King Wen of Chu

King Wen of Chu

King Wen of Chu? (675 BC), surnamed MI, surnamed Xiong, surnamed Qian, son and mother of King Wu of Chu. He was the king of Chu in the spring and Autumn period. He was in power from 689 BC to 675 BC. In 690 BC, King Wu of Chu died on the way to the expedition. The next year, Xiong Qian succeeded him as King Wen of Chu. King Wen of Chu received strict education in his early years, and his master was invited from the state of Shen, which is called "Baoshen" in history. Because King Wu of Chu had been in power for 51 years, King Wen of Chu was middle-aged when he succeeded to the throne, and his character was very sharp.

"History of Chu" records: "the first important thing that King Wen of Chu did was to move the capital to Ying (now Yicheng, the imperial city of Chu). Maybe it was King Wu of Chu who ordered him to do it." According to the new exploration of the geography of ancient Jingchu, "the official capital of Ying was at this time (the first year of King Wen of Chu), while the actual capital of Ying was moved ten years ago (the late period of King Wu, 703-699 BC)".

Life of the characters

In the 51st year of King Wu of Chu (the fourth year of Duke Luzhuang, 690 BC), Xiong Qian's father, King Wu of Chu, died. Xiong Qian succeeded him as King Wen of Chu. After King Wen of Chu succeeded to the throne, he began to move his capital from Danyang to Yingdu.

In the winter of the second year of King Wen of Chu (the sixth year of Duke Luzhuang, 688 BC), King Wen of Chu raised his troops to fight against the state of Shen (his former site is Nanyang, Henan Province). There was Deng state between Chu and Shen (in today's Xiangfan area of Hubei Province). When Chu attacked Shen, he had to pretend to be Deng. Deng was related to Chu by marriage, and Deng Qihou was the uncle of King Wen of Chu. Although King Wen of Chu had the intention of cutting down on Deng, he was fashionable and had no eloquence. When King Wen of Chu led the army to Deng, Deng Qihou said, "King Wen of Chu is my nephew", so he stopped in the state of Deng and hosted a banquet for him. Zhui's nephew, Huang's nephew and Yang's nephew asked Deng Qihou to kill the king of Chu, but Deng Qihou didn't allow them, so they said, "it must be this man who killed Deng. When he destroys the kingdom of Shen, then he destroys the kingdom of Deng. It's like biting your navel. There's no time to deal with it. This is the only time to kill him. " Deng Qihou did not listen to the formal etiquette to receive queen Wen of Chu. King Wen of Chu continued to go north to attack and destroy the state of Shen, which was the largest country with a different surname in the south of Zhou Dynasty, and turned Shen into a big county of Chu. At this time, although Deng survived, he was in danger. The next spring, on the way back to Chu, Chu master attacked Deng.

In the sixth year of King Wen of Chu (684 BC), King Wen of Chu sent troops to attack the state of CAI (now Shangcai County, Henan Province). It was about 400 kilometers from Yingdu to the state of CAI. When Chu attacked Cai, he had to go to some small countries. He was not as free as he was on the Jianghan Plain. In terms of strategy, King Wu of Chu used his troops like waves, while King Wen of Chu used his troops like leaps and bounds. Since King Wu of Chu said: "I have my armour, and I want to see the politics of China", only 22 years later, his son King Wen of Chu began to fight for the Central Plains.

This time, King Wen of Chu attacked CAI in order to uproot the largest feudal state with Ji surname in the south of central China. On the surface, the reason why King Wen of Chu attacked CAI was to punish the impertinent Marquis Cai at the request of marquis Xi. Xi is Cai's southern neighbor, and his former site is now Xi county, Henan Province. Mrs. CAI and Mrs. Xi are sisters, both of whom came from Chen Guogong's family. Marquis Cai marries first, and he marries later. Mrs. Xi is beautiful. Since Chen passed Cai, he will go to Xi. Marquis Cai, in the name of his brother-in-law, has frivolous manners.

