The Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 BC – 256 BC) was a dynasty in ancient Chinese history. After the fall of Western Zhou, the princes established the deposed crown prince Yiusu as king, known in history as the King of Zhouping, and moved east to Luoyi (present-day Luoyang, Henan), known as Eastern Zhou. After the King of Zhou Ping moved east, his jurisdiction was greatly reduced, and it resembled a small state, and there were more than 140 princely states in the Spring and Autumn Period. The princes attacked and annexed each other, and the Zhou royal family could not assume the responsibility of the Son of Heaven, and often had to ask for help from some powerful princes.
Among them, in order to keep his throne, King Xiang of Zhou, as far as this article is concerned, had to ask for help from the Spring and Autumn Overlord of Jin Wengong. After Duke Wen of Jin helped him keep the throne, King Xiang of Zhou had no choice but to cede the city to appease the Jin state. Therefore, it is very obvious that the Zhou Tianzi during the Zhou Xiang King's period could no longer assume the responsibility of the Tianzi, and even needed to rely on the great powers such as the State of Qi and the State of Jin. On this basis, the Spring and Autumn Overlord naturally replaced Zhou Tianzi to a certain extent, which became one of the reasons why the Eastern Zhou Dynasty eventually went to extinction.
One
Specifically, King Xiang of Zhou (?) –620 BC), courtesy name Zheng, son of King Hui of Zhou, monarch of Eastern Zhou, reigned from 651 BC to 619 BC. In the twenty-fifth year of King Hui of Zhou (652 BC), Ji Zheng's father, King Hui of Zhou, died, and Ji Zheng succeeded to the throne as King Xiang of Zhou. It is worth noting that King Xiang of Zhou was able to successfully inherit the throne without the help of the Duke of Qi Huan, the head of the Spring and Autumn Five.
For King Xiang of Zhou's father, King Hui of Zhou, although he made Ji Zheng (King Xiang of Zhou) crown prince during his lifetime, King Hui of Zhou and the queen were also very fond of Ji Zheng's younger brothers. It was as if Cao Cao had made Cao Pi crown prince, but Cao Zhi was still his beloved son. Therefore, for Ji Zheng, it is natural to fear zitai and worry that he will usurp his throne. In 652 BC, King Hui of Zhou died, and the crown prince Zheng was afraid that his son would be difficult, so he secretly did not mourn and secretly sought the support of the Duke of Qi Huan.
In 651 BC, Duke Huan of Qi summoned Song, Wei, Xu, Lu, Cao, and Chen to ally with Tao (洮, in present-day southwest of Juancheng, Shandong), making crown prince Zheng Ji king, the King of Zhouxiang. Therefore, for Ji Zheng, it was under the witness of the Duke of Qi Huan and other princes that he officially ascended to the throne of Zhou Tianzi. And this undoubtedly helped to consolidate the position of King Xiang of Zhou. Of course, from another point of view, this is also an important manifestation of King Xiang of Zhou's lack of strength, that is, he could not even secure his own throne, and he also needed the support of the princes and overlords to ascend to the throne.
For the princes' alliance in 651 BC, it was also the last time that the Duke of Qi Huan presided over the princely alliance. In order to thank the Duke of Qi Huan for his support, King Xiang of Zhou specially sent the Duke of Zhou to attend the conference, and distributed the sacrificial meat of the ancestors of the Zhou Tianzi to the Duke of Qi Huan, and also stated that the Duke of Qi Huan did not have to perform the next prayer of thanksgiving, in order to show recognition of the hegemonic status of the Duke of Qi Huan. This meeting was called the "Alliance of The Fallen Hills", which brought the prestige of the Duke of Qi Huan to the highest peak. After the death of Duke Huan of Qi, his five sons competed for the throne of the state, and civil strife and weakened the national strength, thus depriving the state of Qi of its hegemonic position.
Two
Although Duke Huan of Qi helped King Xiang of Zhou succeed to the throne smoothly, he was obviously not willing to concede defeat to King Xiang of Zhou's younger brother. In 649 BC, Zidai summoned the Zhurong tribes in the vicinity of Chengzhou to attack Chengzhou and burn the east gate of the royal city. Under the attack of King Xiang of Zhou, Zi was taken out of the State of Qi. In 638 BC, Fuchen, the Zhou Grand Master, persuaded King Xiang of Zhou to summon his son back to Zhou so as not to lose the face of the royal family. Zi Belt was called back to Chengzhou. In 636 BC, ZiDai united with the Rong Di army to attack Zhou and defeated the Zhou army. King Xiang of Zhou fled to the state of Zheng (汜, in modern Xiangcheng, Henan) and was killed in the states of Lu, Jin, and Qin.
