After hundreds of years of accumulation and development, especially after obtaining the copper ore of Tonglu Mountain, Chu has become a phoenix with wings ready to fly.
At this time, the Western Zhou Dynasty perished, and the Spring and Autumn Period began, there was no co-owner, and there was a power vacuum in the Central Plains, and large and small vassal states began to have constant conflicts and wars. Internal worries will inevitably lead to external troubles, and the Rong, Di and other ethnic minorities in the north have seized the opportunity to continue to advance to the Central Plains.
Just when the princes of the Central Plains were anxious because of the invasion of Rong and Di in the north, the state of Chu moved north and threatened the Central Plains. The state of Chu took advantage of the fact that the Central Plains had no owner to expand rapidly in the Yangtze River valley, and destroyed countless countries in more than 100 years. The forces of the Chu State went north along the plains on the east side of Wudang Mountain, directly into the Nanyang Basin, and the other force of the Chu State pointed directly at the Dabie Mountain.
Although the state of Chu had no strategic agreement with the ethnic minorities in the north, it objectively formed a trend of a north-south attack, and these two powerful forces echoed each other, and the Central Plains civilization encountered an unprecedented and serious threat.
The serious situation of the invasion of Nanyi and Beidi called for a new core of Chinese princes to stand up and replace the Zhou royal family to establish a new political order for the Central Plains country, and unite to resist the external crisis.
[1] The meaning of hegemony
For the meaning of "tyrant", the "Xinhua Dictionary" has an explanation: a person who relies on power to run rampant and persecute others. This is also the concept of most people, for the history of the Spring and Autumn period for hegemony, it is often understood that several powerful powers compete for hegemony and rely on force to bully weak and small countries.
This is one of the many misreadings we have about the Spring and Autumn Period. In fact, the word "ba" is in the pre-Qin Tong "bo" word, and the original meaning of the word "bo" is "long". Overlord, long also. It is the chief of the princes, and the office of the uncle. The so-called Fang Bo refers to the head of the princes in a certain area, generally held by the larger local princes, and his task is to mediate the contradictions and disputes between the princes in the region.
Therefore, the original meaning of "hegemony" is the alliance of princes, and the original meaning of the so-called "hegemony" is that the big countries strive to stand up when the world is in trouble to maintain regional order.
[2] The first Qi country to stand up
Qi is an old vassal state, the founder is Jiang Taigong of the Zhou Dynasty, Qi Huan is the twelfth grandson of Jiang Taigong, the Central Plains has encountered a serious crisis, and the countries are full of internal strife, Qi Huan has been thinking about how to unite the princes and unite with the outside world.
The first step in Qi Huangong's reform was to appoint Guan Zhong, who said: "If you don't repair internal affairs, you won't be able to do anything externally." That is to say, if you want to dominate the princes, you must start by governing internal affairs, because only when the country is strong can it have the ability to exert influence on the outside world.
The economic foundation of Qi is relatively good, the territory is close to the sea, and since the establishment of the state, the salt reclamation field has been rich and rich. In the fourth year of the reign of Duke Huan of Qi, there was a serious civil strife in the neighboring Song State, the monarch of the Song State was killed, several princes competed for the throne, the losers fled to the neighboring countries, and the successful ones pursued and killed political enemies.
[3] Resolve the crisis of the Song Kingdom
According to Zhou etiquette, Qi Huan first sent envoys to worship Zhou Tianzi with heavy gifts, and asked Zhou Tianzi to authorize him to go to Song Guoxing to ask for guilt, because Song did not respect Zhou Li and abolished the monarch casually.
At that time, after the Zhou royal family moved eastward, the land actually controlled was only 600 miles in radius, and the princes had long since stopped taking the royal family in their eyes.
So the State of Qi took Zhou Tianzi as the banner and united Chen and Cao to form a three-country alliance to go to the Song State. Under the pressure of the soldiers, the Song State had to make an agreement with the princes that in the future, in the matter of the abolition of the monarch, it must be dealt with according to the Zhou rites, and at the same time, it must also abide by the Zhou rites to deal with the relations with neighboring countries.
