There were also two deaths in Zheng Guo this year: one was the death of Gongsun Yu; The other is that Gongzi Jia was killed.

On the 13th day of the fourth month of the summer, Gongsun Yu died. Gongsun Yu is the son of Gongzi Yan (Ziyou), he is a person who behaves in a decent manner, lacks strength, and is more than successful. If he had not set an example for the coalition forces in the "Battle of Relocation (in the 14th year of Lu Xianggong)" to attack Qin, he would have never received any honors after his death.

After the Jin people received the news, Shilu decided to make a fuss about this matter: first, because he had a close personal relationship with Gongsun Yu; The second is that he needs to set an example for foreigners to serve the Jin Kingdom.

Shi Kuo said to Jin Pinggong: "Among the princes and doctors, Zheng Yu is one of the most loyal to the alliance leader and alliance (the others are not dead); If he is not recognized for his merits, I am afraid that it will not be able to inspire others to continue to be loyal to the alliance leader. ”

The Duke of Jin Ping then sent an envoy to the royal city to ask King Zhou Ling to give Gongsun Yu a special honor. King Zhou Ling was stupid and couldn't tell the difference between Gongsun Yu of Zheng State and Gongsun Yu of Qi State. Gongsun Yu of the State of Qi was the cousin of his father-in-law, Duke Qi Ling, and the cousin of the queen, so he thought that it was the people of the Qi State who died, and he couldn't help but exclaim: "Ah? Why did Dr. Ziwei die at such a young age? The people of the Jin Kingdom were confused when they heard it, because Zheng Yuzi was not Ziwei, and he was almost sixty years old when he died.

As a result, King Zhou Ling gave the surviving Ziwei a road car as a funeral. Fortunately, the people of the Jin Kingdom found the problem in time and immediately corrected his mistake. Zheng Guoren used a road car to accompany Gongsun Yu to the funeral.

Next, the story of the killing of Gongzi Jia (Zikong) is recounted.

In that year, Zheng Mugong married Song Zi in the Song State, and married Gui Concubine in the Chen State; Song Zi gave birth to Zikong and Ziran, and Gui Fei gave birth to Zikong. Song Zi and Gui Fei have the same status and close feelings, so the relationship between the three brothers is deeper than that of other brothers.

In the fourth year of Zheng Xigong, Ziran died, and his son Zige (Gongsun Dan, also known as Ran Dan) inherited the family; In the first year of Zheng Jian's reign, Shizi Kong died, and his son Ziliang inherited the family. Due to the low status of the Zige and Ziliang families, the two clans were often suppressed by other clans. But Zikong was in a high position, and the two simply handed over the leadership of the family to Zikong. Zikong later promoted Zige and Ziliang to the rank of Shangda. Thus the three clans, though nominally independent, have actually become one; In this way, the Zikong clan is much stronger than the ordinary Mu family.

After the Battle of Pingyin, Dr. Qing returned to China; Zizhan secretly handed them a report on the incident of the Chu State against Zheng; In his report, he highlighted Zikong's treason.

The joy of victory swept away on the faces of Zheng Jiangong and the secretaries, and they all put away their smiles and became worried. People decided to get rid of the villain who had been endangering the office for a long time, but when they convicted him, they found that Zikong was really cunning and cunning, and there was no evidence of any crime against Zikong.

Zizhan said: "Although Gongzijia is hated by the Zheng people, he cannot be punished based on speculation alone. If it is more difficult to collect evidence of treason, then it is better to start with the 'Weizhi Rebellion' nine years ago. It is said that he did not report what he knew about the year, which led to the death of three secretaries. If this rumor can be confirmed, his crime should be treated as treason. ”

Zixi said: "But the bandits back then are basically dead, where can I find evidence?" ”

Zizhan said: "There is still a person who is not dead, we can try our luck on him." ”

The person Zizhan said was Si Chen, who fled to the Song Kingdom after participating in the rebellion; Later, the Zheng people extradited the criminals back to China, but the Song people secretly let him go and secretly entrusted him to Ji Wuzi.

Zheng Jiangong immediately sent a secret envoy to meet Ji Wenzi. Zheng Envoy handed Ji Wuzi a gift list, and said: "Zheng and Lu are brothers' countries, Zheng Guo can't bear to see Lu being invaded by the enemy country, so he follows the alliance leader to help Lu fight the enemy." In the Battle of Pingyin, Zheng Guo's children were killed and wounded more than 1,000 people, and the children suffered for the benefit of Lu State.

