Five Hegemons
King Helü of Wu is considered to be one of the Five Hegemons of China during the Spring and Autumn period due to his military successes at this time with the help of his famous commander/strategist Sun Tzu. Wu is also generally regarded as developing the first Chinese Navy. This Navy was quite complex and had different classes of ships. These "classes" of ships were the great wing (da yi), the little wing (xiao yi), the stomach striker (tu wei), the castle ship (lou chuan), and the bridge ship (qiao chuan). These were listed in the "Yuejueshu" ("Lost Records of the State of Yue") as a written dialogue between King Helü of Wu (r. 514 BC–496 BC) and Wu Zixu (526 BC–484 BC) in which the latter stated: