How many troops did King Wu dispatch when he was cutting down the silk? According to historical records, there were 300 chariots, 3,000 tigers, and 45,000 armored men. Can such a meager force control the remnants of Yin Shang's homeland? The answer is no. This can be seen from the great rebellion launched by Wu Geng, the son of King Huan, and the Eastern Crusade of the Duke of Zhou. In view of this, the Zhou people thought of two methods: one was to move the powerful clans of the Yin Shang remnants out of their homeland and monitor them; the other was to divide the yin shang people's descendants and heroes with different surnames into princes of different sizes in the Yin Shang homeland.
How many princes were divided in the early Western Zhou Dynasty? Xunzi said that there were 71 seals, of which 53 were exclusively occupied by the princes surnamed Ji; the Qing Dynasty scholar Gu Donggao retrieved 24 surnames from the literature for a total of 130 countries, plus 74 countries with untestable surnames, for a total of 204 countries. How to ensure the smooth handover of the thrones of the various princely states? The Zhou people introduced a basic national policy, which is the system of primogeniture succession, and the succession of the Zhou Tianzi throne is also included in this system. Its content is: Zhou Tianzi's legal heir is his eldest son, and the other sons, whether they are concubines or concubines, must be divided into princes in various places; the positions of the princes are inherited by his eldest sons, and the rest of the sons are divided into qing; the legal heirs of the qing are also his concubines, and the other sons are divided into doctors; the positions of the doctors are also inherited by his eldest sons, and the rest of the sons can only be soldiers. Zhou Tianzi is "Emperor Dazong" relative to the princes of the world; in the same way, the princes are also "Emperors" in their own fiefdoms relative to the secretaries of state; the relationship between the secretaries, the doctors, and the scholars is so on.
As soon as the primogeniture inheritance system was introduced, the handover of power was much smoother. However, although this kind of "seniority ranking" method of transferring power can stop disputes, it will also inevitably suppress talents. Therefore, when Zhou Tianzi's strength was not enough to suppress the princes and the princes' strength was not enough to suppress the secretaries, the primogeniture system of succession would be broken, and the usurpation of the throne by Xiaozong would happen again and again, which was especially obvious after the Ping King moved east. The "Chronicle of History" says "Spring and Autumn Killing of the King", and the "Warring States Policy" says "The Spring and Autumn Chronicle is the number of those who kill the king in the hundreds". In fact, no matter how many cases of Xiaozong usurping power in the historical records, the time of turmoil in his own country was basically very short, like the Jin Dynasty, the domestic soldiers met each other for 67 years, killing five kings in a row and one king after another, and the civil war that affected the Zhou royal family and zheng, xing, xun, Dong, Yu, Jia and other countries was the only case. Speaking of which, the internal turmoil in Jin is still the bitter wine brewed by Jin Hou himself.
746 BC was the first year of the reign of Marquis Zhao, the twelfth monarch of the Jin Dynasty. After the new monarch ascended the throne, he did something jaw-dropping: he divided his father's half-brother Chengshi Yu Quwo, who was recorded in the history books as Quwo Huan's uncle. There is a sentence in the "Left Biography", "After the merger, the two governments, the coupling (ou) country, the origin of chaos." This means that the status of the concubine is equal to that of the queen, the power of the concubine is equal to that of the concubine, the two rulers rule together, and the size of the big city and the capital of the country are the same, and the disaster will occur. The first three are easy to understand, and the final "coupling country" is simply that there is no separation of branches, and the strength of the clan ministers is far greater than that of the monarch. In the classical famous passage "Zhuang Gong Ke Duan Yu Yan", Zheng Guo's old minister Jiezu heard that Zheng Zhuang Had given Jingyi to Duan Shu and immediately ran to advise Zhuang Gong, considering that Jingyi was large in scale, and its wealth and population were enough to compete with the central government. Qu Wo, who was given to Chengshi by the Marquis of Jin Zhao, met the condition of "coupling the country". More importantly, the development potential of Quwo is far beyond the capital city wing of the Jin Dynasty.
Wing and Quwo
A closer look at the map shows that Guquwo (present-day Wenxi County) was the only place for the Jin Dynasty to lead to Hojing and Luoyi, and could be called the southern gate of Yicheng. Pilgrimage and merchant travel are endless, and this place will inevitably become a distribution center for goods. If it can be managed rationally, there is no doubt about its economic prosperity. Thirty miles southeast of Quwo, there is a person named Tangshan, which can produce copper. In the Bronze Age, this was an important resource related to the lifeblood of the country; thirty-five miles northeast of Quwo, there were rich willows from Dong Ze that could be used to make arrows; and the area around Jinyun City, not far from Quwo, was a very famous salt producing area - Xiechi. The huge reserves and simple and convenient processing procedures are the unique advantages of the dehydration pool. Today, its area is still 27.3 square kilometers.
Of course, as far as the military struggle in the era of cold weapons is concerned, the final competition is whether grain and grass can be continuously supplied to the front. At this point, Quwo has a lot of room for maneuver. Because the Yuncheng Basin where Quwo is located not only has a large area of arable land, but also the Shuishui River and its tributaries that run through the whole territory can also ensure its drought and flood harvest. In addition, the Yuncheng Basin is surrounded by mountains, and in the rainy season, the soil siltation brought by the flood is also conducive to improving the fertility of the soil. In terms of the use of troops, Quwo is close to EmeiYuan, and if a city is built here, it can not only rely on danger to block the enemy's front, but also form a condescending geographical advantage over the wing city.
