According to historical records, at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, it was divided into 7 1 vassal states, including 53 vassal states named Ji. Only the seven vassal states of Song, Chen, Ji, Guo, Jiao, Zhu and Qi are vassal states, while the marquis has the most vassal states, represented by Lu, Qi, Jin, Wei, Tang and Qi.
The enfeoffment system of Chu was later than that of some other old vassal States. The primitive tribal leader of Chu people was Xiong Yan, who led his tribe to take refuge in Zhou Wenwang at the end of Shang Dynasty. Xiong Yan served for two generations, and became a fireman in the Zhou Dynasty, who was responsible for lighting torches and preserving fire during sacrifices, because Chu people were descendants of Vulcan Zhu Rong. After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty,
After Xiong Ji died, his son Li Xiong became the leader of the Chu people. Li Xiong later led his tribe to live in the wilderness of Suishan and Jingshan. During the period of Zhou Chengwang, the ruling Duke of Zhou fled to the place where Chu people lived for a period of time in order to avoid disaster. Li Xiong warmly received the Duke of Zhou and stayed as a distinguished guest. After the Duke of Zhou returned to Korea, he told Zhou Chengwang about it, so Zhou Chengwang named Xiong Yi, the grandson of Li Xiong, a vassal.
At this point, the State of Chu was formally established. Although it is only five miles away, it is still a vassal state. Xiong Yi became the first generation of Chu Jun, and the establishment of Chu was also recognized by the Zhou Dynasty. At that time, the Zhou Dynasty represented China and orthodoxy, and it was a great honor to be recognized and enfeoffed by the Zhou Dynasty. The Chu people were very happy, grateful and loyal to the Zhou Dynasty.
At that time, the newly established state of Chu was really useless. It is so poor and weak that the whole tribe can't even find a sacrificial cow. So the Chu people went to the kingdom of Tan and stole a calf with no horns. For fear that the owner would find out, they killed the cow and sacrificed it overnight. Therefore, the sacrifices of the State of Chu were all at night.
However, Xiong Yi is still very respectful when serving the week. Although Chu was poor, Xiong Yi often paid tribute to Zhou by pulling a firewood cart and wearing rags, so the idiom "Lan Lan Lun" came into being, which means driving a firewood cart and wearing shabby clothes to open a mountain and open a forest. Later, it extended to the initial stage of entrepreneurship.
In spite of this, Chu is still not liked by the king of Zhou. Guoyu Yujin records the alliance between the king of Chu and the king of Zhou and the princes. The contents are as follows:
Guoyu: In the past, he became a vassal of the King League in Qiyang, and the Chu State was Man Jing. He set up a watch house to watch with Xianbei, so he didn't join the League. When Zhou Chengwang joined the League of Governors in Qiyang, the State of Chu was Man Jing. When joining the League, he was responsible for placing thatch (a kind of thatch used for sacrifice), arranging wooden tables, and guarding the sacrificial fire with Xianbei leaders. He can't visit the Emperor of Zhou like other princes. Zhou Tianzi regarded Chu as a barbarian like Xianbei. In Mandarin, Chu is directly called, which is proof.
Jingshan refers to Jingshan, that is, Jingshan in the northwest of Hubei Province today, including Fangxian, Shiyan, Jingmen, Dangyang and Yuan 'an in Hubei Province. It is also the place where Chu people live. It's a kind of address for southern aliens in China, and it has a feeling of contempt. Besides savages, there are Yi, Di and Rong, all of which are insulting terms for China's aliens.
But according to the lineage of Chu people, the earliest ancestor of Chu people is the descendant of Zhuan Xu, the grandson of the Yellow Emperor. Zhuan Xu is the son of Changyi and one of the five emperors. Zhuan Xu has a son named Zhang Juan, and Zhang Juan has a son named Li Zhong, who became a fire officer in Di Ku, namely Zhu Rong. Li Zhong was killed by Di Ku because of his poor rebellion. Li Zhong had a younger brother named Ng Wui.
