Qin Mugong sent Jin Wengong back to China, why did Jin Wengong break his promise
Qin Mugong did have a personal favor for Jin Wengong, but from the perspective of national interests, this kindness is insignificant compared to national interests.
In other words, Qin Mugong's gift to Jin Wengong was not just out of simple moral considerations. Behind it lies a deep political purpose. However, in this case, it is not easy for Jin Wengong to put the interests of the country above personal grievances after succeeding to the throne.
If you want to talk about the grievances between the Qin State and the Jin State, you have to go back to the time when Qin Mugong first ascended the throne. At that time, the Qin state was only a small country in the west, and the decline of the Zhou royal family gave the Qin state a chance to rise in the west.
By the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, when Qin Mugong first ascended the throne, Qin had already controlled most of the territory in the Guanzhong region and had become a real power.
However, at this time, the Qin State needed to face a new challenge, that is, the direction of future development. For the high-level Qin State at that time, the most desirable direction of expansion was undoubtedly east of Hangu Pass, because it was the center of the Central Plains civilization, located in Shanxi, Henan and other places, and was the most attractive area.
But this meant that Qin would encounter a powerful opponent, the Jin State, whose territory happened to be located to the east of the Qin State, which meant that as long as Qin Mugong developed eastward, he would have to cross the big obstacle of the Jin State.
Therefore, the state of Qin began to think of countermeasures.
In the Jin Kingdom, during the reign of Jin Wengong's father, Jin Xiangong, the Qin State tried to attack the Jin State by force, but after several encounters, Qin Mugong realized that the Jin State was stronger than he expected.
Therefore, Qin Mugong changed his strategy and proposed to the Jin State to marry the daughter of Jin Xiangong, and Jin Xiangong was also willing. So, Qin Mugong first married the daughter of Jin Xiangong and became the son-in-law of the Jin Kingdom.
Although Qin Mugong once again asked for passage from the Jin State after the two countries got married, Jin Xiangong immediately changed his attitude. He initially agreed to marry a daughter because he wanted to interfere in the internal affairs of the Qin State, and as for the passage given, from the perspective of the Jin State, this would only allow the Qin State to go deep into the Central Plains to compete for hegemony and add a powerful enemy to himself.
Therefore, Jin Xiangong did not compromise because of the relationship between in-laws, and Qin Mugong could only accept this result in the end.
However, the history of the two countries did not end with the refusal of the Jin state. In the years after the Jin State married its daughter, a civil strife broke out in the Jin Kingdom, leading history to a new chapter.
Specifically, Jin Xiangong had three sons when he was young, the second of which was the later Duke Wen of Jin. Subsequently, Jin Xiangong married a pair of sisters, and they gave birth to the fourth and fifth children for Jin Xiangong.
In order to fight for inheritance, the sisters framed the three older children in front of them. As a result, the eldest son died unjustly, and the second and third sons were forced to flee and go to other countries.
A few years later, Jin Xiangong died, and the sisters put the fourth child on the throne, but this caused dissatisfaction among some ministers. Among them, a minister named Rick actually found someone to assassinate the fourth child and publicly assassinated the fifth child.
As a result, the fourth and fifth children died at the same time, and the Jin Kingdom immediately fell into the dilemma of having no one to inherit the throne. Under these circumstances, the ministers of the Jin Kingdom began to look for the second and third children who were in exile, hoping that they would return to inherit the throne.
In the face of the sudden monarch's throne, the second child behaved more cautiously and decided to observe for a while, but the third child was very positive, he took the initiative to contact Qin State, and promised that as long as Qin Mugong helped him return to China, he would give Qin State heavy thanks.
Qin Mugong has always regarded the Jin State as a relative and has always tried to interfere in the internal affairs of the Jin Dynasty. The third is Qin Mugong's son-in-law, and Qin Mugong is naturally willing to help him seize power. But after the third child came to power, he betrayed his promise, and Qin Mugong reluctantly lost a lot of resources.
If the soft one doesn't work, then try the hard one. After the third child ascended to the base year, the two countries clashed again, and the Qin State finally won and captured the third child. However, this did not substantially help the overall interests of the Qin state.
Due to the kinship between the two sides, Qin Mugong could not kill the third child, and the Jin State was still strong, and the Qin State could not develop eastward. So, Qin Mugong adopted a compromise strategy and sent the third son's son to Qin as a hostage.
After the crown prince of Jin came to Qin, Qin Mugong was very enthusiastic about him, not only gave him favorable living conditions, but also married his daughter to him. "
Qin Mugong's warm treatment did not change the mind of the prince of Jin, but allowed him to flee back to Jin, making it impossible for Qin to interfere in Jin's internal affairs again. Although Qin Mugong's goal may have been to strengthen the relationship between the two parties, his eldest nephew's behavior prevented him from achieving this goal.
Qin Mugong was furious and decided to help Chong'er, who was in exile in the state of Chu, return to China to seize power. Chong'er successfully returned to China with the help of Qin State, married the daughter of Qin Mugong, and became Qin Mugong's son-in-law.
At the same time, Chong'er married his nephew's ex-wife, forming an intricate relationship with each other.
Duke Wen of Jin regained the throne with the help of the Qin state, but new challenges arose. He needed to decide whether or not to grant land to Qin, otherwise Qin might become a great enemy of Jin and threaten its relations with other powers.
Although the Jin state was strong, it was surrounded by many enemy states, including the state of Chu in the south and the state of Qi in the east. If the Qin state also joins the fray, the Jin state will face even more pressure.
Faced with a dilemma, Jin Wengong showed his wisdom. He realized that if he didn't give land, he might lose his status. But if land is granted, it may face huge risks.
In this case, Jin Wengong proposed a third option, he invited Qin Mugong to form a team to fight the Chu State, and after defeating the Chu State, Qin Mugong could get the passage to the east in the Chu State.
This strategy made Qin Mugong agree with his views, and the two countries began to join forces to fight the state of Chu. In the end, Duke Wen of Jin succeeded in dominating the princes through this cooperation.
However, the good times did not last long, and Qin Mugong soon sensed that something was wrong. Why did our Qin State fight a hard-fought battle, but in the end it was dominated by the Jin State? Qin Mugong finally realized that he had been deceived by Jin Wengong and became a free thug.
Although the two countries did defeat the Chu State, every time they divided the territory, the Jin State would divide most of it, and it was firmly blocked in the east of the Qin State, completely locking the opportunity for the Qin State to go east.
Therefore, after this, Qin Mugong immediately changed his strategy and turned to join forces with the Chu State to jointly fight against the Jin State. From that time until the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the main situation in the Central Plains has always been that Qin and Chu fought together against the Jin State.
Although Qin Mugong failed to realize his ambition to go east, he dominated the west and completely wiped out the small states in the west.
Qin Mugong helped Chong'er return to China to seize power and marry his daughter to him, his purpose was not simple, he just wanted to interfere in the internal affairs of Jin. And Jin Wengong's behavior, starting from the national interests of the Jin State, has nothing wrong, let alone a favor and revenge.
In fact, in the face of national interests, the interests of individuals are insignificant. Duke Wen of Jin had a deep political purpose when he got married, but he did not bite Qin State later, which is already quite generous.