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74-609: Anyang County's existence was first attested during the Warring States period and under the Qin dynasty . The county seat during this period was a place located south of present-day Anyang city. Anyang County was abolished under the Western Han , but brought back under the Western Jin . The location of the county seat during this period is not listed. The county was then abolished again under

148-457: A long siege at Taiyuan , Han and Wei switched sides and the three weaker clans annihilated the Zhi. They then divided the Zhi lands, as well as most of the rest of Jin, among themselves. When Duke You of Jin (433–416) came to the throne, the three clans had taken over much of the remaining Jin lands, leaving the dukes only the area around Jiang and Quwo . From then on, the three clans were known as

222-438: A 'horizontal' or east–west alliance called lianheng ( 連橫{ ), in which a state would ally with Qin to participate in its ascendancy. There were some initial successes in hezong , though mutual suspicions between allied states led to the breakdown of such alliances. Qin repeatedly exploited the horizontal alliance strategy to defeat the states one by one. During this period, many philosophers and tacticians travelled around

296-463: A calming effect on Qi's own population, which experienced great domestic tranquility during Wei's reign. By the end of King Wei's reign, Qi had become the strongest of the states and proclaimed itself "king"; establishing independence from the Zhou dynasty (see below). King Hui of Wei (370–319 BC) set about restoring the state. In 362–359 BC he exchanged territories with Han and Zhao in order to make

370-506: A covenant and started planning an attack on Zhao. Jin (Chinese state) Jin ( traditional Chinese : 晉 ; simplified Chinese : 晋 , Old Chinese : * tsi[n]-s ), originally known as Tang (唐), was a major state during the middle part of the Zhou dynasty , based near the centre of what was then China, on the lands attributed to the legendary Xia dynasty : the southern part of modern Shanxi . Although it grew in power during

444-540: A few states gaining power at the expense of many others, the latter no longer able to depend on central authority for legitimacy or protection. During the Warring States period, many rulers claimed the Mandate of Heaven to justify their conquest of other states and spread their influence. The struggle for hegemony eventually created a state system dominated by several large states, such as Jin , Chu, Qin, Yan, and Qi, while

518-452: A good relationship with his Qi counterpart, with both promising to recognize the other as "king". Early in the Warring States period, Chu was one of the strongest states in China. The state rose to a new level of power around 389 BC when King Dao of Chu ( 楚悼王 ) named the famous reformer Wu Qi as his chancellor. Chu rose to its peak in 334 BC, when it conquered Yue to its east on

592-413: A great defeat at the hands of Qin. King Kao of Zhou had enfeoffed his younger brother as Duke Huan of Henan. Three generations later, this cadet branch of the royal house began calling themselves "dukes of East Zhou". Upon the ascension of King Nan in 314, East Zhou became an independent state. The king came to reside in what became known as West Zhou. Towards the end of the Warring States period,

666-432: A means of weakening Chu. Duke Li of Jin (580–573) allied with Qin and Qi to make an east–west front against the threat of Chu from the south. In 579   BC, a minister of the state of Song arranged a four-power conference in which the states agreed to limit their military strength. Four years later, fighting broke out again; Jin and its allies defeated Chu at the battle of Yingling. Duke Dao of Jin (572–558) strengthened

740-415: A number of Rong tribes . Some of the states conquered were Geng (耿), Huo (霍), old Wei (魏), Yu (虞) and Western Guo . His death led to a succession struggle which ended with the enthronement of Duke Hui of Jin (650–637). In 646   BC, Duke Hui was captured by Qin and restored as a vassal. Another son of Duke Xian was Duke Wen of Jin (636–628), who spent 19 years exile in various courts. He came to

814-503: A number of smaller states between Jin and Qi. In 627   BC, Jin defeated Qin while it was attacking Zheng . Jin invaded Qin in 625   BC and was driven back the following year. In 598   BC, Chu defeated Jin at the Battle of Mi. In 589   BC, Jin defeated Qi at the Battle of An , which had invaded Lu and Wey . About this time, Jin began to support the southeastern state of Wu as

