In the early years of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the state of Qin was a vassal state divided by Zhou Tianzi, and later in the early years of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, because he sent troops to rescue the Western Zhou king city of Haojing, and escorted the former crown prince of King Zhou You, Ji Yisu (King Ping of Zhou), to the east to the capital Luoyi, he was supported by the princes, and officially made the monarch of the Qin state a prince, and gave the Zhou royal family the land west of Qishan that was captured by Inujung and could no longer control.
The state of Qin, which was promoted to a prince, entered a period of rapid development, dominating Xirong in the middle of the Spring and Autumn period in the first half of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, laying the foundation for the state of Qin to be listed as the four great powers of Spring and Autumn together with Qi, Jin and Chu. Later, during the Warring States period, the Shang Martingale Reform Law was carried out to achieve a rich country and a strong army, and gradually developed into the strongest and richest country among the princes and countries, and finally used strong force to conquer and annex the only remaining six powerful countries in the late Warring States period, Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan and Qi, which were famous for war.
In 221 BC, the Qin state, the descendant of the king Huan Qin (Qin Feizi), completed the great cause of unification of the Qin state for many years and established the first great unified dynasty in mainland history, the Qin Dynasty. Since then, the Central Plains Dynasty has also entered the era of absolute monarchy and centralized unification, and the short-lived Qin Dynasty has also had a great and far-reaching impact on mainland history.
So after the Qin State, as a prince of the Zhou Realm, developed into a great unified Qin Dynasty, what kind of treatment did the former lord Zhou Tianzi get?
In fact, at the time of the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, the last son of Zhou Tian, King Zhou Zhao, had died for thirty-five years, and there is no record in historical records that King Zhou Zhao had heirs, so King Zhou Zhao became the last son of Zhou Tianzi of the Zhou Dynasty and even Eastern Zhou.
Perhaps King Zhou Zhao had heirs, but the Zhou royal family at that time was at the end of its life, power, status, land, fame, wealth, and people's hearts were basically squandered, and the last remaining land was also divided into the Duchy of Eastern Zhou and the Duchy of Western Zhou.
Facing the Zhou royal family, which had nothing, King Zhou Zhao had long had enough of such a life of grievance, so he did not want to put his heirs in the same situation, and became a son of Zhou Tianzi who had lost even the name of the co-lord of the world, so he did not establish a crown prince before his death.
Or perhaps the State of Qin abolished the Jiangshan community of the Zhou Dynasty after the death of King Zhou Zhao, and did not allow it to continue. All in all, with the death of King Zhou Zhao, the State of Qin moved Jiuding, which symbolized the supremacy of royal power and the unity and prosperity of the country, back to the State of Qin, and the Zhou Dynasty, which lasted for more than 800 years, declared its demise.
However, after the Qin state completely annexed the Eastern and Western Zhou principalities that split from the Zhou royal family, it did not cut off the sacrifices of the Zhou Dynasty. After receiving the thirty-six cities and entire population under the Western Zhou Principality, King Qin Zhaoxiang returned the Western Zhou monarch to Zhou.
A few years later, Qin Shi Huang's father, King Xiang of Qin Zhuang, sent Prime Minister Lü Buwei to lead troops to destroy and annex the remaining Eastern Zhou Principality, and gave the "Yangren Land" to the monarch of the Eastern Zhou Principality to continue to worship Zhou.
Compared with the outcome of the Qin state's attack on the six kingdoms of Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and Qi, the monarchs of the six kingdoms were either killed or taken prisoner, the attitude and treatment given by the Qin state towards the descendants of Zhou Tianzi was good.
Since the fall of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (about 770 BC), due to the decline of strength, only the title of co-lord of the world remained, and the great powers of the Zhou realm had lost their actual control, and finally officially declared their demise in 256 BC, and this period continued to exist for more than 500 years.
Moreover, during the Western Zhou Dynasty, when King Xiao of Zhou divided the state of Qin and made the prince Qin Feizi, the strength of the Western Zhou royal family that experienced the era of Zhao and Mu was already much weaker than before, due to the decline of the country, under the continuous harassment of Xijong, King Zhou Yi, the grandson of King Mu of Zhou, had to be forced to move the capital to avoid the invasion of dogs.
