In the early days of the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, although King Wen of Zhou, King Wu of Zhou, Gongdan of Zhou, Jiang Ziya and others ruled the country well, their main energy was still spent on formulating national policies, recruiting princes from all sides, and quelling the rebellion of the relics and merchants.
By the time of King Cheng and his son King Kang, society began to settle down, the country's attention shifted to economic construction, and the Zhou Dynasty had a period of strong national strength, unification of the world, economic and cultural prosperity, and social stability.
<col>
The first prosperous era in China's history
------------------
Later generations will be the last years of King Cheng and King Kang's reign as the "Rule of Cheng Kang", which was the first Taiping era in Chinese history, the originator of the "Rule of Wenjing" and "the Rule of Zhenguan", and the highest moment of the Zhou Dynasty.
NO. 1 Young Heavenly Son
King Kang of Zhou, known as Ji Zhao, was a young tianzi like his father, King Cheng of Zhou, but considering that King Cheng of Zhou only lived for 35 years, it is possible that he took the throne earlier than his father.
King Kang of Zhou
He did not show great ability and qualification before he ascended the throne. For this reason, King Cheng of Zhou was somewhat worried that he would not be able to inherit the great cause, fearing that his son would become a helpless emperor and defeat the Jiangshan that his ancestors had defeated.
He remembered that thanks to the best efforts of zhou gong, the country had achieved satisfactory political achievements. Therefore, it was natural to think of arranging some zhou formula characters for his son to assist him.
After thinking about it, he decided to let his mentors Zhao Gong and Bi Gong assist his son (Zhao Gong and Bi Gong can also be described as high lifespan). Before dying, he asked Zhao Gong and Bi Gong to assist Ji Zhao, and summoned Zhao Gong, Bi Gong and other ministers to the bed and made a will.
In his will, King Zhou Cheng asked his ministers to assist and restrain King Zhou Kang to strictly abide by the will of King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou in accordance with the spirit of the will, so that he could formulate a practical and feasible strategy for governing the country and conscientiously implement it, and could formulate strict laws and decrees and truly implement them without violating them.
Zhao Gong and Bi Gong, as important ministers of the two dynasties, naturally did their best to hold a solemn enthronement ceremony for King Zhou Kang when he ascended the throne. At the enthronement ceremony, Zhao Gong read out the will of King Cheng of Zhou, and also took King Kang of Zhou to the ancestral temple, told him about the hardships of King Wen and King Wu in starting a business, and asked King Zhou Kang to keep in mind the testaments of King Wen, King Wu, and King Cheng, to set strict demands on himself, govern the country diligently, and carry forward the ancestral inheritance.
It should be said that King Zhou Cheng's will still has a certain effect. But more importantly, King Zhou Kang had good personal ability and great achievements, but he did not show it at that time, and after he took the throne, he quickly became a monarch with achievements, and King Zhou Cheng was right in choosing a successor.
The Zhou Dynasty began to open under the leadership of King Kang of Zhou's team.
NO. 2 China's First Theoretical Work on Governing the Country: The Curse of King Kang
At the beginning of his accession to the throne, King Zhou Kang issued China's first governing theory, "The Curse of King Kang", which not only devoted a lot of space to describing the matters of ascending the throne, but also had many policies on strengthening laws and regulations and rectifying the army.
King Zhou Kang formulated a more reasonable plan, and during his reign for sixteen years, he tirelessly implemented his concept of governing the country and the country according to the established guidelines and policies.
After King Zhou Kang took the throne, he continued to implement the national policy implemented during the reign of King Zhou Cheng, and continued to make greater efforts to achieve greater economic development, the treasury was abundant, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, social stability and unity, and everywhere there was a scene of rising peace and prosperity. Life is better, there are fewer criminal cases, it can be said that the road is not left behind, and the night is not closed.
Sima Qian said in the "History of Zhou Benji" that during the last year of King Cheng and the reign of King Kang of Zhou, the world was peaceful, and the punishment was not used for more than forty years. This shows the success of King Kang's rule.
NO.3 Battle of the Ghost Side – the first showdown between agricultural and nomadic civilizations
During the Yanhuang period, the north of China, from Liaodong to Xinjiang, was covered with dozens of nomadic tribes of all sizes, and for hundreds of years, they constantly invaded the Central Plains, but they were not subordinate to each other, and the whole was not unified.
During the Xia and Shang dynasties, the northern nomadic tribes entered Guanzhong many times from the area of present-day Changwu and Binxian in Xianyang, and the Shang Dynasty once crossed Guanzhong and fought fierce battles with the Qiang in the Baoji area, and won a great victory.
At the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the nomadic tribes in the north formed an alliance to form the first unified and powerful nomadic tribal association in northern China, the Ghost Fang.
In the early days, the Ghost Fang could not compete with the popular Zhou Dynasty, and after the Wu King destroyed the Shang, he exiled him to the north of Jing and Luo (present-day Jing River and Luo River in Shaanxi), and ordered him to pay tribute on time.
The Ghost Fang was a very thoughtful tribe, and it seized the strategic center of the Zhou Dynasty to move eastward, suppressed the rebellion of Guan Shu, Cai Shu, and Wu Geng, attacked Zhunyi in the east, temporarily relaxed its control of the northwest, and took the opportunity to enter the west of Qi Zhou (present-day Qishan) and Long (present-day Long County), directly threatening the Zhou capital Ho Jing.