Wu Hui has a son named Lu Zhong, and Lu Zhong has six sons. The youngest son is called Ji Lian and his surname is Mi. Ji Lian has a son named Fuju, and Fuju has a son named Cave Bear. In the era of Zhou Wenwang, Ji Lian had a descendant named Xiong Huan, who was the ancestor of Chu people. Counting the ancestors of Chu people, it is clearly China orthodoxy. Although he was named a vassal in Xiong Yi's era, he was still regarded as a vassal.
The Chu people turned this unfair treatment into a hard struggle. After more than 100 years of development, during the reign of Xiong, the sixth monarch of Chu, Chu had expanded its power to Jianghan Plain. At this time, the State of Chu was not the original Viscount Wuli, but the vassal state of Fiona Fang, and it was still expanding.
When Xiong Qubing was in power, he successively attacked Guo Yong (now Zhushan County, Hubei Province), Hubei (now Ezhou, Wuhan City, Hubei Province) and Yangyue (now central Hubei Province, a branch of the ancient Baiyue nationality). The powerful national strength of Chu also made Xiong's ambition to get sick bigger and bigger, so Xiong went to get sick and called Gong without authorization, and made his three sons king:
Historical Records Chu Family: Xiong went to be ill and said: I am a barbarian, and I don't have the same surname as China. He likang, the eldest son, the king of punishment, Zhong Zihong, the king of Hubei, and the second son, the king of Zhang, are all on the river in the land of Chu people. And, strongmen, bears are afraid of cutting Chu, and they also go to be kings. When Xiong went to the hospital, he also said a famous sentence: "I am a barbarian, and I don't have the same surname as China.". I don't have to have the same name as posthumous title in the Central Plains countries.
It seems that 100 years ago was snubbed by the Zhou Emperor and treated as a barbarian like Xianbei, and it was the revenge of the Chu King Bear. Xiong Qu's implication is: Don't you think I'm a savage? I am a barbarian now, and I want to be a barbarian, that is, Zhao Gong is crowned king.
Xiong Qu's title is viscount, which was inherited from his ancestor Xiong Ze. Always a viscount, never changed. Xiong went to the hospital and called himself Qi Huangong, and named Kang, the eldest son, the king of other sentences, Hong, the second son, and Wang, the third son. This is the first time in the history of Chu, and it is also the first case of usurping the throne in the Western Zhou Dynasty. At this time, it was still the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Emperor of Zhou.
At that time, the Western Zhou Dynasty was already very weak, not as powerful as the early Zhou Dynasty, and the influence of Chu in the south was growing, which is why Xiong Qubing dared to usurp the titles of Qi Huangong and Qi King. Bear's behavior of getting sick is to rely on his own strength to deliberately violate the etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty to show his dissatisfaction with the Zhou Dynasty and express the resistance of the Chu people.
After Zhou Yiwang's death, Zhou Liwang became emperor. Xiong went sick and worried that Zhou Liwang would unite with other governors to attack himself, so he cancelled his son's title of king. This shows that although the Chu State was strong at this time, the Western Zhou Dynasty still had some strength at this time, especially if Zhou Tianzi joined forces with other governors to crusade against Chu State, Chu State could not resist at all, so Xiong went to the hospital and took off the titles of his sons.
Although the bear went sick and made his son king, he didn't make himself king, and the bear didn't go sick himself, so this is not the king of Gongchu. King Gong Chu will come to Chu Wuwang at the same time. Xiong Tong in Chu Wuwang was the first 17 king of Chu, and Xiong Qubing was the sixth king of Chu. There is a difference of more than one hundred years between them. Chu Wuwang was the first usurper in the history of Chu State and the first usurper in the history of Zhou Dynasty.
In 706 BC, the State of Chu crusaded against Yue, and the King of Yue said, I am not guilty. Why did you attack me? Xiong Tong said: I live in a barbarian area. Now the princes are betraying the Zhou royal family and attacking each other. We have an army in Chu and want to participate in the business of the Central Plains. Please Zhou in my name.
