Chapter 179: The Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period resurfaces [please subscribe, please collect]

However, the Zhou Dynasty lost its morality, and the princes in the world all supported their troops and established themselves. Among them, Duke Huan of Qi valued Guan Zhong, quickly established the hegemony of Qi and opened up the Spring and Autumn Period.

In the 41st year of Duke Huan, Guan Zhong was seriously ill. Duke Huan asked who could replace him as prime minister, and also mentioned Yi Ya, Kai Fang and Shu Diao, but Guan Zhong refuted it one by one and told Duke Huan not to get close to the three. Unfortunately, after Guan Zhong died, Duke Huan did not listen to Guan Zhong's words and used the three, which made the three of them domineering power and ruined the good situation of Qi. Soon after, Duke Huan was seriously ill, and the five princes (Prince Wuqie, Prince Zhao, Prince Pan, Prince Yuan, Prince Shangren) led his followers to compete for the throne.

On October 7th of winter, Duke Huan died of illness. The five princes attacked each other, and Qi was in chaos. After Duke Huan's body stayed on the bed for a full sixty-seven days, the new Qi Jun Wuqi regained Duke Huan. But at this time, Qi was no longer as bad as before and could no longer command the world.

However, the Jin State in the north had a vast territory and was located in the central plains. It was extremely powerful. Unfortunately, the king was incompetent and could not do anything. By the time of Duke Xian, the State of Jin was even more in decline. Duke Xian favored his beloved concubine, which caused the national government to be in chaos. Most of the people in the country had escaped, and his son Chong'er was also ***.

However, Chong'er has always been kind and loved by the people. Finally, with the help of Duke Mu of Qin, he inherited the throne of Jin, and was the Duke Wen of Jin. After Duke Wen ascended the throne, he reformed politics, developed the economy, consolidated the army and promoted military affairs, won the trust of the people, stabilized the royal family, was friendly to the Qin State, and had a high prestige among the princes. Later, Chu State attacked the State of Song State, and the Chu army surrounded the capital of Song State Shangqiu. At the beginning of the following year, Duke Wen of Jin led his troops to rescue Song. He defeated the Chu army in the Battle of Chengpu, becoming the second overlord in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Besides, Duke Mu of Qin, who helped Duke Wen to become the overlord, also had great ambitions. However, Qin was located in the western frontier and had no talent to assist him. Duke Mu of Qin was very worried about this. For this reason, Duke Mu of Qin specially ordered all ministers to select the wise, but unfortunately everyone who obtained was not satisfied. Until someone recommended Duke Mu Mu, Baili Xi, the Muji man, to Duke Mu, saying that he was a rare talent, and people who knew about the talent of Baili Xi also agreed.

Seeing so many people recommending it, Duke Mu couldn't help but feel a little expectant. He hurriedly ordered someone to invite him, but learned that Baili Xi had fled to Chu. Duke Mu of Qin wanted to redeem Baili Xi with a large sum of money, but he was afraid that the people of Chu would not be able to join him. So he sent an envoy to Chu and redeem it with five golden ram skins. The people of Chu did not know the talent of Baili Xi, and thought Baili Xi had offended Duke Mu, so he agreed immediately. When Baili Xi, who was over 70 years old, was taken back to Qin, Duke Mu personally opened up the shackles for him and appointed him as the prime minister. Baili Xi also recommended his good friend Shu, and Duke Mu happily agreed and invited Shu to Qin and made him the senior doctor.

In this way, under the rule of Baili Xi, Qin gradually became stronger.

It is said that Qin helped Jin many times, but Jin never received any reward. The whole country of Qin was very angry. In the winter of the 32nd year of Duke Mu of Qin, Duke Wen of Jin was in anger. Seeing this, Duke Mu sent three generals, Meng Mingshi, the son of Baili Xi, Xiqishu and Baiqibing, to lead troops to attack Jin, but in the end they were defeated in Gushan, and all the three generals were captured. Two years later, Duke Mu of Qin sent Meng Mingshi and others to lead troops eastward to fight with the Jin army at Pengya. The Qin army was defeated again, and Qin's way to advance east was firmly strangled by Jin, so he had to turn westward.

In the 36th year of Duke Mu, Duke Mu of Qin personally led a large army to attack Jin. After crossing the Yellow River, he burned all the ferries to show his determination to defeat the enemy to the death. After several battles, the Qin army captured Wang Guan and the suburbs, and the Jin army did not dare to fight. The Qin army crossed the Yellow River from Maojin. When he arrived at the south bank, he piled up soil for the soldiers in the battlefield that year and then returned to his country. In the 37th year, the Qin army went to the Western Rong. With a thunderous momentum, he conquered more than 20 small Rongdi countries and dominated the Western Rong.

