During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Shang Dynasty collapsed under the pursuit of the Zhou Dynasty. After king Zhou ruled the whole country, he adopted a system of sub-feudalism, distributing the land of China equally among his relatives, fellow sects, and meritorious men, and the concept of aristocratic class also began at this time.
Some of these people who were enthroned were the "princes" of later generations, and these princes not only owned the land given to them by the King of Zhou but also the people living in this land, but in fact, they almost established a small state of their own.
At that time, the Zhou Dynasty divided many princely states, and they all had their own land and fiefdoms, and they also had a lot of power. They claimed to be kings in their own land, and there were more and more princely states, so what kind of connection did the Zhou Dynasty have with these princely states?
1. The relationship between the Zhou royal family and the princes
The relationship between the two can be roughly divided into the following two types: relatives and monarchs. Because of such a complex and contradictory relationship, the patriarchal system became an important point in the state politics of the Zhou Dynasty. The liturgical system was a law that regulated and balanced the hierarchical and patriarchal relations of these nobles.
Even if the relationship is complicated, through the ceremonial system, it is easy to clearly distinguish the relationship between the nobles, the elder and the young, the relatives, the nobles, and so on. In addition to the Zhou Dynasty's sub-feudal system for the princes, the princes also adopted the same system in their own territories.
The lands and peoples of the various princely states were once again assigned to the rank of Qing Dafu below. Layer by layer, the top rulers were not directly involved in the administration, and the economic source of the princes was the tribute of the Qing Dafu level, and the economic source of the Zhou royal family was the tribute of the various princely states.
But at the same time, the problem arises, the supreme ruler, although he is in charge of his subordinates and has absolute power, he has no direct economic source of his own. If this continues for a long time, the supreme ruler will not do his job, and every day he will live a drunken and gold-obsessed life, and the country will be in turmoil.
Second, the disadvantages of the sub-sealing system
First, without having to personally manage economic flows and other things, the rulers will have a lot of free time to spend the day and drink, no longer self-motivated, and the country will stagnate; second, the relaxation of the rulers will be easily taken advantage of by people with bad intentions.
Third, although on the surface the Zhou royal family and the various princely states are related, after a few generations, even the strongest family relationship between them will fade, if the princely states do not intend to enter the palace, the Zhou royal family will have no economic support.
This is true not only of the relationship between the Zhou royal family and the princely states, but also between the princely states and the level of qingfu. Without economic guarantees, what will the state do to fight? What to feed the people? Not to mention sitting firmly in the position of ruler.
No one will willingly do things under a man of no strength, and with an economic base, there will be less capital. With the growing strength of the princely states, the zhou royal family was bound to perish.
After Qing Dafu had this capital, he could also fight with the monarchs of the princely states. Therefore, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was very common to replace this kind of thing.
The more land that Dr. Qing owns, the greater the financial resources and the higher the power, and if there are several such Qing Doctors in the country at the same time, then the country will be easily destroyed. If they want to be ousted from the throne so quickly, the most important thing for the rulers is to strengthen the centralization of power.
At the same time, it weakened the power of its subordinates, trained powerful armies, and competed for more territory. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in order to survive, we should expand our territory, directly manage political affairs and the economy, and not underestimate any small country around us.
It was precisely because the Zhou royal family relaxed its vigilance because of its superiority, which led to the collapse of power by one princely states later, and it was too late to rebel. The power of the princely states was increasing, but the Zhou royal family was stagnant or even declining.
As a result, the princes began to despise the authority of the Zhou royal family and were no longer bound by the etiquette system, and some unscrupulous princes even moved the idea of overthrowing the Zhou Dynasty and becoming emperors themselves. The same happened within the princely states, where the Chancellor was in charge of the flow of the economy.
Their power has also been expanding, and they are no longer willing to bow their heads in front of the monarchs of the princely states, and the phenomenon of killing the monarchs has appeared frequently for a time. This is what Confucius called "the collapse of liturgy." Zhou Tianzi's authority was actually distributed by military strength and economy.
And the sub-feudal system would make zhou Tianzi's power unable to hold all of it in his hands. Some political and economic power was in the hands of these princes, so the State of Lu, which was originally a vassal state of the Zhou Dynasty, did not go to the court to see the Son of Heaven for many years, and the same was true of other princely states.
And these seemingly benevolent and moral zhou li, the collapse of the ceremony is an inevitable process, but the process is gradual and slow. With the beginning of the chaotic world, expediency slowly replaced Zhou Tianzi's etiquette system, and in this battle, the Qin state also stood out.
In ancient times, wars were inevitable between countries, which shows that the liturgical system is not suitable for the development of the country. The Libbon club is a choice of history, but from another point of view, it is also a kind of progress.
The sub-feudal system did not bring endless glory to the Zhou royal family, but let the Zhou royal family embark on a road of no return, and the economy could not be firmly controlled by itself, let alone survive in this chaotic world. The ceremonial system can no longer restrain the people under his subordinates, as can be seen from the fact that the king of the State of Lu has not come to see the Zhou royal family for a long time.
Strength is the last word, the princely states compete for hegemony, the Qing Doctor rebels... These things are not accidental, and the inability to manage the country is doomed. So later so many countries wanted to centralize power through the change of law, precisely because they were fully aware of the consequences of decentralization. The State of Qin was the most successful among these princely states, and thus the last to unify the Six Kingdoms.
Reference: Chronicle of History