However, the Spring and Autumn Period is also the most complicated and wonderful period in the history of China.
The group of intellectuals who have just been liberated from the bondage of the rites of Zhou has been endowed with infinite vitality by the open era and the disunited regime. They use words and time to think about the mysteries of civilization and science and urge the development of the times.
They finally gathered into a hundred schools of thought to contend and compete for beauty. While making the sky of Chinese civilization bright with stars, they also inevitably merged into the torrent of the Spring and Autumn Period.
However, in the war for hegemony of other countries, the aristocratic temperament and the bloody battle of soldiers met at the same time, which finally affected the trend of the times, opened the bloody battle era of the Warring States and laid the foundation for great unity.
It can be said that the systematic formation of Chinese civilization was not in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, nor in Qin and Han Dynasties, but in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Therefore, the Spring and Autumn Period is an era that can't be missed to find the source of Chinese civilization, understand the cultural trend of China and clarify the laws of history. Guan Yu, Du Yu, and other famous ancient people couldn't put it down, which shows the importance of the Spring and Autumn Period.
However, after 500 years, how to sort out the context? First of all, sorting out those countries in the Spring and Autumn Period is half done.
Therefore, Mizi will first take you through the countries in the Spring and Autumn Period and begin to understand the first step in the Spring and Autumn Period.
I. The United Nations in BC
If the Spring and Autumn Period is compared to a United Nations in China, it will be a very appropriate metaphor. In this United Nations area in British Columbia, there are several countries:
The first one has only one country, Zhou. Because King Zhou is the nominal suzerain of all the vassal states, that is, the founder of the United Nations, but in fact his control over the vassal states is relatively weak. The area that can be directly controlled is just the land around Luoyi in Zhou Dynasty. Moreover, due to internal and external factors in the Spring and Autumn Period, the land was continuously reduced, and the authority of the Zhou royal family was gradually lost until the Warring States period.
The second is the vassal state of the Central Plains. Although the power of vassals is getting bigger and bigger, they are not completely sovereign countries. In addition to being subject to the etiquette of Zhou Wang, their power was largely subject to the overlord at that time. The overlord can exist, in addition to the relatively strong comprehensive national strength, more importantly, the vassals need a strong leader to lead everyone to deal with the barbarian countries around them. There are many governors in the Central Plains, and the well-known Jin, Qin, Qi, Lu and Song all belong to this category.
The third is the enemy of the central plains vassal state, the barbarian Rong Di State. They are the main external threats that the vassal States can maintain relative unity and have no fights like during the Warring States period. Barbarians are not monolithic. They are divided into many small tribes and countries. Because the level of civilization development is not as high as that of the Central Plains, it is briefly recorded in the history books. They will also fight with each other and even unite with the Central Plains countries to attack other barbarian countries. Famous Chu State (from Yi to Xia), Yi Qu, Xirong, Solitary Bamboo, etc. All fall into this category.
In this case, to clarify this United Nations, it is mainly necessary to clarify the composition and role of the second and third countries.
Second, the vassal States of the Central Plains
Among the vassal states in the Spring and Autumn Period, there were heroes of Zhou, leaders of local strength faction of Zhou Zhaoan, and descendants of sages. Their composition and sources are very complicated. Mizi once made a detailed decomposition in the article "Interpretation of the feudal system in the Western Zhou Dynasty", so I won't go into details here, but everyone's starting point is the same, but the end point is very different. Throughout the comprehensive strength of the Spring and Autumn Period, Mizi divided it into the following categories:
First-class, overlord and quasi-overlord princes, Jin, Chu, Qi and Qin.
This is the head country in the Spring and Autumn Period. Several countries are often hegemonic or big countries that are qualified to dominate. Relying on their own national strength, they influenced the historical development of the Spring and Autumn Period through war and diplomacy, and held the initiative of the times.
Among them, the State of Jin and the State of Chu have long occupied the hegemony throne, and each has a number of powerful vassal states. Chu Jin often exerted pressure on other vassal states by its own strength, diplomatically coerced other vassal states to participate in their wars or obey their will, and at the same time collected a certain amount of tribute from smaller vassal states. It was only a nominal suzerain in the Spring and Autumn Period. After Jin Wengong, the state of Jin occupied a dominant position for a long time, until later, the Qing clan forces occupied a larger position in China; At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu challenged the Central Plains, and it didn't take the lead until Chu Zhuangwang's time. Since then, it has been wrestling with the State of Jin.