I had no choice but to ask Zhou Tianzi, then King Huan of Zhou. He didn't agree, but told Xiong Tong with his fellow villagers. In 704 BC, Xiong Tong said angrily: My ancestor Xiong Huan was Zhou Wenwang's teacher and died young. Zhou Chengwang promoted my grandfather, but he only gave the viscount land to live in Chu. All barbarian tribes obey, and the king of Zhou does not add a title, so I have to call myself your title.
Xiong Tong means to increase the title of King Huan of Zhou, because the power of Chu at this time is already Fiona Fang Baili, and it is a big vassal state. Chu still wants to increase the title through the Zhou royal family to show orthodoxy. Xiong Tong has no intention of being king at this time. He just wanted to be on an equal footing with other big vassal States, and wanted the King Huan of Zhou to make him a duke or a marquis and the royal family of Zhou to enfeoffment him. This is an affirmation, but also to get rid of it.
However, King Huan of Zhou refused him, which made Xiong Tong very angry. Chu has developed so much now, but it still can't be affirmed by the Zhou royal family, so Xiong Tong called him king in revenge for Zhou Huan, because only Zhou Wang could be king at that time, and Xiong Tong called him king in contempt of Zhou Huan. In those days, the king of Zhou looked down on the Chu people, and now the Chu people are beginning to look down on him, which is why Xiong Tong called him the king.
The mentality of Chu kings in past dynasties is actually very complicated. On the one hand, they hope to be recognized by the Zhou royal family and admit that they are China's orthodox identity. On the other hand,
On the other hand, when the Zhou royal family refused to recognize the Chu people, the Chu people showed extremely rebellious spirit, which was also the root of their dissatisfaction with Zhou.
This time is the early years of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The strength of the royal family in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty has long been inferior to that in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The strength of the royal family is not even as good as that of a medium-sized vassal state, and Chu is getting stronger and stronger. I am no longer worried about Zhou Tianzi's crusade against myself as I was 100 years ago. At this time, Chu was not afraid of the Emperor of Zhou, so Xiong Tong dared to be king, not only dare to be king, but also expanded in all directions and became stronger and stronger. This is the confidence of the king of Chu.
In addition to Chu, the second king was Shoumeng, the King of Wu in the Spring and Autumn Period, about 585 BC, which was later than Chu 1 19 years. The third king was Yue Wang Chang in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and he was Gou Jian's father, about 538 BC, which was later than Chu 168 years.
Why is Chu the first king and other vassal States can't?
There are several main reasons:
First, the king must have strength, and the king without strength will be destroyed in minutes. Chu has become a powerful vassal state in the Western Zhou Dynasty, from a small country of fifty miles to a big country of hundreds of miles. At the same time, Chu occupied Tonglu Mountain, a strategic resource in Jianghan Plain, which is powerful, so it has the confidence to be king.
Second, Chu is remote and far from the Central Plains. In the Spring and Autumn Period, although the strength of the Zhou Emperor was declining, there was still a powerful vassal state. If it is in the core area of the Central Plains and surrounded by vassal states, once it is king, it will be jointly attacked by other vassal states. But Chu is far away, so it is not easy for the vassal States to jointly attack. Qi Huangong tried to unite with other vassal states to crusade against Chu, but did not dare to wage war.
Look at Wu and Yue. They are all powerful and far away from the Central Plains. Only by meeting these two basic conditions can they dare to be king.
Third, it is a pain in Chu people's hearts that Chu State is called barbarian. The Chu people have always wanted to prove that they are not barbarians, but they have always been looked down upon by the Zhou Emperor and their strength has not been recognized. So they want to prove their strength by being king, to prove that they are not barbarians, but Chinese. Chu is actually the most active vassal in learning China culture, which is a contradiction and knot in Chu people's hearts. Being king can make the Chu people prove themselves.