Chapter 480: You are not ready to conquer the world, why are you pretending?
Ying Ji glanced at his great-grandson worriedly. He originally planned to explain it to Chu Culture in one sentence, but the uneasy feeling in his heart made him decide to elaborate.
"All the countries in the Central Plains, including our Qin State, have roughly the same official titles. Only in Chu State, the official titles are so important that people are dizzy. There are various official titles such as Deng Tu, Zhu Guo, Cifei, Zhigui, Sanlu Dafu, etc. , except for the nobles of Chu State, it is difficult for people in other countries to know its meaning."
Ying Chengyu's eyes lit up.
"I know what they all mean."
"..."
Why do you remember this? Why do you remember this? No one knows everything, who asked you to remember it!
King Qin Zhaoxiang became even more worried. He waved his hand pretending to be casual and said lightly:
"It's all rubbish, forget about it."
Ying Chengyu nodded obediently, grabbed it above his head, and threw it away.
"Okay, listen to my grandfather, Cheng Xi threw away these memories."
King Zhaoxiang of Qin was in a daze.
The person sitting on the throne is not a handsome young man of 28 years old, but a child of four years old.
More than twenty years ago, a child was running and wrestling in the Xianyang Palace. His arm was bruised and bloody, and he was left in pain.
King Qin Ying Ji, who was following behind, grabbed the child's injured arm and suddenly threw it away.
"I have taken away the pain from Xiu'er and thrown it away. Now it doesn't hurt anymore."
"childish."
The four-year-old child curled his lips and whispered.
"childish."
King Qin Zhaoxiang curled his lips and said dissatisfiedly, and continued to talk about the Chu country that his great-grandson was afraid of.
"The people of Chu claimed that they were barbarians to the outside world, but in reality they always regarded themselves as descendants of Zhu Rong, and they never looked down upon people from other countries in the Central Plains.
"Chu State is located in the Central Plains, but it claims to be independent from the Central Plains and rarely absorbs the essence of the Central Plains civilization. The official system, military system, and civilian governance are all of its own.
"They have never learned from the civilized and legal systems of other countries in the Central Plains. They think they are orthodox and stick to their bad habits, but they are content with saying that the systems of other countries are unorthodox..."
King Qin Zhaoxiang talked endlessly.
Ying Chengyu listened carefully. He understood even what his grandfather said.
His understanding of Chu was not only from bamboo slips and the late Queen Mother Huayang, but also from on-the-spot investigation and personal contact.
This vassal state, which was established by mountain tribes and later recognized by the Zhou Dynasty, has many aspects that are difficult for the Central Plains culture to understand. The official titles mentioned by Ying Ji are one of them.
This difference may seem small, but it can become a tower. When many small differences come together, they form a chasm, which seriously hinders famous people from the Central Plains from making contributions to the Chu Kingdom.
Who would be willing to go to Chu State, which is completely different from what they have learned all their lives, unless they are desperate?
During the period of Marquis Wu of Wei, Wu Qi, who was versatile in both civil and military affairs, fled to Chu State because he was rejected by the king as a traitor and was not trusted by the king. The king of Chu appointed Wu Qi as his commander-in-chief, determined to reform and strengthen himself.
Wu Qi relied on the trust of King Chu to delegate power, and used his iron fist to forcefully reform Chu's backward and ignorant old system, but he turned himself into a lonely minister like Shang Yang.
The King of Chu died in middle age and devoted his whole life to the Chu State. He worked hard to govern and strengthen the country. Because his reforms violated the interests of the nobles, the posthumous title he received after his death was "Mourning".
Wu Qi's fate was the same as that of Shang Yang, and he was brutally killed immediately.
But then, the fate of Chu State was different from that of Qin State. The new successor, King Chu Su, the son of King Chu Dao, did not have the same absolute support for the New Deal as King Qin Huiwen.
Under the pressure of opposition from the great nobles and great witches, the New Deal was reduced by 70%.