After hearing this, marquis Xi was very angry, so he sent someone to say to King Wen of Chu: "please pretend to attack our country. I will ask for help from the state of CAI. Marquis AI of CAI will certainly send troops. If the state of Chu takes the opportunity to attack the state of CAI again, it will be able to build a war." King Wen of Chu obeyed Marquis Xi's plan and immediately set out to fight. In September, Chu Shi and Cai Shi met in Xindi (now in Runan, Henan Province). Chu Shi was brave and sharp, Cai Shi was defeated, and Cai AI Hou was captured by Chu Shi and brought back to Yingdu.

Because Cai AI Hou was captured in the Xindi battle, he resented Xi Hou. In order to revenge, marquis Cai AI deliberately played up Mrs. Xi's beauty to King Wen of Chu. When King Wen of Chu heard the words of marquis Cai AI, he was greedy for Mrs. Xi's beauty, so he came to the state of Xi in the name of touring. Marquis Xi entertained King Wen of Chu. The king saw that Mrs. Xi was really beautiful. The next day, King Wen of Chu hosted a banquet for Xi Hou. He took the opportunity to capture Xi Hou by force and destroy Xi state. King Wen of Chu took Mrs. Xi back to the state of Chu, took Mrs. Xi as his concubine, and let Marquis Xi serve as a soldier guarding the city gate. After hearing the news, Mrs. Xi wants to commit suicide in the well, but she is dissuaded by doudan. In order to protect the life of holographic Marquis, Mrs. Xi had no choice but to marry King Wen of Chu, known as Mrs. Wen in history. After three years in Chu palace, Mrs. Wen gave birth to two sons for King Wen of Chu: Chu Du AO and Chu Cheng Wang. Mrs. Wen said little in front of King Wen of Chu, and almost never spoke first. Once, King Wen of Chu inquired why Mrs. Wen was so unhappy. Mrs. Wen replied, "I'm a woman, serving two husbands. Even if I can't die, what can I say?" King Wen of Chu thought that it was because of CAI AI Hou that the state of Xi was destroyed, so he sent troops to attack Cai again. In July of the same year, Chu army entered Cai state. He continued to detain Cai aihou, who died after nine years of house arrest in the state of Chu.

In the 11th year of King Wen of Chu (679 BC), the monarchs of Qi, song, Chen, Wei and Zheng met in Juanyi. Qi became the overlord of the five countries. King Wen of Chu went deep into the hinterland of the Central Plains in order to fight for the deer. He demonstrated to the state of Qi, which was becoming the overlord. In the year after the alliance of the five states, he raised his troops to attack Zheng. In history, it was said that Zheng lived in the world. The former site of zhengdu is now Xinzheng, Henan Province.

King Wen was a qualified monarch in the eyes of the Chinese people until he destroyed Deng and defeated Zheng. But his character is contradictory. "History of Chu" said that he was "tough as thunder and electrified, treacherous as clouds." In addition to seven points of male evil, there are three points of mediocrity. However, if he obeys his nature and desires, he may be one-third vicious and seven fatuous. Restricted by the political system of Chu state, he was not reduced to a fatuous king. With the admonition of the former king, the education of the master and his own experience, King Wen gradually learned to distinguish between the straight minister and the sycophantic minister. At the same time, we should pay attention to the selection of talents and abilities, and even promote them without distinction of nationality or grade, so as to make them useful. In the 17th year of AI Gong, Zuo Zhuan, it is said that King Wen took Peng Zhongshuang, the captured Shen, as his leader. Peng Zhongshuang lived up to his expectations, defeated the attack, and made the border of Chu reach the Rushui valley of the Central Plains.