Why did Zhaohou still give it to Uncle Huan? Perhaps it was Zhaohou Fainting, or it was more likely that the Jin State was facing a serious crisis of rule. Many chapters in the Book of Poetry reflect the contradictions between slaves and slave owners during the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods. This class antagonism, although not as severe as the "rebellion of the people" during the Zhou Li King's period, also reached an irreconcilable critical point. Zhaohou was still young, had no experience in governing the country, and was neither good at managing money nor reconciling the contradictions between various classes, thus causing chaos in the imperial court. At that time, the princely states of Hedong were not only the Jin state, and the territory of the states of Liang, Rui, Xun, and Jia was not allowed to be Jin. In addition, at that time, there were many fierce Rongdi tribes in Shanxi at that time, always spying on the wealth of the Jin state. Therefore, strong political pressure at home and abroad was the real reason why Marquis Zhao was forced to seal his uncle Yu Quwo.
According to historical records, Uncle Huan of Quwo was already 58 years old when he was enfeoffed in Quwo, and his experience in political struggle was naturally much richer than that of Zhaohou, who had just ascended the throne. Sima Qian said that he was "virtuous, and all the people of the Jin dynasty were vassals." The gist was that Uncle Huan implemented some good governance in Quwo after he was sealed, abolished many government decrees that the people were dissatisfied with, and solved many practical difficulties for the people. When the chinese people heard that Quwo was politically harmonious, they came and went, and Quwo began to become richer and stronger. In 739 BC, the sinister Uncle Qu Wo Huan launched the first coup d'état. He instructed Father Pan, the jin chancellor who was dissatisfied with Marquis Zhao, to attack and kill Marquis Zhao. However, when Uncle Huan rushed to become the monarch, he was met with a strong counterattack by the orthodox forces of the Jin State, and Uncle Huan was defeated and returned to Quwo. The orthodox faction established Marquis Zhao's son Ping as the monarch and was the Marquis of Jin. Since then, the opposition between Quwo and Yicheng has become public, and the Jin state has been in a state of coexistence between the two regimes.
In 732, Qu Wo Huan's uncle died, and his son Qu Wo Zhuang Bo continued to attack Yicheng in accordance with his father's wishes. At this time, Yicheng was attacked by Chidi in the eastern mountains. The Guben Bamboo Book Chronicle says that Chi Di's soldiers had reached the outskirts of Yicheng. In this way, under the joint attack of Qu Wo and Chi Di, the power of Wing City became weaker and weaker. Finally, in 725 BC, Quwo Zhuangbo invaded Yicheng and killed The Duke of Jin. This time, the resistance of the Orthodox faction of the Jin Dynasty was still fierce. With the help of Xun Guo's army, they repelled Zhuang Bo and restored Xiao Gong's son Qi as the new king, as the Marquis of E. After this battle, Zhuang Bo followed the example of Yicheng and also attracted foreign aid. What is puzzling is that Zhou Tianzi, as the biggest beneficiary of the patriarchal system, is also involved.
According to historical records, "Quwo Zhuang Bo cut the wings with Zheng people and Xing people, the king made Yin and Wu clans help, and the wing Hou Ben followed." Seeing that Zhuang Bo was about to ascend to the throne of the Jin Dynasty, king Huan of Zhou suddenly changed his attitude. He first made Guang, the son of marquis of E, the Marquis of Jin, and then ordered the monarch of the State of Yu, Zhong, to lead Wang Shi to attack Zhuang Bo. At this time, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty had not yet experienced the defeat of The Tange, and king Huan of Zhou felt that the combat strength of the Saturday Division was particularly strong. Coupled with the fact that Yu Guo and other servant states, it is of course not necessary to deal with a Quwo Zhuang Bo. The disastrous Zhuang Bo died of depression, and before his death, he entrusted his dream of seizing the throne to his son Wu Gong.
When he was ordered to defeat the army, he was ordered to be in danger, and Qu Wowu was wounded for six years. During this period, Duke Wu was dealing with the crusade of Wang Shi on the one hand, and the joint attack of Xun, Dong, Zheng, Xing, and the Marquis of Jin on the other. The constant retreat of Duke Quwowu fostered the heart of a light enemy of the Marquis of Jin, and in 706 BC, Duke Wu of Quwo took advantage of the lack of preparation of the Marquis of Jin and ambushed and killed the Marquis of Jin at the Court. The Jin people were indomitable and once again embraced the son of the Marquis of Sorrow as the Prince of Jin. Four years later, Duke Wu designed another booby-trap to kill Xiao Zihou. This time, King Huan of Zhou attacked again, and he reinstated Yu Zhong's crusade against Quwo and made the younger brother of the Marquis of Jin. In 705 BC, King Huan of Zhou once again gathered the four kingdoms of Rui, Liang, Xun, and Jia to attack Quwo.
It is speculated that Wu Gong did not face Wang Shi directly, but adopted the policy of avoiding the enemy's attack. After all, King Huan of Zhou was old and frail and had arrow wounds in the Battle of Qiange, and coupled with the second son, Prince Ke, coveting the throne of King Huan's eldest son, Eastern Zhou's military superiority would not last long. What we have to do now is to wait, wait for Quwo to lay a solid foundation, wait for the further weakening of Wing City, and wait for the international situation to change. That's 28 years. During this period, the Central Plains experienced major events such as the decline of Zheng's hegemony, the annexation of Jianghan by the Chu State, and the succession of the Duke of Qi Huan to the throne. In 678 BC, the year after Duke Huan of Qi convened an alliance of princes in Zhendi, and the number one thug of the Zhou royal family, the year before the death of the emperor of the State of Qi, Duke Lin of the State of Qi, once again attacked Yicheng and destroyed the surviving Jin office. Shi Zaiwu did his best to bribe the new King Hui of the Zhou Dynasty by taking the treasure jade of the Jin Dynasty, and was recognized by the Son of Heaven and officially became the monarch of the Jin State. In 677 BC, Duke Wu of Qu died, and his son Wei Zhu succeeded him as duke of Jin.