Text | Zhang Hongjie
Excerpt from "The History of the Rise and Fall of the State of Chu"
01
There is a regular phenomenon in the competition among the nations in the Spring and Autumn Period, and most of the great powers that have risen rapidly on the battlefield are marginal countries. Located in the northwest, the Qin state cultivated a tiger-wolf nature in a protracted competition with nomads. The state of Qi was located in the east and maintained its unremitting fighting spirit in the long struggle against Dongyi. The Jin Kingdom has been neighbors with Beidi and Shanrong for hundreds of years, and they have been infected with the strength of the Central Plains culture.
However, among these large countries, the martial spirit of the Chu people is the most prominent.
The National Museum has a Chu-style bronze mirror unearthed in the land of the sleeping tiger in Yunmeng, which is engraved with a pattern of two warriors wearing armor, barefoot and shirtless, each holding a sword and shield, fighting with two leopards. A leopard leaped up with its head and tail up, and pounced on the samurai with one claw, and the samurai was not cowardly, lunging with his head held high, holding his shield in his hand to resist violently; A leopard was defeated and fled far away, Gu Shou visited, and the warrior held a shield and a sword, and pursued by victory. The whole picture gives a shocking feeling. This bronze mirror, which was originally judged to be the late Warring States period, is now considered to be more likely to be the work of Chu at the beginning of the unification of Qin, from which we can see the brave legacy of the Chu people.
A hunting lacquer bottle unearthed from the Chu tomb in Yanjialing, Changsha, Hunan Province, reflects the scene of the hunters of the Chu State fighting bison: a hunter stabbed a bison with a halberd, and the bison lowered its head and raised its horns and pounced forward; There is a man in the queen of the ox who is making a bow and is ready to be fired.
Patterns like this, with the theme of warriors fighting fierce beasts, also appear on many Chu cultural relics. These patterns vividly embody the martial spirit of the Chu people.
From the beginning of their migration to the Yangtze River Valley, the Chu people have been surviving in battle. The various ethnic minorities around the Chu State are all brave and good at fighting. For hundreds of years, the Chu people have never laid down their arms. In the process of dealing with these unruly "barbarians", the bravery index in the blood of the Chu people continued to rise.
The martial arts of the Chu people are first manifested in the king's example. The greatest joy of the Chu kings in the past dynasties was to personally lead their troops into battle and hunt for the enemy's head. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there were a total of 16 monarchs in the Chu State, except for 3 who had never fought because they were too young or had been in power for too short a time, the rest had ventured to lead a team to conquer in person, and 3 of them died on the journey.
King Chu Kang reigned for five years, and there was no war in the country, so he was afraid that the people would blame him, and said: "The people of the country say that they do not live in the main society, but do not go out of the teacher, and they do not obey the courtesy." In other words, if you become a monarch but do not lead your troops to fight, you will not be worthy of enjoying the prescribed etiquette after death, so you will lead your troops to attack Zheng on a large scale.
The state of Chu is a long-term enemy of the Ba people, a primitive tribe who are good at fighting. After King Wen of Chu ascended the throne, he led his troops to attack Ba and returned in defeat. Returning to the city of Yingdu, the fist in charge of the city gate actually closed the city gate and did not let the monarch enter the city. ("Zuo Chuan: The Nineteenth Year of Zhuang Gong": "Chu Zi Yuzhi was defeated in Jin. Also, Fist Furner. Feng Menglong depicted in the "Chronicles of the Kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty" that he stood on the city gate and asked loudly: "The king is defeated by himself, and he would rather be laughed at?" ”
This is, of course, a radical act today. However, King Wen of Chu actually lowered his head in shame, led his troops to turn around, and went straight to the Huang State, another enemy of the Chu State. He needs a win to save face. Although the war against Huang was victorious, King Wen of Chu paid the price for continuous battles. He became ill and eventually died on his way home.
