In Chinese history, a landmark event occurred in 770 BC.
The reigning son of Zhou, King Ping of Zhou, made a far-reaching decision: to move the capital of the Zhou Dynasty from Xi'an to Luoyang. This event was later called the "Eastward Migration of King Ping".
King Ping's eastward migration was not only an important turning point in the history of the Zhou Dynasty, but also divided the Zhou Dynasty into two periods, the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou. After King Ping moved eastward, the Zhou royal family began to decline, and there was no revival for hundreds of years.
On the contrary, the major vassal states took advantage of the opportunity to rise and engage in fierce wars for hegemony. Thus, an era of chaotic princely struggle for hegemony began.
Before King Ping moved eastward, the Zhou royal family was the co-lord of the princes of the world, and the princes had to submit to their administration. However, after King Ping moved eastward, the princes began to kill each other, forming a chaotic Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
Why did King Zhou Ping's move lead to such a big change? In fact, the truth of history is that the decline of the Zhou Dynasty did not begin with the relocation of King Ping, but that after the decline of the Zhou royal family to a certain extent, King Ping was forced to move, which caused a series of problems.
To understand this question, we need to briefly review the history of the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The history of the Western Zhou Dynasty began with the famous Battle of Muye, in which King Wu of Zhou defeated the King of Shang, and since then the Zhou royal family has become recognized as the co-ruler of the world, and the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty has officially begun.
Compared with later feudal dynasties such as the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the Western Zhou Dynasty was a slave dynasty, and some vassal states, although nominally revered the Zhou royal family, in fact remained relatively independent, and could even ignore the Zhou royal family altogether.
Therefore, the Zhou royal family after the Battle of Makino experienced a history of growth and growth.
In 1046 BC, King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty through the Battle of Muye and established the Zhou dynasty. However, only a period of time, King Wu of Zhou passed away.
His son, King Cheng of Zhou, succeeded to the throne, but because he was young and ignorant, he was assisted by the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou, Duke of Zhou. Over the next forty years, the Western Zhou Dynasty experienced two generations of monarchs, King Cheng of Zhou and King Kang of Zhou, who revised the law and ritual system to make it the common norm for all vassal states, further consolidating the authority of the Emperor of Zhou.
At the same time, the Zhou royal family also swept away many remnants of the Shang dynasty during this period to ensure the stability and security of the Zhou dynasty. Although King Wu of Zhou was victorious in the Battle of the Zhou Dynasty and became the new Son of Heaven, many of the old Shang Dynasty still survived.
In order to stabilize people's minds and establish a new state as soon as possible, King Wu of Zhou did not carry out a complete liquidation of them.
It was not until the reigns of King Cheng of Zhou and King Kang of Zhou that the remnants of the Shang Dynasty were completely eradicated. Since then, although there have been some remaining vassal states, these vassal states have been completely subservient to the Zhou royal family.
During this period, the Zhou royal family also appointed many of its own people as princes, including the founding heroes of the Zhou royal family, such as Feng Jiang Ziya who established the Qi State; There are also family members of the Zhou royal family, such as a brother of King Wu of Zhou, who was enshrined in the Yan Kingdom; And the younger brother of King Zhou Cheng was sealed to the Jin Kingdom.
Therefore, it was not until the time of King Kang of Zhou that Zhou Tianzi really strengthened his rule over the Central Plains. If we refer to the later history of the Han Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou is probably equivalent to Liu Bang, and the reigns of King Cheng of Zhou and King Kang of Zhou are equivalent to the later reign of Wenjing.
After the Zhou Dynasty was governed by King Cheng of Zhou and King Kang of Zhou, it was internally stable and began to expand externally. In the later years of King Kang of Zhou, the Zhou dynasty began to march to the northwest, defeating the ghost side, and at the same time expanding southward to reach Jingchu.
After the death of King Kang of Zhou, King Zhao of Zhou succeeded to the throne and personally marched south three times to open up territory for the Zhou Dynasty. King Mu of Zhou, who succeeded King Zhao of Zhou, expanded westward to the Gansu region, where he defeated the Dog Rong and further expanded the territory of the Zhou dynasty.
If this is compared to the Han Dynasty, the periods of King Zhao of Zhou and King Mu of Zhou are similar to those of Emperor Wu of Han. The Western Zhou Dynasty was the most powerful and expanded outward, but at the same time, years of war also laid the groundwork for the decline of the Zhou Dynasty.
In the later period of King Mu of Zhou, the Western Zhou Dynasty had to adopt a strategic contraction because of the continuous wars and the great consumption of national strength, but it still could not stop the trend of decline. In the later period of King Yi of Zhou, the foreign tribes in the border areas gradually became stronger, and the Zhou Dynasty continued to retreat on the border.