The next one was to establish a vassal King of Zhou Xiao by Feizi, the ancestor of the Qin state, because Feizi's good horse raising was appreciated and used by King Xiao of Zhou. And the reason why King Xiao of Zhou attached importance to breeding and breeding horses was because it was difficult to forget that the Zhou royal family had suffered the humiliation of the invasion of dogs, so he wanted to send troops in a big way, and the war horse was an indispensable strategic resource.
Today we will talk about several important periods from the rise to the end of the Zhou Dynasty.
The rise and fall of the Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty was founded by the Zhou people surnamed Ji, who first lived in the area of Ji Shui, so because of the surname Ji because of the water, they gradually formed a tribe. After that, he moved to the area of present-day Ning County and Binxian County in Gansu Province, and settled in Fendi to establish a state, but later because of the invasion of a tribe of Rong Dizhong, he was finally forced to move to the Weishui River Valley, and the Zhou Yuan near Qishan was changed to the State of Zhou, and the leader Ji Li began to make a pilgrimage to serve the Shang king Wuyi.
Under the protection of the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou tribe continued to accumulate strength, improve military strength, and became a powerful prince in the western part of the Central Plains, then called "Fang Bo", which means the head of one side. It is equivalent to the status of the State of Qin when it dominated the West during the Duke of Qin Mu, of course, in terms of strength, the Zhou tribe at that time and the State of Qin during the Duke of Qin Mu were not comparable.
However, the rising state of Zhou was also wary of the Shang dynasty, as the Zhou people continued to annex the surrounding small states, especially the princes close to Yin Shang. Therefore, in order to ensure that the Shang Dynasty's position was not threatened, the Shang king Wending summoned the Zhou leader Ji Li to the Yin capital under house arrest until death, and the relationship between the Zhou people and the Yin Shang began to break down.
However, the strength of the Zhou people was not enough to resist Yin Shang at that time, so Ji Li's son Ji Chang chose to submit and continued to be Yin Shang's Xibo. However, King Shang was not at ease with the State of Zhou, and once imprisoned Ji Chang, but later he was released and returned to China by offering BMW and beautiful women. As the relationship between the two sides continued to deteriorate, Ji Chang's desire for business became more and more urgent, stepping up his military expansion, increasing his strength, and enlisting the surrounding tribes.
Finally, after Ji Chang's son Ji Fa ascended the throne, the Battle of Fa Shang was launched, and in the decisive battle of Makino, the Shang army was defeated and Yin Shang was declared destroyed. Subsequently, King Jifa of Zhou Wu continued to establish the Zhou Dynasty under the name "Zhou".
- The rule of Chengkang, the national strength is strong, and the period of consolidation
"The Reign of Chengkang" is the earliest prosperous era recorded in the history of the mainland, and it is also the most prosperous period of the national strength of the Zhou Dynasty, which is the son of King Wu of Zhou, King Cheng of Zhou, and the grandson King of Zhou Kang inherited the achievements of the ancestors during the reign, practicing benevolence and government internally, and guarding barbarians externally, creating a peaceful and prosperous era, the country's economic prosperity, social stability, cultural prosperity, and peace, so it was praised as "Chengkang's Rule".
During this period, Zhou Gongdan, the brother of King Wu of Zhou, also formulated patriarchal laws and ritual music systems in order to strengthen the dominance of Zong Zhou, which not only consolidated and strengthened the dominance of the Zhou Dynasty, but also laid the foundation for the Chinese civilization of etiquette and system.
- In the Zhaomu era, the strength declined, from prosperity to decline
However, in the later period of King Kang of Zhou, due to various signs of decay such as intoxication of women, careless punishment, and continuous conquests, there was gradually a trend of decline. Coupled with the continuous conquests of King Kang of Zhou's sons, King Zhou Zhao and Sun Zhou Mu, who reigned for more than 70 years, the military strength of the Zhou Dynasty greatly weakened and began to turn from prosperity to decline.
