Site of the Battle of the Great Thorns
In the spring of 606 BC, a war broke out between the States of Zheng and the State of Song in the area of Da Thorn (in present-day southwest of anping town in Zhecheng County, Henan Province), known in history as the "Battle of the Great Thorn." "Behind this war is the hegemony struggle between the two great powers of Jin and Chu.
The Jin state was the hegemon of the time through the painstaking management of the two generations of male lords of Jin Wengong and Jin Xianggong, the country was rich and the people were strong, the LinkedIn brave and good at war, and the army was well-equipped, and it was the hegemon of the time; the Chu state originally had a vast land area and rich products, and after the "blockbuster" King of Chu zhuang took the throne, he calmed down the civil strife, exerted great efforts to govern, and rapidly increased its comprehensive strength, and had the strength to challenge the Jin state, drink the Yellow River, and conquer the Central Plains. The two small countries of Song and Zheng were sandwiched between two big powers and could not protect themselves, so they could only find their own backers. Because the Jin state had rescued the Song state in the Battle of Chengpu, the Song state was a staunch ally of the Jin state for a long time; the Zheng state was too close to the powerful chu state and was under too much pressure, so he was forced to become the younger brother of the Chu state and acted as the vanguard of the Chu state to dominate the Central Plains.
From the map, we can see the situation of Song and Zheng
King Zhuang of Chu ordered Zheng Guo to attack the State of Song, and Zheng Mugong appointed Zijia (Gongzi Guisheng) as a marshal to lead an army to attack Dazhi; Duke Wen of Song took Hua Yuan as his commander to meet the Zheng army. However, Song Wengong never expected that this war to defend his family and defend the country did not fight a shocking battle, but was very bloody and nonsensical.
After Hua Yuan led a large army to arrive at Dazhi, he set up camp, rested his soldiers and horses, and prepared for a decisive battle with the Zheng army tomorrow. On the same night, Hua Yuan made a pre-war mobilization, and passionately and righteously affirmed the significance of the battle to defend the family and the country, and the rewards after defeating the enemy army. In order to further boost morale, in line with the principle of "eating enough to fight", Hua Yuan waved a big hand and ordered the military chefs to slaughter a large number of live sheep and stew them into delicious mutton soup to reward the soldiers.
Song Jun commander Hua Yuan
Therefore, in the camp of the Song Army, the fire was raging, the mutton was fragrant, and all but one of the soldiers drank with oil, their bellies rolled round, and their smiles were open. And this person who did not drink mutton soup, called Yang Shu, was Hua Yuan's coachman. Driving a carriage is a rather difficult task and requires professional training, so in ancient times, "Yu" was one of the "Six Arts" in ancient times. Therefore, although Yang Zhuo is only a small role, the coachman who is the main commander is also a very important person, but why Hua Yuan did not give him mutton soup, of course, is not recorded in the brief history books. We may wish to speculate: First, Hua Yuan, as the manager, has too many affairs and leaks. This reason is unlikely, so many people have been assigned, how can it be "unintentional" to miss only one sheep? Second, Hua Yuan felt that a small coachman had no effect when fighting, and there was no need to treat him. This reason is very likely, but it will make the sheep quite sad and humiliated. Third, Hua Yuan felt that Yang Shu followed him every day, and he was his own person, and he didn't need so many etiquette. This reason is also very likely, but think about it carefully, the more you are your own people, the more you should be kind, aren't you?
Whatever the reason, the fact is that the sheep did not drink the mutton soup, but only smelled of the lamb.
Delicious lamb broth
Early the next morning, the Song and Zheng armies took up their positions and the battle began. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there were no muskets, artillery and other long-range attack weapons, generally speaking, a few rounds of arrows were released first, and then the generals led the soldiers of the headquarters to rush up and directly launch hand-to-hand combat, with the commander supervising the battle in the rear. The Battle of the Great Thorn was also carried out normally according to this procedure, and after several rounds of arrows from both sides, the generals urged the chariots and led the infantry forward to engage. Suddenly, short soldiers were in contact, the sound of killing was tremendous, and there were casualties on each other.
Everything was working fine.