As the national strength of the Western Zhou Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline, internal contradictions gradually emerged. In the later feudal era, this contradiction was the problem of land annexation, but in the Western Zhou Dynasty, due to the lack of a land buying and selling system and different social systems, this contradiction became a contradiction between the Zhou royal family and the vassal states.
In fact, from the late Western Zhou Dynasty, some powerful vassal states wanted to become independent and get rid of the control of the Zhou royal family.
Although the Zhou royal family no longer had an advantage over the foreign races outside, their overwhelming superiority over the vassal states still existed within the Central Plains. After hundreds of years of separation, the Zhou royal family has occupied half of the world, so in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, because of their common interests, they generally helped the Zhou royal family to suppress other vassal states.
Although the Zhou royal family had begun to decline, their status as the co-ruler of the world was still maintained. However, if this declining trend cannot be reversed, this balance will not be sustainable.
After King Yi of Zhou, during the reigns of King Xiao of Zhou, King Yi of Zhou, and King Li of Zhou, the Zhou royal family was unable to find an effective solution despite various attempts to solve the problem.
During the reign of King Zhou Li, the Western Zhou Dynasty, due to the resumption of foreign wars, the oppression of the common people increased, which triggered a riot among the people, and King Zhou Li was expelled. If you put it at the end of the feudal dynasty, the Western Zhou Dynasty was actually close to extinction during the reign of King Li of Zhou.
What followed was the overthrow of the old **, the scuffle between the warlords and the peasant army, and finally the new unification**. However, the Western Zhou was different from the later feudal dynasties.
In addition to the Zhou royal family itself, the existence of the vassal states surnamed Ji also had a huge impact. Therefore, the end of the era of King Zhou Li, although the area directly under the Zhou royal family briefly appeared without a son of heaven, but under the intervention of the major princely states surnamed Ji, the son of King Zhou Li finally returned to the Zhou royal family and became the new son of heaven.
King Xuan of Zhou, the last son of heaven in the Western Zhou Dynasty. He inherited the throne in a unique way, being elected by powerful vassal states, and as a result, his reign was influenced by these vassal states.
Coupled with the tradition of the Zhou royal family, the princes were given important positions in the early reign of King Xuan of Zhou.
However, such a system greatly limited Zhou Tianzi's power, and at the same time brought internal contradictions. However, such a system also had its advantages, that is, the kings of those vassal states would fill the vacancies of the Zhou royal family with the interests of their own countries after they began to occupy important positions within the Zhou royal family.
In the early days of the reign of King Xuan of Zhou, with his talent and ability, the internal problems of the Zhou royal family were gradually solved, and he was called 'King Xuan Zhongxing'. However, as time went on, he began to try to break free from the control of the princes and resume foreign wars in order to restore the prestige of the royal family.
However, this decision cost him the support of the princes, and the foreign war did not bring the desired effect, but accelerated the decline of the royal family. In this case, King Xuan of Zhou died, and King You of Zhou became the last son of heaven in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
King Zhou You, the most well-known story of this historical figure is probably the princes of the Beacon Fire Opera. However, according to the research of modern historians, the authenticity of this event remains in doubt.
Although there is a clear record in the Records of the Historians, some historians believe that Sima Qian may have been influenced by some erroneous historical sources and thus fabricated the story.
Leaving aside these controversial histories, the history of the recognized reign of King You of Zhou goes like this. At that time, the Zhou royal family was on the verge of decline, and many vassal states with different surnames were no longer under the command of the Zhou royal family and were relatively independent.
Even some of the vassal states of Zhou Tianzi's own relatives began to gradually break away from the control of the Zhou royal family.
King Zhou You was anxious and racked his brains to find a solution. However, the problem is that the Zhou royal family was on the verge of collapse at this time, and no longer had the ability to crusade against the disobedient vassal states by force.
The current Zhou royal family is like a fuse, and just a little spark can cause all the contradictions. And this Mars, which eventually detonated the contradiction, is the so-called prince problem.
King Zhou You originally had a wife, who was the princess of Shen Kingdom. Shen was the most important of all the vassal states that supported the Zhou royal family, and although its history was not long, the first monarch once helped King You's father, King Xuan of Zhou, return to the throne.
Therefore, King You of Zhou later married the daughter of the monarch of Shen Guo, and his daughter was naturally made the crown prince.
One of the well-known mistakes of King Zhou You is his empathy. He had a new love, and she gave birth to a son for King Zhou You, so King Zhou You abolished the original prince and replaced him with a new love and her son.
This new love is the prototype of the famous Bao Xi in history. The existence of Bao Xi has always been controversial, but it is a fact that King Zhou You empathized and fell in love with another woman.