In the autumn of the 19th year of Duke Zhuang of Lu (675 BC), Ba Shi attacked that place in Quan county of Chu state. The monarchs and ministers of Chu despised Ba people and neglected to guard against them, which eventually led to great disaster. All of a sudden, Quan Yin Yan Ao abandoned his guard because he was unprepared and swam for his life. As a result, Mr. Ba drove northward and once pushed into the South Gate of Yingdu. King Wen was so angry that he executed Yan Ao. His people made trouble and conspired against ba. The next spring, King Wen was defeated by the Ba army in Tianjin (now Jiangling County or Zhijiang County in Hubei Province). When King Wen led the Chu division back to Yingdu, he refused to accept it. In order to make up for his mistakes, King Wen turned to attack the state of Huang (now Huangchuan County, Henan Province). HuangGuo is a small country in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River. The gongzu is surnamed Ying, and the northwest is adjacent to Xi county. King Wen accepted the lesson of belittling the enemy and was as handy as before. He defeated Huang's army in Fuling. King Wen withdrew his troops immediately and got sick when he arrived at Qiudi. In summer, on June 15, in a place called yuan, King Wen of Chu died of a violent illness. He was buried in the gate of the underground palace.

Political initiatives

Establishing county system

The state of Chu was the earliest vassal state to establish the county system in China. It broke through the rules of enfeoffment system since Shang and Zhou dynasties, and became the first county system after Qin Dynasty. Enfeoffment system is the system of enfeoffment of feudal lords in ancient China. After the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, the feudal land and the residents were used to reward the royal family's children, meritorious officials and the descendants of ancient emperors on a large scale. The feudal princes had the hereditary ruling power in the enfeoffment country, and had the responsibility of obeying orders, paying tribute regularly and providing military gifts and service to the emperor.

With the passage of time, the relationship between the princes and the Zhou Dynasty has changed from the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The authority of the princes has become more and more important, and the power of the king of Zhou has been gradually elevated. The princes have no choice but to despise the royal family. For example, Shenbo contacted Canrong to attack king you of Zhou. Huan shot the Duke of Zhou. In the southern states of Chu, even the cheapest tribute, bract thatch, was not paid according to the regulations for a long time. The central government exists in name only. The system of enfeoffment hindered the development of history and the progress of society.

In the process of developing to Jianghan, Chu people conquered some small countries. Therefore, should the conquered rulers of small countries continue to rule and become the state of Chu, or should the original rulers (nobles) be moved out and managed by the king of Chu to become the first-class local power of Chu? The Chu people learned from the enfeoffment system of the Zhou Dynasty and changed the indirect rule to direct management. First seen in historical records, after King Wu of Chu destroyed his power (now Jingmen City in Hubei Province), he set up the power as a county, and sent the official Douluo as the county magistrate (chief), which formed the rudiment of the county system. In 687 B.C., King Wen of Chu (now Nanyang, Henan Province) felled Shen. The king of Shen was the uncle of King Xuan of Zhou. After serving Shen, King Wen of Chu wanted to resume the kingdom of Shen and make an alliance with Chu. However, considering the historical lessons of enfeoffment system and the geographical location of Shen, Ling Yin Peng Zhongshuang suggested that King Wen of Chu destroyed Shen and set up a county. After the destruction of the country (now Xi county in Henan Province) and set up a county. The county system of Chu really began.

Shen and Xi are connected with the Central Plains in the north and Huaiyi in the East. They are the gateway of the northern border of Chu, the frontier fortress hanging outside the gate of Chu and the bridgehead of Chu's troops to the north of Central Plains.

After King Wen of Chu, the state of Chu set up 20 counties in the destroyed countries, most of which were outside the great wall of Chu. Shen, Zhuangwang County, Chu (now Pingyu, Henan Province). In Lingwang County of Chu, Chen (now Huaiyang, Henan), CAI (now Shangcai, Henan), dongbugeng (now Xiangcheng, Henan), xibugeng (now Wuyang, Henan). The father of King Ping of Chu (now Baofeng of Henan Province). Huiwang County of Chu

Chinese PinYin : Chu Wen Wang