Chapter 7 King Cheng of Chu

In ancient Chinese history, until the Zhou Dynasty (Eastern Zhou Dynasty), there was only one person who could be king, that is, the emperor Zhou Wang of that dynasty. In the Spring and Autumn Period, or in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the kings in people’s mouths generally refer to the kings of Zhou. The capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was Luoyi, and there was a Yingyi in the south far from the eastern capital Luoyi. This was the capital of Chu State. What is strange is that all the monarchs of the Chu Kingdom called themselves kings. Why does this happen?In fact, as early as the early Spring and Autumn Period, the monarch of Chu State had already called himself king, and the one who was in power at that time was King Wu of Chu.King Wu was a man who was brave and good at fighting. He constantly led his troops to attack the neighboring vassal states, so the power of Chu State expanded day by day.As far as its national strength is concerned, Chu State is not inferior to any other vassal state in the Yellow River Basin.As the national power became more and more prosperous, King Wu of Chu also became proud. He wrote to King Zhou:

Please King Zhou give Chu a suitable title! At that time, there were five noble titles in the Zhou Dynasty: Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi, and Nan. The king of Zhou gave their monarchs different titles according to the specific conditions of each vassal state.At the beginning, Chu State was just a small vassal state in the south, so the title it got at that time was Zi. Every time the king of Zhou convened a meeting of various vassal states, the king of Chu would be the last seat because he was only a viscount.As the national power is growing day by day, the King of Chu felt that he should not have to sit at the bottom every time, so he asked the King of Zhou to make him a Marquis.

However, King Zhou rejected his request.Knowing this news, King Wu of Chu was very angry. Since King Zhou didn't want to promote his title, he could promote himself, so he ignored the existence of King Zhou and proclaimed himself king. This has been passed down from generation to generation until the time of King Chu Cheng. Judging from their relationship, King Chu Cheng is the grandson of King Wu of Chu. When King Chu Cheng's father was in power, King Cheng's elder brother wanted to kill his younger brother many times in order to successfully ascend to the throne, but things developed in the opposite direction. In the end, King Chu Cheng successfully killed his elder brother, Ascended the throne of the king of Chu.

The era of King Cheng's grandfather and father belonged to the era of war. At that time, Chu State was busy fighting with other countries and expanding its territory. Because of this, when King Cheng came to the throne, Chu State had become a big country in the south. .King Cheng of Chu knew very well that due to the continuous increase of his country's national power and territory, he would inevitably have disputes with various forces (vassal states) centered on King Zhou (in fact, various vassal states centered on Duke Huan of Qi), so he ascended the throne. , He began to pay tribute to the king of Zhou every year, assuming a posture of bowing his head to the king of Zhou.Sure enough, this approach paralyzed the king of Zhou. In the eyes of the king of Zhou:

The State of Chu is just a small town in the south, and it will not pose a threat to China (Central Plains)! Even the Son of Heaven thinks so, and the vassal states in the Central Plains don't take Chu State seriously any more. To make you happy, now is the time for us to gather our strength. Seeing King Zhou's reaction, King Cheng of Chu couldn't help laughing secretly. Because King Zhou allowed him to quell rebellions in the south, Chu State began to use force unscrupulously to expand its territory. It was the fifteenth year after King Cheng ascended the throne. Thousands of miles away. ("Historical Records")

The territory of Chu State has reached about a thousand miles from east to west or from north to south. From this we can also see that King Chu Cheng has strong military and diplomatic strength. The first person who was frightened by the rapid growth of Chu State's national power was Guan Zhong, the famous prime minister of Qi State. He suggested to the monarch Qi Huangong to lead an army to attack Chu State when it was still fledgling.After learning the news of the Qi army's invasion, on the one hand, King Chu Cheng ordered his general Qu Wan to lead his army in ambush to deal with the Qi army going south. The idea of ​​Qi Jun peace talks.

