King Wu of Zhou defeated Shang at the Battle of Muye and established the Western Zhou Dynasty. In the middle of the eleventh century BC, the Zhou royal family consolidated its power by implementing feudal and patriarchal systems, which had a strong deterrent effect on princes, nobles and people.
Zhou Tianzi gave land to establish a princely kingdom. The feudal system and the patriarchal system made Zhou Tianzi the co-lord of the world and accepted tribute paid by various countries.
When King You of Zhou came to power, he was desolate and faint, favored Concubine Ji and deposed Empress Shen and his eldest son Yi Su, which led to the rebellion of the princes and triggered the Inuyasha Rebellion, and since then the Zhou royal family has gradually lost its authority and its rule has collapsed.
Shen Hou killed King You, and Yi Usu took the throne as King Ping of Zhou. In order to avoid foreign forces, the Zhou royal family was forced to move the capital to Luoyang with the assistance of Zheng, Jin, Qin and other princes.
"Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, Spring and Autumn" Zhou PingWang stills
The Eastern Zhou Dynasty thus began, and in a broad sense, it was also the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period. So, how did the Western Zhou royal family gradually decline? What about the state of the Eastern Zhou royal family?
In the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the king's power declined, and the status of Zhou Tianzi was gradually degraded
King Zhao of Zhou personally commanded the Southern Expedition, but as a result, he was strongly resisted by Chu Jing when he returned to the division, coinciding with the lack of beauty in Tiangong, so that the entire army was destroyed; by the time of King Mu of Zhou, although the Zhou royal family had expanded its territory in foreign conquests, its dominance gradually declined.
King Yi of Zhou was the starting point of the decline and fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty, so there is a saying that "poets make thorns"; King Xiao of Zhou and King Yi of Zhou caused chaos by breaking the principles of the patriarchal system.
We all know that the Zhou metric system of etiquette has always paid attention to the etiquette of kings and subjects. King Yi of Zhou had gone down to see the princes, but not only did he lose the courtesy of the Son of Heaven, but also weakened the authority of the Zhou Tianzi and made the status of the Zhou Tianzi even lower among the princes.
Statue of Zhou Gongdan
Under these circumstances, King Li of Zhou, who succeeded to the throne, was tyrannical and ruthless, implemented the patent of Yamazawa's benefits, cut off the people's livelihood, not only did not let the people express their dissatisfaction with the emotional remarks, but even sent the courtier Wei Wu to monitor the people and kill the complaining people. As a result, the people on the four outskirts of the capital gathered together and took action to expel King Li and severely damage the prestige of the Zhou royal family.
Since the precedent of King Li of Zhou being "exiled", the matter of chasing kings among the nations has continued to occur, which is the precursor to the collapse of the feudal system.
Inuyasha killed the Youwang, the royal family moved east, and the royal power fell by the side
After King You of Zhou succeeded to the throne, a major earthquake occurred in the Western Wednesday River. Father Boyang judged from the experience of past history that this was a precursor to the demise of the country. Sure enough, in that year the earthquake brought death and famine, hastening the collapse of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
In addition to the natural disasters that caused the decline of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the tyranny of King You of Zhou led to the "exile of the people", and he reused the servant Yu Shi's father, exploited the people, and aroused people's resentment, in order to incur the wrath of the gods and the national fortunes were endangered.
"Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, Spring and Autumn" Zhou Youwang stills
From the historical data, we can also glimpse that in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was already a merger of land and people among the nobles, which made the society of the feudal system begin to shake.
Eventually, King You of Zhou deposed Shen Hou and his eldest son Yi Usu. Shen Hou joined forces with the kingdom of Ji and Xiyi Inuyasha to attack and kill Yu Wang at the foot of Mount Li.
Since then, the so-called Eastern Zhou Period has begun, which is also the starting point of the Spring and Autumn Period. After King Ping moved east, due to the smaller territory under Wang Qi's jurisdiction, the royal family's financial constraints, and the princes saw the decline of the royal power, one by one supported the army and respected themselves, and the strong countries annexed the weak countries, so that the forces of the princes of Qi, Chu, Jin, and Qin gradually became stronger.
