Chapter 40 Chapter Thirty-Nine

King Cheng of Chu won the battle of Hongshui, and he was respected as the overlord by the surrounding small countries.If we put King Chu Cheng and Song Xianggong together, King Chu Cheng is indeed more like an overlord than Song Xianggong. Under the leadership of King Cheng of Chu, the State of Chu made great strides northward from the Han River Basin.In the east, many small Dongyi countries in the Huaihe River Basin were destroyed, and the soldiers pointed directly at the Lu State.Although Qi State was not convinced by Chu State, Qi Xiaogong couldn't even stabilize his own country. In the west, the countries in the Han River Basin, such as Jiang and Huang, which fell to the embrace of Duke Huan of Qi, have been annexed by Chu State, or have become completely vassals of Chu State.Although Chen and Cai, who are close to Chu State, are still princes of the Central Plains in name, they have actually become the protectorate of Chu State.The state of Zheng, which adopted the policy of falling with the wind, completely fell to the state of Chu for the time being.

After the battle of Hongshui, the Chu army advanced to Suiyang.Song Guo was terrified and unable to resist, and his thoughts of being the overlord had long since been cast aside.Facing the might of the Chu army, the Song State could only protect itself.The State of Chu defeated the State of Song and saved the State of Zheng. Zheng Wengong regarded King Cheng of Chu as a great benefactor.He welcomed King Chu Cheng to the state of Zheng, and entertained King Chu Cheng with the etiquette of entertaining Zhou Tianzi. King Chu Cheng was very satisfied. Some people criticized Zheng Wengong, saying that what he did was against Zhou etiquette.Zheng Wengong didn't take it seriously, the state of Chu has been king for many years, so what's wrong with me entertaining the King of Chu as I entertained the emperor of Zhou?The situation is still stronger than people.When Duke Huan of Qi suppressed Chu, Chu was a barbarian.When the strength of Chu State is strong, it can be compared with Zhou Tianzi.No wonder Zheng Guohui became the most adept vassal state in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period.

Duke Wen of Zheng hosted a banquet for King Chu Cheng, who was very drunk.Zheng Wengong's wife Mi Shi also came out to meet King Chu Cheng with two daughters - this Mi Shi is not an outsider, but the younger sister of King Chu Cheng. Zheng Wengong introduced the two daughters to King Chu Cheng: "Let your uncle see how beautiful these two nieces are." The two girls saluted King Chu Cheng respectfully and called him uncle. King Chu Cheng stared at his two nieces intently, and his saliva was about to flow out.She never thought that her younger sister could also give birth to such two beautiful daughters.

"Okay, that's good. Don't go back tonight, you two, just spend the night here with uncle, let's have a good chat." King Chu Cheng said lustfully. Zheng Wengong did not expect that King Cheng of Chu would have such a request. Just as he was about to refuse, the Mi family next to him secretly pulled Zheng Wengong's clothes.Mi knew her brother's temper very well. If he didn't follow him, when he lost his temper, Chu's army would be stationed in Zheng, and Zheng could be wiped out in one fell swoop. Zheng Wengong had no choice but to swallow his anger, and he had to smile and tell his two daughters: "Be with your uncle at night, and do whatever your uncle asks you to do. Don't lose your manners."

The two little girls are only in their teens, and they have been staying in the deep palace. They usually see eunuchs, but how have they seen such an old pervert like King Chu Cheng?All of a sudden, they were stunned by this sudden change, but since their father said so, how dare they say a word?Their fate was changed in an instant, and they had no choice but to accept it, and were brought into the harem by Chu Chengwang, the uncle. The uncle forced to marry his niece, and there were only two of them in return. It was terrible.However, this was not an isolated phenomenon at the time, and we will see it again in the future.After all, it will take more than 2,000 years for the law to protect minors to be introduced.In this way, King Cheng of Chu married his two nieces from the state of Zheng, together with the booty captured from the state of Song, he returned home triumphantly, leaving Zheng Wengong who dared not speak out.After reading this story, we can understand why later generations would rather list the loser Song Xianggong as one of the Five Hegemons in the Spring and Autumn Period, but cannot accept the winner Chu Chengwang.

