At the beginning of the Warring States period, the State of Wei was the first of the Seven Heroes, and its territory encompassed the most fertile and dangerous areas of the former Jin State. The first monarch, Wei Wenhou, reigned for thirty-eight years, destroyed the Qin state in the west to occupy the land of Hexi, built the sour jujube fortress in the eastern part of the Zheng state, and in 407 BC ordered the general Le Yang to lead an army to destroy Zhongshan. For a time, the territory of the State of Wei reached its peak.
Unfortunately, the successor monarchs, Marquis Wu of Wei and King Hui of Wei, took improper measures, abandoning the state policy diplomacy of the Wenhou era, internally resenting Han and Zhao, and the diplomatic soldiers in Qi, Qin, and Chu, and falling into an embattled situation.
Finally, after the Battle of Guiling in 353 BC and the Battle of Maling in 341 BC, the wei forces that the State of Wei relied on to dominate were wiped out by the Qi army. As a result, the State of Qi took over the baton of power of the State of Wei and became the premier power in the East.
Qi and Qin were opposed
"Praying mantises catch cicadas, yellow finches are behind". Although the State of Qi defeated the State of Wei twice, it was not the only beneficiary, at least the State of Qin west of Hangu Pass received many unexpected benefits. For example, the State of Qin took advantage of the opportunity of the wei state's main force to move east, and suddenly sent troops to retake Hexi and captured the Wei state of Shangjun, Fenyang, and Pishi.
In this way, the war for supremacy in the Warring States period began to enter a new stage of confrontation between the Qi and Qin forces from the Wei family. This period lasted for nearly 60 years, until the State of Qi was attacked by the combined forces of Yan, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Qin.
In fact, the reason why the State of Qi was broken by the coalition forces, in addition to Su Qin's death, contributed a lot, the former NobleMan of the State of Qi, Meng Tianwen, also had a "merit".
Meng Taste Jun statue
Tian Wen's father, Jingguo Juntian (靖郭君田兒本), was the benzong of the Tian clan of Qi, and the Records of History records that "Tian Infant, the youngest son of King Qi Wei and the younger brother of King Xuan of Qi." However, the "Suo Yin" put forward a different opinion, "The Warring States Policy and the books do not say this, and the other sons of Gai Zhutian are also." ”
Regardless of whether Tian Bao was the youngest son of King Qi Wei or a side branch of the Tian clan, his position in the State of Qi was very important. Otherwise, king Qi Wei would not have appointed Tian Bao as the deputy general of Sun Bin and Tian Ji in the Battle of Maling in 341 BC, which determined the ownership of the world's overlords.
After the war, Tian Bao was sealed in Xue Di. When King Xuan of Qi ascended the throne, Tian Bao was promoted to Xiangguo, and his power was even to the point where he could depose the crown prince.
Undoubtedly, Tian Bao's power created a high political starting point for Tian Wen.
However, as one of the more than forty sons, Tian Wen, the son of a concubine, was initially unpopular with Tian Bao, only because he was born in May, which was "unfavorable to his parents".
However, when Tian Wen grew up, Tian Bao found that Tian Wen's talent was extraordinary, and the big and small affairs entrusted to him could be handled very properly, and he was indeed the best candidate to take over the family business. Therefore, Tian Bao established Tian Wen as his heir.
Tian Wendai was established after Xue, and also learned from his father Tian Bao's determination to run Xue Di.
Shi Zai, "Meng Taste jun is in Xue, and those who invite the guests of the princes and the dead to be guilty are all returned to Meng Taste Jun." Meng tasted the king's good treatment, so that he fell in love with the people of the world. There were thousands of diners, no nobles and lowly ones and Wen and so on, "Meng Tianjun attracted the world's Renxia, and the adulterers entered Xue Zhong's more than 60,000 homes." ”
With a large number of talents, Tian Wen not only used the "chicken and dog thieves" to deceive Hanguguan and escape from the Qin state in the future, but also successfully ascended to the throne of the Qi state with Feng Yuanjin's "cunning rabbit three caves" strategy.
After the death of King Xuan of Qi, Tian Wen's power became more prominent, so much so that "Tian Wen was heard of, but not his king", which aroused the suspicion of the new king Qi Huan, and the antagonism between the monarchs and subjects became more and more serious.
In 294 BC, the State of Qi suddenly erupted in a coup d'état known to historians as the "Tian Jia Robber King".
King Qi, who had long been dissatisfied with Tian Wen, highly suspected that tian Wen had directed the matter, and in a fit of rage, he expelled him from Linzi and began his pro-government career.
As soon as he came to power, King Qi changed the erroneous policy of "long-range attack and close friendship" in the Tian Wen era, and aimed the spearhead at the Song Kingdom on the side of the bed.
In order to restrain the four kingdoms of Wei, Han, Zhao, and Chu from interfering in the State of Qi and destroying the Song Dynasty, King Qi expelled the pro-Wei and anti-Qin chancellor Zhou Zhi and instead appointed Lü Li, the fifth grand master of the State of Qin, as his chancellor.
The state of Qin was worried about not knowing how to break up the alliance of Qi, Wei, and Han, and the "olive branch" extended by the King of Qi was exactly what he wanted.
Therefore, the State of Qin did not hesitate to reach a joint agreement with it.
King Zhaoxiang of Qin
The alliance of the Qi and Qin powers was a cause for concern for the other princely states, because once they reached an agreement to divide the world, all the princely states could not be left alone. King Yan Zhao, who wanted revenge, saw this international change and sent his spy Su Qin into Qi.
Su Qin entered Qi, and in addition to instigating the King of Qi to concentrate the strength of the whole country to destroy the Song Dynasty, he also organized the five-state alliance of Qi, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Yan to attack the Qin state.
Of course, the ultimate goal of Su Qin's organization of the Five-Nation Alliance was to completely cut off the Qi-Qin Alliance and completely isolate the State of Qi.
Xue Yi
Sure enough, when the news of the destruction of the Song Dynasty by the State of Qi came in 386 BC, the five major warring states that were fighting, including Qin, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Yan, invariably stopped fighting.
The princes knew that the song state had a flat and fertile land, rivers in its territory, and rich and numerous cities, and after the State of Qi annexed it, it already had the strength to unify the world.
Tian Wen, who was serving as chancellor in the State of Wei, was aware of the concerns of the princes, and in order to retaliate against the King of Qi, he spent a lot of money lobbying the princes to send troops to jointly attack Qi.
Therefore, in 284 BC, the combined forces of qin, Wei, Han, Zhao, and Yan launched a battle to attack Qi.
The soldiers and generals of the State of Qi had long been resentful of the tyranny of King Qi, and as soon as the Battle of Jixi began, the main forces of the Qi army collapsed one after another.
The coalition forces drove straight in and finally attacked the Qi capital Linzi, and although the King of Qi escaped by chance, he eventually died tragically.
Tomb of Meng Yujun
After the fall of the State of Qi, Tian Wen was at ease, not only directly returning to the fiefdom of Xue Yi, but also announcing to the world that Xue Yi was neutral to the princes.
However, the good times were short-lived.
After enjoying the luxurious life of "accumulating treasures in the palace, dogs and horses in the historical stables, and beauties filling Chen" for less than five years, Tian Wen suddenly fell ill and died.
Shi Zai, after Tian Wen's death, "the sons fought for the throne, while Qi and Wei annihilated Xue." Meng tasted no heirs. ”