After king Zhou Ping moved east to Luoyi, the history of the Spring and Autumn Warring States officially began. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the wars of the princes for hegemony formed the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemonies. However, there are still many theories about which five princely states the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons are monarchs. Among them, there are two versions that are the most widely circulated and recognized. According to the introduction, one is the view given by Sima Qian in the "Records of History": Qi Huan Gong, Song Xiang Gong, Jin Wen Gong, Qin Mu Gong, Chu Zhuang Wang; corresponding to this, the other version of the Xunzi Wang Ba, respectively: Qi Huan Gong, Jin Wen Gong, Chu Zhuang Wang, Wu Wang Lu and Yue Wang Gou Jian. So, the question is, there are two major versions of the "Spring and Autumn Five", which is more reliable? What do you think about that?
One
First of all, when King Ping of Zhou moved east to Luoyi, the strength of the Zhou royal family decreased significantly. In the context of the decline of Zhou Tianzi, the continuous expansion of the Qin, Jin, Qi, and Chu states made the Eastern Zhou royal family unable to control these princely states. Especially after the Zhengzhuang Gong Xiaoba, almost all the powerful princely states hoped to dominate the Central Plains. And this, prompted the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons to appear in multiple versions, that is, because many princely states in order to compete for the world, opened a fierce war for hegemony, between each other, the east and west, resulting in frequent changes in the hegemony of the princes, coupled with the Spring and Autumn This historical stage lasted for hundreds of years, the strength between the various princely states is long, so the princes who dominated at the beginning may not be able to persist to the end. For example, after the Duke of Qi Huan, the State of Qi fell from the throne of the overlord.
Two
On this basis, the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons formed two major versions, one is the view given by Sima Qian in the "Records of History": Qi Huan Gong, Song Xiang Gong, Jin Wen Gong, Qin Mu Gong, Chu Zhuang Wang; corresponding to this, the other version of the "Xunzi Wang Ba" proposed, namely: Qi Huan Gong, Jin Wen Gong, Chu Zhuang Wang, Wu Wang Lu and Yue Wang Gou Jian. In this regard, in the author's opinion, I agree with the second view. It is worth noting that although the Spring and Autumn Five Lords have two views, there is no controversy about the three princes of Qi Huan, Jin Wen and Chu Zhuang. As far as the Duke of Qi Huan was concerned, he was the head of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, and in the early Spring and Autumn Period, the Duke of Qi Huan, the monarch of the Nine Leagues, rebelled in Sanping and Jin, pacified the Wei state, and expelled Rong Di.
Three
After Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin appointed a virtuous and powerful State of Jin; United Qin heqi and Bao Song to control Zheng; King Qin defeated Chu and dominated the Spring and Autumn Period. Especially in the Battle of Chengpu, Duke Wen of Jin retreated, defeated the powerful State of Chu, and opened the hegemony of the State of Jin. After the Duke Wen of Jin, King Zhuang of Chu went north to fight for hegemony, defeated the Jin state at the Battle of Wu, drank the Yellow River, and conquered the Central Plains; ranked among the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. On this basis, the Dukes of Qi Huan, Jin Wengong, and Chu Zhuang were almost undisputed in the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemonies, and the focus of the controversy was qin mugong, Song Xianggong, and Wu wang Lu and Yue wang Gou Shang. Among them, as far as Qin Mugong was concerned, the main achievement was to let the Qin state dominate Xirong, but because of the barrier of the Jin state, the Qin state had no opportunity to expand to the Central Plains. As for Song Xianggong, he was defeated and wounded in a contest with the Chu state, and eventually died, obviously lacking the hard power to dominate.
Four
Finally, correspondingly, as far as the Wu king Yan Lu was concerned, in the ninth year of the Wu king's reign (506 BC), the Wu army, led by Sun Wu and Wu Zixu, attacked the west from the Huaishui Valley to the Han River, won five battles and five victories, conquered the capital of the Chu state, Yingdu, and forced the Chu Zhao king to flee, that is, the strength of the Wu state was so strong that it almost destroyed the Chu state. As for Yue Wang Gou Jian, after destroying the State of Wu, Yue Wang Gou Jian crossed Huai with soldiers, and the princes of Huiqi, Song, Jin, and Lu moved to Xuzhou (present-day southern Tengzhou, Shandong) and moved the capital to Langya, becoming the last overlord in the Spring and Autumn Period. Therefore, in terms of their own strength, Wu Wang Lu and Yue Wang Gou Jian were significantly stronger than Qin Mugong and Song Xianggong. In particular, after destroying the State of Wu and meeting the princes, King Yuan of Zhou made people give Gou Jian meat and recognized the "Bo" (overlord) of the Yue King Gou Jian princes. Therefore, the author more agrees with the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemonic versions of "Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, King Zhuang of Chu, King Lu of Wu, and King of Yue". What do you think about that?
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