During the Spring and Autumn Period, the aristocratic official system had not yet declined. Although Jin, Chu and other countries had begun to set up counties, and Jin and Wu had also begun to set up counties, most of the county officials or county officials in counties and count

The emergence of counties

The origin of counties may be from Chu or Qin, but it is difficult to prove it in detail now. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the aristocratic official system had not yet declined. Although Jin, Chu and other countries had begun to set up counties, and Jin and Wu had also begun to set up counties, most of the county officials or county officials in counties and counties were still composed of ministers. and their descendants, which is different from the Warring States period when all county magistrates were appointed and removed by the monarch.

Chu State was the first to establish counties. About 680 BC, King Wen of Chu Wen appointed Peng Zhongshuang as his Ling Yin, and he was responsible for the extension and extension of the county (Zuo Zhuan, the 16th year of Duke Ai). According to the report, the death of Xi was in the 14th year of Lu Zhuang Gong : " Cai Aihou was a Xin, and the rope of Xi was falsely used to speak to Chu Zi. Chu Zi was like Xi, so that he could enjoy it, and then he was destroyed." Shen Yu The ground is connected. "Zuo Zhuan" Zhuang Gong's sixth year: "King Wen of Chu attacked Shen", and Shen's destruction should be at this time. This is seen in the records of the establishment of counties in Chu and the beginning of the establishment of counties in Yin. "Zuo Zhuan" records that Chen was destroyed by Chu four times and became a county during the reigns of King Zhuang, King Ling and King Hui of Chu. It seems that the counties of Chu State were all set up after the vassal states along the border were destroyed.

"Zuo Zhuan" says in the twelfth year of Xuan Gong: "If you patronize the former, you will be blessed by Li, Xuan, Huan, and Wu, and you will not waste your country, change your service to the king, and destroy the nine counties." Nine is an imaginary number, so there is no need. For example, Du Zhu, Kong Shu, etc. actually refer to a certain county in a certain country, which shows that by the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, the number of newly established counties in Chu State had increased. The chief of a county in Chu State is called the county official, also known as Yin. The reason why the chief of Chu County is called Gong is because, according to "Zuo Zhuan" in the 30th year of Zhuang Gong, Du Zhuyun said: "Chu arrogates the title, and the county officials who arrogantly call themselves Gong." Most of the senior officials in the Chu State are called Yin, such as Ling Yin. The highest official position in the Chu State, followed by Zuo Yin, You Yin, Zhen Yin, Lian Yin, Palace Yin, etc. The status of the County Yin of Chu State is second only to the Ling Yin and Sima of Chu State, and the County Yin can be directly promoted to Sima.

Jin established counties earlier in the Spring and Autumn Period. In 635 BC, "The Marquis of Jin besieged the Yuan". "Yuan surrendered" and "moved Yuan Bo Guan to Ji, Zhao Sheng became the original doctor, and Hu Qin became Dr. Wen" ("Zuo Zhuan" the 25th year of Duke Xi). Jin called the county chief a doctor. The former doctor and Wen doctor are the doctors of the original county and Wen county . In 627 BC, Jin Kingdom Kenchen was recommended but lacked merit. Duke Xiang rewarded him with "Xian Mao County" (the 33rd year of Duke Xi in "Zuo Zhuan"). This was the record of setting up counties and establishing county officials in Jin State. the beginning. In 594 BC, Jin defeated Qin in the Fu family. "The Marquis of Jin rewarded Huanzi and Di Chen with thousands of houses, and also rewarded the counties with Gua spread by the scholars" ("The fifteenth year of Zuo Chuan and Xuan Gong"), which shows that the Jin Dynasty is in In the middle of Spring and Autumn, counties were generally established. A room is the place where it lives, so it is used as a unit of calculation. This reward is based on labor force, including cultivated land, etc., which has the same meaning as Wei Zhao's note on "wives, concubines, goods and wealth". Here, the city and the county are both called together, and its private nature is very clear. Later, Shengzi of the State of Chu warned Yin Zimu to pardon Wu Ju's crime because Wu Ju was preparing to defect to the Jin State. "The people of Jin will join the county to compare with their uncle" ("Zuo Zhuan", the 26th year of Duke Xiang).

Shuxiang was a famous clan in the Jin State, and Wu Ju had a county. Compared with it, it can be inferred that this county was a private fief. Jin's rewards for people coming from other countries were also based on counties. This shows that it was common for Jin to establish counties in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. By the late Spring and Autumn Period, not only the monarch had control over many counties, but also the powerful officials had jurisdiction over several counties as their power increased. In 537 BC, "Han Xuanzi was like Chu sending off his daughter, and his uncle was the one who introduced him." King Ling of Chu wanted to "use Han Qi (Xuanzi) as the palace, and Yangtongue (Uncle Xiang) as the palace" to humiliate the Jin Dynasty. Peng Qijiang thought that "Jixiang, Xingdai, Shuqin, Shuxiang" Jiao and Ziyu are all members of the family. The seven towns of Han Dynasty are all counties. Yang Shi , because there are ten families and nine counties, Changyi is nine hundred, and the remaining forty counties are left with four thousand, and he is furious to avenge his great humiliation. It's useless to be scornful." (See "Zuo Zhuan" in the fifth year of Zhaogong).

