Wu Yue fights for hegemony, the legend of the Spring and Autumn Period
In the long history of history, the most important moments of each dynasty or country often occur in the period of founding the country, establishing hegemony and declining. For example, the history of the Qin state is the most typical, with the rescue of Qin Xianggong, the Western hegemony of Qin Mugong, the Shang Dynasty reform of Qin Xiaogong, and the unification of the Six Kingdoms by Qin Shi Huang, followed by the willful demise of Qin II.
During this period of time from Qin Mugong to Qin Xiaogong, a full two hundred and sixty years passed, and there were sixteen kings. They are not completely incompetent, nor are they insignificant.
In fact, there were many heroic men among them, but due to the limitations of the objective environment, they did not have much impact on the history of the Qin State, and their experiences were not too legendary, so their reputation in later generations was relatively small.
The history of the Spring and Autumn Period is similar to the history of the Qin State. In the early days, King Zhou You, Duke Zheng Zhuang, Duke Qi Huan, Duke Wen of Jin, and King Chu Zhuang each had their own merits, making the early Spring and Autumn period seem both wonderful and mysterious.
However, by the middle period, the story of their descendants turned out to be bland, and the Zhou royal family and Zheng Guo were even reduced to the point of being bullied. At this moment, a man named Wu Zixu appeared on the stage, pushing this historical ** to a climax with his own strength, creating the classic story of "Dick Silk Counterattack".
Wu Zixu's family was killed by the mediocre King Chu Ping, he fled to Wu alone, went through hardships, and finally relied on his ability and righteous partners to help Wu State defeat the strong with the weak, defeated the powerful Chu State, and even attacked the capital of Chu State, and found the body of the enemy King Chu Ping, and whipped more than 300 lashes.
However, due to the lack of strength of the Wu state, they were unable to inflict a fundamental blow on the Chu state, so they quickly withdrew from the state of Chu and turned their attack to the Yue state in the south.
The appearance of Wu Zixu made the Spring and Autumn Period change, and Wu's attack on the capital of Chu became a turning point in that period of history. Although the next Wuyue battle for hegemony may not be so exciting, it has also attracted everyone's attention because of the legendary stories before and after.
is like a wonderful story during the period of Duke Qi Huan, which makes the seizure of the throne by the sons after the death of Duke Qi Huan also seem particularly eye-catching. Similarly, the seizure of the throne by the sons after the death of the king of Chu Gong is also quite legendary, but it is far less famous than the seizure of the throne by the sons during the reign of Duke Huan of Qi.
This is due to the fact that the popularity and legend of the Duke of Qi Huan far surpassed that of the King of Chu. However, although Wu's capture of the Chu capital took place in 506 BC and Wu King Lu was made a god in a battle, ten years later, in 496 BC, he was killed in a battle with Yue.
This year, the new king of Yue, Gou Jian, began to emerge. This feeling is like the inheritance of the protagonist, and the saga of the previous protagonist, Lu Lu, can no longer attract the audience, so a new protagonist Gou Jian is immediately introduced.
Of course, some people may ask: "Didn't the killing of He Lu and the succession of Gou Jian happen in the same year?" Why does it seem to be deliberate in your writing? ”
This is indeed a fact, but I hope everyone understands two points: first, the death of He Lu was only an accident and has nothing to do with Gou Jian's succession; Second, during the ten years from 506 BC to 496 BC, He Lu had been implementing the "doubles strategy", attacking Chu and Yue on the other, which eventually led to the relocation of the capital of Chu and the unbearable disturbance of Yue.
However, in the records of the historians, this seems to have become "He Lu did not make achievements for ten years, until he was beaten to death by Gou Jian". When historians begin to record this history with the pen of writing **, the credibility of this history will be greatly reduced.
As I said in a previous article, there is a lot of water in Wu Zixu's story, because judging by common sense, many of the stories surrounding him are too legendary and logically flawed.
During Wu Yue's struggle for hegemony, this feeling became more and more obvious.
Legend has it that the scene of He Lu's death in battle was because the Vietnamese army sent a prisoner on death row to commit suicide in front of He Lu to apologize, but He Lu was stunned, and the Vietnamese army took the opportunity to rush to kill, resulting in He Lu's death in battle. Although such a thing may not be common, it will not have much of a shock to a king like Lu Lu, who is accustomed to wind and waves.
After all, He Lu ascended to the throne through the previous king, and after hundreds of battles in his life, he would never be defeated by such a small trick. In many cases, historians often depict the battle in an overly fantastical and bizarre way, ignoring the key factors in the outcome of the war.
Similarly, the death of the Wu army can be explained in a variety of ways, such as the ambush of the Wu army, the logistical supply problems, or the mishap during the scorching period.
However, the whole plot of such a collective suicide of death row inmates is obviously a bit bizarre. The real situation may not be so appealing, but it is.
