The historical facts of the founding of the Western Zhou Dynasty are obviously different from the mythological stories in the "Romance of the Gods". Historically, Western Zhou was founded by the Yellow Emperor's great-grandson Chu, the ancestor of the Zhou royal family and revered as the "God of the Five Grains". At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou people lived in the form of tribes, and were later made a vassal state by the Shang Dynasty, that is, the State of Zhou. During the reign of King Tai of Zhou, the state of Zhou developed rapidly, and the capital was moved to Zhouyuan, Qiyang, avoiding the attacks of Rong Di in the west.
After the death of King Taizer of Zhou, King Wen of Zhou succeeded to the throne and became a key figure in the rise of the state of Zhou. During the reign of King Wen of Zhou, he shaped a complete political system that influenced the next nearly a thousand years of history. As an important minister of King Wen of Zhou, Jiang Ziya made important contributions to the development of the Zhou Kingdom. After the death of King Wen of Zhou, his son King Wu of Zhou succeeded to the throne and waged a war against the Shang Dynasty, eventually overthrowing King Shang and establishing Western Zhou.
During the reign of King Wu of Zhou, he pacified the remnants of the former dynasty through the system of division and completed the unification of the Central Plains. He gathered Shang dynasty immigrants into the Shangqiu region for autonomy, divided their princes and established the rudimentary Song state. At the same time, he also divided his sons, brothers, and heroes into various places to ensure control over the entire Central Plains. This system of division and sealing ensured the stable development of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and also laid the foundation for the formation of the later division system.
The historical Western Zhou Dynasty was a real and ambitious dynasty. It is not just the famous "battle of the gods" in "Romance of the Gods", but a process of development that has undergone a long period of development, with a complex political pattern and social structure. Although we cannot fully examine this history, we can draw some key historical facts from the historical record. First of all, the origins of the Western Zhou Dynasty can be traced back to the time of the Yellow Emperor.
The Yellow Emperor was a legendary great monarch in ancient China, and his descendants gradually multiplied, including a great-great-grandson named Abandon. The birth of the abandonment is somewhat special, it is said that because his mother did not conceive naturally, but after stepping on the footprints of giants, his mother abandoned him many times, but was unsuccessful. So she thought it was God's will and decided to leave him behind and named him Renunciation.
He was very talented in agriculture and became his right-hand man during Dayu's reign, helping to manage agricultural affairs. The descendants of the abandonment migrated to the vicinity of the Weishui River Valley, taking the character Ji as their surname, which is the origin of the later Zhou Dynasty or Zhou royal family. Renunciation is also revered as the "god of grains". The Zhou Dynasty originally existed as a tribe of the Zhou people. Over time, the Zhou gradually developed into an independent vassal state, the State of Zhou.
In the middle and late Shang dynasties, King Wuding of Shang formally canonized the state of Zhou during his reign. During the reign of King Tai of Zhou, the state of Zhou developed rapidly in the west. According to the results of the current research, Wu Ding did not accede to the throne until decades after he was canonized as the state of Zhou. Although this history is recorded in the historical record, it is difficult to verify it accurately due to the age. But what we can be sure of is that after the ancient Zhou tribe, there really is an ancient tribe, that is, the prototype of the Zhou state.
During the reign of Prince Tai of Zhou, the state of Zhou moved its capital to Zhouyuan, Qiyang, to avoid being invaded by Rong Di in the west. In his later years, Prince Dowager Zhou had many sons, but he was more interested in the children of his third son's family. However, it is not appropriate to skip the son's generation directly and pass the throne to the grandson. Therefore, the eldest and second sons of Prince Zhou decided to leave the state of Zhou and go to live in the southeast. They established a state in the southeast, later known as the State of Wu.
On the side of the State of Zhou, due to the loss of his eldest son and second son, King Tai of Zhou could only pass the throne to the old Sanji Li, that is, King Wen of Zhou. Ji Li was a very talented man, he actively intermarried with the Shang Dynasty, received the support of the Shang Dynasty, and conquered the northwestern region with the support of the Shang Dynasty, and was made a "priest", that is, the head of the Western princes. However, in the later years of Ji Li, due to the rapid development of the Zhou state, the Shang Dynasty began to feel jealous of the Zhou state, and eventually put Ji Li under house arrest until death.
