The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period are collectively referred to as the Eastern Zhou Dynasty; During the Western Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Chaojun
The king maintained the authority of the patriarch of the world, and the king of Zhou had a strong control over the vassal States, which prohibited them from attacking or merging with each other. After Pingdong moved eastward, the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty began to decline in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, only retaining the name of the world's co-owner, with no actual control ability. At the same time, with the rapid development of social economy, some ethnic groups called barbarians and Rongdi quickly caught up with the influence of Central Plains culture or ethnic integration. Due to different social and economic conditions, some countries in the Central Plains are strong and some are declining. As a result, the vassal States merged with each other, and there was a situation in which great powers competed for hegemony. The situation of numerous governors seriously hindered the development of economy and culture; The merger and hegemony of various countries have contributed to the unification of various regions. Therefore, the social unrest in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty prepared conditions for national reunification.
After Pingdong moved to the east, the land in the west was owned by the State of Qin. It annexed some surrounding Rong tribes or countries and became a western power. Jin State in Shanxi, Qi State and Lu State in Shandong, Chu State in Hubei, Yan State in Beijing and northern Hebei, and Wu State and Yue State, which later rose in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, all became powerful and became big countries after annexing some small countries around them. As a result, there has been a fierce scene of great powers vying for hegemony in history.
Qi Huangong was the first country to establish hegemony. He appointed Guan Zhong, reformed internal affairs, and became strong in national strength. He also used Guan Zhong's strategy to call for "respecting the king and rejecting foreign countries" and unite Yan State to defeat Beirong. Unite countries to stop the invasion of Miao people, and "save prosperity and save health"; In 656 BC, Qi joined forces with Lu, Song, Zheng, Chen, Wei, Xu, and Cao to invade Cai and cut Chu, observe the soldiers and summon the mausoleum, and asked Chu why he didn't pay tribute to the King of Zhou. Chu's national strength is also very strong, attacking Zheng every year. However, seeing Qi Huangong's ferocity, he proposed peace to save his strength. Later, Qi Huangong held many meetings with governors, and Zhou Wang also sent people to join the alliance to reward them. Qi Huangong became the overlord of the Central Plains.
When Qi dominated the Central Plains, Chu extended its power eastward. After Qi Huangong's death, there was a power struggle within the State of Qi, and the national strength declined slightly. Chu has developed northward again. Song Xianggong wants to inherit the hegemony of Qi Huangong and compete with Chu. As a result, he lost his life. Qi's allies Lu, Song, Zheng, Chen, Cai, Xu, Cao and Wei became allies of Chu.
Just when Chu wanted to dominate the Central Plains, the State of Jin flourished. After Jin Wengong returned to China, he reorganized his internal affairs, strengthened his army, and wanted to dominate the country. At this time, King Xiang of Zhou was banished by the Prince and his collaborators. Jin Wengong thought it was a good opportunity to "seize power and seek hegemony", so he dated the vassal, defeated the vassal, and sent Xianggong back to the king's capital, under the banner of "respecting the king". In 632 BC, the two armies fought in Chengpu, and the Jin army defeated the Chu army. After the war, Jin Wengong joined forces with the princes, and the king of Zhou also participated. Jin Wengong was called "Hou Bo" (overlord).
During Chu Jin's hegemony, Chyi Chin and China ruled the East and West. After the mid-Spring and Autumn Period, Chu and Qin Ping, Jin and flush. However, the war for hegemony has intensified the contradictions between countries, so there have been "chess pieces" to end hegemony. In 579 BC, the State of Song and Chu Jin reached an agreement: they would not send soldiers to each other, send envoys to each other, help each other, and jointly fight against a third country that did not obey orders. The "garrison" reflects the collusion and struggle between the two overlords, and also reflects the desire of some small countries to get rid of the control of big countries. In 575 BC, Chu Jin attacked Yanling, and Chu was defeated. In 557 BC, Chu Jin fought with Zhan Hanban, and Chu was defeated again. During this period, there was also a big battle between Heping and Jin won. In 546 BC, Song joined Chu Jin again as a "garrison soldier", and more than a dozen other countries participated. Everyone agrees that small and medium-sized countries should pay tribute to Chu Jin in the future. Chu Jin shares hegemony equally.
