In 546 B.C., a historic meeting kicked off at the west gate of Shangqiu City, the capital of the Song Kingdom.
During that time, Xiang Xu, the doctor of the Song State, took the initiative to propose peace negotiations between the two major powers in the Central Plains, Jin and Chu, in order to quell the war between the two major powers in the Central Plains. Surprisingly, both the powerful Jin and Chu countries agreed to this proposal, and also invited representatives of more than a dozen vassal states, including Qin and Qi, to participate in the alliance.
Almost all the recognized vassal states of the Central Plains participated in this meeting, and the theme of the meeting was only one, that is, to get the two countries of Jin and Chu to stop the war and seek a peaceful solution.
During the meeting, the atmosphere of peace talks between Jin and Chu was extremely tense. In the past hundred years, there have been more than a dozen direct wars between them, and even more so through the ** state or the client state of the other side.
This blood feud makes it quite difficult to achieve peace. However, despite the tension between the two sides during the peace talks, they eventually reached an agreement on the issue of peace.
According to the agreement, except for Qi and Qin, all other vassal states were required to submit to the Jin and Chu states and jointly respect them as overlords.
After this peace talks, no one expected that the two countries would really abide by the peace agreement. For the next four full years, there was no major war between the two countries.
The success of this peace negotiation also made the wars between other small countries gradually subside, and it became the most peaceful forty years of the Spring and Autumn Period. This peace talk is the famous "Second Fighting Alliance" in history.
The so-called "killing of soldiers" means the elimination of wars and the cessation of military operations. The reason why it is called the "second time" is because before this peace talks, the two countries of Jin and Chu had already held a peace talks several decades ago, but there was another conflict soon after that peace talks, so this time it was called the "Second War Alliance".
Greased'The Yalta Conference of the Spring and Autumn Period'The Second Arms Talks, similar to the Yalta Conference after World War II, played a key role in delineating the spheres of influence of the great powers.
This meeting, which took place more than 2,000 years ago, ended with the division of spheres of influence between Jin and Chu. But the question is why this meeting was successful. What influence did Xiang Xu, the ruling physician of the Song state, have in order to keep the two countries in keeping their promises for 40 years?
Forty years later, the two countries tore up the peace treaty, and what was the result? The answers to these questions require us to delve into the special history of the Spring and Autumn Period. "
In the year of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Haojing was attacked by the dog Rong, and the Western Zhou Dynasty came to an end. The surviving members of the royal family moved to Luoyang, re-established the capital, and established King Zhou Ping, the son of King Youyou of Zhou, as the new monarch, opening a chapter in the history of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou royal family was powerful and surrounded by many allies, which was able to suppress other princes by force and unify the Central Plains. However, in the Eastern Zhou period, with the weakening of the power of the Zhou royal family and the dispersion of allies, the prestige of the Zhou royal family gradually weakened, and it was difficult to control the situation as before.
In the early decades of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the decline of the Zhou royal family was inevitable. Until someone decided to step up and try to change the situation. At that time, Zhou Tianzi was the grandson of King Zhou Ping, and he had just ascended the throne, when he was young and vigorous, and decided to go all out to implement his reforms.
However, before he could realize his dream, Zheng Guo, who was close to the Zhou royal family, stood up against him. Zheng was also a large country, and its monarch had served as a minister within the Zhou royal family, similar to a modern prime minister.
However, once the two sides turned their faces and the war broke out, the Zhou royal family not only failed to re-emerge, but even Zheng Guo could not be defeated. Even the Zhou Tianzi, who was trying to change his fate, was shot down by an arrow in the chaotic battle and fell off his horse.
After the war, the decline of the Zhou royal family was revealed, and the vassal states were no longer bound by it and strengthened themselves. Over the past few decades, the first-class vassal states of the Central Plains have been trying to improve their strength, but at that time they still had some scruples about the Zhou royal family.
However, after the war, their fears dissipated and their expansion became more unscrupulous. Thus, a more chaotic Spring and Autumn period began.
In the early Spring and Autumn period, a number of far-sighted vassal states had emerged, including the most active states of Qin, Jin, Qi, and Chu. At the same time, some core countries in the Central Plains, such as Song and Zheng, were not far behind and sought to expand abroad.
