However, the rise of King Xuan was not long. In his later years, the country went downhill again.
Background
During the reign of King li of Zhou, the land originally owned by the state was more and more converted into private land owned by the nobles. Then king Li appointed the eldest father of Duke Guo and Duke Rongyi, and began to attribute the output of mountain forest and forest to the royal family. Because this policy harmed the interests of ordinary people, it was opposed by the majority of the people, but Li Wang refused to listen to opinions.
It is all up with three years later that the angry people attacked the palace, and the king of the past fled the Yellow River and fled to * (Shanxi Huo county). After the escape of King Li, the people of the Republic of China jointly promoted the government of Gongbo and Regent. Later, King Li died in the fourteenth year of the Republic Administration (827 BC).
Duke Zhou and Duke Zhao supported King Li's Prince Jing to ascend the throne for King Xuan.
Politics
After King Xuan ascended the throne, he learned from his father, King Li, and with the help of Duke Zhou and Duke Zhao, he got rid of the bad policies of King Li's period and restored the policies of Wen, Wu, Cheng and Kang periods, which made the declining Zhou Dynasty recover its vitality.
After conquering the southern kingdom, in order to consolidate the rule of the Zhou royal family over the southern territory, King Xuan moved his uncle Shenbo to Xie (now Nanyang, Henan Province). In the 22nd year of Emperor Xuan (806 BC), he continued to be enfeoffed in the early Western Zhou Dynasty and granted his brother and friend Zheng (now Huaxian East, Shaanxi Province).
In terms of internal affairs, the first is to reform the politics, supplemented by the Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Zhao, and appoint Yin Jifu, Zhong Shanfu and other virtuous officials to follow the political legacy of King Wen, King Wu, King Cheng and King Kang.
Wang Xuan was open-minded and actively listened to the opinions of his subordinates.
He also warned officials not to embezzle taxes and pay taxes.
At the same time, we should strengthen discipline and require officials to restrain themselves from indulging in alcohol and making trouble.
At the same time, it also announced that it would "not use 1000 mu". Before King Xuan, the emperor held the ceremony of borrowing farmland every spring. By the time of King Xuan, it was difficult to continue the previous method of collective cultivation of public land. So King Xuan announced the abolition of the ceremony. This measure obviously has the significance of relaxing the control over mountains, forests and rivers.
After a period of hard work, the domestic situation began to turn for the better, the princes also came to court one after another, and Zhou's prestige was restored.
Military
On the other hand, after King Zhou Xuan ascended the throne, he sent nanzhong to Shuofang to strengthen his defense. At the same time, he sent Yin Jifu to lead the northern expedition to Taiyuan (generally referring to the Yellow Soil Plateau in Northern Shaanxi and Northern Shanxi), where he fled and other Rongdi tribes also surrendered to Zhou.
After the victory, King Xuan sent uncle Fang to lead the army to the south of Jingchu, and also won some victories.
Later, Yin Jifu was sent to subdue the South Huaiyi by force. The South Huaiyi offered tribute and temporarily controlled the southeast region and restored its influence on the south.
In the south of Zongzhou, Qin Zhong was appointed as a doctor to fight against Xirong. As a result, Qin Zhong was killed by Xirong, and five brothers, zhuanggong, the son of Qin Zhong, were called to lead 7000 soldiers to fight against Xirong again, which resulted in victory.
Faxiyi
After the decline of the Zhou Dynasty, the surrounding Rongdi tribes continued to invade the Zhou Dynasty, especially Yu and Xirong in the northwest. Because they are still in the nomadic class, they often directly threaten the capital of hojing.
In the fourth year of Emperor Xuan (824 BC), Qin Zhong, a descendant of Feizi, was regarded as a doctor and started a large-scale counterattack war against Rong people. Qin Zhong was killed when he attacked Xirong. King Xuan also ordered his son, five brothers of Qin zhuanggong, to defeat Rong and win.
In the fifth year of King Xuan, King Xuan and Yin Jifu fought against Xirong in Guya (now northwest of Chengcheng, Shaanxi). Later, Yin Jifu led his division to Zhenyuan, Gansu Province, forcing Xirong to retreat to the northwest.
At the same time, King Xuan launched wars against Xunyu, Kunyi and Yu. These Rong clans, who had been in decline in Zhou Dynasty, once went deep into the hinterland of Zongzhou, forcing the Zhou people, who were used to settling down and farming, to flee everywhere, making their lives difficult. King Xuan's use of troops drove him to the far north.
Later, King Xuan ordered nanzhong to guard Shuofang, so that they no longer had the chance to invade the northern border.
The victory of the Xirong war safeguarded the safety of people's lives and property, and ordinary people were also jubilant. "The book of songs · Xiaoya · driving out" and "the book of songs · Xiaoya · June" expressed their joy of victory and praise of war heroes.
Conquering Huaiyi
As for the Huaiyi who invaded Jianghan area, from the second year of xuanwang (826 BC), xuanwang began to invade Huaiyi in the southeast and jingman in the south.
He ordered Mu Gong, his minister nanzhong, the great master Huangfu, and the great Sima chengboxiu to lead the army to attack the Huaiyi, and to move eastward along the huaishui River, so that Xu, the most powerful of the local states, would obey and meet the Zhou Dynasty.
During this period, King Xuan also ordered uncle Fang to lead his troops to fight against jingman (i.e. Chu state) and Yin Jifu to fight against xurong. These wars were very arduous, and countless battles were carried out in more than ten years.