When competing with China for the Central Plains, wuyue appeared in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In order to deal with Chu, Jin allied with Wu. There have been many wars between Wu Chu. In 506 BC, the State of Wu attacked Chu on a large scale, winning successively and reaching the capital of Chu. Since then, the national strength of Chu has been greatly weakened. Jin joined forces with Wu to control Chu, and Chu joined forces with Viet Nam to control Wu. The wuyue War continued. He Lv, the king of Wu, died in battle, and his son Fu Cha was determined to take revenge. He defeated Gou Jian, the king of Yue, and led the army north. He met with his ministers in Huangchi and competed with Jin for the leader. Gou Jian, the King of Yue, "tasted bravery" and saved his strength. He took advantage of Fu Cha, the king of Wu, to attack Wudu. Fu Cha hurried back to make peace with Vietnam. Soon, wuyue was destroyed, and Gou Jian also went north to Xuzhou to meet the princes and became the overlord for a while.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the merger and struggle between countries promoted the social and economic development of countries and regions, and also accelerated the contact and integration between different ethnic groups. After this period of great turmoil and reorganization, hundreds of small countries gradually merged into seven big countries and a dozen small countries around them.
During the Warring States Period, there were Chu in the south, Zhao in the north, Yan in the northeast, Qi in the east, Qin in the west and Han and Wei in the middle. Among these seven great powers, the three great powers in the Yellow River basin from west to east-Qin, Wei and Qi-have the strength to control the situation in the early stage.
From the middle of 4th century BC, Wei ruled the Central Plains. The power of Wei aroused the suspicion of Han, Zhao and Qin, and there was constant friction between them. In 354 BC, Zhao attacked Wei, who regarded Wei as his own country, so he sent troops to attack Handan, the capital of Zhao. Zhao asked Qi for help, and Qi sent Tian Ji to save Zhao, using Sun Bin's plan to attack the Wei capital. Although Wei Jun captured Handan, he had to retreat to save the country and was defeated by the Qi army in Guiling. In the second year, Wei Han joined forces to defeat the Qi army. In 342 BC, Wei attacked North Korea, and North Korea asked Qi for help. Qi still sent Tian Ji as the general and Sun Bin as the strategist, and designed to lure Wei Jun into Maling for ambush. The Qi army was shot by an arrow, General Wei Pang Juan committed suicide, and Wang Wei Shen was captured. This is the famous Battle of Maling. This has caused the power contrast between Qi and Wei in the East.
After Shang Yang's political reform, Qin became the strongest country among the seven countries, so it expanded its power eastward. First of all, they defeated Sanjin and seized all the land of Wei in Hexi. Later, it expanded its territory to the west, south and north, and by the end of the fourth century BC, its territory was close to Chu.
In the struggle between Qin and Sanjin, Qi developed its own power in the East. In 3 15 BC, the state of qi used the prince of Yan to "cede" the throne to Xiangguozi, which caused civil strife and once captured the state of Yan. Later, due to the strong opposition of the Yan people, the Qi army withdrew from the Yan State. At that time, only Qi had the ability to fight against Qin, and the focus of the struggle was to fight for Chu.
The reform of Chu is not thorough, and its national strength is not strong, but it has a vast territory and a large population. The unification of Chu and Qin had a great influence on the development of Qin. So the State of Qin sent Zhang Yi to the State of Chu to persuade the State of Chu never to join the State of Qin, at the cost of 600 Li. Greedy for petty gain, so I broke up with Qi. Chu sent people to important places, but Qin refused to send them. Chu Huaiwang rose up and attacked the State of Qin and was defeated. When the State of Chu was weak, the State of Qin moved eastward into the Central Plains. First with Han and Wei, then with Qi. In 286 AD, the collapse of the Song Dynasty made all countries feel uneasy. Qin invited Han, Zhao, Wei and Yan to attack Qi and defeated Qi. Yan thought that the general captured Linzi, the capital of Qi State, and captured more than 70 cities. The King of Qi fled abroad and was killed by the State of Chu. Qi's status as a powerful country is gone forever. As a result, Qin began to develop eastward.
