In 518 BC, in the middle and late stages of Spring and Autumn , two girls on the border of Wu and Chu were fighting for several pieces of mulberry leaves . Wu girl injured the Chu bride girl. As a result, the Chu bride girl was dissatisfied and went back to tell her family that the family came to cause trouble. The Wu bride girl's family was not to be outdone. The two sides fought each other. The Chu bride girl's family killed the Wu bride girl's family. The city lord of Wu brought people to revenge and burned, killed and robbed the Chu bride city. Finally, both sides sent large troops to come. The two countries had a great war. The Chu State was defeated and the Wu State rose strongly, known in history as the "provocation of Bei Liang".
At that time, Beiliang City, the border city of Wu State, and Zhongli City of Chu State, were bounded by Hengyang River on the west side of Dayun Mountain. Beiliang is the ruins of Dongyang Ancient City in Dongyang Village, Maba Town, Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province. Zhongli City is Banqiao Town, Fengyang County, Anhui Province. Hengyang River is the current Maba Dajian and Wangmupai River.
One day, two little girls in their teens on the border between the two countries ran to the river to pick mulberry leaves. In order to compete for the mulberry leaves of the mulberry tree on the border, the two started arguing and started a fight. The little girl from Wu Guobeiliang won the battle. The little girl from Chu Guo Zhongli was dissatisfied and ran back to ask her parents to go.
The little girl on Beiliang saw that the adults were coming, and hurriedly ran home and called her family. The two families fought each other. The little girl in Chu State's family was a little more powerful and beat the little girl in Wu State to death. After hearing this, other villagers in Beiliang ran to tell the Lord of Beiliang that the people in Zhongli City in Chu bullied us and beat our villagers to death. Then the Lord of Beiliang summoned thousands of troops and the people, ran to Zhongli area in a mighty manner, smashed, looted and burned, and vented, and then came back.
The city lord of Zhongli City reported to King Ping of Chu . This King Ping of Chu was the foolish monarch who killed Wu Zixu . For such a foolish monarch, the truth of the matter is not important. What is important is that he cannot lose his face. After hearing about this incident, he sent a general without saying a word and led the army to capture Beiliang City.
Wu Wang Liao After hearing this, the land was lost and it must be taken back. So he sent his cousin Gongziguang to lead the army to fight with Chu. Gongziguang was later King Wu Helu , one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, he had a very powerful figure under his command, Wu Zixu. He was originally a nobleman of Chu. Because King Ping of Chu believed in slander and killed Wu Zixu's father and brother, Wu Zixu fled to Wu overnight, and always wanted to kill back to Chu and take revenge.
A big battle between Wu and Chu, and in the end, the Chu State could not defeat the Wu State with Wu Zixu. Not only was Bei Liang taken back by Wu State, but Zhongli City and another border city, Juchao City, were also snatched away by Wu State. The Chu State was not strong, and last year, that is, 519 BC, the Battle of Jifu was defeated by Wu State and this year, and was defeated by Wu State. Therefore, he became even more afraid of Wu State and could only step up the defense in the border areas. The war between the two countries was temporarily over.
Beiliang's provocation, on the surface, was a war triggered by several mulberry leaves, but in the general environment of the Spring and Autumn Period, it was actually a part of the battle between the two new and old Spring and Autumn overlords of the State of Wu and Chu. During the grandfather of Wu, the national strength began to rise rapidly. By the time of King Liao of Wu, he had already had the ambition to dominate the world, so the war with the old overlord Chu was inevitable. In addition, King Ping of Chu was incompetent and indecent, and the national strength was declining, so it was just a matter of bullying him, so this was an inevitable war triggered by accidental factors.
