During the successive reigns of King Cheng and King Kang of the Western Zhou Dynasty, they inherited the achievements of King Wen and King Wu, and carried out the idea of Duke Zhou's "moral integrity and prudent punishment" internally to ease class contradictions through thrift; they constantly attacked Huaiyi and controlled Eastern minority areas by force, and achieved great success.
Chengkang period is the most powerful period of Zhou Dynasty, so it is praised by Chengkang.
During the reign of King Kang, the country was strong, the economy was prosperous, the culture was prosperous, and the society was stable.
Later generations called this period and the rule in the last years of King Cheng "the rule of Chengkang".
Background
King Cheng was a young man. He once assisted Zhou GongDan, the younger brother of King Wu in Zoke business, to be Regent of the state. The Duke of Zhou was a great statesman. According to the original system of the state of Zhou, he considered the rites of yin and made some profit and loss, and established a set of system to consolidate the feudal rule. This is the "rites and music of the Duke of Zhou" or "canon of Zhou" that the later Confucians highly praised and praised.
At this time, the two younger brothers of King Wu, Guan Shu and Cai Shu, suspected that Duke Zhou would usurp the throne, so they slandered Duke Zhou and contacted with the adherents of Yin headed by Wu Geng. At that time, rumors were all around the court and the public. Wu Geng himself also thought that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, so he actively planned to restore the country. So they colluded with each other and gathered Xu, Yan, Bogu, Xiong, Ying and other tribes to fight against Zhou Dynasty. The Duke of Zhou was in a difficult position at home and abroad.
So he first explained to Zhaogong for help, and then resolutely led the army to carry out the eastern expedition.
After three years of hard fighting, the Duke of Zhou killed Wu Geng, dethroned Guan Cai, attacked 17 countries, such as Yan Xu, and captured Shang nobles and adherents. Because they stubbornly resisted the rule of Zhou, they were called stubborn people or Yin stubborn by the king of Zhou.
In order to eliminate the residual power of the Shang Dynasty and consolidate the rule of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou first ordered the princes to build a new city in Yiluo area, namely the east capital Luoyi. After the completion of Luoyi, the "Yin stubborn people" who had opposed the Zhou Dynasty were moved to this place and strictly controlled.
At the same time, Wei Zi, the elder brother of King Zhou, who surrendered to the Western Zhou Dynasty, established the state of song in the old capital of Shang Dynasty and managed the Shang Dynasty; Kang Shu, the younger brother of King Wu, established the state of Wei in the capital of Zhou Dynasty and granted seven families of Yin people; Bo Qin, the son of Duke Zhou, established the state of Lu and granted six families of Yin people.
In this way, the remaining people of the Shang Dynasty were divided and ruled, and the situation in the world was generally peaceful.
After
After the completion of Chengzhou City, the eastern capital built to subdue the indomitable merchants, the assistant minister Zhougong returned to Chengwang, and the Zhou Dynasty entered a period of consolidation.
King Cheng and his son king Kang inherited the merits of King Wen and King Wu. They were thrifty and restrained many desires in order to ease class contradictions. He also ordered the Duke of Zhou to make rites and music, that is, the establishment and implementation of various laws and regulations of the dynasty.
As the territory of the Western Zhou Dynasty was unprecedented vast, in order to carry out effective rule, the enfeoffment system was implemented, that is, the emperor of Zhou implemented the policy of "confiscating land and building a country".
Enfeoffment in the Western Zhou Dynasty was based on the patriarchal clan and blood relationship, which established the local administrative system under the control of the emperor of Zhou. According to the distance between the territory and the capital, the land and the people on the land were given to the enfeoffees (most of them were vassals). On the one hand, the enfeoffees held political, economic, military and other powers in the land they were granted and exercised comprehensive rule; on the other hand, the enfeoffees had to undertake the obligations of guarding the territory, sending troops to serve the king, paying tribute and paying sacrifices to the king. The enfeoffment of the Western Zhou Dynasty began at the time of King Wu, but the large-scale enfeoffment was in the period of King Cheng and King Kang.