In the eleventh year of King Ping, Marquis Wen of Jin and Qin destroyed the king, divided up the land of the king, and also dissolved the situation of "separation of the two kings"; in the fourth year of King Hui, because Zheng and Yu assisted the Zhou royal family in quelling the rebellion of the disciples of Shu, Tianzi gave the land to Zheng and Yu, so that only one-third of Wang Qi's land remained; when King Xiang was also credited with the rebellion of The Brothers and Uncles of Jin Wen, he gave the only remaining land of Yangfan, Wen, Yuan, and Lanmao on the north bank of the Yellow River in Zhou to the State of Jin.
Princely states in the early Spring and Autumn Period
After one reward after another, the originally small land of Wang Qi became more narrow, limited to the area around Yi and Luo Ershui, which made the royal family's economy even worse, and even the expenses for participating in sacrifices and alliances were also borne by the princes, and the weakness of the Zhou royal family was evident.
"Zhou Zheng Jiao" and "Battle of Qiangge"
Zheng Guo, in the 22nd year of King Xuan of Zhou, was made a count, and his fief was in the land of Zong Zhou, and the founding monarch was the younger brother of King Xuan of Zhou, known in history as the Duke of Zheng Huan. Zheng Wugong, the son of Duke Huan of Zheng, was the founding hero of Eastern Zhou who repelled Inuyasha and protected king Ping of Zhou from moving east.
Under the vigorous expansion of Zheng Wugong, Zheng Guo soon developed from a small country with a small area and barren land to a central plains power in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
"Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn" Zheng Wugong stills
Duke Zhengzhuang, the son of Duke Wu of Zheng, succeeded to the throne and remained the duke of Zhou Ping, and was favored by the King of Zhou and held the position of Zaifu. In the early Spring and Autumn period, Zheng Zhuanggong used this advantage to expand his national strength. King Ping of Zhou felt that Zheng Zhiguo was small and hegemonic, jealous of Zheng Zhuang's gradual coercion of the royal family, did not want Zheng Guo to take charge of the royal government alone, and occasionally divided the power among Duke Yu, resulting in Zheng Zhuanggong's dissatisfaction, and the monarchs and subjects were discordant, and then "crossed the hostage".
Zheng Zhuanggong, as the Secretary of the Prince of Ping, dared to be like an enemy of the King of Ping, which showed that the power of the Son of Heaven had fallen, and this incident greatly reduced the status of Zhou Tianzi's supremacy in the world. ”
King Ping of Zhou collapsed, and King Huan of Zhou succeeded to the throne. King Huan of Zhou became King Ping's original intention, and he would be put in charge of the royal government by Duke Yu. In order to express his dissatisfaction, Zheng Zhuanggong twice sent troops to forcibly cut off the crops in the land of King Qi of Zhou to demonstrate to the Zhou royal family, and Zhou Zheng was officially hostile.
In the eighth year of the Duke of LuYin, Duke Yu's father finally became Wang Youqingshi, and Zheng Bo was Wang Zuoqingshi, who jointly took charge of the royal government. Duke Yu divided Zheng Zhuanggong's suffragette, and from then on, zhou and Zheng's heart knot was difficult to unravel.
"Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn" Zheng Zhuanggong stills
Zheng Bo never reigned, and King Huan of Zhou commanded the princely states of Chen, Cai, Yu, and Wei to attack Zheng Yu to show His Majesty. This battle was the only battle of Tianzi in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Tianzi originally wanted to lead an army against zheng guo, who disobeyed the king's orders, but as a result, Wang Shi was defeated and King Huan of Zhou suffered a shoulder wound.
Although the status of Zhou Tianzi was difficult to compare with that of Western Zhou in its heyday, if he was too offensive or even killed the King of Zhou during the battle, it should arouse the hostility of other princely states. Based on this consideration, after the defeat of the Son of Heaven, Zheng Zhuanggong sent a priest to comfort the wounded King Huan of Zhou that night.
Since then, the Zhou Dynasty has been in a slump, and the princes have gradually risen, and they have taken advantage of the political power to manage the government. To Qi Huan Gongshi hegemony, the situation of "no way under the heavens" unfolded in Yan.
The "Zhou Zheng Jiao" and the "Battle of Qiangge" announced that the era when the Zhou Room was the co-lord of the world had passed, and the political ethics of the Zhou people with the "spirit of kinship" as the bond had been destroyed.
The collapse of the feudal system and the patriarchal system brought the Eastern Zhou royal family into decline. In order to compete for supremacy, the princes attacked each other, which aggravated the disintegration of the social system.