Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Duke Wen of Zheng
Duke of Zheng for forty-five years who balanced between Qi, Chu and Jin, and sent Zhu Zhiwu to talk Qin out of a siege.
In a side chamber of a palace, a yellow ceremonial robe embroidered with a dragon hangs on a wooden stand, its hem worked with waves and rocks, before a carved folding screen, while a black lacquer chest sits on a low table by a lattice window and no person is in view.
Also known as Ji Jie · Earl Jie of Zheng
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
Duke Wen of Zheng, personal name Ji Jie, was the son of Duke Li of Zheng and ruled for forty-five years. In an age when Duke Huan of Qi and then Duke Wen of Jin held hegemony and Chu pressed northward, Zheng lay at the crossroads of the Central Plains, and Duke Wen wavered between Qi and Chu, inviting repeated attacks. He refused proper courtesy to the exiled Chong'er when he passed through Zheng. In 630 BCE, when Jin and Qin besieged Zheng, he followed Yi Zhihu's advice, apologised to Zhu Zhiwu and sent him to persuade Qin, lifting the siege. He is the Earl of Zheng in 'Zhu Zhiwu Persuades Qin to Withdraw'.
Life and times
Dates Birth year unknown; d. 628 BCE (r. 672–628 BCE)