For Zheng State , this vassal state located in the "mainland of the capital" of the royal family in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and located at the throat of the Central Plains is not familiar with it, and knowing that "Zheng State" is more due to the idiom "buy a box and return a pearl".
"Buying a box and returning a pearl" comes from the article " Han Feizi·Foreign Crown Says The Top Left ": " Chu people sell their pearls in Zheng, which are mulan cabinets, soaked with cinnamon pepper, decorated with pearls and jade, decorated with roses, and compiled with feathers and jade. Zheng people bought their box and returned their pearls. This can be said to be good at selling boxes, but it can be said to be good at selling pearls."
talks about Zheng people buying Chu jewelry merchants, and they love jewelry and boxes, so they bought them at a high price. But he returned the jewelry contained in it to the merchant and left happily with only the box.
The story is of course a satirizing the stupid behavior of Zheng people who do not distinguish between hosting. But it also shows that Zheng State was prosperous at that time and the economy was developed. This is actually normal. Like the Song Dynasty, which was founded in commercial state, Zheng State is at the throat of the Central Plains, and it is the most prosperous place in the entire territory of the Zhou Dynasty. It is inevitable that the commerce will be prosperous and the economy will be developed. And the economic development means that Zheng State has strong national strength. In fact, the same is true. Zheng State in the Spring and Autumn Period once became a small bully in spring and Autumn Period.
Pingwang moved eastward to , Zheng Wugong escorted the Zhou royal family to Dongdu made great contributions, and Gong Ping expressed his gratitude to his royal family for being appointed as a minister of the royal family. This was the highest honor for the princes at that time. When Duke Zhuang of Zheng ascended the throne, his attitude towards Emperor Zhou changed drastically. Not only did he not respect Emperor Zhou as he was as Zheng Wugong, but he even shot and injured King Huan of Zhou in the "Zhou and Zheng" incident and destroyed the army of the State of Zhou. At this time, Zheng State had reached its peak.
After that, Zheng State fell into civil strife, and the princes fought for their legitimate power, and many kings were killed. The chaos continued until the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. This led to Zheng State losing the opportunity to strengthen its national strength and compete for hegemony with the nations. However, as an old-fashioned vassal power, Zheng State was not a soft persimmon in the Spring and Autumn Period or in the early days of the Warring States Period.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Jin people regarded Zheng as the enemy, which shows that the military strength of Zheng has been strong from the early Spring and Autumn Period to the end of the year. The Zheng army once went to war with the coalition forces of Jin, Chu and the princes. The princes' soldiers were even afraid of Zheng and dared not cross the Zheng territory, but were defeated by the Zheng army. The strength of Zheng State's military strength is beyond this, and it is not a false statement to be a country of thousands of chariots. After the three families divided Jin , Han has always coveted Zheng State and has always been in charge of Zheng State, but the actual situation is beyond the expectations of South Korea. In the fifteenth year of Zheng, Han attacked Zheng, and took Zheng's Yongqiu ; in the sixteenth year of Zhuang, he defeated Han and blessed Shu; in the twenty-three years of Zhuang, he besieged Han Yangdi, which is the capital of South Korea, and was surrounded by Zheng State.
can be seen that at this time, Zheng State could completely compete with South Korea with its prosperity in business, economic development and the heritage of its old princes.
strong attack cannot solve the problem, South Korea thought of using wisdom to deal with Zheng Guo. In 375 BC, Han Aihou called on Zhao Hou and Wei Hou to join Shangdang Tun to join the alliance, and also called Zheng Kanggong . After receiving the invitation, Zheng Kanggong was very excited, thinking that this was the importance that the three countries of Wei, Zhao and Han attached to Zheng. So, despite the advice of the ministers, Zheng Kanggong led 20,000 elite troops to leave Xinzheng to Alliance . At the same time, South Korea prepared 150,000 elite troops to raid Xinzheng. Therefore, when the alliance was in progress, 150,000 elite troops in South Korea immediately launched a sneak attack on Xinzheng, the capital of Zheng State. In the end, the South Korean army successfully captured the new city of Zheng's capital and Zheng destroyed the country. South Korea successfully annexed Zheng State and quickly moved its capital to Xinzheng, thus becoming one of the seven heroes of the Warring States Period.
It can be seen that "Zheng" will not be considered a weak country in his entire life, and the final battle to destroy the country is mostly calculated.
At the end of Zheng State, the descendants of the Zheng family moved between Chen (now Huaiyang, Henan) and Song (now Shangqiu, Henan). The original name of the country was the beginning of the Zheng surname.