Therefore, it is very obvious that King Xiang of Zhou himself could not quell the rebellion of the Zi Belt, and could only count on the surrounding princely states to rescue him. In this regard, the newly reigned Duke Wen of Jin, under the banner of King Qin, sent an army to conquer Wenyi, where the prince belt was at that time, in 635 BC, captured the prince belt, and then welcomed Ji Zheng back to the capital, took the prince to the capital to be executed, and quelled the civil unrest. In this regard, in the author's opinion, if it were not for the timely intervention of the Jin Wen Gong, the throne of King Xiang of Zhou might have been usurped by zi. Therefore, after quelling this civil unrest, Jin Wengong could not return empty-handed, and he thought of asking King Xiang of Zhou for a reward.
Three
For Jin Wen Gongzhong'er, at the beginning he wanted Zhou Tianzi to give him the treatment of tunneling, tunnel, referring to the tomb road. Zheng Zhi of the Book of Rites and Funerals says: "Rites, only the Son of Heaven is buried with tunnels." That is to say, only the tomb of the Son of Heaven can have a tomb. Therefore, this request of Duke Wen of Jin was obviously too arrogant, which was rejected by King Xiang of Zhou. But after all, Duke Wen of Jin had merit, and he would have to rely on him in the future, moreover, among the four great powers today (Jin, Qin, and Qichu), only the Jin state is a prince with the same surname, and it is better to rely on them than to rely on other countries, even if the meat is rotten in the pot, so king Xiang of Zhou sighed and said: "Although the widow cannot give his uncle a tunnel burial, he can give you the land of Yangfan, Wen, Yuan, and Caomao, which belongs to the Nanyang region, is this okay?" ”
On this basis, Duke Wen of Jin could only accept the land granted by King Xiang of Zhou. It is worth noting that nanyang here, and the area around today's Nanyang City in Henan Province, are not the same place, but refer to such a place north of the Yellow River south of the Taihang Mountains, which is probably such a narrow passage from southern Jin to northern Henan, and the Jin state gaining Nanyang is equivalent to getting a foothold from Shanxi to Henan in the Central Plains, which helps Jin Wen to dominate the Central Plains.
Four
Finally, after ceding the land to the Jin Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty's territory was only a projectile land with a radius of more than 100 miles. And this naturally led to the Zhou royal family becoming weaker. However, King Xiang of Zhou also had no way, after all, his throne was secured by the Duke Wen of Jin, and the territory of the Jin State was still relatively close to the Zhou royal family, which was the so-called "people under the eaves, had to bow their heads."
In 632 BC, Duke Wen of Jin led a large army to defeat the Chu army at the Battle of Chengpu (城濮, in present-day Puyang County, Henan Province). After the Battle of Chengpu, Duke Wen of Jin presented 1,000 Chu prisoners and 100 captured chariots to Ji Zheng, who gave him 100 red bows and 1,000 black bows in return, and promised Duke Wen of Jin that he could conquer other princes. Therefore, this means that after the Duke of Qi Huan, the Duke Wen of Jin became the second overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period, and was the overlord who was crowned and recognized by Zhou Tianzi.
In the winter of the same year, Duke Wen of Jin held a meeting of princes at Zheng Guo's Jiantu (present-day southwest of Yuanyang County, Henan), and in order to increase his prestige, he sent people to suggest that King Xiang of Zhou should go to the meeting. King Xiang of Zhou felt very embarrassed that The Tangtang Zhou Tianzi had fallen to the point where only the orders of the princes were obeyed, but he was also intimidated by the power of the Jin State and had to go. Later, when Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Period, he wrote about this matter as "Tianzi hunting in Heyang" to maintain the face of Zhou Tianzi. However, no matter what, at this time, the King of Zhou Xiang was almost the same as Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Xian, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, that is, he was held hostage by the princes.
After the death of Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Mu of Qin was revered as the overlord of Xi Rong, and after defeating Xi Rong, the Qin state expanded its territory by more than 1,000 miles. Therefore, King Xiang of Zhou sent emissaries to the 12 sides of the copper drum to express congratulations, that is, to officially recognize the hegemony of Qin Mugong. In the thirty-second year of King Xiang of Zhou (620 BC), Ji Zheng died, and he was given the title of King of Xiang. After Ji Zheng's death, his son Ji Renchen succeeded to the throne as King of Zhou. What do you think about that?