Reading the 37th of the "Shiji" from a New Perspective The Eastern Zhou was divided into the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou (serial 37)

The Eastern Zhou was divided into the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou

The history of the Zhou Dynasty is divided into Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, not only the princes were in chaos, but even the Zhou royal family, which had a false name, was also fighting internally. In the late Warring States period, it was divided into Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou. Two weeks of separate work, sometimes attacking each other, is really chaotic enough.

During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou royal family declined, and each day deteriorated. During the Spring and Autumn Period, King Zhou was also verbally called a co-lord by the princes, occasionally playing his banner. In the Warring States period, Zhou Tianzi was completely abandoned, and all the princely states became kings one after another, on an equal level with the King of Zhou. The Zhou royal family huddled in the area of Luoyang, with a land of only a hundred miles, a population of only tens of thousands, and an army of less than thousands. However, even so, within the royal family, there is still relish in the fight for the throne and fighting each other.

The "Records of History" records that in 441 BC, King Ding of Zhou died, and his sons fought for the throne. The eldest son took the throne only three months before he was killed by his brother. His brother was king for less than five months when he was killed by another brother. This other younger brother became the king, that is, the king of Zhou Kao. King Zhou Kao also had a younger brother, and in order not to let his younger brother kill him again, King Zhou Kao took out a piece of the land of the Zhou Chamber and gave it to him, calling him the Duke of Huan of Western Zhou.

Later, the Zhou Chamber was divided again, and the Duke of Eastern Zhou Hui appeared. In this way, Zhou Tianzi did not even have a territory, and in the land of the Zhou Chamber, Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou appeared, and Zhou Tianzi had nothing, and existed in name only. By the time of King Zhou Zhao, he could not even maintain his life, so King Zhou Zhao had to run to Western Zhou, where he lived as a guest, just like a poor old man who ran to other people's houses to beg for food. Zhou Tianzi, what a pitiful!

At this time, the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou were still the small places around Luoyang. Because there is also a king of Zhou Zhao in name, Western Eastern Zhou can only be called a king, which is a generation shorter than the princes. Around them, the princely states of Qin, Chu, Wei, and Han often called them around, and when they were not happy, they would beat them. Two weeks in the middle of a big country, life is very difficult.

At this time, the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou were still the small places around Luoyang. Because there is also a king of Zhou Zhao in name, Western Eastern Zhou can only be called a king, which is a generation shorter than the princes. Around them, the princely states of Qin, Chu, Wei, and Han often called them around, and when they were not happy, they would beat them. Two weeks in the middle of a big country, life is very difficult.

On one occasion, King Qin Zhao summoned the Western Zhou Jun. Xi Zhoujun did not dare to go, so he thought of a way. He sent a lobbyist to the Wei kingdom and said to the Wei king: "The king of Qin summoned the Western Zhou Jun in order to coerce the Western Zhou to attack your kingdom's Nanyang. The Western Zhou Jun does not want to be an enemy of you, and wants to ask you to send troops first, and the Western Zhou Jun will have an excuse not to go to the Qin Kingdom. "Western Zhou Jun just like that, muddled over.

On another occasion, the State of Chu attacked the Yong clan in Korea, and the Korea took the opportunity to demand weapons and grain from Eastern Zhou. Dongzhou was already so poor that he didn't want to give it. The Eastern Zhou Jun also thought of a way to send a lobbyist and said to King Han: "The State of Chu has been attacking the Yong Clan for several months, and it is already very tired. At this time, you asked Dongzhou for something, doesn't it indicate that you are also tired? This is obviously not good for the war. As soon as King Han heard that it made sense, he gave up.

Another time, Zhao arrogantly took away the sacrificial fields of Eastern Zhou. Dong Zhoujun was sad in his heart, but helpless. A man named Zheng Chao said, "I have a way to bring the sacrificial field back." He took thirty pounds of gold and went to bribe Zhao Guo's Taibu.

Zhao Guojun fell ill and summoned Taibu to inquire. Tai Bu pretended to pinch his fingers and said, "This is the ghost god of the Eastern Zhou Sacrifice Field. So, Zhao Guo hurriedly returned the sacrificial field of Eastern Zhou. The Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou relied on these little tricks to survive hard in the cracks of the great powers.

The living environment is so harsh, but between the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou, they are still fighting each other. When the eastern week arrives at the season for planting rice, the western week does not release water. Dongzhou was very worried, so he spent a lot of money to invite lobbyists. The lobbyist pondered hard and came up with a trick.

