Introduction: In the Warring States era, the influence of the royal way was far-reaching, how did the seven heroes of the warring states develop under the royal way, how to get rid of the influence of the royal way, and how to establish a system other than the royal way? What about the division of the Chu state, the rule of qi officials, the rule of law of the Qin state, the state of Yan and the state of Wei?
Wang Dao is a political system with a relatively long formation time, and the wang dao political tradition has already taken shape since the founding of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and in the long history of development, wang dao has basically become the most important political system. In fact, the origin of the Royal Dao is very helpless, after the Wu King fell, the Central Plains suffered from years of war, the development of society has reached a relatively low stage, the social productive forces are relatively poor, after the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there is no way to carry out high-speed social development on the basis of such a society, there is no way to gather a large number of social resources, so it can only rest and recuperate on the basis of the existing social resources.
At the same time, in that historical period, except for the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was a relatively developed society, most of the other forces did not reach the level of civilization of the Western Zhou, so the external threat faced by the Western Zhou was relatively small, and later facts proved that the Western Zhou was indeed a dynasty that perished in the hands of its own people.
Therefore, when the resources and population of the Western Zhou Dynasty were relatively small, the dynasty chose the political system of the royal road to restore its domestic power. Such forms are actually not uncommon, for example, during the Han Dynasty, After years of war, Liu Bang also chose the Taoist rule of inaction to restore domestic productivity. Although the royal way and the rule of inaction are not the same political system, there is no doubt that they have brought great influence to the future market.
The Western Zhou Dynasty was a dynasty established under the feudal system, and each princely state had a great degree of autonomy, but the great political system of a country was still determined by the Tianzi of the Western Zhou Dynasty, so in fact, all the major princely states had struggled under the political system of the royal road.
In addition to the productive forces that can restore society, the royal way is a system that restricts people from a moral point of view, which requires the use of people to govern the world, and this "person" is not only talented but also has both moral integrity and ability, so this is equivalent to putting a golden edge on the basis of the myth of Zhou Tianzi, which is more in line with the will of the son of heaven, and at the same time, the royal way is particularly in line with the attention of the Western Zhou Dynasty's heavy ministers.
Therefore, the influence of the major princely states of the Western Zhou Dynasty was very serious, but judging from the situation in the Warring States period, most of the countries had already got rid of the control of the royal way.
So how did these countries break out of the circle of kings? Today we will look at how countries that were once heavily influenced by the royal way have taken a different path.
The State of Chu originated from the barbarians of the south, acting as a head bird, and was the first to jump out of the royal rule to implement division
First of all, let's look at the State of Chu, the State of Chu was a country with more characteristics in the Warring States period, although this country was not more seriously influenced by the Royal Dao than other countries, but this country was the first country to jump out of the rule of the Royal Dao. The State of Chu was a deformed princely state in the Warring States Period, which originated from the barbarians in the south, and was very far away from the capital of Western Zhou, even if king Ping of Zhou moved east to Luoyang, for the state of Chu it was still far away from the Emperor of Tiangao, so the state of Chu was actually not strongly controlled by Western Zhou.
From the very beginning, the State of Chu had the idea of jumping out of the jurisdiction of Western Zhou. The state of Chu really broke away from the control of Western Zhou in the middle and late Spring and Autumn period of Eastern Zhou. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhou Tianzi had already declined, and his control over the princely states was not as strong as before, so the major princely states were eager to move, and the Chu state made the first bird at this time.
At that time, the monarch of the State of Chu was not satisfied with the title given to him by Western Zhou Tianzi and hoped that Zhou Tianzi could give him a rank, but this request was rejected by Zhou Tianzi, who believed that being forced to raise his rank by a courtier would damage his Tianzi's face, so he refused with a very strong attitude.
However, Zhou Tianzi's refusal did not matter, the State of Chu directly abandoned the identity of the orthodox princely states and established itself as king, and since then the State of Chu has assumed the identity of a king and become another king in the Central Plains except for the Western Zhou Tianzi, this choice can be said to be very bold, and his approach can be described as a direct rebellion against the rule of the Western Zhou, after all, the class problem has always been a very important issue at that time, and the use of the name of the Son of Heaven is disrespectful to the Son of Heaven and even a rebellion against the political rule of the Western Zhou.