In 246 BC, Wang Zheng of the Qin Dynasty (later Qin Shihuang) ascended the throne. He appointed Liao Wei, Reese and others, stepped up the pace of unification, bribed the ministers of the six countries with money, disrupted the deployment of the six countries, and sent troops to the East for years. After years of war, the six eastern countries were unified by Qin in succession, from Qin's annihilation of Korea in 230 BC to the demise of Qi in 22 1 BC. Since then, China has established a unified, multi-ethnic and autocratic centralized country.
The unification of Qin is the inevitable trend of social development since the Spring and Autumn Period. Compared with the Western Zhou Dynasty, the productivity of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty has made new progress, and many new technologies have appeared in mining, smelting, casting and other industries, such as the use of crib supports in vertical shafts, which makes it possible to dig deep copper mines; The emergence of sulfide ore smelting and refining technology broadens the utilization of copper resources; Welding, inlaying, gold plating and lost wax casting technology made China's bronze age enter another prosperous period. The appearance of ironware, especially the gradual popularization of ironware in agriculture and handicrafts after the mid-Warring States period, has effectively promoted the development of social production. The social division of labor is more detailed, and the prosperity of all walks of life promotes the production and circulation of goods, making business activities more active than ever. The emergence of the emerging landlord class and the corresponding production relations are a heavy blow to the old mode of production. This is a liberation of productive forces. However, the enfeoffment system led to separatist regimes and melee, which brought huge losses to the social economy and caused a large number of casualties. The establishment of barriers between countries is also not conducive to the development of social production and cultural exchanges. Therefore, only by realizing reunification can society develop and progress faster. Farmers, businessmen and emerging landlords are all looking forward to reunification. Although reunification was achieved through a long war, the people paid a huge price for it. But after all, it has brought historical progress and established a new system.
Qin Shihuang's unification of the six countries is a great event in ancient history, which is of great significance to the development of China's history. Qin Shihuang abolished the ancient feudal system, promoted the county system, established a hierarchical control system from central to local, and adopted measures such as writing books in the same language, sharing the same track with cars, and unifying measurement, which had a far-reaching impact on the feudal society in China. The unification of the Qin Dynasty turned a new page in the history of China.
the Spring and Autumn Period
It is famous for the Spring and Autumn Annals written by Confucius in Shandong. The chronicle of Chunqiu began in 722 BC and ended in 48 BC1year. Historically, Zhou Pingdong moved to 476 BC as the "Spring and Autumn Period", which was basically the same as the first secretary of Spring and Autumn Period. See the entry in Spring and Autumn Annals.
Warring States period
It was named after the wars of the vassal states. The period from 475 BC to Qin Shihuang's unification of China is usually called the Warring States Period. See the entry "Warring States".
(1) Economy: During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the use of ironware and the popularization of Niu Geng marked a significant improvement in social productivity. China's feudal economy has been further developed, especially in the north. The leap of productive forces triggered the revolution of production relations. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the well field system was gradually replaced by feudal private ownership of land, and was finally established through reforms in various countries.
(2) Politics: During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the feudal war destroyed the old order of slavery and brought disaster and pain to the people. However, the result of the war accelerated the process of reunification, promoted national integration and accelerated the pace of change. With the growing strength of the emerging landlord class, they successively carried out political reform movements in various vassal States, and the new feudal system was finally established. Qin, the country with the most thorough political reform, became the strongest of the vassal States and later developed into a unified core force.
(3) Culturally: Culture is a reflection of politics and economy in a certain period. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, economic development promoted scientific and technological progress. Social change has contributed to the unprecedented activity of thought and the prosperity of literature and art.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the old system and the old ruling order were destroyed, the new system and the new ruling order were established, and the new class strength continued to grow. Hidden in this process and the root of this social change is the productivity revolution characterized by iron. The development of productive forces eventually led to the reform movement and the establishment of feudal system in various countries, and also led to the prosperity of ideology and culture.