; When he was in the position of the Great Sima, he made Yin Zizhong a cover-up. In the eyes of others, Zizhong didn't seem to care about Zizhong's offensive behavior; But what Zi wants to do, if you don't have Zizhong's support, it will be difficult to do.

In the event of sibling discord, Qu Wu's family can also be temporarily safe; But then Zizhong also moved to kill, so the tragedy inevitably happened.

Qu Wu was different from Emperor Miao Ben in that he had neither sin nor hatred for the Chu people. Although Qu Wu also worked for the new master, he was unwilling to do anything that would damage the Chu State.

Later, Huang Xu followed Zheng Mourning Gong to Chu to participate in the lawsuit with Xu Guo, but Zheng Guoren lost the lawsuit, and Huang Xu was detained by the Chu people. Zi felt that the opportunity had come, so he secretly asked Huang Xu to "expose" the various crimes committed by Wu Chen against the Chu State to Zizhong. Huang Xu committed perjury under the coercion and inducement of the other party.

The son was furious and immediately reported to the king of Chu; The king of Chu was furious and ordered his son to investigate the case. Zizhong remembered the old hatred at this time, and because he hated Wu and Wu, he labeled his clansmen, relatives and friends with Qu Wu as "spies" and "Chu traitors". The king of Chu was deceived and ordered his son to take full authority to deal with the matter.

In the summer of this year, Zizhong, Zianti and Wang Zi killed Wuchen's party, and the victims included Qing Yin Fuji, Ziyan, Zidang, Hei Yao and others; The murderers robbed and divided all the victims' property.

This massacre completely pushed Qu Wu to the opposite side of the Chu state. The atrocities set off a chain reaction and brought great consequences to the state of Chu: it directly led to the rise of the state of Wu, and the society of the state of Chu was almost destroyed in the hands of the state of Wu.

With the greatest anger, Qu Wu wrote a letter to the two executioners, which was rather brief: "You serve the king with slander and greed, and slaughter innocents, and I will exhaust you to death!" ”

Then Qu Wu went to see Jin Jinggong and said: "There is a city in Chu with mountains as cities and Han water as pools; Even the Huaxia Coalition Army under the command of Duke Qi Huan did not dare to attack Fangcheng Mountain. The heavy armor of the Chu State is in the north and the soft belly is in the east, the terrain in the east is open, and there are many small countries such as Qunshu scattered between the Jianghan and Huaishui, and they cannot pose a threat to the Chu State, so the Chu State has never taken the Oriental people in its eyes.

"However, the minister had been to Juwu in the East China Sea, and its founding monarch was Yu Zhong, the second son of King Tai of Zhou. The country of Wu is rich in fish and salt, the national strength is strong, the Wu people have broken hair tattoos, and the people are strong. However, for hundreds of years, Wu was located in the land of barbarian people, isolated from China, and although it was the dominant party, it was neither civilized enough nor good at military affairs. Therefore, the minister asked to send an envoy to the state of Wu to educate the Wu people and help them develop military equipment to weaken the state of Chu. ”

Jin Jinggong was overjoyed and immediately sent him to the state of Wu.

When Shou Meng learned the purpose of Wu Chen's envoy, he couldn't help but shout: "Heaven help me!" He hit it off with the Jin people and quickly established an alliance with the Jin state. From then on, the Jin State continuously sent various craftsmen to the Wu State, and the craftsmen taught the Wu people the skills of making chariot armor; Jin Jinggong also sent 30 chariots and chariot sergeants to help Wu State train officers and soldiers. The Jin people taught the Wu people to drive chariots, taught the Wu people to use battle arrays, and instigated the Wu people to challenge the authority of the Chu state.

Wu Chen ordered his son Hu Yong to be the liaison officer between the two countries, and he was fully responsible for the affairs of Wu. Soon the state of Wu began to cut down Chu, cut down Xu, and cut down nests; Zizhong had to run for his life to save Xu. After the Maling League, the Wu army captured Zhoulai, and Zizhong was forced to lead an army from Zheng to rescue him. Zizhong, Zianti went back and forth seven times a year to fight against the Wu army. The small barbarian states submitted to the Chu state, and the Wu state broke each one and took them away. At this point, the state of Wu began to grow rapidly, becoming a large southeastern country on an equal footing with the Chinese princes.