Five Prime Ministers , refers to the incident in which the five major vassal states recognized each other's throne in the mid-term of the Warring States Period . This incident marked the complete disappearance of the authority of the Zhou king.
Among the early Warring States, only Chu , Wu , Yue became king.
In 334 BC, King Hui of Wei was repeatedly defeated by Qi and Qin , and lost hegemony. In order to curb Qin's expansion, under Hui Shi's plan, he took the initiative to lead the monarchs of Korean and other countries to Xu to pay homage to King Wei of Qi . Both sides recognized each other's throne, which is known in history as Xuzhou Prime Minister .
Xuzhou Prime Minister aroused hostility from traditional major powers such as Qin and Chu. The State of Chu immediately sent troops to attack Xuzhou, Qi, hoping that the State of Qi would cancel the title of king.
In 325 BC, King Huiwen of Qin also established himself as king. In the same year, King Hui of Wei reigned King Xuanhui of Han and was king . At that time, all countries, no matter how big or small, became kings, including Zhongshan Kingdom, , Song Kingdom, and other second-rate countries at that time.
In 323 BC, under the mediation of Gongsun Yan, Wei State , Han Dynasty, Zhao State , Yan State and Zhongshan State formed an alliance. The kings of all countries became kings to fight against major countries such as Qin, Qi, and Chu. Qi State was dissatisfied with the king's name of Zhongshan State and tried to join forces with Yan and Zhao State to attack Zhongshan State to force it to leave the king's name. Among all countries, there is only King Zhao Wuling believes that Zhao State does not actually have the strength to be king, so it does not use the king's name in China, but is only called "jun".
Introduction
In 334 BC, King Hui of Wei and King Wei of Qi met in Xuzhou, and recognized each other as king .
In 334 BC, King Hui led South Korea and some small countries to Xuzhou (now southeast of Teng County, Shandong) to meet King Wei of Qi. He respected King Wei of Qi as the king. King Wei of Qi did not dare to call him king alone, so he also recognized the title of King Wei of Wei, and King Hui changed this year to the first year of Hou.
In short, King Hui of Wei and King Wei of Qi concluded an alliance treaty, respecting each other as kings. After that, all countries became kings one after another (using the king, ignoring the authority of the King of Zhou. Before, all countries were vassal states, only , Zhou emperor could be kings) , was known in history as "Xuzhou Prime Minister". Therefore, the posthumous titles of the monarchs in the middle and late Warring States Period were King XX, while the previous posthumous titles were King XX and Marquis XX, such as Duke Huan of Qi , Duke Wen of Jin , Duke Wen of Wei , Duke Zhaohou of Han , Duke Xiao of Qin , etc. (The three kings of Wu, Yue and Chu have been called kings in the Spring and Autumn Period)
Main content
The incident in which the monarchs of the five kings of Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan and Zhongshan have been called kings in each other during the Warring States Period.
In 325 BC, Qin Huiwenjun claimed to be king after Wei and Qi. In the same year, King Hui of Wei respected Han Weihou as king in order to win over Han Dynasty, namely King Xuanhui of Han. King Hui of Wei and King Xuanhui of Han brought the prince to Zhao to the court and had a good relationship with Zhao. Qi State was dissatisfied with Zhao and sent Tian Ju to lead his army to attack Zhao and won. Seeing that Qi State was powerful, King Hui of Wei asked to meet with King Wei of Qi.
In 324 BC, King Hui of Wei, King Xuanhui of Han and King Wei of Qi met in Pinga, and the following year, King Hui of Wei and King Wei of Qi met in Zhen. In order to deal with Qin's alliance with strategy, Gongsun Yan, who served as the general of Wei, initiated the "Prince of the Five Kingdoms" in 323 BC, asking Wei, Han, Zhao, Yan, and Zhongshan to be kings. The purpose is to implement the strategy of uniting the Union and try to unite the power of the five countries to confront Qin, Qi, Chu and other major powers. From this year on, the monarchs of Zhao, Yan and Zhongshan began to become kings. The great powers took a hostile attitude towards the "Five Kingdoms Prime Ministers". Qi once used Zhongshan Primary School as an excuse to unite with the three kingdoms of Wei, Zhao and Yan to force Zhongshan to abolish the king's title, but failed.
After the Prime Minister of Xuzhou, Qi stopped attacking Wei, but Qin in the west did not stop attacking Wei.After Shang Yang's reforms , Qin's national strength increased greatly, and Wei was a barrier to its further development to the east. Therefore, Qin regarded Wei as a "heartache" , and therefore continued to attack Wei.
In the fifth year of King Huiwen of Qin (333 BC) , Gongsun Yan, a native of Wei, was appointed as the founder of Daliang. In order to make a good relationship with Qin, the State of Wei presented Yin Jin (now east of Huaxian County, Shaanxi) to Qin, and Qin changed it to Ning Qin.
The following year, Gongsun Yan defeated the Wei army in Diaoyin (now south of Ganquan County, Shaanxi Province). General Longjia was captured and 80,000 Wei army was eliminated. In the ninth year of King Huiwen of Qin, the Qin army crossed the Yellow River and captured the Pi family of Wei (now west of Hejin County, Shanxi), Fenyin (now west of Wanrong County, Shanxi), Jiao (now southwest of Sanmenxia City, Henan), Quwo (now west of Wenxi County, Shanxi) and other places. In the tenth year of King Hui of Qin, Zhang Yi used Zhang Yi as the prime minister. In that year, Zhang Yi and Prince Hua captured Wei Puyang.