So-called? A history of the Spring and Autumn Period, and half of Chu Jin? Their position in the Spring and Autumn Period can be seen. In the whole process of Chu Jin's hegemony, the State of Jin prevailed most of the time, but the State of Chu often took the initiative to challenge.
Qi and Qin, when powerful, can take the lead, dominate the throne and compete with Chu Jin; When you are weak, you can be independent and participate in international diplomacy and military actions as an independent power. Qi Huangong dominated the Central Plains for a short time, although it declined after that, but most of the time it just kept its status as a big country. Qin really became a vassal state in the early Spring and Autumn Period, but benefited from the rapid development of geographical advantages, it briefly dominated during the Mugong period and was recognized by the King of Zhou, but most of the time it only focused on the status of a western power, and its participation in the hegemony of the Central Plains was not as great as that of the other three countries.
The positioning of the four countries is Eastern Qi, Northern Jin, Southern Chu and Western Qin, which are located in the four directions of the Central Plains and have the natural geographical advantages of wrestling with the Central Plains.
Second-rate, the local power of the Central Plains, there are a large number of such vassal States, represented by Wei, Lu, Zheng, Song, Chen and Cai.
Although the national strength of these vassal States is not enough to dominate, their national strength can resist the attacks of the four major countries when they are strong, get rid of the status of submission, and ensure the status of regional powers when they are weak. This is the main goal of hegemonic princes. They obeyed and the hegemony was in their hands.
Among them, Zheng and Song were countries that fought for hegemony. Zheng was one of the three tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period when he was in Zhuanggong, and his scenery was infinite for a while. When Song was in Xiang, it fought for hegemony after Qi Huangong's death, and was finally defeated by Chu because of its poor national strength. Therefore, some historians also list Zheng Zhuanggong and Song Xianggong as hegemons, which belong to the second category of powerful countries.
Lu once wrestled with Qi, a big country in the East, and became a friendly neighbor with Qi after failure. This was the etiquette responsibility in the Spring and Autumn Period. Weiguo was repeatedly attacked because it was close to barbarians, but did not participate in hegemony, but participated in Central Plains affairs with a high degree. Chen and Cai, who are located in the north of Chu, have repeatedly blocked the pace of Chu's northward advancement and ensured the independence of Chu. Most of the time, it is a semi-vassal state of Chu, but it has a high degree of participation in Central Plains affairs, so it barely ranks among the second-rate countries.
The third stream is Xia Man State, and the representative countries (Chu) are Wu State, Yue State and Zhongshan State.
The characteristic of this vassal state was that it was at arm's length from the Central Plains system of Zhou Dynasty, but it was later merged into China, became a member of China, and even gained certain advantages in the hegemony of Central Plains.
Strictly speaking, Chu is also a barbarian vassal state in the summer, because in the early Spring and Autumn Period, Chu rebelled against the Zhou Dynasty (refer to the article "Chu Thought" by Mizi), but due to the accumulation of several generations, its strength can be compared with that of Chyi Chin, a big country in the Central Plains, and it belongs to the most successful vassal state in this kind of country, so it is listed as a first-class vassal state.
Wu Yueben broke away from the Central Plains system, but with the support of Chu Jin, he quickly moved closer to the Central Plains culture and rose rapidly. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and the beginning of the Warring States Period, he once became the overlord of the Central Plains, and his light overshadowed the princes of the Central Plains. But after all, their national strength is not strong enough, their prosperity is also prosperous, and their demise is fast. After maintaining a generation of hegemony, the country declined rapidly, even perished, and failed to participate in the competition of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period.
Sun Yat-sen is another country. Sun Yat-sen, located between Jin and Yan, was once extinct and was the enemy of the governors of the Central Plains. It was almost destroyed by the state of Jin, but at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, there were internal disputes in the state of Jin, and Zhongshan was revived. It was only in the Warring States period that Wei and Zhao destroyed the country twice before they were completely declared extinct.
This vassal state and the Central Plains are friends or enemies. At first, they did not belong to the Central Plains cultural sequence, but they were threats and enemies to promote the reunification of the Central Plains countries. But once they are strong, they will take the initiative to learn and integrate into the culture of the Central Plains, just like the Central Plains. As the overlord of the Central Plains, Chu has been wrestling for a long time. wuyue once dominated the meeting between Huangchi and Xuzhou, and Zhongshan and the princes of the Central Plains in the early Warring States period? Wang Xiang? The waiting time shows their influence on the Central Plains.
