Western Zhou Dynasty

Western Zhou Dynasty

The Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC) is a dynasty in Chinese history. In the 11th century B.C., King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty and established the capital of Zhou as Zhou (east of Fenghe River in Chang'an, Shaanxi Province). After King Cheng of Zhou took charge, he built a new capital, Cheng Zhou (Luoyang, Henan Province). He lived in Luoyang, Henan Province, and appointed the Duke of Zhou to March eastward and make rites and music, which strengthened the rule of the Western Zhou Dynasty. During the reign of King Cheng of Zhou and King Kang of Zhou, the society was stable, the people were harmonious, and there was no need for punishment for more than 40 years. After King Yi of Zhou succeeded to the throne, his politics became increasingly corrupt and his national power continued to decline. Due to repeated attacks by Xirong, he was forced to move his capital to gouqiu (southeast of Xingping, Shaanxi). Before and after King li of Zhou Dynasty, private land developed day by day. The Chinese uprising in 841 BC foreshadowed the coming of slavery crisis, and the royal power declined from then on. The fact that King Xuan of Zhou was not a native of a thousand mu indicated the collapse of the minefield system in Wang Ji. In 771 BC, king you of Zhou Dynasty was killed by Hourong and Shenhou. The next year, King Ping of Zhou Dynasty moved to Luoyi. In history, it was called the Western Zhou Dynasty before King Ping moved to the East. From King Wu's extermination of Shang to king you's subjugation, the Western Zhou Dynasty was passed down to 12 kings and 11 dynasties.

The Western Zhou Dynasty was the heyday of China's slave society. Compared with the Shang Dynasty, the social productivity was improved, the agriculture was prosperous, and the culture was further developed. Patriarchal clan system and minefield system were the most basic social, political and economic systems at that time. When the Zhou Dynasty was strong, it was under the influence of the Yangtze River in the south, Liaoning Province in the northeast, Gansu Province in the West and Shandong Province in the East.

National name

"Western Zhou" is not only the name of the dynasty, but also the name of the country in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, that is, the Marquis state of the Western Zhou Dynasty (367-256 BC), which is the product of the division of the Zhou royal family in the late Warring States period. There are some records in the strategy of Warring States, such as "the struggle between the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty" and "Chang TA destroyed the Western Zhou Dynasty". Obviously, the "Western Zhou Dynasty" appeared in the Warring States period was not the Western Zhou Dynasty that perished in 771 BC. It's the Western Zhou state. In 367 B.C., the king of Zhou was in chaos, and the capital was divided into two Marquises, the Eastern Zhou and the Western Zhou. The two countries are bounded by the confluence of the Yiluo River, the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty in the West and the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in the East. In 256 BC, King Xiaowen of Qin broke Luoyang, the King City of Zhou, and conquered the state of Western Zhou. King Hao of Zhou and the king of Western Zhou were abandoned as civilians and moved out of Chengzhou city and the King City. Soon after, King Nan of Zhou, who lived in the state of Western Zhou, died, and the nominal emperor no longer existed. Qin took the "nine tripod" treasure, which symbolized the power of the emperor, and placed it in Xianyang. When Zhou was no longer king, historians began to record the year of Qin.

history

The origin of Zhou people

Zhou people, a later tribe of Ji surname, rose in the area of Shaanxi and Gansu, and attached great importance to agriculture. The totem of Zhou people is marked by Xiong (adult). Hou Ji's father and mother are in the area of Shaanxi and Gansu respectively. There are Xiong's (Xiong's in Yao and Shun period is only Fang state, which has lost the title of Yellow Emperor hundreds of years ago) and Jiang's (Tai's) descendants after long-term intermarriage. They believed that Houji (Jiqi) was their ancestor and regarded him as the God of agriculture. The head of the agricultural officials in the Western Zhou Dynasty was named after Houji. From Houji to King Wen, there are several kings. In Shiji zhoubenji and Shiben, there are 15 dynasties, which are Houji (Mingqi), Buqu, Ju, Gongliu, Qingjie, Huangfu, Chafu, Ruiyi, gongfei, Gaoyi, Yayi, gongshuzu, gugongfu, Jili and Chang. In Hanshu, there are 18 Dynasties. However, from Houji to King Wen for more than a thousand years, it is impossible to go through more than ten generations, and most of later generations doubt it.