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888-456: A period of shifting alliances and wars on several fronts. In 376 BC, the states of Han, Wei and Zhao deposed Duke Jing of Jin and divided the last remaining Jin territory between themselves, which marked the final end of the Jin state. In 370 BC, Marquess Wu of Wei died without naming a successor, which led to a war of succession. After three years of civil war, Zhao from the north and Han from

962-520: A son of King Hui by a concubine (i.e. a younger half-brother of King Wu) could be established as King Zhao , who in stark contrast to his predecessor went on to rule for an unprecedented 53 years. After the failure of the first vertical alliance, Su Qin eventually came to live in Qi, where he was favored by King Xuan and drew the envy of the ministers. An assassination attempt in 300 BC left Su mortally wounded but not dead. Sensing death approaching, he advised

1036-515: A succession struggle in 307, yielded to the new coalition and appointed Lord Mengchang its chief minister. The alliance between Qin and Qi was sealed by a Qin princess marrying King Min. This horizontal or east–west alliance might have secured peace except that it excluded the State of Zhao . Around 299 BC, the ruler of Zhao became the last of the seven major states to proclaim himself "king". In 298 BC, Zhao offered Qin an alliance and Lord Mengchang

1110-399: A young age and passed tax laws to encourage raising multiple children. He also enacted policies to free convicts who worked in opening wastelands for agriculture. Shang abolished primogeniture and created a double tax on households that had more than one son living in the household, to break up large clans into nuclear families. Shang also moved the capital to reduce the influence of nobles on

1184-552: Is remembered in the second of the Thirty-Six Stratagems , "besiege Wei, save Zhao"—meaning to attack a vulnerable spot to relieve pressure at another point. Domestically, King Hui patronized philosophy and the arts, and is perhaps best remembered for hosting the Confucian philosopher Mencius at his court; their conversations form the first two chapters of the book which bears Meng Zi's name . The title of king ( wang , 王 )

1258-510: The Record of the Warring States , a work of history compiled during the early Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). The political geography of the era was dominated by the Seven Warring States , namely: Besides these seven major states other smaller states survived into the period. They include: The eastward flight of the Zhou court in 771 BC marks the start of

1332-532: The Battle of Maling . After the battle all three of the Jin successor states appeared before King Xuan of Qi , pledging their loyalty. In the following year Qin attacked the weakened Wei. Wei was devastatingly defeated and ceded a large part of its territory in return for truce. With Wei severely weakened, Qi and Qin became the dominant states in China. Wei came to rely on Qi for protection, with King Hui of Wei meeting King Xuan of Qi on two occasions. After Hui's death, his successor King Xiang also established

1406-690: The Eastern Wei . It was then reconstituted under the Sui dynasty in 590 CE and has existed continuously ever since. The present-day city of Anyang was made county seat c. 607, and has held that role continuously until the present day. As 2012, this county is divided to 8 towns and 13 townships. This Henan location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Warring States period The Warring States period in Chinese history ( c.  475  – 221 BC) comprises

1480-566: The Spring and Autumn period , its aristocratic structure saw it break apart when the duke lost power to his nobles. In 403   BC, the Zhou court recognized Jin's three successor states: Han , Zhao , and Wei . The Partition of Jin marks the end of the Spring and Autumn period and the beginning of the Warring States period . Jin was located in the lower Fen River drainage basin on the Shanxi plateau. To

1554-701: The Spring and Autumn period . No one single incident or starting point inaugurated the Warring States era. The political situation of the period represented a culmination of historical trends of conquest and annexation which also characterised the Spring and Autumn period. As a result, there is some controversy as to the beginning of the era. Proposed starting points include: The Eastern Zhou dynasty began its fall around 5th century BC. As their influence waned, they had to rely on armies in allied states rather than their own military force. Hundreds of smaller polities coalesced into seven major states which included: Chu, Han, Qin, Wei, Yan, Qi and Zhao. However, there eventually

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1628-519: The Wei River valley and killed the king. Marquis Wen of Jin , the eleventh marquis of Jin, supported King Ping of Zhou by killing his rival, King Xie of Zhou , an act that King Ping heavily rewarded him for. When Marquis Zhao of Jin (745-739   BC) acceded to the throne, he gave the land of Quwo to his uncle Chengshi who became Huan Shu of Quwo . In 739   BC, an official named Panfu (潘父) murdered Marquis Zhao and invited Huan Shu to take

