Chapter 484: You are not ready to conquer the world, why are you pretending to be so cool?
Yingji glanced at his great-grandson worriedly. He had originally planned to just brush over the Chu culture in one sentence, but the lingering feeling of uneasiness in his heart made him decide to explain it in detail.
"The titles of officials in the Central Plains, including Qin, are roughly the same. Only in Chu, the titles of officials are dizzying. Names like Dengtu, Zhuguo, Cifei, Zhigui, Sanlu Dafu, etc., except for the nobles of Chu, people from other countries find it difficult to understand their meanings."
Ying Chengjiao's eyes lit .
"I know what they mean."
“…”
Why do you remember this? Why do you remember this? I don't know everything, who asked you to remember it?
King Zhaoxiang of Qin became even more worried. He waved his hand casually and said lightly:
"It's all rubbish. Forget it."
Ying Chengjiao nodded obediently, grabbed it above his head and threw it out.
"Okay, listen to grandfather, Cheng Jiao has lost these memories."
King Zhaoxiang of Qin was in a daze.
The person sitting on the throne was not a handsome young man of 28, but a four-year- child.
More than 20 years ago, a young child fell down while running in the Xianyang Palace. His arm was cut and bleeding, and he stood there in excruciating pain.
King Yingji of Qin, who was following behind, grabbed the child's injured arm and threw him out suddenly.
"I have already taken away the pain from Jiao'er and thrown it away. Now it doesn't hurt anymore."
"childish."
The four-year-old child pouted and whispered.
"childish."
King Zhaoxiang of Qin curled his lips in dissatisfaction and continued to talk about the State of Chu that his great-grandson feared.
“The Chu people claimed to be barbarians, but in reality they considered themselves the descendants of Zhu Rong and never took people from other Central Plains countries seriously.
"The Chu State was located in the Central Plains, but it claimed to be independent of the Central Plains and rarely absorbed the essence of the Central Plains civilization. Its official system, military system, and people's rule were all its own.
"They have never learned the civilized laws of the Central Plains countries. They think they are orthodox and stick to their bad habits, but they are content and say that the systems of other countries are not orthodox..."
King Zhaoxiang of Qin spoke incessantly.
Ying Chengjiao listened carefully, and he understood everything his grandfather said.
His understanding of the State of Chu came not only from the bamboo slips and the deceased Queen Dowager Huayang, but also from field surveys and personal contact.
This vassal state, which was established by a mountain tribe and later recognized by the Zhou Dynasty, has many aspects that are difficult to understand in the Central Plains culture. The names of official titles mentioned by Yingji are one of them.
This difference may seem small, but when many small differences are gathered together, they become a chasm, which seriously hinders the famous people in the Central Plains from making achievements in the State of Chu.
Unless there is no other choice, who would be willing to go to the State of Chu, which is completely different from what they have learned all their life?
During the reign of Wei Wuhou, Wu Qi, a man of both civil and military talents, fled to the State of Chu because he was rejected by treacherous officials and was not trusted by the king. The king of Chu appointed Wu Qi as the prime minister and was determined to reform the country and strengthen the country.
Wu Qi relied on the trust of the King of Chu to delegate power and used an iron fist to forcefully reform the backward and ignorant old system of Chu, but he ended up becoming an isolated minister like Shang Yang.
The King of Chu, who devoted his entire life to the State of Chu, died in middle age. He worked hard to govern the country and make it strong, but because his reforms violated the interests of the great nobles, he was posthumously named "Dao".
Wu Qi's fate was the same as Shang Yang's, he was brutally killed immediately.
But then, the fate of Chu State was different from that of Qin State. The new successor, King Su of Chu, the son of King Dao of Chu, did not absolutely support the new policy like King Huiwen of Qin.
Under pressure from opposition from great nobles and great witches, the new policy was reduced by 70%.
The State of Chu became a strange Warring States that was three parts new and seven parts old. It was always sluggish and unable to achieve anything.
