Warring States Era: Part 1: Seven Heroes Side by Side: 战国 1: 终局/ 七雄並立

Music: 赳赳老秦

Now at each corner of the realm there is a king, and each king a Hegemon in his reach. 
Now is the late game of warring kingdoms. The final battle where only one king, one kingdom would remain.


Turning and turning in the widening gyre   
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst   
Are full of passionate intensity.

The Warring States period would be an evil crucible where so much of the best and brightest of humanity, and all that had flourished, that were lovingly written in those trying centuries would twist down the gyring whirlpool of destruction and die. Extreme violence will be the order of the day. In this age, even the best were monsters.


The bloodbath commences. The chaos and violence of the Spring and Autumn period was only a precursor to the even more tumultuous and brutal Warring States period. For the next two and half centuries, the land was engulfed in a never-ending cycle of wars as all of the greatest of the local lords declared themselves kings and waged battles with their neighbors. The constant conflict left little room for the small states and their citizens to prosper, as they were constantly caught in the crossfire and left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. It was a time of great despair and suffering, as the power-hungry rulers relentlessly pursued their own agendas. But~ it was also the height of ancient China's statecraft and state philosophy on full violent display. In this ultimate zero sum gyre of inhumanity, millions would die in the blows of the final kingdoms, and only the most cunning and ruthless will survive.

Music: Wood Steel and Fire


FROM AN AGE OF LORDS TO A BATTLE ROYALE OF KINGS

For new readers, we have extensively covered the previous Spring and Autumn period and its dramatic political order across several previous chapters. Feel free to read through them if you are interested. But a significantly truncated summary of this period is that after Western Zhou's last major king was slain and his capital was sacked by the Rong invaders, the Zhou court then migrated to the east and built up a new capital at Luoyang (hence "Eastern" Zhou.) But the severely weakened Zhou king were now powerless with little land and authority of their own. In the ensuing age, power fell to the local lords who ruled their own domains and city-states as if they were autonomous rulers in their own right. 


The Spring and Autumn era, as it later became known was an age of lords, and the greatest lords of them all, often voted in by a conference of other powerful lords became "Hegemons" and lead the realm's political order. In 3 centuries, 5 great Hegemons rose and molded the age in their state's sway. But at the tail end of it, around the time of the death of Confucius, all out violence erupted and the already divided realm slid to further chaos. What followed was 2 full centuries of total war. In this age, all of the remaining kings were all Hegemons in their own domains, and the late game began, where only 1 king and 1 kingdom will remain standing.

七雄並立: 7 HEROES SIDE BY SIDE
REGIONAL CONSOLIDATION: THE LAST KINGDOMS 


Hypothetical faction emblems of the remains notable states at the beginning of the Warring State period. From the developing Rise of Nations mod: Bronze Dawn: Respectively: Qin, Zhou, Wei, Zhao, Yan, Lu, Shu, (-Row 2) Yue, Han, Qi, Chu, Zhongshan, and Song. States such as Yue, Shu, and Zhongshan are considered semi- Sinicized. Of these early states, only 7 will remain into the Warring States period. By then the remaining survivors nearly all have declared themselves as kings in their own right. Together, they were known as the "Seven Heroes Side by Side."


The first phase of this era is characterized by rapid regional consolidation. Most of the states- like they did during the previous centuries in the Spring and Autumn period largely still focused on absorbing nearby smaller states to make themselves stronger. However, by the time they devoured all that they can and ran against a peer that was equal in power and shared a long boarder, then the violence would drastically escalate. Now, both found themselves in the late game, with each other right next the other. This first phase was characterized by sweeping reforms, then, with the culminations of these new ideas and changes: gory fruits that won out on the first major battlefields.


Music: Blazing Red Tassel

A NEW STAR RISES TO LEAD QI

The beginning of the Warring States period was characterized by 2 egregious transgressions, 2 shocking and violent coups that ended illustrious houses that once- literally sired Hegemons and held the whole realm in their sway. From both usurpations, a new type of monstrosity would emerge, but were they truly monsters? Or dynamic and revolutionary Enfant terribles that just might give those 2 withered realms a chance by burning out the old while paving way for the new? The Warring States would come into being with these 2 transgressions. The first would occur in the marshy plains of Qi.



It had been 2 centuries since the death of the first Hegemon- the dynamic Duke Huan of Qi who held the realm together after Zhou Kings had been reduced to mere figure heads. In his 42 year of rule as Duke and 2 decades of tenure as Hegemon he had warred against the barbarians and intervened on be half of smaller states. But now, his clan~ which was sired from the legendary Jiang Ziya who founded Zhou with it's first kings and had ruled for 6 centuries was wracked with woes.

Overlord: The greatest of lords in the Spring and Autumn era 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.

Unfortunately for the Jiang clan, after the death of Duke Huan, Qi's position of supremacy collapsed. Already long plagued with parricidal and fratricidal assassinations before Duke Huan's ascension, after his death his heirs ruined Qi in a series of catastrophic civil wars where by they killed their elder brother's heirs to climb the throne. But after the fresh usurper's own death have his heirs killed by another younger brother. With the leading Duke's heirs degenerating into a cycle of murderous fratricide, true leadership fell on the mantle of its ministers and its deep state, who were the only responsible adults left in this house on fire.

THE ASCENSION OF TIAN CLAN


By the beginning of the Warring States period, Qi, was long shun away from the political limelight and was only a pale shadow of itself. Politically it had been bullied and crippled by the nearby Hegemon of Jin. Because of constant dynastic intrigue at the uppermost echelon of its leadership, power fell on the Qi minister's clans. Worse for Qi it was also ineptly held together, although it was rich, its laws were labyrinthine and the state's policies were not uniform and not enforced- leaving many pockets of cyclical inequity. Salaries and wages were unfair and unevenly distributed. Inequality was both ubiquitous and very prominently noted even to outside observers. What's more its taxes were heavy and laws were severe. Protestations against taxes or minor offenses often could result in leg cutting, where one lower leg of the offenders was cut off. 


In this backdrop of ineptitude and misery came new faces that made sure they would be noticed. The house of Tian 田 lit. "Field" were former princes of the central state of Chen who fled to Qi. Over time became a great house within it. It was during this time of chaos and misery that they established a far flung reputation as one of the kind lordly houses inside Qi. Because of their astute financial acumen, over the centuries they had amassed a great private fortune. However while most great houses hoarded their gains, instead during the nearly perennial crises that often struck at the powerless lower classes of Qi, during hard times the Tian lords often opened their granaries to the masses and also loaned out at extremely generous rates.

