Spring and Autumn Era: Part 1. The King is Dead: Long Live the Hegemons: 春秋: 大王已死，大霸當立

The King is dead, long live the Hegemons

Music: Purpose Found

BARBARIANS AT THE GATES

The year was 771 BC, and the king was slain by the barbarians, his palace, and his capital were both burning. The dramatic death of King You of Zhou and the sacking of the royal capital marked the end of the Western Zhou and beginning of another era, that of the Eastern Zhou, and~ the beginning of the irrevocable decline of the Zhou kings. 

However, a new age would be borne from of the collapse of Zhou royal authority. A new age of great lords and great strifes would arise in the dead king's wake. In only a century and half after the demise of King You, many of the regional Dukes and Viscounts of Zhou would declare themselves Kings, or would rule as Kings in all but name. 

THE KING WHO CRIED WOLF

The king that had just perished at the hands of invading barbarian was a very controversial figure both in Chinese history and among much of his lordly peers. King You of Zhou was remembered as both aloof and contemptuous of his nobles. In an episode not so different from a Greek Tragedy, The king was so enchanted by an unsmiling beauty named Bao Si that he divorced his queen and stripped his own crown prince of his position in order to marry Bao Si. Then- in order to make her smile and to spite his disapproving nobles, You ordered the lighting of the network of warning beacons across Zhou (created to warn of invading barbarians and summon rescuers from the 4 corners of the Zhou realm.) 

Stark differences, political power in physical form: Zhou at the tail-end of the Western Zhou dynasty and the beginning of the Eastern Zhou (Spring and Autumn period) once the Zhou kings ruled with great royal authority and led the realm in its affairs, however, after the relocation of the capital to Luoyang the realm was divided into hundreds of states and the Zhou king were little more than figureheads. In the following age, great lords on the frontiers of the realm became the true powers.

As a result of this decietful call to arms, the whole realm's lords and vassals gathered their armies and all raced to the capital to protect their king. However, when they arrived, they only received jeers from their king, laughing at them atop the slopes of his palace for being this gullible, beside him, laughing with him was his previously- unsmiling queen Bao Si. 

For anyone familiar with the story of the boy who cried wolf, one need to not guess what happened later when the barbarian invaders actually DID show up and besieged the royal capital. This time, the beacons were lit again, spreading across the network of the entire realm. But this time, none came to You's aid and the king was slain in the nearby mountains, while his new crown prince- sired by Bao Si was also killed, his palace and his capital put to the flames. Although several points of the tale may be apocryphal, for King You's betrayer: his ex- father in-law, grandfather of the deposed former crown prince was the one who colluded with the barbarians and eventually enthroned the new future king-  it nevertheless illustrates the bad relations between the Zhou kings at the end of the Western Zhou period and their chafing vassals. 

Music: The Unknown

TO LUOYANG: EASTERN EXODUS 

Hound of the West: During the treacherous exodus from the old capital of Haojing to Luoyang, in order to reward the escort provided by the dutifu lord of Qin, the area around the old capital was entrusted to the newly elevated Duchy of Qin (lavender.) Any areas they would wrestle from the barbarians would become their own. Thus the Qin became the shield of the west in the face of next 4 centuries of invasions, and it is why that Qin's capital was at Chang An- right beside the old Western Zhou ruins. The state of Sheng, which held great sway over the newly installed Zhou kings at Luoyang is marked in gold.

Conceptual model of a Wang Cheng 王城, or an ideal capital for a ruler. The nine-by-nine grid has led some scholars to suggest that the plan is based on the cosmological belief that the Earth is a square divided into nine sections- an extension of the 4 cardinal directions. This structure also resembled the magic square, a tool for divination. The design thus reflected the sovereign's influence and harmony over the various corners of a similarly gridded realm.

One of the first events that followed the destruction of the old capital and the slaying of King You was a conspiracy of nobles. In light of the purging of King You's line and his crown prince by Bao Si, King You's betrayer~ his father in-law the Marquis of Shen, one of the most powerful lords of the realm, together several other notable great lords enthroned the formerly deposed crown prince (Marquise of Shen's own grand son) as the new King Ping of Zhou. Despite the declaration of this new king, royal power was in reality severely curtailed. To ensure that his own grandson would both be protected and stay obedient to his influence, the Marquise of Shen advised the new King Ping to relocate the capital right beside Shen, on the southern bank of the Luo River. 