Since then, Duke Mu of Qin has become the third hegemon of the Spring and Autumn Period.

Besides, the Chu State was appointed as the king of Jin shortly after the Battle of Chengpu, and his son Shangchen succeeded him as King Mu of Chu. Unfortunately, there was an unexpected situation in the world. King Mu of Chu died of illness shortly after his reign. Later, his son Lu ascended the throne, which was the famous King Zhuang of Chu.

After King Zhuang of Chu ascended the throne, he hunted, drank, ignored political affairs all day long. He ordered people to hang a big sign at the gate of the palace, saying "If you give advice, kill and do not forgive me." The ministers sighed secretly. But everyone did not expect that King Zhuang of Chu did it on purpose this time, in order to distinguish the loyalty and treacherous among the ministers in the Qing Dynasty.

After three years, King Zhuang of Chu finally identified loyalty and treacherous, and then began to rectify his internal affairs, appoint talented people, and promoted Wu Chong to a key position. At that time, the imperial court of Chu State and Dou Yuejiao were ambitious and wanted to usurp the throne. King Zhuang of Chu appointed three ministers to share the work of the imperial court, weakening his power and preventing Dou Yuejiao from causing trouble.

After the Chu State was stable, King Zhuang of Chu began to use troops abroad, first destroyed Yong State, and then defeated Song State. Even Luhun's Rong clan was defeated by the Chu army and returned home. After several battles, Chu State's strength suddenly increased sharply. Seeing this situation, King Zhuang of Chu could not help but imagine that Qi Huan, Jin Wen, and Qin Mu were recognized by the princes of the Central Plains. So King Zhuang of Chu and the Great Peripheral border held hundreds of thousands of troops to watch the army to demonstrate, which scared the King of Zhou to hurriedly send ministers to comfort him.

But even so, the princes of the Central Plains still didn't care much about the Chu State. After all, the Battle of Chengpu is vivid in my mind, and everyone still looked at the strength of Chu State. King Zhuang of Chu was helpless when he learned about this. In addition, the national strength was consumed a lot after years of war, so he had to develop the people's livelihood of Chu State with peace of mind.

After King Zhuang of Chu gave up the war, he invited Sun Shuao, a famous hermit in Chu, to serve as the chief magistrate. After Sun Shuao succeeded to the chief magistrate, he ordered people to reclaim wasteland, dig rivers, and reward production. In order to avoid floods and droughts, he also organized the people of Chu to dig rivers to irrigate millions of acres of crops and harvest a lot of more grain every year. In recent years, the Chu State's national strength became stronger, and he quelled two civil strifes in Zheng and Chen State, and finally clashed with the overlord of the Central Plains Jin State.

King Zhuang of Chu took advantage of the civil turmoil in Chen and sent troops to surrender the State of Chen. The following year, King Zhuang of Chu personally led a large army to attack Zheng. But Chen and Zheng were all vassal states of Jin. Chu sent troops to Chen and Zheng to challenge Jin and refused to recognize the hegemony of Jin. Therefore, Jin did not think too much and directly sent a large army to fight against the Chu army.

The two armies fought in Qiucheng on the bank of the Yellow River. In this battle, the Jin people were almost completely destroyed in one battle. After this battle, the Chu State finally washed away the humiliation of Chengpu and gradually began to be recognized by the princes of the Central Plains. Later, King Zhuang of Chu successively passed on the surrender of Lu, Song, Zheng, Chen and other countries. Since then, King Zhuang of Chu has succeeded Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, and Duke Mu of Qin, becoming another overlord.

Later, two major wars broke out again between Jin and Chu. Although both ended with Jin's victory, Chu still maintained a stalemate with Jin in the Central Plains. The continuous wars brought huge burdens to the people of both countries, and the surrounding small countries also hated this. In addition, the two major countries of Jin and Chu were evenly matched, and neither could eat each other. So Song initiated the two alliances, and there were few major wars since then.

When the battle for hegemony among the princes of the Central Plains was coming to an end, Wu and Yue, located in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, also began to develop. King Wu He relied on Sun Wu, Wu Zixu and others, and the Wu State developed rapidly, especially the army was extremely strong. Later, the King of Wu appointed Wu Zixu as a general and led troops to attack Chu. The Wu army attacked the capital of Chu Ying, and Wu Zixu avenged his father and brother, dug up the tomb of King Ping of Chu, and whipped three hundred corpses. The King of Chu had no choice but to stay outside, and later he had the help of Qin to enrich the country.

After the Wu State defeated Chu State, King Shi of Wu was satisfied, so he did not listen to Wu Zixu's words and led his troops southward to attack Yue State. King Goujian of Yue led his troops to fight and defeated Wu State. Even King Wu was seriously injured. When he was dying, the King of Wu asked his son Fuchai to avenge him, otherwise he would not be a son. Fuchai kept his father's words and accepted Wu Zixu as his army, and ordered him to step up his troops day and night to prepare to attack Yue State.