After 6 centuries of rule as the Duke of Qi- the lineage that founded Zhou with its first Kings would near its end.

A great example of Tian charity was their loans using the trapezoidal Dou 斗 during loans. Dous were ancient Chinese grain boxes used to transport rations, with a slider lid that could be secured either on top or the bottom, and handles or mug like holders placed on its sides. It is well known that if the wider bottom has the lid, then the container will have a shallow hold, but if the thinner bottom has the lid, then the container could hold much more to the brims. Tian lords made sure to explicitly loan out more generous portions at their own expense with the thinner bottoms, while during repayments willingly accepted the wider bottoms, again, at their own expenses. But this was not naked charity either. Over a long time Tian deeply ingratiated itself to the Qi public and began to play the Qi game of thrones, during dynastic successions they succeeding backed their own candidates while purging all potential challengers to their candidates.  In 481 BC, the Tian patriarch killed a puppet duke, most of the ruler's family, and a number of rival chiefs. He took control of most of the state and left the Duke with only the capital of Linzi and the area around Mount Tai.

PROTEST AND SELF IMPOSED EXILE OF CONFUCIUS

Almost none dared to denounce this naked usurpation, but one did, the Lu minister Confucius himself. 

Despite the outrageousness of this usurpation, by this era it was not uncommon to the rest of the realm either. At this time, several of what had been Zhou and Spring and Autumn China's greatest clans were similarly being displaced by their vassal houses from within. 1 was Qi as previously mentioned, 2 was the nearby even greater state of Jin, who had long been seen as the police man of the realms and the arm of the Zhou king and the greatest military state that kept order. By the mid and late 5th century BC (towards 400 BC) Jin too was slowly being eaten from within by its powerful vassals. 3 was none other than Confucius's native state of Lu, which was also being devoured from within by its powerful vassals.

Petty men: Ji 季, Meng 孟, and Shu 叔 were collectively know as the "Three Huans," or the "Three Families," they were all distant relatives of the ancient Duke Huan of Lu and had blood claims to the Lu throne. Because they exorcised extraordinary military power within Lu, Confucius had great weariness of their powers.

In Confucius's time, the state of Lu was headed by a ruling ducal house. Under the duke were three aristocratic families, whose heads bore the title of viscount and held hereditary positions in the Lu bureaucracy. They retained great military power and had control of strongly defended walled cities, although Confucius tried to cull their powers and reinvest their powers under the hand of his own duke, his efforts were off no avail. for he relied solely on diplomacy as he had no military authority himself. When the Qi Duke was placed under blatant house arrest by his Tian vassals, the event shocked the Zhou political world, and Confucius from the nearby state of Lu was especially shaken. 

The state of Lu (dark blue) declined rapidly in the ensuing decades after Confucius' self imposed exile. By the start of the Warring States period Lu had diminished from being one of the most respected states in the realm to merely 1/7 of its original size. 

After taking a cold bath, he went to his master Duke Ai of Lu and petitioned Duke Ai to intervene and depose the usurpers: lest his own ambitious vassals dare to do the same, however Ai was powerless in these affairs as well. Instead, Ai knowingly asked Confucius to consult this matter with his 3 chief military vassals, especially the viscounts of Ji. Since Viscount Ji IS basically the Lu version of Tian and had long coveted the Lu throne, Ji rebuffed Confucius' request. A tiger does not give up a meat diet, especially if it already got its victim in its sights. For this reason, along with many other powerless maltreat suffered at Lu, Confucius stepped down and went on a self imposed exile for 12 arduous years. He visited most of the remaining Zhou states (even the "barbarian" Chu) to preach his ideals. But despite being courted by many sovereigns, he found no ruler that would allow for his ideas to take root. He would return to Lu a tired and broken man, and die lamenting his failure to realize his idealistic vision to reform this corrupt and broken world.


CONFUCIAN MEDITATIONS ON VASSALS AND SOVERIGNS

And thus ignominiously exits either the last great sage of the Spring and Autumns period, or the first of the Warring States period. Though in life, Confucius's ideas never gained significant traction, with the master woefully lamenting at the tail end of his life that he effected little to improve the decomposing world~ for his ambitions, his beloved Lu, or the brutal self cannibalizing world. After his death, his school's prominence electrified across the realm and within generations its schools began to be adopted by many states across the realm.


However, what's more were Confucius's observations. In meditating about the entropic state of Qi, Jin, and his own court of Lu, Confucius noted at the dangers of these (what he saw as) disloyal vassals. Like the Zhou dynasty in miniature- founded by righteousness and vigor by a worthy house, only to see that century long lineage cannibalized by duplicitous underlings. After all, wasn't the world hurting because the righteous king was displaced while his greedy lords war and quarreled while commoners suffer? Is it any wonder that there is such endless chaos under the heavens when petty men who had no claim to the Mandate of Heaven what so ever continue to undermine the proper world order? What else was the Spring and Autumn era and the Warring States era but this unnatural fruit? 



In reaction to these selfish and deeply feudal "Petty Men" 小人 who timelessly always placed their clan's interets above all, Confucius advocated the creation of a meritorious bureaucratic class. There was already the class of largely hereditary scholar vassals or Shi 士 lit. "Servant" which Confucius himself was born in. But in seeing how unreliable hereditary clans are (Tian and the 3 clans of Lu, and the 3 clans of Jin, and nearly all of the noble houses of this era) Confucius advocated for a meritocratic class of scholarly bureaucrats that are hired and fired at the lord's leisure and dedicated to the nation & traditions. Though none of these ideals would take place during Confucius's lifetime. The seeds, and deviations borne from this kernel would be manifested, ironically by another school would would one day be seen as the rivals of the Confucians, the Legalists. For this time, though, power and glory went to the usurpers. And with this bloodletting, (and the slaying of the Jiang Dukes in the next century) Qi recieved a renewed loan on life and splendor~ so in keeping with the Tians.



THE HEARTLAND BREAKS: PARTITION OF THE ARCH- HEGEMON


Hand of the Zhou King, Policeman and protector of the realm, the martial duchy of Jin~ descended from a minor branch of the Zhou royal clan ensured that the realm's heartland was stable for some 3 centuries.

Architects and biologists will know of the word "Keystone:" ~a central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole together. And if the keystone was ever taken out, the entire form of that arch will irrevocably shatter like a tower of Jenga blocks. The beginning of the Warring States period began with a vital keystone that had held the realm together for 3 centuries taken out. And in the yellow- blue Mountains of what is modern Shanxi was the 2nd of the egregious transgressions that sparked the Warring States.


