In an era of peace and prosperity, wars will gradually decrease with social stability. In troubled times, wars have become commonplace. The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are typical troubled times in the history of China.
Because of the decline of the reputation of the Zhou emperor and the expansion of the vassal power, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period characterized by mutual conquest came. At that time, the conflict between competing for land and population and observing classical etiquette coexisted. While observing etiquette, countries fight for interests. This leads to the fact that in people's minds, winning is important, but it is also necessary to conform to etiquette.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a general in the State of Song who rewarded the three armies before going out to war. Because I forgot to give it to the coachman, it was not in line with etiquette and was taken alive by the enemy. He is Huayuan.
Huayuan is not famous in history. His ancestor was the Duke of Song Dynasty, who was the monarch of Song State. He was deeply loved by the people for his good governance.
In the Song Dynasty, the public gave birth to a good father, who said that he had given birth to Hua Du. Later, people took Hua Tuo's name. As the great-grandson of Hua Du, Huayuan can only be regarded as a prince. So he became a doctor easily. In the fourth year of Song Wengong (606 BC), the State of Zheng attacked the State of Song, and Huayuan was ordered to resist. However, Zheng Jun has an advantage, and the history contains "Zheng defeated Song and imprisoned Huayuan."
Huayuan was defeated and captured for a special reason.
Before the war, Huayuan wanted to reward the three armed forces and improve the soldiers' enthusiasm for conquest. He chose to kill sheep and distribute them to all soldiers. In that era when materials were scarce and meat was scarce, it was very rare to eat sheep. According to "Mandarin", "The emperor eats too fast, and there are all kinds of cattle and sheep. Kings eat cows, nobles eat sheep, doctors eat tapirs, scholars eat fried fish, and Shu Ren eats vegetables."
This sentence is translated as "the son of heaven eats too fast", that is, the collective name of three animals used by the ancients in sacrifice: cattle, sheep and pigs. Next, according to the level, the princes who were enfeoffed to the local area ate cows, and the official "Qing" could eat sheep. As a doctor, you can only eat pork. If you are just a low-level "scholar", you can eat sashimi that was not widely accepted at that time. If you are an ordinary person, you can only eat vegetables.
Now it is a rare opportunity for Huayuan to let all the soldiers of the whole army eat mutton. So even if there is not much meat, it is almost just broth, which makes them very excited and greatly increases their combat effectiveness.
"Zuo Zhuan" records: "He refused to serve the sheep", which means that he didn't give soup to the sheep driving for Huayuan. Maybe it was because Huayuan neglected to forget it, or maybe he thought the sheep was useless anyway and deliberately didn't give it to him.
In short, at this time, China's spirit of "not suffering from poverty, suffering from inequality" began to work. If everyone doesn't, then I don't, but if everyone else does and I don't, then I'm naturally angry. Because of this psychology, the sheep planted the seeds of resentment in their hearts.
It is also very impolite for Huayuan to ignore it intentionally or unintentionally. As a result, the sheep took revenge, and Huayuan was severely pitted.
When he came to the battlefield where the two armies were at war, Huayuan wanted to command the troops, but Yang Yan drove to the enemy. Yang Zhen said to Huayuan: "The sheep of the past, the son is the government, and today's things, I am the government." It means that you have the final say when distributing mutton soup, but now on the battlefield, I have the final say.
Huayuan, who rushed into the enemy array, was captured alive, and Song Jun, the commander in chief, was immediately defeated by Zheng Jun. ..
Because it was of great significance to the state of Song, Song Wen used "hundreds of chariots and horses" to demand the return of Huayuan, but before these items were sent to Zheng, Huayuan escaped by himself.
After this failure, Huayuan became more stable and mature, and became more and more important. In the 16th year of Song Wengong (596 BC), the State of Chu attacked the State of Song and besieged it for several months. Seeing that there was no food in the capital of Song Dynasty, Chujun built houses and farmed outside the city, and Song Wengong could not sit still. So he sent Hua away to negotiate with Chu.
After seeing Chu Zhuangwang, Huayuan asked him about the current situation in the city.
At this point, Huayuan can completely say that there is enough food and grass in the city at this time, which can let the Truman retreat. Huayuan actually replied: "analyzing bones and cooking them, changing seeds into food", that is, splitting people's skulls for firewood and exchanging children for food. This scene can be described as very tragic.
Hearing this, King Zhuang said, "Sincere! Our army also has two rations. "
Finally, because of Huayuan's honest answer, Zhuang Wang agreed to quit. Later, Huayuan served the Gonggong in the Song Dynasty, and served as the right teacher after his death, which was the first of the hundred officials at that time. "Zuo Zhuan" also recorded Huayuan's words: "I am a right teacher and trained by the monarch and the minister." A general who was defeated because he forgot to reward the driver eventually became a veteran that the country relied on. Huayuan is really a rare saint.