In 810 BC, nanzhong sent Ju Fu and Gao Fu to Huaiyi region. All the countries met the king's orders and offered tribute. Only then did they conquer them.
King Xuan granted these newly conquered territories to the war heroes such as Zhao Mugong, Shen Bo and Zhong Shanfu. These deeds are recorded in Jianghan and Songgao in the book of songs.
Expedition to the South
In the late years of King Xuan, because of the frequent use of foreign troops, the combat effectiveness of Zhou Shi was greatly consumed.
In the war against Shenrong, Taiyuan Rong, tiaoyong and benrong, only Shenrong won.
In the 39th year of Emperor Xuan (789 BC), when Jiang Rong was conquered, the two sides waged a war in a thousand mu area. King Xuan called "the division of the southern kingdom" to take part in the war. As a result, the division of the southern kingdom was lost. Zhou Shi originally had six West divisions and eight Chengzhou divisions, but in this war, he used the Southern Division, which reflected the shortage of troops.
Economics
Cancel the gift of land registration
Originally, the land was owned by Zhoushi, and the emperor of Zhou would divide the land into minefields again, so that farmers could work in the minefields. In the spring of every year, the emperor will personally hold the ceremony of land acquisition, that is, the national farming mobilization.
However, in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the original state-owned land system was greatly damaged. Not only the original "public land" became private land of the nobility, but also the land reclaimed from wasteland became private land. These lands were divided into many pieces by the nobles and were given to the people to cultivate by themselves.
During the reign of King Li, in order to reclaim the land to the state, he did not hesitate to resort to tyrannical means. As a result, he was driven away.
After King Xuan ascended the throne, he realized the existing facts and complied with the current situation by abolishing the ceremony of land registration which was necessary every spring.
The abolition of this system should be a must for the emperor of Zhou. It was originally a kind of recognition of private ownership of land by King Xuan. Since private ownership is a fact, the related ritual system is redundant. Because King Xuan recognized the private ownership of land, the people's enthusiasm for labor was improved, and the damaged agricultural production began to recover in the period of King Li.
Only in this way could the king of Xuan have the strength and capital to fight against Yu and Xirong in the north and Huaiyi and jingman in the south, which led to the resurgence of the king of Xuan.
However, King Xuan's action of conforming to the situation was not understood by the conservative aristocracy. Some people blame King Xuan for his defeat in the battle of Qianmu.
Statistical population
Because of the failure of the battle of one thousand mu and the loss of the Southern Division, King Xuan decided to "feed the people in Taiyuan". Data people, which means statistics of population.
King Xuan's action of looking after the people was opposed by the nobility, and Zhong Shanfu thought that:
Since ancient times, we can know the population without counting the population. Because Si min is responsible for registering life and death; Si Shang is responsible for giving family names; Si Kou is responsible for executing criminals; and all walks of life know the number of people they manage.
King Xuan did not listen to his advice, but still did the population statistics.
King Xuan's measures not only increased the state's control over population, but also solved the problem of shortage of troops.
Influence
Under the surface of Zhongxing, all kinds of social contradictions in the Western Zhou Dynasty continued to develop. Some princes refused to help defend the royal family, and some even planned a rebellion.
According to the bronze "Yuding" at that time, the officials originally belonged to the Marquis of the Zhou Dynasty. They united with Dongyi and nanhuayi to attack the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty, and fought until they reached the vicinity of Chengzhou. King Xuan poured all his forces to resist, but failed. Finally, he had to rely on the strength of some marquis to win.
In 789 BC, the army of the Zhou royal family attacked Jiang Rong. The army was almost lost, and King Xuan was almost captured.
King Xuan Zhongxing made some achievements in politics and military.
In a series of wars against Yan Yun, Xirong, Xu Rong and Jingchu, he won many victories, but sometimes he lost.
King Xuan repeatedly enlisted corvee, which was opposed by the ministers, and a large number of serfs fled. Some villages became deer farms, and some countryside became grass.
However, in the aspect of political reform, it is difficult to achieve much because of the strong resistance of the nobility.
Before his death, the work of material collection was not finished.
In his later years, his ambition to prosper was greatly reduced, and he often lived in the palace, greedy for banquets.
In order to establish his favorite Duke Xiaogong of Lu as the monarch, he did not hesitate to launch an army to overthrow Lu, which resulted in discord among the princes with the same surname.
Some nobles feel the coming of crisis and choose to escape, which also shows the sharp contradictions of the ruling class.
Evaluate
After King Xuan of Zhou ascended the throne, with the assistance of Duke Zhou and Duke Zhao, the original turbulent situation gradually became stable after rectifying the internal affairs.
However, the heavy military service and corvee increased the burden of the working people and aggravated the class contradictions.
Therefore, until his son Youwang ascended the throne, a great crisis finally occurred in Zhoushi. In the end, it could not cover up the decline of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
The xuanwang Dynasty in the Western Zhou Dynasty is known as "Zhongxing" in history, which can be proved by many documents. However, the academic circles have always had different comments on this issue
Some scholars believe that "King Xuan of Zhou is a farsighted and decisive British leader"; some books point out that "King Xuan period did not ease all kinds of social contradictions, but exposed the weakness of the ruling forces"; some history textbooks even come to the conclusion that "the so-called" King Xuan Zhongxing "is obviously not worthy of the name.
