The place where the ancestors of the Zhou people lived was called Fengdi, which is now the Qingyang area. Here, the farming civilization of the ancestors of the Zhou people flourished for 12 generations. However, with the Shang Dynasty's continuous use of troops against the ghosts living in present-day Shanxi, these nomads could not withstand the military pressure of the merchants and turned westward, causing the ancestors of the Zhou people living in the land to be affected. At the same time, Xirong, which lived in the Guyuan grassland of Ningxia and on both sides of Liupan Mountain and Longshan Mountain, also began to expand eastward. As a result, under the invasion of these two forces, the ancestors of the Zhou people, who were unable to hold it, abandoned the Jingshui Valley and migrated to the Qishan Zhouyuan in the south. However, as the Zhou people grew stronger, especially during the fifty years of the reign of King Wen Jichang, the father of King Wu of Zhou, the balance of power between the Zhou people and these nomads gradually reversed. However, the Zhou people's conquest of the Rong people had a purpose, that is, to sweep away the worries of the eastward advance to destroy the Shang. Therefore, with the success of King Wu's war and the subsequent conquest wars launched by the Zhou people due to the rebellion of the merchants, the military power of the Zhou people in the Guanzhong Plain was weakened, which changed the balance of strength between the two sides again. As a result, the Zhou people were once again faced with the situation of their ancestors in the land of pigs.
King Wen of Zhou deployed eastward.
Reading historical materials, it can be seen that even during the period of the four kings of Cheng, Kang, Zhao and Mu, who were politically clear, the wars of the Zhou people against Rong Di often fell into a bitter war back and forth. Not to mention the later periods of the Gongwang, Yiwang, Xiaowang, Yiwang, and Liwang who despised the royal family and did not make pilgrimages due to the gradual decline of politics. Fortunately, King Xuan, who was supported by the Zhou people in 828 BC, reversed this decline in time. However, the military superiority maintained by King Xuan of Zhou for 46 years was destroyed by the unprincipled rule of his successor, King You of Zhou. In the end, the war between the Zhou and Rong Di ended with the defeat of the Zhou capital Hojing and the eastward migration of its remnants to Luoyi. According to historical records, when the Zhou people were expelled from the Guanzhong Plain by the Rong people, the Qin people, who had been supported by them, immediately marched eastward and became the receivers of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Of course, there is also a law to follow for their military operations, because after Qin Xianggong escorted King Zhou Ping to Luoyi safely, he received a generous reward from King Ping, "Rong has no way, invade the land of my Qi and Feng, and Qin can attack Rong, that is, there is a land." However, the course of history shows that what King Ping gave to Xianggong was only a blank check, because at this time, the Guanzhong region was completely under the control of the Rong people, and the Qin people's seizure of this vast land still needed to be completed by force.
Like the Zhou people, the Qin people also fought very hard against these Rong people. Since the heir of Qin Xianggong, Wen Gong, and then to the death of Qin Mugong, the Qin people have gone through the struggle of nine generations of monarchs to achieve absolute superiority over the Rong people in the entire Guanzhong. However, this was only for the Rong people in the Guanzhong Plain, but the Rong people in the northern Shaanxi Plateau did not recognize the hegemony of the Qin people, especially the Yiqu Rong that had arisen since 1118 BC, when Wu Ding, the 22nd monarch of the Shang Dynasty, was in power. According to historical records, whether it was during the Qin Mugong period or after the Shang Dynasty changed the law, the Qin people in these two heydays failed to eradicate it, but were attacked into the hinterland of Guanzhong by Yiqu many times.
Why is Yiqu so strong? First of all, it is due to Dong Zhiyuan, whose fertility is not inferior to that of the Guanzhong Plain, that is, the aforementioned land. It is suitable for both farming and grazing, and has played a vital role in the development of Yiqurong and the recovery from the wounds of war. Secondly, Yiqu Rong is not inferior to the fighting spirit of the Qin people. It is said that at the peak of Yiqurong's power, the territory reached 100,000 square kilometers. Obviously, their presence greatly restrained the Qin people's eastward struggle for hegemony. In fact, because the Yiqu state was at its peak and repeatedly defeated the Qin people, they did get the favor of the Kwantung countries, such as the attack on Qin by the Five Kingdoms in 318 BC. However, who would have thought that this military power, which had confronted the Qin people for more than 400 years, was finally defeated by a woman, who was the famous Empress Dowager Qin Xuan in Chinese history.
According to historical records, the Empress Dowager Xuan of Qin was originally the concubine of King Huiwen of Qin from the state of Chu, and after marrying into the state of Qin, she was favored by King Huiwen and gave birth to three princes in a row. Favor is favored, but according to the inheritance system of the monarch of Qin, King Yingji of Qin Zhao, born to Empress Dowager Xuan and King Huiwen, is not qualified to inherit the throne. It is also favored by the god of fate. The crown prince of Qin Huiwen, who was later King Wu of Qin, did things without considering the consequences, and recklessly held a competition with the strong man Meng Shuo. As a result, the 23-year-old King Wu of Qin was seriously injured by Dading due to physical exhaustion, and finally died. Because King Wu of Qin had no heirs, his brothers were all qualified as legitimate candidates. As a result, there was a situation of "brothers competing for the throne" in the Qin State.
