The story of the Warring States period is very exciting, and it is also a history that film and television dramas like to "borrow the theme to play". Princely powers, auxiliary ministers, major battles, and major changes, etc., casually bring out the same is enough for a TV series.
In this period of history, the relations between countries are intricate, one will be combined, one will be horizontal, if you do not sort out the pulse, it will give people a messy sense of immediate vision.
Although everyone is seven males, there are strong and weak. In terms of who is the strongest king, before being destroyed by Qin, Wei, Chu, Qi, and Zhao were all very powerful, but the time point of strength of each country was also different.
Throughout the Warring States period, seven countries fought back and forth. Today I will fight with you in an alliance, and tomorrow I will turn around and fight you with others; one will be vertical, one will be horizontal, this is the biggest feature of this period.
One-on-one fights are rare, most of the time is a group fight, and more excessive is to fight more than one, directly to cripple that one.
The following is in chronological order, combined with the different points in time of the strength and decline of various countries.
Among the Seven Kingdoms, the State of Wei was the first to be strong, and it could be called the first hegemon of the Warring States. From 445 BC to 340 BC, Great Wei was run by Marquis Wen of Wei, Marquis Wu of Wei, and King Hui of Wei, and dominated for a hundred years.
This was followed by the State of Chu and the State of Zhao.
After the State of Wei, the State of Qi and the State of Qin were basically among the great powers.
The Yan state only had a short-lived glory, and even if it was a real power, Korea was even more unsatisfactory, and finally it was the first to be destroyed by the Qin state.
The final big winner is, of course, the Qin State.
The following is a chronological analysis of the process of each country from strength to decline.
First of all, let's take a look at the first hegemony of the Wei Kingdom, how to go from strong to weak.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > the State of Wei (445 BC to 340 BC).</h1>
At the beginning of the Three Jins, Zhao Guo was the strongest. After Zhao Xiangzi, the State of Zhao fell into infighting, and from 445 BC onwards, the State of Wei replaced the State of Zhao as the head of the Three Jin Dynasties.
During the reign of Marquis Wen of Wei (403–387 BC), Marquis Wenhou of Wei appointed Li Wu (kuī) to change the law.
The main contents of Li Wu's reform law were: politically, it advocated abolishing aristocratic privileges, selecting the best and the best, and distinguishing rewards and punishments; economically, the implementation of the law of exhaustive land and equality (dí). These two items alone greatly promoted the development of agricultural production in the State of Wei, and the State of Wei became rich and strong as a result.
Li Wu also collected the criminal codes of various countries and wrote the "Book of Laws", affirming and protecting the change of law in the form of law and consolidating the feudal legal power.
Li Wu's transformation method was the beginning of China's transformation method, and later the famous Shang martingale transformation method and Wu Qi transformation method were all influenced by Li Wu's transformation method.
The implementation of the Li Wu Transformation Law greatly increased the strength of the Wei state.
Hegemony for a long time, easy to inflate themselves. After Marquis Wenhou of Wei, the State of Wei became militaristic and militaristic, often taking the initiative to fight with other countries and depleting its national strength.
In 353 BC, King Hui of Wei sent the general Pang Juan to attack the State of Zhao, and they were all approaching the capital of the State of Zhao. The King of Qi sent Tian Ji and Sun Zhen to besiege the capital of the State of Wei, and Pang Juan returned to China to support him, but was ambushed at Guiling (桂陵, in present-day ChangyuanBei, Henan), and Pang Juan was defeated, which was known as the Battle of Guiling.
In 341 BC, when the State of Wei attacked Korea, king Qi sent Tian Ji and Sun Zhi to support Korea, and Sun Zhi defeated the Wei army at Maling (马陵, southwest of present-day Fan County, Henan), and Pang Juan was killed. This is the famous Battle of Maling.
Pang Juan and Sun Zhen are brothers in the same disciple, and they both learn from the famous Oniguzi. Pang Juan framed Sun Zhen in his early years, causing Sun Zhen to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Brother Shi said goodbye, but he wanted to fight with death, which also made people sigh.
In 340 BC, Duke Xiao of Qin sent Shang Martin to attack Hexi, and the State of Wei was again defeated. This was the Battle of Hexi.
After a series of defeats in major wars, the State of Wei gradually lost its hegemonic position and became a weak state that allowed people to be fleshed out.
After the defeat at the Battle of Hexi, the State of Wei ceded the land of Hexi to the State of Qin.
In 330 BC, the State of Qin launched a huge offensive against the State of Wei, and Gongsun Yan of Daliang created a great battle with the Wei army at Diaoyang, and the Wei army was again defeated, and the State of Wei was forced to sacrifice all the land in Hexi except Shaoliang City.