After Ji Li's death, King Wen of Zhou ascended the throne. King Wen of Zhou is a versatile figure. He is revered as the grandfather of fortune tellers, and his contributions to politics are equally profound. During the reign of King Wen of Zhou, he built a complete political system, known as the "Rite of Zhou". This system had a direct impact on the next nearly thousand years of history. On the one hand, King Wen of Zhou continued to obey the Shang Dynasty, and on the other hand, he continued to develop his strength, uniting and supporting the princes of the Zhou state and fighting against the princes who opposed the Zhou state.
By the later years of King Wen of Zhou, the influence of the Zhou kingdom had spread to two-thirds of the entire world. The royal family of the Shang Dynasty was wary of this, and the kings of other vassal states also came to complain. As a result, the Shang royal family repeated the old practice and put King Wen of Zhou under house arrest. However, the State of Zhou sent bribes to King Shang to curry favor with him, and King Wen of Zhou showed a submissive attitude, and King Shang believed that King Wen of Zhou would not rebel, so he let him go.
After King Wen of Zhou returned to the State of Zhou, he continued to obey the Shang Dynasty on the one hand, and continued to develop his strength and recruit talents on the other hand. One of the most important ministers was Jiang Ziya. Although Jiang Ziya is described as the apprentice of Yuan Shi Tianzun in "Romance of the Gods", in the official history, he is actually a down-and-out nobleman. Jiang Ziya's family had assisted Dayu in controlling water, but after two generations of Xia Shang, it had decayed.
When he heard that the Zhou Kingdom in the west was recruiting talents, he decided to go to the Zhou Kingdom and meet King Wen of Zhou in the name of fishing. King Wen of Zhou discovered Jiang Ziya's talent and appointed him as a minister. Jiang Ziya developed very well in the State of Zhou, and under his advice, more and more princely states began to be attached to the State of Zhou, forming a situation in which "the State of Zhou accounted for two-thirds of the world". Jiang Ziya's daughter married King Wu of Zhou and became the first queen of the Zhou Dynasty.
King Wen of Zhou's painstaking management made the Kingdom of Zhou gradually stronger, and at the same time attracted many talents to serve the Kingdom of Zhou. After the death of King Wen of Zhou, his son King Wu of Zhou succeeded to the throne. Under the rule of King Wu of Zhou, the Shang Dynasty went to war with Dongyi in the east, and the main forces of the Shang Dynasty were transferred to the east. King Wu of Zhou took the opportunity to raise troops and summoned the princes of the world to hold an alliance in Mengjin, calling on everyone to fight King Shang together.
Although the "Romance of the Gods" describes that the alliance of King Wu of Zhou had 800 princes respond to the call and form a coalition army, according to historians, although the number of princes who actually came to respond was quite large, the total number of troops finally assembled was only 45,000. This is not surprising, because the population of the Central Plains at that time was not large, and it was already very difficult to assemble such an elite force. King Wu of Zhou's coalition even had a small southern tribe who took the surname "bear" and worshipped flames.
Although they were not many in number, the high-level officials of the Zhou Kingdom did not forget them later and gave them the title of viscount. Later, this tribe grew in the south, relying on the title of this viscount to establish a powerful state of Chu. With the gathering of eight hundred princes, King Wu of Zhou led a coalition army to kill Chaoge, the capital of the Shang Dynasty. Since King Shang's main army was in the east, he could only temporarily release the slaves in Chaoga City to form a large army.
However, these slaves were not loyal to the Shang Dynasty, and they had been oppressed by the Shang Dynasty before, and at this time turned around and followed the coalition forces to kill Xiang Chaoge. With little effort, King Wu of Zhou invaded Chaoge. King Shang set fire to himself in order to escape capture. At this point, the Shang Dynasty completely perished, and the Western Zhou Dynasty was officially established. The establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty was not as simple as depicted in the Romance of the Gods. It underwent a long process of development and gradually rose to prominence under the efforts of King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou.
