preface
We all know that Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor in Chinese history to unify the whole country, and he destroyed the Six Kingdoms in 221 BC and established the powerful Qin Dynasty. But, did you know that before Qin Shi Huang unified the world, there was still a titular Son of Heaven? That was the last monarch of the Zhou Dynasty, King Zhou Xun.
He is the thirty-fifth generation of the Zhou royal family and the terminator of the more than 800-year history of the Zhou Dynasty. He died in 256 BC, 25 years before Qin Shi Huang.
So, what treatment did the "King of the Dead Country" Zhou Tianzi get?
1. Why does King Zhou Xun have no heir?
To answer this question, we must first understand the life of King Zhou Yun. King Zhou's name was Ji Yan, and he was the son of King Mourning of Zhou, who succeeded to the throne in 315 BC.
At that time, the Zhou Dynasty had already existed in name only, and only a royal palace remained in Luoyang. Moreover, the Zhou royal family was also divided into two principalities, the east and the west. The Eastern Zhou Kingdom was headed by Ji Gen, and the Western Zhou Kingdom was led by Ji Jie.
Ji Gen and Ji Jie are both the younger brothers of King Zhou Mourning, that is, the uncle of King Zhou. They mastered the east and west of the land respectively, leaving only one palace for the king of Zhou. It can be said that King Zhou Yu is a puppet son with no real power.
During the reign of King Zhou, he did not make any significant contributions or mistakes. He just silently endured the bullying and insults of the princes.
In 307 B.C., King Wu of Qin sent an army to attack Korea and set up Sanchuan County in Yiyang. Yiyang is very close to Luoyang, and King Qin Wu wants to take the opportunity to see the details of King Zhou.
He asked Zhu Liji to ask King Zhou for Jiuding. Jiuding is the nine large copper tripods cast after Yu ruled the water, representing the power of Kyushu and the Son of Heaven. King Wu of Qin wanted Jiuding, that is, he wanted to replace King Zhou Xun as the new Son of Heaven. This is the biggest insult and provocation to King Zhou.
Although King Zhou Yu has no real power, he still has some dignity and backbone. He rejected King Qin Wu's unreasonable request, and said: "Jiuding, the treasure passed down by the ancestors, is not owned by the widow, dare to offer?" ”
When he heard this, he was furious, so he led his army to attack the palace of King Zhou and drove King Zhou out of Luoyang. King Zhou had no choice but to flee to the Western Zhou Kingdom and live in Ji Jie's place. Since then, King Zhou has lost his base and become an exiled son of heaven.
King Zhou lived in the Western Zhou Kingdom for more than ten years until his death in 256 BC. After his death, no one gave him a nickname, only a word "赧" to call him.
The word means "ashamed", which means that he is a king of a dead country and has not fulfilled the mission of his ancestors. What's more, after his death, there was no one to succeed him as the Son of Heaven.
Why is that? Doesn't he have a son? Actually, he had sons, and more than one. According to the records of "Historical Records of Zhou Benji", he had three sons, named Ji Hu, Ji Bian, and Ji Jiao. So, why didn't these three sons inherit his throne as the Son of Heaven? There are two possible explanations here:
One explanation is that none of the three sons were willing to inherit the throne of the Son of Heaven. Because they know that the position of the Son of Heaven no longer has any meaning and value. It can bring them neither power and wealth, nor dignity and security.
On the contrary, it can also cause them danger and trouble. The state of Qin had become the most powerful state and was in the process of annexing other vassal states. If they inherit the position of the Son of Heaven, they will become a thorn in the side of the Qin State and may be destroyed at any time. Therefore, they would rather give up the position of the Son of Heaven and become an ordinary commoner or prince.
Another explanation is that all three sons were killed by the Qin state. Because the Qin State wanted to eliminate the bloodline of the Zhou royal family in order to successfully claim the throne.
After Qin Shi Huang unified the world, he ordered the burning of books and Confucianism, killing many intellectuals and opponents. Perhaps, in this massacre, the three sons of King Zhou were also found and executed by Qin Shi Huang. In this way, the Zhou royal family was completely broken.
Either way, it illustrates the fact that after the death of King Zhou Xun, no one succeeded him as the Son of Heaven. This also means that the Zhou Dynasty officially ended. Since then, the longest-lived dynasty in Chinese history has come to an end.
2. Where did the descendants of King Zhou Yu go?
Since King Zhou Yu has no heir, where did his descendants go? Will it be lost to history? Not really. Although King Zhou had no heirs, he had other relatives and clansmen. How did they survive?
King Zhou had two brothers, named Ji Biao and Ji Xi. Ji Biao was the second leader of the Eastern Zhou Kingdom, the Eastern Zhou Mourning Duke, who was killed by the Qi State in 279 BC.
Ji Xi was the third leader of the Western Zhou state, Pinggong of the Western Zhou Dynasty, who was destroyed by the Qin state in 249 BC. Their descendants were not able to inherit the throne of the Son of Heaven, and could only be some small princes or commoners.
Among them, there is a descendant of Ji Biao, who moved to Luoyang, Henan Province and became the Luoyang Ji family. They have lived in Luoyang for hundreds of years.
King Zhou also had two uncles, named Ji Gen and Ji Jie. Ji Gen was the first leader of the Eastern Zhou Kingdom, Duke Wen of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, who died in 296 BC. Ji Jie, the second leader of the Western Zhou Kingdom, Xuan Gong of the Western Zhou Dynasty, died in 256 BC. Their descendants were not able to inherit the throne of the Son of Heaven, and could only be some small princes or commoners.
Among them, there is a descendant of Ji Jie, who moved to Jinyang, Shanxi, and became the Jinyang Ji clan.
To sum up, we can see that although King Zhou Yu has no heirs, he has other relatives and clansmen. Some of them were killed by the Qin state, and some of them became minor princes or commoners. They have left different traces and influences in history, and they have also continued the bloodline of the Zhou royal family in different places.
Since the descendants of King Zhou still exist, what is Qin Shi Huang's attitude towards them? Does he want to eliminate them, or do he want to take advantage of them, or does he want to respect them? This is an interesting historical question.
Because more than 30 years ago when Qin Shi Huang unified the world, King Zhou Xun had already died, and Qin Shi Huang couldn't find anyone to humiliate King Zhou Xun.