In the history of our country, there were two Chu Huai kings, one was the monarch of the Chu state during the Warring States period, named Xiong Huai. The other is because of the Xiangliang rebellion against Qin, the grandson of Xiong Huai is Xiong Xin as the King of Houhuai, and today I want to talk about the first Chuhuai King Xionghuai. In many film and television works, in order to highlight Qin Xiang Zhang Yi's clever tongue and Chu Guo's left disciple Qu Yuangang zheng'a, Xiong Huai was often built into a dimwitted monarch who did not distinguish between loyalty and adultery and did not think of making progress. Although the decline of the Chu state was inextricably linked to him, in history, Xiong Huai, the king of Chu Huai, was not a dull monarch who did not do anything.
1. When the new monarch ascends the throne, he is not weak to his father
Since the founding of the Chu State, after more than a hundred years of development, not only has it successfully dominated the south, but also has the ambition to win the Central Plains, but in the rise and fall of the hundred years, the Chu State has not always been able to stand proud of the princes. Fortunately, the State of Chu produced more Ming Emperors, and after King Chu Mo appointed Wu Qi to change the law, after two generations of King Su of Chu and King Xuan of Chu, when he arrived at King Wei of Chu, he inherited the strategy of his father King Chu Xuan to save Zhao Fa Wei and open up Bashu, led the State of Chu to defeat the Qi army, and once expanded the power of the State of Chu to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Jianghuai region, so that the economy and military of the State of Chu developed rapidly, and the State of Chu was able to crown the head of the states.
As the son of King Chu Wei, xiong huai, the young king of ChuHuai, also took it as his mission to revive the hegemony of the Chu Zhuang king period. When King Huai of Chu was newly on the throne, the State of Wei took advantage of Chu's mourning and cut Down Chu to take the mountain, and under the restraint of King Huai of Chu, Chu did not fight back. However, five years later, under the banner of sending Prince Gao of Wei back to the State of Wei, King Huai of Chu ordered Sima Zhaoyang to lead the Chu army to attack the State of Wei, and at Xiangling, he broke the Wei army and won a decisive victory, capturing eight cities of the State of Wei and the shame of the Mountain. He also took advantage of the great chaos of the Yue kingdom to defeat the Yue state in the east and expand the border to the east of the river. At the same time, King Huai of Chu not only promoted Qu Yuan, Zhaoyang, Zhaohua and other loyal subjects, but also reused Gongsun Yan of Wei and launched a joint attack on Qin, and the Qi-Chu coalition army captured Qin's Quwo and cut off Qin's tentacles. The combined forces were so powerful that even the Qin state had to temporarily avoid the front. Under the administration of King Huai of Chu, the territory of the State of Chu also became the largest country in the world at that time, and its military strength was not weak in Qi and Qin, and compared with its father, King Wei of Chu, the State of Chu was closer to the hegemony of the Duke of Chuzhuang.
2. Zhang Yi plays Chu, and the King of Huai does not notice
In the late Warring States period, the world at this time formed three major forces of Qi, Chu and Qin, and in order to suppress Western Qin, an alliance was formed between Qi and Chu. The Qi-Chu coalition army also captured Quwo, which was occupied by the Qin state, and cut off the tentacles of The Eastern Qin. In order to break up the Qi-Chu alliance, Zhang Yi used a ruse to break off qi-Chu relations under the pretext of six hundred miles of merchant land, and the king of Chu Huai, after breaking off diplomatic relations with the state of Qi, only Zhang Yi was given the title of Six Mile Land, so he did. King Huai became angry and sent an army to attack the State of Qin, but was greatly destroyed by Wei Zhang at Danyang. King Huai of Chu then gathered the troops of the whole country and launched an attack, and then suffered a crushing defeat at Lantian. In the eighteenth year of King Huai of Chu (311 BC), the State of Qin attacked Zhaoling, the State of Chu was defeated in three battles, and Han Wei took the opportunity to attack the territory of the State of Chu in the Central Plains, and the status of the State of Chu as a great power collapsed, and it went into decline from then on.
The defeat of King Huai of Chu was that he did not understand the situation and did not distinguish between loyalty and adultery. In the middle and late period of King Huai's reign, Qu Yuan and others who advocated anti-Qin and high winds and bright festivals were no longer reused, but instead misused the people of Zilan, Jin Shang, and others, and the Chu court, which was originally full of talents, was already a miasma of smoke, resulting in state affairs. Militarily, the Chu army was inferior to the strong Qin, lost soldiers in many battles with the Qin army, and suffered a crushing defeat in the battles of Danyang and Lantian, all of which were directly related to the fact that King Huai of Chu did not have a clear understanding of the general situation and improperly employed people.
3. Imprisoned in Xianyang, he would rather die than yield
The once powerful State of Chu, after experiencing the fiasco of Danyang and Lantian, and the various princely states taking advantage of the fire and looting, was no longer beautiful, and Tang Ming was killed in battle, and the Zhuang Rebellion made the Chu State even worse. In order to save Jiangshan Sheji, King Huai of Chu was forced to seek peace with the State of Qi and the State of Qin, and in the thirtieth year of King Huai of Chu (299 BC), the State of Qin occupied eight cities of the State of Chu, and King Zhaoxiang of Qin tricked King Huai of Chu into entering Wuguan in the name of marrying relatives. King Huai of Chu, despite Qu Yuan's painstaking persuasion, resolutely left Chu to make Qin and lowered his posture to the State of Qin to seek peace. Unexpectedly, Empress Xuan of Qin and King Zhaoxiang of Qin actually disregarded the basic norms of international exchanges and forcibly detained King Huai of Chu and extorted land from the State of Chu. If it is another monarch, in order to protect themselves, they may first pretend to agree, and then tear up the treaty after returning home, turning their faces and denying it. But King Huai of Chu did not do this, perhaps it was an indisputable fact that he directly caused the decline of the State of Chu due to improper employment of people, but at this time, he was not willing to be the emperor who abandoned the land and was greedy for life and feared death, he was loyal to the society, so he refused such an unreasonable request of the State of Qin. Qin was unable to achieve his long-cherished wish of kidnapping King Huai of Chu and easily taking the territory of the State of Chu, so he had no choice but to imprison King Huai of Chu all the time. King Huai of Chu was imprisoned until his death, and the State of Qin returned the body to the State of Chu, "All the people of Chu pitied them, like sad relatives." "
The life of King Huai of Chu can be roughly divided into two periods: the first half of his life was when he was full of spirit, the inheritance left by his ancestors, and his own lofty ambitions, which made the chu state flourish day by day, like the sun in the sky. Moreover, King Huai of Chu was by no means a mediocre man, and he was able to fight with King Huiwen of Qin, King Wuling of Zhao, King Hui of Wei, King Zhao of Yan, and King Min of Qi, and he also took advantage of the chaos to annex the State of Yue, so that the State of Chu suddenly became the largest country in china in all the princely states, and its strength was by no means ordinary. However, the situation in the late Warring States period was complicated, and any mistake could cause the country to fall into a situation of no return, and the second half of the life of King Huai of Chu can be said to have been making mistakes, which directly led to the decline of the Chu state. However, after being imprisoned in the Qin State, he was not afraid of rape and showed a high degree of integrity, which was enough to gain the respect of future generations.