ENTRAPED 

The site of the new capital, erected in 770 BC would become what is today's Luoyang. However, this location would be a trap for the future Zhou kings, for the area is already surrounded by established great lords and none would permit the expansion of the small piece that was allotted to the Zhou Kings. Here, the Zhou kings would be checked on all fronts while without a significant power base of their own. Like a gold fish trapped in a small bowl, it would be the entirety of their caged existence. Whatever illusion the enthroning of the new King Ping and the new capital represented, it would all be undone when Ping's son King Huan tried to curb the excess of a belligerent neighboring vassal: the bellicose Duke Zhuang of Zheng keen on annexing Zhou royal land for his own. 

THE KINGS BULLIED

When King Huan dispatched a royal army and led it in person to punish the rebellious vassal, Duke Zhuang did the unthinkable and instead ambushed the royal army with his own soldiers. In the ensuing Battle of Xuge, the royal army was resoundingly defeated and even King Huan himself was wounded in battle and barely escaped with his life. Thereafter, the power of the Zhou Kings truly died. Assassination attempts were made on the Zhou kings. Soon, many more vassals began to flagrantly ignore the royal court's edits.  After this period, Zhou Kings were little more than figureheads and puppets in the hands of more powerful lords. A century of low scale wars would follow, where the hundreds of petty states fought each other for supremacy, succession disputes, and attempted to annex each other's domains. 

THE HEGEMONS: AGE OF GREAT LORDS

In comes Duke Huan of Qi, 1st Hegemon of the Spring and Autumn period. Huan was able to leverage himself to become the paramount lord of the realm, and led the realm's disparate states as if commanding a league. Huan's roadmap to the realm's leadership would serve as template for future ambitious great lords.

Music: Swift Sword

From the defeat at the Battle of Xuge on, the Zhou Kings ceased to play a significant role in the affair of the realm, however, on the far- flung frontiers of the Zhou world. another caste of leaders rose to great heights in this age. If we recall, the Zhou heartland was congested with hundreds of small mutually competing states. In such a compact environment, conflict was frequent, yet there is very few direction each of the small state could realistically expand before they hit another state that would put a stop to their ambitions. 

Zhou cultural spheres: Gold represents the original descendants of the Central Plains culture born from the Yellow River and who largely revered Zhou traditions. Dark Purple represents regions that are still largely semi- barbarian. The states of Shu and Ba were situated in the western Sichuan Basin and had virtually no interactions with Zhou states at this time. Circles represents areas where the 5 great lords of the Spring and Autumn era would rise. It is not pure coincidence that their states are almost all situated away from the over- congested Central Plains and instead are located on the fringes of the realm. Note also that 3 of the 5 great lords rose from rather semi- barbarian domains.

The Central Zhou heartlands was thus doomed with a patchwork of petty and insignificant states, though many of them claim illustrious lineages connected as far back to the founder of the Zhou dynasty itself, true power laid on the frontier of the Zhou realm. For in there~ the boarder lords were free to wage wars against neighboring non- Zhou ethnicities and annex the expanse for their own with little complain from the other Zhou states. In a century, many of these boarder lords grew exponentially in size, namely Qi in the east, Jin in the north, Qin in the west, and Chu in the south. It is from these large states that the apex predators of the Spring and Autumn period would emerge. 

DUKE HUAN OF QI

"Hegemon" 

The most significant figure to arise out of early Spring and Autumn period was undoubtedly Duke Huan of Qi. Originally an insignificant claimant to his house's throne, by cunning and through high initiative the young Xiao Bai (future Huan) preempted several of his brother's assassination plots, feigned death, then raced to the capital and took charge of Qi. Huan's 1st act as sovereign was significant in that after having killed his elder brother, Huan then promoted his brother's most loyal advisers Guan Zhong (one who was behind the assassination attempt against him) as his Chancellor. Impressively, the pair then became a dynamic duo. After Huan's ascension, the two embarked on a rapid series of centralized industrial reforms. First they monopolized mining under the Ducal house and then they created a highly meritocratic court. 

Brimming with Confidence: the young Xiao Bai (name literally means "Little White") demonstrated his cunning by thwarting his brother's assassination attempt in feigning death. When an arrow fired by one of his brother's henchmen struck him in his carriage he bit his tongue hard until it looked like he threw up blood and laid limply on the carriage. After eventually deposing his brother and taking the throne of this ducal house, he then demonstrated his magnanimity by promoting the very architect of the assassination plot on his life to be his Chancellor. Guan Zhong then became his guiding star.