The Western Zhou Dynasty's system of fiefdoms provided an important guarantee for stability and unification, pacifying and controlling the remnants of the former dynasty in various places, ensuring rule over the Central Plains. At the same time, King Wu of Zhou's wars dispersed the main forces of the Shang Dynasty, creating opportunities for the establishment of Western Zhou. King Wu of Zhou's army was able to easily invade Chaoge, eventually overthrowing King Shang and establishing Western Zhou. Although there are differences between the historical Western Zhou Dynasty and the mythological stories in the "Romance of the Gods", its true historical value cannot be ignored.
Looking back at this history, we can see that the Western Zhou Dynasty was a dynasty full of ambition and wisdom. Its rise relied not only on the wisdom of politicians and military experts, but also on the unity and efforts of the Zhou people. The Western Zhou dynasty's system of division laid the foundation for the later system of division and became an important part of the ancient Chinese political system. However, we should also recognize that despite the political and military successes of the Western Zhou, it did not completely solve the problem of the remnants of the former dynasty.
In later history, the problem of revolt and division of the remnants of the previous dynasty still existed, which had a considerable impact on the rule of the Western Zhou. For this period of history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, we may still have many questions and explorations. For example, how did the decline and demise of the Western Zhou dynasty occur? What are the advantages and limitations of the sub-sealing system in practice? What is the difference between the governing philosophies and strategies of King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou? These issues require further study and reflection.
At the same time, we should also examine the relationship between myths and reality in history, and rationally view the characters and events in history, and not completely equate them with myths and stories. In short, the Western Zhou Dynasty was an important and complex dynasty in Chinese history. Its establishment and development is not only a "battle to seal the gods", but also the crystallization of hundreds of years of people's efforts and wisdom.
We should better understand and understand this history through in-depth research and reflection, draw wisdom and enlightenment from it, and provide reference for the development of contemporary society. So, what are your views and questions about this history of the Western Zhou Dynasty? The last kings in the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Xuan of Zhou and King You of Zhou, all faced the dilemma of the decline of the Western Zhou royal family and the intensification of national contradictions. Although some of them took some steps to change the situation, they could not change the fate of the Western Zhou Dynasty's decline.
Although his responsibility was the end of King Zhou's swoon and his death, it was also a reflection of the long-standing problems of Western Zhou. With the succession of King Zhou You, the direct power of the Western Zhou royal family had declined, and the division system led to a small territory passed to King Zhou You, unable to suppress other princes. Coupled with the fact that the previous Zhou Tianzi consumed a lot of national strength through war, the strength of the Western Zhou royal family was no longer enough to maintain its rule.
In particular, some remote princely states gradually broke away from the control of the Zhou Dynasty, resulting in no pilgrimage and in fact semi-independent. In this situation, King Xuan of Zhou tried to unite the other princes and let them enter the Zhou royal family to take power, which was a strategy to compensate for his own lack of strength. However, this situation did not last, and the contradiction gradually intensified. After King Zhou ascended the throne, his mediocrity and appointment of the traitor Yu Shifu exacerbated popular resentment.
He deposed his queen and crown prince and installed his concubine as queen, further causing internal conflicts. These actions undoubtedly hastened the decline and demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Although King You of Zhou was the king of the dead country, his actions were also influenced by the historical background and the decline of the Zhou royal family. The problems he faced were left over from his predecessors, and the measures he took only accelerated the process of losing the country. The decline of the Western Zhou Dynasty was not caused by the problems of individual kings, but by the embodiment of historical laws.
A similar situation occurred in the later Western Han Dynasty, and after the reign of Zhaoxuan, the Western Han Dynasty also entered a period of decline. This was due to the uneven distribution of land, which caused the nobility to occupy a large number of resources, while the living standards of the people at the bottom and the commoners gradually declined, and social contradictions intensified. Although there was no land annexation phenomenon in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the problem of annexation still existed from the perspective of productivity. In this case, the decline of the Western Zhou Dynasty was inevitable.