Two years later, Fuchai led his troops to defeat Goujian. Goujian was surrounded and had no way out and was ready to commit suicide. At this time, the adviser Wen Zhong hurriedly persuaded him, and then offered a suggestion and sent someone to bribe the minister of Wu, Bo Xifu, in order to spare his life. Goujian was confused at this time, and after listening to Wen Zhong's advice, he quickly agreed. Then he sent Wen Zhong to bring the beautiful women Xi Shi and Zhen Bao to bribe Bo Xifu. Bo Xifu was greedy for money. When he saw Wen Zhong presenting the treasure, he agreed to take Xi Shi and Wen Zhong to see the King of Wu.

Wen Zhong met the King of Wu and offered Xi Shi. Bo Xifu also helped Wen Zhong speak. At this time, Wu Zixu stood up and opposed it loudly. Unfortunately, Fuchai thought that Yue was no longer a problem, and he fell in love with Xi Shi's beauty. He refused to listen to Wu Zixu's advice and agreed to surrender in Yue and withdraw the army back to Wu. After the Wu State withdrew his troops, Gou Jian took his wife and doctor Fan Li to serve the King of Wu State, herding cattle and shepherding, and finally won the favor and trust of the King of Wu. Three years later, they were released and returned to the country.

After Goujian returned to China, he was determined to work hard and prepare for revenge. But he was afraid that he would greedy for pleasure and slap in his ambition to take revenge, so he slept on a straw at night, and hung a bitter gall in the house. After getting up in the morning every day, he would taste the bitter gall to remind himself not to forget the national humiliation. Moreover, the soldiers outside the gate asked at any time: "Have the king ever forgotten the humiliation for three years?"

With such constant encouragement, Goujian worked harder. He ordered Wentian to manage state affairs and Fan Li to manage military affairs. He went to the fields to work with the farmers, and even his wife was spinning and weaving cloth. Goujian's actions moved the people of Yue. After ten years of hard struggle, Yue finally had enough troops and food, and turned weak into strong.

Besides, since King Fuchai of Wu defeated Yue Kingdom, he thought he had no worries. From then on, he was addicted to Xi Shi's beauty and lived a life of extravagance and luxury. He was arrogant and ignored the hardships of the people and often sent troops to conquer other countries. He also believed in Bo Xifu's bad words and killed his loyal minister Wu Zixu. Before his death, Wu Zixu said, "You must plant catalachia trees on my tomb so that it can grow into a coffin. Dig out my eyes and hang it on the east gate of the capital of Wu Kingdom to see how the Yue gang entered the capital and destroyed the Wu Kingdom."

At this time, the Wu Kingdom seemed powerful, but in fact it was already on a downward trend. A few years later, Fuchai personally led the army north to compete with Jin for the leader of the princes. King Goujian of Yue took advantage of the elite troops of Wu Kingdom to suddenly attack, defeated the Wu army in one fell swoop, and killed the prince's friend. After hearing the news, Fuchai hurriedly led his troops back to the country and sent people to ask for peace from Goujian. Goujian probably could not destroy the Wu Kingdom at all, so he agreed. Two years later, Goujian personally led his troops to attack Wu Kingdom for the second time. At this time, Wu Kingdom was at the end of his strength and could not resist the Yue team, and he was defeated repeatedly. Finally, Fuchai sent people to ask for peace from Goujian, and Fan Li firmly advocated the destruction of Wu Kingdom. Seeing that the peace was not successful, Fuchai thought of Wu Zixu's advice and was very ashamed, so he drew his sword and committed suicide. Goujian went north to join Qi and Jin to form Yu Xu, becoming the last overlord.

However, when Duke Wen of Jin returned to Jin and ascended the throne, many people who had been with him also returned to the country. After that, these people gradually became nobles in Jin State, and the national affairs of Jin State also fell into the hands of these nobles (Zhi, Zhao, Han, Wei, Fan, Zhongshan). The nobles also fought against each other, and the nobles of Jin State were only left with the four families of Zhi, Zhao, Han, and Wei. The Zhi family sent troops to attack the Zhao family and coerced the Wei and Han families to send troops. The war lasted for two years. Later, the Zhao family lobbled the Wei and Han families to turn against each other, destroyed the Zhi family, divided the Zhi area and controlled the national affairs of Jin State.

A few years later, the three families of Han, Zhao and Wei divided Jin, and Duke Jin was only Jiang and Quwo. The Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty was unable to uphold justice, so he could only add the three families to the Marquis.

From then on, the Spring and Autumn Period ended and the Warring States Period began.
Chapter completed!