"Zheng Ren didn't want to ask Lu for credit with this, but the minister who was protected by the master was originally a traitor to our country, and our country has the right to extradite him. But the widow didn't want to embarrass his master, so he sent me to investigate the murder of Sanqing a few years ago and ask him a few questions. After this interruption, you and I will never see each other. ”

Ji Wuzi was not yet greedy enough to eat all, he felt a little ashamed, blushed, declined Zheng Ren's gift three times, and immediately arranged for the secret envoy to meet with Si Chen.

Zheng Envoy and Sichen sat face-to-face in a room; One of Ji Wuzi's retainers sat on the side with a sword, and his identity was a witness to the conversation and a protector of the minister.

Zheng said, "You can tell where I come from by listening to my accent. Don't be so surprised, as if you haven't heard from your countrymen. Since I can see you at Ji's house, I can also kill you in the market. You were originally a sinner in the public office, but the widow (the Zheng people have already regarded traitors as foreigners) decided to give you a chance to be pardoned, and you only need to confess what dishonorable role Gongzi Jia played in the incident back then. What do you think? ”

Si Chen's face was solemn, and he pondered for a moment and said, "Thank you for your great kindness, I will tell you everything I know." There were no more than three people who knew the inside story, and at that time one of my nephews was working as a guard for Zikong, and I was afraid that he would be harmed, so I revealed the plan to him; He reported the news to Zikong, and Zikong escaped. ”

Zheng Envoy wrote the confession on a sheepskin and asked, "What was Gongzijia's reaction when he received the news?" ”

Sichen said: "Hearing what my nephew said, Zikong was immediately overjoyed and said, 'If my brothers all die, won't I be the boss?' That's what I said. ”

Zheng continued to ask him a few questions, and then asked him and the witnesses to sign the confession. The envoy expressed his gratitude to Ji Wuzi again, and then rushed back to Xinzheng day and night.

On the other side, Gongzijia also noticed something unusual: Zheng Jiangong did not go to court for several days, and the secretaries often gathered together behind his back to mutter, and his colleagues saw him just perfunctory and walked away, as if they were hiding from the plague.

Childe Jia has a premonition that a catastrophe is coming, and there is not much time left for him. He summoned Zige and Ziliang and asked them for countermeasures. Ziliang said: "What other countermeasures can there be? Master, let's go into exile on your own initiative! The scholars all belong to the Mu clan, and the Kong clan can be guaranteed to be descended from Zheng Guo. ”

Gongzijia was very annoyed, and he said: "Zheng people call you and me three families in one, there is no old man, you are at most a doctor." Now that Kong's family is in trouble, you actually sit idly by, it's really chilling for the old man! ”

Ziliang said: "I hope that the original intention of the master to promote us is not to help us do great things. If the master starts an incident, he will not only face the Zheng people, but also the Jin people and the entire alliance behind him. If the Master can recognize the stakes, he should choose to go into exile on his own initiative. ”

Childe Kana's stubborn temper came up again, and he said, "I'm not leaving!" It's okay too! I'm going to see what happens to me! ”

Zige and Ziliang glanced at each other and sighed: "If the monarch holds my uncle responsible, I will send clan A to protect my uncle and escape; That's the best I can do! Ziliang also made the same promise.

On August 11 (a few days after Gao Hou was killed), Zizhan and Zixi gathered an army and arranged the soldiers in the square in front of the Taimiao; Then he knocked on the wooden priest and drew the people over. Zizhan climbed the steps and said to the people present: "Gongzi Jia Wudao, a few years ago, he colluded with the five clans to launch a rebellion, killed the secretary of the state, stole the position of the secretary, tried to monopolize power, and killed innocent ministers. Last year, he colluded with the Chu people in a vain attempt to destroy the office, subvert the society, and usurp the monarchy. Heaven has eyes, but it has not allowed his plot to succeed; But since he has become an enemy of the state, he must be punished; And everyone has the right to exterminate the national thief and receive a reward. So, follow us on a crusade against the Kongs! ”

The people of the country already hated Zikong, and now when they heard that revenge could be rewarded, they immediately raised their arms and shouted. Zizhan and Zi Xijian had already stirred up the emotions of the countrymen, and immediately strode down the steps; The Chinese people automatically gave way to a passage, and the two immediately led the army and the Chinese people straight to Kong's residence.

Gongzi Jia thought that with the help of the three clans, he could completely resist the attack of any family and retreat, but he didn't expect the other party to mobilize the countrymen. Looking at the endless crowd of zombies, the defenders were terrified, and many of them abandoned their duties and fled, and the countrymen swarmed in. The last sentence that Gongzijia said was: "Ziliang is right, I am really against the Chinese people." ”

At that time, Zige and Ziliang were not in the Kong Mansion, and the two fled when they saw that the situation was not good. The two fled to the state of Chu together, and later Zige was appointed as the right yin by the king of Chu Ling by virtue of his outstanding talents.