There is a big difference between the war in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the war in the Spring and Autumn Period is a noble and gentleman-like war, the nobles rely on "being famous" to occupy the moral high ground to force the other side to submit on the battlefield, they pay great attention to the process of war, everyone sets up a position according to the etiquette of war, to see who can make the other side submit, who can win the first place in the process of competing for hegemony, so the war lasts for a relatively short time, usually there will be results within a day, and the casualty rate is relatively low The war in the Warring States period was a professional military conspiracy and trickery war, they took it as their duty to defeat each other or even destroy each other's country, they paid great attention to the results, and all kinds of conspiracies and tricks in the war came together to see who could laugh at the end, usually the war lasted for a long time, and the casualty rate was also very large.
The transformation of this kind of war from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period was not completed overnight, and it took a long time to change from quantitative change to qualitative change. In fact, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, with the continuous war between the princely states, the form of war has been slowly changing, pure aristocratic etiquette war may have been for a period of time in the early Spring and Autumn Period, they pursue the "day and place, each side of the house, the drum to fight, not to deceive" and "no drums do not become a column" war etiquette. But soon this etiquette will no longer meet the needs of war, in the final analysis, the subjective initiative of people in this form of warfare often does not play a role, but everyone is stuck in a box and plays a political game.
By the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, results-oriented wars had already begun to appear on the battlefield, and people's subjective initiative began to play a role, but to a lesser extent and often went unnoticed. In the "Battle of Hongshui" and the "Battle of Chengpu", we can see the changes in this.
To some extent, the "Battle of Hongshui" and the "Battle of Chengpu" are both wars for hegemony, but the "Battle of Hongshui" of Song and Chu is more of a joke, and Song Xianggong's following etiquette has become an anachronistic pedantic, which not only buried his own life, but also reduced the Song State to a weaker princely state, and the victorious Fang Chu State did not become a generation of hegemons, and the Chu State was still too arbitrary to completely submit to the Central Plains states. Then, who will be the new overlord, naturally it is the Jin Wengong who won the "Battle of Chengpu" in Jinchu.
Battle of Hongshui:
In 643 BC, the first overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Huan of Qi, died, and several sons of Duke Huan of Qi fought for the throne of the country, and the intensity of the death of Duke Huan of Qi could be imagined from the fact that the body of Duke Huan of Qi grew on the bed, and after his death, Duke Huan of Qi entrusted the crown prince Lü Zhao to the care of Duke Xiang of Song. After the civil unrest in Qi, Lü Zhao ran to the Song Kingdom to seek the protection of Song Xianggong, who united several countries to escort Lü Zhao back to china the following year to succeed him.
As soon as the Duke of Qi Huan died, the State of Qi was in civil strife, the seat of the overlord of the Central Plains was vacant, and the State of Jin was also in civil strife, the State of Qin was still struggling in the west, and although the State of Chu tried to go north to dominate, it was not recognized, in such a situation, Song Xianggong had the ambition to dominate, so he wanted to organize an alliance to dominate by the merits of quelling the internal strife in Qi, but few countries responded. At this time, the State of Song thought of convincing the State of Chu to support itself.
In the autumn of 639 BC, Song Xianggong decided to hold an alliance meeting in Meng as the leader of the alliance, and the confident and ceremonial Song Xianggong did not take much escort to participate, and as a result, he was abducted by King Chu Cheng at the meeting, and then the Chu army attacked the Song state, and later it was Lu Xianggong who came forward to persuade King Chu Cheng to release Song Xianggong back and withdraw his army. Song Xianggong was furious with the arrogance of the State of Chu, but in terms of strength, the State of Song could not defeat the State of Chu, and could only take the State of Zheng.
In the summer of the following year, Song Xianggong and several younger brothers sent troops to attack Zheng Guo, Zheng Guo quickly sent people to ask the elder brother Chu Guo for help, Chu Cheng Wang sent troops to attack the Song State, Song Xianggong retreated to meet the battle, and the two sides were about to usher in a big battle on the shore of Hongshui.