1702-601: The Zhou dynasty kings via Ji Boqiao (姬 伯僑 ), who was the son of Duke Wu of Jin. Ji Boqiao's family became known as the "sheep tongue family" ( 羊舌氏 ). The Yang clan of Hongnong ( 弘農楊氏 ) were asserted as ancestors by the Sui Emperors like the Li clan of Longxi were asserted as ancestors of the Tang Emperors. The Li of Zhaojun and the Lu of Fanyang hailed from Shandong and were related to

1776-451: The state of Qin became disproportionately powerful compared with the other six states. As a result, the policies of the six states became overwhelmingly oriented towards dealing with the Qin threat, with two opposing schools of thought. One school advocated a 'vertical' or north–south alliance called hezong ( 合縱 ) in which the states would ally with each other to repel Qin. The other advocated

1850-427: The "Three Jins" (三晉). In 403   BC, during the reign of Duke Lie of Jin (415–389), King Weilie of Zhou recognized Marquis Jing of Han , Marquis Wen of Wei and Marquess Lie of Zhao , as marquises of Han in the south, Wei in the center and Zhao in the north, completing the partition of Jin . The state of Jin still nominally existed for several decades afterwards. The Bamboo Annals mentions that in

1924-418: The 20th year of Duke Huan 's reign (369 BC), Marquess Cheng of Zhao and Marquess Gong of Han moved Duke Huan to Tunliu , and after that there were no more records of Duke Huan or any other Jin ruler. Modern historians such as Yang Kuan , Ch'ien Mu , and Han Zhaoqi generally consider 369 BC the final year of Jin's existence. Jin united civil and military authority. Traditionally, Jin had three armies:

1998-530: The Grand Historian ( Shiji ) also has another Duke Jing after Duke Xiao. However, Shiji's account of the last rulers of Jin is often self-contradictory, and is further contradicted by the Bamboo Annals , which does not mention any Jin ruler after Duke Huan of Jin . Historians such as Yang Kuan , Ch'ien Mu , and Han Zhaoqi generally regard the Bamboo Annals as more reliable, as it was unearthed from

2072-644: The Liu clan which was also linked to the Yang clan of Hongnong and other clans of Guanlong. Duke Wu of Jin was claimed as the ancestors of the Hongnong Yang. The Yang clan of Hongnong, Jia clan of Hedong, Xiang clan of Henei, and Wang clan of Taiyuan from the Tang dynasty were claimed as ancestors by Song dynasty lineages. There were Dukedoms for the offspring of the royal families of the Zhou dynasty, Sui dynasty, and Tang dynasty in

2146-509: The Pacific coast. The series of events leading up to this began when Yue prepared to attack Qi to its north. The King of Qi sent an emissary who persuaded the King of Yue to attack Chu instead. Yue initiated a large-scale attack at Chu but was defeated by Chu's counter-attack. Chu then proceeded to conquer Yue. King Xian of Zhou had attempted to use what little royal prerogative he had left by appointing

2220-429: The Zhou court. This marked a major turning point: unlike those in the Spring and Autumn period , the new generation of rulers ascending the thrones in the Warring States period would not entertain even the pretence of being vassals of the Zhou dynasty, instead proclaiming themselves fully independent kingdoms. During the early Warring States period Qin generally avoided conflicts with the other states. This changed during

2294-544: The administration. The rise of Qin was recognized by the royal court, and in 343 BC the king conferred the title of Count (伯 Bó) on Duke Xiao. As was customary, a conference was hosted which the feudal lords attended, and during which the Son of Heaven bestowed the title. After the reforms Qin became much more aggressive. In 340 Qin took land from Wèi after it had been defeated by Qi. In 316 Qin conquered Shu and Ba in Sichuan to

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2368-449: The alliance. In 383 BC it moved its capital to Handan and attacked the small state of Wey . Wey appealed to Wei which attacked Zhao on the western side. Being in danger, Zhao called in Chu. As usual, Chu used this as a pretext to annex territory to its north, but the diversion allowed Zhao to occupy a part of Wei. This conflict marked the end of the power of the united Jins and the beginning