The literal meaning of "overlord" is the leader of the princes, not hegemony.However, what Chu State did was full of the taste of bullying the weak everywhere, taking whatever it wanted from the small country, and completely disregarding the feelings of the small country.The reason why the small countries in the Central Plains respected King Cheng of Chu as their overlord was completely intimidated by the threat of force from Chu State. In fact, they all refused to accept it.This makes the cruelty of King Cheng of Chu form a sharp contrast with Duke Huan of Qi's high integrity.

Duke Huan of Qi was the first and only overlord in the Spring and Autumn Period to win support mainly by morality rather than force. That's why Confucius praised Duke Huan of Qi for being "righteous but not treacherous", saying that he could "combine the nine princes without using military chariots" , which are all highly rated.Song Xianggong also wanted to win support by virtue of morality, but unfortunately he only learned a little superficially from Qi Huangong.Later, he wanted to rely on his strength to speak, but he couldn't beat others, so his reputation was ruined.

King Cheng of Chu did not occupy the moral high ground at all, and was too superstitious about force.The small countries in the Central Plains respected him on the surface, but secretly they still regarded him as a barbarian monarch and an enemy of the Central Plains.As long as there is another strong overlord in the Central Plains, these small countries will easily abandon Chu and throw themselves into the arms of other countries. Therefore, although the state of Chu is powerful and invincible, King Cheng of Chu still failed to become the real overlord. While the state of Chu was showing its might in the south, the state of Jin in the north was also undergoing transformation.

Let's go back in time to 678 BC. This year, after decades of civil strife and division, the state of Jin was reunified under the hands of Duke Wu of Jin. At this time, the strength of the Jin State was only at a medium level, and its military strength had only one army (according to the "Zhou Li" records, the first army had 12,500 people).Of course Duke Wu of Jin wanted to make the country bigger and stronger, but unfortunately, time is not forgiving. In 677 BC, he died. Duke Wu of Jin's son, Duke Xian of Jin, officially ascended the throne in 676 BC and took on the important task of leading the state of Jin forward.This year, Duke Huan of Qi had been officially sworn in as the overlord.

Looking at the success of others, Jin Xiangong felt a sense of urgency that the time could not wait for others.However, Jin has just finished its civil war, and the country is in disrepair, and the starting point is very low.In order to prevent the tragedy of the civil war from repeating itself, and for the rapid development of the country, Minister Jin Xian made a move to cut off his own brothers and sisters-drive all his uncles and brothers to the gathering place (southeast of Jiangxian County, Shanxi Province today), and then Concentrate on culling.From then on, except for Jin Xiangong himself, all the members of the Jin family were extinct.

