Wei State, located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, produced a large number of talents, the first to implement the reform of the law, occupied the time, location, and people, but in the process of the princes competing for hegemony, they were caught up by Qin, Qi, Zhao and other countries, and became a second-rate country. Why, exactly?
Bi Gonggao, the fifteenth son of King Wen of Zhou, the half-brother of King Wu Ji Fa, was enshrined in Bidi (north of Xianyang, Shaanxi Province today) with King Wu Ke Yinxing Zhou, and the founding name was Bi.
More than 200 years later, the Bi Kingdom was destroyed by Xirong, and the descendants were scattered, one of which defected to the Jin State.
In 661 BC, the Jin state destroyed the three small states of Geng, Huo, and Wei in one fell swoop. In this battle, Bi Wan, as the escort of Jin Xiangong, fought bravely and made many achievements. Xiangong gave him the Wei land he had just conquered as a reward, and after that, Bi Wan's descendants took Wei as his clan.
After the death of Jin Xiangong, the princes competed for the throne, Wei Wuzi followed Chong'er to flee for 19 years, and after Jin Wengong ascended the throne, he was reused, and was one of the "five wise men" of the Jin State.
When the Jin mourned the duke, Wei Jiang was appointed as one of the eight secretaries of the Jin state, and the Wei family began to become the secretary of the Jin state from then on, and was the latest of the three families of Han, Zhao and Wei.
Wei Jiang enforced the law strictly, was good at leading troops, and was very politically far-sighted, in response to the trouble of the border Rong clan, he opposed the common law, and first advocated the law of peace, and in eight years, the princes of Jiuhe helped the Jin State return to the top.
In 453 BC, Wei Huanzi united with Han Kangzi and Zhao Xiangzi to divide the Zhi fiefdom.
In 403 BC, King Weilie of Zhou gave Wei, Zhao, and Han three families as princes and seceded from the Jin Kingdom; In 376 B.C., the deposed Jing Gong of Jin was a commoner, and the Jin Kingdom was divided into three parts.
After the three families were divided, Han and Zhao, under the suggestion of Wei Wenhou, formed a brotherly alliance and unanimously opened up to the outside world. The state of Wei was bordered by Zhao to the north and Korea to the east, so it developed westward.
Wei Wenhou appointed Li Zhen as the prime minister, presided over the reform of the law, and the national strength began to grow. Then he appointed the defender Wu Qi as a general, went west to seize the Hexi land of the Qin State, and appointed the Song State Le Yang as a general, crossed the territory of the Zhao State, and destroyed the Zhongshan State in one fell swoop.
After the death of Marquis Wen of Wei, Marquis Wu succeeded to the throne and began to expand outward on a large scale, with large-scale battles with Qin, Chu, Zheng, Qi and other states.
Although Wei Wuhou had great military achievements, he was nepotistic, not only squeezing out Wu Qi, but also allowing Zhongshan to restore the country, and more importantly, losing Zhao, an important ally, and could no longer "worry about the future".
In 370 BCE, the Marquis of Wei died and his two sons, Wei Gang (yīng) and Wei Huan, competed for the throne, causing civil strife in Wei.
Wei Fu occupied Yecheng and Shangdang areas of Wei, and with the help of Wei Xianggong Sun Xuan, his strength gained the upper hand, so he established himself as the king.
There was a Song man named Gongsun Qi who lobbied Zhao and Korea to take advantage of the internal strife in Wei to attack Wei and defeat the Wei army at Xunze (now east of the Baisha Reservoir in Henan Province) and besiege Wei Fu.
However, Zhao and Korea disagreed on how to deal with Wei. Zhao wanted to kill Wei Fu and establish Wei Xuan as the king in exchange for Wei cutting land; South Korea, however, suggested dividing Wei into two smaller states.
The two countries have their own views and have never been able to reach an agreement. In a fit of rage, South Korea withdrew from the siege. Wei Fu was thus saved from being killed, and defeated the Zhao army in one go, killing Wei Xuan and retaining the throne. Wei Fu was the later King Wei Hui.
From then on, the alliance of Wei, Zhao, and Han Sanjin officially broke down and began to fight each other.
The main enemies facing King Hui of Wei were not Zhao and Korea, but Qin and Qi, especially Qin in the west, who repeatedly sent troops to fight for the land in Hexi between the Yellow River and Luoshui.
In 362 BC, the Qin state captured Shaoliang and directly threatened the Wei capital Anyi (present-day Xia County, Shanxi Province), and in order to get rid of the Qin threat, King Wei Hui moved the capital to Daliang (present-day Kaifeng, Henan Province).
At that time, the Wei state was mainly located in Hedong in the southwest of present-day Shanxi Province and Hanoi in the north of Henan Province, and King Hui of Wei moved the capital from Anyi in Hedong to Daliang in Hanoi, marking a change in the national policy of Wei, from the westward development of the Wenhou period to the advance to the Central Plains.
At the same time, Wei took the initiative to contact Zhao and Han to adjust the exchange of territory, so that after the division of the three kingdoms, the border lines of each other tended to be straight, and the scattered enclaves were connected, which was conducive to the development of the country.
