After the Battle of Makino, the Western Zhou Dynasty was established, and king Wu of Zhou feudalized the state, and the ancient kingdom, the remnants of the Yin merchants, the sons of the clan and the founding heroes all sealed the land to establish a small country, tightly surrounding the Zhou royal family, in order to protect the Zhou royal family. However, King Wu of Zhou himself died shortly after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, and the crown prince Ji Shu was still young, and it was still unknown whether he could make all the princely states in the world submit, so King Wu of Zhou left four auxiliary ministers for Ji Shu, which is the famous "Four Saints of the Beginning of Zhou".
At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the four saints were Zhou Gongdan, Taigongwang, Zhao Gongyi, and Taishi Yi, according to the Book of Shi You:
The bearer, the forgotten one who inherits the Son of Heaven, always stands behind, is Shi Youye. With Zhou Gong as the Tao, the Grand Duke as the Charge, and the Summoning Gong as the Bow, the same column is generally called the Four Saints.
The records in the Dai Li Ji Bao Fu are the same as those in the Book of Shi You, but in the origin of the Bi surname, there is no Tai Shi Yi, but there is Bi Gonggao. Therefore, in fact, these five people were left by King Wu of Zhou to his son Ji Shu.
Zhou Gongdan stood in front of King Zhou Cheng to lead the way, Taigong Wang and Zhao Gongyi guarded King Zhou Chengwang from left to right, while Tai Shiyou and Bi Gonggao stood behind King Zhou Chengwang and were responsible for reminding King Zhou Cheng of things that he had forgotten, and these people helped King Zhou Cheng stabilize the world. Among these people, Zhou Gongdan is in the dominant position, that is, the leader.
This leadership position is due both to his remarkable talents and to his status as the son of King Wen and the younger brother of King Wu. We know that the patriarchal system began to be established in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and its core was the primogeniture system, and this was the clan system maintained by blood relations under the patrilineal society. And Taigong Wang, that is, Jiang Taigong is the father-in-law of King Wu and the grandfather of King Cheng, in the final analysis, he can only be regarded as a foreign relative, Zhao Gong is also a clan of the Zhou royal family, Bi Gong is the younger brother of Zhou Gongdan, and only Tai Shi Yi is a real foreign.
Among these auxiliary ministers, Zhou Gongdan has the highest status, Taigong wang is second, and on talent, the two may be on par, but in terms of blood, Zhou Gongdan is a true son of the Zhou royal family, while Jiang Taigong is only a foreign relative, so it is naturally impossible to occupy a leading position. Let's make a simple analogy, in a large family, if the owner dies and the heirs left behind are young, then the uncles of the young lord will give advice to the nephews on major matters, while the grandfather of the young lord can only give some advice.
Therefore, it is a matter of course that Zhou Gongdan is the mainstay, but the regency of Zhou Gongdan is not so smooth, although King Wu of Zhou entrusted all the major affairs of the state to Zhou Gongdan, he only let him assist the government, not the regent, so when Zhou Gongdan decided to "practice the position of the Son of Heaven to rule the world", he still encountered resistance.
As soon as the rumor came out, Zhao Gongyi, who was also an assistant chancellor, was very dissatisfied, and In order to persuade Zhao Gongyi, Zhou Gongdan took some pains to persuade Zhao Gongyi, and first made a "Junyi" to show his heart, but Zhao Gongyi still felt inappropriate, and Zhou Gongdan had to come up with the deeds that appeared in past history and said:
"In the Tang Dynasty, there is Yi Yin, false in the Imperial Heaven; in the Tai Peng, there is Ruo Yi Zhi and Chen, false in God, and Wu Xian ruling the royal family; in the time of Zu Yi, there is Ruo Wu Xian; in the Time of Wu Ding, there is Ruo Gan: There is Chen in The Wei Zi, and there is Yin in baoqi."
The intention was to show that he was only for the sake of the stability of the country and would return to the government later, so he agreed to it. Later, Zhou Gongdan explained to Jiang Taigong and others that after receiving the unanimous consent of everyone, Zhou Gongdan was officially regent, and then ushered in the "Rebellion of the Three Prisons". That is, Uncle Guan, Uncle Cai and Wu Geng joined forces to rebel, the impact of this rebellion on Western Zhou was very large, once it could not be quelled, then it was almost certain that most of the princes would rebel and the Zhou Dynasty would face disintegration, fortunately, Zhou Gongdan assisted King Cheng to quell the rebellion, and also showed the power of the Zhou royal family to the princes of the world, which not only solved the rebellion of the Three Prisons, but also stabilized the hearts of the princes of the world.
After that, Zhou Gongdan and Zhao Gongyi "ruled Shaanxi and ruled": from the west of Shaanxi, summoned princesses; from the east of Shaanxi, princesses of Zhou.
After seven years of efforts by Zhou Gongdan, the development of Western Zhou has been on the right track, various rules and regulations have been formulated, and the king has reached the age of pro-government, and Zhou Gongdan "rebelled against the government and became a king, and the north was the position of a subject." "It's a great story.
Zhou Gongdan is a very important figure in the history of Western Zhou, and it can be said that all the rules and rituals on which Western Zhou depended for its survival were formulated under the auspices of Zhou Gong, and his deeds of not coveting power and resolutely returning to power were sung endlessly. Zhou Gongdan's crispness and neatness have won him a good reputation for thousands of years, and Zhou Gongdan spit and fed the world.
However, hundreds of years later, in the state of Lu, that is, the fiefdom of Zhou Gongdan's son Bo Yan, there was also a person who wanted to emulate the regency of Zhou Gongdan, that is, the Duke of LuYin. Duke Lu Yin was only the eldest son of Duke Hui of Lu, and Duke Hui of Lu's concubine was young, so Duke Lu Yin temporarily became the monarch of the State of Lu and waited until Gongzi Yun grew up to return to power. However, as Gongzi Yun grew up, Duke Lu Yin did not have the intention of returning to the government for a long time, and at the instigation of Gongzi Huan, Gongzi Yun killed Duke Lu Yin and ascended the throne, for the sake of Duke Huan of Lu.
References: "Dai Li Ji Bao Fu";
The Book of Shi Yi;
"Etiquette and MingTang Position";
History of Zhou Benji;
"History of the Yan Zhao Gong Family"