Although some Ming monarchs and sages in the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty tried to change the situation, impose harsh punishments or deflect conflicts through foreign wars, these measures were only temporary and could not fundamentally solve the problem. The truth of history is that the direct power of the Western Zhou royal family has declined, and the regime is no longer stable and full of contradictions. Even if some kings took some measures, it was only the return of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
The end of the Western Zhou Dynasty was an inevitable result of history, and the King of Zhou You was only a node in the Western Zhou dynasty. Looking back at the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, we can see the process of a country's decline. The Western Zhou royal family's system of sub-fiefdoms brought about excessive power and weakening of centralized power; The exploitation of the aristocracy led to the aggravation of social contradictions; Increased threat from external nomads; Mediocre and corrupt kings hastened the demise of the nation.
These problems are not isolated events, but complex systemic ones. There are some lessons we can draw from today's social development and governance. As a history editor, I believe that the decline of Western Zhou history is the result of a combination of factors. It reminds us that a country's decline is not due to individual people or events, but to deep-seated social and institutional problems.
Therefore, we should attach importance to the resolution of social contradictions and promote institutional reform and innovation to ensure the long-term stability and prosperity of the country. At the same time, we should also pay attention to the competence and morality of our leaders to avoid the disasters of mediocre and corrupt monarchical rule. Finally, I would like to invite readers to think about the question: how can we avoid similar problems in today's society and national governance and ensure the long-term stability and prosperity of the country? Welcome to leave your comments and opinions.
The demise of Western Zhou was not only due to the missteps of King You of Zhou, but because the Zhou royal family hindered the independent development of the princely states. After the princely states at that time entered the Zhou royal family, they only fought for their own power and profit, and did not consider the great cause of reviving the Zhou royal family at all. After King Zhou succeeded to the throne, he faced the dilemma of disobedient princes and power in the hands of ministers. Even the queen was the daughter of the king of Shen Guo, and Shen Guo was bent on controlling the power of the Zhou royal family. Therefore, King Zhou You favored Zhao Yi and deposed Queen Shen.
If Queen Shen really had a heart for King Zhou You, perhaps he would not depose her. However, if she is allowed to be queen and her son is crown prince, who can ensure that the power of the Zhou royal family will not be taken away by Shen Guo? On the other hand, although Yu Shifu was greedy for money, he was loyal to King Zhou You, and he was the king of the Western Yu Kingdom, and was willing to use the power of the Western Yu Kingdom to help the Zhou royal family. At a time when most of the vassal states wanted independence, few vassal states could provide timely assistance.
In the end, Shen Guo and Inujung attacked the capital of the Zhou royal family, Hojing, and together with King Zhou Yu himself, they were killed in the chaotic battle. This is the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty. After the death of King You of Zhou, Western Zhou ended completely. After the death of King Zhou You, the princes of various places belatedly joined forces to drive out Inu Rong and support the son of the deposed queen as the king of the state, that is, King Ping of Zhou. After King Ping of Zhou ascended the throne, the first thing he did was to move the capital to the Luoyang region. The history that followed is the history of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
In addition, according to the research of later historians, the story about King Zhou You's "beacon play princes" is actually fictional, because the beacon tower was unique to the Han Dynasty. However, the fact that King Zhou You was defeated by the combined Shen State and Xijong is real. In general, the real reason for the demise of Western Zhou was not that King Zhou You lit the beacon, but because the Zhou royal family at that time hindered the independent development of the princely states.
When most people hoped that the Zhou royal family would decline, Western Zhou naturally came to an end. Looking back at the entire history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, we can see that the struggle for power, the sense of independence of the princely states, and the invasion of foreign enemies were the main reasons for the demise of the Western Zhou. In today's society, we can also draw some inspiration from this. Excessive concentration of power could lead to internal corruption and external weakening, and independent development and cooperation were key to ensuring the long-term stability of the country.
Therefore, we should pay attention to balancing power, promoting cooperation, and respecting the independent development of countries and regions. Finally, I would like to ask the question, how do you think balance and cooperation among States can be achieved in today's world? Please leave your comments and ideas.