Zhu Chao accompanied me to watch short videos

Afterwards, the King of Wu went north to compete with Qi and Jin for the position of hegemony. Gou Jian worked hard to restore the national strength of Yue.

In 482 BC, Fu Chai personally led his army north to meet with the princes at Huangchi. Gou Jian took advantage of the fact that Wu's elite troops were away and suddenly attacked Wu, which was defeated. Nine years later, Gou Jian once again sent troops to destroy Wu, and the story of the Spring and Autumn Period came to an end.

[The history of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in ancient China was actually like this. Little knowledge about the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period]

The wars during the Spring and Autumn Period undoubtedly demonstrated the principle of "reasoning" to the fullest. As soon as the battle started, the enemy soldiers had to be rewarded.

Before a war, an envoy had to be sent to explain the reason for sending troops, and the attacked party had to host a banquet to entertain the envoy; the enemy had to stop attacking if he was injured, and after winning the battle, he could only pursue the enemy 50 steps. Today, let's take a look at the war etiquette during the Spring and Autumn Period.

There is an idiom in China called "师出有名", which is very suitable for describing the wars in the Spring and Autumn Period. The reason is that during this period, there must be a suitable reason to send troops.

The reason could be to hunt down defected ministers or to help one's allies, but the most common reason was "to help the Zhou emperor punish disloyal ministers."

In 714 BC, Duke Zhuang of Zheng used this reason to send troops to attack the State of Song. At that time, he claimed that the monarch of the State of Song, Duke Shang of Song, refused to pay homage to the Emperor of Zhou, and he sent troops to help the Emperor to attack the State of Song.

It was not enough to have a legitimate reason for the war. At that time, the war had to be scheduled in advance. The party that took the initiative to send troops had to send someone to explain the reason for sending troops, issue a letter of challenge, and discuss the location of the battle.

It stands to reason that if someone comes with a letter of challenge to declare war, the attacked party will surely be furious and want to refuse entry to the envoy.

But it was different in the Spring and Autumn Period. After receiving the declaration of war and welcoming the envoy, the beaten party would even hold a banquet to entertain them, listen to music and compose poetry, and after the meal, sit down and calmly discuss the location of the battle.

The choice of battlefield location also has its considerations. War cannot be started in places where civilians live, so as not to disturb their lives; war cannot be started in places where famine is occurring, as this will be detrimental to the recovery of production.

Therefore, the combat locations they choose are often the wild areas on the border between the two countries.

After handing over the declaration of war and selecting the location, the two sides will start fighting. "Zuo Zhuan" wrote: "When the army has bells and drums, it is called "fa"; when there are no bells and drums, it is called "qin"; and when there is no bells and drums, it is called "xi"."

That is to say, before a war, one has to beat the drum to tell the enemy "I am coming to fight you". To attack the enemy silently and when they are unprepared is called "invading another country", and a quick surprise attack is called "raid".

This shows that sneak attacks were absolutely "unethical" at the time. Not only were sneak attacks not allowed, but one had to wait until the enemy was well prepared and in battle formation before starting a fight.

In war, the elderly, injured soldiers and children should not be attacked. In 638 BC, during the Battle of Hongshui between Song and Chu, Duke Xiang of Song became a role model of battlefield morality.

At that time, Song State had made preparations, but the Chu army had just crossed the river and had not yet formed a battle array. At this time, the ministers of Song State suggested that Song Xianggong take this opportunity to launch a surprise attack and defeat the Chu army, but Song Xianggong disagreed and insisted on waiting for the Chu army to form a battle array before attacking.

In addition, he also ordered that the wounded enemy should not be attacked, and the elderly soldiers should not be attacked. His actions led to the disastrous defeat of the Song army and became a negative example for later generations.

But at that time, Duke Xiang of Song's actions were in line with battlefield etiquette.

The princes of the Spring and Autumn Period were not only forbidden to attack injured enemies, but could only pursue the enemy for 50 steps, and sometimes even had to help the enemy escape. In 597 BC, the Battle of Bi between Jin and Chu broke out.

The Jin army was badly defeated in the battle, and during the pursuit, one of the Jin army's chariots broke down. Logically, the Chu army should have seized the opportunity to kill the Jin army, but surprisingly, the Chu army not only did not take the opportunity to kill them, but also helped the Jin army repair the chariot.

Etiquette is important not only before and during a war, but also after a war.

After the war, the victorious side would hold a "ceremonial ceremony to seal the enemy soldiers", which means gathering the bodies of the enemy soldiers and burying them. Afterwards, when the victorious side returned in triumph, the king would reward the soldiers in the capital and present the victory report to the ancestral temple.

In foreign countries, a "funeral ceremony" must be held, and the monarch must welcome the army back to the city with tears, and also hold a memorial ceremony for the dead soldiers. In addition, soldiers captured on the battlefield cannot be easily killed. They are usually sent back to their country or stay in the victorious country to work.

A situation like Bai Qi's massacre of 40 Zhao soldiers who surrendered during the Warring States Period would have been difficult to happen during the Spring and Autumn Period.

