If you ask: Why did Sima Qian list Song Xianggong as one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period? There is no way to answer this question, because Sima Qian did not do this, so how can there be a reason? It was Sima Zhen of the Tang Dynasty who included Song Xianggong in the "Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons", and when he wrote the "History of Suoyin", he examined a large number of personal names, historical facts, and the equality of Sima Qiansheng in the "History". The Spring and Autumn Five Powers are just a "historical term" that he has examined.
If you ask: Is Song Xianggong eligible to be included in one of the Five Hegemons? Individuals do not think it is eligible. Here we can discuss in passing why Sima Zhen listed Song Xianggong as one of the five hegemons. At that time, because Sima Zhen saw the "benevolence" of Song Xianggong. The so-called "Spring and Autumn War without Righteousness", Song Xianggong was killed because he strictly observed the war etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty and died because of benevolence and righteousness. In an era when hegemony is not about benevolence, Song Xianggong is synonymous with stupidity. In the era of benevolence and righteousness, regardless of hegemony, Song Xiang is synonymous with noble personality. The concept of "five hegemons" is based on Wang Tu's hegemony, not benevolence and morality. Song Xianggong has nothing to do with this.
The Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons is a rheological concept that was not determined at the beginning. At the beginning, Mencius proposed the "Five Hegemons", and the corpse discussed four people: Qi Huan, Jin Wen, Qin Mu, and Yue Gou Jian. The Xunzi period formed a complete statement: Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, King Zhuang of Chu, King Of Wu, and King Of Yue. At this time, there was no Song Xianggong, and it was not until the Tang Dynasty historians interpreted the ancient history that they included him in the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons.
Later, the reason why Song Xianggong was included in the "Five Hegemons" was that in addition to Song Xianggong's historical merits, there were more reasons for the great changes in the basic concepts of scholars in later generations with social changes and historical progress.
The main merit of Song Xianggong was to ally with the princes and lead the troops of the four kingdoms of Song, Wei, Cao and Yi to quell the internal unrest in Qi and support The Duke of Qi to take the throne. As a result, the reputation became famous, and although the Song State was respected, it was a second-rate small country. Later, he participated in the struggle for supremacy in the Central Plains, and was defeated by the Chu state in the Battle of Hongshui.
Like Song Xianggong, clinging to the reputation of the benevolent and righteous division, he refused to attack halfway and had to wait for all the Chu troops to go ashore before fighting a decisive battle. During the Warring States period, the countries were still eating the weak and the strong, and the scholars at that time all laughed at Song Xianggong, and no one sang praises for him. However, in later generations, after the unification of the country and the formation of cultural cohesion, Song Xianggong's behavior was labeled as "benevolence and righteousness".
What needs to be corrected is that it was not Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty who included Song Xianggong in the Five Hegemons, but Sima Zhen and Yan Shigu of the Tang Dynasty. Sima Zhen is listed in the "History of Suoyin": Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, King Zhuang of Chuzhuang, Duke Mu of Qin, and Duke Xiang of Song. Yan Shigu is listed in the Notes on the Book of Han: Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Xiang of Song, Duke Mu of Qin, and Fuchai of Wu. The two of them still disagree.
Huang Zhongyuan of the Song Dynasty wanted to solve this problem by comparing the length of the "History" to determine the right and wrong of the predecessors. He came to the conclusion that when Taishi Gong recorded Qi Huan, Jin Wen, Qin Mu, and Chu Zhuang, the materials were very solid, but when he came to Song Xianggong, there were few descriptions. This is Tai Shi Gong's usual penmanship, important things take a lot of ink, and secondary things are concise and concise. Therefore, Huang Zhongyuan believes that the real Spring and Autumn Five Powers should be: Qi Huan Gong, Jin Wen Gong, Qin Mu Gong, Chu Zhuang Wang, wu Wang Fu cha. And there should be no Song Xianggong as the Tang people say.
When people read history today, they must jump out of this box. During the Spring and Autumn Period, there were far more than five monarchs vying for hegemony. At that time, according to Huayi's distinction, Song Ru had already summed up the "Spring and Autumn Thirteen Hegemons", which means that in addition to the "Zhou Cultural Circle", Qin, Chu, Wu, and Yue, there were thirteen overlords in the Central Plains alone. Later generations thought that Song Ru's list was too narrow, and he re-summarized the viewpoint of "Spring and Autumn Nineteen Hegemons". The number of "three and five" is zi si, mencius, and others who have already criticized them. They always believe that human affairs must conform to the number of spells. But in fact, the three emperors are not three, the five emperors are not five, not to mention the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons? Reading history should be guided by historical truths and should not be bound by concepts.
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Historical materials: Eight theories about the "Spring and Autumn Five Powers"