of the Warring States Period , which flows with the blood of the upper nobles of the Shang Dynasty , and also has its unique attainments in terms of culture and military. Therefore, the strength of the Song State at that time was far stronger than later generations' evaluations of it.
However, the powerful Song Kingdom, which has tens of thousands of soldiers and is known as the "Five Thousand Races of the Son", was not only not regarded as the Warring States powerhouse by future generations, but was defeated by its own neighbors before Qin destroyed the six countries?
Once suppressed Qi State on the eastern battlefield, went south to defeat Chu State , and advanced westward to the powerful Song State, which made Wei State fearful, why did not squeeze into the ranks of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period?
The legacy of the Shang Dynasty, fighting against the countries with one's own strength
According to the description in " Warring States Policy ", the pattern of the Warring States at that time was: there were seven strong countries with a scale of ten thousand cycling and five countries with a scale of ten thousand cycling. From these written records, it is not difficult to find that the measurement standard for the national strength at that time was the unit of "cycling".
in a simple way, it means the number of tanks owned by a country. This tank is not the current tank and armored vehicle , but for the army at that time, its status was not lower than that of modern combat vehicles.
The chariot in the Warring States Period was a mobile combat unit that was pulled by horses, and the rear was equipped with archers and warriors. Although from a modern perspective, it is still a relatively primitive weapon, but in the battlefield environment of the Warring States Period, the chariot was the most powerful death harvester.
Judging from the number of chariots held by the Song State, the Song State reached about 5,000 cycling at its heyday, and failed to meet the standard of a strong country in the "Warring States Policy". Therefore, from this perspective, the Song State was difficult to be listed as the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period.
The territory of the Song Dynasty experienced a major change during the Warring States Period. After the weaker neighbors of Zheng State and Lu State were destroyed or annexed by major powers such as Qi and Chu, Song State officially bordered the three major powers Wei, Chu and Qi at close distance.
Because the overall strength of the Song State is not as strong as that of the three major powers, the three countries have the idea of taking action against Song. However, at this time, King Kang of Song overthrew the previous rule of Duke Huan of Song and established its own new regime. After the reform, the Song State was refreshed and had initially had the strength to compete with the surrounding powerful countries.
So the kings of the three major countries began to worry about attacking Song Guohui to expose their weaknesses in front of other countries, thus increasing the risk of being besieged, so no one dared to act rashly.
King Kang of Song was a monarch who focused on force. He knew that other countries would invade their territory sooner or later, so he trained his troops every day and prepared for combat day and night.
Finally, Qi State was the first to endure it and led its troops to attack Song State. As a result, Song State not only blocked the attack of Qi's army, but also sent a surprise attack to Qi's land. Soon, five cities were cut down. After Qi State retreated, Chu State felt that it was stronger and that the attack on Song State would definitely be more effective, so it organized the army to launch an attack.
However, King Kang of Song was even more brave, and he defeated the Chu army and gave it to the three hundred miles of territory of Song for nothing. The Wei State's offensive effect on Song State was also extremely poor, and in the end, he paid the price of being captured two cities and withdrew in a hurry.
self-inflation, making enemies on all sides
King Song Kang saw that the three neighboring countries were defeated by his powerful army, so he began to overconfidence. He felt that he could unite one of Qi and Chu to destroy his enemy, Wei, together, but King Song Kang was a good at fighting, but was not good at diplomacy. After several waverings, he finally decided to establish diplomatic relations with Qin .
Finally, King Kang of Song took the initiative to attack and destroyed Qi's ally Teng's . Qi had to join forces with him a second before, but turned around and could no longer bear the Song State, who sent troops, and joined forces with Yan State to attack together, defeating the Song army.
King Zhaoxiang of Qin Seeing that the situation was so chaotic, he was unwilling to be involved in the war around Song State, so he gave up the treaty of allies on the excuse of attacking the Anyi area of Wei State's hinterland, and pretended not to see the other princes' actions to siege Song State together.