Then Zhang Yi persuaded King Hui of Qin to return Pu Yang, Jiao and Quwo to the State of Wei, and asked Prince Yao of Qin to go to the State of Wei as a "master" to make friends with Wei. Zhang Yi and Wei’s reconciliation measures are to set up a long line to catch big fish. Soon Zhang Yi went to Wei State to persuade King Hui of Wei to "not be rude" to Qin. So "Wei Yin entered Shangjun , Shaoliang , and thanked King Hui of Qin" .
Wei Shangjun has 15 counties under its jurisdiction, and is located in the areas of Luochuan and Yan'an in northern Shaanxi. Shaoliang is now Hancheng County, Shaanxi Province, and is an important town in , Hexi . The Qin State seized 700 miles of Hexi and Shangjun of Wei, and captured some areas of the Wei State in Hedong. This fundamentally changed the balance of power between Qin and Wei, and the dangers of the rivers and mountains that the Wei State relied on were also lost.
The Qin State won steadily in the war against Wei State, and its popularity increased greatly. Therefore, King Hui of Qin changed his reign to become king in the tenth year of the Queen of Xuzhou of Wei and Qi (324 BC).
The Wei State, which is in the cracks between Qi and Qin, obviously cannot resist the attack of Qin with its own strength.
In order to resist Qin (and to guard against Qi), Wei must fight for South Korea.
In May of the tenth year of Queen Hui of Wei (325 BC), King Hui of Wei reigned Han Junwei as king in Wusha (Han land, in the north of Xingyang, Henan). Han Weihou was then renamed King Xuan of Han . October "Zheng (South Korea) Xuan Dynasty Liang" , King of Han went to Wei Chao to meet King Hui. In the same year, King Wuling of Zhao ascended the throne, King Hui of Wei took the crown prince's heirs, and King Xuan of Han also took the crown prince Cang to Zhao State to pay homage to the new king at Xingong, with the purpose of conquering the favor of in the Three Jin . Zhao State was originally close to Qi State.
However, in the 23rd year of Zhao Suhou (327 BC), Qi attacked Yan State, and the three Jins jointly rescued Yan. Zhao general Han Ju fought with Qi army in Sangqiu , and Zhao general died in battle. Therefore, Wei and Han went to the King of Wuling to destroy the joint relationship between Qi and Zhao.
① Volume 68 of "Records of the Grand Historian" "Biography of Shang Jun".
① Volume 5 of "Records of the Grand Historian" "Qin Billust Records".
② "Records of the Grand Historian" Volume 70 "Biography of Zhang Yi".
③ Volume 5 of "Records of the Grand Historian" "Qin Billust Records".
④ The ancient version of " Bamboo Book Anniversary ".
⑤ "Records of the Grand Historian" Volume 43 " Zhao Shijia ".
South Korea's national strength is weaker in Seven Heroes . Although Wei State wooed South Korea, it failed to enhance its position in the forces against Qi, Qin and Chu. Gongsun Yan, who was a Daliang Creator in Qin State, returned to Wei State because King Hui of Qin appointed Zhang Yi as a Daliang Creator, and King Hui was appointed as a general and named Xishou. Zhang Yi advocated the strategy of joining the Qianlong Rear Queen. In the 12th year of King Hui of Qin (323 BC), he met with ministers of Qi and Chu in Nosang (now southeast of Pei County, Jiangsu Province) in the purpose of contacting Qi and Chu in order to attack the Wei State. Under this situation, Gongsun Yan suggested that the king of Wei make a fortune with the country.
King Hui of Wei adopted this suggestion, so in the 12th year of Emperor Hui of Wei, he gathered the five kingdoms of Han, Zhao, Yan and Zhongshan to become kings. This was the "Five Kingdom Prime Minister" incident in the middle of the Warring States Period. Among the five countries, Wei and Han had already called kings first. In this rally, they only respected the three kings of Zhao, Yan and Zhongshan as kings, and the five countries recognized each other as kings.
Before "The Prime Minister of the Five Kingdoms", Chu had already proclaimed himself king as early as Spring and Autumn , and Qi and Qin had also proclaimed kingly. Therefore, all the seven major powers of the Warring States Period had been proclaimed kingly by this time. In the 5th year of the "Prince of the Five Kingdoms" (318 BC), the State of Song also claimed to be the king.
"The Prime Minister of the Five Kingdoms" was a great victory for Wei. Qi was worried that Wei would be detrimental to its country with this alliance force, so he destroyed it. It used the excuse of Zhongshan Primary School that it did not recognize the qualification to be king, and proposed to unite with Zhao and Wei to depose the Zhongshan Wang . Zhao and Wei were not deceived by the people of Qi, and they still supported Zhongshan as king. Qi failed to achieve one plan, and another plan was created to close the channels for exchanges with Zhongshan, and proposed to cut off Pingyi to Yan and Zhao, so that they could send troops to attack Zhongshan together. Yan and Zhao did not obey Qi's plans either. Qi destroyed the alliance formed by the "Five Kingdom Prime Ministers" and failed①.
Zhongshan Kingdom was a middle-class country at that time. The reason why Qi opposed Zhongshan's king was "I am a country of ten thousand chengs, and Zhongshan is a country of ten thousand chengs, so why is it named me?" The Song Kingdom, which later became king, was also a second-class country. Second-class countries like this have been called kings, which shows that the influence of the Zhou emperor among the vassal states has been greatly weakened.