In the age of Buhuo, Zhou people migrated to Rongdi. In order to develop agriculture, Gongliu moved to a place with excellent natural environment. After arriving at chendi, the Zhou people reclaimed land, built houses, and established a set of rituals for holding sacrifices and banquets. "Jing" and "Jingshi" originated from the appellation of the capital of the state in Gongliu era. In the period of Wuding, the king of Shang, Zhou became the feudal state of Shang. In order to avoid the disturbance of the Rongdi tribe in Northwest China, the Zhou people moved their capital to Zhouyuan in Qiyang again when Gu Gongyu's father was later worshipped as the king of Zhou. At this time, the political facilities had a great development. Gaomen and yingmen were set up in the Royal Palace, and zongmiao and sheji were set up in the capital.

After the death of the king, Ji Li, the youngest son, succeeded to the throne. As a result of the friendship with the Wu state founded by Taibo and the princes surnamed Ren, and the decline of the Shang Dynasty, Zhou's power continued to grow. During the period of King Wu Yi of Shang Dynasty, Zhou began to exploit territory by force, and it took three years to conquer Gui Fang. After that, Ji Li continued to attack Rongdi in Shanxi area, but he was defeated when he attacked Yanjing Rong, but then he conquered Yu Wurong. After defeating Yu Wurong, Ji Li was appointed minister (a position equivalent to Fang Bo) by King wending of Shang Dynasty. Because Ji Li greatly expanded the territory of Zhou state to the northwest, he was suspected by Wen Ding and finally killed by Wen Ding.

After Ji Li's death, his eldest son Chang succeeded him to the throne as King Wen of Zhou. He was appointed as Xibo by the king of Shang. Chonghou Hu reported Xibo's dissatisfaction with the execution of the nine marquis to Zhou. Therefore, Xibo was imprisoned in kuali until Xibo's subordinates paid tribute to beauties and property before he was pardoned. On the one hand, King Wen of Zhou served King Zhou attentively, and on the other hand, he used the excuse of levying treason to exploit territory everywhere, which greatly expanded Zhou's power. King Wen united the princes, settled the dispute between Yu and Rui, and conquered Hourong and MISHU successively. Later, he destroyed Li in Shanxi and conquered Yu (also known as Yu and Han). Chonghou tiger was a powerful eastern country at that time, which was captured by Zhou after the fierce siege. After Kechong, King Wen moved his capital to Fengxi (now Fengxi new town, Xixian New District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province). He had a benevolent government and loved the people. He also established a set of official system headed by officials, improved political institutions, and accumulated a large number of talented nobles, which laid the foundation for the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty.

King Wu conquered Zhou

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King Wu conquered Zhou

Zhou nationality has a long history, long-term activities in the area of Shaanxi and Gansu, later to the south of Qishan Zhouyuan as the main base. By the beginning of the 11th century B.C., the power of the Zhou people had become increasingly powerful. On the one hand, it conquered small countries nearby to expand its strength; on the other hand, it moved its capital from Zhouyuan to the West Bank of Fengshui in today's Chang'an District to build Fengjing. Its constant eastward trend aggravated the contradiction with the Shang Dynasty. Emperor Xin (King Zhou of Shang Dynasty) once imprisoned xibochang in kuali. Zhou Chen presented beauty and treasures to the king of Shang, and Emperor Xin released xibochang. After Xi BoChang returned to China, he further stepped up the preparation of logging merchants. At this time, the political corruption of Shang Dynasty, internal and external contradictions unprecedented sharp. Boyi Kao, the eldest son of King Wen (Chang) of Zhou Dynasty, died before King Wen (the cause of death is not recorded; it is said in Fengshenbang that he was killed by Zhou), and Ji Fa was made Prince. King Wen thought that the conditions for cutting merchants were ripe. Before he died, he asked the prince FA to actively prepare for cutting merchants. After King Wu ascended the throne, taking advantage of the main battle of Shang Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou led the army to March eastward. In the ninth year of King Wu, he assembled the princes in Mengjin (now Mengjin, an important ferry in ancient times). It is said that more than 800 princes and tribal leaders came to the meeting. At the meeting, King Wu of Zhou held an oath ceremony, which is the famous "oath of alliance with Tianjin" in history. It was an important alliance that "the princes should use their orders". With 300 troops, 45000 soldiers and 3000 Huben soldiers, the army marched eastward. Yong, Shu, Qiang, Zong, Wei, Lu, Peng, PU and many other small countries also led their troops to cooperate.