It can be seen that when Jin was in Pinggong, the Han family had seven counties, the Yangyu family had two counties, and the entire Jin Dynasty had 49 counties.The difference between counties and ordinary fiefs is that they are probably larger than ordinary fiefs and can afford heavy taxes. Here, "county" refers to each other as everyone and strong families, which is very meaningful. By the time of Jin Qinggong, 514 BC, "Wei Xianzi came to power and divided the Qi family's land into seven counties, and divided the Yangshe family's land into three counties" ("Zuo Zhuan" in the 28th year of Zhaogong) . The counties of Jin are different from the fiefs of the officials. The fiefdom of Qing Dafu will always be hereditary from generation to generation, as long as the title is not seized and the clan is destroyed. Although county officials are also hereditary, they change frequently. For example, the prefecture and county originally belonged to Que, but in the seventeenth year of Lu Chenggong Jin Ligong destroyed Sanque, it belonged to the Zhao family and was later passed on to Luan Bao. After Luan Bao was destroyed, the prefectures and counties were given to Gongsun Duan of the state of Zheng. After Gongsun Duan's death, it was passed down to his son Feng Shi. Zheng's Zichan exchanged the prefectures and counties to Jin through Han Xuanzi. Han Xuanzi did not want to take the prefectures and counties as his own, so he "taken Yiyuan County (originally Jin Yi, it is unknown when it belonged to the Le family of Song Dynasty) in Le Daxin" ("Zuo Zhuan" Zhaogong 7th year), explaining the counties of Jin Most are not hereditary.

This shows that in the late Spring and Autumn Period, with the decline of the Jin Dynasty, the dictatorship of the officials and the annexation of the officials, more and more counties were directly under the powerful officials, and at the same time, they were privately owned and often interchanged. At the same time, due to the spread of counties, the original boundaries between country and countryside have gradually disappeared.

The original counties were all located in the border areas. "Huainanzi·Zhushu" Gao Yuan notes: "Counties are far away", which is very true. These counties have the character of important border military towns directly under the monarch, and the county chiefs appointed by the monarch can be hereditary. For example, in Shen County of Chu, the first county official was Shen Gong Douban, and his successor Shen Gong Douke (also known as Yiwen) was the son of Douban. Another example is the Yuan County of Jin. The first county official was Zhao Shui, who was called Yuan Ji, and his successor was Zhao Shui's son Zhao Tong, who was also called Yuan Tong. Another example is the Duke of Shen Wu Chen of Chu, who went to Jin. In Jin, he was regarded as Doctor Xing, and the son of Wu Chen was hereditary as Xing Bo or Xing Hou. In the early Spring and Autumn Period, in order to strengthen centralization of power and strengthen border defenses, large countries such as Jin and Chu often converted newly annexed small countries into counties instead of fiefdoms for ministers and officials. What makes a county different from a feudal city is that there is a centralized political and military organization in the county, especially a tax collection system. On the one hand, it facilitates the monarch's centralized rule, and on the other hand, it strengthens border defense. "Zuo Zhuan" records that in the seventh year of Chenggong's reign, during the Chu siege of Song Dynasty, "Zizhong asked to take Shen and Lu (two counties) as a reward for the land." The wizard of Shen Gong said: "No. This is why Shen and Lu are the cities. Fu, to control the north. If you take it, there will be no Shen and Lu, and the Jin and Zheng will definitely go to the Han." This is the proof.

In the late Spring and Autumn Period, with the changes in society, officials representing emerging forces appeared in the Jin Kingdom. These officials implemented the county system in their territories, and the county gradually became a local administrative organization. By the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the organization of counties appeared in Jin State. The county was originally located in the newly acquired borderland. Because the borderland was remote, vast and sparsely populated, although its area was much larger than that of the county, its status was lower than that of the county. Therefore, Zhao Jianzi swore during the battle: "Those who defeat the enemy will be subject to the county by the superior officials, and the county by the inferior officials." ("Zuo Zhuan" in the second year of Ai Gong). The local organization at the county and county levels, that is, the county was divided into several counties, was something that happened after the border areas gradually prospered during the Warring States Period.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, it seems that only the two countries with formal county systems were Jin and Chu. Although other countries have records of counties, counties, etc. in their records, there seems to be a problem. For example, "Historical Records·Qin Benji" says that in the 11th year of the Qin Dynasty, Duke Wu of Qin "conquered the state and Jirong, and the counties were first established"; in the 11th year, "Du and Zheng were the first counties". The county mentioned here may mean "county county". In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Qin State was still very backward, especially from the time when the Shang Yang Reform was recorded in "Historical Records, Qin Benji" and "Biographies of Shang Jun", "small villages were gathered together to form large counties", here we see There seems to have been no county system before. In the ninth year of Lu Xingong (651 BC), Qin accepted Jin Hui Gong . "Guoyu • Jinyu 2" records that Hui Gong said to the Qin envoy: "The king actually has prefectures and counties." In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was no "county" in the Chu State, and the "county" in Jin was under the county. Therefore, what "Jin Language" says seems to be a colloquial terminology of people in the Warring States Period, and should not be believed at all.