This is the 270th original article of Shi Shuoxing
It is said that after the Duke of Qi Huan, the head of the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons, starved to death, there was a vacuum without a hegemon in the Central Plains, and naturally some people were eager to try, and Song Xianggong and King Chu Cheng competed to the front of the stage. Today, I will talk to you about Song Xianggong, who can become the world's recognized overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period, in fact, there are still two brushes.
When Song Xianggong was first famous among the princes, he was only a prince, because he wanted to cede the throne of the Song state to his brother-in-law Muyi, and called it an "act of benevolence and righteousness", so he began to occupy a place in the hearts of the world. When he ascended to the throne and became the Duke of Song Xiang, he still held high the slogan of "benevolence" and exercised the matter of benevolence and righteousness. For example, he had promised Duke Huan of Qi to help Lü Zhao, the crown prince of the State of Qi, sit on the throne of the State of Qi, and when civil unrest broke out in the State of Qi and Lü Zhao came to ask for help, Song Xiang was duty-bound to send troops to invade qi territory twice, and finally helped Lü Zhao ascend to the throne, called Duke Xiao of Qi.
Of course, Song Xianggong was able to keep his promise and send troops to help Lü Zhao, and he had his own considerations. Because the Duke of Qi Huan died, there was no hegemon in the Central Plains, and he had this plan, he wanted to emulate the Duke of Qi Huan like the alliance to support the weak, to put it bluntly, he just wanted to succeed the class of the Duke of Qi Huan, jump above other princes, and become the chief of the princes, which is what we usually call dominating the Central Plains.
Since he wanted to learn, he had to put it into action, he once detained Teng Xuangong, and also joined forces with Wei, Yi, Cao, and Shui to form an alliance, and if he did not agree, he sent troops to attack, such as Cao Guo. As a result, two camps were formed in the Central Plains, one was an alliance headed by the Song State and composed of many small states such as Wei, Yi, Cao, and Huai; the other was an alliance headed by the Chu State and composed of Chen, Cai, Zheng and other princely states.
If you look at the map, you can see that although they belong to two major alliances, in fact, song xianggong and his party are basically small countries, and the land of the chu state alone is almost equivalent to the land of their alliance, even if the land area is not mentioned, the national strength of the chu state party alone is a few points stronger than that of song Xianggong.
However, Song Xianggong did not realize this at all, or that he did not put national strength and force in the first place of consideration, but still shouted his slogan of "benevolence and righteousness", organized an alliance meeting, and did not shy away from pretending to be the leader of the alliance, completely ignoring the stinky face of King Chu Cheng. As everyone knows, he has laid the foundation for himself.
When Ludi met the alliance, Song Xianggong insisted on going his own way and decided that the location of the next alliance would be in Ludi, and he also released a message, saying that "no one can bring the army to go, and it is necessary to make a gentleman's covenant." Since he shouted this slogan, he naturally had to obey it, and Muyi had advised him to bring an army, just in case, but song Xianggong resolutely refused.
Sure enough, at the time of the Ludi Alliance, Song Xianggong and King Chu Cheng fought for the original hegemon, and a dispute occurred, but unexpectedly, under the order of King Chu Cheng, a large number of Chu soldiers immediately appeared around the Huimeng to surround them, and song Xianggong Wuhua was kidnapped and taken back to the Chu state. The overlord of the Song XiangGongtang Generation was now a prisoner of King Chu Cheng. It can be said that the shame was lost to my grandmother's house.
As for the following story, the author will briefly describe it here. Not long after Song Xianggong became a prisoner, under the mediation of Duke Lu, King Cheng of Chu released Song Xianggong back to the Song kingdom. Later, because Zheng Guo fell to the Chu State, and Song Xiang was not angry, he sent troops to attack Zheng Guo, and then the Chu State sent troops to rescue, the Song and Chu armies fought in Hongshui, because of Song Xianggong's stupid pig-like benevolence, he himself was injured, not to mention, but also caused the Song army to be defeated and returned. The following year, Song Xianggong was cured for a long time and died.
Although Song Xianggong said that he failed to dominate in the end, he also filled the gap of no hegemon in the Central Plains after the death of Duke Huan of Qi, so he can also be regarded as a generation of overlords. However, later, when he failed to compete with King Cheng of Chu for hegemony, he was completely self-made, and he had previously become famous because of "benevolence and righteousness", which caused a misunderstanding, which made Song Xianggong think that only "benevolence" could become the hegemon of the Central Plains, and ignored the fundamental premise of state power and military strength. Without the backing of a strong national economy and a strong army, any attempt to dominate is just an illusion. Song Guo, who could have lived comfortably, was made into a miasma at the hands of Song Xianggong, and he also died because of it, which was completely his own doing!
How do you think of Song Xianggong
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