When Prince Zhou Zhao led his army to the south and returned triumphantly, he died in Hanshui, and the southern army also suffered heavy losses and was almost destroyed. In the early days of the successor King Mu of Zhou, because he formulated more than 3,000 detailed rules of the penal book and reaffirmed the norms of governance, the world also restored stability again.
"King Zhao did not return from his southern patrol and died on the river. Wang Suizhenzhi obtained four white wolves and four white deer. Those who are self-defeating do not come. "The Chronicle"
However, in the middle and later period, King Mu of Zhou became very happy, resumed his conquests, and continued to expand outward. The two northern insects intensified the confrontation between the two sides, causing the tribes in the desolate domain to no longer meet the royal family of the Son of Heaven. After that, he then conquered Kunlun in the west, again depleting military strength, so that the long-term conquest without dynasty caused the southeastern state of Xu to take advantage of the opportunity to rebell and invade the Zongzhou region.
As a result, King Mu of Zhou moved to the south, but because his military strength had been weakened and consumed in the previous decades of conquests, he was finally able to quell the rebellion of King Xu by uniting the forces of the southern Chu Zi (State of Chu). However, after the Xu Rebellion was calmed, King Mu of Zhou did not stop his conquest and continued his eastward march to the south.
Although the Zhou Dynasty's Crusades to the West during the reigns of King Zhao of Zhou and King Mu of Zhou expanded the territory of the Zhou Dynasty and consolidated its rule, the Zhou Dynasty's strength was also weakened by continuous conquests. At the same time, Rong Di, located in the northwest of the Central Plains, began to rise and become stronger, so that during the time of King Mu of Zhou's grandson King Yi of Zhou, there was a situation in which the Zhou people suffered because of Rong Di's constant invasion, and the Zhou Dynasty had to move the capital to escape the dog invasion due to the decline of the country.
- The scourge of the dog, the demise of the Western Zhou, the beginning of the Eastern Zhou
After the death of King Yi of Zhou, due to the cowardice and incompetence of the crown prince he appointed, he was seized by King Yi of Zhou's uncle and younger brother of King Gong of Zhou, Ji Bifang, who was for King Xiao of Zhou, that is, the son of Zhou Tianzi who established the vassal state of Qin because of his meritorious horse raising. In addition to continuing to breed horses for the Zhou royal family, the newly established state of Qin also had to take on the responsibility of defending against Xijong.
After the death of King Xiao of Zhou, the former crown prince King Yi of Zhou was installed as succession by the princes. At this time, because the Zhou Dynasty was already in a stage of decline, some princes began to stop coming to pay tribute, and even stopped obeying the orders of the Son of Zhou Tianzi to attack each other. And King Yi of Zhou listened to the rumors, and as a result, there was a scene where the Duke of Qi, the monarch of the State of Qi, the descendant of the founding hero Jiang Ziya, was summoned by King Yi of Zhou and ordered to be cooked.
After the death of King Yi of Zhou, he was succeeded by his son King Li of Zhou, and this son of Zhou Tianzi was extravagant and arbitrary, ordered a monopoly of Shanze property, imposed harsh government, and forbade the people to publicly discuss his mistakes, and once discovered, he was severely punished, which led to the "Rebellion of Yan", and was besieged by the people of Zongzhou to the palace of King Hojing, forced to flee to death of illness in Yidi.
After his son succeeded to the throne, although under the rule of King Xuan of Zhou, the Zhou Dynasty had a Zhongxing trend and regained its former prosperity, but he interfered with the succession of the Lu state by force in his later years, which caused displeasure among the princes, resulting in a great decline in the popularity of the princes of Zhou, so that there were disobedience of the princes, and he could no longer rely on the military power of the princes.
"Fighting in a thousand acres, Wang Shi lost to the Jiang clan. King Xuan died as a division of the Southern Kingdom. "The Chronicle"
As a result, foreign conquests were defeated one after another, such as the Battle of Thousand Mu, and the most elite southern division of the Zhou Dynasty was completely destroyed. And under the arbitrariness of King Xuan of Zhou in his later years, the momentum of Zhongxing was interrupted, which also laid the groundwork for the demise of Western Zhou.