In the course of the development of these states, although their development was not very fast, they gradually surpassed the other vassal states in size and became the so-called "first-class powers".
However, as these vassal states expanded, they also faced a new problem: if they expanded rashly, they could cause hostility and siege from other vassal states. Although the Zhou royal family is no longer powerful, it is still the co-ruler of the world, and rash expansion will cause public outrage.
If the Zhou royal family raised its arms, it could cause this first-class power to be besieged by other vassal states. At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period, no single vassal state could resist the siege of all the vassal states at the same time, so rash expansion was tantamount to self-defeating.
However, if it does not expand, it will be obsolete by the times.
Duke Huan of Qi, the first overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period, in order to solve a dilemma, he proposed a strategy of honoring the king. In the name of Zhou Tianzi, he united with other vassal states to deal with those small states together, which could not only allow the Qi state to expand legally, but also allow the vassal states that followed him to gain benefits.
Through this strategy, the state of Qi was able to develop rapidly and become the first hegemon of the Spring and Autumn Period.
During the period when Qi Huan was the hegemon, other first-class vassal states were also busy with their own affairs. The Qin state was expanding to the west, moving from the Tianshui area of Gansu to the Guanzhong region in an effort to unify Guanzhong.
The Jin state was settling the civil strife, and at that time, the members of the Jin dynasty were in a civil war around the throne for many years. When Duke Qi Huan was in power, a strongman-type monarch appeared in the Jin Kingdom, and he drove away all his own relatives, even his own son, leaving only one, and the other sons were driven out of the Jin Kingdom, thus solving the problem.
The state of Chu is located in the south, and there are many wild lands around it, so it is busy with rapid development. Although the old first-class vassal states such as the Song State and the Zheng State also wanted to expand, because they were located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, the division of surrounding forces had been basically completed, so the expansion speed was relatively limited.
After decades of ups and downs, Qi Huan Gong gradually entered his twilight years. His death sparked a domestic power struggle that caused Qi to plummet in strength and was no longer able to maintain its supremacy.
With the decline of the Qi State, the powerful countries that originally coveted the position of overlord began to act. During the reign of Duke Huan of Qi, although these countries also tried to compete for hegemony, they could not succeed due to the strength of Qi.
However, now that the Qi State has weakened, these countries have seen this opportunity and are eager to try it. From this moment on, the war for hegemony in the Spring and Autumn Period entered a more intense stage.
In the first round of semi-finals, the state of Chu will face the state of Song and the state of Qin will face the state of Jin, and these two battles will undoubtedly determine who can become the next hegemon.
At that time, the background of Chu's war against Song was that Chu completed the internal integration of the south, began to expand rapidly to the outside world, quickly went north, won several old vassal states in a row, and gradually approached the hinterland of the Central Plains.
The Song State, on the other hand, was a duke canonized by the Western Zhou Dynasty, and although its strength had fallen behind, its prestige still existed. Previously, when Qi was in turmoil, the Song State sent troops to escort the new monarch of the Qi State back to China, so Song Xianggong felt that he had the support of the Qi State and had the ability to compete for the overlord's throne.
Therefore, the final battle between the Chu state in the south and the Song state, the core power in the hinterland of the Central Plains, was inevitable.
In a big battle, Song Xianggong lost to the state of Chu because he was too conservative, leaving the laughing stock of "Song Xiangzhiren", but the state of Chu achieved a comprehensive victory and advanced to the finals.
At the same time, the struggle between ** is going on, but the relationship is somewhat complicated. In the beginning, although the two countries did not share a border, they had a good relationship, even better than their allies.
However, when the Qin state occupied Guanzhong and the Jin state occupied Shanxi, the two countries had a large area of border, and the situation changed. The Qin state hoped to improve relations with the Jin state by making peace with the Jin state, so as to open a road to the Central Plains in the Jin state.
* The two countries had a good alliance, but the Jin state was resolutely reluctant to cede the main routes, despite the desire for peace between the two countries. Eventually, the Jin dynasty was in turmoil, and the Qin state took the opportunity to send the Jin prince back to China, intending to control the Jin politics.
This prince was later known as Duke Wen of Jin, and after he ascended the throne, he did not refuse to cooperate with the Qin state, but by persuading the Qin state to let them fight against the Chu state together with the Jin state.