The lobbyist said to the Western Zhou Jun, "I heard that the people of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty now grow wheat. When you release water, you will wash away their wheat and leave them with no grain. If you do this, the people of the Eastern Zhou will inevitably rely on the Western Zhou and will therefore obey you. ”

When Western Zhou Jun heard that releasing water would flood the wheat of Eastern Zhou, he was very happy, so he quickly released water to Eastern Zhou and gave money to lobbyists. The lobbyists received a bounty from both and were full of joy.

The Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou not only fought secretly, but sometimes fought openly, and they had no strength, so they went to ask other countries for help. Once, Western Zhou bribed the State of Chu and Korea with treasures, wanting to ask them to help attack Eastern Zhou. When the Eastern Zhou Jun heard about it, he immediately sent people to Chu and Han and said that the Eastern Zhou was also willing to offer treasures and let them help fight the Western Zhou. Seeing this scene, Chu and Han felt like two children fighting, very ridiculous, disdainful, and no one helped.

In 256 BC, King Zhao of Qin decided to destroy Western Zhou and send an army to fight, and Western Zhou was naturally not an opponent. Seeing that his life was about to be saved, the Western Zhou Jun had to run to the Qin State, kowtow and surrender, and sacrificed all the 30,000 people of the Western Wednesday Sixteen Yi to the Qin State. The State of Qin accepted it unceremoniously, and Western Zhou perished. Seven years later, the Qin state destroyed Eastern Zhou. In this way, the Zhou Dynasty, which has lasted for more than eight hundred years, can be regarded as completely finished.

It is said that after the fall of the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou, when the two kings met again, they realized that they were brothers. At first, their eyes were only focused on interests, and they did not see their brothers. Now, the benefits are gone, only brothers remain, but it's too late to regret.

"Shiji" records many small stories of the Warring States period, although the stories are small, they reflect the social situation and people's mentality at that time.

A short story from the Warring States period

From the beginning of the division of the three families into the Jin Dynasty and the end of the Six Kingdoms of Qin, the history of more than two hundred years is known as the Warring States. The "History" records many vigorous events during this period, as well as some small things. Although the matter is small, it can also reflect the social situation at that time.

Yu let die as a confidant

In 453 BC, the Zhao, Wei, and Han families of the Jin state joined forces to destroy Zhibo and divide his territory. Zhibo is arrogant and arrogant, and he is to blame for being destroyed. But unexpectedly, Zhibo's protégé Yu Rang was loyal to him and vowed to avenge Zhibo.

The target that Yu Rang wanted to assassinate was Zhao Xiangzi. Yu Rang changed his name and surname, disguised himself as a tortured person, hid a dagger, and entered Zhao Xiang's womb, wanting to take the opportunity to assassinate. Unexpectedly, he was recognized by Zhao Xiangzi, and the guards wanted to kill Yu Rang, but Zhao Xiangzi said: "This is a righteous man, let him go." ”

Zhao Xiangzi Xingren Yi let Yu Rang go, but Yu Rang's desire for revenge still did not change. In order not to be recognized by others, he applied lacquer to his body, making his skin swollen and rotten, like leprosy; He swallowed charcoal and burned his throat, making his voice hoarse. In this way, even his wife does not know him. Therefore, Yu Rang went to assassinate Zhao Xiangzi again, but the result was still unsuccessful.

Zhao Xiangzi scolded Yu Rang and said, "You served the Fan clan and the Zhongxing clan in the past, and Zhibo killed them, why don't you avenge them?" Why do you have to desperately avenge Zhibo? ”

Yu Rang said with eloquence: "Fan and Zhongxing treat me as an ordinary person, and I repay them like ordinary people." And Zhibo treats me as a national warrior, and of course I have to repay him wholeheartedly like a national warrior. ”

Yu Rang knew that he could not kill Zhao Xiangzi, so he asked Zhao Xiangzi to take off his clothes and let him stab him with a few swords, in order to take revenge. Zhao Xiangzi sighed at his loyalty, so he took off his clothes and gave them to him. Yu Rang spread his clothes on the ground and stabbed it fiercely, stabbing him several times in a row, saying, "I can repay Zhibo under the Nine Springs." After Yu Rang finished speaking, he committed suicide by swinging his sword.

When the common people heard about this, they all said, "Yu Rang is a true righteous man. "Because the death of a soldier for a confidant was the accepted code of conduct at that time.

