Zhou Dynasty: The model of etiquette and governance has cultivated the charm of etiquette and ideology and culture, whether it is in the iron-blooded mountains and rivers or in the era of clouds and rain, the barren land has also bloomed with brilliant flowers of thought, and countless legends have been born in a small square inch. The Zhou Dynasty continued for 800 years of national ancestry, governing the country with etiquette, but also perished due to the collapse of etiquette. It all started here. After the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, the seeds of etiquette and culture began to sprout in the Battle of Makino in 1046 BC. The Zhou Dynasty is regarded as the defining period of Chinese culture and an important source of our reputation as a state of etiquette. Since its establishment, the Zhou Dynasty has governed the country with etiquette. In order to create a stable social environment, a country needs some institutions as a bond. In the third dynasty of the Xia and Shang dynasties, when the legal system was not yet perfect, "li" became an important means for rulers to manage the country.
In practical application, etiquette mainly includes two aspects: people need to follow etiquette in the affairs they encounter in life, such as etiquette exchanges, and how to deal with birth, old age, sickness and death;On the other hand, it rises to the level of the national system, and it is recorded in the weekly record that "etiquette is a major event, and when it is used for the country, there will be order between the monarch and the ministers, and the country can prosper;."If it is used to the princes, it can make the princes obedient and will not commit crimes, so that the huge ship of the country can run smoothly. The Zhou dynasty translated rituals into detailed rules and applied them to the political, military, and financial aspects of the state. In politics, etiquette is mainly used to regulate the relationship between monarchs and ministers. Since the Zhou Dynasty practiced a feudal system, all princes had to abide by all etiquette regulations. The etiquette stipulates that the Son of Heaven has the obligation to maintain the power and status of the princes, and cannot take back the princes' territories at will.
If there is a conflict between the princes, the Son of Heaven should play a role in reconciling and punishing the wrongdoer. The princes, on the other hand, were required to be loyal to the Son of Heaven, report on their duties regularly, and actively participate in the affairs promulgated by the Son of Heaven. Failure to observe or change the etiquette at will will result in severe punishment such as exile or crusade. On the military side, etiquette prescribes a top-down division of power, corresponding to the different military hierarchies. The Son of Heaven had six armies, each consisting of two thousand five hundred men, for a total of fifteen thousand. The rank of the army is directly proportional to the number of troops owned, and the Son of Heaven has the highest rank and therefore has the most troops. In ancient China during the Zhou Dynasty, princes were divided into three ranks: large, middle, and small according to their official ranks. The princes of the big official position have three armies, the princes of the middle official position have two armies, and the princes of the small official position have only one army.
The Son of Heaven did not directly mobilize the military power of the princes, and unless one of the princes did not observe etiquette, the Son of Heaven had the right to order the other princes to jointly crusade against him. In terms of finances, the Son of Heaven and the princes were extremely cautious. The Son of Heaven's financial expenditures were to be supported by his own production, and he did not have the power to collect financial contributions from the princes. On the contrary, the princes were obliged to pay tribute to the Son of Heaven, but this was only a symbol and courtesy, and the financial contribution was small. It can be seen that etiquette has been deeply integrated with the politics, economy and military of the Zhou Dynasty, and has become an important link to maintain social stability. This bond is based on inextricable rules, and eventually forms a unified general direction: the Son of Heaven rules the Three Princes, the Three Princes lead the princes, the princes control the Qing Dafu, and the Qing Dafu manages the scholars and the common people. Therefore, once this bond was broken, it was of great significance to the Zhou Dynasty.
And the occurrence of the division of the three families has become a weapon to destroy this bond. What happened to the Jin Kingdom that contributed to the final division of the three Jin families?At its peak, the Jin state, as one of the most powerful vassal states under the Zhou Dynasty, encompassed all of present-day Shanxi Province, eastern and northern Shaanxi Province, central and northern Hebei Province, and parts of northwestern Shanxi and present-day Inner Mongolia. From the beginning of the Jin kingdom to the hegemony, the social form has a significant feature, that is, the power of different surnames is extremely strong. When Tang Shuyu was divided, he brought nine nobles with different surnames such as Wuzheng of the Nine Sects, plus the remnants of the old clans such as the Xia Hou clan and Yin Shang who existed in the original Jin country, and these different surname forces became an indispensable part of the Jin State.
In the decades that followed, serious civil strife broke out within the Jin Kingdom, and the big and small princes fought to the death for power, with power constantly changing and the court in chaos. It was at this time that the ministers, who were dominated by forces with different surnames, seized the opportunity to rise, controlled the government, and formed an irrepressible political force. After the reform of the Duke of Wen of the Jin Dynasty, the productivity of the Jin State was greatly improved, the rapid development of agriculture and industry and commerce, political stability, and military strength greatly increased, and began to seek external expansion, and established the status of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period through several major wars, and the territory expanded rapidly, providing fertile soil for the further strengthening of the power of different surnames. They rely on the following advantages to grow rapidly and move towards glory. In the early days of his reign, Duke Wen of Jin vigorously promoted many nobles with different surnames, who often held important positions in the court and even controlled military and political power.
