Regarding the historical term "Spring and Autumn Five Powers", a particularly popular theory is that the Spring and Autumn Five Powers were composed of five people, namely, the Duke of Qi Huan, the Duke Wen of Jin, the King of Chuzhuang, the King of Wu, and the King of Yue, who were recognized as the five most powerful overlords of the Spring and Autumn Period. However, there has always been more than one theory of the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons, and there is a particularly influential theory proposed by Sima Qian in the "History of Suoyin", that is, the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons are composed of five monarchs: qi huan, jin wen, chu zhuang, song xiang and Qin Mu.
In Sima Qian's statement, it is actually easier to understand that the monarchs of the four kingdoms of Qi, Jin, Chu, and Qin were selected, after all, these countries were all famous powers in the Spring and Autumn Period, especially the Jin State, even if they were later split into three countries, but all three countries were members of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. And the most curious thing is Song Xianggong, it is reasonable to say that the Song Kingdom was a small country in the Spring and Autumn Period or the Warring States Period, why could it be pushed by Sima Qian as one of the five hegemons? And there are many views opposing Song Xianggong as one of the five hegemons, why do they think so?
The song state was born because at the beginning of the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou divided the previous nobles, so Wu Geng, the son of king of Shang, was enfeoffed as a representative of the nobles of Yin Shang, maintaining the ancestral worship of the Shang Dynasty. As a result, after Wu Geng rebelled and was betrayed by Zhou Ping, he sealed the brother of King Huan to Shangqiu, the old capital of the Shang Dynasty, and established the later State of Song. The Song kingdom was located in a land of anointing, coupled with the tradition of Yin merchants who were good at doing business, the Song kingdom has always been known for its economic prosperity.
However, although the Song State was economically prosperous, after all, in ancient times, strong military strength was the premise of all strength, so the influence of the Song State has always been better than that of Qi and Jin, which have strong military strength. During the reign of Duke Xiang of Song, he tried to change the decline of the Song kingdom.
After he ascended to the throne, he first appointed the object of his original plan to give way, his brother Muyi, who was also a sub-fish in the history books, as the minister of state, and let him take charge of the military and political power and assist him in governing the Song state.
Shortly after Song Xianggong succeeded to the throne, he ushered in an inflection point in his destiny, when the Duke of Qi Huan convened the alliance of princes in Kuiqiu, and in this alliance, the Duke of Qi Huan set the "Five Prohibitions" among the princes, and was recognized by Zhou Tianzi, truly becoming a veritable overlord of the princes. At a time when the scenery was unlimited, Duke Huan of Qi entrusted the prince to Song Xianggong, hoping that he would be able to take more care of the prince after his death, showing his trust in Song Xianggong. And Song Xianggong also agreed to his instructions.
When the Duke of Qi Huan ruled in the last year, the State of Qi was in chaos, and the Duke of Qi Huan appointed a courtier, resulting in chaos in the government of the State of Qi, and finally the Duke of Qi Huan was starved to death in the palace by the courtiers. In order to compete for the position of monarch, the five princes of the Duke of Qi Huan were even more "ignored and attacked each other with bundles of armor", and finally the prince was made the monarch without loss, and the original crown prince Zhao could only flee to the Song Kingdom to seek the help of Song Xianggong, who had been entrusted by the Duke of Qi Huan.
Song Xianggong was also unambiguous, and immediately decided to fully support Crown Prince Zhao's return to China to seize the throne of The Returning Kingdom. Song Xianggong began to learn from the Qi state in those years, widely issuing invitations and inviting all countries to send troops and assists. However, for the rest of the countries, on the one hand, they did not have much interest in helping Prince Zhao regain the throne; on the other hand, the Song State, as a small country, was destined to have limited appeal, and the great powers were unwilling to take the invitation from the Song State.
On the one hand, he had promised Duke Huan of Qi to take good care of Prince Zhao, on the other hand, Song Xianggong himself wanted to let other princes see the ability of the State of Song through this action, so Song Xianggong, with the support of only the three small states of Weiguo, Cao, and Yiguo, went to the powerful State of Qi with the support of only the three small states of Weiguo, Caoguo, and Yiguo.