In negotiations with Duke Huan of Qi, King Chu Cheng, who ruled in the south, also had to admire Duke Huan of Qi's great talent and strategy: he really deserves to be the overlord of the Central Plains, and only such a person can control the king of Zhou.But after the death of Duke Huan of Qi, the princes from all walks of life in the Central Plains began to suspect each other and disputes continued. Although Duke Xiang of Song later gathered the princes from all walks of life around him in name, King Cheng of Chu defeated Duke Xiang of Song effortlessly. .Coupled with the constant wars in the Central Plains every year, and the people's livelihood is in dire straits, many vassal states in the Central Plains began to flatter Chu.

At this time, Chu State has ushered in a heyday. Although King Zhou was still the only emperor in China at that time, in fact King Cheng of Chu had become the master of the world. It should be said that at this time King Cheng of Chu was in full swing, and he would no longer pay attention to other people, but this was not the case. A son of a prince had already entered the field of vision of King Cheng. This son named Chong Er was The son of the king of the state of Jin to the north of the Yellow River.Due to the scramble for power and constant disputes among several princes in the Jin State at that time, Chong'er had to leave his hometown and wander among the vassal states.Inspired by King Cheng of Chu's reputation, Chong'er traveled thousands of miles to the state of Chu. In the eyes of ordinary people, Chong'er, the son of Jin who had just arrived in Chu, could only be regarded as a down-and-out nobleman at best. Looking at it this way, when Chong'er entered the country, he told his subordinates:

Use the etiquette of receiving the king of Zhou to welcome Mr. Chong'er! The ministers and officials under him were very surprised. Didn't this mean that they should treat this down-and-out son as the same as King Cheng?This kind of thing is unprecedented. In fact, there are traces of King Cheng of Chu doing this. He has long learned that among the princes in the world, only two people received Prince Chonger with the etiquette they would treat a monarch. One is Duke Huan of Qi and the other is Duke Xiang of Song. Both of them are the overlords of the Central Plains. Since they value Mr. Chong'er so much, there must be unique reasons for them.

After seeing Prince Chong'er, King Chu Cheng understood the intentions of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Xiang of Song. This son is really different, it is the order of the emperor. This person will definitely be a strong enemy of Chu State in the future, and we must try to guard against him.At that time, King Cheng should be said to be at the peak of his life, and it can even be said that no one in the world can match him.But in the face of a down-and-out son, he would actually have such an idea, which is really inconceivable. Although King Chucheng regards Chong'er as the greatest enemy in this life, he still resisted everyone's opposition. He not only treated Chong'er generously, but also actively helped him return to the state of Jin and ascended the throne of the king of Jin. King Cheng's cleverness, later Jin and Chu had a war, Chong'er thought of King Cheng of Chu's concern for him, and therefore withdrew his troops.King Cheng of Chu reigned for forty-six years, and finally died in the twenty-sixth year of King Xiang of Zhou (626 BC).

