曲沃 / Quwo (Warring States)

曲沃 / Quwo appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》34丨秦国总理如何玩转六国 as a 魏国 stronghold paired with 焦邑 in the 330 BCE Qin offensive. This page uses the Warring States disambiguation to avoid collapsing the episode’s Wei-Qin frontier place into other historical Quwo references.

The episode makes Quwo part of two movements: first, 秦国 uses attacks around Jiaoyi and Quwo to keep squeezing Wei into further cessions; later, Qin returns Jiaoyi and Quwo to Wei after the 蒲阳 and 上郡 exchange. That return is presented as the next strategic question rather than a simple act of kindness.

《资治通鉴·周纪》38丨搞兼职的张仪不一般 brings Quwo back after 张仪 goes to 魏国 as chief minister. When Wei does not accept Zhang Yi’s proposal to lead the lords in serving Qin, Qin attacks and takes Quwo together with 平州. That makes Quwo a recurring marker of Qin’s pressure on Wei rather than a settled returned place.

Connections

• 焦邑 - paired stronghold in the Qin offensive and later return.
• 魏国 and 秦国 - state losing pressure and state applying it.
• 少梁, 河西, and 秦国东进压力 - broader territorial pressure sequence.
• 张仪, 蒲阳, and 欲擒故纵式让利外交 - later context for Qin’s give-back logic.
• 平州, 连横, and 乱世职业经理人式流动 - Zhouji 38 renewed Qin attack after Zhang Yi’s Wei appointment.