The newly centralized Qi society was further organized and divided so that labor is maximized and many sectors in the Duchy were oversaw by able ministers. With key resources cornered under the state monopoly and a population boom as a result of the reforms, Huan then began a swift series of conquest annexing or vassalizing many of the small neighboring states around Qi. Locally he vassalized many of the smaller states around Qi- like Lu into a protective eastern bloc around its orbit. Then, through a deft combination of lavish diplomatic overtures and harsh rigor swiftly made Qi the center of politics in the east. From this point on, for the next 3 and half decades, Qi would embark on a relentless series of expansion and diplomatic accords led by this able and energetic overlord.

THE METERORIC RISE OF QI

Qi soon began to play the role of an intermediary. Huan summoned the four princes of Song , Chen , Cai , and Zuo to form an alliance. The capstone of that alliance would of course be that Qi would reserve its primacy as 1st among equals. Against nearby stubborn holdouts- Duke Huan outright destroyed small states such as Tan, Sui and Zang. To broaden Qi's reach, Qi pledged long distance support and interventions to many of the states fighting a terrifying neighbor or against the frontier barbarian hordes as an ally- actively meddling under the pretext of a strong ally, and for the most part, whoever called for Qi's aid received satisfying results. For decades, Duke Huan mediated in succession disputes, brokered peace deals, and punished the barbarians in punitive expeditions all the while deftly administered his own state with Guan Zhong. 

Primacy: Duke Huan's Qi (orange) at its greatest extent in 663BC after it briefly saved the besieged ally state of Yan in a grand expedition and repelled the invading Shanrong barbarians. After the Yan restoration and elimination of both Qi and Yan's northern barbarian neighbors, Qi was able to cleverly~ under the pretext of police action act as the an enforcer on behalf of Zhou King and allied lords. Allies and vassals of the Qi marked in reddish orange. At the height of Duke Huan's reign nearly all of northeastern China was under Qi's sway. Note the size of other  frontier states during this era, Jin's dominance in the north, Chu's creeping expansion in the south, and Qin's hard fought gains in the west.

After 2 decades of clever politicking and vigorous expansion, Qi became the undisputed power in the east. In the north and west it came as an ally against the barbarians. At the time, few affairs north of the Yellow River was not done without Qi consent or approval. It was here that Qi set its eyes on the south- at the aggressively expanding state of Chu and thought to use the realm's rampant fear against this southern rival for its advantage. 

THE FIRST HEGEMON

It is here that Qi's ambitions not only took on a local state level but a realm wide level as well. In 667 BC, Duke Huan invited the rulers of Lu, Song, Chen, and Zheng to a conference, where they elected him as their leader. It is also here that Huan cleverly leveraged his state into a central pillar of Zhou's inter state politics. Having long observed the powerless state of the Zhou kings, Huan made the offer that Qi would serve as the muscles of the Zhou Kings- especially against the belligerent other great lords like Chu, and in the Zhou King's name would protect the kings, restore order, police the realm, and deliver the fight to external invaders of the realm. 

Overlord: The greatest of lords were conferred titles such as "Ba" 霸 which meant "Hegemons" - they could be thought of as ancient Chinese Shoguns: supreme lord of all under heaven, aloof to all except the Zhou Kings. However, unlike the automatically hereditary Shoguns, which were pegged to a clan, the Hegemons has to be conferred their titles through support by other great lords and approved by the Zhou Kings.

Revere the King, Expel the Barbarians

In this arrangement, Qi would preserve its autonomy and status as a vigorous, ambitious state while the Zhou kings would have a muscle in their name. After hearing of this, King Hui of Zhou appointed Duke Huan Hegemon 霸 (ba) translated as "Supreme Lord" at the time, with the authority to operate militarily in the name of the royal court. Under the slogan of "Revere the King, Expel the Barbarians" (something 19th century nativists in Japan resurrected) Huan would spend the rest of his life policing the lesser lords and drive out powerful invading barbarian armies. 

In the name of the King: Just like the joining of Pepin 's Franks with the Pope, and that of the hegemonic world police role the United States leverages today, Qi thus arose to become the 1st great Hegemon of the Spring and Autumn era. In his 2 decades long tenure as Hegemon he waged vigorous wars policing the realm against the Zhou King's enemies and repelled invasions from various barbarian peoples on the realm's frontiers, including repelling the semi- barbarian southern state of Chu's encroachment northward, checking their ambitions for a time.