This war led to the defeat of the state of Chu, the expansion of the state of Qin, and the ability of the state of Jin to defeat the state of Chu, which can be called a win-win situation.
Under the skillful inducement of Duke Wen of Jin, the Qin State really changed its strategy and began to join forces with the Jin State to attack the Chu State. In this semi-final, although Qin did not lose, he was trapped west of Hangu Pass and could not participate in the war for hegemony, so he missed the final.
Next, it is the ultimate showdown between Jin and Chu. Under the containment of Qin, Chu was quickly defeated, and Jin took advantage of the situation to expand. Therefore, with the assistance of the Qin State, the Duke of Wen of Jin successfully became the second overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the Jin State naturally became the No. 1 overlord.
However, the state of Chu, which was jointly suppressed by the Jin and Qin states, did not decline. On the contrary, with its great strategic depth, the state of Chu has become stronger and stronger, showing extremely strong war resilience.
The Qin people found that despite their great efforts to gain access to the east, they had received very limited benefits other than to help the Jin state become the overlord, and that the Jin state still had a firm grip on their western side.
To make matters worse, they found that if the state of Chu was wiped out, the state of Jin would be able to occupy almost half of its territory. As a result, the Qin state began to change its tactics and instead united the state of Chu against the state of Jin.
During this period, the Jin state became the undisputed overlord, while the Qin state was unable to advance eastward, and the Chu state was severely suppressed. It was not until the death of Duke Wen of Jin that the state of Qin again tried to use force against the state of Jin, but the result was more defeat than victory.
Therefore, from then on, the Qin state no longer considered eastward expansion and began to turn westward. This is also why throughout the Spring and Autumn Period, the Qin State rarely participated in the melee of the Central Plains.
When Qin's eyes turned to the west, its progress went smoothly. Those small states and Rong Di and the like seemed vulnerable in front of the powerful Qin State, and could only be overwhelmed by the Qin State.
It was this merit that made the Qin State receive the verbal praise of Zhou Tianzi, and made the reigning Qin Mugong reluctantly become the overlord. However, compared with the overlord status of the Jin State, the gold content of Qin Mugong's hegemony is still insufficient.
With the return of the Qin state to the west, the development of the Qi state was completely suppressed by the Jin state. Subsequently, the long-term war between Jin and Chu officially began, and in this war, the Jin State always had the advantage, and the Chu State lost more and won less.
Although, in general, political stability is essential for the development of a country, there are exceptions. For example, in the Jin Kingdom, for a certain period of time, because of internal strife, the monarch was killed by his subordinates.
During his reign, the state of Chu briefly gained the upper hand, recapturing many of his younger brothers and temporarily suppressing the Jin state.
As a result, King Chuzhuang became another recognized overlord after Qin Mugong. However, after the death of King Zhuang of Chu, the state of Chu immediately fell into civil strife, and everyone began to fight for the throne of the king.
The Jin State ended the civil strife during this period and was replaced by the Jin Jinggong, who had done a little trick. Therefore, the Jin State took advantage of the situation to teach the Qi State a lesson, forcing the Qi State to send the crown prince to the Jin State as a hostage to unite with the Jin State again.
The state of Chu was constantly in internal strife, unable to control the external situation, and the small states that had been allied with it gradually moved closer to the state of Jin. The two sides fought fiercely for many years, exhausted, and desperately needed a respite.
Against this backdrop, in 579 BC, the Song state initiated the first alliance to maintain an independent foreign policy between the Jin and Chu states.
Qin and Qi were also qualified to initiate a peace conference, but the problem was that Qi was on the side of Jin and Qin was on the side of Chu, and neither had enough credibility. Therefore, the Song State became the best choice for the initiators, because the Song State Archon Hua Yuan at that time had a good relationship with the Jin and Chu consuls.
This conference is like the "Versailles Conference" in history, aiming to resolve the Jin-Chu war for hegemony that lasted for more than half a century, which caused great damage and chaos to the Central Plains, much like the First World War in world history.
Despite this, the outcome of the "First Coalition" was still the same as that of the "Versailles Conference".
The peace proposal at the meeting was more like a temporary truce signal than a real peace agreement. The previous war did not bring either side to its knees, the short-term compromise of interests did not completely solve the problem, and the struggle for supremacy between the two sides was only a temporary stop.