︱ ︱ ︱ Note: Brief History of Chu State The pre-Qin surnamed vassal state, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period, also known as Jing.The surname Yan is one of the so-called eight surnames of Zhu Rong. The ancestor is Ji Lian, and Ji Lian's descendant, Yan Xiong, is the master of Zhou Wenwang.According to ancient records, all the kings of Chu below Xiong Xiong took Xiong as their surname, but according to the unearthed bronze inscriptions of the state of Chu in the late Warring States period, the names of the kings of Chu all took Xiong as their surname.The great-grandson of Xiong Xiong, Xiong Yi, lived in Jingshan (in the area of ​​Nanzhang and Baokang in Hubei today), trekking in the mountains and forests, serving as King Cheng of Zhou. . The territory of Chu State was initially mainly in the mountainous area of ​​western Hubei and the Jianghan Plain, and then gradually extended westward along the river to the eastern end of present-day Sichuan, and northward along the Han River to the Nanyang Basin and Danjiang River Basin in southwest Henan. , extended southward to the Dongting Lake Plain in the present-day north of Hunan, and extended eastward along the Huai River (Huaihe River) and Jiangshui (Yangtze River) to the present-day southeast of Henan, northern Anhui, northern Jiangxi, southern Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the state of Chu remained relatively independent from the Western Zhou Dynasty, and often rebelled and surrendered. King Zhao of Zhou led his troops to attack Chu twice, once in the 16th year of King Zhao of Zhou, but returned in a big defeat, and the soldiers captured by the Chu army did not count number.The other time was in the nineteenth year of King Zhou Zhao, when the Zhou division returned to the Han River and was wiped out by the entire army. King Zhou Zhao himself died in the Han River.This is a famous event in the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty.At the time of King Zhou Yi, the royal family became even more declining. Xiong Qu, a descendant of Xiong Yi, took the opportunity to send troops to attack Yong and Yang Yue (that is, Yang Yue). He was the king of E, and the youngest son was the king of Yuezhang.During the reign of King Zhou Li, the head of Xiong Qu defeated Chu and lost his title of king.During the reign of King Xuan of Zhou, there was a civil strife in the state of Chu.At that time, Xiong Yan had four sons. The eldest son, Xiong Shuang, was established first, and Xiong Shuang died.Xiong Yi's grandson, Xiong Yi, was Ruo Ao (the Chu king called Ao without a posthumous posthumous name, and was crowned with the name of the burial place), and his common branch was called Ruo Ao's family, which was a prominent family in the later Chu state.In the 20th year of Ruoao (771 BC), the Western Zhou Dynasty ended. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, Ruo Ao's grandson, Xiong Wei (蚡眴), opened Pudi, Xiong Wei died, and his younger brother Xiong Tong killed his son Daili, and moved the capital to Ying (now Jinan City, Jiangling, Hubei).In 704 BC, Xiong Tong proclaimed himself King Wu of Chu.King Wu repeatedly attacked Sui, a powerful country east of the Han River (in today's Suizhou, Hubei).In the era of King Wen of Chu, the state of Chu became more powerful. It conquered the small countries between Jiangjiang and Han, and conquered Shen (in today's Nanyang, Henan Province), Xi (in today's Xixian County, Henan Province), Deng (in today's Xiangfan, Hubei Province) and other countries. In the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, King Cheng of Chu went north to attack Zheng several times, which caused the joint intervention of the northern countries.In 656 B.C., Duke Huan of Qi joined forces with other feudal lords to attack Chu, and formed an alliance with Chu at Zhaoling (in the east of Yancheng, Henan today).Duke Huan of Qi died, and Duke Xiang of Song took the opportunity to seek hegemony.In 638 BC, Chu defeated Song Yuhong (now Zhecheng, Henan).Song Xianggong injured his thigh and died of a wound. Chu's power grew stronger.In 632 BC, Duke Wen of Jin defeated Chu in Chengpu (southwest of today's Juancheng, Shandong), and Chu's move to the north was temporarily thwarted.Chu State successively merged or destroyed small countries such as Xian (in present-day Mingxian County, Henan Province), Huang (in present-day Huangchuan, Henan Province), and the state of the same surname of Chu (in present-day Zigui, Hubei Province); Today's Xixian County, Henan Province) and Liu (in today's Lu'an, Anhui) two countries.During the time of King Zhuang of Chu, Chu's power reached its peak.In 606 B.C., Chu attacked Lu Hunrong, watched the troops in Zhoujiao, and aspired to the top.In 597 BC, the Chu army defeated the Jin army in Bi (northwest of Zhengzhou, Henan today).In 594 BC, Chu was surrounded by Song and May.After that, they successively