In the previous few issues, we basically figured out the general process from the emergence to the expansion of the Chu clique in the past half century, from the ascension of the Zhaoxiang King Yingji to the ascension of the Zhuangxiang King's concubine Chu.
In the process of Zhuang Xiang's prince Chu ascending to the throne, we once again saw that the Chu clique after Empress Xuan and Wei Ran still had great energy.
The energy of the Chu system is embodied in the following three aspects:
First of all, Empress Dowager Chu ascended to the throne with Lady Bai Huayang as her mother-in-law, but in fact mainly relied on the strength of the Chu clan;
Secondly, before The Empress Dowager Chu ascended to the throne, both his great uncle And his father, Yingzhu, died inexplicably.
And the third and most important point, Lady Huayang dared to change the name of the heir to the throne "Zi Chu", and almost clearly declared to everyone that she wanted to support a Qin king from a Chu clique.
The so-called unprofitable is not early, and Empress Huayang and the Chu clique have worked hard to support Chu to ascend to the throne, which is naturally expected.
And the concubine Chu Quality Zhao for several years, as when The Eunuch took the throne, the domestic foundation was very shallow. In other words, he was almost powerless to refuse any request from the Chu clique.
Obviously, if he fully accepted the demands of the Chu clique, then Fan Ju's claim that the Ying clan had lost the country (the subjects would fear that the future generations would have the Qin state and not the descendants of the king) might not be far away.
So, in the face of such a dilemma, how should Ying Zichu get rid of the fate of becoming a puppet?
Fortunately, compared to Grandpa Yingji, Zi Chu has two advantages:
First, when he ascended the throne, his age and experience were richer than those of his original concubines, and before he ascended the throne, he returned to the Qin State and trained in the political arena of the Qin State for several years;
Second, Ying Zi Chu has an excellent professional manager from the submerged residence, Lü Buwei. From the story of strange goods, we can know that Lü Buwei's ability may be no less than that of Shang Martin and Zhang Yi.
Therefore, compared to the overwhelm when Ying Ji first ascended to the throne, Yin Zi Chu's means were much more clever.
The first important order issued by Ying Zi Chu was that Shi Houde was thick and fleshy and beneficial to the people.
In the vernacular, Putian Tongqing, not only the Chu clique, but also the Qin State Sect, as well as Lü Buwei, and even the people of the Qin State, can enjoy this wave of ascending dividends.
In this way, first of all, the Chu clique has nothing to say, and the clever point of Chu Zi Chu is that since I can't get the cake, then I will divide it all up and you will grab it.
When the referee is needed, it may be time to take back the cake.
Immediately afterward, the second important order of Empress Dowager Chu was to re-enfeoff the Yangquan Jun qichen of the Chu clique, and to seal the brothers Xiong Qi of the Chu state as Changping Jun and Chang Wenjun respectively;
At the same time, chu bai lü buwei was made a xiangguo and sealed the letter of marquis.
Lü Buwei originally gave everything he had and invested in Chu Zichu, and this return was reasonable.
At the same time, this appointment was also rainy and dewy, and the Chu clan also benefited a lot, so the Chu clique also had no reason to oppose.
Chu, on the other hand, hoped to pass these two appointments to avoid becoming a puppet of the Chu clan.
Then, some people have said that as the first and second in command of the Qin State, how to say that it is just to avoid becoming a puppet, and it is not better to directly get rid of the Chu family?
In fact, no matter that Zi Chu still needed to rely on the Chu clique at this time, even if he wanted to overthrow the Chu clan, he couldn't do it.
Not to mention the example of his grandfather YingJi, in the early years of the Warring States, there is a very similar case.
At that time, the State of Qi was still the State of Qi of the Jiang clan, and Tian Beg and Tian Chang wanted to usurp the throne, so they killed the legal heir of duke Jing of Qi, ZiDi, and the closely related prince Yang Sheng, who was the Duke of Qi.
Gong Yangsheng of Qi and Chu, the Prince of Zhuangxiang, had a similar situation and adopted very similar practices.
The Duke of Qi, taking his close subordinates at the time of his hostage-making, wanted to divide the authority of the Tian clan.
However, a catastrophe soon flew in, and Qi Mourning Gong was killed.
However, his successor, Duke Jian of Qi, was not stupid either, and still regarded Jian Zhi as the phase, while Tian Chang was the left phase.
Tian Chang was forced to be anxious, so he directly led the army, in front of the Duke of Qi Jian, killed the supervisor, exterminated the clan, and then exiled the Duke of Qi, and the State of Qi of the Tian clan officially arrived.
Although the situation in the Qin state at this time does not seem to be as severe as that of the state of Qi, human nature is the same:
No one wants to let people take away the cake they have already got.
This was often the case with Tian Chang at that time, and it was also true of the current Empress Huayang and the Chu clique.
Therefore, from the perspective of these two hands, The strategy of Ying Zi Chu is, since it is difficult for me to suppress and weaken you, then I will set up another behemoth and let you fight.
The biggest advantage of this is that even if it fails, Ying Zi Chu can avoid being directly targeted.
However, Lü Buwei, like the supervisor, was just a foreign professional manager.
Therefore, if Zi Chu and Lü Buwei wanted to avoid repeating the mistakes of the State of Qi, it was actually not easier than the Duke of Qi Jian at that time.
The process is hard for us to know. But as a result, Lü Buwei proved in three years that he was worthy of the title of outstanding politician.
With the support of Chu Zi, Lü Buwei monopolized power and recruited doormen, began to grow rapidly, and successfully suppressed the Chu clique.
And Ying Zi Chu took advantage of Lü Buwei's outstanding ability to avoid becoming a puppet.
Of course, we can't be sure whether Ying Zi chu eventually avoided the fate of the tragedy.
Because chu, who had only been in power for 3 years and was only 35 years old, died young.
Whether this matter is related to the Chu clique or not, we do not know, but these power arrangements after Chu Zi Chu ascended the throne at least ensured that it was his concubine Ying Zheng who succeeded him to the throne, not someone else.
In fact, as the first Emperor Taishang in history, perhaps not only because he was the father of Qin Shi Huang.
Because in addition to Lü Buwei, Ying Zi Chu also arranged a dark line, which was also playing a huge role.
This dark line is Zhao Guofa,The Wife of King Zhuang Xiang and the Mother of Emperor Qin Shi Huang,Zhao Ji( 赵姬).
Unlike Empress Xuan and Lady Huayang, Zhao Ji, the woman herself, is a huge mystery.
And about her secrets, we'll talk about it in the next issue.
I am Zi Yu, let the history taste, look forward to your attention!
Text/Zi Yu
Further reading:
7. From the fallen prince to the king of Qin, the ten years of Yin Zi Chu hid the conspiracy of a merchant and a clique
6. King Xiaowen of Qin: Died at the age of 53, reigned for less than 3 days, but left us with the mystery of 2000 years
5. The 60-year-old King of Qin deposed the 75-year-old empress, how many secrets are hidden behind this coup d'état in the Qin state?