When it comes to the most inspirational country in ancient China, some people may think that it is the Qin Dynasty, because its ancestors originally raised horses for Zhou Tianzi, and finally became a powerful country that unified China step by step. Some people will think that it is the Han Dynasty, because its founder Liu Bang did not raise an army until he was nearly fifty years old, from a small pavilion chief to finally defeat Xiang Yu and seize the world. In addition, countries like Zhu Yuanzhang, who served as a beggar but eventually became emperor, and Liu Bei, who woven mats and sold shoes but created the Shu Han regime, the countries they established were also very inspiring.
In addition, in fact, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China, in addition to the Qin State, there was also a country that was also very inspiring.
The State of Chu in its heyday
When the country was first established, it was only fifty miles in circumference, but it gradually developed and destroyed more than forty countries. Eventually, after continuous expansion and annexation, the country's peak territory reached 1.5 million square kilometers, 60,000 times that of that year.
Such a country that can be called an inspirational typical country is to create the Chu state with allusions such as "'Winning the Central Plains'", ''No Sound is Already, One Hit'", ''Blue Wisp of The Road',' and 'Retreat from the Three Houses'.
Regarding the origin of the Chu people, various views are inconsistent. However, according to the Records of History, "The ancestors of Chu were from Emperor Gaoyang. ''
Chu Guo Tiger Seat Bird Drum
One theory is that the Chu people originally lived in the Qinling area, but were forced to move south by the Shang Dynasty. By the end of the Shang Dynasty, they had reached the area around present-day Hubei.
At that time, King Wen of Zhou was preparing to cut down the silk, and the Chu leader Huan Xiong led the crowd to surrender and was named a fire master. However, when the Zhou Dynasty was established, he did not receive any reward for his meritorious service. It was not until the time of King Cheng of Zhou that Tianzi , in gratitude for his former heroes , "sealed the field of the son of a man" by Xiong Xuan, the great-grandson of the bear.
According to the Book of Rites, "The Heavenly Son's Field is a thousand miles, the Gonghou Tianfang is a hundred miles, the Bo is seventy miles, and the son is fifty miles." It can be seen that the original Chu state only had a land area of fifty miles in circumference.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the State of Chu faced many problems. First, the country's strength was weak, and in order to complete the sacrifice, it was even necessary to steal cattle from neighboring countries; second, the low status, the Chu state in the south was despised by the princes of the Central Plains, and the princes could only watch over the bonfire outside the house with the leaders of the Xianbei tribe.
However, the Chu state did not sink here, but worked hard to develop. With the joint efforts of the Chu people, the Chu state continued to defeat some small countries in the surrounding areas, and slowly expanded its sphere of influence. When King Huan of Zhou arrived, Xiong Tong, the ruler of the State of Chu, believed that the State of Chu was no longer what it used to be, and that the ancestor Xiong Xiong had been a teacher of King Wen of Zhou, so he asked Tianzi to be promoted to a knighthood for himself, but was refused. In a fit of rage, Xiong Tong declared himself king, and attacked some princes surnamed Ji who were closely related to the Zhou royal family.
Although the State of Chu openly provoked Zhou Tianzi, first of all, the State of Chu was remote; second, the authority of Zhou Tianzi was weakening, so the State of Chu was not suppressed. After nearly a hundred years, the State of Chu ushered in a new monarch, King Chu Zhuang, who at the beginning of his succession ignored the government and enjoyed himself wantonly, but after three years of dormancy, he suddenly began to exert himself to govern, and in a very short period of time led the State of Chu to become a hegemon. In order to show his strength, King Zhuang also stationed troops on its border to deter when passing through the Zhou capital Luoyi.
King Zhuang of Chu stationed his army outside the city of Luoyi, and Tianzi hurriedly sent Wang Sun Man to comfort him, but King Zhuang was very complacent and asked how heavy the nine dings that symbolized royal power in the palace were, which was the origin of the famous allusion ""Asking the Central Plains".
It was also during the reign of King Zhuang of Chu that the State of Chu achieved a great victory over the overlord of the Central Plains, the State of Jin, which attracted the annexation of Chen, Cai, Xu, Zheng, Song and other states, after which the State of Chu gradually developed northward, as if to compete with other princes for hegemony in the Central Plains.
With the death of King Zhuang, neither the successor King Gong and King Kang were able to continue their hegemony. Finally, in the fourteenth year of King Kang of Chu (546 BC), the Jin, Chu and more than ten small states held a meeting of soldiers in the Song Kingdom, declaring the Jin and Chu states as allies and dividing the hegemony of the Central Plains equally.
After the death of King Kang, King Chu Ling was overthrown by the people. Although his successor, King Chuping, rested with the people, his loyalty was unknown, and he forced the xianchen Wu Zixu away. Wu Zixu later helped the State of Wu defeat the State of Chu five times, which eventually led to the loss of hegemony of the State of Chu, betrayal and bullying, and the end of the Ping King's depression.
Time entered the Warring States, and the King of Chu appointed Wu Qi to implement the change, which soon achieved remarkable results. However, this change of law ended with mourning the death of Wang And Wu Qi. After mourning the king, King Su did nothing, while his brother King Xuan of Chu was humble and actively expanded. He and his son King Wei of Chu ruled the Chu state for forty years, which roughly recreated the former glory of the Chu state, and also made the chu state one of the best powers among the princes in the middle and early Warring States period.
Unfortunately, after the death of King Wei, the successor King Huai, although he reused Qu Yuan and other sages in the early days, achieved some achievements. However, he was later deceived by Zhang Yi and detained by King Zhaoxiang, which led to the transformation of the Chu state from prosperity to decline.
The last glory of the Chu state was during the reign of King Kaolie, who reused Chun Shenjun and joined forces with Wei and Zhao to break the Qin army, but this was only a return to the light.
In the twenty-fourth year of the reign of the King of Qin (223 BC), the Qin army invaded the capital of the Chu state of Shouchun, and the king of Chu was captured. This inspirational country, which has existed for more than 800 years and developed from fifty miles of land to the hegemon of the princes, has thus ended on the stage of history.