Why did Zhou's vassal state become a joke?

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was no joke for a hundred schools of thought to contend. They propagated their ideas from one country to another and persuaded the vassals to reform and strengthen their political ideals. These people will give an example from time to time when expounding their ideas, which is more convincing. Although philosophers often hold different views and persuade different objects, they all like this beginning when giving examples:

Once upon a time, there was a man in the Song Dynasty.

Sometimes it is to enliven the atmosphere, sometimes it is to increase persuasiveness, but no matter which form, it is always in the black Song people, laughing at the Song people.

Like in Mencius? "Seedlings encourage growth"? And "everything is wrong"? Wait for him? These two stories are all about Song people. What is their spread? When is the afternoon for weeding? And then what? The foot of my bed is shining so brightly. There is a ratio. I believe many people know these two stories, so I will go over here and tell you a few others. Song people? Story.

Zhuangzi told the story of two businessmen in the Song Dynasty. A man who made clothes and hats wanted to sell his goods in Song Dynasty? Serial tattoos? A Vietnamese and another Song Dynasty person have been washing cotton by the river for generations, so this Song Dynasty person invented it? No, turtle hand medicine? In order to prevent hand crack, some people heard that they took out 100 yuan to buy this prescription and got the fief of the king of Wu. The Song people and his family continued to rinse the cotton wool.

Another example is Liezi, which records a person in the Song Dynasty. When he found a discarded iou on the road, he was so happy that he took it home and hid it. He secretly took it out to see the date on it and said to his neighbor. The day when I get rich is coming. ?

There is also a singer who knows how to make wine in Everything is done. His wine is very good, many people know it, but no one buys it when it is sour. Why? Because he has a vicious dog at home, everyone is afraid to go to his house to buy wine.

These are also found in ancient books such as Warring States Policy and Huainanzi? Once upon a time, there was a man in the Song Dynasty. It seems that all the masters of the Warring States took pleasure in Black Song, and other vassal states such as Zheng will also be cited. Once upon a time, there was a story about the people of Zheng, but the frequency was not great. Only the Song people have such treatment and are favored by many masters. To a certain extent, these masters represented people's views on Song State at that time, that is, Song State was a joke, so was Song State really a joke? Why did it become a joke?

In fact, throughout the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the incompatibility of the Song State among the vassal States was doomed from the beginning, which was mainly contributed by four aspects.

First, the Song people are of noble descent. Song people are descendants of Shang dynasty, that is, after the royal family of the former dynasty, the son surnamed Song, and the founding king was Wei, the younger brother of a female compatriot (as we usually say). There is still a cruel struggle between Wei and He. The reason is that although they are female compatriots, Di Xin is a serious son. When Wei was born, their mother was not a queen, so at first they were just illegitimate children. Therefore, according to the eldest son inheritance system, the throne was inherited, not Wei, which caused the contradiction between the two. Later, Wei Ziqi also contributed to the demise of Shang Dynasty.

So to some extent, Wei was the hero of the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to the regulations at that time, even if the Shang Dynasty had perished, they could still enjoy the sacrifices of later generations. Therefore, the establishment of Song State is a natural thing, and its capital is still Shangqiu.

The second point is Qi Huangong's position in the Song State. When the State of Song was founded, it was made a duke, and it was a noble at that time, which of course conformed to the noble lineage of the Song people. Just whether it was a former dynasty or not, the royal family of the Western Zhou Dynasty attached great importance to it, which does not mean that the vassal States will be convinced. After all, there were few vassal states in Qi Huangong, such as Guo, Yu, Lu and Song. , and Lu Shang (Jiang Ziya) Qi is just a second-class vassal state. Song obviously didn't get everyone's approval, or admitted it on the surface, but he was not convinced.

The third point is economic reasons. The Western Zhou Dynasty was a typical farming economy, and the Shang Dynasty was a combination of farming economy and commercial economy. This tradition was naturally inherited by the Song people, and the geographical location of the Song country was very convenient, and the rural commerce developed well. This is a very rich client country.

The fourth point is cultural reasons. Song people directly inherited the culture of Shang Dynasty and were real nobles. The culture they inherited was even more pedantic than Zhou Li, so Song suffered a lot in its development. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people began to form a utilitarian mentality and devoted themselves to the development of the country. However, Song still sticks to traditional etiquette and is inflexible, which is even more out of place.

But if this is the case, the Song State will at best be isolated or occasionally ridiculed, and will not become the target of the warring states philosophers. The problem is that the Song State not only has the above-mentioned doomed facts, but also lies in that it is obviously such a Song State, and it is ambitious and unwilling to lag behind other vassal States. However, Song Guo's ability obviously failed to support his ambition, and finally became a joke after a series of events.

As Song State is a adherent of Shang Dynasty, there is a very important fact that there are still two inheritance systems, namely? Father dies and son follows? And then what? Brothers and sisters? This has led to civil strife from time to time. Civil strife not only hindered the strength of Song State to some extent, but also made other vassal States laugh at it for a long time.

Song Xianggong was the first ambitious monarch in the history of Song Dynasty. He wants to seize hegemony from Qi, but he is also a man who strictly observes etiquette, so he wants to stand on the moral high ground and make other vassal States submit. However, few countries paid attention to Song Dynasty, but originally wanted to win over Chu State to support themselves. As a result, he fought an unpleasant battle with the king of Chu, and a battle of surging waves came.

In the flood war, Song Xianggong strictly abided by the etiquette of war, and the Chu army didn't attack until it crossed the river. The Chu army did not attack until it formed a road, and waited quietly until the Chu army was ready to go to war. Not surprisingly, Song lost. The most polite person in the world, Song Xianggong, met the most impolite person in the world, King Chu, which was doomed to be a tragedy. Song Xianggong became a ridiculous person. Is he wrong? Of course, I was born in the wrong age. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, I wanted to do things completely according to etiquette. The other side was Chu State, a land of barbarians. Failure is inevitable, and Song's dream of hegemony is doomed to be only a dream.

However, this did not prevent Song from surviving in the cracks, constantly interfering in Zheng's state affairs, defending the country and defending the country, and frequent foreign skirmishes. Similarly, Song Guo also promoted two military alliances with his own diplomatic means, which is also a short-term opportunity for the peaceful development of the Central Plains.

By the time Song finally lost power and influence, it had reached the middle and late Warring States period. In 329 BC, the Song Dynasty ushered in a powerful monarch, namely King Kang of Song Dynasty. The monarch who came to power through a coup is ambitious. In 3 18, he became king on his own, and began to be called King Kang of Song Dynasty. Then attack Qi in the east, Wei in the west and Chu in the south. In a short time, he expanded the territory of the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty became powerful. But the power of King Kang of Song Dynasty brought disaster to Song State. The land of Song Kingdom is fertile, and the vassal states covet it. Everyone wants to play the song kingdom. With such an attack, King Kang of Song directly united them and prepared to carve up the kingdom of Song. Finally, in the first 286 years, the three countries carved up the Song Kingdom.