This is mainly due to the lack of suitable clan members to govern the country, and can only rely on doctors with different surnames, especially in times of frequent wars, which require continuous support from forces with different surnames, so they take the opportunity to rise and gradually have the strength to compete with the original political forces. After the Jin State became hegemonic, the surrounding small affiliated countries often paid tribute to the Jin State, and the ** people with different surnames took the opportunity to ask for bribes from other countries, which greatly enhanced their economic strength. At the same time, as the territory of the Jin Kingdom continued to expand, so did the number of people who needed to be governed. As a result, the Duke of Wen of Jin named the old nobles, the princes, and the nobles with different surnames as "close officials", "middle officials", and "distant officials", respectively, with the close officials mainly responsible for managing various places in the central region of the country, the middle officials being responsible for managing the country's public affairs, and the yuan officials being responsible for managing remote areas and newly opened territories.
This further contributed to the development of alien forces, which were able to expand unbridled, not only in remote areas, but also in the supply of armies and the cultivation of private power. Driven by multiple factors, many powerful forces with different surnames have been incubated within the Jin Kingdom, and they are constantly competing with each other. In the end, the six powerful clans of Fan, Bank of China, Zhi, Zhao, Wei, and Han rose. From the brewing to the outbreak of the Three Families Division, the incident completely ended the 800-year rule of the Zhou Dynasty. After the baptism of blood and tears, the six powerful clans became the forces behind the control of the Jin court, but they maintained less than half a century of peace, and then set off a new round of disputes. After the expansion of the Jin Kingdom, the country's territory expanded day by day, agricultural productivity continued to increase, and the agricultural economy became the leading force. It was by relying on the vast land that these powerful clans rapidly developed the mining economy and accumulated initial strength.
Subsequently, the scale of the land under the names of these powerful clans continued to expand. After expanding their territory, the six powerful clans began to train retainers and monks to serve as local governors. As a result, some counties gradually became political, economic, and cultural centers within their respective powerful domains, and these places had their own armies and accumulated power, and they already had the strength of small vassal states. As the amount of land occupied by the six powerful clans continued to increase, when there was no surplus land to annex, the original balance was broken, so they began to attack each other and started a competition for mutual annexation. A war of land annexation by a new landowning class broke out in 497 AD and lasted seven years. The Zhao clan united with Zhi, Han, and Wei, and finally defeated the Fan and Zhongxing clans, so that all the lands of the two defeated families were under the name of the Gong clan.
However, just thirty years later, the Zhao, Han, Zhi, and Wei families once again recaptured these lands from the Gong clan. After the end of the first stage, only four of the six clans remained. The second stage of the war was provoked by the Zhi clan, and after several rounds of shuffling, a situation was formed in which the Zhi clan was dominant, and the Zhi clan set up a new monarch to control the government, completely ignoring Han, Zhao, and Wei. Zhi Boyao, the boss of the Zhi clan, is personable and eloquent, and has a lot of influence in the Zhi clan, but he lacks morality, often looks at no one, insults others, and treachery is commonplace. He forced Han, Zhao, and Wei to hand over their land and population, and Han and Wei could only swallow their anger for fear of their power, but Zhao was not to be outdone, leading the Zhi clan to unite Han and Wei to encircle and suppress Zhao.
After two years of struggling to hold out in Zhao, the situation took a dramatic turn, and Zhao's advisors secretly persuaded Han and Wei to join forces to destroy the Zhi clan. After dividing up the land of the Zhi clan, the strength of Han, Zhao, and Wei became stronger and stronger. They were not satisfied with the status of being a big clan in the Jin Kingdom, and they all hoped to become independent princes. So, they submitted an independent application to King Zhou Lie, which was unexpectedly approved. In 403 AD, King Lie of Zhou issued three letters of appointment, appointing the three Qing Dafu clans of Han, Zhao, and Wei as princes. These three migrant workers with different surnames in the Jin Kingdom became one of the princes, and the three families were divided into the Jin Kingdom, and the collapse of the number of rituals from top to bottom also began. The three divisions of the Zhou dynasty are generally regarded as a turning point from the Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period, and also marked the end of the Zhou dynasty.
Since the founding of the country, the Zhou Dynasty has always governed the country with etiquette, "the Son of Heaven unified the three dukes, the three dukes led the princes, the princes controlled the secretary doctor, and the secretary doctor ruled the scholars". However, when Han, Zhao, and Wei became more and more independent, King Lie of Zhou did not take the action of sending troops to fight, but recognized the status of Han, Zhao, and Wei as princes. This essentially undermined the system of princes and the etiquette system of the princes, destroyed the foundation of the country's operation, and also meant the end of the Zhou Dynasty. This event led to the transposition of the monarch and the country, and the Warring States period began.