In the spring and Autumn period, Qin and Jin married for generations. Later, people called the marriage of the two surnames “the friendship between Qin and Jin”. Until today, when we celebrate our marriage, we also say “congratulations to XXX and XXX on their marriage.”.
In fact, the “friendship between Qin and Jin” in history is not a happy marriage, but a true political marriage. The Qin and Jin Dynasties on the East and West banks of the Yellow River have never stopped fighting openly and secretly. However, the political pattern in the spring and Autumn period is divided and combined. If there is a struggle, there is an alliance. Marriage is an important means of alliance. The noble women who marry each other’s countries are a shining weight on the political balance. In peacetime, this weight maintains balance. Once the two countries tear face and fight, this weight may make the balance tilt dramatically.
In 645 BC, Duke mu of Qin fought a battle with his brother-in-law, Duke Jin Hui, and won a great victory and captured Duke Jin Hui. Just as he proudly escorted the captured master, there was a big mess in the capital of the state of Qin: Muji, the wife of Duke mu of Qin and the sister of Duke Jin Hui, led two sons and a woman, including the crown prince, to the high platform, with firewood piled under his feet, He sent people in mourning clothes to Qin Mugong and said, “heaven has brought disaster and let the sword soldiers of our two countries meet. You escort the king of the state of Jin into the capital in the morning, and I will burn myself in the evening; in the evening, I will burn myself the next morning. You see what you do.” Qin Mugong was in trouble: having won a great victory was a happy event. The emperor’s wife set herself on fire, and the happy event was about to become a funeral. To make matters worse, the wife also took hostages. Even if you don’t care about the relationship between husband and wife, your children can’t ignore it, not to mention the heirs of the state of Qin. The situation is too serious. Helpless, he had to leave Huigong’s son as a hostage, let Jin Huigong return home, and the two countries made peace again.
Coincidentally, after 18 years, that is, in 627 BC, Duke Xiang of Jin, who had just ascended the throne, fought with the army of the state of Qin in Caishan. This time, Jin won, the Qin army was completely destroyed, and all three generals were captured. When Xianggong returned home, Wen Ying, his immediate mother and wife of Wen Gong (daughter of Duke mu of Qin), came to intercede: “these three people are the culprits of the relationship between our Qin and Jin Dynasties. Our king of Qin hates them to the bone. Why don’t you make a favor, send them back to Qin, and let our king of Qin kill them?” Xianggong’s biological mother was Duke Wen of Jin’s side room. Although he was a monarch, he dared not disrespect his father’s wife due to etiquette, so he had to release three Qin generals to return home, leaving future troubles for the state of Jin.
The heroines of the two events are Mrs. Qin Jun and the mother of Jin Jun (whose status is similar to that of the Empress Dowager in the future). However, when the two countries exchanged troops, they immediately returned to the role of Princess of Jin and daughter of Qin Jun and spoke from the standpoint of their parents’ country. In particular, Mrs. Qin Mu’s means of threatening her husband with her own and her children’s lives can be described as hitting the nail on the head and turning the situation around at the last minute. They are heroes to the motherland. But after all, they are married daughters, who will live in the other country as the monarch’s wife until they die. Have they ever been happy as wives and mothers?
The so-called “friendship between Qin and Jin” is not a marriage based on the love and blood relationship between men and women, but a political and diplomatic means. These noble monarch daughters are a chip in the political gamble, sometimes just a gift. For example, Huai Ying, the daughter of Duke mu of Qin, was first married to Zi Yun, the son of Duke Hui of Jin who remained in the state of Qin as a hostage, and Zi Yun fled back to the state of Jin. Duke mu of Qin gave her as a concubine to Chong Er, the son of Duke mu of Jin (later Duke Wen of Jin), both to win Chong ER and to humiliate Zi Yun – Zi Yun was Chong er’s nephew, and Huai Ying was Chong er’s nephew and daughter-in-law!
The truth is so cruel.