If Wei Xiangong becomes the titular king, it is like an autumn leaf falling from the tree, indicating that one season is about to pass and another season is about to come, then the next "Ceasefire Alliance Meeting" will be like this
Like a leaf, it is a landmark event. Taking the "Ceasefire Alliance" as a boundary, the Spring and Autumn Period can be divided into two stages: expansion, mergers, internal and external power struggles, countries' efforts to become stronger, etc. These remain unchanged
The theme, but the protagonist has quietly changed. In the early battles, the princes were the protagonists. In the later battles, the officials from various countries came to the forefront one after another and became the protagonists of this period.
In the early stage, the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period appeared one after another. First, Duke Zhuang of Zheng challenged the emperor, then Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Mu of Qin, and King Zhuang of Chu dominated the world. Their actions all revolved around one goal, which was to enrich the country and strengthen the army.
Fighting everywhere to establish dominance. Melee and annexation have become the main features of this period of their dominance. Each of them is a man of influence who holds real power and can influence the destiny of his country and even the destiny of other countries. From them, we can see that,
During this period, monarchy was very centralized.
However, as they passed away one after another, the monarchy, or the real power of the country represented by the monarchy, began to shift downwards. Powerful ministers appeared.
There are three main reasons for this:
First, during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the enfeoffment system was still popular. The rewards given by the emperor to princes, and from princes to ministers, included not only property but also land.
Secondly, in the wars between the princes, they relied heavily on the officials, so they fought back and forth, and the civil servants and generals of the various countries received awards for their meritorious service. The princes would allocate land to the ministers who had made meritorious deeds.
Third, the hereditary system has added fuel to the flames. The descendants of the king's family are becoming more and more numerous. These people are either hereditary or have received new awards, so they have the possibility to establish local power. Coupled with the hereditary descendants of meritorious families, the local power becomes even more
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The officials had their own fiefdoms and worked hard one by one. In order to encourage farmers in the fiefdoms to develop production, some officials encouraged land reclamation, reduced taxes, and gave profits to the people, which led to the vigorous development of the local economy. Some officials with strong financial resources also built city walls.
, raised a private armed force, which was strong enough to compete with the king. This phenomenon is very common in various countries.
Throughout that period of history, in fact, in the battles between princes, most of the time, it was not the princes who really benefited, but the officials under them. As the power of the officials gradually grew, there was bound to be something that sidelined the king.
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Long before Wei Xiangong became the nominal king, the "Three Huan" appeared in the Lu State. The "Three Huan" developed to a later stage and completely emptied the monarchy of the Lu State. The situation in the Jin State was also very serious. Those who followed Jin Wen Gong Chong'er to make contributions
Among that batch of heroes, the more capable Zhao Shui, Wei Ji, Queque, and Luan Zhi all had their own fiefdoms, and finally formed the Zhao family, the Wei family, the Que family, and the Luan family. In the era of Duke Ai of Jin and Duke Li of Jin,
Then there appeared the Zhi family represented by Zhiying, the Zhonghang family represented by Zhongxing Yan, the Han family represented by Han Jue, and the Zhao family represented by Zhao Wu. These family forces seriously threatened the Jin State.
The power of the king has even eclipsed the rights of the king.
When Princess Wei Xian proposed to be a nominal king, most of the princes of other countries faced the same problem as Duke Xian of Wei, and some princes had actually become nominal kings.
It was against this background that the officials of the Song Dynasty proposed to Shu to convene a "celibacy alliance meeting."
Speaking of this Xiang Rong, later generations have a comment, which is called "knowing the advance and retreat, knowing the current affairs". Regarding this point, there is such a story:
As early as 563 BC, Biyang City of the Song Dynasty rebelled, and the left division of the Song Dynasty Xiang Rong went to the Jin Dynasty to borrow troops. He had a relationship with Fan Gai, who admired Xiang Rong very much. He agreed to persuade Duke Ping of Jin. After sending troops, he also promised Xiang Rong: "If Biyang comes down, we don't want it, so we will give it to you directly."
Xiang Rong only wanted troops and did not want any complications, so he vaguely agreed. So Fan Gai informed Duke Ping of Jin about his intention to request troops from Xiang Rong, and tried his best to instigate Duke Ping of Jin to send troops.
