The State of Chu, also known as Jing Chu, one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period and one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, is an important role on the stage of the Spring and Autumn Warring States Era, with its long-term inheritance, creating his own history, through the vicissitudes of the times, still standing proudly in Jingchu. Its existence is even longer than that of the Yan kingdom, which is known as the "eight-hundred-year princely state". So why did the Chu state exist for so long, and how did he become a princely state?
According to historical books and literary works such as "Shi Ji", "Departure from Sorrow", "ShiBen", and "Da Dai Li", the origin of the Chu people can be traced back to the Gaoyang clan of Emperor Huan, and the specific inheritance is:
Yellow Emperor —Gao Yang (grandson of the Yellow Emperor) – Wu Hui (fifth generation after Gao Yang) —
Lu Zheng (son of Wu Hui) – Ji Lian (son of Lu Zhong) – Xiong Xiong (teacher of King Wen of Zhou) – Xiong Xuan (great-grandson of Xiong Xiong), who was made a viscount of Chu by King Cheng of Zhou. The Chu state also came from this.
Therefore, to go back, the ancestors of the Chu people were a long time ago, but at that time, there was no concept of the Chu state, or in the form of tribes, distributed in the southern part of the Shang Dynasty capital Chaoge (present-day Xinzheng, Henan), and has been oppressed by the Shang Dynasty, constantly moving south. Where there was oppression, there was resistance, and after zhou raised the banner of anti-shang, the ancestors of the Chu people also quickly led the tribe to zhou to respond.
However, after the Wu King's cutting, the Zhou Dynasty was established, and when the heroes were first divided, because the Zhou Dynasty paid attention to blood relations
(According to the Xunzi, "Concurrently rule the world, establish seventy-one kingdoms, and fifty-three people with the surname Ji live alone")
There was no sub-sealing of the ancestors of the Chu people. It was not until 1042 BC, when King Cheng of Zhou succeeded to the throne and carried out the second great division of the seal, that he officially crowned xiong xiong, the great-grandson of the Chu leader Xiong Xiong, as a viscount, sealed xiong in the land of Danhuai, built the capital in Danyang (present-day Huaichuan County, Henan Province), and established the State of Chu. Although it is only a small country within a radius of fifty miles, the good villains have officially gained a name and are no longer tribes like before. (Looking at the fifty-mile fiefdom, how can it still feel like a small village?) Hahaha. ）
However, do not underestimate it, it is such a small country with a radius of fifty miles, the barbaric land in the south has created the tenacious character of the Chu people, and the Chu state soon expanded its territory everywhere, successively destroying the Suiguo, the ancient elk state, the Lu state, the Luo state, the Chen state, the Cai state, and the Yue state, and won the Central Plains with a strong posture of the first territory. According to relevant statistics, as many as fifty small states were annexed by the State of Chu, which does not include some unrecorded countries and tribes (including the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period).
The rise of the Chu state also made the Zhou royal family uneasy, and made other princely states feel threatened. Then, when attacking the State of Song, the State of Song asked for help from the State of Jin, so the war between Jin and Chu broke out, and in the Battle of Chengpu, the State of Jin used the strategy of retreating to lure the enemy and defeated the State of Chu in one fell swoop with a weak victory, although the momentum of the State of Chu's northward advance was contained, but it did not hit the ambition of the State of Chu to dominate.
In 606 BC, king Zhuang of Chu undertook the Northern Expedition to Luoyang, when a military parade was held outside the capital of Zhou. The State of Chu had swelled to the point of openly inquiring about the weight of the Zhou Dynasty's Chuanguo Ding, and even threatened that as long as the Chu army broke the tip of the Ge spear, it would be enough to cast the Jiuding. However, under the bold words, it is supported by strength, otherwise the Chu state would not be the first to usurp the title of king (King of Chu Wu).
In 223 BC, this powerful vassal state that had gone through 47 monarchs (including Huan Xiong and Xiang Liang's establishment of The Chu Queen Huai Wang Xiongxin) was destroyed by the Qin state and withdrew from the stage of history, but Chen Sheng, Xiang Yu, Liu Bang and a number of other descendants of the Chu state appeared on the stage of history, the first blatant rebellion, and finally the real overthrow of the Qin Dynasty, really responded to that sentence:
"Although Chu has three households, qin will die in Chu" (
Chen Sheng was a native of Yangcheng County (Shangshui County), a native of Xiangyu Chuguo (Suqian, Jiangsu), and a native of Zhongyangli (present-day Feng County, Jiangsu) in Fengyi County, Chu State of Liu Bang.
Although the Chu state withdrew from the stage of history, Chu ci, Chu Le, Chu Ding, Chu lacquerware and other Chu cultures have a long history and are still brilliant today.
History is both subjective and objective, and there are many deficiencies, and I hope that everyone will correct and communicate.
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