King Kaolie of Chu annexed Lu with the intention of making up for the national strength
Tomb of the King of Wu
When it comes to Huainan in Anhui Province, you will think of beef soup, and when you talk about Shou County, Anhui Province, you will think of its ancient city wall that has been preserved for more than 1,000 years and will not be flooded, but it is estimated that there will be an additional royal tomb next to Huainan Shou County 15 kilometers away.
It is said that the owner of the tomb of King Wu who is being excavated is likely to be the King of Chu Kaolie, this King Kaoli may not know too many people, but he has a grandfather who is "famous", that is, King Chu Huai who was under house arrest by Qin State to death, and there are two "important achievements" in the life of King Kaoli Chu - the complete destruction of Lu State and the rescue of Zhao by Lianwei
The state of Chu was attacked by Bai Qi, and the capital of the country fell, turning from prosperity to decline
In 278 B.C., Bai Qi, a famous general of the Qin State, known as the "human slaughter", captured the capital of the Chu State for more than 400 years (it is said that it is in the territory of today's Jingzhou), and the Chu State fell in the territory of Hubei and Jiangxi today, accounting for almost half of the land of the Chu State at that time, and the national strength of the Chu State weakened after this blow. The capital of Chu has also moved several times, first the father of King Kaolie of Chu moved the capital to Chencheng (now Huaiyang, Henan) in order to avoid the soldiers of Qin, and then King Kaolie of Chu moved to Juyang (now north of Fuyang, Anhui) in ten years, and finally moved to Shouchun (now Shou County, Anhui) in the 22nd year of King Kaolie of Chu in 242 BC.
Today's Shouxian ancient city wall was built in the Song Dynasty
It can't beat the Qin State, but compared to other small countries such as the Lu State, it is still a giant existence, and the real emaciated camel is bigger than the horse. The state of Chu decided to make up for the losses from the state of Lu, and the Shandong and Central Plains regions where the state of Lu was located happened to be densely populated and economically developed at that time.
King Chu Kaoli annexed the state of Lu in the gap between the great powers to replenish the loss of national strength
In 261 BC, when Qin and Zhao were fighting in Changping, Chu took the opportunity to attack Lu and seize the land of Xuzhou. In 255 B.C., when Qin failed to attack Zhao after the Battle of Changping, and the vitality of Qi had not yet recovered, he completely destroyed Lu and moved Lu Qinggong, the last monarch of Lu, to Ju to monitor. At this time, the state of Chu recovered its national strength and became a fierce rival of the state of Qin again.
King Kaoli of Chu Xiong Wan (芈元) once saw the hope of revitalizing the Chu State
During his reign, the state of Chu vigorously developed the water conservancy on both sides of the Huai River, united with the state of Wei to rescue the state of Zhao, and allowed Huang Xie, one of the four princes of the Warring States, to annex the state of Lu, mint gold coins to facilitate trade, and especially to seize the land and population of Shandong and the Central Plains such as the state of Lu. This series of measures allowed the state of Chu to still retain the possibility of resisting the state of Qin, and when the king of Qin began to unify the country, he first hit the state of Chu, but found that he could not move, so he changed to take the state of Zhao first, after Zhao, Wei and Han were destroyed, the king of Qin sent Li Xin to lead only 200,000 Qin troops to attack the state of Chu, and almost all the troops were wiped out. Until this time, the state of Chu was still a difficult bone to gnaw. King Chu Kaoli "made great contributions".
The gold coins of the state of Chu brought huge profits and military supplies to the state of Chu
The longest-reigning monarch of the Qin State spoke highly of King Chu Kaolie
King Qin Xiaoxiang
"Historical Records, Volume 79: The Biography of Fan Ju and Cai Zelie" mentions that King Qin Zhaoxiang once commented on King Kaolie: I heard that the iron sword of Chu was sharp and clumsy. If the iron sword is sharp, the warrior is brave, and if he advocates excellence, he thinks far. The husband thinks far away and guards the warriors, and I am afraid of Chu's map Qin. It roughly means that the sword of Chu is very sharp but the singing and dancing are very clumsy, and any country with poor singing and dancing must think long-term and is very worried that Chu will fight Qin's idea. In the eyes of King Qin Zhaoxiang, King Chu Kaoli was a difficult opponent to deal with, and the monarch of Qin State had a high opinion of King Chu Kaolie
King Chu Kaolie worked hard to deal with Qin, destroying King Zhaoxiang's plan to destroy Zhao and unify the country in one fell swoop, but after all, the national strength of Chu was weakening day by day, unable to stop Qin's pace of dominating the world, and died in 238 BC, after his death, the state minister Huang Xie was killed, and Chu was once again in civil strife, and the stable situation was lost again. At this time, there were still 17 years left before the Qin State unified the world
Resources
Historical Records
History of the Rise and Fall of the State of Chu
Eight Hundred Years of the State of Chu