Dating back to the Battle of Chengpu in 632 BC, the battle in which Duke Wen of Jin established the supremacy of the Jin state, the two sides fought for 53 years until 579 BC, when the first peace treaty was signed.
Even after the first armies of the two sides, the two sides only had a truce for four years before war broke out again.
In 575 BC, the Jin state attacked the Chu state again after its recovery. In the battle of Yanling, the Jin state won a complete victory, while the Chu state suffered heavy losses, and even the then king of Chu was shot blind in one eye.
This battle, known as the Battle of Yanling in later generations, marked the suppression of the state of Chu by the state of Jin. The war between the two countries also gradually shifted from the territory of the client state to the Chu state itself, and the destruction of Chu by the Jin state seemed to be imminent.
As long as the Jin State can hold on, it will not be a problem to completely eliminate the Chu State. Once the Jin State destroyed the Chu State, the possibility of the Jin State unifying the world also became greater. However, it is a pity that at this critical moment, instability began to appear within the Jin Kingdom.
In that year, in order to eliminate the civil strife between the clans and kill each other, the ancestor of Jin Wengong purged the clans of the Jin Kingdom and expelled all the clan members. This made Jin Wengong have no one to rely on after he took power.
At that time, there was no system for electing officials, such as the imperial examination system or the probationary system, and the selection of officials depended entirely on personal feelings, and only nobles were qualified to be officials. Therefore, Jin Wengong had to choose those who had gone through the difficult times with him to assist him in taking control of the country.
However, what he didn't expect was that after nearly a hundred years of development, due to the decline of the Jin clan, the families of those who were loyal to the country rose rapidly. Therefore, after a hundred years, these so-called "loyal ministers" have become powerful and even begin to threaten the power of the Jin monarch.
The territory of Chu is too vast, and the strategic depth is unfathomable. If the state of Chu is directly attacked, even if the flames of war are successfully introduced into the state of Chu itself, the state of Jin will face huge losses.
The worst thing is that even if the Chu State can be eliminated, it may be taken advantage of by other vassal states to interfere. As a result, the Jin state began to look for a more effective way to eliminate the Chu state.
Long before the first alliance of the soldiers, the Jin State had already planned a subversive strategy. To the east of the Chu State, they discovered and supported a new power to join forces to eliminate the Chu State.
This vassal state, which rose with the support of the Jin state, was the famous state of Wu in the late Spring and Autumn period. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, because of its remote geographical location, Wu rarely intersected with the vassal states of the Central Plains.
However, at this moment, in order to find allies on the side of Chu, the Jin State was able to enter the sight of the Central Plains States. With the help of the Jin state, the state of Wu began to rise rapidly.
In the process of developing and growing in the south, Wu faced the dilemma of geographical restrictions. In order to continue their expansion, they chose to join forces with the Jin State to fight against the Chu State together. With the support of the Jin State, the strength of the Wu State was further enhanced and became a key force to contain the Chu State.
Under the siege of Jin and Wu, the connection between Chu and Qi was completely severed, leaving only Qin to the west as an ally. However, the strength of the Qin State was too strong to become the younger brother of the Chu State.
Therefore, the state of Chu was completely suppressed by the state of Jin within the state of Chu and was powerless to compete with it.
After decades of fierce fighting, by 546 BC, the nations were exhausted. The state of Chu was completely suppressed, the country was in ruins, and the national strength was weakened. The Jin State also faced internal problems, and the struggle for power and profit of the Shidafu family had reached a white-hot stage, and they even did not hesitate to start a war in the name of the family.
Such a Jin state could no longer compete with the Chu state for a long time. At the same time, the rise of the state of Wu in the southeast was enough to replace the state of Jin as a threat to the state of Chu, so that they could not concentrate on development.
Therefore, the high-ranking officials of the Jin State decided to temporarily let the Wu State take over the task of attacking and suppressing the Chu State, giving themselves some respite.
The countries of the Central Plains suffered heavy losses in the long melee, and except for the Qi and Qin states, other vassal states such as the Song state lost their independence. They faced the dilemma of either attaching themselves to Chu or Jin, and no matter which side they chose, they would have to pay a lot of protection money and pay tribute, which made the countries miserable.