The kings were so enterprising, and the generals were naturally more valiant and warlike. In the sixteenth year of the reign of King Chu (575 BC), the battle of Yanling, "the Chu division is thin and dangerous...... Shushan Ran Bo people to vote, in the car, folded Shi" ("Zuo Chuan, Cheng Gong Sixteen Years"). When the Chu army fell into a dangerous place, Shu Shanran, the general of the Chu State, roared, jumped out of the chariot, and fought with the approaching Jin soldiers with his bare hands. He grabbed a tall Jin soldier with both hands and threw it hard, hitting the Jin army's chariot dozens of paces away, and even the horizontal log in front of the car was smashed and broken. This extraordinary courage frightened the Jin army, and the Jin people retreated, and the Chu army was able to get out of danger.
In the history of wars in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was a special phenomenon, that is, the suicide rate of the commanders of the Chu army was the highest.
In 699 BC, King Wu of Chu sent Qu Bin to attack the kingdom of Luo. Due to the light enemy, the Chu State was defeated, and Qu Fang committed suicide in shame. After the Battle of Chengpu in 632 BC, Ziyu, the lord of Chu, also committed suicide. In 575 BC, the Chu army defeated Yanling, and the main general committed suicide with a sword. In 559 BC, Ling Yin (the highest official position in the Spring and Autumn Warring States of Chu, assisting the king of Chu in charge of the country's military and political affairs) failed to attack Wu and "died with a sword". In 519 BCE, Chu Sima Xue (wěi) pursued Prince Wu but failed to complete his mission, and hanged himself in 薳澨 (shì). During the Spring and Autumn Period, countries did not require generals to commit suicide after defeat. For example, in 627 B.C., the Qin lord Meng Mingshi was defeated by Jin at Kunshan, in 607 BC the Song lord Hua Yuan was defeated by Zheng at Da Thorn, and in 597 BC the Jin lord Xun Linfu was defeated by Chu at Yi, none of them committed suicide and still served as usual. This shows that the sense of responsibility and shame of the generals of the Chu State was the main reason for their suicide. Scholar Wang Zhun searched historical books and found that during the Spring and Autumn Period, there were at least 17 suicides among the military governors and nobles of the Chu State. Therefore, Xiang Yu Wujiang, a descendant of the Chu people, killed himself, not only because of his personal character, but also because of the influence of the Chu tradition.
It was under the leadership of such generals that the Chu army was able to "carry out the rhinoceros, think that it was armor, repair the short hammer, move forward in unison, accumulate crossbows to accompany the rear, and staggered the chariot guard, as fast as a cone arrow, like thunder and lightning, and like a wind and rain" ("Huainanzi Soldier Training"), which made all countries frightened.
02
Most of the monarchs of the Chu State were brave and martial, not only because the Chu people founded the country among the barbarians, but also because there was a special tradition in the history of the Chu State - killing the king.
As Liang Qichao said: "Since three generations, the mainland has been purely governed by etiquette. (Liang Qichao: "The History of the Development of Chinese Jurisprudence: Introduction") The Western Zhou Dynasty can be called a "society governed by etiquette", and it is not the law that dominates the society, but the etiquette.
After the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty, a complete set of systematic and elaborate etiquette system and code system was created, the so-called big rites have 300, small rites have 3,000, from large-scale activities to daily life, all pay attention to etiquette, the network of etiquette covers every aspect of social life. But the Chu people ignored this.
Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the transmission of political power in China has been guided by a clear principle: to establish a successor and grow a succession. In other words, when choosing an heir, it is not necessary to consider his qualities, talents, age, but only the order of his birth. This practice is the most effective way to ensure the orderly transmission of power and the stability of the political situation, but it is also easy to lead to the weakening of the rulers from generation to generation. Everyone knows that there is no logical connection between birth order and statecraft.
Only the state of Chu often broke this rule. As a non-Chinese country, Chu has a weak concept of etiquette and discipline. The men of the Chu royal family, which mixed the blood of the barbarians and the Central Plains, were extremely strong, and like hungry wolves longing for fresh meat, they coveted the throne. Therefore, like the steppe peoples, the succession of the supreme power of the Chu State was often bloody. In the history of the Chu State, there have been 5 kings who ascended the throne due to coup d'état, and they were always "always in the few".
