The Decline of the Zhou Royal Family - King Li of Zhou's "patent" policy and the return to the light of the Xuanwang Zhongxing

After King Li of Zhou ascended the throne, he appointed Rongyi Duke to implement the "patent" policy and amass wealth for the royal family. The "patent" is the benefit of the royal family's special mountain forest and river, and the mountain forest and river are owned by the royal family. This policy directly touched the interests of the people at that time and caused complaints from the people. King Li of Zhou also sent wei wu to monitor him, and anyone who gossiped and complained was put to death if discovered. Since then, the Chinese people have "looked at each other on the road", met on the road, did not dare to talk, and only dared to look at each other. In 841 BC, the unbearable Zhou people launched a rebellion and expelled King Li of Zhou, who fled to Yandi (彘地, in modern Huozhou, Shanxi).

The reason for the rebellion of the Chinese people is that king Zhou Li's patent has harmed the interests of the people, and at the same time, he has monitored the words and deeds of the people and not allowed the people to complain. The reason for King Zhou Li's patent, the history books call him good profit. The purpose of the patent is to increase the income of the royal family, and the patent may be related to the decline of the royal family's economic strength and financial difficulties.

In the Records of History, the rebellious countrymen expelled King Zhou Li and killed King Zhou Li's crown prince Jing. Prince Jing hid in the summoning gong's house, summoned his own son to replace prince Jing, and the prince escaped this disaster. After that, the dynasty ministers Zhou Gong and Zhao Gong jointly ruled until King Li of Zhou died in Yandi and King Xuan of Zhou took the throne. This period is known as the "republican administration". The year 841 BC is known as the "First Year of the Republic".

Statue of King Xuan of Zhou

For the "republican administration", the "Bamboo Book Chronicle", which was unearthed together with the "Biography of Mu Tianzi", provides another version: after king Li of Zhou fled, a prince known as "Gong Bohe" went to the central government and regented the king. There are similar statements in the Warring States period documents "Zhuangzi" and "Lü Shi Chunqiu". Unfortunately, neither of these claims is supported by sufficient evidence. In the existing bronze inscriptions, we do not see the "republican" chronology, and the Bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty are always in the age of the king. The truth about the "republican administration" remains a mystery to this day. However, no matter what the truth of the "republican administration" is, the situation in which the royal power was in a vacuum during the fourteen years of the "republic" is an indisputable fact, and the western Zhou royal power suffered a heavy blow.

Fourteen years after the "republican administration", King Li of Zhou, who was exiled to yandi, died. Crown Prince Jing ascended the throne, that is, King Xuan of Zhou. According to legend, King Xuan of Zhou loved cockfighting all his life, but because of the ups and downs since childhood, King Xuan of Zhou did not lose his mind after the reign, but worked hard to revitalize the Dynasty. He effectively mobilized various forces, first relying on the Qin people who were subordinate to the Zhou Dynasty to resist Rong Di, and after accumulating strength, he led an army to march personally, and finally forced Rong Di to go away, so the Western Zhou Dynasty was once known as Zhongxing. However, this is only a return to the light. Faced with the ills that were difficult to return, although King Xuanwang of Zhou changed his father's overly tough state policy and dealt with it in various pragmatic ways, he also felt difficult.

In the later period of King Xuan of Zhou, he repeatedly lost in foreign wars, and was defeated by the "Rong of the Jiang Clan" and the "Division of the Fallen Southern Kingdom". After repeated routs, King Xuan of Zhou wanted to register the population, a move that shocked the officials of the dynasty. The chancellor Zhongshan Father tried his best to dissuade him, because this move was not only inconsistent with the ancestral law, but also a weak move.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, soldiers and farmers were integrated, and the Zhou people cultivated and trained on time in peacetime, and in wartime, they became soldiers and organized troops to fight. Under the Western Zhou feudal system, the army subordinate to the King of Zhou could only be appointed by the people of the land under the direct control of the royal family. In the past, the royal family controlled a large number of lands and people, and had sufficient military resources, and the kings of zhou did not count the total number of households. In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the royal family controlled too few people, and after the fall of the Southern Kingdom Division, the Zhou army was insufficient, and King Xuan broke the ancestral law, registered the total population he controlled, and replenished the troops. In the eyes of the dynasty ministers, this move was to show weakness to the princes, and they would lose their relatives.

King Xuan of Zhou finally did not heed the advice of his ministers. Because the weak strength of the army has made it impossible for him to hold the façade. The lord of ZTE, in his old age, was no longer able to stop the decline of the royal family. In the later years of King Xuan's life, a terrible rumor spread in the Wang Qi area. Rumor has it that "Sangmu's bow and Mimu's quiver destroyed the Zhou Kingdom." Rumors reached King Xuan's ears, and he ordered the killing of a couple who sold the two things. The image of the decadence of the royal family is becoming more and more apparent, and the uneasy emotions are surging through the dynasty, and a few rumors make the supreme King of Zhou like a bird of fright.

Western Zhou had a period of Xuanwang era, but in fact it lasted for decades, and it was estimated that King Xuanwang of Zhou was also very difficult at that time, because King Li of Zhou left behind a mess, coupled with the fierce external military struggle, the late Western Zhou Dynasty was in decline, and the era of King Li of Zhou was a sign of decline or a sign of demise. Later, Xuanwang's short-lived ZTE was a bit like a return to the light, but in the end it could not be maintained.