The original territory of the State of Qi occupied the northern part of present-day Shandong Province, bounded by the Taishan Mountains and Lu Mountains to the south, and the Jiaodong Peninsula to the east. This peninsula was already a semi-civilized Laiyi area in the Shang Dynasty. When Taigong first came, when dingdu Yingqiu (later named Linzi, still in existence), Lai Yi gave him a head-on blow. Thereafter, the struggle between Laiyi and the State of Qi continued from time to time until the Qi people destroyed Lai in 567 BC. The destruction of Lai was a major event in the history of the State of Qi. After that, the State of Qi went to the border of one side, and after that, its territory increased by more than half of its original territory, and it became a real sea country after that. Previously, its sea frontier was only half that of Laizhou Bay.
But long before the destruction of Lai, when the Spring and Autumn Began, Qi was already strong. In 706 BC, Prince Zheng suddenly led troops to help Qi resist Northern Rong, and Qi Hou wanted to marry his daughter Wen Jiang to him, so he refused on the grounds of "Qi Dafei Wu". It turned out that Wen Jiang and her eldest brother, the Duke of Qi Xiang the day after tomorrow, had some ambiguous relationship. She finally married Duke Huan of Lu. Once Huan Gong went back to her mother's house with her, he actually saw through and said that he had broken the hidden affair between Xiang Gong and her. Xiang Gong was ashamed and angry, so he ordered a lux soldier to kill Huan Gong. The Lu people, who paid attention to Zhou Etiquette, under the accumulated power of the State of Qi, could only beg Xianggong to add the charges to the murderer who had been ordered to kill him, and talk about it to hide his shame. At this time, the strength of the State of Qi can be imagined. Four years after this incident (690 BC), Xianggong died (in the south of present-day Shouguang County, Shandong, which was sealed by the early Zhou Dynasty and the state with the same surname as Qi). This was the beginning of the annexation of small countries by the State of Qi. Xianggong was later killed by gongzi ignorance, and after ignorantly usurped the throne, he was killed again, and the state of Qi was in chaos. Xiang Gong had two younger brothers: Chang Ming gui, who was appointed by Guan Zhong and Zhao Ku Fu, and Xiao Bai, whose second name was Xiao Bai, was accompanied by Bao Shuya Fu. When Xianggong took the throne, Uncle Bao saw that his behavior was too bad, and knew that sooner or later there would be chaos in the country, so he led Xiao Bai to defect to Juguo. When the chaos broke out, Guan Zhong also led Gongzi Gui to flee to the State of Lu, and Gui's mother was originally a Lu girl. After ignorance died, Lu Jun sent troops to escort Gongzi back to China to support him. Between Qi and Lu, there was originally no good feeling, and the Qi people were very suspicious of Lu Jun's grand intentions and sent troops to block the car. At the same time, Qi's Giant Chamber State and Gao Er Clan secretly sent people to greet Xiao Bai. Lu Jun also considered that Xiao Bai would return first, and had already ordered Guan Zhong to lead his troops to intercept the road between Ju and Qi. After Xiao Bai arrived, Guan Zhong aimed at his heart socket and shot an arrow, right in the middle of the target, seeing that he should fall down. After the news of Xiao Bai's death reached the State of Lu, the army escorting Gongzi Gui was slower and slower in the celebration, and when it reached the Qi Border, the State of Qi already had a new king, that is, Xiao Bai! It turned out that Guan Zhong only shot his belt hook, and he made a clever move, pretended to lie down, and returned home safely.
