Page 95 - Sotheby's NYC September 20 2022 Forging An Empire Bronzes

Li Xueqin studied the Chinese classical text Shuijingzhu (Commentary on the Water Classic) and 75,000 soldiers (see Liu Litang, 2000, p. 69). As Edward Shaughnessy notes, “the Zhou state never really
suggested that the location where the king crossed the Han River and died was Mian 沔 (later called recovered from this loss” (1999, p. 323).
Simian (the deadly Mian) 死沔, because of Zhao’s tragedy), which should be in today’s Tianmen, Hubei
province (2016, p. 352) (fig. 5). The cause of drowning is still a mystery today. Lüshi chunqiu (Master Lü’s “King Zhao conducted his grand inspection. He traveled far into the south. What did he benefit from it?
Spring and Autumn Annals) records that when the king was crossing the Han River, the bridge collapsed. Just for the white pheasants?”
He fell into the water and drowned. His personal guard Xin Yu Mi carried his body to shore. Diwang shiji Qu Yuan, Songs of Chu, Questions to Heaven
(The Ages of the Kings), however, provides a different story: it records that the king was tricked by a boat
master to traverse the river on a boat held together with glue. The boat dissolved in the middle of the Han The weakening of the Zhou provided a welcome opportunity for the Chu to grow in power. Li Yushao
River, drowning the king (see Liu Litang, 2000, p. 69). Yang Kuan suspects that the king and his army states that after the reign of King Zhao, there were no bronze inscriptions recording any further
actually encountered a sudden attack from the Chu people, which destroyed their travel bridge, causing confrontations between the Zhou and the Chu, and it was not until more than a century later, during the
the drowning of the king. The Six Armies were also vanquished in this attack (2003, pp 557-558). reign of King Xuan, that another military campaign was launched against the Chu (2011, p. 285). By the
time of King Yi, the Chu, under the leadership of an enlightened ruler, Xiong Qu 熊渠, had grown into a
“The heaven was obscured; the pheasants and hares were shaken. The Six Armies were lost in the Han powerful state. Shiji: Chushijia records that Xiong Qu received support from the people of the Jianghan
River.” regions. He conquered the lands of Yong 庸 and Yangyue 揚越 and reached E 鄂, and he granted his
Bamboo Annals three sons lands to be kings. The fall of the Western Zhou in 771 BC gave an even greater opportunity
for the Chu to shine in the history of China. During the Eastern Zhou dynasty, the Chu state developed
The Chu were accused of the death of King Zhao. Zuozhuan : Xigong sinian (The Commentary of Zuo : into a superpower. The famous King Zhuang of Chu was one of the Five Hegemons during the Spring
4th year of Duke Xi) includes a famous conversation between Guan Zhong, a renowned politician of the and Autumn period, and the Chu state was regarded as one of the Seven Powerful Kingdoms during the
Qi State during the Spring and Autumn period, and a messenger of the Chu. Guan Zhong questioned the Warring States period.
messenger about King Zhao’s death during his southern expedition. The messenger, however, retorted
that Guan Zhong should be asking the rivers instead. Regardless of whether the Chu were responsible
for the death of King Zhao, the event was devastating for the Western Zhou empire. The Six Armies that
were lost in the Han River were the main military force of the Zhou and were estimated to be around
「昭王成游，南土爰底？厥利惟何，逢彼白雉」 熊渠甚得江漢支持，伐庸、揚越，至於鄂，分封三
屈原，《楚辭·天問》 子各為王。公元前771年，西周傾覆，更為楚在中
國歷史舞台脫穎而出提供了機會。至東周楚國已成
紀》所述則截然不同，稱昭王為船夫所誘，登上膠 昭王之死使楚人飽受質疑。《左傳・僖公四年》 另一方面，周朝式微，楚順勢崛起。李裕杓稱，昭
船，船至中流，膠液溶解，船身崩損，故而落水（ 載，春秋時期齊國政治家管仲與楚國來使交談，管 王殞後，再無出土西周青銅器銘記周楚之爭，而周 強國，楚莊王為春秋五霸之一，戰國時期，楚國更
見劉禮堂，2000年，頁69）。楊寬認為昭王的軍隊 仲即以昭王南征不復詰問楚使，楚使反駁管仲當「 王朝再次與楚發生戰爭已是一個多世紀以後的宣王 位七雄之列，稱霸一方。
當時應是遭到了楚人突然襲擊，導致浮橋敗壞，昭 問諸水濱」。不論昭王之死是否與楚相干，南征慘 時期（2011年，頁285）。至周夷王時，楚君熊渠
王及隨從大臣落水而亡，其所率六師亦遇襲而慘敗 痛收場，周朝氣數隨之大減。漢水所喪六師乃周室 治國賢明，楚日漸強盛。據《史記・楚世家》載，
（2003，頁557-558）。 主要兵力，約七萬五千人（見劉禮堂，2000年，頁
69）。正如夏含夷所言，此役之後周王朝元氣從未
「天大曀，雉兔皆震，丧六师于汉」 得到真正意義上的恢復（1999年，頁323）。
《竹書紀年》

92 POWER / CONQUEST: THE FORGING OF EMPIRES