The so-called "Spring and Autumn", according to legend, the lu state historian records the major events of the nations according to the year, season, month and day, and records the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter in one year, so this chronicle is briefly summarized as "Spring and Autumn", and this period of history is the Spring and Autumn Period. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, confucius was distraught when reading the history of the Spring and Autumn Period, believing that the collapse of the Spring and Autumn Period caused the people to be miserable, so he idealized that as long as the Zhou rites were restored and the country was ruled with benevolence and righteousness, the world would be at peace and the people would live and work in peace and contentment.
Confucius's "libong le bad" mainly refers to the collapse of the patriarchal system that maintained the rule of the Zhou Dynasty, so when did the "li bang le bad" begin? This matter should start with the "Princes of Beacon Theatre".
<h1>The decline of the Zhou royal family</h1>
More than 200 years after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, outside the perspective of the Chinese ancestors, a group of Rong people riding warhorses and wielding bronze blades invaded the Chinese countries like locusts, causing a terrible wave of aggression.
At that time, the ruler of the Zhou Dynasty was the King of Zhou You, according to the "Records of History", the King of Zhou You favored The Emperor of Zhou, deposed the queen Shen and the crown prince Ji Yiusu, and established the son of the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty as the prince, in order to win the beauty of the Princess, he did not hesitate to tease the princes, and finally when the Inuyasha soldiers came to the city and raised the beacon again, the princes no longer sent troops, and the Inuyasha attacked the hokage, killed the King of Zhou You, the son of the Emperor of The Emperor of The Emperor of Zhou, and took the Prince of The Treasure captive. Later, Shen Hou, Lu Hou, Xu Wengong, and others elected Ji Yiusu, the original crown prince of King You of Zhou, as the Son of Heaven, and in 770 BC took the throne at Shen (present-day Nanyangbei, Henan), and was known as the King of Zhouping.
In order to avoid Inuyasha, King Ping of Zhou succeeded to the throne and moved the capital to Luoyang, which was the beginning of Eastern Zhou. However, due to the fierce offensive of the Inuyasha, the starting places of the Zhou Dynasty, Qi, and Fengdu were lost, and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty only had a corner of the northwest of Henan today, with a radius of only more than 600 miles, and the land was narrow and sparse, which could not be compared with the large princely states with a radius of thousands of miles, only equivalent to a medium princely state.
The decline of the central dynasty, the local separatist forces are bound to move, this is the inevitable law of history, so after that, "the princes are strong and weak, Qi, Chu, Qin, Jin are great, and the government is controlled by Fang Bo." At the same time, for the internal affairs of the princely states that did not conform to the patriarchal law, the Zhou royal family was also powerless to interfere.
<h1>Seventy years of civil war in the Jin Dynasty</h1>
Unlike the general princely states, the relationship between the Jin state and the Zhou royal family was extraordinary. King Wu of Zhou had two sons, namely King Cheng of Zhou and Uncle Yu of Tang, and during the reign of King Cheng of Zhou, he sealed Tang Shuyu in the land of "Tang", and his descendants slowly expanded to change to "Jin". At the beginning of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty had a power struggle that lasted for more than 70 years, seriously challenging the patriarchal system of the Zhou Dynasty, but the declining Zhou royal family could hardly open its eyes.
In 745 BC, after the death of a generation of male lords Marquis Wen of Jin, Gongzi Bo succeeded to the throne (historically known as "Marquis Zhaohou of Jin"), and sealed his uncle Chengshi in Quwo (historically known as Quwo Huan Uncle). Contrary to etiquette, Quwo's area was larger than the capital of the Jin Dynasty, and according to the regulations of the Zhou Dynasty, the capital of the large princely states could not exceed one-third of the capital of the Zhou Tianzi kingdom, no more than one-fifth of the medium princely states, and no more than one-ninth of the small princely states. In fact, Quwo is larger than the capital of the Jin state is not critical, the key is that Chengshi has the military and political strength to oppose the Marquis of Jinzhao, which fuels the ambition of Chengshi, and the local government can compete with the central court, then sooner or later the two sides will erupt into contradictions, not to mention that Chengshi is still an old and spicy politician, the history books record that he is "good morality" and "all the people of the Jin state are attached", Quwo became the second political and military center of the Jin state.
At this point, the Jin Dynasty and Qu Wo Huan were in the same vein, and a civil war lasted for more than seventy years.
