We usually mention the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, but in fact the Warring States period included much more countries than these seven.
In addition to the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, there were also some powerful countries such as Yue, Lu, Song, Zheng and Zhongshan. Although their presence and influence are not as good as those of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, they have also left their footprints in the long river of history.
However, compared to the Seven Heroes, they did not make it to the end in the struggle of the late Warring States period, and most of the countries were wiped out before Qin Shi Huang ascended the throne. Therefore, the evaluation of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States period by later generations is mainly based on three aspects: first, the country needs to be a big country, strong enough to change the direction of Chinese history; Secondly, this country must be a participant in the middle of the Warring States period, not just a pawn; In the end, with the exception of the eventual victor, the Qin Wai, the country must hold out until Qin Shi Huang ascends the throne and is personally eliminated by him.
Only countries that meet these three conditions can be considered the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. In addition to these seven powerful countries, the other countries during the Warring States Period were either too weak to have an impact on the history of the entire Central Plains, so they could only go with the flow; Either they were exterminated before Qin Shi Huang became emperor.
Such a country, even if it was once strong for a short time, could not be compared with the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. Among them, the most representative may be the overlord Yue Guo in the late Spring and Autumn Period.
The Yue Kingdom was the most powerful vassal state in the late Spring and Autumn Period, but it declined rapidly during the Warring States Period, and in the end it was not even selected for the list of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. As for how the hundreds of vassal states in the Spring and Autumn Period evolved into the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, we need to briefly review the historical process of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
New Copywriting: If divided by the stages of the annexation war, the history of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period can be divided into six stages. The first stage was the rise of great powers, which was marked by the famous Beacon Opera Princes Event.
Although there is controversy in the historiographical circles about the authenticity of this event, and it is believed that the beacon tower appeared after the Han Dynasty, the decline of the Zhou royal family during the Western Zhou Dynasty is indisputable.
At that time, the Zhou royal family was no longer able to control the vassal states below.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, due to the implementation of the feudal system, the Zhou royal family needed strong forces to maintain control over the princes. However, once the Zhou royal family declined to the point where it could no longer suppress the princes, annexation wars broke out between the vassal states.
Before the decline of the Zhou royal family, due to the suppression of the Zhou royal family, the vassal states were generally not strong. The largest vassal states were only one or two modern cities. Some of the smaller vassal states were just large tribes.
In the past 100 years, some far-sighted countries with expansion advantages have begun to expand frantically and gradually rise to become real powers.
At this stage, the four states of Qin, Jin, Qi, and Chu rose first.
In a war for hegemony, the countries that can take the lead in rising and participating in it are the countries that have the "legitimate right to expand" in the first stage of expansion. At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, only the four great powers of Qin, Jin, Qi, and Chu gained this power in their own ways.
By saving the Zhou royal family, Qin won the right to expand in the west, and as long as it could drive away the dogs, it could occupy large territories. The Jin state succeeded in driving out King Zhou by helping the Zhou royal family quell the civil strife, and obtained the right to expand legally.
The success of these countries is a testament to the importance of obtaining legal expansion rights in the first phase.
1.Because of Jiang Taigong's ancestor, the Qi State received the power to "conquer the nations on behalf of the Son of Heaven", which was one of the reasons for their rise. The state of Chu relied on its southern geographical location to obtain the legal right to expand by force.
In the first hundred years of the Spring and Autumn Period, the number of vassal states decreased rapidly, and the Jin kingdoms were merged.
Ten. 7. In the thirty-eighth year of service, the Qin state occupied the Guanzhong region, the Chu state occupied the entire Jianghan Plain, and the Qi state rose in the Shandong region and wiped out a large number of Dongyi tribes and vassal states.
It can be said that in the first stage alone, more than half of the vassal states have disappeared, and the vassal states that can survive to the end are all at the city level and above, and the vassal states at the town and county levels have basically been wiped out.
2.The rise of the Qi state was partly due to the fact that their ancestors were Jiang Taigong and were granted the power by the Zhou royal family to "conquer the nations on behalf of the Son of Heaven".
