Grain History Plus 000092 "Historical Records" Volume 4 "Zhou Benji" 32: How to make Zhou Tianzi in the Spring and Autumn Period maintain the prestige of the Emperor?

In the twenty-third year, King Huan collapsed, and King Tuo of Zizhuang stood up. In the fourth year of King Zhuang, Zhou Gong Heijian wanted to kill King Zhuang and set up Prince Ke. Xin Bo sued the king, and the king killed the Duke of Zhou. Prince Ke Benyan.

In the fifteenth year, King Zhuang collapsed, and King Zili was established by Hu Qi. In the third year of King Li, Duke Huan of Qi began to dominate.

In five years, King Li collapsed, and King Zihui Langlied. The second year of King Hui. At the beginning, King Zhuang had concubine Yao, who gave birth to a son, who was favored by him. When King Hui came to the throne, he seized his ministers and thought he was a prisoner, so the doctor Bian Bo and other five people rebelled and planned to summon Yan and Wei Shi to attack King Hui. King Hui went to Wen, and now lives in Zheng Zhiyue. Lili Wang's younger brother Yu is the king. The music and dances made Zheng and Guo angry. In the fourth year, King Zheng and Guo killed Wang Jing and returned to King Hui. In the tenth year of King Hui, Duke Huan of Qi was given as his uncle.

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King Huan died after twenty-three years on the throne, and was succeeded by his son Zhouzhuang King "Tuo".

In the fourth year of King Zhuang's reign, Duke Zhou "Black Shoulder" wanted to kill King Zhuang and embraced "Prince Ke". Minister "Xin Bo" reported the news to King Zhuang, King Zhuang killed Duke Zhou, and Prince Ke fled to the State of Yan ( Xin Bo told King, King killed Duke Zhou. Prince Ke ran to Yan ).

The "Duke of Zhou" referred to here is not the Duke of Zhou who made rituals and music, but another person who inherited the title of "Duke of Zhou". But what makes people puzzled is that this "Duke of Zhou" is called "Black Shoulder". I really don't understand the purpose of his parents to help him choose this name? Is it because of the dark skin on the shoulders? Or do you expect his shoulders to get tanned? Every time I see this piece of history, I always feel that the name is very good.

Closer to home, King Zhuang of Zhou reigned for fifteen years. His son Zhou Li (ㄒㄧ) King "Hu Qi" ascended the throne.

In the third year of King Li's reign, Duke Huan of Qi began to dominate the princes.

King Li died five years after his reign, and was enthroned by his son, King Hui of Zhou, "Lang (pronounced ㄌㄧㄤˇ or ㄌㄤˇ).

Regarding King Hui of Zhou, Sima Qian first added a background: At the beginning, King Hui's grandfather Zhou Zhuang Wang favored Yao Ji ( Zhuang Wang Huan Ji Yao ), and gave birth to a son named "稨", who was very favored ( having a son, Ling has a favor ). However, because this "scorpion" was not a direct son, he was later succeeded by King Li.

The plot returns to the part of King Hui of Zhou. After he ascended the throne, he seized the minister's garden as a place to raise livestock ( and King Hui took the throne and took his minister as a confinement ). Because of this incident, in the second year of King Zhou Hui's reign, the doctor "Bian Bo" and other five people rebelled, planning to mobilize the troops of Yan and Wei countries to attack Zhou Hui King ( so the doctor Bian Bo and other five people rebelled , recruiting Yan, Wei Shi, and attacking King Hui ). Facing the rebellion of the doctors, King Hui of Zhou fled to the place of "Wen", and later lived in "Yu" in Zheng State (King Hui went to Wen, already living in Zheng Zhiyue ).

After Zhou Tianzi fled, "Bian Bo" and others supported King Li's younger brother, the uncle of King Hui of Zhou, "Zhu" as king. This is why Sima Qian wrote a short paragraph about "Zou" in the text. reason. After Zhou Tianzi was driven away, this group of people played music and performed various songs and dances, which made the monarchs of Zheng and Guo annoyed when they knew about it ( music and dance, Zheng and Guo angered ). Therefore, two years later, in the fourth year when King Hui of Zhou was still in power, the State of Zheng and State of Guo launched an attack together, killed King Zhou of Zhou, and escorted King Hui of Zhou back to the imperial court ( Zheng and King Guo attacked each other). Kill Wang Jing and return to King Hui ).

In the tenth year of the reign of King Hui of Zhou, he bestowed Duke Huan of Qi as the leader of the feudal lords ( given Duke Huan of Qi as his uncle ).

In this "Post-You King Era", the content of the Zhou Dynasty has largely been reduced to the records of the running account, similar to what we usually learn in textbooks. After all, at this time the focus of the world was on the "overlord", and the textbooks did not particularly focus on the lingering Zhou royal family.

Therefore, through the records of Sima Qian, I have a deeper understanding of this history of the gradual decline of Emperor Zhou's status.

For example, King Huan of Zhou was rude to Zheng Guo, so the land he went to Taishan to worship the sky was taken away by Zheng Guo, and he sent troops to attack Zheng Guo and was defeated.

Another example is the "black shoulder" of Zhou Gong under King Zhouzhuang who planned to rebel against the children of the emperor, but his deeds were revealed and he was killed.

There was also King Zhou Hui who robbed the nobles of their land and was overthrown. As a result, the nobles and the new emperor celebrated wildly, provoking other vassal states, and finally everyone assisted King Hui of Zhou to regain power.

These seemingly mundane contents, if you can think of the emperor of Zhou as the king of the world, you will find that "the emperor" should be the representative of the authority of the world, and should be the symbol of the authority of the world. Acts, but also ignored by other vassal states. The authority of the emperor can be said to be gone.

However, having said that, in the post-You Wang era, the Son of Heaven still had a very important function, that is, to bestow the title of "overlord" on the princes, just like the " given Duke Huan of Qi as an uncle " mentioned in today's content.

I have some feelings about this. I once read a book about the Japanese emperor, which mentioned the characteristics of the Japanese emperor's "one line of life". In contrast, China has repeatedly changed its dynasties, and there is no blood relationship between the upper and lower dynasties. Why can the emperor of Japan be passed down from generation to generation, but the emperor of China cannot? Is the Emperor of Japan always strong? of course not. The emperor of Japan has also experienced a number of situations where his status has gradually declined. However, the key to the fact that the Emperor of Japan has never been replaced by any prince is that no single prince has the power to suppress all princes. In other words, if any prince intends to replace the emperor, it is bound to cause a backlash from the rest of the princes. Therefore, the Japanese princes can only be the "Shogun of the Shogunate" at most, and dare not take the position of the emperor.

From this point of view, it is not easy for the emperors of the "Post-You King Era" to revive the Zhou Dynasty, but if they can make good use of their diplomatic skills, it is like giving other princes the privilege of "overlord" status. , to take advantage of this privilege to suppress the vassals that may pose a threat, so that you can always maintain a certain authority, so even if you cannot restore the prestige of the Zhou Dynasty, at least it will not be reduced to a situation where it will eventually be destroyed!

The above are just a few of my thoughts and thoughts.