This is the longest ruling dynasty in Chinese history. According to legend, before the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, King Ji Chang of Zhou Wen worked as a coachman for Jiang Ziya, so there was a legend that King Wen pulled a cart for 800 steps, and the Zhou Dynasty continued for 800 years. So why did the Zhou Dynasty last for 800 years? What happened in these nearly eight hundred years? Today, let's review the history of the Zhou Dynasty in one breath.
In order to understand the history of the Zhou Dynasty, we must first understand a concept, a period in history can be called a dynasty, that is, it was the only legal regime in the land of China at that time. Even in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, all the princes were in turmoil, and the fallen Zhou Tianzi was the only co-master of the world. Therefore, historically, the Zhou Dynasty was divided into two periods, the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The watershed of the Zhou Dynasty is the well-known King of Zhou You's beacon play princes. The history of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty can be divided into the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods before the Qin Dynasty. To understand this story, we have to start at the beginning.
From the Battle of King Muye of Zhou Wu in 1046 BC to establish the Zhou Dynasty with few victories and many great defeats, to the death of King Nan of Zhou in 256 BC, when Zhou was destroyed and captured by Qin, the Zhou Dynasty had 32 generations of monarchs, a total of 37 kings, and shared the kingdom for 790 years.
When the Zhou Dynasty was first established, the scope of development of the world was only the Central Plains along the Yellow River. Therefore, King Wu of Zhou sealed the princes of the world with a piece of paper, allowing them to willingly develop those wastelands for their own use. It seems that the emperor's grace is mighty, but it is actually comparable to the world's first yang scheme. Do you think the Zhou Dynasty can develop smoothly after this? In fact, King Wu of Zhou died three years after the founding of the state.
In 1043 BC, the young King Cheng of Zhou succeeded to the throne. Since King Cheng of Zhou was still a child at that time, he could only be ruled by Ji Dan, the Duke of Zhou, the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou. But this caused strong dissatisfaction among King Wu's remaining three younger brothers, Uncle Guan, Uncle Cai, and Uncle Huo. It turned out that these three people were sent by King Wu of Zhou to take care of Wu Geng, the son of King Shang. Unexpectedly, in the end, he and Wu Geng united several small countries in the east, and the Three Prisons Rebellion broke out, shaking the foundation of the Zhou Dynasty. In 1042 BC, in order to consolidate the rule of the Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou led a large army to the East. He followed the route of King Wu with heavy troops, took Chaoge directly, killed Wu Geng, cursed Uncle Guan, banished Uncle Cai, and degraded Uncle Huo as a commoner. After that, he continued to march southeast, using the tactics of first weak and then strong, conquered the Nine Barbarians and Seventeen Kingdoms, and moved the Yin people to Luoyi. It took three years to quell the Rebellion of the Three Prisons, known as the Eastern Crusade of the Duke of Zhou.
Zhou Gong's Eastern Crusade
In 1039 BC, in order to better control the east, the Zhou Dynasty established the eastern capital Luoyi in Henan Province as the center of Zhou Dynasty rule in the east. To the east of the water, there were Yin land remnants who lived, the Yin Eighth Division was garrisoned, and the west of the water was the royal city, which served as a place for the princes' court.
In 1021 BC, King Kang of Zhou succeeded to the throne, continuing the national policy of his father King Cheng of Zhou. Politically, he helped the poor, gave land to the people, and punished with virtue. As a result, the political situation was stable, the people were harmonious, the foreigners of the four directions went to court, the world was stable, and the torture apparatus remained unchanged for more than 40 years, and history called the rule of Chengkang.
The rule of Chengkang
Beginning in 980 BC, King Zhou Zhao, with the princely states as the vanguard, personally led his army across the Han River, crossed the Yangtze River, and went south three times to Hufang, Jingchu and other places. The army passed through the Tang Dynasty and advanced all the way into the Jianghan region, and gained a lot. The Zhou army not only won the battle, but also captured a large amount of bronze booty. However, when King Zhou Zhao's third southern expedition returned to the dynasty victoriously, the pontoon bridge suddenly collapsed because it was carrying too much booty. King Zhou Zhao was drowned in the chaos. Later generations called it King Zhao's Southern Expedition.