Ying Chengjiao conducted in-depth research on Wu Qi's reforms and ultimately concluded that Wu Qi's failure in Chu was not due to a mistake in the reform itself, but rather to the country's backwardness, ignorance and closedness, which were far from the foundation required for reform and could hardly be reversed by anyone in the short term.
The upper class nobles of Chu State always lived in a closed mountainous country, without looking at the world to compete for survival. The witch culture rooted in Chu State could not go out, and the glory of Donghuang Taiyi could only shine on the land of Chu State.
This resulted in the fact that all major events in the Central Plains countries could not be separated from the participation of the great power of Chu, but no country placed its hopes for survival on Chu, and small and medium-sized vassal states rarely took the initiative to seek protection from Chu.
Among the seven Warring States, Chu and Qin had the fewest vassal states.
The Qin State was isolated to the west of Hangu Pass by the six Shandong states and could not move eastward to compete for the vassal states in the Central Plains.
However, during the reign of Duke Mu of Qin, the Qin State swallowed up and annexed almost all of the Rongdi tribal states in the west, and almost all of the grassland tribes that had not been assimilated also submitted to the Qin State.
Qin was a country that actively moved closer to the civilization of the Central Plains. Qin Xiaogong's call for talents was addressed to the whole world. No matter how the big countries in the Central Plains despised Qin, Qin always regarded itself as the civilization of the Central Plains.
But it was different for the State of Chu. Located in the Central Plains, the State of Chu treated the barbarian tribes in the south with disdain and lacked effective integration.
The Chu State was only satisfied with the loose tribute of the Baiyue people in Lingnan, and did not incorporate this thriving and populous tribe into the overall national strength. The Great Witch also did not want the Baiyue goddess Yuenu to kneel before the East Emperor, as the girl from a small country was not worthy.
The State of Chu nominally had a population of tens of millions, but could only mobilize a few hundred thousand troops, which was less than the troops that the State of Zhao could mobilize, which had a population of only a few million.
The Qin State encountered many difficulties in its war against the Zhao State. After the arduous Battle of Changping, it was defeated in the Battle of Handan and was repeatedly defeated by Li Mu.
But fighting against the State of Chu did not take much effort, except for Xiang Yan's stunning appearance at the end.
Through the facts that have happened, Ying Chengjiao also discovered that the ideology of the Chu State was very different.
The upper class of the Chu State had a sense of inferiority and unwillingness to surrender to the Central Plains civilization.
There is always a strong demand for the Central Plains civilization to recognize and accept them, but at the same time, they always keep a certain distance from the Central Plains civilization.
If they are not taken seriously, they will look for opportunities and reasons to demonstrate their strength to the Central Plains.
If the great country of the Central Plains opens its arms, they will automatically retreat, fearing that they will be assimilated by the Central Plains.
Just like Aquaman, fish don’t seek anger, but fish that are too clingy are annoying.
Three hundred years ago during the reign of King Zhuang of Chu, everyone knew that the power of Chu was still far less than that of the State of Jin in the Central Plains, not to mention the combined strength of many princes.
King Zhuang of Chu, however, wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of uniting the armies to fight against the enemy. He deployed his troops outside Luoyang and challenged Wang Sunman, the envoy of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty who came to comfort the troops, by asking him about the weight of the Nine Cauldrons in Luoyang.
The Nine Cauldrons are the symbol of the emperor's royal power. Challenging the emperor's throne is tantamount to challenging the emperor's royal power. What King Zhuang of Chu did was essentially the same as what King Wu of Qin did when he lifted the cauldron.
Wang Sunman replied: "Although Zhou's virtue has declined, the Mandate of Heaven has not changed."
King Zhuang of Chu returned in disappointment and did not take any major action afterwards.
Ying Chengjiao was speechless after reading this part of the history. "You are not ready to conquer the world, so why are you pretending to be so cool?"
