Among the many princely states in the south of the Zhou Kingdom, the State of Chu was only a viscount's state, and it was not outstanding. However, when history entered the Spring and Autumn Period, the Chu state suddenly sprung up and gradually developed into a "superpower" of the Eastern Zhou.
First of all, although the Chu people were allies of the Zhou people, their status in the minds of the Zhou people was not high. Although the ancestor of the Chu people, The Bear, once wrote the master of the king, but when King Wu of Zhou first went on a crusade, the figure of the Chu people was not seen among the eight allies, which showed that the Zhou people did not deeply trust the Chu people. Because of this, after the Zhou people sat firmly in the world, the title given to the Chu people was only a viscount. This is a big blow to the Chu people who have a very high self-esteem.
Therefore, the State of Chu seems to be the first princely state to have a rift with the Zhou royal family: as early as the time of King Zhou Zhao, because of the rebellion of the Chu people, they twice crossed the Han River to attack the State of Chu. The latter crusade also killed King Zhou Zhao! Although King Zhou Zhao accidentally drowned in the Han River, the Chu did not rebel again. During the reign of King Mu of Zhou, King Xu Yan led the Huaiyi rebellion and briefly attacked the Yellow River in an attempt to attack the Weihe Plain. The rise of Huaiyi forced King Mu of Zhou to make temporary concessions, allowing King Xu Yan to serve as the regional chief and command many Huaiyi tribes in the southeast. However, soon after the Huaiyi people withdrew, King Mu of Zhou privately ordered the Chu people to attack from the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, copied the road of Xu Yan's queen, and crushed Xu Guo in one fell swoop!
King Mu of Zhou
Crushing the most powerful enemy of the Zhou royal family, the State of Chu made a great contribution for the first time in the history of the Zhou Dynasty. However, the State of Chu did not receive the slightest reward from the Zhou royal family, and until the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Chu was still a viscount state.
Meritorious service was not rewarded, which made the Chu people's resentment towards the Zhou royal family deepen. When the Zhou royal family gradually declined in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Chu people once again had different intentions. During the reign of King Yi of Zhou, the Xiongqu state of Chu continued to expand its territory in the Jiang and Han river valleys, not only submitting to the State of Yong and Yang Yue, but also expanding its territory to Hubei. Not only that, Xiong Qu also openly declared: "I am a barbarian and do not talk to China." Subsequently, Xiong Qu crowned all three of his sons as kings and openly demonstrated to the Zhou royal family!
This time, the Chu people became kings, and it did not last long. However, the Zhou royal family's contempt for the Chu people made the Chu people deeply sow the seeds of rebellion in their hearts. As long as it encounters the right soil, this seed will quickly grow into a towering tree!
With the seeds of rebellion, it doesn't necessarily grow.
Another important factor in the development of the Chu state into a "superpower" after the Spring and Autumn Period was the heroic King Wu of Chu. In the thirtieth year of King Ping of Zhou (741 BC), King Li of Chu died. At this time, Xiong Tong, the brother of King Li of Chu, killed his nephew and usurped the throne of Chu for King Wu of Chu. Xiong Tong usurped the throne, and the first impression people had of him was that of a tyrant.
King Wu of Chu
But in fact, King Wu of Chu was not only humble, but also a mingjun with a rough plan. All his life, he fought everywhere in the Nanyang Basin, and even died on the way to conquer suiguo. At the moment of his death, the State of Chu completely conquered suiguo, and it can be said that it basically controlled the entire Nanyang Basin, laying a solid foundation for the future breakthrough of the State of Chu in the Nanyang Basin.
In addition, King Wu of Chu also deeply studied the drawbacks of the sub-feudal system, and took the lead in experimenting with the county system in the Chu state. The Eighteenth Year of Zuo Chuan Zhuang Gong records: "In the beginning, King Kequan of Chuwu made Dou Yinzhi. This record is that after King Wu of Chu conquered the state of Quan, he no longer adopted the form of dividing the feudals, but instead sent the county Yin to administer, changing the "state of quan" to "quan county". Quan County is not only the first county in the Chu Kingdom, but also the first county in the Spring and Autumn Period.
The biggest difference between the county system and the sub-feudal system is that the chief officers of the county are appointed by the monarch, rather than inherited from generation to generation by a family. The emergence of the county system of the Chu state greatly strengthened the centralization of power in the chu state: Dou Miao rebelled, was killed by King Wu of Chu, and was replaced by Yan Ao; Yan Ao later derelicted his duties and was killed by King Wen of Chu!
After the establishment of the county system, King Wu of Chu rarely encountered the constraints of the decentralization forces in the country, so he was able to concentrate the strength of the Chu state to the outside world and lay a solid political foundation for the rapid development of the Chu state.
Therefore, the reason why the State of Chu was able to develop into a "superpower" in the Spring and Autumn Period was first of all that the Chu people had the "seeds" of rebellion, and secondly, the great talent of King Wu of Chu. With these two major advantages, the Chu state can stand out among many small countries and develop into a "superpower" in one fell swoop!