Sometimes, the kings of the Spring and Autumn Period even had to reward the enemy soldiers. In 575 BC, during the Battle of Yanling between Jin and Chu, Xi Zhi, a general of the Jin army, was very observant of battlefield etiquette.

When he met the carriage of King Gong of Chu on the battlefield, he got off the carriage to salute, and then got on the carriage to continue fighting. This move was deeply appreciated by King Gong of Chu, and after the battle, King Gong of Chu sent someone to reward Xi Zhi with a bow and arrow to show his appreciation for him.

In addition to the pre-war and post-war etiquette, there was another etiquette in the Spring and Autumn Period called "Rewarding the Army". The so-called "Rewarding the Army" was to reward the army with wine, meat and other valuables.

At that time, the princes could not only reward their own people, but also reward the enemy. In 537 BC, in the battle of Que'an between Wu and Chu, Wu used the "reward ceremony" to repel the Chu army.

At that time, the King of Chu had stationed his army in Anqing and Zhizhou, and wanted to take advantage of Wu's unpreparedness to launch a large-scale attack. However, on the eve of the attack, he encountered a minister of Wu who came to reward the Chu soldiers.

The arrival of the Jueying Banquet undoubtedly indicated that the Chu army's plan for a sneak attack had been exposed. After some consideration, the Chu army had no choice but to retreat.

Coincidentally, Xian Gao, a merchant from Zheng, also performed a "reward ceremony". The Qin State was secretly marching to attack the Zheng State, but their tracks were discovered by Xian Gao, a merchant from Zheng.

In order to protect Zheng, Xian Gao pretended to be an envoy of Zheng and rewarded the Qin army with 4 leathers and 12 cows. The Qin army thought that Zheng knew about their plan of attack and had no choice but to withdraw. Zheng was thus spared a war.

【Understand the history of the Warring States Period in one go Historical trivia Warring States】

The Warring States Period was an era where force prevailed. From 476 BC to 221 BC, 255 wars broke out in just 230 years, and more than 200 million people died in the wars, half of whom died at the hands of the Qin State, especially at the hands of Qin general Bai Qi.

How did Qin win the war against the elite forces of Wei, Han, Zhao and other six countries? Today, let's take a look at the turbulent Warring States Period from the perspective of the struggle for hegemony among the seven countries.

In 476 BC, the 15th monarch of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, King Yuan, ascended the throne, and the Spring and Autumn Period ended, and the Warring States Period began. At this time, due to the annexation wars, the hundreds of small countries in the Spring and Autumn Period had become few and far between, and only the five major warring states of Qi, Chu, Yan, Jin, and Qin had the right to speak.

Jin experienced a major event in the early years of the Warring States Period. The four great officials of Han, Zhao, Wei and Zhi undermined the monarch of Jin, Duke Ai, and seized power in the country.

In 453 BC, in the Battle of Jinyang, Han, Zhao, and Wei joined forces to overthrow Zhi Bo and divided up his land. Since then, Jin was in name only, and Han, Zhao, and Wei came onto the historical stage. Although they were not officially canonized as vassal states by the Zhou emperor at this time, they had the status of vassal states.

In 434 BC, Duke Ai of Jin passed away, and the ministers of Han, Zhao, and Wei had no scruples at all. They divided up the remaining land of Jin, leaving only Jiang and Quwo to the successor, Duke You of Jin.

In 422 BC, in order to further enhance its power, the State of Wei decided to appoint Li Kui to carry out reforms. Under the leadership of Li Kui, the State of Wei encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland and develop production.

On the one hand, the policy of hereditary nobility officials was abolished, and officials were selected based on their abilities. In addition, Li Kui also proposed regular assessments of soldiers and reorganized the troops according to their combat characteristics. This was the predecessor of the Wei Wuzu system.

After Li Kui's reforms, the strength of Wei State was greatly improved, which also gave the military strategist Wu Qi room to play. In 409 BC, Wu Qi was ordered to attack Qin State, and he led his troops to capture the Hexi area of ​​Qin State.

The following year, he was ordered to attack Qin and captured Hangu Pass in one fell swoop, forcing Qin to build the Great Wall on the east bank of Luo River to resist the Wei army.

In 403 BC, the Zhou emperor finally recognized Han, Zhao, and Wei as vassal states, and the situation of the seven powers coexisting in the Warring States Period was officially formed.

There were not only the princes of Han, Zhao and Wei who had ambitions to become kings, but also the prime minister of Qi, Tian He. In 391 BC, Tian He, who had long since taken control of the king and had great power, exiled the king of Qi to the seaside and then established himself as king.

Five years later, the Zhou emperor officially appointed Tian He as the Marquis of Qi, which is known in history as "Tian replaced Qi."

When Qi was in turmoil, Qin was also having a hard time. They faced Wei, which was standing on the ceiling. Previously, Wei had taken away Qin's Hexi region, blocking their east-west route, so Qin decided to mobilize the whole country to attack Hexi and recover the lost territory.

In 389 BC, the Battle of Yinjin broke out. Unexpectedly, in this war, the 50 Qin troops were defeated by the 5 Wei Wuzu led by Wu Qi. The Qin State became a laughing stock among the princes.

