-The Hegemon of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, Duke Huan of Qi, was dead, so his five sons immediately began vying for power.
-This period of the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou dynasty is also known as "the Age of Encroachments" (643-546 BC).
-Marked by the further breakdown of the empire and the increasing power of its vassal states.
-Meanwhile, while the state of Chu was still kicking ass in the south, the state of Jin was on the rise in the northwest.
-The ruler of Jin during this time was Duke Xian, and he was able to expand the state's power and dominance by successfully conquering other smaller states as well as the lands of neighboring barbarian tribes.
-Duke Xian also consolidated power by executing many of his family members so that no one else in his family would try to usurp him. This also it would be almost guaranteed that only his own blood would be heirs to his position.
-This period is known as the "Li Ji Unrest" (657-651 BC).
-It was recorded that Duke Xian's concubine, Li Ji, wanted her son, Xiqi, to be heir, so she framed the crown prince Shengsheng by making it look like he had tried to poison his father, the duke. However, Shengsheng actually knew the truth about Li Ji, but he said that he didn't want to break his father's heart by telling him the truth (I guess Duke Xian must have really loved Li Ji), so he just decided to kill himself because he knew that if he tried to escape, it would make it seem like he was guilty.
-Li Ji then accused the duke's other sons, Chong'er (later will be Duke Wen of Jin) and Yiwu (later will be Duke Hui of Jin) of treason, so they fled elsewhere.
-Duke Xian died c. 651 BC, Xiqi took over the position as Duke of Jin.
-Xiqi, however, was still a teenager, so before he died Duke Xian entrusted the state to be run by Chancellor Xun Xi (he was a military officer before this).
-Unfortunately for Xiqi, he was assassinated by the General Li Ke, so Xun Xi replaced Xiqi with his baby brother Zhuozi.
-General Li Ke responded to this by having Duke Zhuozi AND Lady Li Ji (Zhuozi's aunt) assassinated; Chancellor Xun Xi then killed himself and Shao Ji (Zhuozi's mom and Li Ji's younger sister) was imprisoned.
-General Li Ke then invited Chong'er (who had been hiding out in the state of Qi) back to Jin to be the next duke.
-Of course, Chong'er didn't want to get involved in all of that drama, so he declined. Because of this, Li Ke invited Yiwu (who had been hiding in the state of Liang) to be the next duke, but unlike Chong'er, Yiwu accepted!
-So, Yiwu became Duke Hui of the state of Jin. Surprisingly, once Duke Hui consolidated power, he thanked General Li Ke by forcing him to commit suicide!
-Duke Hui soon faced some pretty serious challenges early on.
-There was a famine in the state of Qin, so they asked Duke Hui for help.
-Duke Hui rejected their plea for aid, which, of course, pissed off Qin so they invaded!
-During one of the battles Duke Hui was actually captured, but miraculously was able to avoid execution and was eventually returned home.
-Duke Hui died in 637 BC, replaced by his son, Duke Huai.
-When he was younger he had been sent to the state of Qin as a hostage (for whatever reason) and during that time he had married Huai Yang, the daughter of the Duke of Qin. Thus, it seems as if the powers of both Qin and Jin were combined, so they must have been quite powerful together.
-However, Mu, the duke of Qin, was pissed off that Duke Huai (formerly known as Prince Yu) had left Qin to become the duke of Jin, so he (Duke Mu) declared support for Chong'er to be duke instead of Duke Huai.
-Because of this, Duke Mu married five of his daughters (including Huai Yang!) to Chong'er, and so Chong'er came out of hiding (after 19 years!) and was able to usurp the throne (with the help of the state of Qin as well as two Jin generals), kill his brother (Duke Huai) and become duke himself.
-So, in 636 BC Chong'er became Duke Wen of Jin.
-Duke Wen immediately began introducing military and civil reforms and swallowing up neighboring states via conquest and diplomacy- it looks like some were directly annexed while others were made vassal states of Jin.
-Duke Wen even used his power to help reinstall the usurped Zhou dynasty King Xiang to the throne. We last left off in the chronologically of the Zhou kings with King Huan, so just to catch up:
-King Huan died in 697 BC, replaced by his son, King Zhuang.
