The Qin people were not far away, and once said: "In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the heroes rose together, and heroes came out one after another." This sentence depicts the magnificent Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Since 770 B.C., when King Ping of Zhou moved east to Luoyi, and Zhou Tianzi only had one empty talk of authority, the Central Plains vassal states launched a battle for the open and covert, and a Spring and Autumn Period that lasted for hundreds of years kicked off.
However, this era, which was later named a "gathering of heroes", was actually just a slaughter and barbarism in the guise of peaceful competition. At this stage, the war ran throughout, but its form and motivation were significantly different in the different Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
The conquest of civilization written by literati
Dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period at the beginning of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the wars of this era were beautified by many people as elegant and witty, boasting that they were literati and scholars. Indeed, the vassal states at that time often had some reserve when they met each other in arms.
According to historical records, there were secret military regulations at that time, such as "the enemy army will stop chasing after taking 50 steps" and "you must not continue to attack the wounded enemy army". These seemingly "self-cultivation and family" rules undoubtedly show that the seizure of power and profit was not the only motive of the countries at that time. They also hoped to show the honor and etiquette of their country and win the praise of scholars and Confucian scholars.
Wars between large powers were often limited to small fights, and the limited size of the aristocracy's armies did not last long. The famous dispute between the monarch and the minister, the division of the three families and other events, when the two sides often sat and watched the end of the war, to talk about heroes. If the enemy country is defeated, it only needs to collect the bronze combat equipment, and it will not be able to fight again in a short time.
It is precisely because of this that some famous generals of the Warring States who are familiar to later generations, such as Sun Bin , Le Yi and others, crossed the east and west, and finally became game-breakers. Although they lived in the Spring and Autumn Period, they had already opened the prelude to the unification of the Warring States.
Iron and blood slaughter opens a new game
In 475 BC, the historical war horse officially entered the Warring States period. Compared with the elegance of the legacy of the previous dynasty, the conquests of various vassal states in this period unreservedly exposed its iron-blooded nature.
This is evident from the motives for war. If the vanity of various countries in the Spring and Autumn Period was due to the pursuit of face and fame, then in the Warring States Period, everything pointed to practical profit - the ultimate goal was to fight life and death, who lived and who died.
This can be seen from the practice of large armies of various countries at that time. After the famous "Shang Dynasty Reform", the Qin State bowed to its prosperity, and the annexation of the Six Kingdoms can be said to be the most famous scene at that time. Prior to this, the Qin State mobilized the whole country through the policy of "all the people are soldiers" and embarked on the road of no return to killing.
Bai Qi is even more like a wolf and a tiger, taking hundreds of thousands of prisoners with his hand, and he has no mercy for prisoners of war. Later, the Qin army pressed the Yanghou on a large scale, killing 240,000 people along with the princes and nobles, which was even more bloody. This method was by no means within the reach of those elegant literati who had preceded it.
Compared with the word-of-mouth comings and goings of scholars and writers in the Spring and Autumn Period, the conquests of the countries in the Warring States Period undoubtedly paid more attention to actual killing, destroying the withered and decaying. After all, they are not facing a simple gang of gentry, but a whole of national warlords who are full of bravery.
The correlation between productivity and war strategy
So, why did there exist such a huge gap between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period? In fact, there were deep-seated social and economic reasons for this.
As we all know, the productive forces of various countries in the Spring and Autumn Period were very backward, and the manufacture of handicrafts mainly relied on bronze. Due to the limited production of bronze, weapons and equipment at that time were relatively scarce. In order to create weapons, nations need to accumulate enough strength to eventually face each other in order to gain the initiative.
As a result, the war tactics of that time were also very different. Once the enemy army has been routed and the weapons have been collected, it is equivalent to cutting off its capital for regrouping. The two sides can withdraw their troops after the battle, and there is no need to completely destroy the enemy country. After all, few countries in that era had the strength to protract a war of attrition.
In the Warring States period, the widespread use of iron tools greatly increased agricultural productivity and reduced the intensity of farmers' labor. A large number of idle laborers were naturally conscripted into the army, making the armies of various countries incomparably large. At the same time, iron tools were much less difficult to make than bronze, and the nations could produce a steady stream of munitions.
With such an obvious advantage, in order to seize all the resources of the enemy country in one fell swoop, it has become an inevitable choice to completely destroy the opponent. The Qin State even threw the entire state apparatus into the torrent of war by centralizing power, and finally unified the Central Plains.
It is precisely because of this huge difference in the conditions of the productive forces that there was a major difference in the motives and tactics of the war between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It can be seen from this that there is actually a deep-seated economic law hidden behind the wars of any era.
In general, although the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty were praised as a group of heroes on the surface, it was actually a tragic chapter of benevolence and barbarism. Between the two, it is not only a duel between elegance and killing, but also the inevitable sublimation of the contradiction between productive forces and production relations. Let's witness this magnificent history and understand that era of heroes.
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