Therefore, since it established itself as king, the State of Chu has become another country independent of the Western Zhou Dynasty, officially freed from the control of the Zhou Dynasty, and the State of Chu was originally a deformed princely state of southern barbarian origin, and the form of rule was very extreme, he claimed that after the king, he not only got rid of the rule of the Western Zhou but also jumped out of the political system of the royal road, and also re-established a new political system modeled on the western Zhou system of feudalism, that is, the system of division and rule that the State of Chu had been pursuing for a long time.
After the State of Chu became an independent vassal state, it began to annex small vassal states without being bound by Western Zhou to facilitate the expansion of its own national power and to resist the sanctions of Western Zhou. Since the formation of the political system of division, the State of Chu has truly become an independent country, and has also become the first country to get rid of the political system of the royal road, although the later period of the State of Chu was destroyed because of the constraints of the domestic nobles caused by the partition system, but if the State of Chu did not have the rule of the King's Way so early, it is difficult to say that the State of Chu has a foothold in the Central Plains, which may be a gain or a loss.
The State of Qin, which once used the Royal Dao to recuperate, adopted the rule of law of shangmartin to replace the Royal Dao
The second time we look at the State of Qin, the State of Qin is undoubtedly the biggest winner of the Warring States Era, he finally unified the Central Plains, established a centralized political system, established an imperial system, and became the orthodox origin of China's feudal historical society, and then all the dynasties of Chinese society are pursuing a political system, they are completing the unfinished business of the Qin State, so the contribution of the Qin State in Chinese history is very huge.
However, perhaps because of the final strength of the Qin State, few people have cared that the Qin State was once a country deeply influenced by the Royal Dao. The history of the founding of the Qin state is one era later than that of other feudal orthodox princely states, most of the other countries have been established in the Western Zhou Dynasty, but the Qin State was formally established in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and its form of founding is still different from other countries, he only got a blank check given by Zhou Tianzi at that time, which was based on the strength accumulated in the original semi-agricultural and half-pastoral tribal era.
When the State of Qin was first established, it faced difficulties when the Western Zhou Dynasty was just established, so since the Qin State Qin MuGong appointed Baili Xi to rule the country, the State of Qin also adopted the method of the royal way to recuperate. So how did the Qin Kingdom jump out of the strange circle of the royal path and still please so thoroughly?
This is actually due to two people, one is Qin Xiaogong, and the other is Shang Martingale. Shang Martin is a very discerning person, he realized that in which era of chaos under the world, it is very difficult to use people to govern the country, especially under the control of the way the state continues the hereditary system of Chinese society, the eldest son of a family cannot be a generation of Ming Jun, and it is impossible to become an inviolable rule without any influence, so Shang Martin chose the rule of law to govern the country.
The rule of law is the use of law to bind a country, to bind the civilian ministers and monarchs within the country, in any case, the law is unchanged, it is an obvious framework, can be placed there for a long time, a long-term role. This is actually why in the late Qin period, although there were such faint people as King Xiaowen of Qin and King Xiang of Qin Zhuang, and even in the later period of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, there was some confusion, but the State of Qin did not collapse.
The greatest binding force of the Qin state is the law, and on this basis, the degree of influence of the Qin state by the Emperor is greatly reduced. Therefore, the State of Qin could become the most powerful country in the Warring States Era. It is precisely because of Shang Martin's change of law that the Qin State jumped out of the strange circle of the Royal Dao, and let the Qin State change from the Royal Dao to the rule of law to the rule of law.
Wei Guo passed
Li Wu changed the law to get rid of the royal politics
The third time we look at the State of Wei, the way the State of Wei got rid of the Royal Dao was somewhat special, because this country was not a feudal orthodox princely state at the beginning, it was a state established in the late Spring and Autumn period by uniting the Han and Zhao clans, which originally belonged to the Jin State, to divide the territory of the Jin State, and it itself was less influenced by the Wang Dao.
However, before the establishment of this country, it was an important vassal of the Jin state, and this family's control over the Jin state was very domineering, so when it was first established, it was eager to have a very quick and effective way to eliminate the influence of the Jin state on it, and the first monarch of the Wei state, Wei Wenhou, was a relatively enlightened and talented monarch, which gave the Wei state a good advantage. These two points are the reasons why the State of Wei was able to carry out the Li Wu Transformation Law at the very beginning of the founding of the Country, and it was the Li Wu Transformation Law at the beginning of the Wei State that freed the Wei State from the royal road that affected it.
