The twenty-fifth year of the reign of Lu Xianggong (BC548) was an eventful year: a heinous murder of the monarch occurred in the state of Qi; The Shangqing of Jin and Chu died one after another; After eleven years in exile, Wei Xiangong returned to the throne through a series of assassinations and other conspiracies; Cheng Zheng, the upstart of the Jin State (already introduced in the previous chapter), was appointed as the secretary, and the pattern of confrontation between the six secretaries of the Jin State was officially formed.

In the spring, Cui Zhu's division invaded the state of Lu. Lu Xianggong was very frightened, and he wanted to send someone to the Jin State to ask for help, but Meng Gongxuan said: "The enemy's military discipline in this operation is strict, and the entry is not for the sake of cowardice, and the city is not sieged." It seems that Cui Zhu's mind is not in the war but in the country. I'm afraid he's preparing to do something 'big', right? Don't worry, the enemy will withdraw soon. ”

As he expected, the Qi army did not continue to go deeper, but just wandered around the territory and returned to China. Of course, Cui Zhu must withdraw his troops as soon as possible - Qi Zhuanggong is still lying in his bed!

The "big event" in Meng Gongqiu's mouth is the killing of the king.

Cui Shu has too many reasons to kill Qi Zhuanggong, which can be summarized as follows:

First, Duke Qi Zhuang did not respect Cui Shu and gave his crown to others, as for where the crown came from, please see the second article;

Second, Duke Qi Zhuang often went to his house when Cui Zhu was away and committed adultery with Mr. Cui's wife, Tang Jiang, which can explain the origin of the crown;

Third, and the most important one, Qi Zhuanggong's invasion of the Jin State will bring disaster to the Qi State, and not killing the Duke of Qi Zhuang is not enough to calm the anger of the Jin people, and it is not enough to save the Qi State in danger.

Tang Jiang's ex-husband was Tang Gong, a public doctor, who married Cui Zhu, a widower after being widowed (this history will be detailed later). Qi Zhuang Gong was still the crown prince at the time, he attended the wedding of Cui Zhu and Tang Jiang, and when he saw the bride, he was shocked, and said in his heart: "It's a pity, how can such a peerless beauty marry a half-old man?" The peaches were licked by pigs, but it's a pity! ”

Gong Qi Zhuang never forgot Tang Jiang, and after he ascended the throne, he often arranged for Cui Zhu to go out on business trips, so as to take the opportunity to go to Cui Zhu's house to have a tryst with Tang Jiang. There is no mouth in the world that does not gossip, and this scandal was soon known by Cui Shu; But he didn't make a drastic performance, just silently hid the humiliation in his heart. In order to express his guilt, Gong Qi Zhuang even intensified his efforts to send him out, and gave Cui Zhu's gift crown to others.

The attendant of the Duke of Qi Zhuang said: "The crown is a symbol of personality, and there is a saying: 'When a gentleman dies, he will inevitably be crowned.'" What's more, Cui Zigui is a prime minister, and the prince can't give Cui Zi's crown to others. ”

Qi Zhuanggong disagreed: "Are you worried that Cui Zi only has this one hat?" His women are all widows, let alone a ceremonial crown? ”

Because of Cui Shu's forbearance attitude, Qi Zhuanggong actually moved his private affairs from the underground to the public - he often brought a large number of entourages to Cui Shu's house, as if he was afraid that he would not know that he was cheating.

Doctor Shen Xianyu persuaded him: "There is an old saying in the Jin Kingdom, which says, 'A stolen donkey can't be ridden', because I am afraid that the crime will be made public." And the prince not only rode a donkey to swagger through the market, but also trumpeted who stole it from. This practice can be described as 'unwise' and will bring disaster to the prince. But Qi Zhuang Gong still refused to correct it.

When Duke Qi Zhuang decided to invade the Jin Kingdom, Cui Zhu vigorously opposed it, but it was unsuccessful; After the successful raid of the Qi army, Cui Shu realized that the revenge of the Jin State was in the middle of the day, and Yu Guo and his family had to get rid of him; And if he doesn't kill that reckless prostitute before the arrival of the Huaxia Coalition Army, the country will be destroyed in his hands.

But getting rid of him in public is almost impossible. The successive monarchs of the Qi State liked to raise minions (i.e., warriors, and minions were not derogatory in the Zhou Dynasty), especially the Duke of Qi Zhuang. The first monarch only regarded them as partners and retinues, and the two parties only had a personal relationship; The Duke of Qi Zhuang specially set up a "brave lord" to reward the best among the warriors, so that some big and rough people can be among the doctors of the office with only brute force and fighting.