On February 5, King Wu's allied forces had a decisive battle with King Zhou's forces in the pastoral areas outside Yindu. King Zhou also gathered more than 100000 people to fight against King Wu. However, because of the return of the people's will, King Zhou's army had no intention of fighting and turned to help King Wu instead. Therefore, without much effort, King Wu entered the capital Chaoge. King Zhou saw that the situation was over, so he boarded the ludai that he had spent a lot of money to build for himself and set himself on fire. In this way, the Shang Dynasty was destroyed in the hands of King Zhou.

Zhou Shichu

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Enfeoffment system

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Three Guards

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Zhou Gong's eastward expedition

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Establish a state

After conquering the Shang Dynasty, King Wu basically controlled the original ruling areas of the Shang Dynasty and conquered many small countries around. However, how to firmly control a large area of eastern territory has become a serious problem faced by King Wu. Therefore, he adopted the policy of "feudal relatives, vassal screen Zhou" and enfeoffed his kindred and meritorious officials and counsellors to establish vassal states. Each vassal state became a stronghold for the rule of one side of the land, and they also played an important role in defending the Zhou royal family. King Wu granted Wu Geng, the son of Zhou of Shang Dynasty, the capital of Shang Dynasty, in order to control the merchants; granted his younger brothers Guan Shu, Cai Shu and Huo Shu as marquis to supervise Wu Geng; granted Duke Zhou to Lu, Jiang Shang to Qi and Zhao Gong to Yan. After the death of King Wu of Zhou, his son succeeded to the throne. As king Cheng was young, he was Regent by Duke Zhou. Uncle Guan and uncle Cai were dissatisfied with Duke Zhou and spread rumors that Duke Zhou was seeking the throne. Soon after, Wu Geng colluded with Guan and CAI, and united with Xu, Yan and Bogu in the east to launch a rebellion. It took three years for the Duke of Zhou to mobilize the army to March eastward. He finally settled the rebellion between Wu Geng and Guan and CAI, killed Wu Geng and Guan Shu, and exiled Cai Shu. The overall victory of the eastern expedition consolidated the rule of the Zhou Dynasty.

After King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty, he returned to Ho Jing, feeling that ho Jing was far away from the newly conquered area. He intended to establish a new capital in the Yiluo River area, the center of Xia people's activities. His idea had not been realized, and he died suddenly. According to the text of he Zunming unearthed in Baoji, after King Cheng ascended the throne, he inherited the will of King Wu and decided to build a new town near Luoyang, "Zhaizi China". To rule the newly conquered areas from here can greatly shorten the distance. Therefore, King Cheng once sent Zhaogong to "Xiangzhai" near Luoyang. Soon, Luoyi became the political, military and cultural center of the Western Zhou Dynasty. In order to completely eradicate the dream of restoring the country of the adherents of Yin, the emperor also moved the stubborn people of Yin to Chengzhou.

The rule of Chengkang

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The rule of Chengkang

After the end of the rebellion, Duke Zhou practiced benevolence and filial piety and was versatile. During the reign of King Wen, filial piety and benevolence were different from those of qunzi

Chinese PinYin : Xi Zhou