What is the sub-sealing system?
The feudal system, also known as the feudal state-building system, is a political system implemented in ancient China (mainly in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties) to divide the country by the nobility. "Division" means to divide the land and people to the subordinates; "feng" means to give the subordinates who have obtained the land to establish the country, so as to determine their own territory and demarcate the boundaries with the neighboring countries, and at the same time build the capital.
origin
The emergence and development of the sub-sealing system has undergone a long process, and its origin is mainly said to be twofold: one is that the sub-sealing system sprouted in the primitive social period; the other is that the sub-sealing system originated in the Yuxia period.
What is certain is that the Shang Dynasty has begun to divide the princes, with the titles of Hou and Bo. By the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the rulers had greatly sealed the princes, and the sub-feudal system was popular.
The purpose of the Western Zhou Division
After the western Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang, how the conquered Nobles and descendants of the Shang Dynasty managed and how the state system was established became urgent and big issues. At that time, there was a rebellion of the Three Prisons, and it took several years for the rulers led by the Duke of Zhou to put an end to it.
In order to stabilize the political situation at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty and consolidate the territory, King Cheng of Zhou divided the sons and heroes of the clan and the nobles left over from the previous dynasty (all of which were the objects of sub-fiefs) according to the blood relations and the size of their merits, granted them the power to manage the land and the people, and established princely states in order to defend the royal family.
The content of the sub-sealing system
The King of Zhou, known as the Son of Heaven, was the supreme ruler of the country and the co-lord of the princes of the world. The Book of Poetry sings: "Under the heavens, there is no king's land; the coast of the land, can not be the king's subject." "It's an objective reflection.
There are certain procedures and rituals for dividing the seals, and the rulers "grant land" and "grant the people" to the recipients.
The vassal states that were divided into ranks, that is, the fifth rank of the duke's uncle.
The princes enjoyed hereditary rule in their fiefdoms, and had the right to manage and benefit from the land they divided, and the recipients could divide and re-seal within their fiefs, so that the Western Zhou aristocratic group formed a pyramid-style social hierarchy of "Zhou Wang-Princes-Qing Dafu-Shi". Those below the "soldier" are no longer divided.
Princes were required to obey the orders of the Son of Heaven, pay tribute to the King of Zhou on a regular basis, make regular pilgrimages, provide military endowments and forced labor, guard the territory in peacetime, and obey the zhou king's troops in wartime and accompany him to maintain the safety of the Zhou dynasty.
In conjunction with the system of sub-sealing, the Western Zhou Dynasty also implemented the Ida system (economic system), patriarchal system (social system), and liturgical music system (cultural system) combined with the sub-sealing system.
Divide the grand occasion
At the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were three sub-seals, the first after king Fa Chong of Zhou Wen; the second was at the time of King KeYin of Zhou Wu; and the third was roughly during the years of King Cheng of Zhou and King Kang of Zhou. With the third sub-sealing the largest scale. According to records, Zhou Tianzi divided the world and established seventy-one kingdoms, and the surname of King Ji of Zhou monopolized the fifty-three kingdoms.
In the above table, can you find the figure of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States 500 years later?
The State of Qi, where Taigong Jiang was enfeoffed, the State of Yan, where Emperor Zhao was crowned, and the State of Jin, where Tang Shuyu was enthroned, were all second-class marquisates, among which the State of Jin deduced the story of the division of three families into Jin in the early warring states, fissioning the Three Kingdoms of Han, Zhao, and Wei.
When the Chu state was only a fourth-class viscount, the chu state was very dissatisfied, and in the Spring and Autumn period, he was even promoted to the fourth rank and claimed the title of king, and the king of Chu Zhuang even performed the story of winning the Central Plains.
Why not see the Qin state that swept through Liuhe and was mighty? It turned out that the ancestors of the Qin state did not accept the feudal state for merit until about 270 years after the early Zhou Dynasty was divided into feudal states, when the King of Zhou Ping moved east to Luoyang.
Role and effects
Through the sub-feudal system, Zhou Tianzi strengthened his rule over the localities. The Zhou Dynasty developed remote areas, expanded its ruling areas, and gradually pushed the slave state alliance formed during the Xia and Shang dynasties to the feudal unified state.
The sub-feudal system enabled the Western Zhou aristocratic group to form a noble hierarchy of "Zhou King-Prince-Qing Dafu-Shi".
The sub-feudal system has promoted the development of the national economy.
With the establishment of the sub-feudal system and the supporting economic and social systems, the Zhou culture was formed as the core of Chinese culture, and since then the Zhou culture has profoundly influenced future generations, with amazing maturity, stability and continuity.
It will be passed down in later generations
After the Spring and Autumn Period, as the wars of hegemony and annexation between the princes intensified, the power of the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty declined, the status of the co-lord of the Zhou Kings was gradually lost, and the situation of "Li Le conquest from the Son of Heaven" was replaced by "Li Le conquest from the princes", and the feudal system began to be destroyed.
After Qin Shi Huang unified China, he abolished the system of sub-feudalism and implemented the county system throughout the country. Later generations have been dominated by the county system.
For more historical articles, please continue to pay attention to the public account "Yunzhu Wenzhai"!