What I want to introduce below is a civil strife that occurred in the Lu State Shusun family. The cause of the civil strife (the struggle for power) is a cliché, but the incubation period in the Shusun family lasted for 17 years. Once the accumulated grievances erupt, they will inevitably be violent and uncontrollable.

The rebellion triggered a series of chain reactions, and no family in the Lu State Office could stay out of the matter, and even Lu Dinggong was forced to a high platform by the rebels (just like Ji Pingzi was forced to go up back then). Although this incident was eventually quelled, it directly led to the occurrence of a major historical event, the fall of the three capitals, and also indirectly led to Confucius leaving the state of Lu again.

It turned out that the uncle and grandson didn't look down on the eldest son and grandson before his death, and felt that he had problems with his morality and mental skills (his opinion was still very accurate), and he especially liked his second son and uncle and grandson, so he didn't dare to be the son of the world. Gong Ruo, a retainer of the uncle and grandson, persuaded him: "It is not uncommon for the family to be in turmoil caused by the abolition of the heirs and the abolition of the elders and the young, so why does the master still put the uncle and grandson in such a hidden danger of instability?" It is better for the master to retract the decision and maintain the status of the eldest son. ”

But his repeated strong admonitions had no result, and after the death of his uncle and grandson, his uncle and grandson did not dare to ascend to the position of patriarch without suspense.

Although Gong Ruo despised his goal, the matter has been widely known. The uncle didn't dare to hate Gong Ruo, so he secretly ordered his confidant Gong Nan to get rid of the stumbling block. Gongnan hired a high-level killer who claimed to "never miss" but had a problem with his eyes, and entrusted him with the assassination mission.

On a dark and windy night, the master climbed over the courtyard wall of the "Gong Ruo" house, broke into the door and shot the owner to death. As a result, it was one of Gongnan's subordinates who was killed—the master had found the wrong place.

Since then, Gong Ruo has raised his vigilance: whenever he goes out, he will have soft armor in his clothes; There were never fewer than four guards around. Gongnan couldn't find a chance again, so he had to give up.

Gong Ruo was extremely loyal to the Shusun family, although he opposed the abolition of the Shusun family, but after the uncle did not dare to become the leader of the Shusun family, Gong Ruo began to wholeheartedly defend his status and interests. As time passed, the uncle did not dare to gradually feel his loyalty and diligence, but felt guilty for his reckless decision at the beginning; In order to show his trust, he handed over to him, the position second only to the elder of the muro, and the euphee of the city.

Gongnan's assassination of Gong Ruoyan was originally to carry out the order that his uncle and grandson did not dare, but Gong Ruoyan calculated the account on Gongnan's head. Gong Ruo often gossiped about Gong Nan on any occasion, laughing at his stupidity (he even mistakenly killed his own cronies because he trusted the master) and incompetence. Gongnan originally had no personal enmity with Gong Ruo, but he was soon angered by his rudeness. In this way, the two became inseparable opponents, with you and me.

Later, Gongnan served as Ma Zheng of the uncle and grandson, and was in charge of the management of the entire family's military horses; Hou Prisoner served as Ma Zheng of Yunyi. Hou is a man who is loyal and trustworthy, diligent and responsible, brave and capable, and has many advantages, but his brain is not very bright, he can't turn, and he only admits death.

Since the major families "Ma Zheng" belong to the vertical management organization, the Hou prisoner only obeys Gongnan's orders, and is not responsible for Gong Ruo's contempt. Hou Jian understands the hatred between his superiors and Yi Zai, so he usually deliberately distances himself from Gong Ruo to avoid being reprimanded by Gong Nan; Gong Ruo took the initiative to approach him many times, but he cleverly avoided him.

In the fifth year of Lu Dinggong, his uncle and grandson did not dare to die, and his uncle and grandson took the throne. In the tenth year of Lu Dinggong, Gongnan took advantage of the opportunity of Qiu Suijun of Shusun Prefecture to participate in the Jiagu Alliance, and ordered the Hou to kill Gong Ruo in the name of the master. After receiving the order, Hou kept shaking his head and sighing, because after Gong Ruo failed to win him over, he had now turned to be wary of him; Now it is even more difficult to get close to Gong Ruo and assassinate him.

A slave who kept horses said to the prisoner: "Although the public despises his master, he will not guard against an inferior person like me. The master asks me for a sword, and when I hold him in my hand, he will surely ask, 'Whose sword is that?' I said it was the master's; He would surely have asked me curiously to show him the sword; I pretended not to know the rules, and handed him the sword in front of my scabbard, so that I could kill him. ”

The prisoner even said yes, and immediately handed the slave a sharp sword.

The next day, after the court was dispersed, the slave walked through the gate with his sword in hand. He deliberately made some noise to attract the attention of the public; Gong Ruo was really fooled and walked out alone without warning. After questioning the slave, a strong curiosity drove him to be eager to see what the sword looked like. The slave pointed his scabbard at him, handed the sword over, and grasped the hilt of the sword in his right hand; Gong Ruo suddenly raised his head and stared at the slave's eyes, and exclaimed in dismay: "You are treating me as a royal bureaucracy!" But he had lost his chance to escape, and the slave drew his sword and stabbed him to death in an instant.

Hou was overjoyed, and he hurriedly sent someone to report this "great news" to Gongnan. However, Gongnan turned his face and refused to admit that he had given such an order, but instead tied up the messenger and sent it to Shusun Zhouqiu, scolding Hou for being "shameless, cruel, and simply not human". Only then did Hou Jian react: it turned out that he had been framed "shamelessly and murderously" by his most trusted boss. At this point, he had no choice but to occupy the city and launch a rebellion. In order to gain popular support, he cut the taxes of the people by half; He pardoned many criminals and even incorporated some into his own guard as a way to gain the support of the families concerned.

At the end of the summer, Shusun Zhouqiu and Zhongsun He Ji attacked Yunyi. Yi was originally the fiefdom of the Sun clan; Seventeen years ago, Yu Zhaobo asked Meng Yizi for troops in order to attack Ji Pingzi, but he was defeated and killed. After that, Ji Pingzi gave Yizi to Meng Yizi, but the people of Yiyi resented Meng Yizi for killing his master and refused to accept him; Meng Yizi used Yunyi to exchange land with Shusun's family, so that Yunyi was under the name of Shusun's family.

Located near Dongping in present-day Shandong, adjacent to the Qi State, Yuyi was an important town blocking the southward movement of the Qi army, and its geographical location was very important. After the Shusun clan took over the city, it took more than ten years to build it into a strong fortress with a deep draft, and the Hou Gong perfected many details to make the city wall impeccable in all respects.

Shusun Zhouqiu stood at the foot of the city of Yuyi, looking at the steep city wall like a cliff, shaking his head and sighing; He now regretted that he should not have built the walls so tall and strong.

The Gongfu army attacked for a few days, but lost its troops but achieved nothing. The commanders complained that the capture of the walls was simply an impossible task; The two commanders had no choice but to withdraw. Shusun Zhouqiu went to Qi again and borrowed an army from Qi Jinggong.