During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes were thirsty for talents, and hundreds of schools of thought were vying to be used by the king and the overlord, in order to promote their own sect, and the king's way and hegemony came into being. The royal way originally refers to the way of governing the country by ancient sage kings such as Yao, Shun, and Yu, that is, the way of the ancestors. Later, it was summarized and summarized by Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, etc., and then became the political ideal of Confucianism.

The royal way represents a perfect ethical and moral realm and a perfect social and political order. Wangdao takes benevolence as its basic spirit and benevolent government as its basic proposition. Its basic connotation is the implementation of benevolent government.

Ba initially referred to the princes. With the decline of the Zhou Dynasty, the strength of the princes increased, and then they sought to dominate the princes by launching annexation and invasion wars. The way of governing the country adopted by the overlords represented by the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period in order to dominate the princes is called hegemony. In troubled times, hegemony is the main thing and kingly way is supportive. In prosperous times, kingly way is the main thing and hegemony is supplementary. The hegemony and kingly way should be used together.