Unfortunately for Jin, Jin was unique among the major states in a major respect; whereas other states often enfeoffed the cadet branches of the ruling house (blood after all is thicker than water,) Jin often exiled or disempowered its own cadet houses. Instead, powerful ministerial families arose which were given fiefs like cadet houses in other states. 


This made powerful minister's hereditary clans exceedingly strong and grew only stronger in each new generation, these legalized parallel states ruled and managed parts of Jin as their own hereditary domains, while the Jin Dukes became weaker with each new succession. And in time, like within Qi the clans of these ministers had no qualms about toppling the Jin Duke at all. Though unlike in Qi, de facto power did not coalesce around only 1 dominant usurper clan. Power first delved into 6 major clans but 2 were driven out. Then most of power coalesced around the Zhi clan 智. By about 450s BCE, the Zhi clan was the most dominant and began demanding territory from the other clans. All decisions of the state had to pass through its patriarch's judgement. But with their power, soon came an arrogance that alienated the 3 remaining clans. 

In Jin's last decades, 6 powerful clans ruled the duchy in a cabal and held the Jin Duke as a front man hostage. Eventually such clans became much more brazen and dropped their charade, imprisoning the Jin Duke in the tiny domain of the capital while they partitioned Jin into their own lands. By the time of Jin's full break up, 6 had became only 3 clans, and these clans became the new kingdoms of Wei, Zhao, and Han.

During a climactic campaign to vanquish the disobedient clan of Zhao in the north, 2 of Zhi's vassal clans, that of Wei and Han mutinied and turned on their masters. Then together in a bloody orgy, Zhao, Wei, and Han slaughtered the Zhi house. With Jin secured solely under the 3 of their hands. The 3 powerful clans split apart Jin from the inside out, deposing the last Jin Dukes and splitting Jin into the states of Wei, Zhao, and Han. The collapse of Jin, which had been the keystone that ensured law and order and political stability in the heartlands would kick start the Warring States era. 

LEGALISM & MERITOCRACY: THE LEAN EFFICIENT WEI
So much was realized under the unassuming Wei. What it lacked in size, it made up in deeds. Under their roofs were once bowed giants that produced miracles. Though surrounded by potential rivals, they threw the first punches that quelled the fiercest apex predators.

Marquess Wen of Wei was indisputably one of the major figures of the early Warring States era. A rapacious learner, silver- tongued diplomat, with endless resourcefulness for attracting talented individuals. He molded the "3 Jins" to support each other and Wei's interests. What's more, he greatly enriched Wei from within and dealt crippling blows to Wei's foes abroad. Under his roofs gathered polymaths and philosophers of Confucian and the earliest Legalist stripes.

If one would have recalled Confucius's laments in his final moments, of his dashed dreams and failed realizations. He would probably have not have guessed that not long after his passing~ another state would quickly rose to the spotlight of the realm with a winning hand guided by some of his ideals. Though by this time, such ideals had already crystalized into a new form that would continue until the end of the Warring States period: Legalism.


Marquess Wen was an aggressive reformer who sought to create a lean but highly efficient state. In his attempt to maximize every aspect of his domains, he began to hire men who are able to radically improve his food production yields and enrich the state's coffers, what's more, he hired reformers that radically reformed his internal bureaucracy and military. Under this court's roof, the first legalist philosophers and reformers flourished.


PROGENITORS OF THE LEGALISTS 


Li Kui was a trusted aide to the Marquis even before Wei was a fully recognized state. Because of his proven loyalty, Li was promoted to become Chancellor of the Wei-controlled lands in 422 BC. Under his initiative, Wei became the first of the seven major Warring State powers to began a more centralized and bureaucratic~ what's more meritocratic government rather than a noble- dominated lordly state that rested its strength on the unreliable whims of its feudal vassals. Together with Wen, Li Kui stripped the Wei nobles of much of their power and inheritance, instead, Li Kui ruled through a framework of clear  laws for promotion and demotion. The state's responsibilities were instead delegated to talented individuals without distinction to their birth, and rewards were doled out to those who maximized state's current interests, especially in agriculture and key productions. What's more, punishments were also clearly spelled out for a wide spectrum of  existing offenses. The codification of these clearly stated laws allowed Wei to administer with much greater impersonal efficiency and consistency. 


Wu Qi, a peerless general and philosopher. Though immensely talented, like Confucius before him, he wandered aimlessly throughout many of the courts before finding himself under the service of the Marquis of Wen. After proving his worth in debates and demonstrations, Wu was soon entrusted with reshaping the Wei war machine. Under his close watch, the Wei military became one of the finest in all of the realm. Despite the kingdom's small size, it would soon be able to punch far above its weight and even bully the most powerful armies that had dominated China for centuries. He would be one of the first talented archetype of the wandering philosopher- generals of this period: their roles mirroring that of a mercenary NGO advisory institute today. The Warring States era would be replete with these wandering philosophers with the likes of Sun Bing (who most definitely fabricated a mythical ancestor called Sun Tzu who just happened to served the exact role for the job he sought) after Wu Qi would rapidly came many scholars of war such as Shang Yang, Su Qin, Han Fei, Mozi, and Li Si.


Ximen Bao, the talented reformer and hydraulics mastermind. With the Marquise of Wen's patronage he ably reformed Wei's internal infrastructure and greatly strengthened the state from within. Wei's position was largely dominated by 2 major rivers, the Wei and the Yellow River, with the best arable lands surrounding these narrow strips around the river's flood plains tucked by shields of mountains. A rationalist and a man sensitive to the plight of peasants, when he toured the rivers and learned from the distressed local elders that shamans (quack shamans) were drowning beautiful local girls to become "wives" to the river god He Bo to placate him from sending out floods, he summoned for a demonstration. But instead of throwing the originally intended local girls, he ordered the local shamans be sent as "brides" instead. The shocked shamans instantly fell to their knees and begged for their lives and this practice ended. Under his supervision, the locals dug 12 subsidiary canals at a trouble some part of the Wei river. Despite arduousness labor, after the canal was completed, the diversion prevented flooding, nearly all of the locals got water directed to them, thereafter this critical section suffered no drought and flood, and the harvests soon doubled. With this mastery of water and earth, so rose taxes and population in Wei. 


