Chapter 19 1. South, North
After the destruction of Wu, Goujian also claimed hegemony.
This is the last overlord.According to "Historical Records", the victorious Yue King Goujian led his troops across the Huaihe River in the north, and joined the Qi and Jin monarchs in Xuzhou (southeast of today's Tengzhou City, Shandong Province).King Yuan of Zhou also came to join in the fun, and sent someone to give him meat, and he was named Hou Bo.Due to the certification of Emperor Zhou, Goujian can be called a "true overlord".In comparison, King Helu of Wu can only be regarded as a "quasi-hegemon".
It's a pity that "Zuo Zhuan" and "Guoyu" also didn't record this matter, so Goujian, the real overlord, is more suspicious than Helu's quasi-overlord.In fact, this does not matter.Because at this time not only the era of kingship has passed, but even the era of hegemony is coming to an end.The era of power is about to begin.Goujian's hegemony is the end of an era.It is not surprising that his descendants did nothing.
However, it is interesting to arrange a timetable for different versions of Spring and Autumn Overlord:
In 651 BC, Duke Huan of Qi became the hegemon;
In 639 BC, Song Xianggong Tuba;
In 632 BC, Duke Wen of Jin ruled over China;
In 623 BC, Duke Mu of Qin ruled over China;
In 594 B.C., King Zhuang of Chu ruled;
In 506 BC, King Helu of Wu ruled over China;
In 473 B.C., King Goujian of Yue ruled the country.
Song Xianggong actually can't count these seven people.The remaining six, the first three and the last three.The first three, Qi Huan, Jin Wen, and Qin Mu, were all in the north; the last three, Chuzhuang, Helu, and Goujian, were all in the south.Therefore, the struggle for hegemony in the Spring and Autumn Period can be divided into two periods. The first half is the era of the north, and the second half is the era of the south.
The Three Hegemons of the South are all barbarians.
But barbarians are also different from barbarians.Chu had the earliest relationship with the Xia in the Central Plains. It was enfeoffed in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was already the strongest in the south at the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period. Later, it became the overlord of the world, and it changed from barbarians to Huaxia.The early rise of Chu in the south has something to do with their acceptance of Central Plains culture.
The rise of Wu was much later.They did not begin to show their faces on the stage of history until after King Zhuang of Chu took over the hegemony, and it was still a barbarian custom until the late Spring and Autumn Period, and tattoos were still cut off.In the eleventh year of Duke Ai of Lu (484 BC), King Fucha of Wu joined forces with the State of Lu to attack Qi and fought in Ailing (now Tai'an County, Shandong Province).In order to show his appreciation to Sima Zhouchou of the Lu State, Fu Chai gave him armor and a sword.Zhou Qiu was dumbfounded, not knowing how to respond.Because according to Chinese etiquette, when the emperor bestows swords on his ministers, he wants them to commit suicide.Fu Chai obviously didn't understand the rules, so he made a joke.In the end, it was Confucius' student and diplomat Zigong who came out to smooth things over, thanked the Sima of the State of Lu on behalf of the Lu State Sima, and said, "The state's enmity will be followed by the emperor", and then it was dealt with.
Yue's culture is even more backward, with "broken hair and tattoos" and "no shoes on foot", that is, hair cut short, tattoos on the body, bare feet without shoes, and the language does not communicate with Zhu Xia.They participated in international competitions in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and at the beginning they were just followers of the Chu people, ranking behind Dun Guo, Shen Guo, and Xu Guo.
Fan Li's autobiography is even more bleak.
In the battle to destroy Wu, Gou Jian besieged Wu for three years, and the Wu people were defeated without fighting.Fuchai, the king of Wu, sent Wangsun Luo (pronounced as Luo, also the same as Luo) to ask for peace, but Fan Li responded with drum sticks and war drums.When Wang Sunluo saw this posture, he knew that something was wrong.So Wang Sunluo said: Dear Mr. Fan, Doctor Fan, it is not auspicious to help the sky to abuse you.Now that the rice in Wu country is eaten by crabs so much that it can't even be planted, isn't your country afraid of bad luck?
Fan Li replied sadly and indignantly: Dear Dr. Wang and Sun, the ancestor of our Yue Kingdom could not even get the status of a Viscount with the Emperor Zhou, so he hid on the shore of the East China Sea, where he lived with lizards, crocodiles, shrimps, etc. Crabs, turtles and turtles live together like frogs.Although we are ashamed to have a human face, we are no different from animals. How can we understand the human words you said?
It seems that the Yue people are not only culturally backward, but also discriminated against.
However, God's will is always high and difficult to ask.Although Yue, Wu, and Chu were culturally backward and more barbaric than the other, the rise and fall of the national destiny and the rise and fall of hegemony were like ordinary people stacking firewood, and the latecomers prevailed.First Wu defeated Chu, and then Yue defeated Wu.It was only twenty-three years after the death of King Ling of Chu that Wu conquered Chu, and it was only twenty-three years after the death of Helu that Yue destroyed Wu.Is it too fast?Is nothing magical?
yes!What Qi, Qin, and Jin could not do, Wu did; what Chu could not do, Yue did.The sudden rise of the small barbarian state is really unstoppable.Are the changes in the world really as the folk proverb says, "The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead, and the waves before die on the beach"?Could it be that Wu Heyue, a rising star, is really "a small weight weighs a thousand catties"?Could it be that the higher the level of civilization of a state or ethnic group, the less they can defeat those barbarians?
Hard to tell.
Indeed, barbarians have the potential to make or rewrite history.For example, the Phoenicians who invented the world's first set of phonetic alphabets, the Dorians who created Greek civilization, the Persians who conquered Egypt and annexed the New Babylonian Kingdom, and the Arabs who created Islamic civilization were all once barbarians.
In fact, one of the great advantages of the barbarians is that they are tyrannical and barbaric.They are full of vigor and vitality, newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, there are not so many rules and clichés, and they may not all play according to the rules.So Greece was conquered by Macedonia, Macedonia was conquered by Rome, and Rome was destroyed by the less civilized Germans.Therefore, Fu Chai met Goujian, just like Song Xianggong met Chu Chengwang, it is not clear why.The more he can beat Wu, the one who is barefoot is not afraid to wear shoes.
However, the rising and falling star of Wu State can be said to be "its prosperity is also booming, and its death is also sudden", and Yue State is also doomed.In the end, it was not Yue, let alone Wu, or even Jin that really became stronger, but Qi, Qin, and Chu.
It really means a lot.
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