First, "Qu Wo Dai Wing First Battle", Qu Wo lost, Jin Jun won
In 739 BC, under the planning of Uncle Huan of Quwo, the minister of the Jin Dynasty, Pan Father, killed The Marquis of Jin and welcomed Uncle Huan of Quwo, who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to seize power, but the people of the State of Jin raised an army against Uncle Huan, and Uncle Huan suffered a defeat and had no choice but to retreat back to Quwo. Subsequently, Ping, the son of marquis Zhaohou of Jin, was made the Prince of Jin, known in history as the "Marquis of Jin", and the rebel Pan Father was killed.
Second, "Quwo Dai Wing Second Battle", Quwo lost, Jin Jun won
In 724 BC, Quwo Huan's uncle had died, and his son Zhuang Bo succeeded to the throne, he was more bold than his father, and sent people to successfully assassinate The Marquis of Jin, so he happily prepared to take over the throne of Jin, but this time the Jin state repelled Quwo Zhuangbo with the help of Xun Guo and other international assistance, and the dream was shattered, and Zhuang Bo returned to Quwo. Subsequently, the Jin people restored the younger brother of the Marquis of Jin xiao (郤) (xì) as a prince, and the history was called the Marquis of Jin.
Third, "QuWo Dai Wing Third Battle", QuWo lost, Jin Jun won
In 718 BC, Quwo Zhuangbo changed his strategy, bribed King Huan of Zhou, and formed an international coalition of the States of Zheng and Xing to attack the Marquis of Jin, who was defeated and fled to Suiyi (遂邑, southeast of present-day Jiexiu, Shanxi). Seeing that the great achievement was completed, Quwo Zhuangbo betrayed the King of Zhou Huan, so the King of Zhou Huan in turn supported the Marquis of Jin, and also sent the Duke of Yu to attack Quwo Zhuangbo, and finally Quwo Zhuangbo failed again, but greatly destroyed the strength of the Jin Junyi line.
Fourth, "Qu Wo Dai Wing Fourth Battle", Qu Wo won, Jin Jun lost
In 709 BC, Quwo Zhuangbo had already died in depression, and his son was called Jili, and the history was called Quwo Wugong. Emperor Wu of Qu and Duke Wu of Qu jointly attacked the Marquis of Jin, and Duke Wu of Qu won a great victory and killed the Marquis of Jin. However, the Jin dynasty made XiaoZi, the son of the Marquis of Jin, a prince, known in history as the "Marquis of Jin", and Duke Wu of Quwo was unable to seize the throne. However, the influence of Qu Wo's pulse was greatly enhanced, and the JinJun pulse had no influence anymore.
Fifth, "QuWo Dai Wing Fifth Battle", Qu Wo lost, Jin Jun won
In 705 BC, Duke Wu of Quwo lured Hou Of Jin to kill him, and when he was summoned, he came and killed him, and this attitude of casually killing the monarch made Zhou Tianzi unable to see it, so he sent Yu Zhong to lead an army to defeat Duke Wu of Quwo, and then Zhou Lijin mourned marquis Brother Miao as the Marquis of Jin. It can be seen that although the Zhou royal family declined, it still had a certain strength and influence, and to a certain extent, it could maintain the "etiquette".
Sixth, "Qu Wo Dai Wing Sixth Battle", Qu Wo won, Jin Jun lost
In 678 BC, Duke Wu of Quwo quickly destroyed the Marquis of Jin, and in order to prevent Zhou Tianzi from interfering and thus failing, he quickly took out a large number of treasures to bribe the newly succeeded King of Zhou. In the case of the fact that the sugar-coated shell and the Jinjun had been destroyed, the King of Zhou simply appointed the Duke of Quwowu as the Prince of Jin, listed as a prince, and was known as the "Marquis of Jinwu" in history.
At this point, after 67 years of arduous struggle, Qu Wohuan's uncle Ji Chengshi yimai finally completely defeated Ji Qiu (Marquis Wenhou of Jin) and seized the orthodox status of the Jin state.
<h1>The initial sign of the collapse of the liturgy</h1>
At the beginning of the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the principle of succession established was the "inheritance system of the eldest son", and the eldest son who inherited the great cause was the large sect, and the rest of the branches were small sects, and the small sects could not offend the large sects. Once Emperor Xiaozong usurped Emperor Dazong, in order to maintain the law of etiquette, Zhou Tianzi had the obligation to call on the princes of the world to fight and preside over justice for Emperor Dazong.
However, in the seventy years of the "Quwo Daiyi", Quwo Yimu did not hesitate to violate the "courtesy" in order to seize the throne, and finally blatantly usurped the position of Emperor Dazong as a small emperor. More crucially, King Huan of Zhou also had certain disciplines and generally maintained the etiquette, but the King of Zhou approved of Xiaozong's usurpation of Emperor Dazong, which had a great impact on the princes.