A WEAVING OF BROTHERS: 

Of these peerless talents, Marquise of Wen himself was no less than his court of worthies. Taking Wei's diplomacy by the reigns, he would wield Wei itself like a battle axe. When tensions and hatred soon developed between Wei's 2 neighbors (and former co- inhabiting tenants of Jin) Zhao and Han, both side made clear of their antipathy of the other and sent envoys to Wei seeking Wei's aide in eradicating the other. But Marquise knew well that having his state prematurely being drawn in any of these wars does not serve Wei in any way, instead curtiously reiterated Wei's respect to both in the same exact verbiage, while stating that Wei would be neutral to both. After some time passed and either side cooled off, Wen instead proposed to both that the 3 of them (now known to outsiders as the "3 Jins") should instead form an alliance and attack outwards.


With Jin partitioned between Wei (dark blue,) Zhao (white,) and Han (yellow) (with Wei being the strongest and redirecting the mutually suspicious Zhao and Han toward the 3 central state's external enemies) Wei began to redirect the 3 states to fight Qi (red) to the east ad repelling the Di- steppe nomad led state of Zhongshan (light blue) in the process.


Due to Wen's eloquence and credibility, Zhao and Han were convinced of his plans and the 3 Jins soon allied with each other and attacked eastward. For many centuries, the steppe- invaders of the north had troubled northern China and harassed Jin while the ancestors of Wei, Han, and Zhao were Jin retainers. In an attempt to redirect internal aggression outward, Wen redirected them to attack the steppe- lead state of Zhongshan and also against late Jin's traditional rival, Qi in the east. The plan worked swimmingly and both Zhongshan and Qi were dealt humiliatingly defeats in the field. 


Though each of the 3 Jin successors were small, they proved that when they worked together even greater states like Qi were theirs to be bullied. However, the truest battle, the one that defined both Wei and the Marquise of Wen would break out in the West.

 WEI LEADS ATTACKS WEST

Quality and Efficiency: The state of Wei was one of the best organized and most meritocratic at the time of Jin's partition. The end result was a lean but highly efficient state and war machine that punched far above its weigh. In military matters his aces were the elite core of wei zuzu (lit, "Wei Martial Troops".)

The first climactic bloodshed of the Warring States period between major kingdoms saw a strange sight: of Qin, the military terror before and after this period, being resoundly bullied in front of the realm's stage, at the hand of the first great philosopher general of this age. According to traditional sources, five hundred thousand Qin warriors would be mustered to avenge this grievous humiliation.

Art by dadecaxx


Wei zuzu 魏武卒 (lit, "Wei Martial Troop") An approximate reconstruction. Wei wuzu were the strategic genius philosopher-general Wu Qi's creation, an elite and versatile core of heavily armored Wei infantry that is equipped simultaneously as halberdier, crossbowmen, and sword and shield (or pavise) infantry. "Martial" in this instance not only denoted their role as warriors but their proficiency in many martial arts- as such were like weapon masters. 


Rigorously selected without distinction of birth from the best of various camps of Wei warriors and given the best armors that covered most of their bodies, they were capable of marching 40–50 km in one day while equipped with heavy armor, a helmet, a halberd or pike, swords, a shield, a crossbow with 50 bolts, and three days of rations. Wuzu as a distinction generally also referred to armored and professional soldiers of the era. They were rigorously drilled. From their performance, we will soon see why even the best of the realm had much to fear from them. 

A versatile crack force that could transform into halberdier, crossbowmen, or swordsmen as needed and also provide shield screens if they came under heavy fire. And despite their expensive armor, their rigorous training in long marching (with days of rations) allowed them to threaten afar and redeploy even during extreme duress with great order. Aside from the unit's immense cost, training and upkeep, it was one that virtually has no weaknesses. 

THE BLACK HUMILAION OF QIN- DUEL FOR HEXI


The wei wuzu would soon embark on a campaign that immortalized them in Chinese history. Under the patronage of the astute Marquess Wen and the watchful personal command of the bold Legalist philosopher general Wu Qi- this unit was swiftly launched as the vanguard of Wei's expansionary wars. Their enemy in this matter should by no means be trifled with~ both in the previous centuries nor the ensuing centuries. Wei would throw the wei wuzu as a iron- mailed fist that squarely gave the nearby state of Qin a black eye. Wei wuzu thus made its name punching out the best of the realm's soldiers in the previous centuries.





In the west, the Hexi Corridor was of vital strategic importance. The Hexi Corridor (Red)- the traditional geopolitical flashpoint between Jin and Qin. It was one of the most vital horse raising regions and its possession gave the owner initiative to project power on to the other.


A key stretch to the west of the Yellow River's shores, the region is both easily defended by a narrow mountain pass and also possessed very fertile farmlands. Lands so fertile and great for raising horses it would vitally bolster the possessor's population and economy. Furthermore, whoever possessed the rich pass would have the initiative to invade the other while having their flank secured by steep mountains. 


Warring States era lamellar helmet with one piece visor and 工 shaped face slit. The 2 cheek pieces are secured by a hooked latch


In 409 BC, Marquis Wen of Wei appointed Wu Qi as the commander-in-chief to conquer Hexi from Qin. According to records, Wu Qi led Wei Wuzu march south and northern in war, during this period, he fought 76 times with the armies of the princes, winning 64 times, and the rest were draws." He attacked Hangu Pass to the west, fought countless battles with the Qin state, and seized more than 500 miles of Hexi and great 5 walled cities from Qin. 


During Wu Qi's tenure as a general, he wore the same clothes and ate the same food as the most inferior soldiers, slept without laying bedding, marched without riding in carts and horses, and shared joys and sorrows with the soldiers by carrying bundled food himself. With this rapid series of victories, Wu Qi was appointed the governor of Xihe (West of the River, Hexi means the same but spelled inversely meaning "River's West.") In some 20 years following this humiliating injury Qin counterattack many times, but all failed at the hands of Wu Qi. Though Marquis Wen passed during this time, Wu Qi held the west firm for Wei.

During his tenure as a respected governor and general Wu Qi once asked the successor of Marquess Wen, Marquess Wu to hold a celebration banquet for the soldiers, so that those who made the most meritorious service would sit in the front row and be given the most precious food and tableware; great benefits would be conferred upon their families, and if they fell, annual condolences and honors should be paid by Wei's great ministers. This mechanically consistent system of upward mobility ensured that Wei soldiers were always led by proven and battle tested commanders.