After the death of King Xuan of Zhou, the newly established Zhou Tianzi was the protagonist of the beacon drama princes, King Zhou You, and this Zhou Tianzi was not a promising king, because he was very fond of beautiful people, abolished the elder and established the child, destroyed the patriarchal system, and reused the greedy Yu Shi father as a secretary, resulting in many complaints among the people and losing popular support.
The former crown prince Ji Yiusu's grandfather Shen Guo monarch Shen Marquis united with some princes and attacked the royal city with the troops of Inujung, and finally fled to the Lishan Mountain under King Zhou You was killed by Inujung, the royal family was also looted, and Western Zhou perished.
After the death of King Youyou of Zhou, all the princes led by Marquis Shen jointly supported the former crown prince, which was the first son of Zhou Tian, King Ping of Zhou, the first son of Zhou Tianzi of Eastern Zhou. Because the Western Zhou king city of Hojing was already in ruins due to the war, and in order to avoid the invasion of the dogs, after King Ping of Zhou succeeded to the throne, he moved the capital east to Luoyi. Since then, the history of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty has begun, and it has entered the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period.
The vassal state of Qin, which was divided during the reign of King Xiao of Zhou, was also promoted to a prince for his merits in escorting King Ping of Zhou to the east. At this time, although the Zhou Dynasty continued to have Eastern Zhou, the Zhou royal family was gradually declining, and it was no longer able to control the princes, leaving only the name of the co-lord of the world, so Qin, Jin, Qi, Chu and other states began to annex weak states and continue to grow and develop.
- Shoot the king in the shoulder, the prestige is swept away, and the princes fight for hegemony
After moving east, the Zhou royal family due to the decline of strength, not only left the name of the co-lord of the world, but also looked at the faces of some princes and great powers in some things, such as the "Zhou Zheng Surrender" incident, the noble son of heaven King Zhou Ping actually had to exchange sons to show sincerity to the powerful Zheng Guo Zheng Zhuanggong, which can be described as disgraced by Zhou Tianzi.
But this is nothing, after King Zhou Ping's grandson King Zhou Huan succeeded to the throne, there was an incident of "shooting the king in the shoulder". King Huan of Zhou did not treat Zheng Zhuanggong when he came to see him because Zheng Guo had invaded Zongzhou's fields and robbed crops, and Zheng Zhuanggong exchanged his own land with Lu for the fields that Zhou Tianzi used for sacrifice.
For Zheng Zhuanggong's disrespectful behavior, King Huan of Zhou also gave a counterattack and directly removed Zheng Zhuanggong from his position in the Zhou Chamber. Duke Zheng Zhuang no longer met with Zhou Tianzi, so in order to protect the dignity of the Zhou royal family, King Huan of Zhou led the troops of Chen, Cai, Yu, Wei and other states to attack Zheng Guo.
"Fa Zheng, Zheng shot to hurt King Huan, go back." "History"
As a result, Zhou and Zheng had a Battle of Suige, which ended in the defeat of the coalition of princes led by King Huan of Zhou, and King Huan of Zhou was shot in the shoulder by an arrow from the general of Zheng Guo, Zhu Dang, while still in Suge. This battle directly swept away the majesty of Zhou Tianzi, and his prestige was reduced to the extreme, and at the same time, it could be seen that the Zhou royal family was in decline and was no longer able to carry out conquests. Following the state of Zheng, Qi, Jin, Chu, Qin and other princely powers rose one after another, beginning the centuries-long war of princes for hegemony in the Spring and Autumn period.
- Chu Zi won the throne, the co-master's name was lost, and he continued to weaken
As the competition for hegemony became more and more fierce, using various sections to expand their strength, the princes and monarchs, later known as the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons, were already above Zhou Tianzi in actual status. However, the Zhou royal family was constantly declining, the land of Zongzhou was constantly shrinking due to the division of seals and rewards, and the royal family's finances could not make ends meet, and even King Zhou could not bury his deceased father, King Xiang of Zhou, and finally asked Lu Guo for money to bury his father.