The fourth stream, small countries, vassal states of big vassal states, and so on, the number of such countries is even more numerous. The countries represented are Cao Guo, Tan Guo, Guo Xu, etc. The vassal states of Lu are Mou Guo, Zhu Guo, Guo Fei, etc., and the vassal states of Jin Guo are Guo Yi and Huo Guo, etc.
This kind of country is a feudal country of Zhou royal family except the above, and the number is very large. In the early years of the Spring and Autumn Period, this number may exceed 100, but for current events in the Spring and Autumn Period, it belongs to the countries that make up the numbers. They either become a fuse in a war, or serve as cannon fodder in a diplomatic incident, or become the participating countries of the alliance for the hegemony to decorate the facade. They are always active on the stage in the Spring and Autumn Period, but most of the time they are not the protagonists on the stage. By the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, most of them had disappeared with the times.
Of course, in addition to the governors of the Central Plains and countries that escaped from barbarians and entered the summer, many countries were active on the stage in the Spring and Autumn Period. They are collectively referred to as. Barbarian Rong Di? .
Third, barbarian countries.
The name of the barbarian Rongdi comes from Zhou. After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the area where he lived and influenced was advertised as the Central Plains, and the surrounding tribes were called barbarians and Rongdi. As the west says? Civilization? And then what? Barbarians? The definition is exactly the same.
French historian Rene? Grouse's words can well explain the difference between the Central Plains and the barbarian Rongdi: it is not that people living here (in the barbarian areas) are inferior to those in other areas, but because of the natural conditions in this area, the lifestyle that other areas (in the Central Plains) have long abandoned is preserved here.
Accurately speaking, these tribal countries around the Central Plains do not belong to a cultural circle with the Central Plains, but their different lifestyles do not mean that they are weak.
Moreover, in the early spring and autumn period, they were once stronger than the vassal States of the Central Plains. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the scientific and technological development of the Central Plains finally surpassed them and entered the stage of total conquest. They can't get around the history of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Among the barbarian countries, the more powerful ones are: Xidi (Tang Lin Shi Ru, Liu Xu, Gao Luoshi) between Qi and Jin Dynasties; Zhongshan between Jin and Yan (fresh danger, fat, drum); Ganoderma lucidum and solitary bamboo in the north of Yan state; Loufan and Hu Lin in the north of Jin State; Yiqu, Wushi and Xirong (party houses) in northwest Qin; Bai Di between Qin Jin.
Most of these tribes were enemies of the Central Plains governors and invaded after the decline of the Zhou Dynasty, so they were a great threat to the Central Plains governors in the early stage. However, in the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, most of them were conquered by the Central Plains, and some of them became vassals of the vassal States of the Central Plains, such as,, and Zhai, and they all went to the Jin State to worship. Such as Yi Qu and Hu Lin, were not conquered until the Warring States Period. In the end, most of them were integrated into the Central Plains cultural circle.
The Spring and Autumn Period is actually a history of conquest.
There are also barbarians who did not complete the conquest in the Zhou Dynasty, but declined at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, such as Xu, Zhou Lai,. Strictly speaking, some of them are not barbarians, but because mountains and rivers are not closely related to the Central Plains, they gradually appeared in the field of vision of the Central Plains at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. For example, Shu and Ba in Shu; The mediocrity and strangulation of Hanzhong generation; Wu Yue Shu in the Yangtze River Valley.
Mizi said: Organize 70 countries and study for 500 years.
If the Huaxia region in the Spring and Autumn Period is compared to a United Nations, then the Zhou royal family is the nominal founder of the United Nations, but it has been sidelined. Jin, Qi, Qin and Chu are permanent members and have the power to convene the United Nations General Assembly. However, the rotating chairman system is adopted between them. The rotating method is not to vote but to fight, and the consent of the founder Zhou Royal Family is needed.
Other governors in the Central Plains, such as Guo Wei, Lu Guo, Zheng Guo, Guo Song, Chen Guo, Cai Guo, etc., are all members of the United Nations, protected by the rotating chairmen of the permanent members, and pay a large amount of membership fees. Chu, Yue and Wu were not members of the United Nations originally, but they were recognized by the United Nations through their own efforts and successfully became the rotating presidency of the United Nations.
Outside the United Nations, there is another group of forces, namely barbarian countries. They tried to subvert the political power of the Member States of the United Nations, but they were resisted by the Member States of the United Nations. Finally, they were defeated by the Central Plains vassal States led by the rotating presidency, most of them were merged, and a few surrendered and joined the United Nations.
In fact, after watching these countries for 500 years, that's all.