Books written about the Spring and Autumn Warring States generally start from the zhou you king, inu rong, qin xianggong, zhou ping king, followed by writing Zheng, Song, Lu, Wei four kingdoms, up to 20 times, after which these four countries are not seen much. Looking at the map of the early Spring and Autumn Period, these four kingdoms are relatively large in addition to the five hegemons and seven heroes, and the four kingdoms are grouped together and firmly occupy the position of the Central Plains. These four countries are really good conditions and have a high starting point, and they belonged to the medium-developed countries in the early Spring and Autumn Period.
Good conditions mean that the location in the Central Plains is very important. In addition to having a land, there must be people on the ground. The Chu kingdom is so big, the south is full of subtropical rainforest, basically can not collect taxes, can not collect soldiers, even can not raise horses, completely belongs to the "low-value land.". The Central Plains is just fine, and the degree of "integration of man and land" is quite high. You know, the Qin kingdom at this time, and many years after that, is a poor and remote area, and 400 years later, the King of Qin still angrily roared out the "inspirational maxim" of "the princes are humble and the Qin are ugly".
Starting height refers to knighthood. Jue, first of all, is a kind of wine vessel, not a wine glass, which can be understood as something like the current wine dispenser and the warm wine jug. For people of different identities, the drinking utensils are different, in order: Jue, 觚 [gū], 觯 [zhì], horn [jué], scatter [sǎn], pot. In this order, the status of drinkers is getting lower and lower, and the volume of the wine dispenser is getting larger and larger. Reasonable, people with high status can drink less, and those with low status who ask for help to do things have to "carry the pot to rush". Since the wine vessel represents the identity, the granting of status is called "knighthood", and the knighthood changes from a "wine vessel" to a "ceremonial vessel". The titles of the princely states have five grades from high to low: duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male. This title is very important, the higher the title, the larger the fiefdom, the richer the region, as a seed player to deter the surrounding small princes; at the same time, it must also be placed under the eyes of the princes of the Zhou Dynasty's old Ji family with the same surname, relying on their own brothers to monitor them. Unfortunately, history has always proved that "their own brothers" are often the most unreliable. In fact, what cannot be relied upon is human nature, and the conditions and treatment you give to brothers with different surnames and your own brothers are equal to those of their own brothers, so that they can develop, and they are equally unreliable.
These four countries have good conditions and a high starting point, and they were indeed fat when they were young. Zheng Zhuang became the largest country in the early Spring and Autumn Period, occupying a considerable length in the first half of the first volume of the "Chronicles of the States of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty", so that readers once thought that they were the protagonists; although the "loyal elder" Song Xianggong was ridiculed for more than 2,000 years, he was after all competing with Qiang Chu for the hegemonic chair; Lu Guo was in charge of the royal family sacrifice, and at the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, when everyone had not yet torn their faces, everyone had to give three thin faces, and also had the highlight moment when Lu Gonggong had made a contribution; the Prince of Weiwu had meritorious service and vaguely became the leader of the princes. King Ping moved east to defend the state and was promoted to the dukehood.
However, just after the early spring and autumn period when the wind and waves were stable, the Central Plains began to have a little sense of wind and clouds, and the four countries turned to the rivers and rivers, which was not very regrettable. Why? Rigidity, internal friction, and internal volume - this is a common disease of the Spring and Autumn princes, which is the same in any country, and cannot be the main reason. The main cause also had to be attributed to the "geopolitics" that no one was expected to be able to basically understand at that time.
Success is also the Central Plains, defeat is also the Central Plains - the Central Plains is the "land of four wars". Just like the Balkan Peninsula, whichever two neighboring countries have a conflict, they throw bombs here, and the whole country is a big battlefield. It's like Jin chu is going to fight for hegemony, the Chu state is going to go north, say Zheng Guo, you borrow a way. Zheng Guo say yes or no? Say no, Chu Guo will you first; say yes, Jin Guo will take revenge, and then beat you up after taking away Chu Guo. Moreover, in the decisive battle of Jin and Chu, which is evenly matched, the battlefield is likely to be in the territory of Zheng Guo, which is equally supplied from the two countries. Around the battlefield, along the supply line, the people with legs had to run, and all production came to a standstill.
If you look at who are around these four countries, Jin, Chu, and Qi, the top three in gdp at the time, who can the four countries in Middle-earth afford to provoke? If you look at these three great powers, including the Qin, Wu, and Yue that rose later, each country has a side that either depends on the sea, or on the wasteland, or on the jungle. At least this side can be without heavy troops, the main force can be concentrated in the main direction of attack, people who have played this kind of game understand. This is the "fringe theory" in "geopolitics": whoever dominates the periphery controls Eurasia; whoever dominates Eurasia controls the fate of the world...
In the next article, we will take a look at the soul of the country that controls the major powers on the periphery and supports their rise and hegemony. Continue to follow History Beyond the History Books 08: The Soul of a Great Power.
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