Regarding the course of this war, both the Zuo Chuan and the Twenty-second Year of the Duke of Song and the Shi Ji Wei Zi Shi Jia are recorded, and the contents of the Zuo Chuan are quoted here to illustrate:
The Song people were already in a column, but the Chu people were not in good hands. Sima Yue: "He who is many and widowed, and who has not helped him, please strike at them." "No." "It is not a line of good, but it is also a complaint." Gong Yue: "Not yet." "After Chen chen and then attacked, the Song division was defeated. Public wounded unit, doorman annihilated.
Song Xianggong and his troops had already set up a battle on the banks of the Hongshui River, and the Chu army had not yet crossed the Hongshui River, and Sima Da (i.e., Ziyu and Muyi, song Xianggong's half-brother) said to Song Xianggong: "The enemy is strong and I am weak, please attack the Chu army while they are crossing the river, so that the odds of victory will be great." Song Xianggong shook his head and said, "No." ”
After a while, the Chu army crossed the river but had not yet assembled, and Sima Dashi again requested troops to attack the Chu army, but Song Xianggong again refused. In this way, the Song army has been standing there quietly, waiting for the Chu army to cross the river, reorganize the troops, and then start a battle, the result can be imagined, the Song army that is too weak can only be beaten step by step, Song Xianggong's thigh was shot by the other side's soldiers, the guards around him were also killed, and the Song army was defeated.
Song Xianggong returned to China, and the Song people complained that Song Xianggong would not take advantage of the opportunity at hand to fight, and Song Xianggong defended:
"A gentleman is not seriously injured, nor is he a bird with two hairs." The ancients are also military, not obstructive. Although the widow has perished, he will not be able to drum up a list. ”
Song Xianggong still fought strictly in accordance with the war etiquette of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, but this kind of combat etiquette was obviously out of date, and even the remnants of the Yin merchants, Song Guoren and Muyi, could think that they should seize the opportunity to win the war, and Song Xianggong was still adhering to the past etiquette, which seemed ridiculous and sad, and he was still facing the Chu people who did not play cards according to common sense and regarded Zhou Li as nothing, and this war seemed to be doomed from the beginning.
Only Song Xianggong never knew how to be flexible, and most people had already unconsciously begun to pursue victory in the war, so they began to use strategy in the war, and the "Battle of Chengpu" six years later was a good example.
Battle of Chengpu:
Song Xianggong was wounded in the Battle of Hongshui, and in the process of recuperating, Gongzi Zhong'er, who had been in exile for seventeen years, arrived in the Song Kingdom, and Song Xianggong received Zhong'er according to the state etiquette, and then Ziyu let Zhong'er and his party go to the big country to find refuge, and the Song Kingdom was no longer able to protect The Thoroughness of Heavy Ear. So Zhong'er and his party went to the State of Zheng and then to the State of Chu, where they were given preferential treatment by King Cheng of Chu, and Chong'er made an oath that "if Jin and Chu fight in the future, Jin should retreat and avoid the three retreats". After leaving the State of Chu, Zhong'er returned to the State of Qin, and finally returned to the State of Jin in 636 BC under the escort of Duke Mu of Qin, and successfully became the monarch of the State of Jin, that is, the Duke of Jin Wen, and the cause of tuobaism in the State of Jin officially began.
In 633 BC, the State of Chu attacked the State of Song again, Ziyu turned to the State of Jin for help, and the Duke of Song Xiang treated the Duke Wen of Jin in distress with courtesy, and naturally the State of Jin could not sit idly by and ignore the State of Song. Jin Wen made public a high-level meeting, at which everyone agreed that this was an opportunity to dominate, but it could not be directly encountered with the Chu army, after all, it was not known what the attitude of Qi and Qin was, and the problem to be solved was how to detour to save the Song state, and finally, the meeting decided that the Jin state would first attack the two younger brothers of the Chu state, Wei Guo and Cao Guo.
King Cheng of Chu was actually unwilling to confront the Jin army directly, and unlike other monarchs, Duke Wen of Jin was different from other monarchs, he had been in exile outside for nineteen years, and in these nineteen years, what had he not experienced? I have long cultivated the body of King Kong, and I can cope with anything.