merged and annihilated small countries such as Yong (in present-day Zhushan, Hubei), Shu Liao (in present-day Shucheng, Anhui), and Xiao (in present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu), and finally dominated the princes.During the reign of the Communist King of Chu, the power of Chu weakened. In 575 BC, Jin defeated Chu in Yanling (northwest of Yanling, Henan today).The following year, Chu destroyed Shu Yong (in today's Shucheng, Anhui). In the late Spring and Autumn Period, there was a long period of civil strife in Chu.The king of the Communist Party of Chu had five sons, and King Zikang was established first.Kang Wang died, his son Jia Aoli.King Kang's disciples Wei, Zibi, Zixi, and Qiji competed for the throne, and Ziwei killed Jia Ao first and established himself as King Ling.King Ling successively destroyed Lai (in the northeast of Suizhou, Hubei), Chen, and Cai.In 529 B.C., Qiji, Zibi, and Zixi took advantage of King Ling to go out and invaded Yingdu, killed Lingwang Taizilu, established Zibi as king, Zixi as Lingyin, and Qiji as Sima.King Ling starved to death of Shen Hai's family.Hou Qiji killed Zibi and Zixi and became King Ping of Chu on his own.King Ping was tyrannical, took the prince's concubine, killed Wu She and Wu She's son Wu Shang, and Wu She's son Wu Zixu fled to Wu.At the time of King Zhao of Chu, Wu Zixu persuaded King Lulu of Wu to conquer Chu. In 506 BC, Wu defeated Chu in Boju (now Macheng, Hubei), won five battles and entered the capital of Chu.King Zhao fled to Sui, so Shen Baoxu asked Qin for help. The next year, Qin and Chu defeated Wu Yuji (now Tongbai, Henan), and Wu led his troops to go.King Zhao destroyed Tang (in today's Suizhou, Hubei), returned to Ying, and moved his capital to Pang (now southeast of Yicheng, Hubei).After Zhao Wang returned to the country, he destroyed Dun (in today's Shangshui, Henan Province) and Hu (in today's Fuyang, Anhui Province) and other small countries.Zhao Wang died, Zi Hui Wang Li.In 481 B.C., Sheng, the son of Prince Jian of Prince Ping, became Duke Bai, who attacked and killed Yin Zixi and Sima Ziqi in the court, and robbed King Hui.Ye Gongzi sent out troops to quell Baigong's rebellion and destroy Chen again. In the early Warring States period, King Hui of Chu destroyed Cai again and occupied the Huai River Basin; in 431 BC, King Jian went north to destroy Ju (in today's Ju County, Shandong).King Jian died and King Sheng established, and only six years later, he stole and killed King Sheng. In his later years, Prince Mourning of Sheng appointed Wu Qi to reform, captured Yang Yue in the south, occupied Dongting, Cang, and Wu, and made Chu stronger. In the middle of the Warring States Period, King Wei of Chu defeated Yue and occupied the old land of Wu, and Yue was disbanded from then on.During the time of King Huai of Chu, Chu and Qi were married.In 318 B.C., Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan, Chu and other countries jointly attacked Qin. With King Huai of Chu as the leader, they returned invincible.Qin sent Zhang Yi into Chu, separated Qi, Chu, Xu and Shang (southwest of Xichuan County, Henan Province) for six hundred miles, but later broke the contract and refused, and Chu defeated Qin.In 312 BC, Qin defeated Chu in Danyang (now north of the Danjiang River between Shaanxi and Henan), and took Chu and Hanzhong.Chu counterattacked, and Qin defeated Chu in Lantian (now Lantian, Shaanxi).Chu obeyed Qin, but still united with Qi and Han.In 306 BC, Chu destroyed Yue (his descendants retired to Minyue) and set up the county Jiangdong. In the late Warring States period, Chu backed Qi and joined Qin.In 301 BC, Qi joined forces with Han and Wei to attack Chu and defeated the Chu army in Chuisha.The next year, Qin also attacked Chu and took Xiangcheng.In the next year, King Huai of Chu entered Qin and was imprisoned. He died in Qin three years later, and Chu never recovered.During the reign of King Qingxiang, Qin continued to attack Chu.In 278 B.C., Qin general Bai Qi defeated Chu Baying, and Chu moved its capital to Chen (now Huaiyang, Henan).King Qingxiang died, and King Kaolie was established, with Huang Xie (entitled Chunshenjun) as his prime minister.In 257 BC, Huang Xie and Wei Xinlingjun rescued Zhao and defeated Qin.The following year, Chu destroyed Lu.In 253 BC, Chu moved its capital to Juyang (now southeast of Taihe, Anhui).In 241 BC, the capital of Chu was moved to Shouchun (also known as Ying, southwest of Shouxian County, Anhui today).King Kaolie died, Li Yuan killed Huang Xie, and made you king.King You died, and his mother and younger brother Yudai became the king of Ai. After only two months, the king of Ai was attacked and killed by his brother's gangsters, and he was established as the king.In 223 B.C., Qin generals Wang Jian and Meng Wu defeated Chu, and the king of the captives lost his chrysanthemum, and the state of Chu perished.