In 977 BC, King Mu of Zhou, the first person on the Western Tour, succeeded to the throne. His fame may not be as good as his own car, that is, the famous Mu Wang Bajun. After King Mu of Zhou came to the throne, he issued an edict reiterating the norms of governing the country to his courtiers, and formulated five punishments for the Moqiobin Palace, striving for good governance, and restoring peace to the world and maintaining the continuation of King Zhao's prosperity. In 964 BC, King Mu of Zhou conquered Yangxi and the Zhou army won a complete victory. Due to King Mu of Zhou's policy of repression against border ethnic minorities, the Zhou dynasty lost its prestige among the surrounding foreign races. After the two conquests, King Mu of Zhou continued his western expedition, and his army reached Kunlun Hill. This is the earliest recorded cultural exchange between the Central Plains and the Western Regions in Chinese history. And King Mu of Zhou, who loved to travel, also consumed the country's huge wealth. By the time King Zhou succeeded to the throne in 922 BC, the country's finances had become extremely empty, and the economy could hardly sustain its debts. In order to protect the face of the co-lord of the world, the good-faced King of Zhou divided the land near the capital into princes and doctors, making the area directly under the jurisdiction of the Zhou Dynasty smaller and smaller, and the power of the Zhou Dynasty began to decline.
In 900 BC, King Yi of Zhou succeeded to the throne, and the Western Zhou dynasty became increasingly corrupt. Xirong began to invade the border of the Zhou Dynasty, and once the Zhai people in the north of Linhao Jing looked at Zhou Hu, and the countrymen suffered greatly from it, and King Yi of Zhou sent troops to attack Inujung, but the result was a great defeat. After eight years in power, he died of fear. After the death of King Zhou Yi, something happened that could change the course of Chinese history. King Yi of Zhou's uncle Ji Pifang took the opportunity to seize the crown prince's throne, determined to revive the Zhou Dynasty, and became known as King Xiao of Zhou. Therefore, King Xiao of Zhou opened a pasture in the grassland between Weishui, and recruited Feizi with a lot of money to domesticate war horses for himself. Because Feizi raised horses very well, he was given land for tens of miles of land in Qin, which is the birthplace of the future Qin state. However, King Xiao of Zhou failed to realize his ideal of revitalizing the Zhou Chamber and died of illness. It was not until the reign of the ninth monarch, King Yi of Zhou, that the Zhou dynasty barely fought a victory. King Yi of Zhou sent six armies to destroy Taiyuan until Yu Quan won a complete victory and captured 1,000 war horses. History is called King Varong. But in addition to being good at fighting, his brain is not very good. He listened to the rumors of the king of Ji Guo and killed the Duke of Qi.
During the reign of King Li of Zhou in 878 BC, the Zhou royal family was even more absurd. In order to maintain the expenses of the imperial family, King Li of Zhou imposed heavy taxes, which not only increased the exploitation of working people, but also monopolized social wealth and resources. The trees, the water and the air are mine. As long as you use them, you have to pay taxes. Whoever gives me more money will become a high official. Not surprisingly, this soon sparked unrest among the Chinese population. King Li had to flee Hojing, cross the Yellow River, and flee to the border of the Zhou Dynasty, which became a republican administration. Fourteen years later, King Li of Zhou died of illness in Yan.
In 827 BC, when Ji Jing, the eleventh monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty, succeeded to the throne, he appointed wise ministers to assist the dynasty politically, and used troops abroad many times with the help of the princes militarily, so that the Zhou Dynasty once presented a situation of peace in all directions and a stable kingdom, and was known as the King of Xuanzhongxing in history. However, years of war have also consumed a lot of national strength. Coupled with the fact that King Xuan of Zhou acted arbitrarily in his later years and did not enter the faith, King Xuan's Zhongxing was ultimately short-lived, and the Zhou Dynasty still failed to come out of decline.
In 782 BC, he was succeeded by King Zhou You, the reigning king of the Western Dynasty. King Zhou favored Xiao San Zhaojiao, deposed the crown prince and empress, and degraded his father-in-law the title of Marquis Shen. How could this mother's family swallow this breath, so Shenhou and Inu Rong settled accounts with King Zhou You, which led to the outbreak of the Hojing War. However, because King Zhou You once smiled for the Pomeranians, beacon the princes, after the dog army invaded, no one came to serve the king. The combined forces of Inu Rong and Shenhou drove all the way straight into Hojing. The Western Six Army, totaling 75,000 men, was defeated by the combined forces of Inujung and Shenhou, and the entire army was destroyed. King Zhou You was also captured on the water. The princes had to support the previous crown prince Ji Yiusu to succeed him as King Ping of Zhou, establishing the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
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