The nobles of the public house are all dead, and no one will come to compete with Duke Xian of Jin for his seat.Jin Xiangong is in power, and he no longer has to worry about the danger of splitting.In addition, positions such as ministers and doctors occupied by the nobles of the public office were also vacant.The vacant seats had to be filled, so Jin Xiangong recruited capable people of different surnames to fill these positions. At that time, the important official positions of the countries in the Central Plains were generally held by the same surname and family of the monarch.This often leads to a situation: in the government of a country, the prime minister is the uncle of the monarch, the minister of defense is the younger brother of the monarch, the minister of civil affairs is the uncle and brother of the monarch, and so on.The country, the country, really regards the country as its home.If this continues, it will become inbreeding on the job, so the country can only gradually weaken.However, Jin Xiangong's approach boldly broke the routine and formed a situation of "reducing talents without sticking to one pattern". The Jin country came out in large numbers, and soon became strong. Of course, self-amputation of limbs also left serious sequelae.When the influence of people with foreign surnames became stronger and stronger, the Jin government became a puppet, and finally the power of Jin was taken away by people with foreign surnames.However, this is all hundreds of years later. After the Jin State became stronger, Jin Xiangong felt that the establishment of one army was not enough, so he doubled the army and had the establishment of two armies.Relying on the troops of these two armies, the state of Jin destroyed several small countries surnamed Ji in Shanxi and Hebei, such as Huo, Geng, Wei, etc., greatly expanding its territory. The state of Jin already has the strength to compete in the Central Plains, but it still needs an opportunity to think about the Central Plains' hegemony.Jin Xiangong failed to wait for such an opportunity, so he died with hatred.Finally, it was Jin Wengong, the son of Jin Xiangong, who seized this opportunity. This opportunity is the situation that after the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the countries in the Central Plains lost their backbone, and the state of Chu took advantage of the situation to go north. Chu's hegemonic behavior has posed a serious threat to the countries of the Central Plains.The countries in the Central Plains urgently need someone who can succeed Duke Huan of Qi and lead everyone to fight against the barbarians.History has chosen Jin Wengong, and his story will be an important part of the next book. Before the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the situation of all countries in the world was a typical multi-polar pattern.Although Qi was once powerful, it was still not enough to be called a superpower.You can see that no matter which country he cleans up, he must take the coalition forces of the princes to act together. Of course, this is also a political strategy, but it also reflects that Qi State does not have an overwhelming advantage over other countries.So the author calls this period the "pre-superpower period". After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, first the Chu State rose suddenly in the south, and then the Jin State quickly rose to power in the north.According to the research of some scholars, there are one or two hundred small countries annexed by these two countries alone.Both of these two great powers have grown into invincible giants, thus pulling the history of the Spring and Autumn Period into the era of superpowers competing for hegemony. The multipolar pattern has become a bipolar pattern, and the small countries caught in the middle either take refuge in Jin or Chu.In the confrontation with the Jin State, the Chu State rarely emphasized its barbarian status, but regarded itself as a member of the Central Plains princes. The strategic goals of the Jin and Chu powerhouses have also become extremely clear: to defeat each other, you will be the overlord.Otherwise, you will be marginalized by the Central Plains countries.This has little to do with whether he is a barbarian or not.What about Zhou Tianzi?Apart from watching the two powers contend for hegemony, and being used as a signboard when needed, he has no other role. The situation is changing, and the social structure and ideology are also undergoing subtle changes quietly. The failure of Song Xianggong shows that the influence of Zhou Li has become weaker and weaker, although it will flare up from time to time.People are becoming more and more utilitarian and realistic.Relying on "rituals" alone is already difficult to restrain the entire society.So Confucius said sadly that this era is "the collapse of rituals and the destruction of music". The frequency and intensification of wars have caused a large number of casualties of soldiers.Only using the Chinese as a source of soldiers can no longer meet the needs of war.Many countries have begun to expand the scope of conscription to wildlings.Once the savages were able to serve as soldiers, the number of the army expanded dramatically, which in turn made the war more cruel. The fierceness and frequency of wars led to the diversification of war methods and war theories.No one strictly abides by the gentle and elegant way of warfare under the guidance of the principle of Zhou etiquette, except for the occasional convulsions like Song Xianggong. In some literary works describing the Spring and Autumn Period, the title "general" appears. This is a historical bug.At that time, there was no distinction between civil and military duties, and no matter whether it was a monarch or a high official, they could lead troops to fight.They are generals when they go out to fight, and they are ministers when they return home. They are all versatile.Of course, the early wars were relatively simple. Basically, as long as they were not illiterate, they could command operations.Someone appointed as the commander-in-chief of a certain army is called "General" or "General", and the word "General" did not appear until the Warring States Period. Although there were no generals in the Spring and Autumn Period, frequent wars called for professional commanders, so the tendency to separate civil and military duties became more and more obvious.Some ministers began to become fixed military commanders to meet the increasingly complex needs of war. In short, everything is quietly changing.A new era is coming amidst changes. With the rise of Jin and Chu, the multi-polar era of disputes among nations came to an end.The history of the Spring and Autumn Period has entered an era of more frequent and more thrilling wars between the two powers.The two super-heavyweight boxers, Jin and Chu, have stepped into the arena, ready to throw heavy punches at their opponents. — [End of the book] —