Gan Mao, this "small town problem-solver" who came out of Xia Cai Xiaocheng, finally seized the opportunity and gained the trust of King Qin Wu. With the succession of King Wu of Qin, the opportunity for him to show his skills has also come.
Rewarded for merit
Since the Shang Dynasty changed the law, the Qin State has pursued the principle of "being knighted and rewarded for merit", and even if it is appreciated by the king, there is no way to directly get the corresponding official position.
For example, after Zhang Yi came to the Qin State, he was a guest secretary for five years, competing with Chen Zhen for favor, and speaking ill of people, but even if he was appreciated by King Qin Hui again, he still did not get any official position. It wasn't until he and Gongzihua led troops to besiege and take Puyang that Zhang Yi could be regarded as getting an official position and stepping onto the stage of history.
Gan Mao was much luckier than Zhang Yi, and after being introduced, he assisted Wei Zhang in attacking the land of Hanzhong, and obtained the corresponding military merits, and was appointed.
Therefore, he could intervene in the court struggle of the Qin State in advance, and join the Wei State to attack the Chu State, and when Zhang Yi wanted to use the Qin army to solve the troubles of the Wei State, he would consider whether to support Zhang Yi.
It's just that Gan Mao also knows that with the level of trust that Zhang Yi gained from King Qin Hui, no matter how hard he tries, it is impossible to reach the position of "Minister of State", so he will arrange King Qin Wu in advance.
And if Gan Mao wants to obtain the official position of "Minister of State", according to the requirements of the Qin State, he needs to make meritorious contributions in order to give King Wu of Qin a reason to appoint himself.
Gan Mao was once again given the opportunity to lead his troops to quell the rebellion in Shudi.
During the reign of King Hui of Qin, the Qin State had already annexed the two places through the struggle between the two countries, and divided Gongzitong into the Marquis of Shu, appointed Chen Zhuang as the minister of Shu, and Zhang Ruo as the Taishou. The people who led the troops in the annexation of Bashu and Shu this time were "Qin Doctor Zhang Yi, Sima Cuo, Du Weimo, etc."
In the process of taking over the king of Qin, Chen Zhuang killed the Marquis of Shu and rebelled. After King Wu of Qin succeeded to the throne, Gan Mao was appointed to lead Zhang Yi and Sima Cuo to Shu to quell the rebellion, and "Qin sent the chief Gan Mao, Zhang Yi, and Sima Cuo to reconquer Shu and punish Chen Zhuang."
Obviously, this counterinsurgency move is to allow Gan Mao to brush up on his military merits so that he can be further appointed.
Sure enough, after quelling the rebellion in Shudi, Gan Mao was named the left prime minister by King Wu of Qin.
This time was a political reform of King Wu of Qin, and it was also his effort to balance the two forces of local and guest generals in the court of Qin.
Along with Gan Mao, the one who was named the right prime minister was Zhu Liji, who was born in the royal family and was known for his resourcefulness, so it was natural for the local forces of the Qin State to unite around him, with him as the leader.
Factional struggles
Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and there are fights.
In the court of the Qin State, there is not a harmonious atmosphere, everyone contributes their own strength to the great cause of the unification of the Qin State, but there are still struggles between different factional forces.
The more well-known is the pre-court debate between Shang Ying, Gan Long, Du Zhi and others, which was an open outbreak of contradictions between reform and conservative forces. The decision to implement the policy does not mean that there are no contradictions.
Even if the Qin State continued to follow the legal system determined by Qin Xiaogong and Shang Ying, there was still the problem of division of interests, and the struggle around the division of interests began with Qin Xiaogong's "Seeking Talents" and reached a climax in Li Si's "Book of Exhortations to Guests".
The two forces that divided around interests in the Qin State were the native forces of the Qin State - the Qin people who grew up in the Qin State, and the other was the guest general forces of other countries - the people from other vassal states who came to the Qin State in the west because of the "Seeking Merit Order".
According to the original political structure of the court, "Minister of State", the Minister of a country, during the Warring States Period, this position was called "Xiangbang", and during the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang was avoided, and this title was changed to "Xiangguo". This is the highest position that belongs to the courtiers, and it is also a position that belongs to one person and above ten thousand, and there is only one position, which is the object of competition among different people.
During the period of Qin Xiaogong, if you want to reform and break the original conservative forces, then you must appoint a large number of guest generals from the west. As the main person who promoted the reform of the law, Shang Ying naturally occupied the corresponding ecological niche, although there was no "state minister" position at this time.
Subsequently, Shang Ying died and the Qin law remained unchanged, and at this time, the original Qin people had also risen to a high position by relying on military merits and titles, so they naturally had their own interests. At the same time, the guest generals and scholars who came to the west did not decrease because of this.
However, when a country is running, the official titles and titles provided are limited, so there will inevitably be competition between different people and different forces.
During the reign of King Hui of Qin, he was the rhinoceros-headed prince Sun Yan at the beginning, he was a Wei man, but through military exploits he rose all the way to the position of the chief, that is, the highest position in military affairs.
He was followed by Zhang Yi, who was also a Wei man, and after Zhang Yi gained the trust of King Hui of Qin, Gongsun Yan left Qin and came to Wei to serve as the "Minister of State", and Zhang Yi replaced Liao You and became the "Minister of State" of Qin.
This in itself was a means for King Hui of Qin to balance the forces of the two sides, and Zhang Yi became the "minister of state", but more at the diplomatic level, constantly sending envoys to other vassal states, while the local forces of Qin mastered the military power at home.
Of course, others were not satisfied with King Qin Hui's arrangement, so there were many people who offered "slander" and wanted to replace Zhang Yi.