The abolition of the crown prince was a major event in any dynasty, and the Western Zhou Dynasty at that time was no exception. Moreover, due to the special situation faced by the Zhou royal family at that time, this matter soon began to ferment.
After the princess of Shenguo was deposed, she could only return to Shenguo's maiden home with her son. And when the mother's family saw their daughter being bullied, they naturally refused to give up.
In addition to the emotional factor, it is more important that there are deep stakes involved. If Princess Shen can continue to be the queen, then the future Son of Heaven will be the grandson of King Shen.
However, after the abolition of Princess Shen Guo, the next Zhou Tianzi had no connection with Shen Guo. No matter which angle you look at it, Shen Guo is bound to be involved. However, the power of Shen alone could not overthrow the entire Zhou royal family.
Although the Zhou royal family had declined, its own military power remained strong. At least compared to the other vassal states, the power of the Zhou royal family was far from being comparable to that of any other vassal state.
Therefore, Shen Guo urgently needed to find an ally. However, the other vassal states were all courtiers of Zhou Tianzi, and they did not have the courage to do so. Therefore, Shen Guo turned his attention to the dog Rong to the west.
The relationship between Shen and Dog Rong is a bit like the relationship between Wu and Chu later. Although in the past history of the Shen Kingdom, the Shen Kingdom once defeated the Inu Rong, but later with the decline of the Shen royal family, the Inu Rong gradually rose again at this time.
At this time, if Shen Guo wants to find a powerful ally, then Inu Rong is naturally the best choice. However, before making this choice, there is one more issue that needs to be addressed, and that is the issue of identity.
Shen Guo's army this time, although it is the so-called resistance, it must not really be in the name of resistance. So next, the king of Shen Guo pushed his grandson out, that is, the deposed prince of Shen Guo.
Under his banner, he returned to Shen to quell the rebellion. In this way, although Shen and the dog Rong attacked Shen, this war was no longer the so-called invasion of foreign enemies, but the internal strife of Shen.
The most important thing is that, according to the previous regulations, after the invasion of the Shen kingdom by foreign enemies, the other vassal states must come to help. And if it's civil strife, then it's not coming.
In this historical context, the combined forces of Shen and Inurong directly attacked the core area of the Zhou royal family, Haojing (present-day Xi'an). The fall of Hokyo gave Shin a political bargaining chip, while Inuyong plundered and ransacked the entire Hokyung.
The result of this unexpected melee broke the previous assumption that the vassal states would sit back and reap the benefits, and the Shen State and the dog Rong directly killed the King of Zhou You, which undoubtedly exceeded everyone's expectations.
It turned out that when Shen Guo united with the dog Rong, they just wanted to use the dog Rong, not to really eliminate the king of Zhou You. The idea of the monarch of Shen Guo was at most to capture King Zhou You and control the government.
However, Inurong made things bigger and bigger, making the situation unmanageable. When the news of the breach of Hojing came, some vassal states loyal to the Zhou royal family came to the rescue with troops.
However, more vassal states are still on the sidelines, unsure of what will happen next. If the Zhou royal family really disappears, what will happen in the future, it's really difficult**.
Soon, reinforcements from the major vassal states arrived, forcing Inurong to retreat. However, when the dog retreated, all people saw was ruins. Because Inurong set a fire before retreating, and the entire Hokyo was burned to the ground.
With the arrival of reinforcements, the offensive of Inurong was temporarily thwarted. However, in the face of the ruins in front of them, the Zhou royal family and the princes of all parties faced three thorny problems. First of all, if Hokyo continues to be the capital, how long will it take to rebuild?
Secondly, if the capital of Hojing is continued, how will the Zhou royal family respond when the dog Rong attacks again? You must know that after this battle, the Zhou royal family has been greatly damaged, and the elite army has almost been lost.
If the dog Rong attacked again, the Zhou royal family would be almost unable to resist if they did not ask for help from other vassal states. In the end, even if other vassal states were willing to come to the rescue, if this was repeated many times, would the resources of the Zhou royal family be able to withstand such a consumption?
These are all problems that need to be solved.
After this battle, the strength of the Zhou royal family was greatly reduced, and the elite troops around Hojing were almost lost. If you continue to stay in Hojing, will it be further emptied by several surrounding vassal states, or even directly usurp the throne?
King You of Zhou has been killed in the melee, and the Zhou royal family has no Son of Heaven, so who should inherit the next Son of Heaven? There are very few historical records of these issues, and we can only infer them from the background of the time at that time.
Obviously, all the princes and survivors of the Zhou royal family who participated in the fight off the dog Rong were extremely concerned about this, because the answers to these questions would directly affect everyone's interests.