2442-507: The beginning of the Warring States period, Sima Qian 's choice of 475 BC is the most often cited. The era largely corresponds to the second half of the Eastern Zhou period, where the king of Zhou formally ruled as Chinese sovereign , but had lost political power and functioned in practice as a figurehead. This dynamic served as the backdrop for the machinations of the eponymous Warring States. The label "Warring States period" derives from

2516-466: The boundaries of the three states more rational. In 364 BC, Wei was defeated by Qin at the Battle of Shimen and was only saved by the intervention of Zhao. Qin won another victory in 362 BC. In 361 BC the Wei capital was moved east to Daliang to be out of the reach of Qin. In 354 BC, King Hui of Wei started a large-scale attack on Zhao. By 353 BC, Zhao was losing badly and its capital, Handan ,

2590-484: The diplomat Su Qin spent years visiting the courts of Yan, Zhao, Han, Wei, Qi and Chu and persuaded them to form a united front against Qin. In 318 BC all states except Qi launched a joint attack on Qin, which was not successful. King Hui of Qin died in 311 BC, followed by prime minister Zhang Yi one year later. The new monarch, King Wu , reigned only four years before dying without legitimate heirs. Some damaging turbulence ensued throughout 307 BC before

2664-401: The dukes Xian (384–362 BC), Xiao (361–338 BC) and Hui (338–311 BC) of Qin as hegemons, thereby in theory making Qin the chief ally of the court. However, in 325 the confidence of Duke Hui grew so great that he proclaimed himself "king" of Qin; adopting the same title as the king of Zhou and thereby effectively proclaiming independence from the Zhou dynasty. King Hui of Qin

2738-680: The east–west valley of the Yellow River which was the main route to the Wei Valley to the west. To the east were the Taihang Mountains and then the North China Plain . This location gave ambitious Jin dukes the opportunity to move north to conquer and absorb the Xirong tribes, move southwest to fight Qin, and move southeast to absorb the many smaller Zhou states. Also important to the region were

2812-459: The end of Jiang rule, and now openly assumed power. The new ruler set about reclaiming territories that had been lost to other states. He launched a successful campaign against Zhao, Wey and Wei, once again extending Qi territory to the Great Wall. Sima Qian writes that the other states were so awestruck that nobody dared attack Qi for more than 20 years. The demonstrated military prowess also had

2886-478: The establishment of four major families, the Han, Zhao, Wei and Zhi. The Battle of Jinyang saw the allied Han, Zhao and Wei destroy the Zhi family (453 BC) and their lands were distributed among them. With this, they became the de facto rulers of most of Jin's territory, though this situation would not be officially recognised until half a century later. The Jin division created a political vacuum that enabled during

2960-503: The establishment of the Quwo line, Jin became the most powerful state for three generations and remained powerful for a century or more after that. Duke Wu died soon after gaining control of Jin. He was followed by Duke Xian of Jin (676-651   BC). Xian broke with Zhou feudalism by killing or exiling his cousins and ruling with appointees of various social backgrounds. He annexed 16 or 17 small states in Shanxi, dominated 38 others, and absorbed

3034-571: The final centuries of the Zhou dynasty ( c.  1046  – 256 BC), which were characterized by warfare, bureaucratic and military reform, and political consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the wars of conquest that saw the state of Qin annex each of the other contender states by 221 BC and found the Qin dynasty , the first imperial dynastic state in East Asian history. While scholars have identified several different dates as marking

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3108-411: The first 50 years expansion of Chu and Yue northward and Qi southward. Qin increased its control of the local tribes and began its expansion southwest to Sichuan . In 403 BC, the court of King Weilie of Zhou officially recognized Zhao, Wei and Han as immediate vassals, thereby raising them to the same rank as the other warring states. From before 405 until 383 BC the three Jins were united under

3182-450: The grandson of Duke Cheng, tried to break the power of the clans by fostering conflicts between them. In 573   BC, he was killed by the Luan (欒氏) and Zhonghang (中行氏) clans. Duke Dao of Jin (572–558) strengthened the ducal power, but could not eliminate the power of the other aristocratic families. After the reign of Duke Zhao of Jin (531–526), the Jin dukes were figureheads and the state