In the period of King Wu of Qin, he also faced such a problem, and in order to balance the two forces, he made a system reform to influence the prime minister.
Gan Mao, on behalf of the guest general forces, and on behalf of the local forces.
The pinnacle of glory
It's just that Gan Mao became the prime minister of Zuo, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that he was more because of his early defection to King Qin Wu, not his own strength, so his position as prime minister of Zuo is not stable.
After King Wu of Qin succeeded to the throne, as the new king, he had to shape his prestige and integrate the domestic forces, and Gan Mao also needed this military merit to prove himself and gain a foothold in the Qin State.
Two people, hit it off.
"Pull Yiyang, pass through Sanchuan, peep into the Zhou room", this has become an opportunity that both people need to seize.
Gan Mao had expected that this would be a difficult battle before the attack, not only because Yiyang City itself was a fortified fortress, and South Korea had gathered heavily here, but also because of this battle, there was no consensus in the Qin State, and many people opposed it, such as Zhu Liji, Gongsun Hao and others.
Therefore, Gan Mao tried every means to make King Wu of Qin insist on supporting him, and finally won this battle. And in this process, the Qin army also suffered heavy losses.
The victor is blameless. Even though this battle was won in a difficult way, it was Gan Mao who won the victory, and King Wu of Qin realized his political ideals.
At this time, Gan Mao's power in the Qin State had also reached its peak, and the original "betrayal" and "early refuge" were no longer a matter of being blamed.
Similarly, King Wu of Qin also proved his political foresight through this victory, opening the way for Qin's eastward expansion.
However, history played a joke at this critical juncture, changing the fate of King Wu of Qin and Gan Mao.
King Wu of Qin raised the Ding in Luoyi, because the Da Ding got out of his hand and hit the knee, and he died.
From the political methods and ideals of King Wu of Qin, it can be seen that the other party is indeed an eloquent monarch, and after conquering Yiyang, he has the prestige of integrating domestic forces, and he can achieve the goal of "peeping into the Zhou room" that he hopes for.
It's just that all of this was interrupted with his death, and Gan Mao, the one who relied on the trust of King Qin Wu to embark on the road to power, fell directly from the peak.
After King Qin Zhao succeeded to the throne, Gan Mao still occupied an important position in the Qin court with his ability, but he lost the trust of the monarch and could not stay at the peak of power.
In particular, King Qin Zhao, as the half-brother of King Qin Wu, and he suddenly succeeded to the throne, he had no team of his own at all, and if he wanted to sit on his throne, he had to rely on the strength of his mother, Empress Dowager Xuan.
When the Qin State leveled Yiyang for the second time, it was Xiang Shou, a relative of the Empress Dowager Xuan, who led the troops, and Gan Mao and Zhu Lijian assisted. "Qin envoys to Shouping Yiyang, and envoys to Lizi and Gan Mao to fight Weipi's clan."
The difference in treatment before and after naturally made Gan Mao understand that he could no longer take a step closer in the Qin State, which would cause greater psychological changes for him, who originally seized various opportunities to climb to the peak of power, but because of such an accident, he had to slip from the peak.
In such a short period of time, he has experienced the ups and downs of life, and he has also seen the warmth and coldness of human feelings, which made Gan Mao's original belief that he could seize all opportunities with hard work, and then walk to the peak of life, was shaken.
All the hard work, all the hard work, can not compare to an accident, an accident that no one expected.
Reconcile with yourself
Gan Mao figured it out, or the reality made him have to understand.
At this time, he met with Gong Zhong, who came to Qin to ask for help, this former defender of Yiyang City.
Once one was under the city and the other was in the city, and the opponents who used to fight and die in Yiyang City, but now they met calmly.
Because the state of Chu resented that when the Qin state defeated the Chu army in Danyang, Korea could not save it when it saw death, so it led troops to besiege the Yong clan in Korea.
Gong Zhongqian came to ask Qin for help this time, hoping to relieve South Korea's predicament.
If other ministers were willing to help him speak, he would never find this person who had captured Yiyang, which he was guarding, and the other ministers knew very well that the reason why Qin State did not save it was because of Empress Dowager Xuan, who was in power at the moment.
Empress Dowager Xuan is a daughter of Chu, and she is unwilling to cause contradictions between Qin and Chu because of Korean affairs, and when Gong Zhongqian had no choice but to go to Gan Mao, it was also when Gan Mao understood the impermanence of life and reconciled with himself.
Gan Mao agreed to help Gong Zhong persuade the King of Qin to send troops to solve the trouble of Chu's attack on Korea.
As for whether doing so will offend the Empress Dowager Xuan, and whether it will get into trouble. Gan Mao doesn't care anymore.
In the past, Gan Mao would never do such a thing. He has to think about his future promotion, for the sake of his own power climbing, this kind of thing that may offend people, if there is no benefit, he will never be contaminated.
And now, he has understood that no matter whether he does it or not, it is impossible for him to continue to maintain his power in the court of the Qin State, and it is impossible for him to show what he has learned in such an era of princely strife as he imagined.
"If you don't help South Korea, then, you may push South Korea to the opposite side of Qin." Gan Mao persuaded King Qin with a simple truth, everyone actually knows this truth, but they are unwilling to come forward to be the person who sins the Empress Dowager.
When such a person comes out, it will become a logical thing to send troops to rescue South Korea.
When Gan Mao saw the Qin army attacking, he may have thought that he would be snubbed in the court because of this, but what he didn't expect was that he would flee to another country because of this.
In the end, embark on an ending that you never thought of.