The carnage lasted nearly two hours before it came to an end, and the air in the city at midnight was filled with a disgusting, thick smell of blood, and the soldiers were busy cleaning up the scene, and the survivors let out whimperes of pain. Many people took advantage of the chaos and fled: Lu Puqi fled to the Jin Kingdom; Wang He fled to the state of Lu; He fled to Weiguo and threw himself into the Ningxi Sect.

Ju Qiuying and his wife were driving away when they met their friend Shen Xianyu, so he fled out of the south gate with his friend. Both of these are the top figures on the blacklist, and they are also the ones who focus on arresting. When the rebels found that the two had fled first, they gathered a dozen chariots to pursue them along the route of their escape.

After the two escaped from Linzi, Shen Xianyu stretched out his hand and pushed Ju Qiuying's wife out of the car, complaining: "The monarch is stupid and doesn't know Kuang Zheng, the monarch can't be saved when he is in danger, he can't die, and he only cares about protecting the woman when he escapes, which country do you say is willing to take in people like you?" ”

The two fled for two hours in one go. When the vehicle passed through a pass that could only accommodate one chariot, the two of them were already yawning and very tired, and Shen Xianyu decided to rest in place.

Ju Qiuying said: "The enemy is still chasing after us!" ”

Shen Xianyu said: "On a one-to-one basis, who have I been afraid of? After saying that, he jumped out of the car and untied his horse. In order not to let the horse slip away in the middle of the night, he wrapped the bridle around his hand and slept in his clothes.

When the sun was first born the next day, Shen Xianyu woke up Juqiu Ying, and the two fed the war horses before eating breakfast. The two faintly heard the sound of cars and horses behind them, and immediately drove on. The carriage left the pass in a short time, and an open plain appeared in front of it. Shen Xianyu galloped wildly, and said: "There are many pursuers, you can't resist, let's run away quickly!" ”

The two of them ran more than a mile, and when they turned back, they saw the pursuers' chariots swinging away, and they were speeding towards them from the left and right. But Shen Xianyu drove out of the Great Wall of Qi first. Seeing the two of them entering the border of Lu State, the pursuers had to spit hatefully and turn around and return to Linzi.

Before entering Qufu, Shen Xianyu hired a local man in the wilderness and asked him to dress up as the Duke of Qi Zhuang and lie on a mat to receive his condolences. Later, this matter was known to the people of Chu, and King Chu Kang summoned him to Chu and gave him the high position of Right Yin. Ju Qiuying, on the other hand, returned to Qi after the demise of Cui and Qing, and finally died in another civil strife.

As mentioned earlier, after his uncle and grandson Qiaoru fled to Qi State, he married a daughter to Qi Linggong, and she gave birth to her son Pestle and Mortar soon after.

On May 19, Cui Zhu was appointed as the king, Cui Zhu was the right minister, and Qingfeng was the left minister. Pestle is for the Duke of Qi Jing - he, like the Duke of Jin Ping, is the king of the country's middle decline.

After the coronation ceremony, the two monarchicides made a covenant with the doctors in the temple. At that time, Cui Zhu was wearing a solemn court dress; Qingfeng is dressed in a military uniform and holds a big Yue in his hand; The two stood at the front, and behind them were the silent doctors; Murderous firing squads lined up outside the door.

Cui Zhu read out the covenant and said: "If you don't have the same heart as Cui and Qing, let God punish him!" ”

All those present were terrified, and they came up one after another to shed blood, repeating the oath against their will. Only Yan Zi held the bowl and sighed to the sky: "If I don't have the same heart as Zhongjun Lisheji, let God punish me!" ”

Qingfeng was furious, holding the big Yue with both hands, ready to kill on the spot. At the critical moment, Cui Zhu stepped forward seemingly inadvertently, blocked between the two with his body, and Yan Zi walked out without looking back.

After the ceremony, Qingfeng complained to Cui Zhu, saying that he shouldn't have stopped himself from killing the restless little man (Yan Ying is a head shorter than ordinary people), Cui Shu said: "Yan Ying's popularity is not within your reach, and treating him well can win the hearts of the people." ”

On May 21, the new monarch of Qi and the doctors held an alliance meeting with Ju Zi (who was still stranded in Linzi due to the turmoil).