In 328 BC, the State of Qin launched the Battle of Puyang, and the State of Wei had no choice but to give shangjun and the only Shaoliang in Hexi to the State of Qin. At this point, the State of Qin occupied all the land in Hexi, which put the State of Qin in a very favorable position strategically.
The State of Qin destroyed Wei in 225 BC.
Let's take a look at the decline of the Chu state.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > Chu state (340 BC ~ 301 BC).</h1>
The image comes from the Internet
As mentioned earlier, in 330 BC, after the Battle of Jiaoyang between the Qin state and the Wei state, the Wei state became a weak state.
After the weakening of Wei (340 BC to 301 BC), Qin, Qi, and Chu became the protagonists and began to fight chaotically.
The territory of the State of Chu was the largest of the Seven Kingdoms, with its capital originally at Ying (yǐng) (present-day Jingzhou, Hubei) and later moved to the capital Shouchun (present-day Shou County, Anhui). At its peak, the Chu state had a population of five million and a million soldiers.
During the reign of King Chu Mourning (410 BC – 381 BC), King Chu mourned the use of the Wu Qi Variation Method.
Wu Qi's reform method has two main contents: one is to crack down on weakening the old aristocratic forces, strengthen the centralization of power, and enhance national strength; the other is to strengthen the army, and the army is under the unified command of the monarch.
Wu Qi's change of law cut to the shortcomings of the Chu state, dealt a blow to the blood-sucking old aristocratic forces, enhanced the strength of the country, and made the Chu state quickly become stronger.
If it were not for the death of King Chu mourning, the Chu state would not have lost this good opportunity to change and become strong, and it is really difficult to say how the history will play out later. With the death of King Chu Mourning, Wu Qi's transformation failed, and Wu Qi himself was shot by the old nobles with random arrows.
In 312 BC, Xiong Huai, the king of ChuHuai, had made an agreement with Tian Sui, the king of Qi, to save each other, and Qin sent a spy Zhang Yi to be Chu Xiang. Zhang Yi told the King of Chu that if Chu broke off relations with Qi, the State of Qin would send the State of Chu to Shang (present-day Huaichuan County, Henan) for six hundred miles. The king of Chu was overjoyed and sent warriors to insult the king of Qi in person and break off friendship with Qi. After that, the king of Chu went to zhang Yi to ask for land, and Zhang Yi said, "I only said to send six miles, not six hundred miles." The king of Chu knew that he had been deceived and humiliated, and he was furious and sent an army to attack Qin.
The Chu general Qu Zhao (gài) (Qu Yuan's father) led an army into the Qin state of Shangyu (i.e., the land where Zhang Yi was teasing the King of Chu). The Qin general Wei Zhang, however, attacked Danyang, the old capital of the Chu state, from the waterway. Qu Zhao originally only had to wait for the Qin soldiers to start a war, but he did not think that the enemy did not come from the front, but attacked the old capital from behind. Qu Zhao rushed back to save Danyang.
Unfortunately, the Chu army was wrapped in rice dumplings by the Qin army in its own territory, and more than seventy generals, including Qu Zhao, were captured and 80,000 soldiers were beheaded.
In this battle, the Chu state not only lost its troops and generals, but also lost six hundred miles of Land in Hanzhong. The State of Qin established Hanzhong County in Hanzhong.
"When the heavens are angry, they will kill and abandon the wilderness." It is Qu Yuan's remembrance of his father, and it is also a tribute to the defeat in the Battle of Danyang.
After the defeat of Danyang, the King of Chu could not swallow this breath. He launched a national army, with a strength of more than 200,000 troops, to have a major decisive battle with the Qin state.
The Chu army attacked the Qin state, recovering the previously lost land in one fell swoop, and broke through the Wuguan of the Qin state and entered the hinterland of the Qin state, Lantian.
Chu Qin launched a great showdown in Lantian.
While Chu and Qin were fighting, the Combined Han and Wei armies ran to encircle the rear of the Chu State, and the Chu army feared that it would be wrapped in Rice Dumplings by Qin, Han, and Wei, so it had to retreat from the armistice squad.
Although the Qin army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Lantian, when the Chu army retreated, it did not slacken its strength, but chased the Chu army, which was already in a loose state, and recaptured the land of Hanzhong.
This was Qin Chu's Battle of Lantian.
In 301 BC, the four kingdoms of Qin, Qi, Han, and Wei attacked Chu together and launched a water battle at Trisha. The Chu army was defeated by the Qi general Kuang Zhang without any defense, with more than 20,000 casualties, and the Chu general Tang Xiao was killed.
In later history, the Battle of Trisha is considered to be the starting point of the decline of the Chu state.