Zhou Tianzi did not know how to lift

During the Warring States period, the Zhou royal family had already existed in name only, and few people paid attention to him anymore. After King Qi Wei came to the throne, in order to become supreme, he wanted to learn from the Duke of Qi Huan and play the banner of Zhou Tianzi, so he went to worship King Zhou Lie. Unexpectedly, King Zhou Lie was still quite spirited, and still put on a shelf of the Son of Heaven. King Qi Wei was very amused in his heart.

The following year, King Lie of Zhou died and was succeeded by his son King Xian of Zhou. King Zhou Xian didn't know how many pounds he had, King Qi Wei was late to die, King Zhou Xian was very angry, loudly reprimanded, and said: "The death of the Son of Heaven is like a major event like the collapse of the heavens and the earth, that is, the Son of Heaven who succeeds to the throne will leave the palace, serve filial piety, and sleep on the straw mat." The ministers of the eastern subjects actually dared to be late and beheaded according to the law. ”

When King Qi Wei heard this, he became furious, and opened his mouth to curse: "Bah! What kind of thing are you a girl, I really don't know how thick the sky is. King Qi Wei no longer paid attention to Zhou Tianzi.

Zhou Tianzi saw that no one paid attention to him and there was no way, so he went to engage in infighting. Later, there was a division into the Eastern Zhou and the Western Zhou. As a result, they were quickly destroyed.

The destruction of the Zhou Dynasty did not cause a single reaction, but the people said that the Zhou Dynasty should not have existed for a long time, and it was only now that it perished, which is also a miracle.

Gongyi Xiu did not dare to collect fish

Gongyi Xiu is the state minister of the State of Lu and holds a high position. But he strictly obeyed the law, was honest and honest, and did not take advantage of anything. Gongyi Xiu especially likes to eat fish, and almost every meal is inseparable. In this way, naturally many people sent him fish, but Gongyi Xiu resolutely refused to accept it.

The person who sent the fish did not understand and said, "You love fish so much, why don't you accept it?" Gong Yixiu said: "It is precisely because I like to eat fish that I dare not accept it." Now I am the minister of state, I have a lot of money, and I can afford to buy fish to eat; If you are dismissed from office because you collect fish, and you don't have a good job, you really can't afford to eat fish. That's why I don't dare to accept it. ”

The common people praised Gong Yixiu, saying that he had calculated this account correctly.

The old man did not recognize the king's son-in-law

What an honor it is to be the old man of the king. However, there was a stubborn old man in the State of Qi, and his daughters were married to the king and became queens, but he did not recognize the king's son-in-law.

It turned out that when the Yan kingdom attacked the state of Qi, the king of Qi was killed, and his son Fazhang hid in the people, changed his name and surname, and became a servant in Tai Shixuan's house. Tai Shixiao's daughter is kind-hearted, seeing that he is pitiful, she often steals some clothes and food to him, and the two slowly have a relationship and get better.

Later, Tian singled ran away the Yan army and helped the law to ascend the throne, becoming the King of Qi Xiang. King Qi Xiang was very emotional, and established Tai Shi Xuan's daughter as the queen. This would have been a happy thing for everyone, but Tai Shi Sheng did not agree. The reason is that without the order of the parents and the words of the matchmaker, this marriage does not count.

Tai Shi Shu objected to nature and did not work, and her daughter still lived in the palace and gave birth to a son. Tai Shi Wei even felt that her daughter had tarnished the family style, and simply broke off the father-daughter relationship, and never saw her daughter again for life. Of course, he did not recognize the son-in-law of the king even more.

The common people all thought this old man was interesting, some said he had a backbone, some said he had a dead brain.

Lianpo didn't end well either

Generals with outstanding achievements in history often end badly, and Lianpo is no exception. Lianpo was a famous general of the Zhao state, and the people of the Qin state were most afraid of him, so during the Battle of Changping, he used a counter-scheming to remove Lianpo from his post and replace it with Zhao Kuo, who was "on paper", resulting in more than 400,000 Zhao troops being killed.

After the defeat of Changping, King Zhao Xiaocheng regretted it and reactivated Lianpo. Lian Po was also really powerful, and when Zhao Guo's vitality was seriously injured, he led troops to resist the attack of the Yan State, not only defeating the Yan army, but also smashing the capital of the Yan Kingdom, forcing the Yan King to cede five cities before stopping. In recognition of Lianpo's achievements, King Zhao Xiaocheng gave Lianpo the title of lieutenant and made him acting as prime minister.

After the death of King Zhao Xiaocheng, his son Mourning King Xiang succeeded to the throne. As soon as the Son of Heaven and a courtier, King Mourning Xiang had just ascended the throne, and he sent his henchman Lecheng to take over Lianpo's post. Lian is furious and fights with Lecheng, who is defeated.