Qin was grievously humiliated by this strings of defeats and the loss of a vital portion of their GDP from this fertile highly taxable region. To prevent further encroachments, Qin built a series of fortresses between their new borders, however for 20 years they would never forget this outrage. When Marquess Wen of Wei died, and around this time a new ambitious Duke Hui ascended the Qin throne, Qin instituted a massive national level muster to avenge this grievance. 


500,000 VS 50,000 THE TITANIC REMATCH: BATTLE OF YIN JIN

The muster called for males of fighting age to be levied and drilled across the whole swath of Qin and 500,000 soldiers were mobilized (definitely exaggerated in the traditional records, but likely still very lopsided) and invaded Xihe County in 389 BC. According to Qin laws, men who have reached 16 must register for military service and are part of the role call pool until they are 60. The service period is one year. Funded and led by warriors, Qin had long been a military state and every male citizen is both farmer as well as soldier material.  Answering the tide of invaders, tens of thousands of Wei troops in Hexi immediately put on armor and volunteered to fight.


The Qin army went straight to the strategically important fortress city at Yin Jin (in modern Shaanxi). This fortress guards the east-west traffic arteries, and its vitally important. Wu Qi possessed 50,000 wei wuzu against the Qin army and requested further reinforcements to shore up the Wei position. Marquis Wu agreed and sent 500 additional chariots and 3,000 cavalry. 

The fortress's city's walls provided a great force multiplier against the Qin besiegers and the defenders braved hails of arrows and repeated waves of Qin assaults. Unfortunately, the sources left out much of the details of this battle's tactics and order of battle. It was recorded that before the climactic battle against Qin, Wu Qi advised and ordered the three part of his army to: "All officials and soldiers should go with me to fight against the enemy, no matter whether chariots 车骑 or foot guards 徒. If the enemy chariots cannot be chariots, riders cannot be riders, and foot guards cannot guard, the army is broken and utterly useless."


In short Wu Qi knew that despite the vastly lopsided numerical disadvantage, he has quality over quantity, and his quality will overmatch any of the Qin's best, since he knew Qin's real veteran fighting force is much more even, and the rest are merely bolstered with inexperienced armed levies. In destroying the Qin chariot vanguard and destroying its accompanying noble's foot guards, (paired and trailed behind their lord as a rally point and pit crew.) Wei would have decapitated Qin's best, then they'd have no problem easily overmatching the rest off the field.

By the late Warring State's era both Qin and Chu had vast legions of armored crossbowmen.
It became a highly favored weapon by all the greatest kingdoms of this age.


Charioteer's heavy armor- black lacquered hide stitched together with red silk. Hide armor during this period varied from ox hide and more expensive hides such as rhino that are almost definitely reserved for the aristocrats. The boots of some aristocrats are fashioned from white deer skin.


Warring States era chariots, by this time both the horses and the riders were almost always heavily armored, with thick lacquered hide armors protecting the horse's front and sides heavy armor protecting the riders. Material evidence excavated from the Tomb of the Marquise Yi of Zeng. According to contemporary treatises,  hide armor were extracted from the tough hides of water buffalos, and when lacquered could block almost any blows. For the best soldiers expensive lacquered rhinoceros hide was used. Rhinos had long lived in what is central China and still lived during this era. Rhinoceros hide armor- laced together with silk cords were impervious to iron weapons and could prove to be as resistant as steel plates.


The next day, the Qin and Wei armies fought. Due to the high morale and long discipline of the Wei army, the Qin vanguard likely suffered massive losses. After this was done and continual application of pressure, the morale of the rest of the Qin army broke. Unable to contend with the Wei, the Qin then withdrew after the gory 2nd humiliation. And here, wei wuzu's reputation was forever made.


Wu Qi was feted and celebrated far within Wei for his miraculous victory, and Qin was publicly disgraced before the whole realm. This second, near mortal wound was so calamitous that the distraught Duke Hui of Qin died only 2 years later, having ruled only those 2 years. Qin was so shaken to it's core that it would not have dared to face off against Wei for Hexi for the next 20 years.

However this lopsided heroic victory also destroyed Wu Qi in Wei as well, because of this victory, many other ministers within Wei became jealous and felt threatened by Wu. In time they began a sustained slander campaign that slowly turned Marquess Wu to fear Wu. Eventually, fearing for his life, Wu Qi escaped Xihe County and fled Wei reportedly with bitter tears. Wu Qi then wandered across the various kingdoms of the era until he came to the employment of the King of Chu. 


There, he again tried to create a highly meritocratic and legalist state, drastically curtailing the expenditures of the highly decadent and corrupt Chu nobles with his Chu King's backing. He stripped the deeply corrupt Chu nobles of their wealth and redirected their coffers to enrich the Chu royal coffers, and like Wei, molded a strong and centrally directed army. Predictably, again like in Wei Chu became much more efficient in war and proved itself in battle. Chu defeated Yue in the south and the Wei in the north, dealing with each in quick succession. But for his part in diminishing their riches and privileges, the Chu nobles deeply resented him and plotted against the King's favorite.

During his patron's funeral, the Chu nobles shot Wu Qi with arrows. Wounded Wu then ran up to the corpse of his late patron and pleaded for his life, but the assassins did not relent and shot him to death with volleys of arrows~ in turn even piercing the late king's body with many of them.  



When his patron died, the Chu nobles had Wu Qi assassinated. All of Wu Qi's reforms in Chu were then reverted afterwards. So died the first great philosopher- general of this bloody age, only to have his great deeds and methods undone by the truest manifestation of who Confucius called "Petty Men" 小人. And with his death, Chu lost a critical (perhaps life saving) early advantage. An age, that now, inspired by his discoveries and reforms would become much bloodier in the making.


GEOPOLITICAL SCRAMBLE- A CLASH OF KINGS

It is here that our brief coverage of the early broad changes of the Warring States warfare would end. We now return to the era right around the partition of Jin and its unravelling at the hands of its 3 great ministerial clans. And though early on, far sighted states such as Wei was able to cleverly avoid strife between the former Jin comrades and redirect their expansion outwards, in time, their fragile partnership broke down. 




What followed all the way until the wars of Qin unification was an endless series of war between Wei, Zhao, and Han. Between the 3 of them it would be an endless cycle of betrayal, war, and alliance, then betrayal again as each 3 jockeyed for power, yet were unable to totally eradicate the other. Maps of the land that was Jin became constantly redrawn, sometimes a dozens times in one year as the three former "Jins" turned what was the stable heartland of Zhou China into a cartoonish dust cloud of fighting and screaming. With the collapse of the center, they inadvertently set off a feeding frenzy from all of the nearby great powers. The constant total war of the 3 "Jins" would soon turn the whole realm into war as well.


