In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Gongdan assisted The second Tianzi of the Zhou Dynasty, King Cheng of Zhou, and the Eastern Expedition destroyed the old State of Yan, the former State of Yin Shang, who had followed Wu Geng during the Rebellion of the Three Prisons. Subsequently, King Cheng of Zhou divided the homeland of the State of Xiang to the Duke of Zhou, but because the Duke of Zhou needed to stay in HoJing to assist King Cheng of Zhou, he had his eldest son Bo Yan take his place, establish the State of Lu, and set the capital at Qufu.
As the highest-ranking Lu state among the princely states surnamed Ji, until the early Warring States period, there were still several princely states that paid tribute to it. However, throughout the hundreds of years of history of the Spring and Autumn Warring States, the State of Lu has never been able to dominate the Central Plains. On the question of why the Lu state has not been able to dominate, we need to expound from the three levels of geographical conditions, human factors and geopolitics!
※Geographical factors?※
Luguo is located in the southwest of the Shandong Peninsula, basically in the Taiyi Menglu Zhongshan District south of Mount Tai. The plains of these areas are small, mountainous and hilly, and arable land is scarce. In an agrarian social environment, large areas of arable land are the prerequisites for ensuring adequate grain production. In the Warring States period, especially after the reform of the Wei state wuqi into a conscription system, cultivated land became an important element of military merit rewards. This led to the fact that lu guo was inherently unable to provide enough elites, and naturally it was impossible to fight for supremacy.
Not only that, the lu state, where the internal plains are in a state of fragmentation, naturally has multiple local forces. The state of Lu did not have a whole plain as a cornerstone, resulting in the central power being easily constrained by the internal Qing Dafu forces. However, it is also this mountainous and hilly terrain that causes the Lu state to attack insufficiently but defend more than enough. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, during the Qi Huan Period, the Qi army led by Bao Shuya attacked the State of Lu from the Laiwu Pass, and was met with a head-on attack by the Lu army, which was the Battle of the Long Spoon. The terrain limited the development of the State of Lu, but it also defended the State of Lu, which was an important reason why the State of Lu became weaker and weaker in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, but was able to continue the state for hundreds of years.
※Humanistic factors?※
As a descendant of the Duke of Zhou, the monarch of the State of Lu, although he belonged to the head of the princes with the surname Ji in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, strictly adhered to the Zhou rites. The State of Lu possessed the Tianzi ceremonial guard bestowed by the Zhou Tianzi, and was treated as a quasi-Tianzi and could directly sacrifice to the Duke of Zhou (after all, it was his own ancestor), which was a political privilege, but it was also a political shackle. Because of this, a strict system of sub-feudalism was implemented within the State of Lu, and the Rebellion of the Three Huans, which led to the dictatorship of Dr. Lu Guoqing.
In the Warring States period, the nations changed their laws and became stronger. The State of Wei and the State of Qi, which were close to the State of Lu, made great efforts to govern and reform the maladministration, but the conservative forces in the State of Lu were too obstructive, failed to form an atmosphere of changing the law, and still clung to Zhou Li and refused to let go. With the further enhancement of the strength of the surrounding countries, the state of Lu is not far from the fall of the country, and it is even more reckless to compete for hegemony in the Central Plains.
※Geographical factors?※
The influence of the geopolitical situation is jointly spawned and stimulated by geographical factors and human factors. Due to the special geographical environment of the Shandong Peninsula, the coastal development of the Qi state in the early days of the partition gradually developed with the benefits of fishing and salt and the rich commercial atmosphere inherited from the Laiyi ethnic group. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Yin of Lu completed the strategic encirclement of the State of Qi through the Alliance of Lu Ju. The State of Qi had to ally with the State of Zheng with the intention of countering the State of Lu. However, after Duke Yin of Lu was murdered by Duke Huan of Lu, the duke of Lu Huan, who succeeded to the throne, was married to Qi, which instead enabled the State of Qi to intervene and sabotage the diplomatic layout of the State of Lu, and lost Ji Guo, an important ally. Since then, the State of Lu has gained power due to its internal Qing Dafu, and has often been interfered in the affairs of the dynasty by neighboring powers.
Due to the expansion of neighboring powers, the living space of the Lu state was further squeezed, resulting in the gradual loss of the geopolitical space in which the lu state could move, and over time the monarch was in a corner of peace and did not want to forge ahead. At the turn of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Lu mainly relied on diplomacy rather than its own strength to maintain its national status, and the struggle for hegemony had long become an unattainable wish. However, diplomatic and geographical factors, after facing the approaching existence of the southern Chu state, it was difficult to resist a new round of geopolitical shock after all, and eventually the Lu state was overthrown by the Chu state.
In summary, due to the influence of human factors and geographical environment, the State of Lu was conservative and did not change its law, did not have sufficient arable land to support enough troops, and the central monarchy was also constrained by the power of the noble qing dafu because of the old ceremonial law, and could not exert its full strength. When the neighboring powers rose one after another, the Lu state was squeezed within the spatial range of the corner of the Central Plains and could not move, and was eventually destroyed by the big powers.