The enfeoffment of the Western Zhou Dynasty strengthened the ruling role of the Zhou Dynasty in a certain period, and maintained the ritual system of emperor, princes, ministers, officials and scholars.
During the Chengkang period, the princes were directly controlled by the central government.
In the reign of King Kang, Zhou ordered the vassals to invade Huaiyi and Dongyi to strengthen their control over foreign countries.
In the later period of his reign, Cheng Wang Jisong was politically clear and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.
Later, Ji song fell ill, worried that his son Ji Zhao was not competent for state affairs, so he ordered Zhaogong and bigong to help. Before long, Ji song died and Ji Zhao, king of Kang, succeeded to the throne. After succeeding to the throne, Duke Zhao and Duke Bi led the princes to accompany Ji Zhao to the ancestral temple. They told King Kang about the hardships of Wang Wen and King Wu's pioneering work, and warned him to be thrifty, diligent in politics, and keep the foundation of his ancestors.
Influence
Combined with literature and inscriptions, the achievements and influence of Chengkang period can be summarized into the following three aspects
1. He continued the Crusades of Wen, Wu and Zhou Gong, and finally established the scale of Zhou family.
In the second generation of Cheng and Kang, the people of Zhou had been carrying out the expedition to the four lands in order to realize the rule of the Zhou people.
2. The great enfeoffment of the whole country was carried out to establish the pattern of the Chinese common cultural circle with Zhou people as the first.
During the period of King Cheng of Zhou Dynasty, the people of Zhou created a new ruling method of "granting people and territory". The so-called "Duke of Zhou establishing vassal and garrison" is called this. The inscriptions on the historical wall plate in the period of King Gong of Zhou say that King Cheng of Zhou "Zhao Che Zhou" and King Kang of Zhou "Fen Yin Yi Jiang". It can be seen that feudalism was also practiced in the period of King Kang, and the scale of feudalism was larger.
3. In order to consolidate the Zhou Dynasty and carry out system construction, lay the foundation of Chinese ritual and music civilization and system civilization.
Zhou Gong's system of rites and music has various contents, such as the establishment of patriarchal system, the inheritance of the eldest son, the temple system, the service system and so on.
Follow-up
After the death of King Kang of Zhou, his son king Zhao of Zhou succeeded to the throne. In the 16th year of the reign of King Zhao, he personally led the army to March south to Chu and Jing, and even to Jianghan area. After three years of Southern expedition, King Zhao drowned when he passed the Han River, and his army was also destroyed.
After King Zhao, his son king mu of Zhou reigned for 55 years. He is very successful and still wants to develop in all directions. King Mu liked to March, which led to the relaxation of the government. In the East, Xu led the nine barbarians to invade Zhou. King Mu's southern expedition was pacified by the United Kingdom of Chu.
After the Zhaomu era, the strength of the Zhou Dynasty weakened.
During this period, Rongdi gradually flourished in Northwest China. During the reign of King Yi of Zhou Dynasty, there was a situation of military invasion and tyranny against China, and the people of Zhou Dynasty suffered a lot.
Evaluate
"The rule of Chengkang" is the earliest recorded peaceful and prosperous age in Chinese history.
During the period of Chengkang in the Western Zhou Dynasty, agricultural production flourished, people's life was relatively improved, and minorities from all over the world came to celebrate the prosperity. It is pointed out that this is the result of ruling the country by courtesy, advocating moral education, implementing policies of benefiting the people and strictly implementing the legal system in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
However, from the reign of Chengkang to the later period of emperor Kang, there were various signs of decline and disorder, such as indulging in women's sex, incessant expeditions, careless punishment, etc.
The study of this period of history of Chengkang period leaves us profound experience and lessons.