The state of Chu was due to its remote geographical location and no one could interfere with their military expansion, so it obtained the so-called legitimate right of expansion. The first hundred years of the Spring and Autumn Period were the period when the number of vassal states declined the fastest.
The Jin State "annexed the seventeenth country and served the thirty-eighth country", the Qin state basically occupied the Guanzhong region, the Chu state stook the horse in the south and gradually occupied the entire Jianghan Plain, while the Qi state rose in the Shandong region and wiped out a large number of Dongyi tribes and vassal states.
In this first stage, more than half of the vassal states were eliminated, and the vassal states that were able to survive to the end had reached the level of cities and above, while the vassal states at the town and county levels had basically been wiped out.
The arrival of the second stage marked the rise of Qi Huangong. After the initial scuffle, several great powers began to emerge, each with a certain sphere of influence.
At this time, a new system of hegemony began to take shape, and the great powers began to compete for the position of hegemon. At this stage, wanton expansion is no longer possible, because every small country has a strong backer behind it.
Therefore, the big countries must use the power of the hegemon to suppress the small countries and win more opportunities for expansion for themselves by striving for hegemony. This is the core reason for the struggle for supremacy in the middle of the Spring and Autumn period.
In the second stage, Duke Huan of Qi was the first to dominate, and Duke Wen of Jin took over the baton. Subsequently, although Qin Mugong of the Qin State also briefly claimed hegemony, the hegemony was actually that of the Jin State.
Until the rise of King Chu Zhuang of Chu State, he briefly took away the hegemony of Jin State. However, after the death of King Chuzhuang, the Jin state once again regained its position as overlord. In short, in the second stage, the Jin state competed with the Chu state for hegemony, and the Qi state played the role of mediator.
After decades of war, the two countries of Jin and Chu were finally exhausted. This turning point marked the end of the second phase and the beginning of the third, known as the Second Rebellion.
Although this agreement ended the war, both sides were hostile to the other. Thus, the Jin state supported the state of Wu near the state of Chu, and the state of Chu supported the state of Yue behind the state of Wu.
At this stage, although the Jin and Chu countries signed an armistice agreement, the Wu and Yue countries continued to fight fiercely. Therefore, in the third stage, that is, in the late Spring and Autumn period, the focus of the war was on Wu and Vietnam.
After completely defeating Wu, the Yue not only unified the southeastern region, but also became one of the six great powers, including Qin, Jin, Qi, Chu, Yue, and Yan in the north.
Yan's rise to power was mainly due to its location in the north and its lack of competitors. However, this geographical location later became a constraint on the expansion of the Yan Kingdom. At the end of the third stage, the Viet Nak was the strongest.
The end of the Spring and Autumn Period marked the hegemony of Goujian, the king of Yue.
The fourth stage is also known as the "period of change". With the rapid development of iron-smelting technology, the traditional slavery system began to disintegrate, and countries began to solve their domestic problems.
During this phase, countries are racing to make reforms in order to meet domestic challenges. In this process, the originally powerful Jin State was the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Wei, and the Qi State in the East also experienced a change of dynasty, changing from the Jiang family to the Tian family.
Countries began to race to carry out reforms, and Wei was the first to practice reforms, and after reforms, it quickly rose to become the new hegemon. Wu Qi brought the idea of reform to the state of Chu, which also quickly became strong.
The successful experiences of Wei and Chu have made all countries realize that Wei's reform ideas are the most correct. Therefore, in the next ten years, the Qin State implemented the Shang Yang Reform, the Korea State implemented the Shen Bu Harm Reform, and the Qi State implemented the Zou Ji Reform.
With the completion of the reform of the law by several major powers, there is no longer a new power in the Central Plains. This is because at that time, all the territory was divided among several large countries, and it was impossible for those small countries to rise again.
If you miss the fast track of changing the law in this era, it will be even more difficult to change the law in the future. After several major powers such as Qin, Qi, Chu, and Wei completed the reform, they entered the fifth stage - combining vertical and horizontal.