Due to the age and the lack of detailed records by historians, we cannot know the details of the discussion and the course of events at that time, but we only know the result: most of the princes, after weighing the pros and cons, chose to elect the son of King You of Zhou and the crown prince supported by Shen Guo as the Son of Heaven, that is, King Ping of Zhou.
This is not difficult to understand, because Shen Guo broke through Hojing and held the crown prince, so he had an advantage in the right to speak.
Despite King Zhouping's successful ascension to the throne, he still faced a number of challenges. On the one hand, some vassal states did not recognize his rule, but supported King Zhou You's younger brother King Zhou Xie, which put the Zhou royal family in a dilemma of two kings standing side by side.
This situation caused great distress to the Zhou royal family, which led to the further aggravation of internal contradictions and internal friction, and the gradual weakening of its power. On the other hand, after King Zhou Ping ascended the throne, he also needed to consider the issue of the capital, especially how to gain the support of the people.
Because he gained the position of Son of Heaven by killing his own father, which called into question his rule in Hokyung. Therefore, how to stabilize the capital and gain the trust and support of the people is a serious challenge for King Zhou Ping.
Staying in Hokyo will come at a great cost, including rebuilding the capital and defending itself against the inujon, as well as guarding against forces loyal to the previous dynasty. In contrast, moving the capital to Luoyi is a better choice.
Luoyi was a big city in the Western Zhou Dynasty, with complete facilities and small losses of the main army forces, close to Zheng and Jin, both of which were feudal states of the descendants of the Ji family, and with their support, King Ping of Zhou could more easily sit on the throne and avoid being overthrown.
If you stay in Hojing, you may be overshadowed by Shen Guo and become a puppet.
No matter how you look at it, it seems that moving the capital to Nakyi is more appropriate than staying in Hojing. Because of this, King Zhou Ping's first decision after ascending the throne was to relocate, from Haojing to Luoyi, that is, from Xi'an to Luoyang.
Since Luoyang was located to the east of Xi'an, the Zhou Dynasty from then on was called the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Judging from the historical background of King Ping's eastward migration and the ins and outs of the whole incident, we can make it clear that it was not King Ping's move to the capital that led to the rapid decline of the Zhou royal family, but that after the Zhou royal family declined to a certain extent, King Ping had to move the capital.
The relocation of the capital by King Ping had a crucial impact on the subsequent development of history.
When King Zhou Ping moved his capital to Luoyi, he found that the reality was not as rosy as he expected. Although Zheng Guo was willing to help the Zhou royal family, they were more selfish and tried to weaken the Zhou royal family.
The Jin State turned a blind eye to the situation of the Zhou royal family, and only took the opportunity to strengthen itself when the Zhou royal family was weakened. This situation of the two kings standing side by side led to the disappearance of Zhou Tianzi's authority for twenty years.
In the past twenty years, the major vassal states have been like wild horses, no longer under the control of the Zhou royal family, and have developed wildly. It was not until twenty years later, when the Jin Kingdom intervened, that King Ping of Zhou successfully defeated King Zhou and re-emerged as the only Son of Heaven.
After King Ping of Zhou defeated Queen Zhou, the strength of the Zhou royal family was not as good as before, and he no longer had the ability to command the princes to sweep the world. Even after leaving the actual control area of the Zhou royal family, it became unknown whether other vassal states would be willing to associate with it.
From then on, the power of the Zhou royal family was at best comparable to that of a slightly more powerful vassal state. After the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, the strength of the Zhou royal family could not even be compared with the middle vassal states.
In addition, in the process of moving the capital to Luoyang, King Zhou Ping made great achievements in order to protect his team of horsemen, so he had to promise them a piece of land.
This team was originally the royal groom of the Zhou royal family, and in order to facilitate the raising of horses, the Zhou royal family also specially gave them a piece of land, roughly in today's Tianshui area of Gansu.
During King Ping's eastward migration, a family of horsemen showed great strength, not only helping to repel the dog Rong, but also escorting King Ping of Zhou to Luoyang. For this reason, King Zhou Ping made a promise: in the Guanzhong area, as long as they repelled the dog Rong again, all the land they captured would belong to them.
This promise made the state of Qin, a vassal state, officially onto the stage of history. Over the next five hundred years, the Qin state grew from strength to strength, eventually sweeping the world and once again unifying the Central Plains.
Looking back at the process of King Ping's eastward migration, we can find that this migration was not accidental, but an inevitable outcome after the decline of the Zhou royal family. And the impact after the migration was largely a consequence of the decline of the Zhou royal family.
Due to the weakness of the Zhou royal family, no single vassal state could fight against all the other vassal states alone and replace the Zhou royal family, therefore, the melee of the princes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period gradually kicked off, which is the real eastward migration of King Ping in history.