After returning to the court, Qi Jinggong announced that the first monarch was called "Zhuang". After Taishi finished writing on the spot, he raised the book and read: "Cui Zhu killed Qi Zhuang Gong." ”

Cui Zhu was greatly frightened and ordered Taishi to revise the content immediately. Taishi said: "If history can be pretentious, everyone in the world has become loyal and filial sons, where are there still tyrants and rebellious ministers?" ”

Cui Shu was furious and shouted: "The day before yesterday, the covenant said: 'Those who do not share the same heart with Cui and Qing will be condemned by heaven.'" 'Taishi broke the covenant, don't blame me for being ruthless. ”

Taishi said: "Cui Zi, you are wrong. In the past, in order to maintain the independence of the historian's authority, the special historian was not allowed to participate in any oath, and even if he participated, he could not lose his blood as a historian. With the knowledge of the Master, he would not have been ignorant of this. Moreover, Zhou Li stipulated that historians would be exempted as long as they recorded truthfully, and no one dared to set a precedent for killing historians in the past dynasties. ”

Cui Shu was furious and immediately ordered him to withdraw and behead.

At that time, each country had two historians, one to remember and one to speak. The historian who recorded the words was Taishi's brother, and when he saw that his brother was killed, he walked a few steps quickly and picked up the Jianshu he dropped on the ground, wrote a column of words on it, and then read out: "Cui Shu killed Zhuang Gong and killed Taishi." ”

Cui Zhu immediately killed the deputy historian again, and the next day summoned the third brother of the victim and appointed him as the Taishi on the spot. After the new Taishi was written, he read out: "Cui Shu killed Zhuang Gong, killed Taishi and deputy history." ”

Cui Shu no longer had the courage to kill Xin Taishi, so he had to sigh and let him go. It turns out that the bravest people in the world are not warriors who do not turn to death, but historians who never wear armor and only hold a pen! And the true account is more feared by the tyrant and the rebel than the sword of murder! Relying on violent means, it is never possible to cover up the bloody facts!

Xin Taishi walked out of the palace gate and bumped into Nanshi who was hurrying in. Nanshi held a bamboo slip and a pen in his hand, and when he heard about the misfortune that the Taishi brothers had encountered, he thought that the new Taishi would not be exempt from the difficulties, so he planned to succeed him and die.

Nanshi asked in surprise as if he had seen a ghost, "Why aren't you dead yet?" ”

Xin Taishi said: "Cui Zi compromised. ”

Nanshi said: "Very good, then I'll go." ”

The two saluted each other and went their separate ways.

The historians of the Spring and Autumn Period were really a group of very unusual people, they seemed to live outside the four-dimensional time and space, silently and emotionlessly recording all the events that could be seen (as Lao Tzu said: "All things are done together, and I will observe them."). ”）。 Historians do not participate in politics, but only record politics; Do not participate in disputes, but only record disputes; They do not join any forces, but only observe the etiquette and respect the facts.

The position of a historian seems to be the safest, but in fact it is fraught with danger. Many power struggles in history have ended in the victory of the bad guys or worse, and the villains have asked the historians to falsify the facts and portray themselves as the embodiment of justice in order to turn black and white upside down. And once the historian disobeys, he will often be killed.

However, it is precisely because there are officials like the Taishi brothers of Qi who are loyal to their duties, not afraid of the powerful, and sacrifice their lives for righteousness, that future generations can know the truth of history and will not be blinded by false justice. In fact, although Cui Shu holds the highest power, he can achieve self-restraint; Although cold-blooded and cruel, there is still some awe. This kind of reverence comes from the ancient and simple world view of the Chinese nation, from the traditional moral education of the unity of Confucianism and Taoism, and from his heart that has not yet extinguished his conscience.

When people abandon their worldview, moral education, and conscience, even their reverence is abandoned. Without reverence, man will degenerate into a demon inferior to a beast (for evil will not be disturbed, and will not be punished by heaven); At that time, the world will become a paradise where evil is rampant, and what future generations can see is still a thriving peaceful and prosperous world.

On May 29, just thirteen days after the murder of Qi Zhuanggong, Cui Shu arranged a rudimentary funeral for the victims. Cui Shu ordered people to dig a small and deep pit in a remote place outside the cemetery of the ancestor of Qi as his burial place; The funeral procession was small, and the road was not blocked at the funeral. The courtiers casually carried his coffin into the grave, as if they had been employed by someone and had been accused of the small reward offered by their employer. The funeral goods were also pitiful, only four feather fans and seven chariots; There are no dings, jade, and armor.

A few days later, the Chinese princes met again in Yiyi under the convening of the Jin people. After the meeting, the alliance of princes rushed to Qi with great momentum.

The people of Qi had already prepared a large amount of bribes, and the envoys of Qi brought bribes to the army to sue for peace; The monarchs, scholars, and doctors of the Jin State all made a fortune, and the attack on the Qi State ended hastily.