Xiao Bai was the Duke of Huan, and after his victory, he immediately demanded that the Lu people kill Gongzi. Summoning the prince to death, he was martyred. Guan Zhong was still alive. He was a close friend of Uncle Bao, and Uncle Bao recommended him to Huan Gongli. Huan Gong listened to Uncle Bao's words and entrusted the state administration to him, calling him "Zhongfu". Since then, Huan Gong's career has been all guan Zhong's plot. How Huan Gong destroyed Tan, Sui, and Xiang; how he called on the princes to hold more than a dozen crown ceremonies; how he manipulated the internal affairs of the royal family under the title of King Zun to prevent King Hui from deposing the crown prince and finally helping the prince to take the throne, all of which are now omitted. His salvation and rescue of the guards in order to stop the Di people's southern invasion and to create a great merit for Zhu Xia, as mentioned earlier. Now let's talk about one of the major projects in his hegemony: the Southern System of Jingchu. In 659 BC, eighteen years after the death of King Wen of Chu, when the State of Qi was busy rescuing Xing Wei, the Chu attacked Zheng for the third time. In the next two years, they attacked Zheng twice, not forcing it to be "friendly" with Chu. At this time, the Zheng people relied on the State of Qi. Huan Gong naturally refused to show weakness. In 657 BC, he made contact with the two kingdoms of Jiang and Huang, which were northeast of the Chu state and could contain qi troops. The following year, he led the eight-nation alliance of Qi, Lu, Song, Chen, Wei, Zheng, Cao, and Xu, and first attacked the Chu state of Cai. Cai Ren looked at the wind and dissipated. This mighty army took advantage of the victory to invade the Chu Realm. The Chu people did not dare to fight, and sent people to say peace to the Qi army. Huan Gong and others saw that chu fang had no gap to take advantage of, and they agreed to make a pact with the chu state at Zhaoling (ChuJing, in the east of present-day Yucheng County, Henan). The content of the covenant is not considerable, probably because the State of Chu shrank from Zheng and recognized Qi's hegemony over Zheng, but soon after, the King of Zhou resented Huan Gong because of Yi Chu's problem, instigated Zheng Guo to betray Qi and attach chu, and promised the assistance of the royal family and the Jin state, and Zheng people followed it. Therefore, the vassals of Qi cut Zheng, and Chu Va xu aided Zheng, but retreated because the princes saved Xu. However, Xu Jun, after being persuaded and intimidated by Cai Hou, finally under the guidance of Cai Hou, tied his face to Bibi, and made the doctor wear a mourning dress, and the soldier carried the coffin, and followed behind, so as to surrender to Chu. The following year, Qi attacked Zheng with a large army, and the Zheng people killed Qijun to seek peace with Yu Qi. Later, Duke Huan's death zheng was subordinate to Qi's sphere of influence. During this period, Chu could not aspire to the north, and turned eastward, extinguishing the string (both in present-day northwest of Hubei) and Huang (both in present-day huangchuanxi, Henan). The Qi people were no better than that; after the defeat of Xu Rong, who was attached to Qi, Qi and the princes saved Xu and retreated in vain.
The Alliance of Summoning Tombs is the peak of Huan Gong's hegemony. Twelve or three years later, Guan Zhong and Duke Huan died successively. Guan Zhong's exploits left a deep impression on the scholars, and more than a hundred years after his death, Confucius still exclaimed: "Micro Tube Zhong, I was sent to Zuo Gong (rong di)!" In the Warring States period, Guan Zhong became the arrow stack of the legend of political reform; many political theories, and all the good strategies, strange strategies, and fallacious strategies of rich countries and strong soldiers, were piled up under his name, and the summaries of these theories and strategies constituted the main part of the existing "Guan Zi" book.
After the death of Duke Huan, the five princes competed for the throne, and the State of Qi and Zhu Xia lost their center of gravity at the same time. So Song Xianggong appeared on the shelf of the overlord. He first gathered some princes, brought in troops, and established a monarchy for it. This was a success. He then detained Teng Jun, subdued Cao Guo, and forced the People to kill Him in the sacrificial community, hoping to submit to Dongyi, who was not in harmony with Him. He then asked the King of Chu to give him the hegemony to lead the princes, and the King of Chu agreed verbally. He gleefully assembled the princes. It was at this time that the ambush of the King of Chu, along with him, transformed him from an ally on the altar to a prisoner of the order. Then his prison cart chased Chu Jun to the Song Realm. Fortunately, the Song state was prepared, and the king of Chu released him. From then on, he could put down the overlord's shelf, but it was not. Since the death of Duke Huan, Zheng was attached to Chu, Zheng Jun, and personally courted Yu Chu. So Xianggong cut zheng. His army and Chu's rescuers met on the Hongshui River. When the Chu people had not finished their journey, Sima Fang of Song fang advised Xiang to be just and good to meet the attack, but he said no. After a while, the Chu people all landed, but they had not yet formed a whole team, and Sima Da advised him to attack again, saying that it was still not possible. It was only when the Chu people had set up their positions that his conscience allowed him to issue an attack order. As a result, the Song army was defeated; he was wounded and later killed. Before his death, he also commented loudly: "Gentlemen are in battle, do not add wounds to injuries, do not catch old people with gray hair; the ancients used soldiers, not relying on dangers and obstacles." Although the widow is a subjugated country, how can he attack the enemy who has not yet formed a line? "Within ten years after Duke Huan's death, Wei annihilated Xing; Qi extinguished Xuju; Qin extinguished Rui and Liang; and Chu extinguished Chu.