A few stunned young men shouted in the crowd: "He killed the Yi Zai and colluded with the people of Qi, how can he say that he is not guilty?" He is not guilty, is it the Yi Zai who is guilty? They encouraged the people around them to agree with this opinion, and many of them nodded yes, and they all echoed it, demanding that the crime committed by the marquis be punished, and the scene began to become chaotic.

Si Chi motioned for everyone to be quiet and replied, "Qi and Lu have been fighting for more than two hundred years!" In the past two hundred years, countless warriors of the Lu State have died in battle, and a large amount of land has fallen. The two countries finally concluded a peace treaty in Jiagu, and the Qi people returned the land they had occupied. Dongguo Shu brought the order of the Marquis of Qi to the master this time, if you kill him, you will kill the doctor of the Qi country, and the war between the two countries will break out again, and the country will suffer heavy losses again. It is a grave sin to break the covenant, and it is you (he pointed to those men) who have plunged the country of Lu into war again. Think about what happens to you! If you can bear the misery of the five horses, the deprivation of property, and the pain of your people being sold into slavery, then do it! ”

Only then did those people become honest and did not dare to continue inciting.

The representatives of the people got together, pretended to discuss for a moment, and then agreed. But they demanded that the prisoner leave the city immediately and wait outside the city for the arrival of his family and property.

Hou had to accept the conditions. The people retreated into the streets, and Sichi and the guards protected him as he walked out. The Ministry of Nations filled the entire street, and reluctantly flashed a passageway, and with anger and hatred in his eyes, he watched them pass. Si Chi barely suppressed the fear in his heart, and pretended to be calm and walked at the front of the line.

His heart was extremely nervous, because the vast majority of people did not know the truth, and regarded him as a lackey of Hou's criminal; He was also afraid that someone would suddenly go crazy and attack Hou Criminal, just like those stunned young men just now created an unexpected scene.

There were finally no accidents along the way.

After the uncle and grandson did not dare to expand, several city walls appeared, and each city wall had a city gate. Every time the prisoner passed, the people of Yuyi immediately closed the one, lest he suddenly turn back.

By the time they came to the outer gate of the city (there were no rioters outside the gate, it was safe), and the prisoner had completely returned to his normal demeanor. He said to Si Chi: "I plan to go to Suyi (the city of Qi, located more than ten miles north of Yuyi). The Master is not guilty, and the Master is also needed in Yiyi, so please go back. Wearing the armor of the uncle and grandson to go out of the city is a capital offense, and if the priest is held accountable, everyone (his gaze sweeping over the faces of the officials) will probably lose their heads. ”

Si Chi said: "The armor of the uncle and grandson is marked, and we dare not wear it, let alone go out of the city gate. ”

The prisoner said, "Those mobs have taken a lot of armor, and ask the master to go back and collect it, and return it to the uncle and grandson." ”

Only then did Si Chi realize the seriousness of the problem, so he said goodbye to the prisoner and hurriedly turned around and went back with the officials.

In this way, Si Chi skillfully quelled the rebellion in Yunyi, and not even a single person died in the process. This incident can be called a great miracle in the history of the counterinsurgency of the Lu State.

Although the Hou prisoner was driven away, the Qi ** team was still on the way to come. The people had to evacuate the aborigines on the outskirts of the city into the city and close the city gates. The day after the prisoner arrived in Suyi, Qi Shi also went to the outskirts of Suyi. Hou entered the barracks and explained the situation to Dongguo Shu. Dongguo Shu was ordered to receive Yuyi, not to attack Yuyi (his forces were not enough to launch an attack). He had to suspend his actions and send someone to ask Qi Jinggong for orders.

Soon after Dongguoshu's messenger entered Linzi, Shusun Zhouqiu also arrived. He begged him to spare himself and not to meddle in the affairs of the city. Qi Jinggong was in a dilemma, and he was worried about this matter, and the arrival of his uncle and grandson Zhou Qiu freed him from the predicament in time. Qi Jinggong borrowed the donkey from the slope, so he withdrew the army very "magnanimously".

