Before reading this article, please click "Follow", which is not only convenient for you to discuss and share, but also can bring you a different sense of participation, thank you for your support.
Text: Carry the lantern forward
Edit|Lanterns move forward
(Source: All content stated in this article is based on reliable sources, and is repeated at the end of the article)
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the princes rose together, and successively began to dominate the Central Plains, and the Jin State was one of them.
However, what people didn't expect was that such a country would be divided between the three families of Han, Zhao and Wei, which can't help but make people curious, why did the powerful Jin Kingdom fall to this?
The cause of the matter
Since King Wu of Zhou, the Zhou Dynasty began to implement the sub-feudal system, by rewarding nobles or clans, giving them certain rights and fiefs.
These people are called princes, and the feudal system is different from other systems, and the princes have a certain amount of power in their own fiefdoms, and the central government does not interfere.
However, it should be noted that although the princes had such rights, they were also subject to the jurisdiction of the state, such as paying tribute, giving orders, etc.
In other words, since you have received the benefits of the reward, you must naturally do your best.
However, there are many flaws in the sub-enclosure system, especially in the Spring and Autumn period.
Because the princes' rights were getting bigger and bigger, coupled with the fact that they could independently carry out military activities in their own fiefdoms, over time, the power of Zhou Tianzi's rule gradually weakened, so that it was divided.
With the blessing of this condition, the princes also established their own small states, but powerful states also came into being.
This was followed by the overlords of the Central Plains, such as the Qi State, the Song State, etc.
Of course, the Jin State also dominated the Central Plains, which stemmed from the result of the accession of Duke Wen of the Jin Dynasty, which carried out reforms internally, and improved relations between major powers and suppressed small countries externally.
It can be said that the main reason why the Jin State was able to dominate the Central Plains was that the Jin Wengong was politically clear and knew his own national strength and the situation at that time.
However, although the vassal states were at war with each other, internal rebellion was essential, even in a large country like the Jin Kingdom.
And the internal rebellion within the Jin Kingdom is still because the power of the nobles is infinitely magnified, so why does this happen?
In 633 BC, Jin Wengong established the three armies and six secretaries, which was a military reform, the so-called "three armies and six secretaries" was the establishment of the upper, middle and lower armies, and in these three armies, also included the six secretaries.
The power of the Liuqing was held by many scholars in the Jin Kingdom, and the scholars could use the hereditary system to pass on power to the next generation.
As a result, the military power of the Jin State gradually fell into the hands of these scholars, and although the Duke of Wen of Jin was a military centralizer, this power ceased to exist over time.
Of course, compared with the system owned by the Jin State itself, it is equivalent to a small thing, you must know that long before the Jin Wengong, there was a phenomenon in the Jin State, and there were very few clan members in the office.
This has to start with Jin Xiangong, because of the Quwo Daiyi incident, so that Jin Xiangong will understand a truth after he ascends the throne, the greater the power of the clan, it will not be beneficial to the country.
Because of this, as soon as Jin Xiangong ascended to the throne, he made two things clear, to enhance his strength and to dispose of the same sect.
This led to the fact that there were few relatives of the same clan left, and at the same time, the power of the king's son was divided among the main reasons, and the concept of not keeping the son of the monarch of the country gradually formed in the Jin system.
It stands to reason that the position of the monarch is hereditary, and it is obviously inappropriate not to leave an heir, which is caused by an incident.
In 672 BC, Li Ji was the favored concubine of Jin Xiangong, but because Jin Xiangong had many heirs, Li Ji began to notice his son's status.
Because of this, Li Ji designed to dispose of the crown prince, and even drove Chong'er and Yiwu out of the Jin Kingdom, and from then on, the Jin Kingdom did not accept the monarch's heirs.
Without the checks and balances of power, coupled with the indulgence of Jin Xiangong, the rights of the scholars naturally became many.
Although after the accession to the throne of Duke Wen of Jin, after many reforms, he still reused many scholars and gave them power, which led to the partition of the later Jin Kingdom.
Three families are divided
It is worth mentioning that when Duke Wen of Jin was in exile, the strategists and generals around him were all scholars with different surnames, and their family backgrounds were basically very virtuous.
When they return to China and succeed the monarch, their merits will naturally not be forgotten, so they will be rewarded and rewarded.
The transfer of power is a long process, and in this process, the most important thing is to have opportunities.
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, due to institutional reasons, there were various internal turmoil in the Jin Kingdom, and the scholars began to be ready to move.
Because of their thirst for power, they intrigued and fought against each other, and after a long struggle, the six families finally won the victory.