3256-632: The large states of Chu to the south in the Yangtze and Huai River regions and Qi to the east in Shandong . Jin had multiple capitals. The first capital of Jin was Tang (唐). The capital was later moved to E ( 鄂 ), then Jiang ( 絳 ), then Xintian (新田). From 746 to 677 BC, Quwo (曲沃) was the capital of a fragment of Jin. When the Zhou Dynasty was founded, the conquered lands were given to Zhou relatives and ministers as hereditary fiefs. King Cheng of Zhou ,

3330-522: The leadership of Wei and expanded in all directions. The most important figure was Marquess Wen of Wei (445–396 BC). In 408–406 BC he conquered the State of Zhongshan to the northeast on the other side of Zhao. At the same time he pushed west across the Yellow River to the Luo River taking the area of Xihe (literally 'west of the [Yellow] river'). The growing power of Wei caused Zhao to back away from

3404-436: The lords' loyalty and received from the King the title of "ba" or hegemon . At some point, there was a war with Qin, which ended in peace. Duke Wen erected monuments to the fallen on both sides. The Chinese proverb "The Friendship of Qin and Jin", meaning an unbreakable bond, dates from this period. Over the next century, a four-way balance of power developed between Qin (west), Jin (west-center), Chu (south) and Qi (east), with

3478-443: The lower army; commanded by his son Shengshen. Jin's central army was established in the year of 633 BCE by Duke Wen of Jin . In 634 BCE, Duke Wen additionally formed three "ranks" (三行) with the purpose of defending against a Beidi invasion. The three ranks were later redeployed into the "New armies" (新軍). The new armies were largely dependent on the actual military necessity instead of being permanent units. Due to their flexibility,

3552-520: The new armies were sometimes omitted. According to Tang dynasty scholar Kong Yingda , The central army was the most prestigious army among Jin's three armies. Its commander Zhongjunjiang (中軍將) also governs the state of Jin as Zhengqing (正卿)----Jin's prime minister. Commander of the upper army ( Shangjunjiang , 上軍將) and commander of the lower army ( Xiajunjiang , 下軍將) did not have the access of political influence in Jin's court and were merely military staffs. Every commander ( Junjiang ) of an Jin army

3626-442: The newly crowned King Min have him publicly executed to draw out the assassins. King Min complied with Su's request and killed him, putting an end to the first generation of Vertical alliance thinkers. King Min of Qi came to be highly influenced by Lord Mengchang , a grandson of the former King Wei of Qi . Lord Mengchang made a westward alliance with the states of Wei and Han . In the far west, Qin, which had been weakened by

3700-918: The north were the Xirong and Beidi peoples. To the west were the Lüliang Mountains and then the Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi. To the southwest the Fen River turns west to join the south-flowing part of the Yellow River which soon leads to the Guanzhong , an area of the Wei River Valley that was the heartland of the Western Zhou and later of the Qin . To the south are the Zhongtiao Mountains and then

3774-415: The reign of Duke Xiao , when prime minister Shang Yang made centralizing and authoritarian reforms in accordance with his Legalist philosophy between the years 356 and 338 BC. Shang introduced land reforms, privatized land, rewarded farmers who exceeded harvest quotas, enslaved farmers who failed to meet quotas, and used enslaved subjects as rewards for those who met government policies. As manpower

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3848-419: The ruler of Jin. Quwo was a cadet branch of Jin's ruling house; Ji clan descended from Shu Yu of Tang . The Zhou court, which regarded the lineal legitimacy as an extremely important matter, could not agree with such an usurpation. As a consequence, the king revoked Jin's permission to have three armies. In 661 BCE , Duke Xian of Jin lifted this prohibition by establishing the upper army; led by himself and

3922-503: The second Zhou king, gave the land called Tang (唐), west of modern Yicheng County in Shanxi , to his younger brother, Tang Shuyu (唐叔虞) with the rank of a marquis . Tang Shuyu's son and successor, Marquis Xie of Jin (晉侯燮), changed the name of Tang to Jin. There is little information about Jin for this period beyond a list of rulers. In 771   BC the Quanrong nomads drove the Zhou out of