The rebellion greatly stimulated the nerves of those in power in the state of Lu. If the state of Lu is compared to the Zhou Dynasty, then the fiefdom of Sanhuan is equivalent to three vassal states. As a secretary of state, Sanhuan lives in Qufu on weekdays, busy dealing with state affairs and intriguing with each other. They were far away from the fiefdom and could not afford to personally intervene in the affairs of the fiefdom, so they could only send officials such as the governor of the fiefdom to govern the fiefdom on their behalf.

The governor of the euphem ruled the fiefdom on behalf of the master and became the de facto monarch of one side. As a result, they wielded great administrative power, and in case of emergency, they could even mobilize troops without asking for instructions. People are all ***, and after a long time, some people are ready to move, and they really think of themselves as the owners of the city; In this way, they came into conflict of interest with their real masters, and as a result, all sorts of rebellions broke out.

In order to ensure the long-term stability of the fiefdom, the lords took many painstaking measures: for example, selecting people with both ability and integrity to hold important positions; For example, the decentralization of power to multiple officials (military, government, and financial separation); For example, planting spies around officials. But unexpected turmoil still occurs from time to time (Hou Jian is recognized as a good person in the whole Lu country, but such a thick-eyed, loyal and honest person can start a rebellion, who can be expected to behave in a proper manner all his life).

On the other hand, due to the increasing land annexation and power struggle, Sanhuan had to build the fiefdom into an impregnable military fortress. In the event of a rebellion in such a fiefdom, the defensive system that had been built to defend against the attacks of a strong enemy became a great obstacle to the reconquest of lost territory—and it would appear that the works were built for the enemy.

In view of this, Sanhuan began to discuss how to quickly resolve the rebellion in the future (after all, there were only a handful of resourceful and honest rebels like Si Chi and loyal and honest rebels like Hou Criminal). At that time, Ji Huanzi's room was always Confucius's eldest disciple Zilu (Zhongyou), and he suggested that the question should be submitted to the court meeting to hear what good opinions the doctors had.

Ji Huanzi took his suggestion, and Zilu turned around and reported the matter to Confucius. At the court meeting the next day, Ji Huanzi raised the topic, Lu Dinggong seemed very interested, and he handed the topic to the doctors for discussion. The doctors were excited, but their apparent reaction was very cold, and no one wanted to speak first, for fear that once they didn't hear it, they would anger the three gods.

At this time, Confucius had been promoted from the great priest to the prime minister, and he was the first to stand up; However, he did not propose a plan, but told a story first.

Confucius said: "About 160 years ago, Jin Xiangong ordered the great Sikong Shi to build a fiefdom for Gongzi Chong'er and Yiwu, and asked him to build the city walls taller. Later, Yiwu found that the quality of the project was not only problematic, so he presented a notice to Jin, saying that Shi Bao deliberately added tree branches, linen and other sundries to the rammed earth when building the city. Jin Xiangong asked Shi Ping for an explanation, and Shi Ping said: "If you build a great city without a foreign enemy, the enemy will definitely keep it." In that case, why build it so strongly? Later, there was a rebellion in the Jin Kingdom, and the Jin Xiangong sent troops to attack Yiwu, and he returned with a feather.

There are countless examples of this, so the danger lies in the fact that the cities were built too tall and strong. The city walls not only lost their significance in resisting enemy attacks, but also became a great obstacle to the victory of the office against the rebels. Our greatest enemy used to be the Qi State, but now the two countries have formed an alliance; The Marquis of Qi's attempt to restore the hegemony of the Huan Gong period will inevitably attract all forces against the Jin State. And the Jin Kingdom will not collapse for decades. Even if the Jin State collapsed, there were still the Wu States and the Chu States. The Qi State will always need the help of the Lu State.

"In this way, the State of Qi will not attack our country for decades. And the height of the Sandu city wall has reached five zhang, which has exceeded the specifications of the capital. I think that the way to prevent and resolve the rebellion is to lower the wall to the height prescribed by the Zhou rites (three zhang); If the doctors were committed to the education of rituals rather than competing with each other for profit, what was the point of having such high walls? Didn't you hurt yourself in the end? ”