In the strong literary atmosphere, he died, and his ** husband was only twenty-three years old. The young man has the qualities of a protagonist: he can take revenge like a hero, or he can be a loser like a bear.
Although He Lu was assisted by a talent like Wu Zixu, he was easily defeated by the young Gou Jian, which proved that the Yue State led by Gou Jian was a formidable opponent of the Wu State. Moreover, when a powerful king dies, he usually leaves behind a mess.
According to this theory, even if he barely cleaned up the mess, the husband would be tortured to the core, let alone attack the Yue Kingdom to avenge his father. However, Fucha not only did it, but did it very beautifully.
It is said that immediately after he succeeded to the throne, he ordered the palace gate guards, and whenever he saw him, he asked loudly: "Fucha, have you forgotten the revenge of killing your father?" At this time, the husband always replied with tears in his eyes: "I will never forget it!" ”
Fucha not only took over his father's role, but also took over Wu Zixu's protagonist halo, and the legend was directly full. Two years later, Fucha sent troops to attack the Yue Kingdom, and the two sides fought a major battle in Fujiao, and the Yue Kingdom was defeated.
Why did the Viet Cong fail? It is said that it was because Gou Jian underestimated the enemy and did not listen to the advice of the doctor Fan Li that led to such a result. After this battle, Gou Jian only had 5,000 soldiers left, so he had to ask his husband for peace.
Many people thought that Fucha would continue to pursue Gou Jian, but he agreed to Gou Jian's request, which made many people feel puzzled and ridiculed. Some people think that this is due to the fact that there are villains around the husband and he himself gets carried away, so he will make such a decision.
According to the account of "Yue Gong Qi Shi", things do not seem to be what we thought before. The Yue country is not a simple country, but the leader of the entire Yue people. We can analogy Fucha to Liu Chan Zhuge Liang, and Gou Jian can be analogous to Meng Shu.
So, why is Zhuge Liang so tolerant of Meng Shu? Isn't it because you can't solve the trouble because you kill Meng Shu? Similarly, Fucha also adopted the same strategy towards Gou Jian, because the Yue people could not be killed, and they could only be dealt with through the Huairou policy.
In the face of national interests, personal grievances seem insignificant, and the husband is not obsessed with avenging his father, and his behavior is obviously the performance of a qualified politician.
However, Wu Zixu and Fucha had different views, he believed that Gou Jian must be killed, otherwise the Yue State would inevitably destroy the Wu State. Judging from the results, Wu Zixu's opinion is correct, but this is only the opinion of later generations.
Judging from the time, it is difficult for us to say that it was wrong for the husband to treat Gou Jian with gentle means. Just as Zhuge Liang let Meng Huo go after he caught him, if Zhuge Liang was later caught and executed by Meng Shu, can you say that Zhuge Liang's tenderness towards Meng Shu was wrong?
Similarly, some people will say: "It is precisely because Fucha did not kill Gou Jian that whenever Fucha goes north to fight for hegemony, he will be attacked by Yue Guo." "But do you know that before Zhuge Liang died, there was already news of rebellion in Nanban, and as soon as Zhuge Liang died, Nanban immediately rebelled.
Faced with this situation, can you say that it was a mistake for Zhuge Liang to release Meng Huo in the first place? In many cases, our so-called correct cognition is actually a process of backwards from the results.
When the result is good, the process is not important. However, in the process of trying to recreate the real history, this kind of thinking is the most undesirable. Only by understanding the situation of the person concerned in an all-round way can he suddenly realize: "No wonder he would make such a seemingly stupid but helpless choice." ”
On the way to the hegemony of the Wu State, Fucha faced many choices. For example, should he continue to entangle with the Yue State, or go north to compete with the Jin State for hegemony? His reason told him that the national strength of the Wu State did not surpass that of the Jin State, and there would be no good results in forcibly fighting for hegemony.
But at the same time, he reasoned and told him that the internal strife in the Jin Kingdom was still serious, and as long as it was done properly, it was completely possible to take advantage of the fire to rob. In addition, the country of Yue has always been an unstable factor, and Gou Jian is not an easy figure to deal with.
If he were a husband, how would he choose? Perhaps, he will choose to be conservative and find a way to dominate the southeast first, and then think about the Central Plains. However, Fucha finally chose to be radical, hoping to get the Jin Kingdom as soon as possible, and then come back to clean up the Yue Kingdom with the power of the overlord.
However, we all know the result, although Fucha finally reluctantly became the overlord, but the Vietnamese army also took advantage of the situation to kill under the capital of Wu. Later, Fucha led the army back to aid the national capital, but all the bad news came along the way: the national capital fell, the prince was killed, and the general trend of Wu was irreparable.
Gou Jian wrote a letter to his husband, expressing his willingness to accept his request to surrender, because back then, the husband also accepted Gou Jian's request to surrender, which was regarded as "repayment". But in despair, Fucha's answer was: "There is only death." ”
The Wu-Yue struggle for hegemony eventually ended with the destruction of the Wu state.