King Zhou Kang realized the seriousness of the problem and, in order to eliminate the border troubles, decided to solve the ghost side by force.
In the twenty-fifth year of King Kang of Zhou, the Zhou Dynasty appointed the nobleman Lu as the commander-in-chief, led a large army to attack the Ghost Fang, and the Ghost Fang also mobilized troops to meet the battle, and the two sides opened a battlefield in the area of present-day northwest shaanxi, northern Shanxi, and western Inner Mongolia, and the duel between agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization that had been entangled in Chinese history for 3,000 years began.
Modern opera "Battle of the Ghost Side"
After two large-scale battles, the Zhou army killed more than 4,800 people from the ghost side, captured its four leaders and more than 13,000 people below, and captured many carriages and horses and a large number of cattle and sheep. The Zhou army expelled the ghost fang to the west of Qilong and Qizhou, far from The HoJing, and the northwest border was tranquil.
NO. 4 Treasures of the Nation - Da Lu Ding
The Zhou people will be remembered every time there is a major event, and the battle of the ghost side is even more so.
Big Bowl
It is now in the museum of Chinese History
King Kang of Zhou commemorated his glorious achievements and rewarded him with two, which were later known as the Great Lu Ding and the Small Lu Ding.
Both the Great Lu Ding and the Little Lu Ding were excavated in Mei County, Shaanxi during the Qing Dynasty.
Da Lu Ding was unearthed in the front, 101.9 cm high, 77.8 cm in diameter, weighing 153.5 kg, and more preciously, there are 291 words of inscriptions inside, the content of which is the Zhou Kang King's training of the minister, keeping in mind the lesson of "Yin Dynasty died of alcoholism, Zhou Dynasty is jealous of alcohol and prosperity", we must work hard to help them govern the country...
It can be said that this is the first alcohol abstinence order in China.
Inscription of the Great Luding
Because of its size and status, people named it Da Lu Ding at that time.
But soon after, under the earth cliff where the Big Lu Ding was found, a larger bronze Ding was excavated, weighing more than 500 pounds and about 110 centimeters high, which was even more "mighty" than the Big Lu Ding.
The second larger bronze statue was also given to Lu by King Kang of Zhou, so how to name it? You can't always call it an old bowl, or call it an oversized bowl, right?
Although the second bronze ding is large, the inscription of more than 400 characters inside is somewhat small, so it is named Xiao Lu Ding.
In this way, the small ding, which weighs about 300 kilograms, becomes a large cup, and the big ding, which weighs about 500 pounds, becomes a small cup
Da Lu Ding is collected by the National Museum of China and has become one of the treasures of the town museum.
Xiao Luding was unfortunately lost during the Republic of China period, and only the inscription Takumoto has been handed down, and the results of the Battle of the Ghost Fang are recorded in it.
NO. 5 Huimeng Fengjing – the largest congress of princes of the Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty implemented a system of sub-feudalism, and one of the means of control over the princes was the Huimeng.
Huimeng is the congress of princes in ancient times, through which the will of the Zhou King is conveyed to the princes, the strength of the dynasty is declared, and the loyalty of the princes is accepted, and many important political achievements are achieved by the Zhou people through these alliance ceremonies.
King Cheng of Zhou was very reluctant to see Feng Hao and Liangjing, and he had held two meetings, once in qishan, the hometown of the Zhou people, and once in Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Zhou Dynasty.
As the spokesperson of the "Rule of Chengkang", King Zhou Kang has been three generations since the founding of the country, and if King Zhou Kang wants to hold a congress of princes, it is best to find a place that is not the same as the previous generation, and it must also have positive significance.
The "Chronicle of History" says: "King Kang had the dynasty of Fenggong. That is to say, the place chosen by King Zhou Kang to receive the princes of the nations was exactly the place where the temple of the king was located- Fengjing, why is this?
King Wen of Zhou, King Wu of Zhou, King Cheng of Zhou, Duke of Zhou, Jiang Ziya, and others were all outstanding figures of the Zhou Dynasty, and the area where they rose was the land of Fenghao, so King Kang of Zhou held an alliance in Fengdu, with a very clear purpose, that is, to show that he was a king as great as the sages.
In 1055 BC, King Kang of Zhou died in Hojing and was buried in Biyuan, Xianyang, south of the Zhou Tombs.
His life was basically based on the two capitals of Fenghao, and he did not swing between Fenghao and Luoyang like King Cheng of Zhou. Western Zhou also reached its most glorious peak during his reign.
The Tomb of King Kang of Zhou is located one kilometer southeast of the Tomb of King Wen of Zhou and is a wild mausoleum. Like other Zhou Ling, it is now also believed that he is a Han Tomb, the tomb of Empress Xiaoyuan of Han.
The tombstone breaks in two
Bronze manufacturing also reached a new peak during the Kang Dynasty, especially the beginning of the transformation from artifacts to daily necessities, and the famous Western Zhou "Little Corgi" (bronze 觥, the idiom "觥 chips" comes from this object) is one of the masterpieces.