At this stage, the original strategy of fighting for hegemony in the Spring and Autumn Period was no longer very applicable, because most of the small countries had been annexed, and the remaining small countries were also second-rate powers in the Spring and Autumn Period, such as the Song State and the Zhongshan State.
At this stage, it has become impractical to assume hegemony and continue to expand legally, because there are no weakly enough states to conquer. As a result, the great powers began to play a game of convergence and succession in order to annex other countries.
At this stage of merger, almost all second-rate vassal states could not avoid the fate of being annexed or divided. At best, they can only preserve their country by joining forces, and it is no longer possible to expand their territory.
During this period, several middle powers were partitioned and annexed. Since the death of King Goujian, the Yue Kingdom has been in decline, and there are frequent civil strife in the country, and the opportunity for change has been missed.
When the era of cooperation and horizontal cooperation comes, it is impossible for other countries to provide opportunities for peaceful change in Vietnam. As a result, the Vietnamese tried to divert domestic contradictions through foreign wars, hoping to achieve change.
However, the Yue State was defeated by the Chu State in a foreign war, and was eventually divided between the Chu State and the Qi State, and most of the territory was annexed by the Chu State.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Three Kingdoms of Bashu and Yiqu were powerful local princes, but after the successful reform of the Qin State, the gap between these countries and the Qin State in terms of comprehensive national strength gradually widened, and due to the geographical location, they lacked the possibility of linking vertical and horizontal, and were finally annexed by the Qin State.
Similarly, the vassal states of Zheng, Song, and Lu in the Central Plains were relatively strong in the Spring and Autumn Period, but they were significantly less powerful than those of the great powers that successfully changed the law during the Warring States Period.
In the game-like convergence and horizontal, their strength weakens day by day, and they eventually become the prey of others. After South Korea successfully changed the law, Zheng Guo was included in the bag. The Song state once tried to divert contradictions through foreign wars, but after failure, it was divided by Qi, Wei, Chu and other powerful countries.
The state of Lu has always relied on the combination of vertical and horizontal to protect itself, but with the reduction of second-rate small countries, it is not immune. Finally, after the Battle of Changping, the Qin state wanted to eliminate the Zhao state, and other countries came to the rescue.
At this time, the State of Chu was on the way to rescue the State of Zhao, and by the way, the State of Lu was destroyed.
At the end of the phase of the alliance, the second-rate vassal states had been almost wiped out, and the few remaining states became the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. With the disappearance of these second-rate vassal states, the major powers lost their strategic buffer space, leading to the beginning of a decisive battle for annexation between the great powers.
This entered the sixth and final stage of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period - the unification stage. At the beginning of this stage, the overall strength of the Qin State was the strongest, which also destined the Qin State to unify the world.
Because it is impossible for several other great powers to really join forces against Qin.
The outbreak of the Battle of Changping marked the beginning of the sixth phase. Prior to this, there were still Zhao states among the six states of Shandong that were able to fight against Qin alone. However, after the Battle of Changping, with the fall of Zhao, no country could stand alone against Qin.
Therefore, after the Battle of Changping, the relationship between the countries changed from a joint alliance between the great powers to a sweeping world by the Qin state. The end of the sixth phase was marked by the complete sweep of the Six Kingdoms by Qin Shi Huang.
In 221 BC, the state of Qi surrendered, and Qin Shi Huang unified the world. At this point, the chaos of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period officially ended.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, although there were hundreds of years of annexation wars, we can still see the general trend: first, large countries annexed small countries, and then there was a struggle for hegemony and mergers between large countries.
In the process, small countries were constantly wiped out and annexed until the great power decisive battle of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. However, we cannot ignore the fact that although the Seven Heroes of the Warring States were nominally seven countries, it does not mean that only these seven countries were important during the Warring States period.
Other countries, such as the Yue Kingdom, the Song Kingdom, the Lu Kingdom, etc., also played an important role. It's just that they didn't make it to the end.