During the period of China's slave society, the Xia Dynasty pioneered the system of hereditary system, and the Shang Dynasty inherited this system. However, the Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty were relatively inferior to the Zhou Dynasty in terms of both territorial and national strength. The Zhou Dynasty was a transition between feudalism and slavery.
The Zhou Dynasty is the longest dynasty in China's history. This dynasty opened up a system of sub-fiefs, but also established a hierarchy. This dynasty can be said to be a very good interval for the slow transformation of our country from a slave society to a feudal society. And at this time, China's agricultural technology has been greatly improved.
Our country was originally a primitive society. With the continuous development of people and the continuous improvement of people's ideological awareness, there was a slave society. Slave society is much more advanced than primitive society, but there are still many problems in slave society. The Xia Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty in China are two very typical dynasties in the slave society, and the hereditary system is determined in the slave society.
But there was a big problem with these two slave social dynasties in our country. Because both dynasties established a hereditary system, some people at the time were not convinced. Moreover, the slaves at that time were bought and sold like cattle, which made the social contradictions at that time very serious. In this case, a very large number of problems arise in society, and these problems are increasingly endangering the rule of the rulers.
In fact, although the partition system of the Zhou Dynasty showed many problems later, it was a very good medicine at that time. Because in the period of slave society, although the ruler had an army in his hands, these armies were not very powerful, and once there was any problem, it was necessary to dispatch the army from the ruler's side. This will cause the central government to be very empty, and there will be very dangerous things happening.
Many people know that the fall of the Zhou Dynasty was due to the system of sub-feudalism. This system gave the nobles and relatives of Zhou Tianzi a lot of power, and at the same time this system also led the Zhou Dynasty to decline, and even to its demise. People felt that the feudal system actually made the princes in various places more and more powerful, and in the future, these princes disobeyed the orders of Zhou Tianzi because of their own strength and ambition, which accelerated the demise of the Zhou Dynasty.
In fact, the system of sub-sealing can be said to have advantages and disadvantages. At that time, the Zhou Dynasty used the sub-feudal system to make the princes obey their own words, and through the sub-feudal system, the Zhou Dynasty also increased its control over the whole country. However, at the end of the period, because of the fainting incompetence of Zhou Tianzi and the fuse of the Beacon Theatre princes, the princes were very dissatisfied with the Zhou Dynasty. As a result, these princes began to grow up privately against the rule of the Zhou Dynasty.
In fact, Zhou Tianzi had means to the princes in the beginning, and it was precisely because of Zhou Tianzi's shrewdness and ability that all the princes admired Zhou Tianzi very much. However, at the end of the Zhou Dynasty, the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty was very incompetent, which made his men very dissatisfied, and they did not have any rules when governing the country, which made more princes look down on Zhou Tianzi. In other words, Zhou Tianzi had no means at all to make these princes listen to them.
In fact, in the Zhou Dynasty, the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty paid great attention to patriarchy. This system condensed blood relations and used blood relations as a link, establishing the status of nobles and princes in the Zhou Dynasty. Because the blood relationship at that time was very close, that is to say, the princes and nobles at that time were relatives of Zhou Tianzi, which also made the earliest Zhou Dynasty not have some turmoil.
Moreover, at that time, Zhou Tianzi's control over the princes was also very strong. Although Zhou Tianzi distributed land to them, the ultimate owner of these lands was still Zhou Tianzi, and it was nothing more than these lands that were lent to these princes. Moreover, the governing power of the princes in these lands was relatively small, not as great as the governing power of the princes in the last years of the Zhou Dynasty.
Zhou Tianzi stipulated that the princes should also pay tribute to themselves every year, and these princes also obeyed their words. If these princes did not pay tribute to Zhou Tianzi on time, then these princes would become prisoners.
There is also the fact that when Zhou Tianzi goes out to fight or hunt, every prince must accompany Zhou Tianzi. Zhou Tianzi said who he wanted to fight, and these princes followed Zhou Tianzi to attack. If a prince dared not to go, then the prince would be stripped of his fiefdom and eventually become a prisoner.
At the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, these princes were very obedient, and the armies in the hands of these princes were not as many as those in the hands of the princes in the last years of the Zhou Dynasty, and the total number of all the princes' armies was only 10,000 people. However, the army of the Zhou Dynasty Tianzi at that time was much more than the armies of all the princes combined.
In this case, the princes did not have an absolutely strong armed force, so these princes were very respectful to Zhou Tianzi. What Zhou Tianzi asked them to do, they were going to do, they did not dare to disobey Zhou Tianzi's orders, and Zhou Tianzi's army was much higher than the army of these princes.
That is to say, the armies of these princes are actually scattered soldiers and warriors at all. However, Zhou Tianzi's army can be said to be a crack army, with a lot of experience and very strong combat ability, and at that time, Zhou Tianzi's command of the princes was absolute.
As the Zhou Dynasty became more and more decaying, the princes began to secretly develop their military strength. At this time, the princes began to build their own armies, the princes increased the number of their own armies, and Zhou Tianzi wanted to expand his territory and fight with the minorities in the West at that time, which made Zhou Tianzi's military strength worse and worse and the military strength of the princely states more and more powerful.
It didn't take long for the princes to reveal their ambitions. So they raised armies when the Zhou Dynasty was very weak, and established themselves as kings. At that time, the Spring and Autumn period began. Zhou Tianzi's army was caught between the major powers because it had no combat strength, and was later destroyed by a princely state.
In fact, China's ancient dynasties are thinking about one thing, that is, how to strengthen the centralization of power, that is, how to make the power in the hands of the emperor become more and more powerful. Because each dynasty will summarize the reasons for the demise of the previous dynasty, and many dynasties are doomed because the power in the hands of the emperor is not very large. After the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties summed up these truths, they weakened the power of the localities and had very great power in their hands.
The demise of the Zhou Dynasty actually shows another truth. That is, for a dynasty to continue, it must go through each generation of rulers. If there is one ruler who is very incompetent, it is very fatal for the whole country.
For more exciting content, come and follow the solo of this history