On the other hand, Wei actively contacted the princes of various countries to expand the circle of friends and increase its influence. In 344 BC, King Hui of Wei invited 12 vassal states, including Zhao, Song, Wei, Zou, and Lu, to hold an alliance in Fengze (now south of Kaifeng City, Henan) and proclaimed himself king.
This is King Wei HuiThe first time to claim the throne, it was also a relatively reluctant one-time king, because only a few small countries recognized it, and large countries such as Qi, Qin, Han, and Chu did not participate. Moreover, after the Fengze meeting, King Wei Hui also led the princes to meet with Zhou Tianzi, and still nominally respected the king of Zhou.
In the same year, Wei sent troops to attack Korea on the grounds that Korea refused to participate in the Fengze Meeting.
The proclamation of Wei as king caused discontent among the states of Qi, Chu, and Han, who united against Wei.
Qi first defeated the elite main force of Wei in the Battle of Maling, captured the Wei prince Shen, and the general Pang Juan committed suicide. The following year, he sent troops to besiege Pingyang of Wei (now southwest of Linzhang, Hebei Province).
The state of Qin sent Wei Ying to attack Wei and capture Gongzi in exchange for a large territory of Wei. Wei Ying was also named Shang Jun for his merits after this battle.
Zhao also took advantage of the fire to loot and attacked Wei from the north.
For a time, Wei was attacked on three sides and was defeated repeatedly, so he had to adopt the advice of the minister of state, Hui Shi, and bow his head and submit to weakness.
In 334 B.C., King Wei Hui led Korea, that is, several other small countries in Xuzhou to worship Qi as the king, Qi did not dare to call the king alone, but also respected Wei as the king, known as the "Xuzhou Xiangwang" in history.
This is King Wei HuiThe second reignAlthough he was "forced" to be the king, and ranked after King Qi Wei, Wei officially played the banner of "king" since then.
After the reign of King Xuzhou, Wei eliminated the threat of Qi in the east, but Qin in the west continued to attack Wei and gradually encroached on the land west of the river.
After Zhang Yi entered Qin, he implemented the strategy of connecting and persuading Qin to return Quwo and other places to Wei, and in return, Wei also gave the little remaining land to Qin, and Qin and Wei made good friends.
In 325 BC, Wei and Han Jun entered the Xianyang Dynasty to meet Qin Jun and honored Qin as king. The state of Qin also recognized the kingship of Wei and Han at the same time.
This is King Wei HuiThe third reign
In the second year, Qin Guodong sent a letter to Guguan to capture the Shaanxi land of Wei. At the same time, Qin Prime Minister Zhang Yi actively contacted Qi and Chu, intending to besiege Wei.
In order to solve this situation, Wei united with Han, Zhao, Yan, and Zhongshan to form an alliance to deal with Qin, and respected each other as kings, known as the "Five Kingdoms King" in history.
This is King Wei HuiThe fourth time he reigned
Although King Wei Hui was the king four times, the country's strength became weaker and weaker, the main reason was that Wei did not have a stable and sustainable national policy, and attacked from all sides, resented the world, and became the target of public criticism.
Attack from all sides, complain about the world, and become the target of everyone.
Wei Wuji, the king of Xinling, is the half-brother of King Wei Anjiao and one of the four sons of the Warring States. He was a corporal, recruited 3,000 disciples, and also wrote the military book "The Art of War of Wei Gongzi".
The most famous incident about Xinlingjun is stealing talismans to save Zhao.
In 257 BC, Qin killed 400,000 Zhao troops in the Battle of Changping and besieged the Zhao capital Handan. Zhao asked Wei for help.
Wei sent the general Jin Cong to lead 100,000 troops to rescue Zhao, but he was threatened by Qin and stationed on the periphery of Handan and did not dare to enter the army, so he watched from the wall.
Xinlingjun's sister was the wife of Pingyuan Jun of Zhao State, and with the help of Hou Ying and Zhu Hai, he stole the military talisman of the King of Wei, hammered Jin Contempt, and led the army to fight inside and outside the Zhao State, defeating the Qin army and relieving the siege of Handan.
Xinling Jun stole talismans to save Zhao, but he could no longer go home, so he could only live in Zhao, but because of this, his reputation spread far and wide, and celebrities from all over the world joined him.
Xinlingjun lived in Zhao for more than ten years, and Wei was repeatedly attacked by Qin, losing troops and land. As a last resort, the king of Wei sent someone to recall Xinlingjun, and led the allied forces of Wei, Zhao, Han, Chu, and Yan to defeat the famous Qin general Meng Fu on the south bank of the Yellow River, and took advantage of the victory to attack all the way to Hangu Pass, and detained the pass to ask Qin.
After this battle, Xinlingjun's prestige reached its peak, but he was suspicious of the King of Wei and finally died of depression.
18 years after the death of Xinling Jun, that is, in 225 BC, the Qin general Wang Ben flooded the city of Daliang, the king of Wei faked his surrender, and the Wei state was destroyed.
Reference: "Historical Records of the Wei Family".
About the author: I am Jinqing, a lover of words, and I would like to read history and share life with you.