High Level Overview of Chinese History: Zhou Dynasty VI
The Five Hegemons I
By SY - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62515506
The Five Hegemons 五霸 Wǔ Bà covers the time period from 685-591 BCE and was a struggle among the various states sought to control the position of hegemon, with the Chinese having the meaning of 'the eldest son born to the principle wife in a family' or 'senator'. The number five 五 can be both literal or it can be 'more generally qualitative and less precisely quantitative use, implying completeness'. There are multiple lists of the hegemons that contain about nine dukes who led various states with only two, Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin appearing in all sources and three appearing in most, which will round out the five explored in this overview.
By https://www.dpm.org.cn/collection/impres/231853, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=144383420
Duke Huan of Qi, along with his prime minister, Guan Zhong, led efforts to reform the state so that power was centralized. Prior to his gaining the office, Lü Xiaobai was not in line for the throne because he was at least the third son of Duke Xi. When Xi died, his eldest son took the throne, but 'his reign was fraught with internal conflicts and scandals'. Xiaobai's tutor took him to the state of Ju to save his life by living in exile. After his eldest brother was assassinated, a cousin took the throne and was murdered a month later. Xiaobai returned to Qi with the goal of becoming duke, though his second oldest brother, Jiu, had support of many high ranking officials in Qi. Xiaobai managed to take control of the government before his brother could, becoming Duke Huan in 685 BCE. His brother brought the army of Lu under Duke Zhuang to try and take the office, but they were defeated at Qianshi. Huan's tutor now led the army that invaded Lu to capture Jiu. Zhuang executed Jui and turned over Jiu's tutor, Guan Zhong, in an effort to appease Huan.
Huan's former tutor advised that he spare Guang Zhong and to employ him in a high ministerial role because he was very talented. Huan did so, making him his prime minister and they reorganized the Qi government and society, setting up a meritocracy and 'dividing both the land as well as the people into regulated units', which strengthened Qi, making it possible to 'mobilize human and material resources more effectively than other Zhou states, which remained loosely structured'. This allowed Qi to reach 'an unprecedented status of leadership in the entire Zhou world'. In 667 BCE, he invited the leaders of Lu, Song, Chen, and Zheng to a conference where the other leaders elected him their leader, which drew King Hui of Zhou's attention. Hui appointed Huan hegemon with 'authority to operate the military in the name of the royal court', a position that was 'supposed to "restore the authority of the Son of Heaven"' or monarch.
Huan focused on both internal issues, such as when the state of Wey defied the king, and external ones, defending against the 'Four Barbarians', as they were derogatorily called, such as saving the states of Yan, Xing, and Wey from invasion. He also prevented the state of Chu from expanding north, leading eight states against the state of Cai, a satellite state of Chu. He set multiple precedents in his time as hegemon. He was on the throne for nearly 40 years when he died in 643 BCE. The subsequent battles between five of his sons weakened the power of the Qi state so badly they lost the hegemony and there was no hegemon for nearly 10 years.
By 馮夢龍 - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128888285
Duke Xiang of Song tried to take over the position of hegemon after Huan's death, working with one of Huan's sons, Prince Zhao, and the states of Cao, Wey, and Zou, using their support to invade Qi to make Zhao duke, when he crowned Duke Xiao of Qi. He then thought that turning on the state of Chu would be the best way to gain the hegemony despite his advisors being against it. He was wounded in the battle of Hong in 638 BCE and died of his wounds the following year. Despite this failure, some sources consider him to be one of the Five Hegemons.
By Attributed to Li Tang - Metropolitan Museum of Art, online collection: entry 40051, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=153422251
Duke Wen of Jin, born Ji Chong'er in 697 BCE, was the half-brother of the crown prince Shengsheng and Xiqi. As their father aged, he began to favor Xiqi's mother and she wanted her son to be crown prince instead. She sets on a campaign to discredit Shengsheng, driving him to suicide in 656 BCE. This caused civil war within Jin and turned Duke Xian against his surviving children. Chong'er fled north with 'a retinue of capable men'where they remained until Xian died in 651 BCE. He was invited to take the duchy, but declined. It passed to one of his half-brothers, who took the regnal name Hui. Hui tried to assassinate Chong'er, which caused Chong'er to move to Qi in 644 BCE where he stayed until 639 BCE, when there was a succession crisis there. He then went through Cao, Song, Zheng, Chu, and Qin. In total, he spent 19 years in exile, gaining prestige and connections as he traveled.
In 636 BCE, after the death of his half-brother, Chong'er returned to Jin and became Duke Wen. He initiated multiple reforms, some of which were undertaken to 'fill the gaps that had been caused by the slaughter of the ducal house previously', aided by the leaders he'd gathered while he'd wandered. He absorbed several small states around Jin and made others vassal states. He made vocal his support of King Xiang of Zhou, even restoring him to his throne after his brother had driven him off it. He had to stop the northern expansion of Chu and in 632 BCE, he won the Battle of Chengpu, which kept Chu from expanding northward for decades. This resulted in him being confirmed as hegemon. He died in 628 BCE and his son became Duke Xiang of Jin, who was also hegemon and the title would stay with the family for nearly a century.
