Qu Wo Daiyi, the initiator of the collapse of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, changed the trend of Chinese history in 2000. This civil war provoked by the Quwo clan of the small Jin State swept across the Fen River Valley, shocked Zhou Tianzi and the princes, and finally led to the extinction of the Jin Dynasty. This is tantamount to a complete trampling on the patriarchal system of the Zhou rites, and the behavior of the Quwo clan is undoubtedly the fuse for the collapse of the Eastern Zhou rites. However, why did Qu Wo dare to openly challenge the patriarchal law, and what kind of power struggles and conspiracies were hidden behind it?
1. The ambitious Quwo sect
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the patriarchal system of Zhou rites still had an important position in the vassal states. According to the patriarchal law, the princes are divided into large and small clans, and the large sect refers to the eldest son, the hereditary monarchy; The small sect is the other sons, who must obey the rule of the big sect.
The Jin Kingdom was founded in the early Zhou Dynasty and was originally a small country in the Fen River Valley. The founding monarch of the country, Jin Muhou, had a violent and belligerent temperament, and repeatedly followed the king of Zhou to fight against Rong, which greatly strengthened the strength of the Jin state. Strangely, Mu Hou is quite partial to the naming of his two sons - the eldest son is called "Qiu", and the second son is called "Chengshi". The name was thus foreshadowed.
After Mu Hou died, his younger brother Uncle Yan became the monarch first. The eldest son, Qiu, regained the throne with the help of his younger brother Chengshi and others, and was the Marquis of Jin Wen. During his reign, Marquis Wen gained state power because he supported King Zhou Ping, the king of his father's murder, and the Jin family was rich and powerful. However, the practice of violating the patriarchal law for personal gain deeply affected his younger brother Chengshi.
Marquis Wen of Jin died young, and was succeeded by his son Marquis Zhao of Jin. Faced with his talented uncle Chengshi, Zhaohou was jealous and decided to banish him to Quwo. Unexpectedly, Chengshi did not stop the matter, but planned for a long time, waiting for the opportunity to seize the power of the Jin Kingdom.
After receiving Quwo, Chengshi secretly expanded his strength and absorbed nobles who were dissatisfied with the rule of the Jin State to join his command. Over time, Quwo's military power and wealth gradually surpassed that of Yicheng. A small Hou state has gradually revealed strong ambitions and is waiting for an opportunity to replace the orthodoxy of the Jin state. The Jin Dynasty was in internal friction, and the small sect of Quwo took advantage of the void to enter, and the patriarchal system faced unprecedented challenges.
2. Quwo Xiaozong rebelled and seized power
After being banished to Quwo, Chengshi did not give in, but secretly accumulated strength and waited for the opportunity to seize the power of the Jin State. In 739 BC, the 65-year-old Cheng Shi finally couldn't hold back and instructed his follower Pan Fu to assassinate the Marquis of Jin Zhao and establish himself as the king.
This move was undoubtedly a blatant provocation to the patriarchal law. In addition to the shock inside and outside the Jin Dynasty, they raised troops to defeat the Quwo rebellion. Under the pressure of the orthodox forces, Quwo's first rebellion failed, Pan's father was executed, and Zhaohou's son Xiaohou succeeded to the throne. Since then, Quwo and Yicheng have been opposed, and the Jin State has existed in name only.
Eight years later, Quwo Zhuangbo inherited his father's legacy and provoked war again. He first assassinated Xiaohou and took advantage of the chaos to attack Yicheng, trying to seize the power of the Jin State in one fell swoop. However, in order to maintain the Zhou rites, the princes of all walks of life increased their troops to support the orthodox regime, which put Quwo in trouble again.
In the end, the alliance of princes directly captured Quwo, and Zhuang Bo was defeated and retreated. The Jin State elected the Marquis of Ehou to succeed to the throne, temporarily extinguishing Quwo's rebellion.
However, Qu Wo was already eyeing him at this time, and his ambition was difficult to resist. In 718 BC, the Marquis of Jin and Hubei died, and Quwo Zhuangbo once again took advantage of the situation and launched a third attack. King Huan of Zhou had to personally send troops to quell the rebellion, repel the Quwo army, and establish the son of the Marquis of Ehou as the king.
The repeated wars caused the Quwo small sect to gradually grow and develop, while the orthodox large sect Jin Kingdom became more and more sluggish. In 716 B.C., the defeated Quwo Zhuang Bo died in anger, and his son Quwo Wugong was even more cunning and insidious, waiting for the opportunity to move.
Qu Wo Wugong learned from the experience of the past, and did not rashly launch an attack, but secretly laid out and lurked to develop his strength. On the one hand, he weakened the strength of the Jin State's Dazong Office, and absorbed many rebellious nobles to join his command; On the other hand, Quwo controlled a number of military points in the Fen River valley and was fully prepared for the final battle.
3. Quwo annexed the old office of the Jin Kingdom
After Qu Wowu Gong took power, he first set out to weaken the strength of the Jin State's Great Sect Office. He sowed discord and instigated the nobles of the Jin State to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, and a considerable part of the old Jin State defected to the Quwo camp one after another.
Among them, the most critical is the rebellion of the Zhongxing family of the prime minister of the Jin State. The Zhongxing clan has been in charge of the political and military power of the Jin State for generations, and its patriarch Zhongxingyan was bought by Qu Wo and led the family to abandon Yicheng. The Bank of China was deeply entrenched in the Jin state, and its rebellion was undoubtedly a great loss to the Jin state's authority and army.
