The only person in the history of the Spring and Autumn Period who controlled the state power as a retainer was none other than Yang Hu of the Lu State.

Yanghu is from the side branch of the Mengsun family, and in terms of generation, Meng Yizi also calls him "Uncle Cousin". Yang Hu was two or three years older than Confucius. Due to the neglect of his parents, he began to mingle in the market around the age of 10. Yang Hu develops very early and is taller than children of the same age. He is very righteous and likes to fight for his friends, and he also likes to fight for those who don't belong to him. He fights and doesn't want to die, and even adults are afraid of him; As a result, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, he ruled a neighborhood and became known as the "Street Fighter".

Soon after Yang Hu performed the crown ceremony, Ji Wuzi died. The new lord Ji Mourning Zi set up a "Thousand Scholars Banquet" to recruit talents and select available talents, and Yang Hu joined the Ji Sun family and became a retainer. Ji Mourningzi's son Ji Sun Yiru (later Ji Pingzi) and Yang Hu and the same newcomer Gongshan Bufu were of the same age and temperament, and the three of them hit it off at first sight, and they became good friends in a short time.

Ji Mourning died after only two years of reign, and Ji Pingzi succeeded to the throne. He also followed his father's example in holding the "Thousand Scholars Banquet"; At that time, Confucius also wanted to try his luck, but was rejected by Yang Hu.

In the early days of Ji Pingzi's accession to the throne, the Ji family also encountered a situation where the lord and young ministers were strong, and the family power was controlled by the old retainers. The young and vigorous Ji Pingzi planned to replace those "arrogant and extravagant" old guys with newcomers such as Yang Hu, but it caused Fei Yi to seize Philadelphia and launch a rebellion. It took Ji Pingzi two years and a lot of energy to recover Philadelphia. Nan Kuai's defeat caused the older generation of retainers represented by him to officially withdraw from the Ji family, and were replaced by energetic young Zhuang faction members.

Yang Hu is undoubtedly the leader of the new generation of retainers. In the battle where Lu Zhaogong launched a "rebellion" and prepared to get rid of Ji Pingzi, Yang Hu showed the bravest - at that time, many people abandoned Ji Pingzi and fled, but he always stood in front of Ji Pingzi and was willing to act as the master's meat shield, but he was injured a lot; In the later battle to recover Yuncheng, Yang Hu showed outstanding military talent and fearless spirit.

Therefore, Ji Pingzi not only favored Yanghu very much, but even treated him as his own brother, and finally handed over the position of family Sima to him. You must know that the Ji Sun clan controls half of the army of the Lu State, and Ji Pingzi thus became the supreme commander of the Lu army; And Yang Hu controlled the army of the Jisun clan, and he became the actual ruler of the Jisun clan.

At that time, there were three giants in the Jisun family, namely Murolao Zhong Liang Huai, Sima Yanghu and Fei Zai Gongshan Bufu. Zhong Lianghuai has super management ability and is exquisite, so he is deeply liked by the Ji clan; Gongshan Bufu is a big old man, with a tough style, and he cleans up Fei Ren obediently. The three of them have Zhong Lianghuai with the highest status, Yang Hu with the most power, and Gongshan Buwu controlling the Ji Sun clan's lair.

As Ji Pingzi is aging day by day, the younger generation of the Ji Sun clan is also thriving. I don't know when it began, Ji Pingzi's young son, Ji Sunsi (later Ji Huanzi), also gathered a group of vigorous peers. When Yang Hu and Ji Pingzi patted each other and called each other brothers, he could see a gaze with mixed emotions emanating from Ji Sunsi's eyes. That kind of gaze is almost exactly the same as when Ji Pingzi looked at Nan Kuai and others; Ji Suns' friends also showed the same attitude towards the old guys.

Yang Hu couldn't help but have a huge worry in his heart: the world has begun to reincarnate! In the eyes of young people, he and Gongshan Bufu and others have become another group of "arrogant and extravagant" old guys; As soon as Ji Pingzi dies, the new master will definitely get rid of them with the support of the Shaozhuang faction!

The Nankuai Rebellion that occurred more than 20 years ago is still vivid. Once the roles were reversed, Yang Hu began to sympathize with Nan Kuai. Only then did he feel that Nan Kuai was not as bad as he had imagined before, and he also understood the reason why he launched a rebellion; At this time, in Yang Hu's heart, Ji Sunsi's friends are a hundred times worse than Nan Kuai.

In June of the fifth year of Lu Dinggong, Ji Pingzi went to the territory of Dongye to inspect government affairs, but died on the way back to Qufu. He died so suddenly that he didn't even have time to see his son for the last time. When Zhong Liang Huai heard the news, he immediately helped Ji Sun Si to take the throne.

Ji Pingzi was very fond of a piece of jade (beautiful jade) during his lifetime, and Yang Hu planned to use it to accompany Ji Pingzi in the funeral. But Zhong Lianghuai firmly disagreed, saying: "The pace has changed, and the jade must also be changed." ”

It turned out that due to the different ranks of the nobles of the Zhou Dynasty, the rules for walking and wearing jade in the etiquette were also different. The monarch wears the finest jade, and walks with a small and slow stride; The doctor is equipped with inferior jade, and the stride length and cadence are moderate (the snake is the snake); The scholars wore low-grade jade, and walked with great strides.

During the days when Lu Zhaogong was in exile, Ji Pingzi issued decrees and presided over sacrifices as a monarch, and his jade and walking steps were the same as those of the monarch. It wasn't until Lu Dinggong ascended the throne that he relieved Peiyu and returned to his previous walking appearance.

Therefore, Yang Hu's behavior actually violated the etiquette system, and he buried Ji Pingzi in the same way that he buried the monarch.

Yang Hu was shallow in knowledge and did not understand the rules of Zhou Li (which was a common problem of the Meng family), and as a result, he lost face. Zhong Lianghuai not only rejected Yang Hu, but also ridiculed him for his ignorance (which helped to improve his status in the eyes of the new master) and attacked him for ulterior motives.

Yang Hu couldn't help but be annoyed, and instantly burst out with the urge to kill Zhong Lianghuai. However, Zhong Lianghuai's status is higher than that of Yang Hu, and he has won the favor of the new master, and it is not easy to eliminate him. If Yang Hu wants to succeed, he must strengthen his camp and look for suitable opportunities.

Yang Hu wanted to pull Gongshan Bufu into the conspiracy circle, so he proposed his ideas to him. Gongshan Bufu has a good relationship with Zhong Lianghuai, so he doesn't have the mood of Yang Hu.

He persuaded Yang Hu and said: "Huai is also for the sake of the old master's reputation. If this matter is taken advantage of by someone with evil intentions, the interests of both the master and the master will be harmed, so the master should not resent him anymore. I'll remind him and ask him to stop making a fuss about it. ”

Yang Hu understands what it means to "be quick if you don't reach it" and what it means to "save the country by curve"; He no longer forced Gongshan to remain unrelenting, so he got up and took his leave. After Yang Hu returned to Qufu, he began to secretly instigate the relationship between Gongshan Bufu and Zhong Lianghuai.

Yang Hu's method had a great effect: Gongshan Bufu soon changed his mind and position, and became even more desperate than Yang Hu to get rid of Zhong Lianghuai.

It turned out that after Ji Huanzi buried his father, he took Zhong Lianghuai and a group of retainers to inspect the fiefdom. After the team arrived at Feiyi, Gongshan happily welcomed the arrival of the new master, and Ji Huanzi also treated him with due courtesy.