Lian Po knew that he had run into a catastrophe and fled to the Wei state. Wei accepted Lianpo but did not trust him. After the State of Chu knew about it, he secretly took Lian Po to the State of Chu. Although Lian Po became a general of the State of Chu, he was depressed, did not want to fight, and had no battle merits. In the end, Lian Po died in a foreign land.

Before dying, Lian Po said with tears in his eyes: "What I want to do most in my life is to command the soldiers of Zhao Kingdom to fight. ”

Wang has a trick to protect himself

Wang Yi was a famous general of the State of Qin, who led his army to destroy the State of Zhao and the State of Yan, and his son Wang Ban destroyed the State of Wei and forced the State of Qi to surrender, and the Wang family can be regarded as meritorious achievements. However, Wang Chong was well aware of the power of "Meritorious Shocking Lord", so he tried to protect himself.

After the State of Qin destroyed Han, Zhao, Wei, and Yan, the King of Qin sent Wang Yi to lead an army of 600,000 to attack the State of Chu. On the day the army set out, King Qin personally came to see him off and asked Wang Chong what else he wanted. Wang Yi took out a cloth drapery from his arms and handed it to King Qin. King Qin thought it was a battle plan or something, but unexpectedly, the cloth was written to ask the King of Qin to give him good fields, beautiful houses, gardens, ponds and other things.

Wang Yihan said with a smile: "When the great royal weapon is heavy on me, I want to buy a family property for myself and my descendants." When I came back from the war, I enjoyed life well. King Qin listened, laughed, and immediately followed the order.

During the period when Wang Chong led his troops to fight, he constantly sent people back to ask the King of Qin for this and that. His subordinates couldn't stand it, but Wang Yi said quietly: "I am not greedy for money, but I want to show King Qin in this way that I only want to live a rich life and have no other ambitions." This time, King Qin handed over the strength of the whole country to me, and I can't let King Qin be suspicious. ”

Wang Chong attacked the state of Chu and it took more than a year. During this period, King Qin was always at ease with Wang Yi. After the pacification of the state of Chu, Wang immediately returned the military power, went to live a comfortable life on his own, and finally ended well.

The generals and people of the Qin army said that General Wang Yi was really a smart man!

Zheng Guoqu turned out to be a "conspiracy channel"

Zhengguo Canal, a great water conservancy project in ancient China, has been in play for more than 2,000 years and is still in play today. What many people don't know is that the construction of the Jungkook Canal at that time was actually a conspiracy carried out by South Korea.

In the last years of the Warring States, the State of Qin was powerful and repeatedly used troops against the eastern princes. The eastern neighbor of the Qin state was Korea, which was very weak and could not compete with the Qin state. Therefore, he came up with a "tired Qin" scheme to lure the Qin State into building a large number of civil works, hoping to consume its national strength.

South Korea sent water conservancy expert Zheng Guo to the Qin State to lobby. Zheng Guo said to the King of Qin: "The land of the Qin Kingdom is barren, and there is a lack of rain and water. If you cut through the water and build a canal, which is more than 300 miles long, it can irrigate vast farmland. The King of Qin agreed and ordered Zheng Guo to preside over the canal repair.

The canal repair project is huge and consumes a lot of manpower and material resources. The people of Qin finally understood that this was a conspiracy to kill Zheng Guo. Zheng Guo said: "At first, the minister came for Korea to do treachery, but after the completion of the channel, it was indeed beneficial to the Qin state. Zheng Guo cited detailed data to illustrate the benefits of the canal in the future.

King Qin felt that Zheng Guo had a point, and not only did he not kill him, but let him continue to repair the canal. As a result, after the canal was repaired, more than 40,000 hectares of land were irrigated by water from the Jing River, and the mu yield reached six stones and four buckets. Since then, there have been thousands of miles of fertile fields in Guanzhong, and there have been no more famine years, and the Qin state has become rich and strong. This canal was built by Zheng Guo and was named Zheng Guo Canal.

South Korea hatched such a clumsy conspiracy, and as a result, he shot himself in the foot. Now it seems that Zheng Guoqu embodies the industrious wisdom of the ancient working people and is a precious treasure left to us. On November 8, 2016, Zheng Guoqu was successfully inscribed as a World Heritage Site of Irrigation Engineering.

At the end of the Warring States period, Qin Shi Huang, known as the first emperor of the ages, was born, destroyed the six kingdoms, and unified the world. The reason why Qin Shi Huang was able to succeed was first of all because of Lu Buwei. As for whether Lu Buwei is Qin Shi Huang's father, people have different opinions.