A loyal, filial and virtuous illegitimate son, he successfully became the prince after his father came to power, but why did he hang himself?

If a person has been unfairly wronged, the first thing he thinks of is to defend himself. In ancient times, there were many ways to stop the driver and cry out the injustice, beating drums and so on.

But in the Spring and Autumn Period, there happened to be such a fool. He was accused of murdering his father because of his stepmother's slander. But when he learned the news, the first thing he thought of was not someone like himself. He ran away like his brother Chong'er, and because he didn't want his father to be laughed at by the world, he didn't defend himself, and finally chose to commit suicide to satisfy his confused father! This fool is Chong'er's brother, the benevolent and righteous Crown Prince Shen Sheng of Jin!

Shen Sheng’s birth was obscure

When talking about Shen Sheng, we have to mention his legendary birth experience. His father was Duke Xiang of Jin who created the false Taoist strategy among the Thirty-Six Stratagems to conquer Guo, and his mother was Qi Jiang.

There are two very famous Qi Jiangs in history. One is the courageous daughter of the Qi clan who drunken Duke Wen of Jin and sent him out of Qi State, who was corrupted by the easy life, and wanted to help him become the king. . Another Qi Jiang is Shen Sheng’s mother, and she is also the daughter of Duke Huan of Qi.

At that time, ginger was composed of the word "sheep girl", which meant a docile and virtuous woman, and also contained the meaning of beauty. She was originally the concubine of Duke Wu of Jin, the father of Duke Xian of Jin. However, Duke Wu of Jin married her in order to consolidate the relationship between Qi and Jin. In addition, he was too old to have sex, so Qi Jiang was basically a widow in the early days of her marriage.

It is so torturous for a peerless beauty to stay alone in the empty boudoir every day. At this time, the young and strong Jin Xiangong appeared in her sight, and the two people of the same age came together like this, so Shen Sheng's birth was not visible to the public, so he was sent to a family named Shen for foster care. This is also the origin of his name Shen Sheng.

Shen Sheng was named the prince

In 677 BC, Duke Wu of Jin passed away and Duke Xian of Jin ascended the throne. Shen Sheng was naturally able to appear openly and openly in front of the world. Because his grandfather was Duke Huan of Qi, the overlord at that time, and the grandfathers of Chong'er and Yiwu were just Hutu, a high official in the Jin Kingdom.

Hutu is the guy who was praised by the rulers of the past dynasties because he was a godson, a loyal minister and not a slave to the two masters. His two sons, Hu Yan and Hu Mao, were also important contributors to Jin Wengong's ascension to the throne.

Shen Sheng was famous for his filial piety and virtuousness in history. When Duke Xiang of Jin came to the throne, he was already quite famous. Coupled with the prominent status of his grandfather Qi Huangong, he was naturally named the prince because This helps to further harmonize the relationship between Qi and Jin.

However, not long after Shen Sheng was named the prince, his mother Qi Jiang passed away. In the following years, Duke Xiang of Jin focused most of his energy on governing the country. Prince Shen Sheng also performed very well and was very popular among the people. However, all this ended with the Jin's great victory in 672 BC. Why?

Dong Xian of Jin favored Li Ji, and Li Ji framed Prince Shen Sheng, Chong Er, and Yi Wu in various ways, and wanted to eradicate the three of them

Because Jin got the beautiful woman Li in this war The relationship between sisters Ji and Shaoji, which had been silent for many years, broke out again. Li Ji was doted on to the extreme, and Shao Ji was naturally favored. The two gave birth to Xi Qi and Zhuo Zi successively. Li Ji relied on her intelligence to further gain the recognition of Duke Xiang of Jin, and was allowed to participate in government affairs.

A mother’s biggest wish is for her son to succeed, and the same goes for Li Ji. She wholeheartedly wants her son Xi Qi to become the prince, so naturally she has to find a way to make the princes Shensheng, Chong’er, and Chong’er who are ahead of Xi Qi. The three of them, Yi and Wu, eradicated them.

Li Ji bribed two people, Liang Wu and Guandong Wu, to advise Duke Xian of Jin. In the end, Prince Shen Sheng was stationed in Quwo, Chong'er was stationed in Pucheng, and Yiwu was stationed in the north and south Quwo. After Li Ji achieved her goal of expelling the three people from the capital, she began to make up lies in front of Duke Xiang of Jin.

Li Ji first invited Shen Sheng to dinner in the palace, but at night she cried and complained that Shen Sheng was molesting her, and said, "My father is old, I should inherit the throne." Wait, but Duke Xiang of Jin She still didn't believe it, so Li Ji took the opportunity to propose that she and Shen Sheng could go to the park to socialize and let Xian Gong observe in person on the stage.

The next day, Li Ji, who had smeared honey on her hair in advance, invited Shen Sheng to play together. As soon as the two appeared in the garden, honey surrounded Li Ji's hair, and Shen Sheng was behind her out of good intentions. She used her sleeves to drive away the honey, but Li Ji deliberately ran forward, and Shen Sheng had to chase after him. When Jin Xiangong saw it, he thought that the teasing was true, so he was furious and drove Shen Sheng back to his fiefdom, Quwo. .

Shen Sheng interpreted his loyalty and filial piety by hanging himself

Not long after, Li Ji wrote to Shen Sheng in the name of Jin Xiangong, asking him to come back to sacrifice his mother. Although Shen Sheng suspected that this was a trap, he jumped in because he attached great importance to filial piety, and according to the etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty, he sent the sacrificial bacon to the palace for Duke Xiang of Jin to taste.

When the tampered wine and meat were served to the table, Li Ji pretended to inspect them as usual, but the wine spilled on the ground and white smoke came out. The dog died immediately after eating the meat. Jin Xiangong again He ordered one of his followers to eat it, but he was also killed immediately. Duke Xiang of Jin ordered Prince Shen Sheng to commit suicide to apologize.

After Shen Sheng got the news, he ran to Xincheng. Although he could fly away, he said to his subordinates: "Father will be very lonely without Aunt Li. If I run away, then everyone in the world will know about it." The truth and making fun of Jin! So in Xincheng, he hanged himself to explain his loyalty and filial piety, and to show his innocence to the world. Although I could escape, I didn't want to because I didn't want to bear the infamy.