1, Zhou Li is no longer inviolable.
2, Zhou Tianzi was no longer able to maintain Zhou Li.
As a result, the Quwo Dai Wing became the initial indicator event of the Libong. After that, the princes violated the etiquette law one after another, in order to deal with the merger and hegemony of the princes. Still taking the Jin Dynasty as an example, according to the Zhou system, "where the army is controlled, there are 2,500 people in the army (12,500 people)." Wang Liujun, the three armies of the big country, the second army of the sub-country, and the first army of the small country", but the Jin state had six armies and twelve secretaries at most, and the jin army was very large, and the number of the first army was about 30,000, which did not conform to the Zhou system at all.
<h1>Jin Guocheng also Quwo Dai Wing, defeat also Qu Wo Dai Wing</h1>
Duke Wu of Jin usurped Emperor Dazong with Xiaozong, but also buried the hidden danger of the demise of the Jin state, for the simple reason that just as Zhao Kuangyin guarded against the martial generals to learn from him to play "yellow robes and add body", the Duke of Jin Wu and his later Jin jun also guarded against the Gong clan (royal family). During the reign of Duke Wu of Jin and his son Duke Xian of Jin, it was not a big deal to liquidate the Marquis of Jin's lineage and cut the grass and remove the roots to avoid future troubles, but since the beginning of the Duke of Jin, he was also very ruthless towards his own close family.
During the Rebellion of Li Ji, the blows against the princes were cruel and merciless, and The crown prince Shensheng hanged himself in the new city of Quwo, and The Heavy Ear (later Jin Wengong) wandered outside for 19 years, and Yiwu wandered outside for 5 years. Later, the jin dynasty set the rule of "letting the princes go out to the kingdoms" and did not allow his sons to stay at home to compete for power.
After the death of Duke Xian of Jin, Xi Qi, the son of Li Li Ji, was killed by Li Ke, and subsequently, the chancellor Xun Xi li Li Ji's sister Shao Ji's son Zhuo Zi was made a king, and Li Ke killed Zhuo Zi, and then welcomed Yi Wu (Jin Huigong) as king. After the death of Duke Hui of Jin, his son Duke Huai of Jin became a prince, at this time Zhong'er returned to China with the support of the State of Qin, and Duke Huai of Jin fled, and was later killed by the people of Duke Wen of Jin.
In short, in this constant struggle for the throne, the jin monarch could not trust the gong clan, and even kept purging the gong clan of other factions, and after a hundred years of eliminating the power of the Jin dynasty's close relatives, the strength of the Jin guo gong clan was extremely weak. At the same time, the qing clan with the foreign surname and the distant branch of the Qing clan that produced five services were equivalent to professional managers, because there was no threat to the position of the monarch, but it was supported by the monarch, and it was determined in the Jin Wen gong period; the six secretaries system, the energy of the Qing family was released unprecedentedly, and the strength of the Jin state was rapidly enhanced, thus laying the foundation for hegemony for a hundred years, but this also led to the rapid rise of the Qing family, and the Qing family without the restriction of the gong clan became more and more large, such as the Qing wei family reached the point of "its rich half office, its family half three armies", The State of Jin was gradually controlled by the Qing family, and even the Zhao and Luan clans of the Qing dynasty could later kill the king at will, and eventually the three families of Han Zhao and Wei were divided into Jin.
The so-called "Chinese civilization looks at the Spring and Autumn, and the Spring and Autumn righteousness looks at the Jin State", as a Jin state that has continued to dominate the Spring and Autumn for nearly a hundred years, it has finally ended up being divided, which is inevitably regrettable.
Confucius's view of the collapse of etiquette is a regression of the times, but standing in the middle of the long river of history, it is the progress of the times. How can we usher in new life and progress without breaking the old rigid system and the shackles that princes will have?
However, for the Jin State, under the inertia of the historical tradition, the Jin monarch could not formulate a more suitable system of checks and balances, so he pressed the gourd of the Gong clan, but floated up the scoop of the Qing clan, and when the Emperor of The Emperor reigned, he could also balance the power of the Qing and the Monarch, and when the Faint King reigned, he could only allow the Qing to erode the power of the monarch, so that in the end, the Jin Monarch could only be reduced to a marionette, and the Li Collapse Was bad to the peak.
After hundreds of years of collapse and happiness, Chinese finally found a solution, that is, the county system, the power was transferred to the central government, the emergence of the "country within a country" was avoided institutionally, and a unified centralized state was established, on the basis of which a set of ritual music system was re-established. However, the excessive concentration of imperial power in the county system brought a new problem to the Chinese.
References: "History", "Zuo Biao", etc