With the civil strife and conquest of the various princely states in the Central Plains, the Southern Chu State began to grow barbarically.
According to legend, the ancestors of the Chu state can be traced back to the Yellow Emperor, and when Zhou Chengwang was king, he sealed Xiong Yu in Chu and opened the initial foundation for the viscount.
Later, it spread to Xiongqu, when the King of Zhou Yi, the royal family declined, Xiongqu said, "I barbarians do not have the title of China", so he established himself as king, and also crowned three sons as kings, which shows that at that time, the State of Chu already had a certain strength, although it was later removed from the throne because of fear of the crusade of the Zhou Royal Family, but in the southern region, the State of Chu was already one of the largest countries.
Later, with the continuous strengthening of the national strength and the increasing decline of the Zhou royal family after moving eastward, after Xiong Tong succeeded to the throne, the idea of restoring the king's title was born.
The minister Dou Bobi said that the Chu state had not been called king for a long time, and now that the sudden restoration of the king trumpet would inevitably shake the four directions, I am afraid that it would cause hostility from the princes of the world and be unfavorable to me. So before that, we must first establish our authority and let others be afraid of us, so that when we become kings again, they will not dare to say anything.
Xiong Tong nodded in agreement, but what about the one who cut it first?
Xiong Tong's gaze was aimed at Suiguo, and the largest in the entire Hanyang area was Suiguo, and after subduing him, the rest of the small countries naturally looked forward to the wind and surrender.
Originally, there were a number of princely states with the surname Ji in the Hanyang area, known in history as the Hanyang Zhuji. It was sealed during the Southern Expedition of King Zhao in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, in order to guard against the rebel forces in the south. At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, the strength of the Zhou royal family was weakened, and they could not take care of themselves, and the Hanyang Zhuji, who had lost their support, were unable to resist the frequent attacks of the Chu state, and they changed course one after another and recognized the Chu state as the boss. Suiguo is the most influential of them.
Now that there is an motive, action will naturally follow. Xiong Tong said that he would do whatever he wanted, and in 706 BC he sent a large army to gather in the flawed land, causing tension around the country. When the people of Sui were sweating nervously and preparing for war, Xiong Tong sent Xue Zhang to request peace talks. Saying that we don't want to fight, we want to ally with you and work together to build peace.
In fact, the Chu state did not directly attack, and there was another reason, that is, they were not sure. Suiguo, as the largest princely state in the Hanyang region, has always been the leader of the Hanyang Zhuji. If the State of Chu hastily attacked Suiguo, then other countries would definitely form a coalition against the State of Chu. However, this peace of the Chu State, in addition to avoiding the possibility of losing the war, there was another important reason.
At that time, Dou Bobi analyzed the international situation of the Chu state to Xiong Tong, and the reason why the Chu state failed in the Hanyang region was because of our strategic problems. Our successive years of external expansion led to the Hanyang Zhuji closely rallying around suiguo and forming a confrontation with the Chu state. As a result, of course, it is difficult for us to gain an advantage. But if we temporarily relax the pressure on them, then the unity between them will inevitably be relaxed. And suiguo, as one of the big countries, will inevitably begin to oppress other small countries, so that their relations will break down, and this is the best time for us.
Moreover, there is a traitorous minister and young master in the country, who is very favored by the Marquis, and we can just open a breakthrough from him. The specific method was to hide the elite troops in this peace talks, and only show them as old and weak and tired, and the young division was bound to be arrogant and arrogant when he saw it, and suihou would certainly be sluggish under his influence, and it just happened to be in our plan.
At this time, another minister, Xiong Libi, raised a question: Although this plan is good, there is still a sage Ji Liang in Suiguo, and with his vision, he will definitely be able to see through this plan, so we are not busy in vain.
Dou Bobi smiled slightly, Ji Liang's ability is there, but it is not as good as the young master to be able to follow Hou's favor, we are preparing for the future.
The peace talks proceeded in an orderly manner, as DouBerbi had arranged.
The young division entered the Chu camp, looked around, only to see that they were all old, weak, sick and disabled, and immediately contemptuous in their hearts: Hmm, such an army, still want to fight us with the country, dream to go!
After the alliance, the Chu state withdrew its troops and returned. When the young division returned to Suiguo, he immediately suggested that Hou send troops to pursue the Chu state, so that he could not only get the spoils of war, but also teach the Chu state a lesson, so that they would not dare to think differently about the sui country in the future.