However, Ziyu did not approve of King Chu Cheng's words, and he still insisted on meeting the Jin army for a while. Zi Yu told the Jin army not to attack Wei guo and Cao Guo again, and he would no longer attack the Song state, but Jin Wengong ordered the arrest of the envoys of the Chu state and promised to help Cao Guo and Wei Guo restore the country. A series of actions of Jin Wengong naturally forced the Chu army to attack the Jin army, and Ziyu also lived up to expectations, and was really angry to attack the Jin army.
As soon as the State of Chu attacked, the Jin army ordered a retreat, that is, to retreat ninety miles, on the one hand, it was natural that Jin Wengong fulfilled his original oath, which undoubtedly stood on the moral high ground to make the Jin army win applause; on the other hand, it was to lure the enemy to go deep and change the unfavorable terrain of the Jin army. But this was only a prelude to the Battle of Chengpu, and the real decisive battle began in April 632 BC.
On the third day of the first month of April, the jin, Song, Qi, and Qin armies were stationed in Chengpu, while the Chu state and the younger brothers led the army to camp in the hilly area on the other side. The Jin army had seven hundred multipliers, and Jin Wengong personally boarded the False Oath Division of Youxin, and the next day the war officially began.
Lu Wei, Jin shi Chen Yu Xinbei, Xu Chen under the army of Zuo Dang Chen and Cai. Zi Yu took ruo ao six pawns to the middle of the army, saying: "Today there will be no jin." "Zi Xi will be left, Zi Shang will be right." Xu Chen was beaten by tiger skins and first attacked Chen and Cai. Chen, Cai Ben, and Chu Right Division collapsed. Fox fur sets two retreats. Luan Zhi made the public opinion drag chai and falsely fled, and Chu Shi Chizhi. Yuan Yi and Hao Qin attacked them with the Chinese gong clan. Fox Mao and Fox Yan attacked Zixi with their troops, and the Chu Left Division collapsed. Chu Shi was defeated. Zi Yu took his pawn and stopped, so he was undefeated.
The Jin army launched a position in northern Xinbei, Xu Chen as the deputy of the lower army was responsible for resisting the Chen and Cai zhi armies in the right army of the Chu state, here the Jin army played a trick, Xu Chen ordered that the war horses were all draped in tiger skins disguised as tigers, creating an illusion for the enemy army, and sure enough, when attacking the Chen and Cai armies, the two armies were caught off guard and thought that they were encountering tigers, so they scattered and fled before they could fight, and as soon as the two armies ran, the right army on the son was forced to flee.
The main general of the Jin army, Luan Zhi, tied branches behind the chariot to retreat, creating the illusion of defeat and retreat, and the main general of the Jin army, Fox Mao, also retreated, creating the illusion of the defeat and retreat of the main army of the Jin army. Zi Xi, the main general of the left army of the Chu army, was indeed deceived, leading the left army to chase and defeat the retreating Jin army, and as a result, he was surrounded and beaten by the three armies of the Jin army, and the left army was also defeated, only Zi Yu led the Chinese army to retreat in time, without being fooled by the Jin army. But this could not change anything, the Chu army was defeated, and Jin Wengong won a great victory.
Immediately afterward, Duke Wen of Jin led the princes on a pilgrimage to Zhou Tianzi in the land, and Zhou Tianzi officially recognized the supremacy of Duke Wen of Jin.
If in the "Battle of Hongshui", people only ridiculed Song Xianggong for not being able to seize the favorable opportunity to directly start a war without the Chu army being prepared, then in the "Battle of Chengpu", Jin Wengong directly came to a soldier who was not tired of deception. Two general battles, which are only six years apart, are already telling us that the form of war has changed unconsciously, the process may be important, but the result is more important, in order to get the desired result, in the war has gone from less observance of etiquette to the emergence of tricks, and future wars will only be more cruel.
From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, the cruelty of war far exceeded people's imagination. The commanders of the war also changed from aristocrats to professional soldiers, and the collapse of the liturgy was the main theme of this era.