Chapter 15 Three, two accounts

In the Battle of the Song Dynasty, the attitudes of the two states are worth pondering. These two states are Jin and Zheng. The state of Jin supposedly saved Song.This is not only because of the covenant between the Jin and Song Dynasties, but also because the Jin and Chu countries are like the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War. They are not only representatives of hegemony, but also rivals for hegemony.In fact, the difficulty for King Zhuang of Chu to dominate lies in the presence of Jin.We know that during the Spring and Autumn Period, there were not five but four states that had the conditions, qualifications, and ability to contend for hegemony, namely Qi, Chu, Qin, and Jin.Among them, the state of Jin is the most domineering.From Duke Wen creating hegemony, Duke Xiang succeeding hegemony, Duke Li regaining hegemony, and Duke Mourning establishing hegemony, the word hegemony has never left Jin, accompanying them through the ages.

Jin is Chu's deadly enemy. But this can also be said in reverse: the difficulty for Jin to maintain its hegemony lies in the presence of Chu.Chu has been forcibly mixed in since the day when China was born as the overlord.They were the ones fighting for hegemony with Duke Huan of Qi, and they were also the ones fighting for hegemony with Duke Wen of Jin.Therefore, regardless of emotion and reason, righteousness and profit, Jin should resist Chu and aid Song. So, why did Jin stand on the sidelines? Because of the Battle of Bi. The Battle of Bi was the second battle between Jin and Chu after the Battle of Chengpu.We have already told its story in "Youth History", and what I want to talk about here is the background.The background is that the struggle for hegemony in the Spring and Autumn Period is different from the annexation in the Warring States Period.In the Warring States period, the big fish eat the small fish, and the small fish eat shrimps. Annihilating a country is a country, and annexing a family is a family.Chunqiu is like a mafia scrambling for territory, whoever has more younger brothers is the boss.The idea of ​​the little brother is also very simple, whoever has a hard fist is the big brother.Zi Liang, the senior official of the State of Zheng, said that since Jin and Chu are two great powers that don’t value morality and only focus on force, then we will follow whoever comes to fight us!Big countries don't keep their promises, so why should we keep them?

It's a pity that the result of the small and medium-sized states doing nothing is that they are beaten more often.Because no big brother would condone the younger brother's rebellion, and no younger brother would obediently follow a certain big brother without even getting a slap or seeing the world.What's more, he didn't stop after following him, so he had to stand beside his elder brother.Therefore, if you refuse to be soft, you will be beaten; if you change your position after being subdued, you will also be beaten; if you do not change your position after being subdued, you will follow and beat others.If it is a medium-sized state, it may also use its power to bully others, bully a small country, and make some money by the way.

Therefore, the number of small and medium-sized states involved in wars will not be less than that of large states.For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Zheng Guo participated in the war 72 times, and Song Guo participated in 46 times.Some of these wars are for self-defense, some are for aggression, some are for obeying the orders of the overlord, and some are for swinging from side to side. It's not surprising to swing, because no one is always strong, always victorious, and always the boss.For example, Jin won the battle of Chengpu, and Chu won the battle of Bi.After one party wins, the younger brother of the other party will automatically or passively surrender to the victor.Of course, the failed big powers will not do it, and they must teach these younger brothers who follow the wind and follow suit.The younger brother couldn't bear it, and returned to the original boss.Of course the new boss didn't do it, so he came to settle accounts with them.Of course, this account can never be settled. In the end, the two big countries had to fight again to settle the account.

This is the so-called "Jin-Chu struggle for hegemony mode".Those caught in the middle and beaten on both sides can only be small and medium-sized states. Zheng Guo is like this. Speaking of Zheng in the early Spring and Autumn Period, he was also a man.But by the time of King Zhuang of Chu, the featherless phoenix was not as good as a chicken.In the seventeenth year of Duke Wen of Lu (610 BC), although Zheng Guo followed Jin and joined forces with Wei and Chen to attack Song, Jin still suspected that they had an affair with Chu.Zheng Guo had no choice but to write to Jin Guo to explain again and again, the tone was simply whining.At the end of the letter, it said, "Being in the midst of great powers and obeying orders", is it our fault?If the big country is always unable to understand, then our small country is really desperate.

It's a pity that the big countries have never been considerate, and the small and medium-sized countries have to think for themselves.Two years later (608 B.C.), the Song State was beaten by the Jin State and joined the Jin State.Zheng Guo and Song Guo are feuds.Song Guo followed Jin, and Zheng Guo followed Chu.Chen Guo and Cai Guo have always been followers of Song State, so Chen Guo also followed Jin.When King Zhuang of Chu saw the rebellion of Chen and Song, he raised troops to invade Chen and Song.In order to save Chen and Song, Jin raised troops to attack Zheng.In order to save Zheng, the state of Chu fought an encounter with the Jin army in Beilin (in Xinzheng City, Henan Province), and captured Xie Yang, a doctor of the state of Jin (later released).In the second year (607 BC), Zheng Guo was ordered by Chu State to attack Song Dynasty, and won a complete victory. He also captured Song State's ruler Hua Yuan (who later escaped).

Now the state of Jin was furious, and attacked Zheng several times in a row, until the state of Zheng surrendered.The state of Zheng formed an alliance with the state of Jin, and of course the state of Chu wanted to teach him a lesson.So from the third year of Duke Xuan of Lu (606 BC), the state of Chu attacked Zheng one after another, and they kept beating him until he surrendered.But this time Zheng Guo conquered Chu and then rebelled against Chu.How could King Zhuang of Chu tolerate him, so he besieged Zhengdu in the spring of the twelfth year of Duke Xuan of Lu (597 BC). We have already told the following story in the sixth chapter of the fourth volume of Chinese History "Youth History".The besieged Zheng people performed divination, and then wept loudly in the Taimiao and on the city wall.Three months later, Zhengdu fell.Zheng Xianggong led the sheep shirtless and handed in the surrender letter.The three armies of the Jin State who came to the rescue couldn't swallow this breath, and fought against the Chu army, but were also defeated.And this battle is the Battle of Bi.

With the Battle of Bi, there was the Siege of Song Dynasty.In fact, before King Zhuang of Chu besieged the Song Dynasty, Duke Jing of Jin had already conquered Zheng in the same year.It's just that there is no real fight, but a display of troops, showing off their might.What the Jin people said openly was to subdue others without fighting.But in reality, most of them were scared by Chu people.Therefore, in the battle of encircling the Song Dynasty, the Jin State stood by and watched, and the Zheng State was willing to be the horse boy of the Chu State. The Battle of Bi was a turning point.On the one hand, Chu State achieved hegemony.In the future history, Jin and Chu will continue to fight for hegemony.This is an account.On the other hand, it was Jin who began to unite with Wu, and Chu who began to unite with Yue.This is another account.Jin and Chu are rivals, and Wu and Yue are feuds.Behind them, there are Qi and Qin.Qi State often helps Jin State, and Qin State often helps Chu State.Qi assisted Jin, Qin assisted Chu, and the result was to cultivate two great hegemonies.Jin united with Wu, Chu united with Yue, and the result was to cultivate two small overlords.With them, the drama of the war for hegemony will become more thrilling; and the rain and dew of Chinese culture will also nourish the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

These two little overlords are Helu, king of Wu, and Goujian, king of Yue.

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