King Ping's eastward migration: a key event in the turn of the Zhou Dynasty from prosperity to decline
In 770 BC, the year after King Ping of Zhou ascended the throne, he moved the capital from Haojing (present-day Xi'an) to Luoyi (present-day Luoyang).
The eastward migration of King Ping is the division between the two histories of the Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty before the Ping King of Zhou moved east was Western Zhou, and the Zhou Dynasty after moving east was Eastern Zhou. Before King Ping of Zhou moved east, Zhou Tianzi was the co-lord of the world, and the state of the Zhou Dynasty was at its peak. After King Ping of Zhou moved east, the state of the Zhou Dynasty declined, and the princes successively became kings, opening the Spring and Autumn Warring States period.
In addition, King Ping's eastward migration was the first event in Chinese history to move the capital after being invaded by Yidi. Since then, many dynasties in Chinese history, when subverted, will continue to live by moving the capital, and from prosperity to decline.
Statue of King Zhou Ping
Why did King Ping of Zhou move east?
First of all, the core reason is the West Weekend Year's Canine I invasion.
At that time, King Zhou's deposed father Shenhou was angry at King Zhou's insolence, so he joined forces with foreign dogs to invade Hojing
One of the reasons why King Zhou You angered Marquis Shen was because King Zhou You used the adulterous Amber Father to take charge of government affairs, and he himself was idle all day long, so the nobles and the people had strong dissatisfaction. Second, because King Zhou You favored Zhao Miao, after the abolition of the main chamber Shen, the crown prince Yibai changed the post of Zhao Ant as the queen and the uncle as the prince, which caused infighting between the surname Jiang of the Shenhou clan and the surname Miao of the Zhao Ant clan. In addition, in order to win the smile of the beauty, King Zhou You "beacon play the princes", pretending to be an enemy army invaded, so that all the princes were empty, and King Zhou You lost his faith from the beginning.
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After the Inujung invasion, he looted a large amount of gold and silver treasures and robbed beautiful women, making Hojing dilapidated, so King Ping of Zhou, who was later supported by Marquis Shen to succeed him, began to consider moving the capital.
Secondly, the natural disasters near Hojing were extremely serious, the northwest Guanzhong was dry for many years, Luo, Jing and Wei were depleted, Qishan also had perennial earthquake disasters, the people were in dire straits, and Hojing was also under the earthquake, and many palaces were destroyed, which was considered a bad omen.
The reason why King Ping of Zhou chose Luoyi as the new royal capital was because at that time, in order to control the remnants of Yin Shang, the Duke of Zhou had established the eastern capital Luoyi east of Haojing, as a companion capital, so Luoyi was already a complete capital and did not need to build a new royal city, so Luoyi was an excellent choice for King Zhou Ping to move the capital.
Invasion of the Great Rong
So, what stages did King Ping's eastward migration go through?
Before King Ping moved the capital, his main job was to win over close princely states and assist in moving the capital
There are two reasons for this.
First, King Ping of Zhou was supported by Marquis Shen and ascended the throne, which was inevitably suspected of "recognizing a thief as his father", and most of the princes were not willing to support him, but supported his uncle King Zhou.
Second, after the invasion of Inujung, the national strength was damaged, and the Eastern Zhou royal family was extremely poor.
Therefore, King Ping of Zhou needed the assistance of the princely states and took the opportunity to contain the power of King Zhou.
When King Ping moved the capital, it was the State of Qin, the State of Jin, and the State of Zheng who came forward to support King Ping of Zhou.
When the State of Qin was King Xiao of Zhou, it was divided into Qin lands as a meritorious horse raiser, and it was not considered a vassal state, but because it was closest to Haojing, it was very suitable to support King Ping of Zhou to move east, in exchange for the approval of King Zhou and enhance his original status.
The Jin state made an agreement with King Ping of Zhou to kill King Zhou and divide power equally with King Ping of Zhou, and exchange it for more fiefs, so that later Jin states could have a large territory.
The State of Zheng was a small state on the edge of Luoyi, and was given the title of Zheng by King Xuan of Zhou, with the same purpose as the State of Jin, all for the purpose of dividing the royal government and expanding the lordship, so he assisted King Ping of Zhou in moving the capital.
Spring and autumn situation map
After King Ping moved the capital, he helped King Ping's vassal states take the opportunity to grow and despise the royal power, causing King Zhou's prestige to decline and reduce him to a situation where the princes were at the mercy.
For example, King Ping of Zhou wanted to divide the power into a part of the state, causing Zheng Guo's dissatisfaction, and in order to calm Zheng Guo's anger, King Ping sent his son Prince Hu to Zheng Guo to exchange hostages. Later, King Huan of Zhou raised troops to deal with the increasingly arrogant Duke Zheng Zhuang, who actually shot King Huan in the shoulder, defeated Wang Shi, and took the opportunity to dominate. This is completely impossible to happen in the Western Zhou.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, Zheng Guo was the first princely state to rise in Spring and Autumn, changing the appearance of the Zhou Dynasty's original honored Son of Heaven. Later, the Duke of Qi Cabinet, the Duke of Song Xiang, the Duke Wen of Jin, the Duke of Qin Mu, and the King of Chuzhuang successively hegemonized, that is, the five hegemons of Spring and Autumn, of which only the Duke of Qi Huan proposed to honor the king and destroy the country, so that Zhou Tianzi gained face. However, after the Warring States, the official etiquette collapsed, Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei were collectively called the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, competing with each other for power, and after the fall of the Eastern Zhou, the Qin State completed the unification and established the Qin Dynasty, and the state capital officially withdrew from Luoyi.
Spring and Autumn Five Bosses
Although King Ping considered the situation and geographical advantages, he hoped that taking root in Luoyi would bring a new atmosphere to the Zhou Dynasty. However, the invasion of dogs and I made Zhou Tianzi greatly unpopular, and the rise of the princes also made it impossible to stop the infighting in the Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, King Ping's move to the capital mainly helped the rise of the Qin, Jin, and Zheng states, and for the Zhou Dynasty itself, it only gave it a little more time.
After gaining benefits, the three princely states of Qin, Jin, and Zheng did not help Zhou Tianzi consolidate his power, but took the opportunity to come out and compete for the world, until the strongest princely state dominated the Central Plains, replaced the Zhou Dynasty, and became the new co-lord of the world.