QIN BEGAN TO APPRECIATE LEGALISM 

Those who had read up on Wu Qi's life, and his brilliant exploits, and his wasteful killing at the court of Chu would have likely lamented his fate, but more over, all the things that he did got right that was otherwise wasted on Chu and his age. However, what Wu Qi achieved~ in the wake of his death ironically took root in the state that he nearly crippled. 20 years after their bitter crushing at Yin Jin, Qin revenged itself savagely upon a much weakened Wei in 366BC and retook Hexi. After transforming this vital pass into a gate pass for the Qin, the initiative returned to Qin and they began to aggressively meddle in central state's affairs. 

Deeply impressed by the efficiency and miraculous achievement of Wei, Qin in time would adopt Legalism wholesale and transform their state into a highly meritocratic war machine. 

Qin would not be alone in their attempts to meddle and mold the central 3 "Jins" to suit their political agendas. For at this precise moment of Qin's ambitious reconstitution, another power rose (or should be more correctly put) rerose again in the shining east~ Qi. If we recall ^ is not under the rule of a new vigorous house. The duchy, now under new management of the Tian 田 clan who had displaced the former old ducal house, made Qi into a Kingdom and they its kings. Soon, these two poles of Qin and Qi began to dominate Warring State's bloody politics.

THE TWO POLES- EAST & WEST 




King Wei of Qi was one of the most brilliant and ambitious rulers of the next phase of Warring State. By this era, most of the great surviving states had made themselves into full right kings and competed against each others as fully elevated kingdoms. King Wei's dynamic rule, and attempt to wrangle the 3 "Jins" under Qi's sway would pave way for the next round of great wars in this age. And Qi's cold war frenemy relationship with Qin would definite this age both in war and in peace. The age of kings had truly came.


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The chaos and violence of the Spring and Autumn period was only a precursor to the even more tumultuous and brutal Warring States period. The 2 and half centuries that followed was a ruthless and brutal age, characterized by nearly three centuries of constant warfare. The chaos and violence of the Spring and Autumn period had escalated to even greater heights, and the suffering of the common people seemed to have no end in sight.


Comments

Der said…
Great article as always!

A few points:

1. You mention the noble families of Lu were cadet branches of the ruling Ducal House holding the feudal rank of 'Viscount'. Is there literary confirmation of this? How developed was the Zhou feudal ranking system? It mirrors the European system starting from Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquis, Duke ... and finally King but was it similar? In Europe the nobles held concurrent titles, the current King Charles of Great Britain is also the former Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. I don't think Zhou China had that system. And just curious, which Warring State or Spring and Autumn Lord held the title of Baron?

2. The Tian clan of Qi seem to be practicing a 'democratic' practice of 'buying votes' with their charity and generosity. Now we know there wasn't democracy in ancient China so I find the practice by the Tian interesting. Their story is fascinating, ... they started out as refugee princes of Chen who immigrated to Qi and prospered, like so many Third World immigrants today immigrating to Silicon Valley and becoming rich and powerful tech founders and executives.

3. The Hegemon System of Spring and Autumn China resembles the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, an aristocratic Republic run by noble families. It's a pity China didn't continue this experiment with their nobles making their Kings sign a Chinese Magna Carta and creating individual rights. I wonder why it failed? The noble families of Jin, Qi and Lu were so close to creating Constitutional Monarchy or Aristocratic Republic. So close.
Dragon's Armory said…
Baron were called Nan 男 or Nanjue 男爵 "Nan- ranked" they were the lowest of the Chinese peerage. Not much is mentioned about them in the records I'm scrounging through nor in the english translations. And you are not alone in trying to put their pieces in the puzzle during this era. Chinese titles are not concurrent, however once you die as a noble your title could be either retained, elevated, or demoted. Those who born scions that conqured far and wide or took dynasties to new heights were often posthumously elevated, such as King Wen of Zhou, etc, or retroactively added to the Sinicized counts, like Ghengis Khan being given a Sinicized Taizu (太祖, meaning "Supreme Progenitor") and the posthumous name Shengwu huangdi (Chinese: 聖武皇帝, meaning "Holy-Martial Emperor") after Kublai became Emperor of the Yuan dynasty. Same with Nurhci after the Manchus after they were let into Beijing and established their hold.

Tian knew how to play the long game that's for sure. They also knew how to look the part and make their presence felt. In a country constantly wracked with internal crisis and aloof and corrupt selfish nobles it's sure to stand out. It's nothing new either, Zhou progenitors did the same, and likely Xia and Shang founders. What is accumilated wealth if there is no point to them? While other Qi clans were bolstering their mansions and armies, Tian sat their eyes high and secured masses of loyalists. It's definitely a campaign that won out and it's fruit will be apparent in the next era.

Hmmmmmm, and I thought you admired Shang Yang and his Legalist reforms in Qin? As well as having Qin turned into a super militaristic and the most statist of these warring states?

Poland is probably not a fate China~ even with its own Century of Humiliations in mind, want to emulate. The Deluge in 17th century killed a great number of the Poles and Poland was invaded by many of its neighbors. 18th century was far worse and riddled with catastrophes and ruthless invasions. Just imagine endless Liberum vetos while 3 ruthless "enlightened absolutists" rip your whole existence to shreds. Ugh, I don't think any Chinese want any of that fate. Furthermore decentralized China would probably look something like the Indian Subcontinent by the time Europeans showed up, and seeing how both India and Poland both~ like, died, and were usurped by foreign conquering power I'd say for the sake of sovereignty and continuity of Chinese identity and traditions, dare I say it? its freedom, decentralization's not something that's good for China. Even IF China manage to regain its own sovereignty and a semblance of self rule in that wake they'd be as indebted to foreign powers as the Greeks, at the mercy of foreign and labyrinthine institutions like the Indians, and disunited as EU with it's many binders of different colors and unable to agree on most things.
Der said…
Thank you for the response.

I was once an admirer of the Legalists, and in many ways I still do, but Legalism has its limits as history shows. Legalism is good if you're a Warring State in competition with other Warring States, but bad if you're a unitary Empire with no more enemies to fight.

The Han Dynasty with its mixed Legalist/Confucian traditions is perhaps the best for China, combining Centralizing tendencies of the Legalists with the Federal tendencies of the Confucians with the Son of Heaven constrained by traditions and the wisdom found in the Classics.