The poor Song State not only made many enemies, but also had internal conflicts at this time. First of all, because King Kang of Song was too cruel, the people were united in the public. The prince of Song State was arrogant because he was very fond of the ministers who were very fond of King Kang of at a banquet.
The two of them have formed a feud since then, and King Kang of Song did not favor his son, but avenged the ministers, expelled the prince from the country in anger, and lost the support of the people. The combat effectiveness of the army was not as good as before, so the coalition forces quickly invaded the capital of Song. King Song Kang hurriedly fled with his remaining troops, but ended up tragically on the way to escape.
If King Song Kang understood that the role of the people's hearts was greater than that of force, he would probably not provoke so many enemies again. If the State of Song can be content with oneself, avoid war, and continue to strengthen the construction of military strength.
In fact, according to the development speed of the Song State at that time, it could face the attack of the coalition forces within a few years. It’s a pity that the Song Dynasty was not lucky and was betrayed by its allies without sufficient time to develop, and was wiped out under the coalition offensive.
The monarch is weird, missed the opportunity
In the year when Duke Huan of Qi died, the whole country of Qi instantly lost the desire to fight. This was the best time to compete for the overlord of the Central Plains, but the monarch of Song was Duke Xiang of Song during this period. Because the idea of this monarch was too advanced, it often seemed out of place with the background of the Warring States Period. How strange is this person’s thinking? Let's take a look together.
Duke Xiang of Song was entrusted by Duke Huan of Qi before his death to take care of Duke Huan of Qi on his behalf. Duke Xiang of Song was an open-minded person and advocated the concept of a gentleman. He not only took good care of Prince Zhao all the way, but also escorted him back to his country to inherit his great cause.
At this time, Duke Xiang of Song felt that he had the style of a benevolent man and gentleman in ancient times, and his country and army were like him, a military force of justice, so he had the ambition and confidence to compete for the overlord of Spring and Autumn .
If you want to dominate the country, you must have strong allies. Duke Xiang of Song successively invited King Cheng of Chu and Duke Xiao of Qi who personally helped him to the throne to hold the alliance event in Yucheng.
When he went to participate in the alliance, his subordinates reminded Duke Xiang of Song to bring more troops to prevent the Chu people from changing their minds and holding the king hostage. Duke Xiang of Song believed that as a benevolent person, others would treat him with sincerity. As expected, Duke Xiang of Song was detained by the guards led by the King of Chu as soon as he arrived at the venue, and later he had to regard King Cheng of Chu as his honor.
After being humiliated on the day of the alliance, Duke Xiang of Song felt that the King of Chu and the country were neither gentlemen, and secretly decided to conquer Chu. The state of Chu was strong at this time, and Duke Xiang of Song could only start the attack from its vassal state, Zheng.
Duke Xiang of Song thought of this and immediately led an army to take down Zheng State. King Chu Wenxun led his troops to come, and the two armies set up their formations on both sides of Hongshui.
When the Chu army began to cross the river, Gongzi Muyi said: If we can attack while the Chu people cross the river and land, the opponent will be in a hurry and we will definitely win.
But Duke Xiang of Song would not do this. He believed that he was so open and would never attack the enemy. If he wanted to fight, he should set up a formation to fight openly. As a result, when the Chu army crossed the Hongshui River and had not yet formed a formation, Muyi once again advised Duke Xiang of Song to launch an attack in advance. Unexpectedly, Duke Xiang of Song not only disagreed, but also scolded Prince Muyi for being unqualified and disrespectful to his opponent.
As a result, when the Chu army stood up and attacked in large numbers, Duke Xiang of Song realized that his army could not resist the powerful Chu army at all. In the end, he was not only beaten to escape, but also shot an arrow on his thigh.
summary
In fact, the State of Song should not enter the ranks of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period in terms of military strength or national strength. It only had a very short glorious period. was then pulled down by several abnormal monarchs. In addition, its special geographical location, it was actually only a matter of time before it was wiped out by neighboring countries.