Therefore, the anti-war voices of the Central Plains countries became increasingly strong, and neither the Jin nor Chu countries wanted to continue the war.
When everyone was exhausted, peaceful discussions finally began at the negotiating table again. In 546 B.C., the Song state, which had initiated the peace talks, once again assumed the role of host.
Xiang Xu, the consul within the Song State, once again called on all countries to come to the Song State for peace talks, because all countries had the need for an armistice. Therefore, everyone gathered again in the Song Kingdom and began to discuss the issue of peace in depth.
In this alliance, although the two consuls of the Song State were important, what was actually more important was their actions. Historically, Xiang Xu's record is mainly limited to this alliance, while Hua Yuan was an excellent diplomat and consul, and his deeds were much richer.
He once gave Chu a piano known as "Three Days Around the Beam", which was later broken by Chu State.
In the long history of the Spring and Autumn Period, the status of these two figures was not prominent, and they did not have any impact on the course of history. They were able to organize this important alliance not because of their prestige or the superior status of the Song state, but because all the vassal states were tired of war and had their own reasons for an armistice.
Therefore, when they proposed peace talks, representatives from all sides were willing to gather in the Song State to discuss the issue of peace. Next, the representatives of various countries gathered together and began difficult peace talks.
At the negotiating table, both sides of the game want to take the initiative and gain more benefits. However, true strength is the foundation of everything. At this peace talks, the decline of Chu's national strength could no longer be concealed.
No amount of tension at the conference table can change this reality. Eventually, all the participants hoped for a peace agreement, according to which all vassal states, except for Qi and Qin, would have to pay tribute to Jin and Chu, regardless of whose younger brother it was, and respect each other's status.
Any country that violates this rule will be boycotted by the whole world. Although this result means that small countries need to pay a double share of the protection fee, for them it is already much less expensive than a perennial war.
After the peace treaty was signed, the Jin state devoted itself to the resolution of internal problems and no longer directly waged war against the Chu state. For the next decade or so, peace prevailed in the Central Plains. At the same time, although the state of Chu regained its national strength, in the east, a new state, the state of Wu, rose and caused trouble every year.
Therefore, in the next forty years, there were basically no large-scale conflicts between the Jin and Chu states, but the Chu and Wu states frequently went to war. The other Central Plains countries spent a precious period of peace because of the truce of Jin and Chu and the rise of Wu.
During this period, various ideas began to sprout, and it was during this period that Lao Tzu managed books for the Zhou royal family. Similarly, Confucius grew up during this period and sought advice from Lao Tzu.
Forty years later, the state of Wu had grown stronger, but the state of Chu was exhausted by constant harassment. At this time, the Jin State finally sent troops again, joined forces with other vassal states, and successfully attacked the hinterland of the Chu State.
And the state of Wu also launched an attack from the east and penetrated deep into the border of the state of Chu. Under the command of the soldier saint Sun Wu, the army of Wu went all the way to the capital of Chu, almost pushing Chu to the brink of annihilation.
However, the Qin state began to support the Chu state after that in case of its destruction, so the Chu state recovered with great difficulty and eventually stumbled into the Warring States period. However, the Jin Kingdom ended in a chaotic internal strife, and finally ended with the division of the three Jin families.
The second alliance in Chinese history was undoubtedly an extremely important moment. Although the reasons are different, after this peace talks, the countries of the Central Plains, which have been in turmoil for a hundred years, have indeed ushered in a period of peace that has lasted for decades.
The center of gravity of the war shifted to the southeast, and after the rise of Wu, Chu began to support the Yue in order to fight against Wu. As a result, the war in the late Spring and Autumn period was mainly focused on the struggle for hegemony between Wu and Yue.
At the same time, during this period of peace, two of the most important ideas in Chinese history, Taoism and Confucianism, emerged one after another. If the Central Plains was still in a state of chaos at that time, then Confucius might have chosen to join the army when he grew up, and perhaps there would have been no Confucianism.
The Second Rebellion also marked the transformation of the history of the Spring and Autumn Period from the struggle for hegemony among princes to the annexation of scholars and families of various countries, which also marked the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and the beginning of the later period.
Reveal the truth about the second alliance in history.