I agree with you regarding China's history taking a more conventional course if it went the way of a Hegemonic Republic, with elected monarchs and presidents like the Holy Roman Empire, Polish Commonwealth, etc. China is full of mountain ranges separating provinces, encouraging separate states, even more so than Europe and India. It's a miracle China is so homogeneous, all thanks of centralizing emperors who believe in One China. Europe failed after the fall of the Roman Empire despite the efforts of Justinian, Charlemagne, Charles V, Louis 14th, the Catholic Church, Napoleon and Hitler, and now the EU.
Dragon's Armory said…
The geographies of Europe, being a peninsula of many peninsulas that is also bisected by mountains kind of almost made it decentralized. Look at Japan, because of its mountains even though by the 10th century onward they were largely homogenized they were still divided by great clans divided by mountains. It would seem having too many mountains makes it almost impossible to strongly assert a unifying power and makes small local valleys very easy to assert and reassert its independence. It's no wonder that say~ traditionally Afghanistan, the Caucus, Yunnan, India's NE regions and South East Asia, always had a jumble of different language groups in such a small tightly compact cluster and so many small polities that's always able to be independent, and even if incorporated under a conqueror's, able to remain the odd one out for centuries.

Europe, being like this made it a nightmare for external powers to conquer, (almost like the analogy of Europe to ancient Greece) but also made it nearly impossible for one of the Europeans themselves to impose upon others for long before losing steam within a century or more and have local powers reestablish themselves and reassert their restoration. Great men, skilled men as you have listed certainly tried. But it would seem that the geography of Europe makes it so that they will remain this way.

As for China, the Huaxia civilization was born from a river plain dwelling people with no natural barriers, like Poland or ancient Germans they have to prove their worth in holding on to their lands in aggression and clever inclusive diplomacy, but the agrarian core made it so that they largely remain one people. Even taking the long and arduous and chaotic progression of Zhou in mind from the beginning to the end, across that span China slowly eeked out until it began to hit natural barriers. And with the Han, fully hit natural barriers in all 3 directions, and they even made a man-made barrier in the north in the form of a wall. This way ensured that the central plains culture is able to steadily proselytize inside for centuries, even millennia. Though many times this membrane may be pierced, in time it often recrystallized. Ironicly repeatedly even at the hands of its foreign conquerors.
henrique said…
"As for China, the Huaxia civilization was born from a river plain dwelling people with no natural barriers, like Poland or ancient Germans they have to prove their worth in holding on to their lands in aggression and clever inclusive diplomacy"

Germany was even more fragmented than Japan, the so-called holy roman empire, entire towns and church offices (Prince-archbishops, Prince-Bishops,Archbishop-Electors so on...)  were emancipated polities, a holy mess it was. The reason? Imperial diet, the custom evolved out of ancient Germanic tribal democracy:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_(assembly)

The German practice of electing monarchs began when ancient Germanic tribes formed ad hoc coalitions and elected the leaders thereof. Elections were irregularly held by the Franks, whose successor states include France and the Holy Roman Empire. The French monarchy eventually became hereditary, but the Holy Roman Emperors remained elective



The Himalayas and Andes were home to two large empires: Tibetan and Inca, two of the most impossible mountain ranges on Eart. Environmental determinism is difficultly a valid hypothesis anymore, ancient Greek city-states were divided polities, so were the mesopotamian city-states on a flatland. For the most part, steppe peoples (unlimited open fields) were warring tribal factions killing each other all the time and not khanates. Ancient Egypt was a river valley all under an authority, unlike the indus valley civilization.

China for its large size and population number rivaling Europe as a whole was a particularity only in virtue of the confucian bureaucracy, however Chinese bureaucracy was in limited effect until the song dynasty times (a true bureaucratic revolution never seen before took place), that explains a near total absence of warlords seizing power in the following until the early 20th century, when by no coincidence the imperial examination had been abolished, by that period then  traditional confucian hierarchy altogether with Chinese education have been struggling with criticism by the reformist intelligentsia from the opium wars on


I must say The Korean peninsula is nearly mountainous as Japan, Mountains cover 70 percent of Korea and arable plains are generally small and fall between the successive mountain ranges, the Korean peninsula as whole isn't really very different from Honshu the Mainland Japan, anyways the ancient peoples of Korea seemed  to have never developed indigenous social complexity at the same level as Japanese kofun society's religious structure, uji clan system and kabane, they were therefore  more welcoming to importing all the aspects of Chinese bureaucratic machine
Dragon's Armory said…
You are right of course in pointing out Environmental determinism is wayyy too simplified of an explanation for describing China in such vastly broad strokes. I use it as a short hand but I do concede that my generalization greatly lack the needed nuance. You are right in raising the Mesopotamian states and India as well as Incas and Tibetans being opposites to the way other mountainous societies were. I should have also included the much needed sociological factors as well which allowed these people to break out of the constricting mode. Factors like Incan inheritance laws precluding heirs from managing the late predecessor's wealth and the panakas that managed them should be considered in context of relentless Incan expansion. Or the fact that for the most part ancient India did not form central states for long, and after the wake of the Mauryans power merely delved back into the great clans who swore vassalage to him.

I used a generalization that verged on cartoonish stereotypes, but I should have gone deeper. But alas I was afraid of writing too many paragraphs and Blogger would not allow me to publish it out due to word limits.
Dragon's Armory said…
In regard to Korea I can honestly not say very much, Korean and Japanese history prior to 1000 AD are difficult for me. I am vaguely familiar with Goguryeoin the sense of me being a Tang fan boy. But beside Goguryeo history that spanned Sui- Tang period with episodes in the 16 kingdoms period most of the deeper social elements to Korea is a mystery to me. Same for Silla as well, and its stratified social system. So can you enlighten me on the part of Korea and Japan you were referring? Again I'm only a novice in this regard. 🙏
Der said…
I think the 'X-factor' that contributed to Chinese unity in the pre-modern era is the Chinese written language. China benefitted from having only one writing system, namely Chinese characters, in antiquity with no rivals unlike the Mediterranean world. If you wanted to communicate in ancient China, you had to write in Chinese. Despite the introduction of alternative alphabetic writing systems in the medieval period and even conquest by Khitan, Jurchen, Tibetan, Mongol and Manchus who wrote with alphabetic writing systems, Chinese language and Chinese writing survived and even thrived, beating out these alternative languages and scripts. Very different from the West, how can Byzantium still be considered Rome when they spoke Greek instead of Latin, how can the Achaemenid Empire be considered Persian when their lingua franca was Aramaic, how can Turkic and Persian write in Arabic script???
Der said…
And yes, geographic determinism can be overstated, as if humans are like other animals who are subject to their environment, influencing their evolution. It's nonsense of course.