[3] The first alliance of princes
In 679 years before the park, the state of Qi held a meeting in Juanxian, known as the "Juanhui League" in history. In the letter of alliance, the participating vassal states agreed to respect Zhou Tianzi and help the royal family, to unite to resist foreign invasion of the Central Plains, and to help the princes who were shrinking and in difficulty. In fact, it is "respecting the king". Duke Qi Huan was the first to preside over the World Alliance as a prince, establishing his prestige.
In order to unite the princes, with the call of "respecting the king and conquering the country", the Duke of Qi Huan did several major things: the first was to unite the Lu country. The second is to aid the Yan country. The third is the restoration of the Xing State. The fourth is the reconstruction of the country.
[4] Duke Qi Huan avoided a big battle
In 678 BC, King Wen of Chu raised an army against Zheng under the pretext of attacking Zheng. Prior to this, although the state of Chu had conquered and subjugated many countries, most of them were small states whose status was not important, but the state of Zheng was different. Zheng Guo is a close relative of the royal family, once competing with the royal family, for a period of time, Qi Guo also had to give Zheng Guo three points, this old power is now bullied by Chu State, so that the Central Plains country has a cold feeling.
In order to curb the northward advance of Chu, the prince of Qi Huan led the armies of Qi, Lu, Song, Chen, Wei, Zheng, Xu, and Cao to attack Chu in the south. In the face of the formation of one enemy and eight enemies, King Cheng of Chu showed enough composure, and he said to Duke Qi Huan: "The king is in the North Sea, and the widow is in the South China Sea, but the wind and horses and cattle are not related." Why is it that you don't want to be involved in my land?"
Guan Zhong, the prime minister of Qi, replied on behalf of Qi Huangong: "Ergong bud grass is not entered, the king sacrifice is not shared, there is no way to shrink the wine, and the widow is a sign." That is to say, the state of Chu has not paid tribute to the Zhou royal family according to the requirements of the Zhou rites for many years, which is a serious challenge to the civilized order of the Central Plains and must be crusaded.
Qi's pretext for war seems to miss the point, but in the Spring and Autumn Period, it was the most upright reason. After entering the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhou rite had been destroyed, but it was still a recognized norm in various countries. The characteristics of warfare in the Spring and Autumn Period, at least on the surface, revolved around the order of etiquette, that is, the division was famous, at least on the surface, to make the other side admit its mistakes and abide by the Zhou etiquette, and once the other side admitted to violating the Zhou etiquette and expressed remorse, the war could be avoided.
In the face of the alliance of princes, King Chu Cheng thought about it and issued this reply: "The tribute is not entered, and the sin of the widow is also." That is, King Chu Cheng admitted that he had violated the Zhou rites and promised to pay tribute on time in the future. An imminent war was avoided because of a word, and the Duke of Qi Huan decided to accept it when he saw it, and the two sides held an alliance in Zhaoling: the State of Chu admitted the fault of not paying tribute to Zhou Tianzi, and expressed its willingness to assume the obligation of obeying the royal family, which was regarded as making a concession and giving the Duke of Qi Huan face, and the Duke of Qi Huan got the promise of the State of Chu to lead the troops back.
Postscript:
The alliance of Zhaoling is considered to be the great success of Qi Huan Gong, and it also marks the culmination of his "rebellion", Qi Huan Gong as the overlord, the reason for his success is to do things "modestly" and moderation, and to grasp the measure in everything. It can be said that in the early days of the hegemony movement, the essence was a self-help movement of Zhou civilization.
In the era when the Central Plains politics needed a hegemon, Duke Qi Huan took the lead and became the first co-lord of the Central Plains princes.
It can be seen from the process of Qi Huangong's struggle for hegemony that in the early Spring and Autumn Period, hegemony was mainly an honor, rather than a capital to obtain real profits. The purpose of war is to bring countries into compliance with the international order, not to destroy others.