In the previous article, "Spring and Autumn Kingdoms", many princely states and monarchs were mentioned, and they may not be able to remember in a short period of time, nor do they know the specific characters and events.
Below I extract a timeline, first sort out the general context from some major events, and summarize the development of the Battle of The Zhou Dynasty moving east to Chengpu in the early Spring and Autumn Period, so that everyone can be more clearly familiar with a period of Spring and Autumn history here. It is also recommended that you read it in conjunction with the map. This article first tells the historical events during the period when the Zhou Chamber moved east to the hegemony of the State of Qi.
A brief map of the timeline in the early spring and autumn period
Map of the Spring and Autumn Nations
King Ping of Zhou moved the capital to the Luoyi area (about 770 BC) with the help of the princely states, of which the states of Zheng and Jin, as the main line of the Ji surname, made more contributions to the eastward migration and made greater contributions. Moreover, at this time, the Zhou Dynasty needed to rely on these princely states for development, and the princely states could blackmail the Son of Heaven to order the princes to use the form of the Zhou Chamber to issue orders to other princely states.
The State of Jin itself was a relatively powerful prince, but soon after assisting the Zhou Dynasty in moving east, civil unrest occurred, and the State of Jin was divided into Quwo and Jinguo, known in history as Quwo Daiyi, which lasted for 67 years, during which the figure of the Jin State was almost invisible in the competition of the princes of the Central Plains.
Around the time zheng zhuang ascended the throne (about 743 BC), the internal situation of zheng was actually not very stable, and his brother Duan wanted to seize power. Shu Duan (favored by his mother) was divided into many territories in Zheng Guo, and his strength was rising day by day, zheng Zhuang Gong had long been wary of him, and when Shu Duan rebelled against Zheng, he treated Shu Duan's felony on the one hand, and put down the rebellion against Shu Duan on the other hand, and finally Shu Duan fled to the Communist Republic.
Later, in the wei civil unrest, the prefecture (yù) committed a rebellion and killed the Duke of Wei Huan (about 719 BC), established himself as a king, and he united with the states of Chen, Cai, Song, and Lu to attack Zheng several times. Zheng Guo was outnumbered and ceded the city. However, the state called for usurpation of the throne and could not convince the people, and when the King of Zhou went to the Chen Kingdom, he was killed by Shi Bei, the Grand Master of the Wei Dynasty, and others.
Zheng Zhuang took this opportunity to first invade the Wei state, and then to win qi and Lu to attack the Song state. In the internal turmoil of the Song Dynasty, he internally killed the incumbent Duke of Song and his henchmen, and established the prince Feng (who had previously lived in the State of Zheng) as a prince (Duke Zhuang of Song). In this way, the Song state expressed friendship to Zheng Guo in order to stop the war.
In this regard, Zheng Guo's forces were strong in the Central Plains, and almost all the princes of the Central Plains were close to Zheng Guo.
Later, King Ping of Zhou saw that Zheng Guo's forces had penetrated deeply into the Zhou Chamber and wanted to weaken Zheng Guo's forces, so he proposed to distribute part of Zheng Guo's power in the Zhou Chamber to the State of Zhou. This idea was not implemented during the reign of King Ping of Zhou because he was afraid that Zheng Zhuanggong would take some appeasement measures.
However, after King Zhou Ping's son King Huan of Zhou ascended the throne, he intended to divide the power of the State of Zheng, at this time Duke Zhuang of Zheng began to be unhappy with the Zhou Room, and on the surface he was still respectful to the Zhou Room, and behind his back, he made some stumbling blocks, and the King of Zhou Huan cut off all the power of the State of Zheng, and Zheng Guoming fell out with the Zhou Room on the surface.
Around 707 BC, King Huan of Zhou summoned cai, Wei, and other princely states to attack Zheng, and Zheng counterattacked against Wang Shi, resulting in Wang Shi and his accompanying princes being defeated and the Zhou royal family disgraced (historically known as the Battle of Xū (xū) Ge). Zheng Guohou later helped the State of Qi to drive out northern Rong, and at this time it could be said to be powerful.
Schematic diagram of the use of troops in the Battle of Qiangge
Duke Huan of Qi ascended the throne
After the death of Duke Zhuang of Zheng (about 701 BC), civil unrest broke out in the state of Zheng, which was repeatedly attacked by the combined forces of the princes and declined.
At the same time as Zheng Guo's power declined, the Duke of Qi Xiang of the State of Qi became powerful in the Central Plains after the destruction of the State of Qi, but civil unrest soon followed, with Guan Zhong and Zhao Ku protecting Gongzi and fleeing to the State of Lu, Bao Shuya protecting Gongzi Xiaobai and fleeing to the State of Ju (jǔ), and Duke Xiang of Qi being murdered and usurped by Gongzi ignorantly.
However, Gongzi Xiaobai was also killed in ignorance, and Gongzi Xiaobai and Gongzi Gui both wanted to return to the country and take the throne first, and as a result, Gongzi Xiaobai preemptively returned to the country and became the king, for the Duke of Qi Huan.