-King Zhuang ruled until 682 BC, replaced by his son, King Xi.
-King Xi ruled until 677 BC, replaced by his son, King Hui.
-King Hui ruled until 652 BC, replaced by his son, King Xiang.
-King Xiang was usurped from his throne by his brother, Dai, but he was reinstalled by Duke Wen (see above).
-Anyway, so as Duke Wen was expanding Jin's power, the kingdom of Chu in the south began to challenge their influence via political alliances and betrayals before finally spilling over into battle between the two kingdoms themselves (as opposed to proxies) in 633 BC.
-This started because the the contemporary ruler of Chu, King Cheng, invaded the state of Song, which was allied with Jin.
-Duke Wen raised an army which included his own forces along with troops from the states of Qin, Qi, and, of course, Song to repel Chu. This huge force was necessary because Chu was allied with forces from the states of Chen, Cai, Shen, Xi, Wey, and Lu.
-Both allied forces finally clashed at the Battle of Chengpu in 632 BC. This was one of the biggest battles during the Spring and Autumn Period.
-The forces of Jin proved victorious, and because of this Duke Wen was confirmed as the next hegemon of the Zhou dynasty after pledging his state's loyalty to the throne.
-Of course, peace wouldn't last long, as Duke Wen died in 628 BC.
-Battles were constant between the petty states which were allied to the bigger states (Qin, Jin, Ju, etc.), as well as invasions back and forth between these bigger states/kingdoms. This would go on for like 50 years!
-Shit seemed to reach a crescendo when the armies of Chu finally crushed the armies of Jin at the Battle of Bi (near modern-day Xingyang, Henan Province) in 597 BC.
-This caused Jin to realize that unless they changed things up fast, they faced being conquered by Chu. So, they were able to persuade the state of Wu to start attacking Chu, which distracted the latter from attacking and conquering Jin.
-By 580 BC, Jin had secured an alliance with the power states of Qin and Qi in opposition to Chu.
-However, by 579 BC the state of Song had finally had enough and called these four major states/kingdoms together to agree to a ceasefire, which initially everyone agreed to but obviously didn't last long, and by 575 BC Jin and Chu were fighting again.
-Of course, this time Chu was overpowered by the allied forces.
-Anyway, by the 600-580s it was incredibly obvious that the Hegemon System had completely failed to keep everyone united after Duke Wen died. Also, people stopped giving less and less of a shit about the king.
-Also, during this time the cultures of the different states and kingdoms and "barbarians" were all mixing together. Other states (such as Wu) began declaring themselves sovereign kingdoms as well.
-561 BC- Wu began increasing in power, and around this time declared itself a sovereign kingdom as well (like Chu), with King Shoumeng as their first king.
-By c. 514 BC, Wu was doing very well under their new ruler, King Helu. However, it seems like the he was greatly aided in no small part by the genius generals Wu Zixu (AKA Wu Yun) and Sun Tzu (AKA Sun Zi, Sunzi, and others).
-Both of these dudes are really interesting, but Sun Tzu is the more well-known of the two of coruse since he wrote a little military treatise called "The Art of War". :D
-With both of these generals, King Helu absolutely crushed the state of Chu at the Battle of Boju (modern-day Macheng, Hubei Province).
-The state of Wu then conducted a full-on assault on Chu (along with help from the states of Cai and Tang). As a response, Chu tried desperately to enlist the help of the state of Qin in coming to Chu's defense. It actually worked too!
-By 505 BC, the state of Wu was repelled by the combined forces of Chu and Qin. It also didn't help that while King Helu had been gone from Wu, his son (also a general) Fulai, had returned back to Wu and declared himself king! So, the forces of Wu had to issue a full-scale retreat back home to quell the rebellion.
-Wu still had gained a lot of territory during this time, and Wu was now the most powerful kingdom of the region.
-Unfortunately, Wu's glory would not last long.
-Chu would make up for their humiliating military defeats by helping the upstart state of Yue (south of Wu) wage war against Wu, and Yue would actually conquer Wu in 473 BC!
-Of course, Chu would eventually conquer Yue about a century later...
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