In 741 B.C., 30 years after King Zhou Ping moved east to Luoyi (present-day Luoyang City, Henan Province), a major event occurred within the state of Chu, when Xiong Tong, the younger brother of Chu Jun Weimao, killed his nephew and became king on his behalf. "Historical Records of the Chu Family" recorded: "In the seventeenth year of the Emperor's life, he died, and his younger brother Xiong was established on behalf of the Emperor of Chu. "In 672 BC, with the support of Suiguo, Xiong Yun attacked and killed his brother Xiong Jian for King Chu Cheng. Decades later, Shang Chen, the son of King Cheng of Chu, forced him to commit suicide and set himself up as king, for King Chu Mu. After the death of King Chu Kang, his younger brother Gongzi besieged and killed the heir Jia Ao, and killed Jia Ao's two sons, who were the king of Chu Ling. After that, King Ling's younger brother abandoned his illness and forced three brothers, including King Ling, to death and set himself up as king, for King Chuping.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the incident of killing the monarch and establishing himself was the most frequent in the early middle and early Chu periods. This kind of beastly behavior, which is very rebellious in the eyes of the Central Plains country, is indeed bloody and barbaric on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is actually not meaningless to the development of the Chu State. Because of the continuous killing of kings, it was ensured that the people sitting on the throne of Chu were extremely strong young people.
If we fly by helicopter near the city of Dangyang in Hubei Province, we will see the outline of an ancient city made up of several earthen ramparts in the farmland. Archaeologists have found that these ancient city walls are about 18 meters wide at the bottom, 5-10 meters wide at the top, and 6 meters high, indicating that this ancient city should have been an important capital city in the Zhou Dynasty.
This is the ruins of Micheng, where an ancient vassal state once built its capital. Quanguo is a small country established by the descendants of Wuding of the Yin Dynasty who migrated during the Western Zhou Dynasty, located in the south of the Chu State, the territory is not wide, but the national strength is not weak. has always been at peace with the state of Chu. However, such days also came to an end three years after the accession of Xiong Tong, the king of Chuwu.
Most of the usurpers were strong and promising, and King Wu of Chu was violent and warlike, because the guilt of the usurper forced him to do something in order to subdue those who were dissatisfied with him. After seizing the throne from his nephew, he began an ambitious expansion. He crossed the Han Dynasty and made an expedition to the Nanyang Basin to attack the important town of the Zhou Dynasty in northern Han, but he did not succeed. So, he turned to the western part of the Jianghan Plain and destroyed the power state. He followed him three more times, and eventually died in the process.
The same is true of other usurpers. King Chu Cheng was extremely intelligent, opened up the territory and dominated the Central Plains. Before becoming the king, King Chu Ling personally led his army several times to meet the princes. King Chuping's ability to govern the country is also higher than that of mortals. Therefore, the minister of Chu once said to King Cheng: "Chu's actions are often in the few." Zhang Zhengming said: "In the history of the Chu State, all the monarchs who were usurped and established must be the sons and grandsons, most of them have made achievements and achievements, and they all appeared in the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the late Spring and Autumn Period, that is, the period when the Chu State turned weak into strong and small into large, except for the exception of the prince who killed his younger brother when the Chu State was about to die. (Zhang Zhengming: "History of Chu")
03
It was precisely because of this strong barbarism that the state of Chu became the destroyer of the order of the Zhou Dynasty very early.
After the expedition to Yongguo in the west and Yangyue in the east, the complacent Xiong Qu did an amazing thing: he actually made all three sons kings, which was on a par with Zhou Tianzi. His eldest son, Xiong Kang, was named King of Ju (in present-day Jingzhou, Hubei), his second son, Xiong Hong, was named King of Ezhou (in present-day Ezhou, Hubei), and his younger son, Xiong Zhiqi, was named King of Yuezhang (probably between present-day Jingzhou and Ezhou, Hubei).
This was the first time in the history of the Zhou Dynasty that the princes usurped the king. According to the system of the Zhou Dynasty, only Zhou Tianzi could be called king, and the princes could only be called duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male. Xiong Qu is a viscount, and now he has made three kings at once.