Immediately after Duke Huan of Qi ascended the throne, he sent troops to resist Gongzi Gui, who had come from the State of Lu, and finally forced Gongzi Gui to die, and asked the State of Lu to hand over Guan Zhong and Zhao Kuo. Guan Zhong returned to Qi Huan and summoned himself to commit suicide. Guan Zhong laid the foundation for Qi Huan's internal, military, and financial affairs to lay the foundation for The Japanese and Qi Huan's hegemony.
The three kingdoms of Qilu and Song competed
Before the State of Qi became hegemonic, the three kingdoms of Qilu and Song competed.
The state of Qi (c. 684 BC), the state of Lu was not weak at this time, the two armies handed over to the long spoon, the State of Lu Cao (guì) proposed to the Duke of Lu Zhuang to wait for the State of Qi to beat the drum three times, the State of Lu then beat the drum to march, according to this plan, the Qi army was defeated and retreated, in pursuit, Cao Jiao first observed the chaotic trajectory of the Qi army's retreat on the road, and the military flag also fell, before commanding the Lu army to pursue, and finally won a complete victory. (This is the allusion to the Cao Jie controversy, one drum, then decline, and three exhaustion)
After the defeat of the Qi army, it was not convinced, and then drew the Song state to jointly attack Lu, and the Lu state saw that the Song army was weak, so it sent troops to defeat the Song soldiers first, and the State of Qi saw that the Song soldiers were defeated and also retreated. A year later, the State of Lu sent troops to attack the State of Song, and civil unrest broke out after the defeat of the State of Song.
Around 687 BC, the State of Qi invited song, Chen, Cai and other states to form an alliance, first to quell the internal unrest in the Song Dynasty, and then to fight lu, and the state of Lu was outnumbered and forced to ally with the state of Qi. Because Song and Luben were enemies of the two families, the Song state betrayed the alliance of the state of Qi, and the state of Qi cut down the Song and forced the Song state to submit.
Subsequently, the State of Qi revived the Central Plains Alliance and opened the hegemony of the State of Qi.
Qi Huan hegemony
Here we would like to add a few words about the forces. In the final analysis, the Central Plains is still the core area where the Zhou royal family once lived, because the decline of the royal family has caused the situation of the Central Plains countries competing for hegemony. In the previous article, the Rongdi barbarians were also introduced, which refers to the foreign races around the Central Plains (the foreign races here are relative to the Zhou Dynasty).
The internal struggle in the Central Plains has given the surrounding forces room to expand, and foreign forces have also continued to invade the Central Plains, bringing the pressure of survival to the Central Plains. Faced with this situation, the princes of the Central Plains headed by the State of Qi reached an agreement on "Honoring the King of Zunyi", "Zun Wang" is to respect the King of Zhou, and "Zunyi" refers to the confrontation against the enemy of foreign races, which means that in the face of external challenges, the internal consciousness of the Central Plains is unified and unified with the outside world.
When the State of Qi was hegemonic in the Central Plains, the State of Di in the north invaded the Central Plains from the south to attack the State of Xing, and the Duke of Qi Huan raised troops to save them; Qilu later formed an alliance; the Di people later destroyed the State of Wei, the State of Song rescued the people of the State of Wei, and the State of Qi invited the princes to jointly send troops to resist the Di people, save and help the State of Wei and the State of Xing move the capital.
The State of Chu in the south also developed, and the State of Chu went north to hit the territory of the former overlord of the Central Plains, zheng Guo, and its power spread to the Central Plains. The State of Qi joined forces with the princes to rescue Zheng and prepare to cut down Chu, and the King of Chu saw the situation and asked for peace, and the two armies did not go to war during the negotiations and formed an alliance.
During this relatively stable period, the internal friction and war within the princely alliance was also constantly for the sake of interests. Shortly after the death of King Hui of Zhou, the State of Qi invited the princes of the Central Plains to meet and form an alliance at Kuiqiu (葵丘之會), and the King of Zhou had almost no power at this time, but was just a pawn of the princes to blackmail Tianzi to order the princes.
Soon after, civil unrest broke out in the Zhou Dynasty, and King Xiang of Zhou's younger brother Shu Dai (also known as Prince Dai), in order to avenge himself, led the Xi Rong army to attack the Zhou state and enter the capital. It is worth noting that at this time, qin and Jin came to save Zhou, and the State of Qi sent the armies of the princes to rescue the guards because of the Invasion of the Di people, and could only send Guan Zhong and others to coordinate the Zhou Room, the Jin State and the Rong people to make peace.
At this time, in the face of the Invasion of Zhou by the Rong people, the State of Qi united with the princes to defend and defend in Zhou; the State of Chu also began to attack the State of Xu, and the Central Plains Coalition Army rescued each other, but the State of Xu was still defeated. At this time, the State of Qi under the leadership of Duke Huan of Qi could only take a defensive position, and could not send troops to repel the invading foreign tribes.
This article still looks at the evolution of the history of this period from the perspective of the great powers, and readers who are interested can also study the development of the princely states of Lu, Song, and Wei in the Central Plains.
Next articleWe will introduce how the Jin state rose after ending the civil unrest in quwodai. Welcome to keep an eye on us
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