Duke Huan's reign is notable because of his great longevity, in an age where most people's lifespans are only some 40 years his reign alone was 43 years. The tally from the various records from the Annals of Spring and Autumn is a litany of deeds and interventions, conferences, and expeditions. 

BLUNTING THE SOUTHERN RIVAL 

The choice of diction for "Barbarians" was deliberate, in that Qi was fully aware of the various Central Plain states' great fear of the growing power of Chu in the south. Since they were only partially Sinicized "barbarians," as the Chu expanded eastward in the south Qi was able to rope in many of Chu's frightened nearby small states into Qi's orbit (yellow.) Thus Qi was able to cleverly reframe Chu as the true villain of the realm and opportunistically led a great coalition of 8 states of Qi, Lu, Song, Chen, Wey, Zheng, Qu, Cao, and arrayed them against Chu. Using the pretext that Chu did not pay tribute to the King of Zhou, Qi led many small lords and invaded Chu. Chu surrendered thereafter and its ambition- at least for a time was checked.

THE FALL OF THE FIRST HEGEMON

Despite the meteoric rise of Qi and the long reign of Duke Huan, Qi's supremacy would fall with almost equal rapidity. After nearly 2 decades of wielding immense powers, other lords of the coalition began to show their resentment to Huan's power over them and in several conferences protested that he was  neglectful of proper reverence to the King. Towards the end of Huan's 43 year reign Chu again swiftly expanded both to its east and north, clashing against many of the small states allied with Qi. Despite Qi's best efforts, the coalitions failed to contain Chu and Chu nearly doubled in size after devouring many of the states between it and the Central Plains. Worse for Huan, Guan Zhong- the guiding star to Huan's rise and his most relied- upon minister died in 645 BC. 

The men who replaced Guan were treacherous men, and they quickly divided the court among themselves as the health of the aged Duke deteriorated.  A recorded version of Huan's death described that the 4 treacherous ministers had the aged Duke locked in his room and starved him to death while pretending to the outside world that they were in fact taking orders daily to the Duke. In this guise they were able to still rule Qi in his name, and that the Duke's fate was not know until legions of maggots had crawled out of his chambers. Though Sima Qian's records concerning Zhou did not mention this. When Duke Huan died, his 6 sons, all by different concubines with overlapping claims initiated a bloody civil war among each other and in the ensuing implosion of Qi, many of the lands it conquered regained their independence and its vassals defied its over lordship.

Duke Huan of Qi died in late 643 BC, and the capital Linzi quickly descended into violence. His six sons, supported by various officials, took up arms against each other in order to size the throne, starting a highly destructive war of succession. In this bloody civil war, Duke Huan could not be buried and his corpse was left unattended in his bedchamber for either seven days or three months. By the time he was finally entombed, his corpse had begun to rot. In Huan's wake, Qi's gains were reverted to its pre- Hegemonic levels, and although Qi would still retain a degree of status as a regional power, for the next few centuries of its existence, it would not hold the same power nor influence it had at this time until the Warring States period. A new Hegemon, or rather- 2 in quick succession would follow Qi's example.

GREAT CLASHES- CONTENTION OF CHU AND JIN

The Royal Uncles: No one doubted that the Dukes of Jin would come to the Zhou King's rescue, after all they were closely related. Although the Zhou Kings had lost their land and their power, it was these  distant royal cousins that would rush for the next century to protect against the terrifying juggernaut of Chu. The next 2 Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn era would emerge from Jin and Chu respectively. The bloodiest cycles of wars in the Spring and Autumn era would also erupt between these 2 states.

The 2 Juggernauts faces off. Two of the most powerful Spring and Autumn states- Jin in blue, with fresh annexations and conquests marked in light blue, and Chu in purple, with areas of its aggressive annexations marked in lavender. The belligerent state of Chu aggressively expanded in all directions in such rapidity that it managed to double its size twice in the last half a century. 

At the time of the Jin- Chu wars, Chu was poised to annex most of the small states in the Central Plains. Perhaps it was most ironic of all that both would take turns and became the next 2 Hegemons. 

Please join us in our next chapter as we cover the rise of an exiled prince forsaken by the world who became the pole star of Spring and the Autumn world.

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