Suihou agreed and immediately ordered the pursuit of the Chu army.
At this time, Ji Liang raised an objection, and the Chu state had greatly increased its national strength after several generations of hard work. It is obvious that they deliberately show off the old and the weak and the old, and induce us to make wrong judgments. Therefore, for the sake of the present plan, we must cultivate the state administration and vigorously develop the country, so that the state of Chu will not dare to do anything to us. Otherwise, the State of Chu will definitely come to attack us, and then it will be really dangerous to follow the country.
Chu Guo's detectives heard that Ji Liang had persuaded Suihou, and he really did not dare to do anything to Suiguo, so he had to hate and return.
The matter did not end there, and two years later, in 704 BC, the State of Chu held a meeting of the Hui League and summoned the Hanyang Zhuji to Shenlu for a meeting.
At that time, the countries that could convene alliances were generally backed by strong national strength. The meeting is nothing more than a show, and at the same time, at the meeting, it is a demonstration, and everyone elects and elects the ally. From then on, everyone must listen to the allies, pay some protection fees to the allies, and if any military happens, the allies will also send troops to protect the allies. Therefore, those who can be allies are strong countries.
At that time, all countries came to get Shen Lu one after another, but Huang Guo and Sui Guo did not. Xiong Tong was furious and sent emissaries to Huangguo and Suiguo. Huang Guo was afraid and immediately sent someone to the Chu state to apologize and express his willingness to obey the leadership of the Chu state.
But Suiguo did not yield, Suiguo was also angry in his heart, I have been the boss here since I came, and now you are openly organizing an alliance to compete with me for a position, can I give up the throne of the regional boss so easily!
The answer is self-explanatory.
Well, let's still fight a real battle, and speak with strength.
Xiong Tongnai led his division and stationed himself between Han and Huai, and Suiguo also held a military conference to discuss strategies for defending against the Chu state.
Ji Liang thought that he could send someone to ask for peace first, and if they didn't agree, we would fight harder. At that time, the Chu army will inevitably have contempt for us, and our army will inevitably resent us because of the failure to make peace, and the morale will be greatly boosted. In this way, it may be possible to fight a war.
The young division did not agree, the enemy has hit the doorstep, we should attack with all our might, otherwise we will let them run like last time.
It seems that the young division has not yet figured out the current situation, the Chu state of two years ago was not yet an ally, and suiguo could also gather the army of Hanyang Zhuji against the chu state. Now all the Hanyang Zhuji had fallen to the Chu State, and suiguo had become a lonely man, and the offensive and defensive momentum had been displaced.
However, Suihou was inspired by the bold words of the young master and decided to adopt his advice and personally lead the army to prepare for a big battle with the Chu army.
On the battlefield, the Chu army on the opposite side was mighty and had already laid out its position. Suihou led Ji Liang and the Young Master to watch the situation.
Ji Liang suggested attacking Chu's right army first, because the Customs of the State of Chu were to respect the left, and the monarch of the State of Chu must be on the left, so the left army must have many elite divisions. The right army will be relatively weak, we avoid the real and the virtual, first of all, their right army is crippled, the left army will inevitably be frightened, and then we attack it with a victorious division, and the Chu army will be defeated.
The young division raised an objection again, we avoid chu guojun's place and do not fight, we are not going to be laughed at by them, we should first hit the left army.
Suihou listened to the young master's advice again, so he was defeated. Ji Liang bao fled with Hou to the day of his birth, while the Young Division was killed on the battlefield.
After losing the battle on the battlefield, Suihou was like a defeated rooster, hanging his head in despair, so he had to send Ji Liang to seek peace.
Chu Guo expressed that he was very willing to accept your request for peace, but there was a condition. Go to the Son of Heaven and say a few good words to me, and let him make me a king.
Suihou of course agreed, even though he knew that this request would most likely fail. In fact, it really did not pass, King Huan of Zhou was furious, scolded Suihou, and sealed you there to watch over those barbarians, and now you actually intercede for them.
Suihou slipped back to China and told Xiong Tong about the matter. Xiong Tong was furious, anyway, you Zhou Tianzi can't control me, moreover, my ancestors also proclaimed themselves kings, and now I will restore my old name and call him King Wu of Chu.
The State of Chu became the first vassal state to claim the title of king during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.