After defeating Qin, Wu Qi's career was not smooth after returning to his country. In 387 BC, the King of Wei became suspicious of Wu Qi because he believed the slander of treacherous ministers, so Wu Qi had to flee to Chu.

Later, he implemented reforms with the support of King Dao of Chu. After the reforms, Chu became increasingly powerful. They attacked Baiyue in the south, expanded their territory to Dongting and Cangwu County, and even joined forces with Zhao and Wei to compete.

However, Wu Qi's reforms also violated the interests of the nobles. In 381 BC, King Dao of Chu died, and his death left Wu Qi without support, so the nobles took the opportunity to shoot Wu Qi.

At this point, the Chu State's reform ended in failure.

The talents that Wei State failed to grasp included not only Wu Qi but also Shang Yang. Shang Yang originally wanted to be an official in Wei State, but he was not valued by the King of Wei. In 361 BC, Qin State issued an order to seek talents. After learning about it, Shang Yang left Wei State and went to Qin State.

In 356 BC, Shang Yang began to reform the Qin Dynasty. He re-enacted the Qin Law and implemented the military merit system, which linked the title to military merit. Killing an enemy officer could increase the title by one level, and obtain one hectare of land and one house.

By analogy, the more enemies killed, the higher the title awarded. The system of military merit greatly improved the combat capability of the Qin army, and the Qin army was invincible and dominated the world.

In 354 BC, the opportunity to see the results of the reforms of Yan and Qin came. In this year, Wei went to war with Zhao, and Zhao's army was defeated and asked Qi for help. Seeing this, Sun Bin of Qi sent troops to besiege the capital of Wei, Daliang.

Pang Juan, the commander of the Wei army, could only lead his troops back to help, but on the way back, they were ambushed by the Qi army in Guiling and were defeated. The Qin State seized the opportunity and launched a surprise attack on the Wei State, regaining part of Hexi.

However, in 351 BC, after joining forces with Zhao and Qi, Wei mobilized its army to launch a counterattack against Qin. Qin had no choice but to return the land and make peace with Wei.

In 350 BC, in order to further improve the national strength, Shang Yang implemented the second reform in Qin. While Qin was busy with the reform, Wei was also busy. In 343 BC, Wei sent troops to attack Han, and Han was defeated and asked Qi for help.

In 341 BC, in order to save Han, Qi sent troops to attack Wei, and the Battle of Maling broke out. In this war, Sun Bin once again made a brilliant plan and annihilated the Wei army. Even the commander of the Wei army, Pang Juan, died in this war.

When the Wei army was defeated, Qin once again seized the opportunity and sent Shang Yang to attack Wei. Wei was defeated again and had to cede land to seek peace. The hegemony of Wei ended here.

After two reforms, Qin became the ceiling among the seven major powers in the Warring States Period. After that, Qin sent troops to Wei many times, not only regaining all the areas west of the Yellow River, but also occupying the natural barrier of the Yellow River and controlling the main roads leading to the Central Plains, laying the foundation for its future hegemony.

As the Qin State grew stronger, the Chu State in the south also gradually rose. In 333 BC, the Chu State attacked the Yue State, and King Wujiang of Yue was defeated and killed, and the Yue State fell apart from then on.

Afterwards, Chu defeated the Qi army in Xuzhou, and shocked the other princes. At this point, Chu became a great country with a territory of 150 million square kilometers.

It was at this time that, after the lobbying of the diplomat Su Qin, the princes of the six countries except Qin formed an alliance to resist Qin.

Afterwards, Su Qin sent the alliance to Qin. Since then, Qin did not dare to wield the butcher knife against the six countries for 15 years. It was not until 15 years later that Qin joined forces with Qi and Wei to attack Zhao, and the coalition was declared broken.

In 313 BC, King Huai of Chu decided to form an alliance with Qi, which made Qin feel threatened again. In order to disintegrate the Qi-Chu alliance, Qin sent Zhang Yi as an envoy to Chu.

After Zhang Yi arrived in Chu, he said to King Huai of Chu: "If Chu is willing to break off diplomatic relations with Qi and form an alliance with Qin, Qin will give Chu 600 li of land in the Shangyu area."

King Huai of Chu valued profit over loyalty and severed diplomatic ties with Qi. However, Qin did not fulfill its promise. In 312 BC, after discovering that he had been deceived, King Huai of Chu attacked Qin in anger, and the Battle of Danyang broke out.

The Chu army was badly defeated in this battle. In the same year, the unwilling King Huai of Chu launched the Battle of Lantian, but the Chu army was defeated again. The two defeats wasted the national strength, and the Chu State went from prosperity to decline.

While Chu was weakening, Zhao was quietly rising. In 307 BC, King Wuling of Zhao promoted the Hu clothing and horse riding to facilitate warfare, which greatly increased the strength of Zhao.

In 293 BC, the Battle of Yique broke out, and the 24-strong coalition army of Wei and Han was completely annihilated by Qin. After that, the only state in the Three Jins that had the strength to compete with Qin was Zhao.