As the struggle for hegemony became increasingly fierce, countries used various means to expand their strength, and the princes and monarchs, later known as the Five Hegemons of Spring and Autumn, were already above Zhou Tianzi in actual status. However, the Zhou royal family was constantly declining, the land of Zongzhou was constantly shrinking due to the division of seals and rewards, and the royal family's finances could not make ends meet, and even King Zhou could not bury his deceased father, King Xiang of Zhou, and finally asked Lu Guo for money to bury his father.
By the time of the reign of King Ding of Zhou, due to the continuous weakening of the Zhou royal family, the developed princely powers had no respect for Zhou Tianzi and the Zhou royal family. King Zhuang of Chu, the monarch of the State of Chu, whose title was the last baron, actually led an army to parade on the border of Zongzhou to show the prestige of the State of Chu, and then went to the royal temple to ask the importance of the Nine Dings, which symbolized the power of Zhou Tianzi, and the intention of coveting the royal power is self-evident.
- The three families divided into Jin, and the Tian clan was substituted for Qi to curry favor with the princes
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, King Weilie of Zhou, who was the son of Zhou Tianzi, felt insecure due to the decline of the strength of the Zhou royal family, so he wanted to "show grace" to some princes and powers in the name of the co-lord of the world, in exchange for support. However, the land under Zong Zhou's jurisdiction was already pitiful, basically to the point where there was no land to seal, so he could only nominally find a way to curry favor with the princes.
At this time, the three major Qing families of the Jin state, Han, Zhao, and Wei, had already conquered the ruling Zhi clan, and began to gradually divide the land of the Jin state's office, in essence, they already had the strength of the princes, but the name was still the secretary of the Jin state, and they seemed faceless when they were diplomatic with the princes, so King Weilie of Zhou surrendered to his favor and officially canonized the three princes of the Zhou realm.
When he saw the three families thanking Wang En according to the etiquette of Zhou Li, the downcast King Zhou Weilie finally experienced the feeling of enjoying being the son of Zhou Tianzi. His son King An of Zhou also officially canonized the Qi state master Tian Shi as the monarch of the Qi state, just like his father, and also experienced the feeling of being the son of heaven with his nominal grace.
In the face of the declining Zhou royal family, looking at Zhou Tianzi, who brushes his sense of existence by currying favor with the princes, does not look like the co-lord of the world in the past, even if it is only a nominal co-lord, this scene is really embarrassing!
- The Warring States opened, no one cared, and the royal family was divided
Since the incident of the three families divided into Jin and the Tian family, time has officially entered the Warring States Period. At this time, the Zhou royal family was already very weak, and the princes who had been divided into seals of the Zhou royal family no longer went to worship their co-lord Zhou Tianzi, so that Zhou Tianzi fell to the point of no one caring.
And when the various princely states began to change their laws in order to survive and become strong, a major event was also happening in the Zhou royal family, and King Zhou Xian gave the last piece of royal land of the Zhou royal family to the royal son Ji Gen, and established the small principality of Eastern Zhou, called the Duke of Eastern Zhou Hui. Prior to this, in order to prevent the usurpation of his brother's usurpation in the first year of his succession, King Kao of Zhou gave Henan Land in Wang Qi's land to his younger brother Ji Dynasty, and established the Duchy of Western Zhou, called the Duke of Western Zhou Hui.
Later, the royal prince Ji Gen rebelled, and with the support of Han and Zhao, he established himself in Gongdi, calling himself the Prince of Eastern Zhou, and King Xian of Zhou had no choice but to be forced by Han and Zhao to divide the Gongdi to Gongzi Jigen and establish the Eastern Zhou State. At this point, the Zhou royal family was divided into two principalities, the east and west, and King Xian of Zhou and Tianzi of Zhou only had one palace left to become the king of Zhou, which was regarded as residing in the principality of Eastern Zhou.
After the Qin people destroyed Zhou, how were Zhou Tianzi and his descendants treated?
Following the death of King Xian of Zhou and his son King Shenliang of Zhou, Ji Yan, the last son of Zhou Tian, succeeded to the throne. At this time, the State of Qin had completed the Shang Martingale Transformation Law, achieved a rich country and strengthened the army, and King Huiwen of Qin, the son of Duke Xiao of Qin, had also changed his title to king, and through a series of foreign wars, laid a solid foundation for the development and growth of the State of Qin.