3996-464: The smaller states of the Central Plain tended to be their satellites and tributaries. Other major states also existed, such as Wu and Yue in the southeast. The last decades of the Spring and Autumn era were marked by increased stability, as the result of peace negotiations between Jin and Chu which established their respective spheres of influence. This situation ended with the partition of Jin, whereby

4070-403: The south invaded Wei. On the verge of conquering Wei, the leaders of Zhao and Han fell into disagreement about what to do with Wei, and both armies abruptly retreated. As a result, King Hui of Wei (still a Marquess at the time) was able to ascend the throne of Wei. Zhao extended from the Shanxi plateau across the plain to the borders of Qi. Wei reached east to Qi, Lu , and Song . To the south,

4144-447: The southwest. Development of this area took a long time but slowly added greatly to Qin's wealth and power. In 341 BC, Wei attacked Han. Qi allowed Han to be nearly defeated and then intervened. The generals from the Battle of Guiling met again ( Sun Bin and Tian Ji versus Pang Juan ), using the same tactic, attacking Wei's capital. Sun Bin feigned a retreat and then turned on the overconfident Wei troops and decisively defeated them at

4218-449: The state by internal improvements rather than external wars. He absorbed a number of Rong tribes and was recognized as Hegemon. In 607   BC, Duke Ling of Jin (620–607) was killed by Zhao Chuan (趙穿) under the orders of his uncle Zhao Dun . Prince Heitun was placed on the throne as Duke Cheng of Jin (606–600). This was the beginning of the slow shift of power from the Jin dukes to the ministerial clans. Duke Li of Jin (580–573),

4292-489: The state was divided between the houses of Han, Zhao and Wei, leading to the seven major warring states. The rulers of Jin had steadily lost political powers since the middle of the 6th century BC to their nominally subordinate nobles and military commanders, a situation arising from the traditions of the Jin which forbade the enfeoffment of relatives of the ducal house. This allowed other clans to gain fiefs and military authority, and decades of internecine struggle led to

4366-483: The states, recommending that the rulers put their respective ideas into use. These "lobbyists", such as Su Qin , who advocated vertical alliances, and Zhang Yi , who advocated horizontal alliances, were famous for their tact and intellect, and were collectively known as the School of Diplomacy , whose Chinese name ( 縱橫家 'the school of the vertical and horizontal') was derived from the two opposing ideas. Beginning in 334 BC

4440-447: The throne in 636 escorted by the troops of his father-in-law, Duke Mu of Qin . Duke Wen quickly established himself as an independent ruler by driving the Di barbarians west of the Yellow River. In 635   BC he supported King Xiang of Zhou against a rival and was rewarded with lands near the royal capital. In 633   BC, he confronted the rising power of the southern state of Chu which

4514-462: The throne. Huan Shu entered Jin but was driven out by the people and retreated to Quwo. All three Quwo rulers, Huan Shu (745–731), Zhuang Bo (731–716) and Duke Wu (716–678) made attempts to take over Jin. In 678   BC, Duke Wu of Quwo conquered Jin and killed Marquis Min of Jin (704–678). One year later, after receiving gifts from Duke Wu, King Xi of Zhou made Duke Wu the legal ruler of Jin, who became known as Duke Wu of Jin (679–677). With

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4588-474: The tomb of King Xiang (died 296 BC) of the State of Wei , one of the three successor states of Jin. Duke Huan is therefore generally considered the final ruler of Jin. The Sui dynasty Emperors were from the northwest military aristocracy, and emphasized that their patrilineal ancestry was ethnic Han, claiming descent from the Han official Yang Zhen. and the New Book of Tang traced his patrilineal ancestry to

4662-461: The upper army, the central army and the lower army. Three more armies were added in 588 BC. Each army contained 12500 soldiers. According to the convention of Zhou dynasty, a large fiefdom like Jin was allowed to have as many as three armies. However, Jin originally had only one army: the limitation was imposed by the Zhou dynasty king in order to observe the rite of Zhou. In 679 BCE , Duke Wu of Quwo assassinated Marquis Xiaozi of Jin and became

4736-423: The weaker state of Han held the east–west part of the Yellow River valley, surrounded the Zhou royal domain at Luoyang and held an area north of Luoyang called Shangdang . Duke Kang of Qi died in 379 BC with no heir from the house of Jiang, which had ruled Qi since the state's founding. The throne instead passed to the future King Wei , from the house of Tian. The Tian had been very influential at court towards