However, Song Xianggong's adventurous behavior was helped by the heavens, and the Qi people had already had enough of the rule of those powerful ministers and princes, and when they heard the news that Song Xianggong had escorted Prince Zhao back to China with armies from many countries, he took the initiative to kill and exile Gongzi Wufeng and those powerful ministers, and greeted Prince Zhao, who was escorted back by Song Xianggong, and became the Duke of Qi. Through this adventure, Song Xianggong successfully quelled the internal strife in Qi and put Qi Xiaogong on the throne, making Song Xianggong successfully establish a name among the princes.
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However, after that, Song Xianggong swelled in the process of trying to succeed Qi Huan, and although he had the ambition to dominate the Central Plains, he ignored the most important reality - the strength of the Song State. Song Xianggong first tried to learn from the princes of the Qi Huan Guild, and Ziyu advised him: "As a small country, but trying to meet the princes, it can only become a disaster." Song Xianggong was bent on hegemony and did not listen to his opinion, and as a result, Song Xianggong not only failed to make the small countries below completely obey in the alliance, but also caused Qi, Chu and a group of other small countries to form another alliance, and the alliance with the Song state formed two major alliance groups of princes.
However, Song Xianggong was not less confident at all, and then Song Xianggong met the princes in Ludi, and in the presence of the monarchs of the Qi and Chu states and other major powers, Song Xianggong directly and boldly considered himself an ally, which made the Qi and Chu countries very unhappy. Then, after the end of the alliance, he agreed with the princes to meet again in The Land in the autumn, but did not get the consent of Qi and Chu. Song Xianggong's series of behaviors of not paying attention to qichu and other big powers made Ziyu very worried, and he thought that as a small country trying to be a hegemon, this would bring disaster. Not only that, qi and Chu had long been furious at Song Xianggong's series of unseen performances.
Therefore, when Song Xianggong was preparing to go to Huimeng in the autumn, Ziyu asked him to bring an army in case of an accident, and as a result, Song Xianggong said that he proposed that Huimeng could not bring an army, how could he rebel on his own, so he went to the meeting alone. However, qi and Chu were not so obedient, the state of Qi was still just not going, and the state of Chu was equipped with an army in advance and waited for Song Xianggong. Then the King of Chu took advantage of the dispute with Song Xianggong to directly take Song Xianggong down and then bring him back to the Chu state, intending to attack the Song state.
Fortunately, in the winter, in another meeting, the king of the State of Lu mediated from it, allowing Song Xianggong to return to China. As a result, Song Xianggong still did not give up the idea of hegemony, and when he heard that Zheng Guo supported the Chu state to dominate, Song Xianggong personally led an army to attack Zheng Guo, and Ziyu's persuasion was useless. Zheng Guo asked the State of Chu for help, and the State of Chu gave the State of Song a Spring and Autumn version of "Encircling Wei and Saving Zhao", directly attacking the capital of the State of Song. Then Song Xianggong had to return to the defense.
Then there was the famous Renyi War in history, the two countries of Song and Chu met on both sides of the Hongshui River, and when the Chu army crossed the river to charge the Song army, Ziyu asked Song Xianggong to launch an attack on the Chu army, and Song Xianggong said that he was a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, and could not take advantage of others to attack when crossing the river. When the Chu army was deploying after landing, Ziyu advised him to attack, and then Song Xianggong said that he would wait for the Chu army to line up. In the end, after the Chu army made all the preparations, it rushed forward, the Song army was defeated, and Song Xianggong was also shot in the thigh, which made Song Xianggong a laughingstock for thousands of years, and also made the Song state lose the possibility of competing for hegemony, and Song Xianggong also died of injuries the following year.
The reason why Song Xianggong is considered to be one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, the author believes that it is more likely that he has the etiquette of the old nobles who were rare in that era, and his process of contending for hegemony is the best embodiment of his spirit, so sima Qian and other descendants will worship him as one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. It's just that in such a chaotic world of mutual attacks, Song Xianggong, who did not have really strong military strength, could not be recognized by another part of the descendants as the status of the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons, which was also a matter of course.