Why would such a blatant act be made? Obviously, it is a response to the princes of the Central Plains calling the Chu people barbarians - since you think I am a barbarian, then please taste the power of barbarians! He simply claimed to the whole world: "I am a barbarian, and I don't have a relationship with China!" Didn't the Central Plains Dynasty regard the "king" as the supreme authority that could not be challenged? I'll show you three kings at once.
However, these three kings have not existed for long. After King Li of Zhou ascended the throne, the Western Zhou Dynasty was at the end of its rope, and King Li tried his best to strengthen the state apparatus and continue to attack the surrounding peoples. In order to avoid a head-on conflict with the Zhou Dynasty, Xiong Qu took the initiative to cancel the titles of his three sons. However, this astonishing move of sealing the king has sent a clear signal to the world: the state of Chu has completely shaken off the shackles of the Zhou royal family and is determined to fight against the Zhou dynasty.
Xiong Tong, the king of Chuwu, is also such a person. He did not abide by the rules of the Central Plains, and as soon as he ascended the throne, he wanted the Zhou Dynasty to promote his own title. He threatened: "Now all the princes are rebelling against each other, or killing each other." I have a good armor, and if I want to observe the politics of China, I ask the royal family to honor me. "Viewing China's politics" means intervening in the political situation in the Central Plains. The result, of course, was that "the royal family did not listen". After being rejected, Xiong Tong was furious: "If the king doesn't add me, I have self-esteem!" ("Historical Records of the Chu Family") So, he immediately established himself as the king of Chu Wu. Since you always think that I am an inferior barbarian, I will simply be your equal. This is just like Sun Wukong's move to proclaim himself the Great Sage of Monkey King, and it is also a clear manifestation of the barbarism of the Chu State.
04
The barbarism of the state of Chu is also reflected in the ability of the political system to innovate.
Among the various vassal states, the state of Chu has always been a more centralized state. Although the state of Chu also imitated the Central Plains state to adopt the feudal system, because it was not a Chinese state and was not subject to the feudal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, its feudal system was not as perfect and stable as that of the Central Plains vassal states.
The vassal states of the Central Plains all practiced layers of feudalization. In other words, the princes divided the princes into the country and let them inherit the land. After a long time, these princes, like the princes, became more and more stable in power, and in the end, it was difficult to fall, and an old country like the Jin State was finally divided because of this.
Since its founding, the state of Chu has been a centralized state, and state power is concentrated in the hands of the royal family and nobles. Official positions are not hereditary, but are selected on the basis of ability, merit and seniority.
The state of Chu appeared relatively early in Chinese history with the rudiments of the county system. "Usurper" Xiong Tong showed a strong spirit of innovation in politics. After destroying the state of power, he did not divide it among his vassals like other princes, but set up a county in the place where the state was located. The so-called county was originally a hanging word, and the hanging was the meaning of "hanging and not dealing with it first" in this place. He appointed Doo Yin as Kwon Yoon. Many historians believe that in Chinese history, counties were the first-level local administrative regions, that is, from Xiong Tong's destruction of the state of power and the establishment of counties.
The emergence of counties is of great significance in China's political history. The feudal system is equivalent to a kind of local autonomy, and the monarch wants to collect the common people and collect taxes directly from the local nobles, but will encounter obstruction and opposition from the nobles. The county governor, on the other hand, was appointed by the monarch and could be dismissed at any time and was not hereditary, which guaranteed the monarch's absolute control over the newly conquered lands. Therefore, the state of Chu established the rudiments of the bureaucratic management system before the other vassal states, and took the lead in the first wave of efficiency reforms in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period. Later, other countries followed suit, and more and more countries slowly implemented the county system. This is the basic logic of the Warring States Reform, and in fact, it is also the basic logic of the establishment of centralized power in Western countries more than 1,000 years later and the formation of modern nation-states.
The law of history is like this, institutional innovation is often done in marginal countries like Chu. In other words, the marginal countries and regions are often the places where the rigidity of the old system is the weakest and the easiest to break through. This is the advantage of the "barbarians", that is, the so-called "late-mover advantage".