In 1046 BC, Ji Fa, the king of Zhou Wu, attacked the capital of the Shang Dynasty, Chaoge, the Shang Dynasty fell, and the new Zhou Dynasty was established. In order to win over the hearts and minds of the people in the Central Plains, Ji Fa divided Wu Geng, the son of king of Shang, into the former land of Yin Shang (for the state of Yin) and used him to rule the remnants of Yin Shang. To be on the safe side, King Ji Fa of Zhou Wu sent his brothers Guan Shu, Uncle Cai, and Uncle Huo to establish the Three Kingdoms of Shao, Yong, and Wei near the capital of Yin to monitor Wu Gengshi as the "Three Prisons". Ji Fa died of illness a year after the destruction of the Shang, and left his brother Ji Dan the Duke of Zhou to be regent to assist King Cheng of Zhou, and this personnel arrangement aroused the suspicion of Uncle Guan, Uncle Cai, and their brothers, and Wu Geng saw the opportunity to launch a rebellion. The Zhou Dynasty faced the most severe test since the founding of the state. In the end, Duke Ji Dan of Zhou personally led the main force of the Zhou army to quell the rebellion, killed Wu Geng and Guan Shu, exiled Uncle Cai, deposed Uncle Huo as a commoner, and successfully quelled the Rebellion of the Three Prisons, so that the newborn Zhou Dynasty could smoothly survive the turbulent situation in the early years of the founding of the country.
After quelling the "Rebellion of the Three Prisons", a thorny issue was placed in front of Ji Dan's eyes, that is, the survival and abolition of the Yin State after Wu Geng was killed. Most of the ministers suggested deposing the State of Yin and dividing the fiefdoms of the State of Yin into neighboring vassal states or directly under the direct administration of the central government as a punishment. Ji Dan, after weighing the pros and cons, decided to keep the State of Yin, and he chose a son from the Yin Shang Clan (the uncle of the King of Shang and the younger brother of Bigan) to inherit the State of Yin Shang, but sealed his fief in the Song, and the Song State was born. The Song Dynasty is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, with a developed economy and a large population, and it can be regarded as a medium-sized country, but it is surrounded by large countries such as the Jin, Qi, and Chu states, and the geopolitical environment is particularly harsh.
The Song Kingdom, located in the land of four wars, should have rested and recuperated, clipped its tail and behaved as a person. Perhaps it is the reason why the glory of the ancestors has flowed in the inheritance of successive Song monarchs, who have always wanted to become a "superpower" and wanted to live the addiction of hegemony. The first attempt of the Song state to gain hegemony was at a time when the State of Qi fell into civil strife after the death of Duke Huan of Qi. At that time, the countries of the Central Plains lost their unified leaders, while the Jin State focused on expanding in the north and had no time to take care of the affairs of the Central Plains, while the Qin State was firmly locked by the Jin State west of Hangu Pass and could not come out. The overlords of the Central Plains fell into a vacuum. At that time, song xianggong, the monarch of the State of Song, seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and began to imitate the Qi Huan Gong Gao Hui Alliance, intending to take over the baton of Qi Huan's hegemony, but the Song State was after all a small country, and finally in the "Battle of Hongshui" was beaten back to its original form by the Chu ChengWang Dynasty, and the dream of the Song State's first hegemony came to an abrupt end, leaving only the laughing stock of Song Xianggong's "benevolence" being ridiculed by the nations.
After Song Xianggong, the State of Song realized the inadequacy of its own strength, resolutely abandoned the unrealistic illusion of hegemony, began to focus on domestic economic construction, in international affairs, but also with the Jin State and the State of Chu as the leader, pursued the diplomatic strategy of "Great Things", improved relations with the Jin State, the State of Chu, the State of Qi and other peripheral powers, by the Warring States Era, the State of Song had developed into the richest country in the world, the national strength was second only to the Seven Xiong, at that time it could be regarded as one of the "top ten", the so-called "top ten" It refers to the 10 major powers of the Warring States period in addition to the Seven Heroes of the Warring States plus the Zhongshan ZhengGuo and the Song Dynasty. Although the Song Kingdom could not enter the Seven Xiongs, the good villains were also the powerful countries in the second echelon, although the national strength was not as good as the superpowers such as Qin, Qi, and Chu, but it was not much different from the South Korea and Yan Kingdoms, one of the Seven Xiongs, coupled with the development of the past hundred years, the national strength of the Song Kingdom was still OK, and the capital of the Song Kingdom was Dingtao, which was the richest of the nations at that time, and even Linzi, which was known for its prosperity, was not much more.
In the Warring States period, the annexation war between the Seven Xiongs intensified, and the Zhongshan Kingdom and the Zheng Kingdom, which were equally famous with the Song State, were also destroyed one after another, and the Song State became the only remaining medium power, and also became the common fat of the Seven Xiongs. But the Song Kingdom is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, no matter who destroys the Song State, it will break the equilibrium of the international pattern, for a time, the Song State can survive, and the Song State as a buffer state among the great powers, but also conducive to the balance between the great powers, the Song State has survived until the late Warring States period. Until the last monarch of the Song Kingdom, King Song Yan, took the throne, breaking all the balances.
After King Yan of Song ascended the throne, he did not know whether he was smoked or possessed by Song Xianggong, but he actually began to plot hegemony and began to attack the three superpowers of the surrounding state of Qi, Chu and Wei. Because of the suddenness of the incident (no one could have imagined that the Song Congress would take the initiative to attack others), coupled with the fact that there were not many border garrisons in the Three Kingdoms, the Song Offensive received great results for a time. "East Vaqi, take the five cities." Defeated Chu in the south, expanded the land for more than 300 miles, defeated the Wei army in the west, took the second city, and destroyed Teng (Tengzhou, Shandong), with its own land. It is known as the "Five Thousand Multiplier Song". (The Chronicle of History)
King Song Yan defeated the three great powers of Qi, Chu, and Wei in a row, making the State of Song become the international focus for a time, and king Song Yan also "lit up" in the international arena, quite a momentum of sacrificing myself and others. But in the end, it is "handsome but not more than three seconds". In the end, the State of Qi took advantage of the favorable opportunity of the Song State's initiative to provoke and declared a "self-defense counterattack" to the outside world.
In 286 BC, the Qi army attacked the capital of the Song state, the Song King fled, and the Song state was destroyed. The demise of the Song Kingdom makes people lament that although the situation of world unification is inevitable, the unique geopolitical environment of the Song Kingdom could have supported its survival for a long time, but the radical strategy of the Song Yan King allowed the Song Kingdom to move to the end ahead of schedule. It is the so-called, soldiers, the great affairs of the country, must not be careless. To digress, because the State of Qi swallowed the State of Song alone, it eventually triggered the "Five Kingdoms Attack on Qi" which seriously weakened the national strength of the State of Qi, thus breaking the situation of the confrontation between the qin and Qi powers in the middle of the Warring States period, and eventually led to the dominance of the Qin State and accelerated the end of the Warring States Era.
Friends who think the article is good, may wish to click a free follow, your support is my greatest motivation!