The Chu State was the first great power to rise during the Spring and Autumn Period. At its strongest period, it occupied half of the country at that time. However, the Chu State failed to complete the feat of unifying the country in the end, and instead allowed the Qin State, which came from behind to achieve it. , why did the Qin State complete the counterattack? But the map of the Chu State was already very vast, and the contrast with other countries was very sharp, and the Qin State was only a little small, but in the Warring States Period, the Qin State quickly became stronger because of Shang Yang's reforms , widening the gap with other countries.

In ancient Chinese history, after the protracted war for hegemony during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC, one said 453 BC, the other said 403 BC), the Zhou Dynasty The number of vassal states within the territory was greatly reduced. In 453 BC, Han, Zhao, and Wei overthrew the Zhi family, marking the division of the three families into the Jin Dynasty, establishing the pattern of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period. As far as the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period are concerned, Chu State was a traditional powerful country, and its territory accounted for almost half of the world at its peak. However, the Chu State, which controlled half of the country, allowed the Qin State to finally unify the world. Why?

1

First of all, as early as the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty, out of gratitude to the Chu people Because he sent troops to help destroy the Shang Dynasty, he made Xiong Yi, the leader of the Chu people, a viscount and asked him to go to Danyang to establish the original Chu Kingdom (with a radius of fifty miles). However, as for the ever-expanding Chu State, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, it successively annexed the surrounding small countries and became a large country thousands of miles away. At the historical stage of the Warring States Period, Sima Qian recorded in "Historical Records": "Chu is the most powerful country in the world. The great king is also the wise king in the world. The land is five thousand miles away, with millions of armors, thousands of chariots, and ten thousand horses of millet. After ten years of service, you have the qualifications to be the overlord!" For the Chu State at that time, it could be said that it controlled half of the country, but the final outcome was that Qin Shihuang destroyed the Chu State.

2

In this regard, in the author’s opinion, the first reason for the problem that Chu State was vast but could not compete with Qin State was that Chu State was mainly in a Yangtze River Basin and areas south of the Yangtze River. However, during the historical period of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the population south of the Yangtze River was very sparse, and many of them were still barbaric lands. In other words, although Chu State owns half of the country, its actual population is not that large, which makes Chu State's military strength have no advantage over Qin State. At the same time, due to the dispersion of nobles, ministers and officials in the vast Chu State, the power of the Chu royal family was not as centralized as that of the Qin State, and its cohesion could not be compared with the Qin State after Shang Yang's reform.

Three

Furthermore, compared to the six countries of Qin, Qi, Yan, Han, Wei, and Zhao, Chu can be said to have had the least thorough reform. A vassal state. As we all know, during the historical stage of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, various vassal states carried out reforms one after another in order to strengthen themselves. For example, the State of Qin carried out the Shang Yang Reform, the State of Zhao carried out the Hu Fu Cavalry and Shooting Reform, and the State of Qi carried out the Reform as early as the Guan Zhong period. . Correspondingly, Wu Qi of Chu State died after nine years of reform, and Qu Yuan tried to reform but failed. King Chu Mourning reused Wu Qi's reform, which took nine years to achieve success and expanded the territory of Chu to present-day Hunan, Guangxi and other places. However, after Wu Qi was killed, his reforms did not continue. The resistance to the reform became an important reason why Chu State was unable to compete with Qin State for the world.

Four

Finally, compared to the Qin State, the Chu State also had accomplished monarchs such as King Chu Wei and King Chu Mourning. However, the faint king of the Chu State made this The achievements accumulated by a wise king are constantly being lost. For example, during the reign of King Chu Huai, he rashly attacked Qin, causing Chu to lose a large number of soldiers, horses and land. In 299 BC, King Huai of Chu was detained by Qin and eventually died in Qin. After that, the state of Chu completely changed from strategic initiative to strategic passivity, and lost the qualification to compete with Qin for the world. As far as the late Warring States period is concerned, many of Qin Shihuang's remnants of Ying Zhengfen VI and the previous monarchs had great achievements. However, most of the kings of the late Chu Kingdom did nothing. In this regard, in the author's opinion, the gap in kings is also one of the reasons why Chu lost its qualification to compete with Qin for the world.