In fact, although the Wei state was more difficult in the end and the rule was more faint, the country's initial changes gave them a reason to firmly resist the royal way. Later, in order to get rid of the hat of squeezing out talents, King Hui of Wei invited the Confucian integrator Mencius to the State of Wei.
Mencius planned a very beautiful future for King Wei Hui, and vigorously promoted Confucian political doctrines and propositions for King Wei Hui, and under Mencius's planning, the State of Wei became a kingdom that did not pick up the road and did not close the house at night, and even the dogs did not bite people, and a state of national prosperity and national strength.
However, King Hui of Wei just did not adopt such a policy, even if Mencius planned it well, King Hui of Wei did not move his heart, which can at least explain two problems:
The first problem was that at that time, the State of Wei had completely freed itself from the rule of the Royal Dao, and the wind of the Royal Dao in the State of Wei was no longer taking shape.
The second problem is that the Wei state's Li Wu transformation method not only gave the Wei state a good economic development mode, but also gave the Wei state a good political style. Since the State of Wei completely got rid of the rule of the King's Dao through the Li Wu Transformation Method, the Warring States Era also completely entered the world of great strife.
The State of Qi replaced Wang Dao with a ruler
The fourth way we look at the State of Qi, the direct way for the State of Qi to change the form of the Royal Dao is to reform the original political form of the Wang Dao, changing the Wang Dao in the Western Zhou Dynasty to their own "Wang Dao", that is, the official rule that later people are very familiar with, the official rule is more similar to the Wang Dao, but the official rule is different from the Wang Dao, it can be said that it is a deformation or upgrade of the Wang Dao. Under the rule of the officials, the cooperation between the monarch and the subjects of the State of Qi was very harmonious, and it was precisely because of this that the political situation of the State of Qi, which was the king of Qi Wei, would appear in the state of Yan, Zhao, Han, and Wei.
There are two important reasons why the State of Qi was able to survive under this kind of rule similar to that of the Royal Dao:
The first is because the geographical location of the State of Qi is relatively superior
It is a country located on the coast of the East China Sea, far from the Western Tiger and Wolf State of Qin, the two countries do not have directly adjacent land, direct interest disputes are relatively small, so the State of Qi has more respite.
The second reason was that the basic policy of the Central Plains at that time was almost always the six kingdoms to resist the Qin
Under such tremendous pressure, the State of Qin had to adopt a policy of continuous horizontality, and befriended the State of Qi in the east to balance the pressure brought by the Combination of The Qin State. Therefore, there are many reasons why the State of Qi has been able to develop steadily or basically get rid of the royal road.
The State of Yan adhered to the royal way and implemented a hereditary system but did not contradict the Zen system
In addition, let's look at a more alternative Yan country and see what the consequences of not getting rid of the rule of the royal way are? The State of Yan also adhered to the political system of the royal way during the Warring States period, and the direct result was:
First, the State of Yan did not annex any of the vassal states throughout the Warring States period, and even if it wanted to confront the Zhongshan State, it had to rely on the support of the State of Wei.
Second, even if the State of Yan had the ability to wage war and organize five other countries to unite to attack the State of Qi, its royal ideology did not allow it to destroy the State of Qi, and in the end it only spent a huge amount of money to take revenge.
Third, it was precisely because of the influence of Wang Dao that Jing Ke and Prince Dan had the Spring and Autumn Dream of holding the Government hostage to restore the Six Kingdoms, and prince Dan's attempt to break the unification trend that had been so hard to establish in the Warring States Era through a dagger from Jing Ke.
Fourth, it was also because of the influence of the political system of the Royal Dao that King Yan attempted to exercise the Zen concession system in the Warring States period. In fact, under the influence of the royal political system, the Yan state has always been a country that implements a hereditary system but does not contradict the Zen system.
Fifth, the history of the Yan kingdom has been blank for a long time, and the level of detail is not as good as that of a small country like the Zheng Kingdom zhongshan kingdom.
The author believes that the royal way is a system that is not suitable for the historical development of the Warring States period, and which country can get rid of such an inappropriate political system in the tide of history can stand out in such a chaotic world. Just like the State of Qin, the State of Qin has completely and completely got rid of the political system of the royal road and completely embarked on the road of rule of law, which has given the country a lot of opportunities. Other countries either stick to the rules or can't completely get rid of it or can't stick to it for a long time, so they all end up failing, which is actually a valuable inspiration given to us by history.
References: Warring States Policy, Historical Records, Zuo Zhuan, Zizhi Tongjian