After Luan Ying was killed, the warriors who escaped by luck such as Zhou Xuan and Bing Shi returned to Linzi, and the two were canonized as brave doctors.

In this way, many "big guys" want to be a part of the minions, so Qi Zhuanggong has gathered many warriors who rely on strength and fighting to eat. Every warrior can be ten with one, and Qi Zhuang Gong must take some people with him wherever he goes; But he's not afraid of danger, he just likes to show and enjoy the swagger.

Although Cui Zhu was always ready to carry out the assassination operation, he couldn't find an opportunity. Soon, there was a glimmer of hope. It turned out that Qi Zhuanggong's personal eunuch and Jia Ju made some small mistakes, and as a result, they were ruthlessly whipped by Qi Zhuanggong. It was customary for the monarch to expel punished ministers from the palace to avoid reprisals. But Qi Zhuanggong didn't care and still kept him by his side. The little eunuch who was bound to repay was soon developed into Cui Zhu's insider. With Jia Ju's help, the success rate of the assassination was greatly improved.

In the summer of May, Ju Zi came to Linzi to hold talks with Qi Zhuang Gong because of the alliance with Yu; The Duke of Qi Zhuang asked Ju to break away from the Huaxia Alliance and help Qi to resist the Huaxia Alliance. Ju Zi was forced to accept - otherwise he wouldn't even be able to get out of Linzi.

During Juzi's visit, Cui Zhu and Jia Ju devised a plan to trick Qi Zhuang Gong into Cui Zhu's mansion and kill him.

Cui Shu was worried that his strength was not enough, because the assassination of Qi Zhuang Gong was only part of the plan, and the elimination of his supporters was the top priority. After thinking about it, Cui Shu had no choice but to go to Qingfeng and ask him to support him - the donkey of the Qingfeng family was not stolen by Qi Zhuanggong.

In fact, Qingfeng doesn't care if he loses his donkey or not (because his father started by stealing donkeys, and he often goes into the palace to steal donkeys, and Duke Qi Zhuang doesn't care). Qingfeng advocates violence and likes to create chaos; He doesn't know what loyalty is, he only thinks about what he can gain; As long as someone bids high enough, he can do anything bad that will cut off his offspring.

Although Qingfeng is a big old man, he has a lot of eyes at all. He put on a hesitant look and said, "If the prince is killed, I will become a murderer." Although we are for the sake of the country's interests, it is not excluded that some people are enemies of the Qing family. In order to protect the safety of the family, I asked to serve as the left minister. ”

Qingfeng was just a doctor at the time, and his conditions were equivalent to taking half of the power in Cui Zhu's hands. Cui Shu had no choice but to agree in order to succeed.

The two sides began to discuss the details of the coup d'état, and the plan soon came out: Choi was responsible for assassinating the monarch; At the same time, Qingfeng had to command the clan to attack Shen Xianyu, Ju Qiuying and others; After Cui Shu completed the task, he divided part of his troops to act together with Qingfeng, and at the same time wanted to seize the palace and kidnap the prince and grandson inside; After success, he pushed the son pestle to the top.

The two then performed a simplified version of the ritual of bloodshed. Qingfeng asked Cui Zhu to wait for a while, he returned to the back hall to draw up a blacklist, turned it back and handed it to Cui Shu and said, "These people deserve to die, it's better to take the opportunity to get rid of them." Cui Shu was shocked when he saw it, and said in his heart: "It's terrible to be rude." ”

After Cui Shu left, Qingfeng looked at the back of the old scholar and said, "Killing the king at every turn, it's terrible to be knowledgeable." ”

On May 16, Qizhuang held a banquet to entertain Juzi, and Cui Zhu should be present as the main escort. But Cui Zhu's son Cui Ming came to tell him that his father suddenly suffered a stroke and lost his speech and could not attend the banquet.

Gong Qi Zhuang announced that the banquet would be held on time. When Jia Ju saw him opening, he raised his glass and drank wildly, afraid that he would drink too much and delay the "business", so he hurriedly whispered in his ear: "Don't drink too much; The good day has arrived, the beauty is in the city, how long have you not seen Tang Jiang? ”

This sentence aroused Qi Zhuanggong's strong desire, and he hurriedly drank a few glasses and said: "Cui Zi is seriously ill, and the widow is very worried in his heart, and he is not in the mood to continue. That's all for today, and we'll see you next time. ”