Duke Huan of Qi

Also known as Jiang Xiaobai · Huan Gong

Duke Huan of Qi, personal name Xiaobai, was a younger brother of Duke Xiang. After Duke Xiang was murdered he reached the capital from Ju ahead of his brother Jiu and took power in 685 BC; on Bao Shuya's advice he pardoned Guan Zhong, whose arrow had once struck his belt hook, and put him in charge of the state. Rallying the lords in the name of the Zhou king, he struck the Shanrong in 663 BC to relieve Yan and leading a coalition against Chu in 656 BC that ended in a covenant at Shaoling. At the Kuiqiu assembly of 651 BC King Xiang of Zhou sent an envoy with sacrificial meat, the high point of his hegemony. When he died in 643 BC his sons fought over the succession; the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says his body lay untended for sixty-seven days. The Analects records Confucius crediting Guan Zhong with letting the duke unite the lords nine times without war chariots.