【First subscription number for Sinology enthusiasts】
King Li of Zhou was the third tyrant in ancient China after Xia Jie and Yin Yi, and after his death he also received a vicious title: "Li". Li is the meaning of tyranny and cruelty, and the image of King Li of Zhou in the minds of posterity is a tyrannical king. However, he also has the side of pursuing progressive reform, and the following small editor of Sinology will bring you a detailed introduction.
Long before King Li of Zhou ascended the throne, the Zhou Dynasty had already experienced a very serious crisis of rule under the rule of King Li of Zhou's father, King Yi of Zhou. The "Records of History" records: "Zhou Cooked to mourn the Duke, and his brother Jing was for the Duke of Hu." Hu Gong migrated to Bogu, and when king Yi of Zhou was. But by the time of King Li of Zhou, social contradictions had become more acute. As a result, King Li of Zhou wanted to implement reforms to change this social phenomenon, but the reforms ended in failure. Therefore, King Li of Zhou was the first reformer recorded in the annals of history, and he was also the first reformer to fail.
Let's take a look at the social background of the "Liwang Gedian".
During the reign of King Yi of Zhou, the royal family declined and the contradictions between the princely states intensified. King Yi killed the Duke of Qi with Ding, and made his brother Duke Hu of Qi the new Marquis of Qi, who succeeded to the throne and moved the capital of the State of Qi from Yingqiu to his own fengyi bogu. However, soon after the incident, Duke Qi's brother Jiang Shan launched a coup d'état to kill Duke Hu, established himself as The Prince of Qi, called Qi Xiangong, and moved the capital from Bogu to Linzi. composed
It can be seen from the current state of Qi that the relationship between the royal family and the princes during the reign of King Zhou Yi was already very tense, and the authority of the royal family had been greatly weakened.
Jiang Shan, the Duke of Qi, was originally only a doctor of the State of Qi, who dared to kill the Duke of Qi Hu established by the King of Yi against the will of King Yi of Zhou, and established himself as a king, and afterwards the King of Yi did not make any pressure on him, and The Duke of Qi Xiang died of his life, which shows that the strength of the royal family at this time has not been enough to achieve effective control over the princely states. Therefore, the "Chu Shijia" wrote: "When the King of Zhou Yi was king, the royal family was weak, and the princes or not dynasty were fighting each other. ”
At the same time, the external problems of the Zhou Dynasty were not quelled by the previous conquests, but became more and more serious. Especially in the southern Chu state, Chu Jun Xiongqu shouted "I am a barbarian and do not talk to China", and made his third son king, openly opposing Zhou Tianzi. In the face of this obvious provocative act of the Chu people, King Yi of Zhou could only remain silent and had no choice but to let them be rude.
Therefore, after King Li of Zhou ascended the throne, in order to reverse the situation in the dynastic rivers and rivers, he made up his mind to abolish the old code and implement the new system, and carried out reforms in a drastic way, which is called "Li Shi Ge Dian" in history.
For the Zhou Li King's Revolutionary Code, the records made in the "Records of History" are not meticulous, in any case, the Zhou Li King is treated as a greedy and violent emperor. However, through the "Chronicle of History", people today can glimpse the part of the first feudal reform in the history of our country and even in the history of the world.
King Li of Zhou confiscated the private property of the great nobles and the public property left over from ancient customs to strengthen the financial revenue of the Zhou Dynasty, which seriously touched the economic interests of the great nobles, aroused their fierce opposition, and attacked king Zhou Li with slander. At the same time, King Zhou's patent policy should actually be an integral part, but not all, of all of his reforms. However, King Zhou Li was in a hurry to achieve reforms, and he moved too much to wait for all the reform measures to play a role, and patent policy had already aroused opposition from the lower nobility and commoners. Because these people did not enjoy the royal family, did not have fiefs, and were exploited by the royal family and the great nobles.
Nowadays, the new code does not allow them to use natural resources such as mountains, rivers and forests for free, which cuts off these people's livelihood in the short term. Therefore, the lower classes also did not stop talking about King Li's new policy. The contradiction between King Li and his countrymen has become very acute.
King Li of Zhou forcibly promoted reform by killing, which was naturally regarded as brutal and murderous by the time and future generations. At the instigation of the great nobles and even the princely states, the small and medium-sized nobles and ordinary commoners jointly rioted and attacked the king of Li in groups, which was the "rebellion of the people of the country". King Li of Zhou was unable to resist the furious crowd, and the throne was overthrown. The results of the Li Shi Revolution ended in failure.
Perhaps many people now do not quite understand the meaning of the term "Li Shi Ge Dian". "Li Shi Ge Dian", see "Chinese Zhou Yu": When prince Jin "Yong Gu Luo" said, "Self-ancestor king, Li, Xuan, You, Ping, now greedy for natural disasters, so far has not been killed ... Since Hou Ji, there has been chaos, and Wen, Wu, Cheng, and Kang, and only Ke Anmin. Since the beginning of Hou Ji, his Jing people, the fifteen kings, and the King of Wen shi pingzhi. Eighteen kings, and Concord. The same is true of its difficulties. Li Shi Ge Dian, Fourteen Kings. It can be seen from here that the "Li Shi Ge Dian" was the largest event in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, and it created a new historical period for the Zhou people.
"Ge Dian", Wei Zhao's note: "Ge, more also; Codex, law also. "The "revolution" is undoubtedly a political reform. But what exactly does this "canon" mean? Wei Zhao didn't make it clear. When Ji Kangzi "used tian fu", Confucius said something like this: "And if the son ji sun wants to do the Dhamma, then the Zhou Gongzhi code is there, if he wants to do it, why visit Yan?" This remark is also found in the "Chinese Lu Language": "If the son ji sun wants his law, then he has the origin of the Duke of Zhou, and if he wants to break the law, then he will give it to him, so why visit yan?" There are slight differences in the text between the two. However, from here we can see that the "canon" is the "book". The "Li Shi Ge Dian" is at least a social reform that should include the reform of the land and the implementation of the tax mu system. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the land was an individual land system, equivalent to the rent of serfdom.
The "Li Shi Ge Dian" is a sign of China's entry into the feudal system. It is also the first form of Feudal Society in China, the perverted feudal lordship system. The main contradiction of this perverted feudal lordship system is the contradiction between the economic base characterized by the small peasant economy and the superstructure of the lordship system, because the fundamental requirement of the small peasant economy is the county system or the unified centralized system. In the early period of China's feudal society, from the "Li Shi Ge Dian" to the early Han Dynasty, the root cause of the centuries of chaos in the world was here.
The chaotic wars between the princes of the Spring and Autumn Warring States were blind at first, and the princes did not realize the relationship between the feudal system and the great chaos in the world. It was only in the late Warring States period that people saw this problem clearly, such as Qin Shi Huang said: "The world fights endlessly to have a prince." ”
The "Li Shi Ge Dian" failed miserably, and this year also announced the arrival of a new era, in which the royal family declined, the princes strife, and the whole of China would fall into bloody wars and fierce vendettas; At the same time, this will also be an era of change and strength throughout, which is the famous "Spring and Autumn Warring States" in history!
Agree to the point of "watching", let us go through small stories together, feel the big truth, forward and share it with friends around us, and carry forward the traditional Chinese culture! 【WeChat public account: Sinology Talk】