After his son King Wu of Qin succeeded to the throne, he wanted to realize his aspiration of winning the Central Plains, so he attacked Yiyang City, a major town in the Central Plains, by force, and opened up Sanchuan, intending to go to the Zhou Chamber to take a peek and try to raise Jiuding. However, he was rejected by King Zhou Zhao, which caused the prime minister of the State of Qin, Duke Xiao of Qin, to be angry and directly forcibly expelled King Zhou Zhao from the palace of Cheng Zhou and moved to the royal city of the Western Zhou Principality.
After that, King Zhaoxiang of Qin succeeded to the throne, and with Bai Qi and others as generals, he continued to wage annexation wars and constantly encroached on the land of the Three Jin Dynasties. After the end of the battles of Changping and Handan, King Zhaoxiang of Qin, who had entered his old age, still did not stop expanding, and in 256 BC continued to attack the Three Jin Dynasties, beheading 40,000 Korean troops, capturing Yangcheng and Negative Huang in Korea, and attacking Zhao in the same year, beheading 90,000 and taking a large area of land.
Duke Wen, the monarch of the Western Zhou Principality, saw that the State of Qin was so panicked, worried that the State of Qin would attack the Zhou royal family after capturing Yangcheng, so he joined forces with Yan, Chu and other Kwantung princes to attack Qin and prevent the Qin army from reaching Yangcheng, but was detected by the State of Qin, and King Zhaoxiang of Qin was furious, and immediately sent generals to lead troops to attack the Duchy of Western Zhou.
"Western Zhou fear, double Qin, and the princes covenanted to attack Qin. King Zhao of Qin was angry and attacked Western Zhou. The king of Western Zhou rushed to Qin, and suddenly suffered the crime, and gave his thirty-six yi and thirty thousand. Attributed to Zhou. "The Chronicle"
After the Western Zhou Jun went to the Qin state to kowtow and sacrificed all the cities and populations of the thirty-six kingdoms to the Qin state, King Qin Zhaoxiang did not pursue him again and released him back to Zhou, and although the Western Zhou Jun saved his life, he also lost the country.
"Wang Zhao. Qin took the Jiuding treasure weapon, and moved the Duke of Western Zhou to Yu Hu. At the age of seven, King Xiang of Qin Zhuang destroyed Eastern Zhou. The East and West Zhou are all in Qin. "The Chronicle"
Seeing this, King Zhou Zhao died of depression in the same year. King Zhaoxiang of Qin moved the Nine Dings of the Zhou royal family into the Qin state, and the Zhou Dynasty, which lasted for more than 800 years, came to an end. and moved the Western Zhou Jun to Shuhu. Seven years later, after the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Eastern Zhou Jun united with the princes, intending to attack Qin again, so King Xiang of Qin Zhuang sent Lü Buwei to lead troops to attack the remaining Eastern Zhou state, and at this point, the eastern and western two countries split from the Zhou royal family were completely returned to the Qin state.
"Qin is constantly worried, and the Yang people give the Zhou Jun a sacrifice." "History"
However, the state of Qin did not cut off the sacrifices of the Zhou Dynasty and gave the Eastern Zhou Jun a piece of land to continue to worship the ancestors of Zhou. If King Zhou Zhao had descendants, he might have been rewarded with a piece of land by the Qin State to sacrifice his ancestors like the Eastern and Western Zhou countries. After all, the Qin State had not yet unified and annexed the six Kanto countries at that time, and doing some face articles could also reduce the resistance to unification.
Epilogue:
After Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms and established the Qin Dynasty, the sacrifice of Zhou was afraid that it would be difficult to continue, and the descendants of Zhou Tianzi would not receive any preferential treatment, after all, the Wei Guo, which had long existed in name only, was also abolished as a commoner during the reign of Qin II.
Text/History Zimo Pavilion
More history, the next issue will be more exciting.
Welcome to like, comment, follow, thank you for your support.
The source of the picture in the article is the Internet, invaded and deleted.