And because the relationship between the Zhi family and the Bank of China was very bad, and the Zhi family was already firmly in control of the Jin State at that time, this made the Zhi family start a war against the Bank of China.
However, because the relationship between the Bank of China and the Fan family was very good, the other Zhi family and the other three families suppressed the Bank of China and the Fan family.
This led to the Jin state being divided into the hands of these four families, but the Zhi clan had the most power.
At that time, the Yue Kingdom had just defeated the Wu State and further became the overlord of the Central Plains, which made the four scholars of the Jin State unable to stand it, and the most prominent was the Zhi family.
Then the Zhi family was anxious to discuss the situation in the world with the three families of Zhao, Wei and Han, and the Zhi family wanted to make it strong by sacrificing land to the Jin State.
In fact, Zhi's idea is not only for the sake of Jinguo, but also for himself, because Zhishi understands very well that he can't stop there.
Although the power is still in his own hands, it does not mean that it will be the same in the future, and the idea of donating land seems simple, but it is actually weakening the other three.
However, how could the Zhi clan's idea be fooled by the other three families, they understood that once the land was handed over, it would be equivalent to cutting off their own strength, and what would they use against the Zhi clan in the future.
For this reason, the three families all shook their heads and disagreed, and after seeing the attitude of the three families, the original kind tone suddenly became arrogant.
The Zhi clan thought that since the soft one could not work, then the hard one could only come, and then threatened the three families with their strength, asking them to hand over the land.
On the surface, the three families disagreed in unison, but people's hearts were unpredictable, after all, there was still a gap in strength, and in the end there were two situations, Han and Wei agreed to hand over a part of the land, while Zhao still refused.
Zhao thinks that how can the land he has beaten down be handed over to others, it is precisely because of Zhao's firm determination that it has also attracted the dissatisfaction of the Zhi family.
However, he didn't say anything in the discussion, and when the meeting was over, the Zhi clan also began to unite with Han Wei to deal with the Zhao clan, wanting to seize it by force.
End Result
When the Han and Wei families received this news, it was meaningless, after all, once the Zhao family was eliminated, they could also share a lot of benefits.
In this way, in 455 BC, the three armies began to besiege the Zhao clan, but the Zhao clan could only put on a firm formation, in his opinion, he could not fight against the three armies.
Because the Zhao family is solid, the three families can't start, at this time, the Zhi family has an idea and feels that they can attack with water, so that the Zhao family can be defeated without a fight.
So the Zhi family told the other two families about this method and ordered people to prepare.
On the other hand, the Zhao family was a little shocked when they learned the news, and they didn't know what to do, and at this time, the doorman Zhang Mengtan gave a plan to plot against the other two.
After hearing this, Zhao had no choice but to try, so the matter was handed over to Zhang Meng.
As a result, Zhang Mengtan came to the two families, successively talked about the pros and cons, and said that if the Zhi clan eliminated the Zhao clan, the fate of the two families would not be far away in the future.
Originally, the Han and Wei families were afraid of the strength of the Zhi family, how could they let the Zhi family dominate, so they agreed with Zhang Mengtan's opinion.
In this way, without the knowledge of the Zhi family, the three families unexpectedly led the water to the east, and the water that originally irrigated the Zhao family also rushed to the Zhi family.
At first, Zhi was very happy to see the big water irrigation, but after a closer look, he was a little shocked, he never thought that the three families would jointly overpay him.
In this way, the three families defeated the Zhi family, and the land owned by the Zhi family was divided, and in 403 BC, the three families went to meet Zhou Tianzi.
Seeing that the situation could not be controlled, Zhou Tianzi also expressed his helplessness, so he could only reward these three families, which means that he recognized the three as vassal states, which also laid the foundation for the future Warring States Period.
Author's point of view
The division of the three families into the Warring States was a major event in the Spring and Autumn Period, which not only marked the emergence of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, but also highlighted the situation within the princes.
Because the system of the Jin State has been in a certain malpractice for a long time, the monarch not only did not stop it, but relaxed it, and the increase in the power of the scholars also led to this situation.
[Disclaimer] The process and pictures described in the article are from the Internet, and this article aims to advocate positive social energy, no vulgar and other bad guidance. If it involves copyright or character infringement issues, please contact us in time, and we will delete the content as soon as possible! If there is any doubt about the incident, it will be deleted or changed immediately after contact.
Reference: Huang Pumin, The Battle of Jinyang: From Hegemony to Annexation, 2013
Lin Hongyue, "On the Social Mechanism of the Formation of the Three Families", 1992
Liu Yanping, "A Brief Analysis of the Reasons for the Separation of the Three Families", 2010