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The dynasty of the Fallen Western Zhou dynasty declined

It is obviously wrong to blame the demise of a dynasty on external causes, and it is not known that the decline and fall of a dynasty often begins to be bad from the inside, otherwise, it is difficult for external enemies to take advantage of it.

So how is the inside of the Zhou royal family bad? How bad is it?

Exhausted by military force, the national strength is exhausted

During the xuanwang period, from the third year of Xuanwang's perennial conquest of foreign wars, conquest of Xirong, Inuyasha, Huaiyi, and Jingman, Xuanwang used the largest army to attack Chu, with as many chariots as 3,000 and 30,000 troops. By the end of King Xuan's life, he was still frequently using troops against the surrounding tribes, especially in the thirty-ninth year of King Xuan, when the Zhou army was defeated by Jiang Rong at the Battle of Qianmu, and the division of the Southern Kingdom was completely destroyed, and King Xuan of Zhou was able to break through with the help of his father (Uncle Zhao with his father). After that, King Xuan wanted to survey the population in Taiyuan to replenish the soldiers and requisition materials.

Forty-one years after King Xuan, Wang Shi was defeated by Shen again. It is conceivable that king Xuan left king you with almost a royal family that was empty and ran out of food.

The dynasty of the Fallen Western Zhou dynasty declined

Politics is corrupt and the people are not happy

If a dynasty fights for many years, resulting in the exhaustion of national strength, it is not incurable, and then it needs to recuperate internally, develop reforms, enrich the country and strengthen the army, reduce foreign wars, and develop a peaceful foreign policy.

Helplessly, the Partial Zhou Youwang was a faint and pathless lord. Not long after he took the throne, the three rivers of Jing, Wei and Luo were destroyed, and the Qishan Mountains collapsed. At this time, he did not care about the people's livelihood, but he wanted to recruit beautiful women, and the ministers repeatedly advised, and the king of You was not afraid, and he also kissed the ministers (reusing the father of Yu Shi), harmed the loyal ministers, increased taxes, and caused the people to be unhappy.

In the next two years, the Western Zhou Dynasty suffered successive disasters such as major earthquakes and meteorites. "Poetry Sutra Daya Zhao Min": "The heavens are mighty, and the heavens are mourning." I am hungry, and the people are in exile. "Exposing the corruption and infighting in the government during the Zhou Youwang period, man-made disasters and natural disasters will lead to the destruction of the country."

The dynasty of the Fallen Western Zhou dynasty declined

The conflict between the Zhou royal family and the Shen Hou forces worsened

The royal family has declined, but the princes have grown, which is bound to trigger contradictions and conflicts between the two sides. The contradiction between the Zhou royal family and the Shen Hou was tense during the Xuanwang period. In the later period of King Xuan, most of the various Wars against Rong Di in the west and northwest ended in failure, so in order to appease Marquis Shen, King Xuan had to let the crown prince marry the daughter of Marquis Shen.

By the time of the Youwang, the contradictions worsened.

The Bamboo Book Chronicle records: "In the fourth year of the Youwang (778 BC), Qiu Ji gave birth to Bofu. Five years later, Wang Shizi yiusu out of Benshen. In the eighth year (774 BC), King You of Zhou deposed Queen Shen and Crown Prince Yiusu and made her queen and Bofu crown prince. In the ninth year of The Reign of You, Hou Shen hired Xi Rong and Ji. ”

The record of this time in the Bamboo Book Chronicle raises some questions, why did Yi Usu run to Shen in the fifth year of the Youwang?

When King Xuan first asked King You to marry the daughter of Marquis Shen, it should have occurred 41 years after King Xuan, 41 years after King Xuan, and after King Xuan's defeat at Shen, he did not use troops against Xi Rong. Therefore, in the 5 years of the Youwang, Yi Usu should be less than 10 years old. A child under 10 years old cannot set off a storm in the harem, and escaping to Shen at this time can only explain the meaning of Shen Hou.

Here we should mention again the dialogue between Zheng Huangong and Shi Bo, Who said: "If the King of You wants to kill Prince Yiusu and change his clothes to Bofu, he will definitely ask Shen Guo to hand over the crown prince, and if Shen Guo does not hand it over, the You King will definitely go on a crusade against Shen Guo." If the Shen kingdom is attacked, the state of Yan and Xi Rong will unite to attack the king of Zhou You, and the Zhou Dynasty will not be able to survive. ”

The dynasty of the Fallen Western Zhou dynasty declined

This conversation took place in the 8th year of The King of You, before the abolition of the concubine, it is certain that in these 3 years, the King of You never let Shen Guo hand over the crown prince. After deposing the concubine, King You did not immediately attack the State of Shen, but the Marquis of Shen quickly responded, uniting with the State of Yan and Xi Rong against Zhou. It can be inferred that in the 5th year of the Youwang, the Youwang did not clearly express the intention of abolishing the concubine and establishing the child in the dynasty, otherwise the Shen Hou would have acted immediately at that time. Therefore, when Yi Usu fled in the first place, it should be that the King of You expressed the meaning of abolishing the concubine and establishing the child to Shen Hou in the harem.