4810-452: Was a shift in alliances because each state's ruler wanted independence. This caused hundreds of wars between 535 and 286 BC. The victorious state would have overall rule and control in China. The system of feudal states created by the Western Zhou dynasty underwent enormous changes after 771 BC with the flight of the Zhou court to modern-day Luoyang and the diminution of its relevance and power. The Spring and Autumn period led to

4884-498: Was accompanied by a Junzuo (軍佐) who was the assistant of Junjiang (軍將). Other posts in the Jin army were Junsima (軍司馬) and Junwei (軍尉), both of which were subordinated under Junjiang and Junzuo . The main military ranks were: List of Jin rulers based on the Records of the Grand Historian and the Bamboo Annals . The original branch: The Quwo branch, replacing the original branch in 678   BC: The Records of

4958-488: Was controlled by six clans: Fan (范) , Zhonghang (中行), Zhi (智), Han (韓), Zhao (趙) and Wei (魏). The clans soon began to fight among themselves. During the time of Duke Ding of Jin (511–475), the Fan and Zhonghang clans were eliminated by Xiangzi of Zhi . By about 450   BC, the Zhi were dominant and began demanding territory from the other clans. When Zhao resisted, Zhi attacked Zhao and brought along Han and Wei as allies. After

5032-453: Was driven out of Qin. The remaining three allies, Qi, Wei and Han, attacked Qin, driving up the Yellow River below Shanxi to the Hangu Pass . After 3 years of fighting they took the pass and forced Qin to return territory to Han and Wei. They next inflicted major defeats on Yan and Chu. During the 5-year administration of Lord Mengchang, Qi was the major power in China. In 294, Lord Mengchang

5106-477: Was guided by his prime minister Zhang Yi , a prominent representative of the School of Diplomacy . He was followed in 323 BC by King Xuanhui of Han and King Yi of Yan , as well as King Cuo of the minor state Zhongshan. In 318 BC even the ruler of Song , a relatively minor state, declared himself king. Uniquely, while King Wuling of Zhao had joined the other kings in declaring himself king, he retracted this order in 318 BC, after Zhao suffered

5180-437: Was held by figurehead rulers of the Zhou dynasty, while the rulers of most states held the title of duke ( gong , 公 ) or marquess ( hou , 侯 ). A major exception was Chu, whose rulers were called kings since King Wu of Chu started using the title c.  703 BC . In 344 BC the rulers of Qi and Wei mutually recognized each other as kings: King Wei of Qi and King Hui of Wei , in effect declaring their independence from

5254-499: Was implicated in a coup d'état and fled to Wei. His alliance system collapsed. Qi and Qin made a truce and pursued their own interests. Qi moved south against the state of Song whilst the Qin General Bai Qi pushed back eastward against a Han/Wei alliance, gaining victory at the Battle of Yique . In 288, King Zhao of Qin and King Min of Qi took the title di ( 帝 'emperor'), of the west and east respectively. They swore

5328-404: Was short in Qin relative to the other states at the time, Shang enacted policies to increase its manpower. As Qin peasants were recruited into the military, he encouraged active immigration of peasants from other states into Qin as a replacement workforce; this policy simultaneously increased the manpower of Qin and weakened the manpower of Qin's rivals. Shang made laws forcing citizens to marry at

5402-439: Was then besieging Song . Instead of directly assisting Song, he attacked two vassals of Chu, Cao and Wei . The following year, he formed a military alliance with Qin, Qi and Song that defeated Chu at the Battle of Chengpu , perhaps the largest battle in the Spring and Autumn period. Shortly after the battle, he held an interstate conference at Jitu (踐土) with King Xiang of Zhou and the rulers of six other states. He affirmed

5476-458: Was under siege. The state of Qi intervened. The famous Qi strategist, Sun Bin the great-great-great-grandson of Sun Tzu , the author of the Art of War , proposed to attack the Wei capital while the Wei army was tied up besieging Zhao. The strategy was a success; the Wei army hastily moved south to protect its capital, was caught on the road and decisively defeated at the Battle of Guiling . The battle

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