The position of the Yan State deviated from the Central Plains, located in the northeast direction of the mainstream area of the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, close to the sea, and also close to the barbaric land of Beirong. Or in the view of the Central Plains, the Yan kingdom is the country on the other side of the mountain, so far away that it can almost exist. But is Yan Guo really so unimportant?
In the era of King Zhou Cheng of Zhou Wu, in the strategic map of the royal family, everyone attached great importance to the lands in the east and the north, the first was that the direction in which the old Yin Shang clan fled was the northeast, and the second was that there were a large number of RongDi ethnic groups scattered in the north, which caused extreme trouble to the Zhou royal family.
Zhou Tianzi wanted to divide the Yan state in the northeast, and also to divide the State of Qi and Lu in the south of the Yan state, so as to form a strategic depth from north to south, and it was obvious that he wanted to completely establish a solid force of the Zhou people in this region. On the road from the Yan kingdom to the capital of The Pickaxe, there are powerful countries such as Jinwei song and Song, and the pattern of dividing the seals is scattered, and the Zhou Tianzi are more focused on the north, while in the south, in addition to the Chu state, it is just some of the Ji surname feudal states in the Jianghan region, and on the road from the ho capital to the south, there are many mountains and rivers along the Qinling Huai River.
The south, in the overall consciousness of the Zhou people, although it does not belong to the mainstream ethnic group, but the south can not create a complete threat to the Zhou people, of course, the rise of the later Chu state or in the eyes of the Zhou royal family, but it is just an accident. The north is the top priority of the strategy, so it is very likely that the successive Zhou Tianzi have focused on the northern princely states, such as the Jin state and the State of Qi, which developed quickly later, which are roughly closer to the north.
It's just that compared with these princely states, the Yan kingdom belongs to the remote and remote areas in the north, the Jin state of Qi and even the state of Zheng are relatively close to the Central Plains, and there are almost no continuous mountains and rivers in between, even if there is the land of Taishan in the Taihang Mountains, there are also canyon trails to cross, and these canyon roads are mostly occupied by the princes, and there have been many robbery wars for the ownership of these canyon roads, such as the land of The Food Letter, such as the territory occupied by the Jianghan Zhuji, such as the Qilu border of Mount Tai. For example, border areas such as the Jin, Song, Wei, and Qiyan in the Taihang Mountains are all places where wars are frequent.
Successive Zhou Tianzi and even many princes have waged at least a hundred wars against the Rongdi ethnic groups in the north and the Yi kingdom in the east, and the use of troops against the southern lands is only about a dozen times. The reason for this situation may also lie in the development of the overall natural environment and human history, in the land of Qilu to the north is the boundary of the Yan kingdom, and the land of Qilu, the land of Jinyu, and even the later land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there are ancient civilization sites, most of these civilization sites are located in the Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River Basin, and the land of the Yan Kingdom happens to be not in this area.
The so-called Southern Barbarian Northern Di, the Chu people in the south are considered barbarians, the northern ethnic groups are considered to be Rong Di, and the position of the Yan State is closest to the Rong Di, which is the forward front of the Zhou people against the Rong Di. Although the south is wild, the rivers are dense, the jungle is luxuriant, and various resources are quite abundant. The land in the north is relatively bitter and cold, and because the Yan country is close to the sea, the land of salinity and alkali, there is even less land available. More importantly, for hundreds of years, the Yan Kingdom had been acting as the northern barrier of the Central Plains princes, paying close attention to the movements of the Rongdi people, and the intersection with the Central Plains princes was relatively small. To a large extent, for the People of the Central Plains, the country on the other side of the mountain may not belong to the state of the Zhou people.
However, if the Yan state is not in this area, stationed at important passes, and controls the northern roads, Rong Di will be able to cross the land of Yanshan Taihang and attack the Central Plains in a large area, and more seriously, in the northeast direction of the Yin Shang old clan, it will inevitably merge with Rong Di Li and truly make a comeback. Doesn't Yan Guo matter? Of course not. If it were not for the existence of the Yan Kingdom, where would the Central Plains princely states have time to secure the position of hegemon, where there would be time to hold alliances, and where to develop with peace of mind. When Duke Huan of Qi dominated the Central Plains, he personally led a large army to the Yan kingdom to help the Yan kingdom resist the lone bamboo of Shanrong, which was such a truth.