In 770 BC, king Ping of Zhou moved east, kicking off the history of the Spring and Autumn Period. The political, economic, cultural, and other aspects of Eastern Zhou society began to change, which was manifested in the external participation in the war of annexation and hegemony in each vassal state, and the turmoil brought about by the change of social hierarchy internally, and the ultimate manifestation of this turmoil was the killing of the king.
In the "Chronicle of History and Taishi Gong's Self-Introduction", it is written that "in the Spring and Autumn Period, the king was killed thirty-six, the country was destroyed fifty-two, and the princes could not protect their society." In fact, reading through the Spring and Autumn And Zuo Zhuan, you will find that there were more than 36 incidents of killing the king during the Spring and Autumn Period, and there should be 44 actual records, plus the 2 traced back in the "Zuo Zhuan", there should be a total of 46 cases, and on average less than 7 years will occur. Why did so many assassinations occur during the Spring and Autumn Period? Who is the initiator?
In fact, the Emperor did not start from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, that is, the Spring and Autumn Period. According to Yang Kuan's "History of western Zhou", there were no less than 5 incidents of killing the king during the Western Zhou Dynasty, such as: Lu "Yougong brother Xi killed Yougong to stand on his own feet, for the Duke of Wei", Cao Youbo "Brother Su killed Cao Youbo to stand on his own, it was for Dai Bo", Qi "Li Gong was tyrannical, so Hu Gongzi rejoined Qi, Qi people wanted to establish it, but attacked and killed Li Gong, Hu Gongzi was also killed in battle", Jin "Mu Hou pawn, brother Yi Uncle self-reliance, the prince vengeful ran out. After three years of death, King Xuan of Zhou collapsed. In the fourth year, Prince Muhou led his disciples to attack his uncle and established it for Marquis Wen", Lu "In the ninth year of the Duke of Yi, The Son of Duke Yi and the Lu people attacked the Duke of Yi, and the Li Bo Yu was the King", and so on. It can be seen that since the Western Zhou Dynasty, there have been precedents for killing monarchs within the princely states, but there are far fewer cases than in the Eastern Zhou.
There are many reasons for the phenomenon of killing monarchs in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the Zuo Zhuan is summarized as "merging (concubines and queens are equal), Pi Concubines (concubines and concubines are equal), two governments (ministers are equal to the monarch), coupling countries (the city and the country are equal), and the origin of chaos is also", in fact, except for a few monarchs who are assassinated because of personal grievances, the ultimate purpose of most monarchs is to seize power. Due to the development of the productive forces, the canonical system and ideological concepts have undergone tremendous changes, and once the supreme is not the supreme, the supreme will often have a rebellious heart, and the supreme person is in danger of being killed. If you have a gun in your waist, you will have the heart to beat the cat. This was the case with Wei Zhouhu, the first ruler of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Wei Zhouwu, also known as Wei Qian," listened to this nickname and knew that this guy's fate was not very good. He was the child of Wei Zhuanggong's concubine, who liked the military from an early age and had brought soldiers when he grew up. Duke Wei Zhuang doted on this son very much, and gradually developed his arrogant and lascivious personality, coupled with the fact that this child had some talents, he looked down on his brother very much. After the death of Duke Wei Zhuang, his eldest son succeeded him as monarch, and because he was dissatisfied with Wei Zhou's arrogance, he was deposed from his post. Wei Zhou, fearing being punished, fled to other countries to take refuge. During his escape, he gathered together the prisoners who had followed him in the past and the prisoners who were fleeing from weiguo, gathered a considerable force, and secretly went back to assassinate Wei Huangong, and instead, Wei Huangong became the first monarch to be "killed" in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Wei Qian's deposed duke became the first to kill the king.
Wei Qian, who had been the monarch for more than half a year, was killed by the paraffin design of the Great Righteousness. Although the time was not long, he opened a head for the scholars and masters in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the feudal lords who held real power in various places gradually became stronger, and with the idea of replacing the lord, the monarchs of various countries also began to increase their guard against their subjects, subconsciously weakening the authority and fiefdoms of their subjects, and gradually moving towards a new type of "warring states" that became more and more centralized.