The Chu State became a peculiar Warring States period with three parts new and seven parts old. It was always languid and unable to achieve anything.
Ying Chengxuan conducted an in-depth study of Wu Qi's reform, and finally concluded that Wu Qi's failure in Chu was not because of the error of the reform itself, but because of the backwardness, ignorance and isolation of the country, which was still far from the foundation needed for the reform. No one can do it in the short term.
It is also difficult to reverse.
The upper class nobles of the Chu State have always stayed in the closed mountain country and did not look at the big picture of competition for survival in the world. And the shaman culture rooted in the Chu State cannot go out, and the glory of Donghuang Taiyi can only shine on the land of Chu State.
This led to the fact that all major events in the Central Plains countries were inseparable from the participation of Chu, a large country. However, no country pinned its hope for survival on Chu, and small and medium-sized vassal states rarely actively sought Chu's protection.
Among the seven warring states, Chu and Qin had the fewest vassal states.
Because the Qin State was closed to the west of Hangu Pass by the Six Kingdoms of Shandong, it was impossible for the Qin State to go east to compete for the Central Plains vassal states.
However, during the era of Qin Mugong, the Qin State annexed and annexed almost all the Rong and Di tribes in the west, and almost all the grassland tribes that had not been incorporated surrendered to the Qin State.
Qin was a country that actively moved closer to the civilization of the Central Plains. Qin Xiaogong's recruitment order was issued in front of the world. No matter how the great powers of the Central Plains despised Qin, Qin always regarded itself as the civilization of the Central Plains.
But this was not the case with the Chu State. The Chu State, located in the Central Plains, treated the southern barbarian tribes with disdain and lacked effective integration.
The Baiyue State in Lingnan was only satisfied with loosely claiming vassalage and paying tribute, but did not incorporate this prosperous and populous tribe into the overall national strength. The great witch did not want the Baiyue goddess Yue Nu to kneel down in front of the Eastern Emperor.
Not worthy.
Chu State has a nominal population of tens of millions, but the number of troops it can mobilize is only hundreds of thousands, which is not as good as the number of troops that Zhao State, which only has a population of several million, can mobilize.
The Qin State faced many difficulties in defeating the Zhao State. After the arduous Battle of Changping, it was defeated in the Handan Defense War, and was defeated by Li Mu.
But in the attack on Chu, except for Xiang Yan's sudden appearance at the end, it didn't take much effort.
Through the facts that have happened, Ying Chengyu also discovered that the Chu State's ideology is very different.
The upper echelons of the Chu State had a sense of inferiority and unwillingness to give in to the civilization of the Central Plains.
There is always a strong demand for the Central Plains civilization to recognize them and accept them, but they always keep a certain distance from the Central Plains civilization.
If they are not taken seriously, they will look for opportunities and reasons to demonstrate to the Central Plains and show their strength.
If the great powers of the Central Plains open their minds, they will automatically retreat, fearing being assimilated by the Central Plains.
Just like Neptune, the fish doesn't want to be angry, but the fish is too sticky and annoying.
Three hundred years ago, during the reign of King Zhuang of Chu, everyone knew that the power of the Chu State was far less than that of the Jin State in the Central Plains, let alone the combined power of many princes.
However, the King of Chuzhuang wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of joining forces to fight against the enemy. He sent troops to the outskirts of Luoyang to provoke Wang Sunman, the labor envoy of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and asked how heavy the Jiuding was in Luoyang.
Jiuding is a symbol of the emperor's royal power. Aspiring to be the emperor is tantamount to challenging the emperor's royal power. What King Zhuang of Chuzhuang did is essentially the same as King Wu of Qin's lifting of the tripod.
Wang Sunman replied: "Although Zhou's virtue has declined, his destiny has not changed."
The king of Chuzhuang returned in anger, and made no further moves after that.
Ying Chengyu is speechless after reading history. You are not ready to conquer the world. Why are you pretending to be so cool?
…
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