Subsequently, Quwo Wugong absorbed the Jin Dafu Ji who had led the coalition army to quell the rebellion, and promoted the important minister Yin Ji to Shangqing, responsible for the affairs of the dynasty and the military state. This group of senior personnel from the old department of the Jin Kingdom undoubtedly became an important chess piece in the hands of Qu Wo Wugong.
In addition to tearing apart the interior of the Jin Kingdom, Quwo Wugong also set his sights on the surrounding vassal states. He spent a huge amount of money to buy off the main force of the army of Zheng Guo, the rising overlord at that time, the Song Yongben people. This move laid the foundation for Quwo to control the military strongholds in the Fen River Valley.
In addition, Quwo Wugong also drew the Yidi Xi and Rongdi tribes on the western edge of the Jin Kingdom to his side. These aliens were all dissatisfied with the Jin forces and were willing to help Qu Wo. Their accession greatly strengthened Quwo's military strength.
After a long period of layout, by 678 BC, Quwo Wugong was finally ready to unify the Jin Kingdom. He mobilized all the soldiers and horses in his hands, divided his troops into several routes, and began a decisive siege of Yicheng, the capital of the Jin Kingdom.
Fourth, Qu Wo Wugong captured the capital of the Jin Kingdom in one fell swoop
In 678 BC, Qu Wo Wugong personally commanded a large army and besieged Yicheng, the capital of the Jin Kingdom, from the northeast and northwest. With the advantage of being outnumbered, Quwo's army quickly cut off foreign aid from Yicheng.
After being besieged, Jin Yigong was anxious. He originally thought that the prestige of the Jin Kingdom among the princes still existed, how could a small and weak country in Quwo dare to attack? But the reality is that the vassal states have the mentality of watching the excitement for their own interests, and they have not sent troops to reinforce them.
The siege was protracted, and Yicheng fell into an urgent need. The Duke of Jin had to personally lead his cronies and warriors to break through the siege several times, trying to break through the enemy's encirclement, but was always besieged and retreated by the elite troops of Quwo's army. Seeing that there was less and less grain and grass in the city, the Duke of Xuan was once in a desperate situation.
Finally, on the 78th day, Quwo's army completely controlled the area around Yicheng, cutting off the last hope of rescue in Yicheng. They opened heavy fire, and the defense line of the Wing City soon fell into a rout.
The Quwo army took advantage of the gap to attack the city, and the blood raged. Dressed in red armor, Quwo's elite troops set fire to palaces everywhere, and the flames soared into the sky. Jin was captured alive, most of the members of the office were killed, and only a few escaped.
In the end, Quwo Wugong gained full control of Yicheng. His first edict was to order that in the future, any clansmen of the Winged City clan blood must be put to death, and pardons were strictly forbidden. Since then, the Jin kingdom has lost its ruling family for 300 years.
Subsequently, Qu Wowu Gong ordered to loot the wealth accumulated by the Jin State Office for hundreds of years, and all of it was shipped to Luoyang as an important "meeting gift" to bribe Zhou Tianzi. Sure enough, after accepting bribes, Zhou Tianzi recognized Quwo's new regime and deposed Jin as a commoner, despite the opposition of the princes.
In the process of Quwo's rebellion and seizure of power, there was another important step - a thorough purge of Quwo's other dissident forces. Duke Wu first exterminated many members of the small sect who had dissenting intentions for him, and then expelled many ministers who were loyal to the Jin government, thus laying a solid foundation for Quwo's rule.
5. Patriarchal bankruptcy and decay of etiquette
After Qu Wowu Gong captured the capital of the Jin Kingdom, he immediately took a series of measures to completely overthrow the original patriarchal system of the Jin Kingdom.
First of all, he fully implemented the no-clan system in the Jin Kingdom. According to the Zhou rites, the princes' families should be made up of the eldest son as the main sect, and the rest of the descendants should be the small sect, and the small sect must submit to the large sect. However, Quwo abolished this system, and the tribes were equal and could take turns to be kings in the same clan.
Second, Duke Quwowu deposed all members of the Jin clan who were related by blood, demoted them to commoners, and stripped them of their political privileges. The communal system existed in name only.
Thirdly, Quwo set a precedent and allowed foreigners to take up important positions for the first time, breaking the old habit of blood supremacy. Including the rebel generals of the Jin Kingdom, such as Yin Ji and Zhongxing, they were all reused and inherited their titles.
In addition, Quwo Wugong also built a large number of buildings, moving the capital of the Jin Kingdom from Yicheng to Quwo, which had been conquered, in order to consolidate the foundation of his rule.
These measures are undoubtedly contrary to the norms of Zhou etiquette and have a great impact on the traditional patriarchal system. Although Quwo occupied the Jin throne, the foundations of its legitimacy were shaken.
The consequences soon became apparent. Seeing the seriousness of the collapse of etiquette, the vassal states followed Quwo's example and no longer pursued patriarchal law. There were a large number of usurpations and murders within each country, which plunged the whole of China into long-term turmoil.
More importantly, although the Jin State is once again the hegemon, its national strength is not as good as before. Quwo's profligacy, coupled with the lack of centralization, soon led to local divisions. In 497 B.C., the Jin Kingdom was divided into three kingdoms, namely Wei, Jiao, and Lan, and the patriarchal system was completely bankrupt.
In this way, a civil war provoked by Quwo Xiaozong not only changed the fate of the Jin Kingdom, but also fundamentally shook the Chinese patriarchal ritual system that lasted for more than 2,000 years, opened the door to the division and disputes of the princes, and had a far-reaching impact on the entire Chinese civilization.