So why did it take 3 years for King Zhou You to abolish his wife and establish a young child?

Because he was jealous of the Shen Hou forces.

Therefore, this also overturned the statement that The Youwang Huan loved to praise her and abolished the young concubine.

If King You of Zhou abolished his concubines in order to praise him, he could immediately give orders after king You gave birth to his uncle in the fourth year, so why delay it until 4 years later? Maybe it is true that she wants to abolish her child because of her love, but the motivation is not only this.

So what exactly caused King Zhou You to decide to abolish the young lady after 3 years?

There may have been praise and yu shi's father's ridicule of King Youwang of Zhou, but their voices were not only in the eighth year of King You, when Yi Usu went out to Run to Shen, Shen Hou was bound to come to Zhou Hou immediately to discuss the explanation, from the result, King You did not give Shen Hou a satisfactory reply, but it was certainly not a very bad reply, the two sides should be a stalemate, so King You wanted to attack Shen Hou forces, and he was jealous of Shen Hou forces. On the other hand, Shen Hou's daughter and grandson had been relegated to the palace, and the discussion was fruitless, so he took action in private.

The dynasty of the Fallen Western Zhou dynasty declined

"Poetry Sutra Daya Zhao Min": "The kings of the past were ordained, just like the summons of the duke, the country is a hundred miles a day, and now it is also a hundred miles of the country." Woe to you! The people who maintain the present, there is no old! "Exposing the frequent invasion of Zhou territory by the states of Xi Rong and Shen and Jin at the time of the Youwang, the situation was already urgent.

Shen Hou took revenge by invading, indicating that Shen Hou had already made enemies of Zhou before deposing Li You, leading to The King of You's final decision to depose Li You.

Although the abolition of Shen Hou and the abolition of the crown prince reflected the blows dealt by the Ji clique represented by King You to the political alliance of Jiang and Rong represented by Shen Hou, the abolition of The Young Concubine was indeed a violation of the clan legal system.

Wang Shi had no troops to send

The Bamboo Book Chronicle records: "In the spring of the tenth year, the king and the princes allied themselves in the Tai Room. In September, Wang Shi Vashen. ”

Before Vashen, the Youwang and the princes had to make an alliance in the Taimu room, and the purpose of the alliance was Vashen, and the royal family at this time had to rely on the power of the princes. Since King You's succession, there have been few foreign conquests, which is more evidence that during the Period of King You, there were no soldiers in the dynasty, and it also extended to the poor soldiers in the Xuanwang period that accelerated the demise of Western Zhou.

The dynasty of the Fallen Western Zhou dynasty declined

The princes are centrifugal

The Bamboo Book Chronicle records: "In the spring of the eleventh year of the Youwang. Shen Ren, Jiao Ren and Inu Rong entered Zong Zhou, King Gong and Duke Huan of Zheng. Inuyasha kills the prince and holds the throne. ”

The "Zuo Biography" records: "Jiao Ju (Chu Dafu Wu Ju) said: Zhou You is the alliance of the great chamber, and Rong Di is rebellious. Therefore, they all showed the princes to be obedient, and the princes abandoned their lives", which means that the king of You was too extravagant, and the princes were therefore disobedient to their orders. ”

During the Xuanwang period, there was a time of zhongxing, but it was still defeated by Jiang Rong, which shows the strength of Rong Di, during the Youwang period, the national strength and military strength were further weakened, but the Zhou Youwang did not measure up to his own strength, and as a result, he was burned by fire. From Vashen to the killing, it took only three months to verify Shi Bo's words, and Western Zhou could not be saved.

Speaking of this, we can see that the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty was inevitable and accidental, and the inevitability was that in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the national strength was exhausted due to frequent natural and man-made disasters, wars, and the fainting of the emperors, and at the same time, the strength of the princes constantly challenged the royal power and caused the escalation of conflicts. By chance, King You of Zhou violated the patriarchal system and abolished the concubine, which was also the fuse for the demise of Western Zhou, angering Marquis Shen in uniting with the state of Yan and Xi Rong to attack the Zhou royal family, which eventually led to the demise of Western Zhou, and Qiu Ji carried the pot for more than two thousand years.

(To be continued)