It is also said that the real reason for the decline after the Battle of Chuisha was that after the defeat of the Battle of Chuisha, the "Qiāo) Uprising" broke out in the Chu State.
After the "Zhuang Rebellion", the State of Chu began to split, and the State of Qin began to take advantage of the fire and looting. Many times sent troops to seize the city of Chu. In 298 BC, Qin sent an army to Wuguan to capture the territory of the Chu state, beheading 50,000 soldiers and capturing more than ten cities.
After the above multiple blows, the State of Chu began to decline, and the State of Chu became the second traditional power to decline after the State of Wei.
It can be said that the decline of the State of Wei was dominated by the State of Qi, and the decline of the State of Chu was led by the State of Qin.
In the process of the decline of the State of Wei and the State of Chu, the State of Qi was always a strong country, and the State of Qin also became strong in the process of attacking the State of Chu.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > the State of Qi (301 BC to 284 BC).</h1>
The State of Qi had always been among the great powers in the early Warring States period. In the chronological order above, here are only those things that happened in the State of Qi from 301 BC onwards.
During this period, Qi Guo mainly did the following things:
In 298 BC, during the reign of King Qi, Meng Tianwen led the Three Kingdoms (united with Han and Wei) to attack the Qin state of Hanguguan and force the Qin state to cut off the land and seek peace.
Qi Zeng invaded the Yan kingdom three times, killed the Yan king Kuài, and formed a hatred with the Yan kingdom.
In 287 BC, he organized a joint attack on Qin, and Qin was defeated.
The Song state was destroyed in 286 BC.
In order to take revenge, the State of Yan sent Su Qin into the State of Qi, and the King of Qi caught Su Qin's counter-plan. In 284 BC, Qin, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei, led by the Yan general Le Yi, joined forces to cut down Qi, and King Qi Was killed in battle.
In 279 BC, the State of Qi was restored by Tian Dan, but it had become a weak state.
The State of Qi declined as a result.
The Yan kingdom was also because of tiandan's restoration, and it began to decline from then on.
The State of Yan has never had much strength, and the destruction of Qi by Le Yi is the highlight moment of the State of Yan, before this, it has been obscure and always bullied; after that, it began to decline.
Yan Guo has nothing to talk about, I will finish it here, and I will not express it later.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" > Zhao (284 BC ~ 260 BC).</h1>
During the decline of the State of Qi, the State of Zhao had entered the ranks of great powers.
In 307 BC, king Wuling of Zhao began to rise over mounted archery.
From 306 BC to 296 BC, the Zhao state spent ten years to destroy the Zhongshan state located in the heart of the Zhao state.
King Wuling of Zhao, through the reform of "Hufu Riding and Shooting", suppressed the Zhongshan Kingdom, thus unifying the thinking of the two factions of the north and the south, opening up the territory of the whole country, expanding the territory of the north, pressing the Qin land in the west, greatly increasing the national strength, and together with the Qin state, it became the last two powerful countries.
In 298 BC, King Wuling of Zhao died and was succeeded by King Hui of Zhao.
During the reign of King Hui of Zhao (298 BC – 266 BC), Lian Po defeated the Qin army in the Battle of Fu (è) and the Battle, thus curbing the expansion of the Qin state.
From 261 BC to 260 BC, the two powers of Qin and Zhao broke out the most famous and creepy Battle of Changping in history.
Originally, the Zhao general Lian Po insisted on building a barrier in Changping, and should not be challenged by the Qin army, and the Qin army had no way to do anything.
Hatefully, Qin sent spies to send Zhao Quanchen a lot of money, and persuaded the King of Zhao to exchange Zhao Kuo for Lianpo. Qin then secretly made Bai Qi a general while luring the Zhao army out of the barrier. The Zhao army was besieged by Bai Qi for forty-six days, and Zhao Kuo was also killed by the Qin army, and the 400,000 Zhao army had to surrender.
Bai Qi was afraid that Zhao Bing would rebel, and buried 400,000 surrendered Zhao troops alive in Changping.
Here I am puzzled, how can four hundred thousand people, not forty thousand, not four thousand, be buried alive together? Did no one resist?
Later, some films and television films said that after the Surrender of the Zhao Army, the Qin Army first slaughtered the unarmed Zhao Army in the early morning, and then dug a pit to bury it.
Do you dare to use your imagination?
Just listening to it can give you goosebumps, and you don't dare to think about it. Since ancient times, wars have been bloody.
Zhao Jun died 450,000 people before and after.
After the Battle of Changping, the Zhao state declined.
The State of Qin destroyed the only powerful country, and the rest of the matter was only harvesting.
