In Chinese history, the Period of Spring and Autumn can be regarded as a special period in history. Because the princes of this period were keen on war and fought for their hegemony. But at the same time, most of them are only fighting for hegemony, and very few are destroying countries.
Simply put, I just have to subdue you, not just swallow you.
So, in the Spring and Autumn Period of history, why did this phenomenon occur?
According to records, there were more than 140 vassal states in the early Spring and Autumn Period, and more than 40 were active in the middle period.
It can be seen from this that although the Spring and Autumn Period was only between the big countries and did not annex and destroy the country, the annexation of small countries was not soft.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a war of annihilation. However, compared with the scale of the war of annihilation in the Warring States period, the war of annihilation in the Spring and Autumn Period was smaller. Therefore, the former makes a deep impression on people, and the latter basically does not impress people.
For example, the Duke of Qi Huan destroyed the State of Tan, the State of Chu destroyed the State of Shen, the State of Qi, etc.; the State of Qin destroyed the State of Shui, the State of Jin destroyed the State of Yu, and the State of Yu, the most intensive of which was Zheng Wugong, who established the State of Zheng after continuously destroying more than a dozen small states.
Due to their small size, most of the small countries that were destroyed did not record in the history books, and the historians only recorded some things between the big countries, and for countries that were too small, they generally selectively ignored them.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, no country broke this balance between countries; although there were Five Hegemons in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Strength of the Spring and Autumn Countries before each other was diminished. Although there is a very powerful Jin state, there is also a slightly less powerful State of Qi, coupled with the State of Qin that occupies the three passes, so no one in each country has the absolute strength to destroy other countries.
In the early spring and autumn period, the influence of Zhou Tianzi was still very large, the princes were all divided by Zhou Tianzi, daring to destroy other countries was disrespectful to Zhou Tianzi, Zhou Tianzi could order other princely countries to carry out crusades, who dared to have a different idea?
Due to the sparse population and weak productivity, especially the material bronze used in weapons, it is relatively scarce in its output, the number of people who can invest in the army in various countries is small, the cost of war is larger, and most people are engaged in agricultural production. Although wars were frequent during this period, the main purpose was to eliminate the army, seize resources and weaken the strength of the other side. Because in this way, the opposing army will not be able to start another war for a long time.
The victorious side does not need to forcibly occupy or destroy it. For forcible occupation or annihilation is an increase in the burden on the victorious side, which not only increases the risk of rebellion, but also means an increase in population.
If there is a rebellion, it will also be suppressed, which will be a drain on the army and national strength, and it will not be worth the loss.
If there had been no rebellion, although there would have been more land for the surplus population to cultivate, the extra population and land would not have been able to exercise effective jurisdiction at that time, and it would not have been of any benefit to them to promote the annihilation of the country.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, countries were keen to compete for hegemony, but the ultimate purpose of hegemony was to strive for more resources to develop and grow themselves, and once they won the hegemonic position, they could obtain richer resources than other princely states and be in a more favorable position in the competition.
In addition, there is another very important reason, that is, the problem of ideology, in the early Spring and Autumn Period, most of the rulers' thinking was still in the period of separation, and the idea of great unification was still only after a hundred schools of thought. Therefore, after entering the Warring States period, with the controversy of the Hundred Schools of Thought, everyone realized that they could be unified with each other.
Generally speaking, the Spring and Autumn Period was due to the situation at that time, and it was not able to carry out large-scale annihilation of the country. But it does not mean that there was no destruction of the country, but the Warring States is closer to the Qin and Han dynasties, and most of the history can be recorded in the main history. Coupled with the Warring States period, constant wars led to protracted wars, and there were most famous battles, which were easy to attract attention. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there were relatively few, which led to the so-called Spring and Autumn Period, which only competed for hegemony and did not destroy the country.