After the establishment of Western Zhou , Zhou Gongdan established Zhou Li, and the most core one is the "primary son inheritance system" to avoid internal friction and maintain internal stability.
From King Cheng of Zhou (son of King Wu of ) to King Yi of Zhou, the Western Zhou Dynasty has been in total for six generations, and they all adopted the system of inheritance of the eldest son. However, after King Yi of Zhou passed away, there have been major changes in the inheritance system.
Uncle Zhou Yi was called Ji Pifang , and the eldest son was called Ji Xie . According to the Zhou Li, Ji Xie should succeed to the throne, but in fact, Ji Pifang became the emperor of the Western Zhou Dynasty. This was the first time that the Western Zhou Dynasty violated the "large-sen inheritance system".
The problem is that King Yi of Zhou lived around 937 BC to 892 BC, in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and before the late dynasty was rampant, in this situation where the dynasty rule should be relatively stable, why could Ji Pifang become the emperor of Zhou , and why did Ji Xie not win the throne?
In the first year of King Yi of Zhou, a nomadic tribe called "发有" did not give King Yi of Zhou any face, and immediately sent troops to invade the Western Zhou Dynasty. The people of the country suffered a lot and wrote poems to satirize King Yi of Zhou's incompetence in governing the country. "Records of the Grand Historian" records that "When King Yi was, the royal family declined, and the poet was a sarcasm."
At the beginning of the throne, the Western Zhou Dynasty was invaded by foreign races, and the responsibility could be put on the former emperor, but the capital was still invaded by foreign races many times. " Bamboo Book Anniversary " records: "In the seventh year of King Yi, the Western Rong invaded Hao (Haojing), and in the thirteenth year of the Di people invaded Qi (Zhouyuan Qishan). In the fifteenth year, the king moved from Zhou to Huaili (now southeast of Xingping, Shaanxi). "In the 21st year of King Yi of Zhou, he ordered Duke Guo to lead his army to attack the northern expedition of Quanrong, but he returned in a great defeat.
Cheng Kang Zhaomu period, the northern alien races were always suppressed, but after King Yi of Zhou ascended the throne, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. The alien races continued to invade the Western Zhou Dynasty, and even faced the city of Haojing many times. The reasons are nothing more than two aspects: on the one hand, the national strength of the Western Zhou Dynasty was declining, and on the other hand, King Yi of Zhou was incompetent in governing the country.
But from the perspective of the ruling group, it was difficult for them to intuitively discover that the national strength was declining at that time, but they believed that King Yi of Zhou was incompetent in governing the country, so internal conflicts would become more and more intense. According to the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the historians who read the orders before King Yi of Zhou were detailed and cumbersome processes; but the name after King Yi of Zhou lacked the process of booking the orders, and the reader became King Yi of Zhou himself... In short, the old etiquette and system were broken! This phenomenon reflects the conflict between the Zhou emperor and the princes and ministers, and the aura of the Zhou emperor began to fade.
King Zhou Yi had another thing, which also disappointed the princes and ministers very much. In 897 BC, the astronomical phenomenon of " day absent " occurred, which was that it occurred twice in a day. It should be that the total eclipse of in the morning. King Yi of Zhou was frightened and thought that Haojing was unlucky, so he chose 地地 (also known as 地地 , now southeast of Xingping, Shaanxi) as the new capital, and later renamed Huaili. The next year, before the new capital was built, King Yi of Zhou hurriedly moved the capital, which not only hurt the political dignity of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but also forced many ministers to abandon their interests in Haojing.
Outside, King Yi of Zhou continued to lose his troops and lost his territory; internally, King Yi of Zhou continued to compromise and cracked down on the authority of the king; King Yi of Zhou was even more frightened to move the capital, which hurt the interests and dignity of many ministers... Such things led to the ruling group being very dissatisfied with King Yi of Zhou, so the Bamboo Book Annals recorded: "In the age of King Yi, he lived in a prosperous life and had no orders from time to time, and the Hu family could not share his duties, so the princes carried virtue."
According to the requirements of the Zhou Li, " established the legitimate for the elders, but did not use the virtuous, and established the son for the nobles but not the elders." Therefore, no matter what, after King Yi of Zhou passed away, his eldest son Ji Xie should succeed him. But King Yi of Zhou was really incompetent in governing the country, which led to unprecedented crises both at home and abroad. Historical books say that Ji Xie was weak and incompetent, so this gave Ji Pifang the opportunity.
Regarding Ji Pifang's succession, the "Records of the Grand Historian" records only one sentence, namely, "King Yi died, King Gong (King of Zhou Gong)'s younger brother Bi Fang was established, and he was King Xiao." As for how Ji Pifang succeeded to the throne, no mention was made."The Bamboo Book Annals" records that "the princes then carry virtue", because Ji Pifang's succession to the throne was not in line with the Zhou rituals, so his succession was said to be "the princes support more virtuous people", that is, "the establishment of virtue but not the founding of the eldest son" or "those who have virtue in the world live in it."
For Zhou Xiaowang , Sima Qian records very briefly, with only more than 20 words in short, and his achievements were not discussed. However, "Bamboo Annals" records that King Xiaowang of Zhou worked hard to govern and actively cracked down on the threat of Xirong to a certain extent, and "revitalized" the Western Zhou Dynasty. Unfortunately, the Zhongdao collapsed, so his posthumous title was "Xiao" after his death. This posthumous title is the best summary of his achievements.
It is worth mentioning that , Qin State, later dominated the west, only started with the help of King Xiao of Zhou. At that time, in order to attack Rongdi, King Xiao of Zhou actively raised horses and discovered the ancestor Feizi, who was good at raising horses. Later, he enthroned the Feizi in Qin land, and was a vassal and occupied 50 miles.
Therefore, from the perspective of King Xiao of Zhou's ability, the reason why he was able to succeed the throne was first related to the desire of the Western Zhou Dynasty under specific historical conditions that the Western Zhou Dynasty could change the status quo and reshape the glorious empire; secondly, King Xiao of Zhou was skillful in his methods and attracted ministers and princes, thus gaining a lot of support, that is, "the princes then carried virtue", thus breaking the strict "the eldest son inheritance system."
Because King Xiao of Zhou succeeded to the throne and did not abide by the Zhou rituals, Sima Qian deliberately hid the relevant deeds of King Xiao of Zhou when telling this history, and his description of him was very simple.
Finally, after King Xiao of Zhou passed away, it was not his children and grandchildren who succeeded to the throne, but Ji Xie succeeded to the throne, known in history as " Zhou Yi Wang ". As for why Ji Xie was able to succeed the throne, "Records of the Grand Historian" records that "When King Xiao died, the princes re-established Prince Xie of King Yi, which was the King Yi, ". Why did the princes re-established Ji Xie? This is an unsolved mystery.
Reference materials: "Records of the Grand Historian", "Bamboo Anniversary"