Doctor Xun Feng said: "The city of Biyang is small and strong. If I, a member of the Jin Dynasty, attack such a small city, I won't get much credit even if I win. If I don't win, I will become a laughing stock."
Fan Gai: "Just because we are a small town, if we don't fight, others will laugh at us. On the contrary, if we fight, we will win. How can we become the laughing stock?"
Duke Ping of Jin felt that what Fan Gai said was reasonable. In addition, he was also bored and wanted to go out to fight. So he personally took command and ordered Xunying to be the chief general, Fan Gai to be the deputy general, and Xiang Rong to be the leader of the march, and sent out troops. Force Yang.
There is no suspense that the small city of Biyang could not withstand the offensive of the Jin army, and it was captured within three days. Fan Gai asked Duke Ping of Jin to grant the title of Biyang to Xiang Rong. At this time, Xiang Rong said: "We are foreigners." I, Xiangrong, will never dare to accept it."
Duke Ping of Jin asked: "Aren't you a king? Why don't you dare to accept the land I gave you?"
Xiang Rong said: "The Marquis of Jin is a king, and our Duke of Song is also a king. Of course, the rewards given to the Marquis of Jin are also rewards. However, if the Jin State wants to appease the Song State, it should return Biyang to the Duke of Song. When the Duke of Song gets this place, I must be grateful for the kindness of the Marquis of Jin."
Duke Ping of Jin laughed and asked deliberately: "You don't feel any pity at all?"
Xiang Rong said: "If the princes of Jin give Biyang to me as a foreign minister, in the eyes of the princes, it will be that I have raised the armies of the princes in order to increase my fiefdom. There is no greater sin."
Duke Ping of Jin nodded and praised: "Doctor Xiang really knows the current affairs and knows how to advance and retreat. Just follow your wishes and return the forced Yang to you, Duke Song."
Xiang Rong became famous because of this incident, and he won the support of everyone in the Song Dynasty. He gradually became a powerful figure in the Song Dynasty.
At that time, the dispute between Jin and Chu was still going on. The Song Dynasty was sandwiched between the two big countries and suffered military disasters from time to time. Xiang Rong, who held great power, always wanted to solve this problem. One day, he remembered the Song Dynasty general. Hua Yuan, so the method followed.
Fourteen years ago, after making peace with the Chu State, General Hua Yuan of the Song State went to persuade Qi, Jin and other countries to cease their troops. He asked, why do countries have to use troops every time they have disputes? Why can't they sit down and talk? Song and Chu fought like this for several months, and everyone suffered losses. In the end, the problem was solved by sitting down and talking.
Hua Yuan's efforts won the approval of most countries. From 579 BC to 576 BC, for at least three years, there was no melee among the countries.
Xiang Rong was inspired by this and began to lobby other countries. At that time, the Jin general Xun Ying was old, Fan Gai was in poor health, and Zhao Wu became a powerful figure. Xiang Rong had some friendship with Zhao Wu, so he was the first to go Lobbyed Zhao Wu.
Zhao Wu also agreed with him and suggested that he continue to lobby other vassal states. Xiangrong borrowed the power of Jin and went to Qi, Lu, Zheng and other Central Plains vassal states respectively, and proposed the same initiative to them.
The princes of all countries felt that Xiang Rong's suggestion was very good. Everyone expressed a common wish and hoped that all princes would reach a consensus.
The opinions of the princes of the Central Plains were unified, and the support of the Chu State must be obtained. Xiang Rong also had friendship with the Chu State official Qu Jian, and he went to the Chu State again. Xiang Rong was very eloquent, and Qu Jian immediately expressed his willingness to listen to his suggestion.
Attend this meeting.
In this regard, the general trend of convening "cease-in-arms meetings" has taken shape.
In May 546 BC, the official Zhao Wu of Jin, Qu Jian, the official of Chu, Xiang Shu, the official of Song, Shusun Bao, the official of Lu, Shi E, the official of Wei, Gongsun Guisheng, the official of Cai, and Kong Huan, the official of Chen
Liangxiao, the official of the State of Zheng, and other officials of the thirteen kingdoms gathered in Suiyang, the capital of the Song Dynasty, to discuss a specific treaty for the cessation of hostilities.