The influence of geography pales in comparison to human effort, human intelligence and above all, human Will. But the question remains, why did China stay together while Europe did not after the fall of Rome? Why did Qin Shi Huangdi, Han Wudi, Sui Yangdi, Zhao Kuanyin, Kublai Khan, Zhu Yuanzhang, Kangxi emperor and Mao Zedong and their dynasties succeed, while Justinian, Charlemagne, Frederick Barbarossa, Charles V, Louis XIV, Napoleon and Hitler fail?? Were the Chinese unifiers just have more Will ??
Dragon's Armory said…
I agree with your first point. Chinese language and founding Zhou and maybe pre- Zhou traditions might explain it. That even though polities split up they were still part of the cultural system and for the most of it maintained they are satellites of the Zhou etc. This baseline of cultural soft power that is (mostly) shared, even by Chu, Wu, Yue etc to some degree. Eventually allowed China to recrystallize under Qin and Han.

As for your second point I would not say it's "will" because it's too nebulous. West had plenty of autocrats who were willing to create a rugged populous state with a deep coffer and exert their powers ruthlessly until they hit natural barriers or grabbed most of the strategic channels etc.

I'd say for China it has the advantage of expanding until the edge of its natural barriers. Namely the coast in the east and steppe in the north. By this point it is able to perpetuate it's internal culture to these fringes. And since in the 1st millennia not many Asian cultures are maritime (Chams are rivering, Yue and Taiwanese aboriginals were not a mortal threat, and later SE Asian thalassocracies like Srivijaya and Chola did not directly vie with Chinese polities) Chinese states were able to have its culture perpetuated in the territory of the interior~ roughly that of the Northern Song dynasty. This strong, mostly homogenous interior is something that Europeans don't have. They are often bordered by a rival power that is comparable in strength. While no East Asian polity has anything that can match this great interior and its vast populace. Furthermore most of the Chinese subjects within this interior are also culturally instilled with a self awareness. The Confucian form of upper mobility in testing of Classics and Chinese traditions ensured that those who are ambitious and would one day wield China are those who studied China, furthermore, it also ensured that any ambitious peasant etc have to familiarize themselves with their own traditions if they hope their children succeed. This virtuous cycle of self perpetuation ensured that calamities and invasions even foreign ideas cannot displace what was there that has long entrenched itself.
Dragon's Armory said…
In fact I'd make the observation that your second statement, and my answer to it is almost the answer that I give you for your first question. Within this great Chinese interior, the old Chinese language, and it's traditions is able to expand until it hits natural borders to become the sole dominant tradition. It then became cyclically perpetuated.

By contrast, European's geography does not often allow the preservation of this great interior. The last state to came close to this was Rome during the 1st and 2nd century. It introduced a set of Roman laws, and subdivided key provinces of the empire. Culturally it even Romanized much of the Levant, Iberia and Egypt etc to make them lose their old ways. If this trend contunues for another few centuries maybe we might see something that is comparable. But sustained migrations that crashed then in time breached through the Limes just upended that. This is comparable to the 16 Kingdoms era and Northern Dynasties. By the time of Majorian much of what is western Rome had been split into these barbarian states and they only became more bold once Western Rome is dissolved.

Though culturally they tried to emulate Rome and wreath themselves in Roman mantles, a lot of Rome's soft power began a slow death by this point. Pope's there, sure, but he does not have hard power left. East Roman Empire's there, but it's localizing more into Greek speaking ways and shifting to the 2nd most dominant language of the empire. And the Germanic Kings? Well they mutated into something else altogether. All 3 would claim they are inheritors of Rome, but all 3 are also clearly no longer Rome. Rome went from a self aware empire that did have in essence a great self perpetuating interior to a patchwork of mutually competing conquest dynasties. The loss of unifying language, bureaucratic framework, and cultural identity made it so that it cannot perpetuate itself.

And since none of Rome's ambitious successors were ever able to replicate these 3 conditions and exert a unified language, bureaucratic framework, and cultural identity (even with Justinian, Louis 14th's wars and Napoleon's in mind) they were not able to create a unitary Europe that is aware of itself in such unitary manner and then cyclically perpetuate itself across generations.
Der said…
When I use the word "Will" I mean the will of the lingustic/cultural/ethnic group. Western civilization, the cultural sphere of Europe is more akin to Islam then it is to China interestingly. Both the West and Islam experienced an exhaustion it seems in its founding people, why I am not sure, since they had such a great start. The West is essentially founded by Graeco-Roman peoples and Islam is by the Arabs. The Hellenes and then Romans were such a robust and vigorous people and civilization, defeating and conquering Persians, Celts and Carthaginians, themselves great civilizations and establishing a Hellenistic Civilization and Roman Empire that spanned continents. The same happened with the Arabs in the 7th century with the rise of Islam and their Caliphates that encompassed lands from Spain to India, with a religion that replaced multiple faiths including Christianity and Zoroastrianism and a language, Arabic, that replaced Greek and Aramaic, with Arabs founding Arab-only cities like Cairo and Baghdad ruling as a Master Race. All in all great and truly EPIC achievements in terms of Empire building with low levels of technology. And yet, both the West and Islam eventually succumbed and lost out to other quite different peoples, the West falling to Germanics and Islam to Turkic peoples. Why? From Visigothic Spain to Anglo-Saxon Britannia to Ostrogothic Italy to Frankish Gaul and Germany, the Germanics took over the empire of the Graeco-Latinate peoples, essentially stealing their legacy. The same happened to the Arab Empires of the Ummayads and Abbasids ... the Arabs lost their empire to the Turks who ruled Egypt as the Kipchak Mamelukes, to the Ottomans, to Persia falling to Seljuks, Safavids and India to the Timurid Mughals. I have always wondered, didn't the Graeco-Latins and Arabs not seek the restoration of their Glory? did they not remember the achievements of their ancestors who conquered continents?

This never happened to the Chinese for some reason, despite Hun, Rouran, Xianbei, Khitan, Jurchen, Mongol and Manchus. I wonder why? Why isn't the lands from Spain to India speaking Arabic as their mother tongue? why is Greek the language of only a small Balkan nation state? Why is Latin a dead language spoken only Catholic prelates?