Yan and Zhao were very happy when they heard about it, and hurriedly sent heavy troops to send Yingji, who was hostage to Yan, back to Qin. Of course, Yan and Zhao sent Yingji back to Qin not because of An's good intentions, but because they wanted Qin to become more chaotic. But Empress Dowager Xuan seized this opportunity, and with the support of Wei Ran, the half-brother of Qin Ting, who was an official, she put Yingji on the throne. Because King Qin Zhao was only 18 years old at this time, he had no ability to govern, so Empress Dowager Xuan personally assisted the government in the name of "Zi is still young".
At that time, the princes who failed to compete for the throne of Qin were still unwilling, and were secretly accumulating strength to prepare for a counterattack. In order to consolidate her power, Empress Dowager Xuan first appointed Wei Ran as a general in the name of King Qin Zhao, giving him the military power to garrison Xianyang. Then he used the prime minister's Gao Jue to bring over Qin Huiwen's younger brother, nicknamed "Wise Tank". Immediately afterwards, she summoned her half-brother Qi Rong from the Chu State, also appointed him as a general, and named Huayang Jun. In addition, she named her other two sons, Ying Kui and Ying Xian, Gao Lingjun and Jingyang Jun respectively. All in all, Empress Dowager Xuan changed the situation in the past in which Qin Xiaogong reused Shang Ying, Qin Wuwang reused Gan Mao and other foreign guests, distributed power to relatives and trusted clans with the surname Win, and finally established her own interest group. Of course, because the new monarch was first established, it was inevitable that the Kwantung countries would have a heart of aggression. In order to prevent this from happening, Empress Dowager Xuan also single-handedly presided over the marriage between King Qin Zhao and Princess Chu State. Coupled with the two countries of Yan and Zhao, who had been friends before, the external situation of Qin finally stabilized. However, when the young Yiqu monarch came to Xianyang to congratulate King Qin Zhao on his crown ceremony, the wise Empress Dowager Xuan realized that she had made a big mistake enough to make Qin repeat the mistakes of the Zhou royal family: she did not take effective measures to control the unruly nomadic people behind Qin Guo.
So, how did Empress Dowager Xuan envelop Yiqu? Historical sources say that she used a beauty trick. I think that back then, in order to enter Longxi, Qin Mugong used this trick to make King Rong ignore the government all day long, and only then did he achieve the feat of breaking through the 12 countries of Xirong in one fell swoop. But this time, the beauty trick used by Empress Dowager Xuan was different from Qin Mugong, because the beauty she sent was not someone else, but herself.
As the Empress Dowager Xuan expected, the young King of Yiqu was deeply immersed in the gentle township, and even abandoned the national government and extinguished the heart of revenge. Time flies, more than 30 years have passed, and the Qin State at this time has already grown into a powerful country that the eastern princes dare not compete with. In other words, it's time for Empress Dowager Xuan's beauty plan to come to an end. So, in 272 BC, the thirty-fifth year of King Qin Zhao's succession, Empress Dowager Xuan booby-trapped King Yiqu. Subsequently, the army of the Qin State immediately went north and defeated the leaderless Yiqu Rong State in a battle. Empress Dowager Xuan's personal prestige also reached its peak since she came to power after the war. However, at this time, the Empress Dowager Xuan was already over 60 years old, and her health was deteriorating, and she really couldn't afford to continue to govern. Of course, his son King Qin Zhao's frequent moves to seize power also made Empress Dowager Xuan realize that it was time to retire. As a result, the knowledgeable Empress Dowager Xuan soon returned the military and political power to King Zhao, and then stayed in the Qin palace, and finally passed away quietly in 265 BC. Interestingly, in the 18th year after the death of Empress Dowager Xuan, the situation of the weak mother and strong mother of the Qin State reappeared, that is, the 13-year-old First Emperor Yingzheng and his mother Zhao Ji. So, Empress Dowager Qin Xuan and Zhao Ji had similar experiences, why was Zhao Ji not allowed by Qin Shi Huang?
Reading the foregoing, it can be seen that Empress Dowager Xuan's administrative measures were always based on the stability of the Qin state. And what about Zhao Ji? But she lacks this public heart and attaches more importance to personal desires. For this reason, she first harassed Prime Minister Lu Buwei regardless of the national system, and then pampered the fake eunuch Chang Yu, so that she was deeply trapped in it and could not extricate herself, so that Chang Yu played with it, so that she could easily obtain the authority of the feudal marquis, and finally formed a huge number of more than 1,000 guests and thousands of servants. It is safe to say that Chang Yu's final rebellion was all caused by Zhao Ji's blind indulgence. Fortunately, Qin Wangzheng was vigilant and sent troops to crush the rebellion in time. Otherwise, the foundation of more than 30 generations of monarchs of the Qin State would have been in vain. Secondly, although Empress Dowager Xuan and Zhao Ji both gave birth to non-winning blood. However, judging from the administrative skills of the Empress Dowager Xuan, it is speculated that she is likely to have a larger layout, that is, to let these two biological princes of Yiqu control the Yiqu Rong State after the death of King Yiqu, so that the soldiers of the Qin State can assimilate it bloodlessly. On the other hand, Zhao Ji is different, the two children she gave birth to are clearly recorded in historical records as the decisive factors that contributed to Chang Yu's rebellion. This alone was enough for Zhao Ji to be rejected by Qin Shi Huang.