The theme of the so-called "Ceasefire League" is peace, which calls on all countries to resolve disputes through peaceful means. Those who participate in the "Ceasefire League" are not monarchs, but officials from various countries, but these officials are enough to represent the princes of a country.
At the meeting, the two major forces of Jin and Chu fought overtly and covertly, and eventually the "ceasedown" meeting became a meeting to divide the spheres of influence between the two major powers. The meeting finally formed a very ridiculous resolution, with two main contents:
First, the Jin State's sphere of influence is in the north, including Lu, Wei, Zheng, Cao, Zhu, Ju, Teng, Xue and other countries. The Chu State's sphere of influence is in the south, including Cai, Chen, Xu, Shen and other countries.
Secondly, the vassal states within the Jin State's sphere of influence must pay tribute to the Chu State; the vassal states within the Chu State's sphere of influence must also pay tribute to the Jin State.
It can be seen from this resolution that the two great powers of Jin and Chu clearly divided their spheres of influence. This was equivalent to allowing the princes of the world to recognize that there were two overlords, one in the north, the Kingdom of Jin, and the other in the south, the Kingdom of Chu.
The Song State was neither big nor small, a medium-sized country, and it was the initiator of the conference. Through Xiang Rong's efforts, the Song State eventually separated from Jin and Chu. In other words, the Song State neither belonged to Jin nor to Chu.
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Qi and Qin did not participate in the conference. Of course, even if they did, these two big countries would not become vassals of anyone.
After the "Ceasefire Alliance", there were only three countries independent of Jin and Chu, namely Qi, Qin, and Song. For the Song State, it was a matter of great honor not to be a subordinate of anyone.
For those small princes who belong to the two major overlords, this truce meeting has actually increased their burden. Because originally they only had to admit that there was one overlord and only needed to obey one overlord, but now they have to obey two overlords.
Driven by the overlord, they paid tribute to the two overlords.
Chu State obviously took advantage of it, because this "Southern Barbarian" who was not favored by the princes of the Central Plains, through such a meeting, became the leader of the alliance on par with Jin. This is greater than the benefits gained from winning a battle.
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But Qu Jian, the official of the Chu State, was not satisfied yet. When the meeting was about to end and the blood-sacrifice ceremony was about to be held, he said to Xiang Shu, the official of the Song State: "There are two overlords in the world. When blood is an alliance, there must be a sequence. In the end,
Who comes first and who comes last?"
Xiang Shu said: "How about I go to the Jin State to discuss it and ask them to give in?"
Qu Jian smiled and said: "It's best this way. I can help the doctor."
Xiang Shu told Zhao Wu what Qu Jian meant, and Zhao Wu immediately got angry. He said: "Chu is pushing even further. Jin has always been the leader of the Central Plains alliance, but now it has made concessions. It is too much for them to still want to take the lead. If
If you are not convinced, we can resolve it by force."
Xiang Shu said: "Doctor Zhao, please calm down. We are holding a cease-fire meeting, and the theme is to solve the problem peacefully. If we talk about the war again, it will go against the original intention." Zhao Wu's men also advised him to be patient.
Xiang Shu continued to fool Zhao Wu and said: "Being an overlord depends on benevolence and virtue. If the princes are not sincerely convinced, even if they win the first place, they will still be second. If the princes are convinced, even if they are ranked second, they will still be second in essence.
one."
Zhao Wu froze and thought for a while, and felt that he couldn't really use force against the Chu State, because the disputes between the six major families in the Jin State, namely the Zhao family, the Fan family, the Zhi family, the Zhonghang family, the Han family, and the Wei family, were already very fierce.
Due to the instability at home, he had no energy to launch a war outside, so he made concessions and gave up the role of leading the bloodshed to Qu Jian.
In the end, the officials of the vassal states, led by Qu Jian of Chu and Zhao Wu of Jin, signed the covenant one after another. Then they all swore an oath to heaven and made an alliance with blood. The oath stated that if anyone violated the covenant, they would jointly attack