However, at this moment, a sudden change occurred, and the chariot of Hua Yuan, the commander who should have been located in the safe zone of the Song Army, suddenly rushed out of the battle formation like a fierce wind, carrying the tip of billowing smoke, and instantly drilled into the core of the Zheng Army. The soldiers of the Song Army were confused, and Marshal Hua Yuan was preparing to step on zheng guo's army with one man and one car? Zheng Jun's soldiers were also confused, what was the situation? Is there any conspiracy? But in any case, the enemy commander sent to the door, first arrested and then said. So the soldiers of the Zheng Army rushed up, and Hua Yuan became a prisoner in such a nest. The commander of the Song army was captured as soon as the battle began, the blow to morale was undoubtedly fatal, no matter how much mutton soup was drunk, it was useless, and the Soldiers of the Song Army had no morale and scattered. Zheng Jun's morale was greatly boosted, and the Song army was defeated, and the general Le Lu was killed in the rebellion.
There is indeed a conspiracy in this, but it is not Hua Yuan, but Yang Xi. Last night, I didn't get the mutton soup, and the sheep were already galloping in the depths of their hearts. As for? Very much so.
Yang Zhuo drove into Zheng Jun's position
Although the history books do not record how many people the Song army was, after the Battle of the Great Thorn, Zheng Guo captured 460 chariots (according to the "Sima Fa", the chariots were three people, plus seventy-two infantry), captured 250 soldiers, and cut off the ears of 100 dead soldiers of the Song army. (The war in the Spring and Autumn Period was relatively "gentlemanly", mainly to defeat the war, if the losing side fled, the victorious side did not chase and fight fiercely, so the number of deaths of the Song army in this big war was not much, but the material losses were extremely heavy, such as chariots.) Based on this speculation, the Song Army had at least 10,000 people or more this time. Imagine, 10,000 or 20,000 people drinking mutton soup, and only one person smells the smell of sheep and drinks the southeast wind of spring, how will this person feel? Moreover, it is not just a matter of drinking the wind, the sheep have to bear the sound or silent ridicule of countless people, the sympathetic or contemptuous eyes of countless people, and how big is the psychological shadow area of the sheep? Therefore, the narrow-minded Yang Zhuo could not bear this great shame, and was determined to take revenge, and must make Hua Yuan pay the price.
When frantically beating horses and rushing into the enemy position, Yang Zhuo saw Hua Yuan's unbelievable eyes, a look of incredulity, and in line with the principle that death must also make people die, so he roared loudly: "The sheep of the past, the son is the government, today's affairs, I am the government!" "Yesterday the mutton soup was divided, you are in charge, how to divide it, you decide; today I drive, where to go, I have the final say!"
Well said, well said. Yang Shu's words can also be regarded as "righteousness and sternness". This uncultured coachman also "created" an idiom: each side, meaning that each does what they stand for, and does not cooperate with each other. Metaphors do not consider the overall situation, each set of one.
An important patriotic war, which was easily buried because of a bowl of mutton soup, is really too black humor. Because of his personal grievances, Yang Zhuo disregarded the interests of the state, which was indeed a great crime, and he had been criticized for thousands of years, and he was really not unjust.
Restoration of ancient chariots
As the commander of the army, Hua Yuan also has an unshirkable responsibility. Confucius said, "Do not suffer from widowhood but from inequality." When Chen Ping was young, he divided the sacrificial meat in the township, and he was praised by the neighbors because of the even and reasonable distribution, but Chen Ping sighed that if he had the opportunity to govern the world, he could also divide it fairly and reasonably like the meat. Few things are not a big problem, and if they are unfair and unreasonable, they will have big problems. Moreover, Huayuan's mutton soup is not a matter of lack of things at all, and ignoring the legitimate rights and self-esteem of Yang Shu has directly led to an irreparable catastrophe. Lao Tzu said: "The great things in the world must be done in detail", the details determine success or failure, and although Hua Yuan lost the Battle of the Great Thorns, although he lost extremely bizarrely, it was also a cause.
After the war, Song Wengong negotiated with Zheng Guo to redeem Hua Yuan at the cost of 100 chariots and 400 beautiful horses.
Hua Yuan learned cleverly this time, and when the chariot and the war horse were only half delivered to Zheng Guo, he found an opportunity to flee back to the Song Kingdom.