For the specific timetable, see the title of the Qin State.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="05" > The State of Qin</h1>
In the process of the decline of other countries, this and the other, the Qin state is becoming more and more powerful. In the above few titles, those things about the State of Qin have been involved a lot, and here we will put together the major events in the order of the timetable of the monarchs of the State of Qin.
The State of Qin began with Qin Xiangong, produced seven generations of Ming Emperors, none of whom were emperors, and each one of them worked hard to govern and develop national strength.
With the accumulation and contribution of previous generations of monarchs, there can be a great unification of qin shi huang later.
Duke Xiangong of Qin (384 BC - 362 BC), reigned for twenty-two years, implementing the feudal land privatization system and the centralized system, laying the foundation for the later Qin Xiaogong to change the law.
Qin Xiaogong (362 BC – 338 BC) introduced the Shang Martingale Transformation Method.
The decree of the martingale, on the one hand, rewarded production and rewarded warriors, prompting the development of a new landlord system; on the other hand, it limited the power of noble lords so that they did not dare to take extrajudicially.
Through changing the law, Qin Xiaogong changed the production form of the Qin state at that time, from slavery in the Spring and Autumn Period to centralized private ownership of land, with farming and war as the main productive forces.
During the reign of King Huiwen of Qin (337 BC – 331 BC), the State of Qin began to attack the State of Wei and the State of Chu, and the land gained from the war greatly increased the strength of the State of Qin.
The Battles of Guiling and Maling in the State of Wei, and the Battles of Danyang and Lantian in the State of Chu all occurred during this period.
Qin captured strategic locations such as Hexi and Shangjun in the State of Wei, and Hanzhong and Wuguan Passage in the State of Chu.
During this period, the Qin general Sima Que also destroyed the two countries of Ba and Shu, and from then on, no matter how the war was fought, the Qin state warehouse was guaranteed.
During the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (306 BC – 251 BC), he then fought Against Wei, Chu, and Han. Obtain the land east of the Wei River, the Nanyang Basin of Korea, etc.
During this period, Bai Qi attacked the capital of the Chu state of Yingdu and occupied the entire Jianghan Plain, and the Chu state was forced to move the capital.
The Battle of Changping with the Zhao State, mainly in 260 BC, took place.
Later, during the period of King Xiang of Qinzhuang (249 BC to 247 BC) and Qin Shi Huang (beginning in 246 BC), there were large and small wars with various countries, and finally in 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang achieved great unification.
The specific schedule is as follows:
In 230 BC, Qin destroyed Han.
In 228 BC, Qin destroyed Zhao.
In 225 BC, Qin destroyed Wei.
In 223 BC, Qin destroyed Chu.
In 222 BC, Qin annihilated Yan.
In 221 BC, Qin destroyed Qi and achieved great unification.
During the qin shi huang period, Ying Zheng also did two major things, that is, to appoint Li Bing's father and son to build Dujiangyan and zheng guo to build the Zheng guo canal.
Therefore, the reason why the Qin state was able to unify the Central Plains was not only by fighting a fierce war, but also by the kings of the past who had a long-term vision, appointed the best and the stronger, and changed the law to become stronger; expanding its territory while not forgetting to develop domestic productive forces is really difficult to compare with the other six countries.
The State of Qin can complete the analysis of the great cause of reunification, there are many statements in various history books and on the Internet, interested friends and friends can go to understand, this article does not discuss in depth.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="06" > Yanguo</h1>
Ancient Yan Capital: Jizhou Ancient City
Refer to the Qi state section.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="07" > South Korea</h1>
The ruins of the Korean capital during the Warring States period in Yiyang, Henan
During the reign of Han Zhaohou (358 BC - 333 BC), he appointed Shen bu to change the law, implement the strict politics of the jurists, and the domestic politics of Korea was clear, the national strength developed, and the foundation of the country was consolidated.
However, South Korea is located in the Central Plains, surrounded by the great powers of Wei, Qi, Chu, and Qin, and has no room for development, and has to become a vassal of these powers.
When many countries join forces, they will definitely pull up the little brother of South Korea, and when South Korea is bullied by the Qin State or other countries, there will always be a big brother who comes out to support it.
Therefore, although South Korea is weak, it has a bunch of big brothers to play with, and it has not been destroyed early like other small countries.
When the position of the only powerful country in the Qin State was stable, the first thing the Qin State destroyed was Korea on the edge of the Qin State.
Throughout the Warring States period, if you start from 403 BC, the three branches of the Jin Dynasty passed the official certification of Zhou Wangyi, and ended in 221 BC, the unification of Qin Shi Huang, a total of almost two hundred years of chaos.
In addition to the Qin state, which finally completed the great cause of reunification, who was the strongest of the former powers Wei, Chu, Qi, and Zhao?