In "Shangshu Pastoral Oath", the king said: "Whew!."My friend Tsukasa Jun Yushi, Situ, Sima, Sikong, Yalu, Shi, Qianfu, Centurion, and Yong, Shu, Qiang, Ji, Wei, Lu, Peng, Puren. Call Ergo, Bilgan, Lier spear, and swear to it. This ancient text records the existence of Yongguo, which is the first account of Yongguo in Chinese history. Before King Wu of Zhou defeated the king of Shang, he had allied with 800 princes in the world, but because the time had not come, the oath was not realized. Two years later, King Wu of Zhou officially launched a campaign against the Shang king, and with the assistance of the princes, successfully destroyed the Shang dynasty. And Yongguo played a key role in this historic oath.
Yongguo was given the status of the leader of the Eight Kingdoms, and became the most powerful vassal state among the Eight Kingdoms. So, where is Yongguo located?According to ancient records, the territory of Yongguo roughly included today's Chongqing, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan and other places, with a total area of more than 200,000 square kilometers, equivalent to the size of a province today. The capital of Yongguo is located in Fangcheng, located in the southwest of today's Zhushan County, Hubei Province, and the ruins of Fangcheng still have a history of more than 3,000 years.
Regarding the origin of Yongguo, there is a theory that the ruler of Yongguo came from the Rongcheng clan. Rong Cheng was a minister during the Yellow Emperor period, and was forcibly relocated by the Shang Dynasty to the area of Xiong'er Mountain in the eastern part of the Qinling Mountains, which is today's Lushi County, Henan. The Rongcheng clan became powerful during the Shang Dynasty and were demoted to slavery by the Shang king. A part of the Rongcheng clan fled to the Qinling Mountains and established the Yong State. Yongguo developed because he assisted King Wu of Zhou in destroying the Shang dynasty, became a meritorious prince of the Zhou royal family, and was named an earl.
The peak of Yong's history was located in the early years of the Zhou Dynasty, spanning the Qinba Mountains, bordering the Western Zhou in the north, the barbarians in the south, the Ba people in the west, and even the Baipu people in the south of the Jianghan Plain were also subject to the Yong. However, the strength of the Yongguo also led to its demise. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Yong formed a fateful hostile relationship with the surrounding vassal states, especially with Chu. The main reason for the destruction of the state of Chu was the special geographical location of the state of Yong, surrounded by enemies, and frequent wars with the state of Qin, Chu and Ba. In the end, in 611 BC, the combined forces of Chu, Qin, and Ba broke through the capital of Yongguo, and Yongguo was destroyed, and the territory and people were divided.
After the fall of the Yong Kingdom, some of the Yong people scattered and fled, settling in the mountains of Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Chongqing and other provinces and cities, and integrated with the local ethnic groups. To this day, these places still retain place names related to the Yongren, such as Dayong County, Dayong Creek, Dayong Ping and so on in Hunan. Although the history of Yongguo has disappeared, it has left a rich culture and inheritance in this land.