Draft:Duke Zhao of Lu
| Duke Zhao of Lu 魯昭公 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruler of Lu | |||||||||
| Reign | 541-510 BC | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Ziye | ||||||||
| Successor | Duke Ding of Lu | ||||||||
| Died | 17 November 510 BC | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| House | House of Ji | ||||||||
| Father | Duke Cheng of Lu | ||||||||
Duke Zhao of Lu (Chinese: 魯昭公; pinyin: Lǔ Zhāo Gōng, 560 BC – 17 November 510 BC) was a ruler of the State of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China. His ancestral name was Ji (姬), given name Chou (稠), and Duke Xiang was his posthumous title.
Duke Zhao's reign was marked by continued dominance of three powerful cadet branches of the ducal family known as the Three Huan: Jisun, Mengsun, and Shusun. After a failed attempt of curbing the power of the Three Huan in 517 BC, he was forced into exile by them, though no new duke was proclaimed until after his death in 510 BC. The next year, Prince Song (宋), his younger brother, was made the new Duke of Lu. He would become known as Duke Ding of Lu.
Accession and Early Reign
Prince Chou was a son of Duke Xiang of Lu and Qi Gui, one of his concubines and a younger sister of Jing Gui, the principal wife. After Duke Xiang's death in 543 BC, Ziye, Duke Xiang's son with Jing Gui, became the new duke, but he died only three months later due to "excessive grief." Jisun Su, Viscount Wu of Jisun, the head of the Jisun clan, installed Prince Chou to the Lu throne despite the opposition of Shusun Bao, Viscount Mu of Shusun, his counterpart of the Shusun clan, who cited Prince Chou's low status and lack of grief upon his father's death. Both the Shiji and the Zuo Zhuan describe that Prince Chou, nineteen years of age in East Asian age reckoning, still had a child's demeanor.
In spring 541 BC, Shusun Bao attended a meeting in Guo (虢), a place in Jin, to renew the Covenant of Armistice five years prior. During this time, Jisun Su attacked Ju, a neighbor of Lu, retaking the city of Yun (鄆), which had once been Lu territory. As Lu was in violation of the terms of the Covenant, Prince Wei of Chu, the Chu delegate and future King Ling of Chu, demanded to Zhao Wu, Viscount Wen of Zhao, the Jin delegate, that Shusun Bao be executed. Yue Wangfu, Viscount Huan of Yue, Zhao Wu's aide, asked Shusun Bao for his belt in exchange for interceding on his behalf. Shusun Bao refused, citing that his country was more important than his own life, and gave him a strip of his dress instead. Zhao Wu, impressed by Shusun Bao's moral integrity despite his life being in danger, interceded on Shusun Bao's behalf and convinced the Chu delegate to pardon him.
In 535 BC, King Ling of Chu built the Zhanghua Terrace and decided to invite rulers of other states, Duke Zhao included, in attendance of the dedication ceremony. Wei Qiqiang, the King's envoy to Lu, reminded Duke Zhao about Duke Cheng's offer of sending Gongheng (公衡), his son, to Chu as hostage in 589 BC (Gongheng having escaped back to Lu after departure to Chu). With a veiled threat of enforcing the claim of a hostage should Duke Zhao refuse the invitation, Wei Qiqiang managed to convince Duke Zhao to go to Chu. After the ceremony, King Ling gifted Duke Zhao a bow, but soon regretted it. Wei Qiqiang, on King Ling's orders, went to Duke Zhao and convinced him to return it by claiming that Qi, Jin, and Yue had all coveted the bow and that these three states would attack Lu for it.
Fighting against Ju
For many decades, Lu had been fighting Ju, a smaller neighbor to its east. In 541 BC, a Lu army led by Jisun Su invaded Ju, taking a settlement named Yun (鄆), which had changed hands multiple times between Lu and Ju previously. In autumn 537 BC, Lu was again victorious, having defeated a Ju invasion. In 532 BC, Jisun Yiru, Viscount Ping of Jisun (son and successor of Jisun Su) invaded Ju, taking Geng (郠) and conducted a human sacrifice, which was a rare occurrence in that period of time (citation needed), in honor of the Lu ducal house.