Alliance at Jiagu
When Confucius served in the state of Lu, he brought about peace and order to the state. The people of the state of Qi, Lu’s neighbour, were so afraid that Lu would grow more powerful and eventually annex their state. Duke Jing of Qi regretted not having made use of Confucius’ talents when Confucius was in his state. In order to show that he desired to be friendly with Lu, he proposed a meeting between the rulers of the two states. In 500 B.C., an alliance meeting between Qi and Lu was held at Jiagu. Since Confucius was Minister of Justice and a senior official and had a good knowledge of etiquette, he was appointed master of ceremonies for the Lu ruler. Li Chu, a senior official of Qi, like most ordinary people, believed rashly from hearsay that Confucius only knew about etiquette and nothing about the art of war. So he suggested secretly to Duke Jing of Qi that people from Lai (an ethnic minority group) living nearby be ordered to play Lai music at the alliance meeting and kidnap Duke Ding of Lu by force when the chance arose. To show his good will, Duke Ding of Lu intended to ride to the meeting in a carriage, but Confucius suggested taking some troops along for protection against unexpected events, saying: “For a diplomatic event there must be military preparations and for a military event there must be diplomatic preparations.” Duke Ding accepted his suggestion. After the two rulers had sworn to their alliance and smeared the blood of a sacrificial animal on their lips, some Lai people carrying flags, halberds, swords and spears came forward to perform a sword dance in an attempt to kidnap Duke Ding of Lu and use him to force Lu into submission. Confucius immediately ordered his armed escort to fight back and quickly led Duke Ding to a safe place. At the same time, he sternly rebuked Duke Jing of Qi: “Why, at a grand friendly meeting of the rulers of two states, is the ritual of the Duke of Zhou not observed and palace dances not performed? Instead, why are barbarians making a disturbance here? This is inauspicious to the gods, harmful to morality and most discourteous to the people. Why are you doing this?”
Confucius’ just and stern words left Duke Jing of Qi speechless. He hurriedly ordered the Lai people to withdraw and apologised to Duke Ding of Lu. On the following day, the two states formally signed the alliance. When Confucius read the treaty, which had been drafted beforehand by Qi, he found that one clause stipulated that Lu must provide three hundred war chariots to Qi whenever the latter went on a military campaign. In Confucius’ opinion, this meant that Lu would become a vassal state of Qi. He demanded that Duke Jing of Qi explain the clause. Duke Jing said: “The two states have become allies and should help each other.” Confucius said: “Since the two states are friendly and have formed an alliance, Qi should return to Lu the lands of Yun, Wenyang and Guiyin which it previously seized.” Duke Jing of Qi was forced to agree. Confucius’ resourcefulness and knowledge of etiquette demolished the plot of the ruler of Qi to kidnap the ruler of Lu by force. Through diplomatic negotiations, he recovered the territory which Yang Hu had illegally given to Qi. Thus the dignity of Lu was safeguarded, and a major diplomatic victory was achieved.
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