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During the Spring and Autumn Period, with the decline of the Zhou royal regime, the struggle between the princes became more intense, and everyone wanted to fill the gap in the power of the Zhou emperor.
Each vassal state adopts different methods, either respecting the king and expelling the barbarians, or marrying and forming alliances, thereby enhancing the strength of the country, in order to have a foothold in the Spring and Autumn society and dominate the Jiuzhou.
Under such historical background, the major vassal states in the Spring and Autumn Period took turns to become overlords, influencing the situation in the Spring and Autumn Period. What is the overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period? How can I become the overlord of in the spring and autumn ?
1. Background of the overlord politics of the Spring and Autumn Period
Confucius once distinguished between "the truth" and "no way". He said: "When the world is clear and clear, the power of rituals and music conquests is controlled by the emperor; when the world becomes chaotic, the power of rituals and music conquests is controlled by the princes.
is controlled by the princes, and the state exists for no more than ten generations; if the doctors are controlled by the state, the state power will not exceed five generations; if the accompanying ministers are controlled by the ministers, there are few that are passed down from generation to generation and are not lost."
In Confucius's view, the complete ritual and music system of the Western Zhou Dynasty constructed the ideal order of the king, the ministers and the ministers.
In the pre-Qin period, the most important thing for the country was etiquette and military affairs. The highest power of rituals and music was controlled by the emperor, representing the orderly operation of the feudal country.
The emperor of Zhou masters rituals and music to conquer the world means that he can still command the world, which is "the truth"; when the power of the Zhou emperor collapses and the power of the Zhou royal family falls, the rituals and music to conquer, which represents the highest power, is when the world has no truth.
Under the feudal system of Western Zhou , the emperor established a country and enfeoffed princes. The princes were divided into "family", namely political and blood groups.
The vassal states further enfeoffed the country and established a "family" headed by The ministers and officials, who often sent retainers to govern the fiefdom. Princes and ministers can be kings within their respective prosecutors, so this system has also become a "hierarchical monarchy."
But Confucius did not completely deny the world's no way, but made a more specific distinction.
When the supreme power fell into the hands of the princes, Confucius believed that the world was injustice, but he also said that it could be maintained for ten generations; if the power of the monarch was actually controlled by the nobles, it could be maintained for five generations; in the end, he would be governed by the ministers, and then the country could only be maintained for three generations.
For example, Yang Hu, the retainer of the Ji Sun family in the State of Lu, gradually undermined the Ji Sun family, and held real power. This is the situation where the retainers are in power.
In short, the more political rights move, the more serious political disorder and the world is injustice.
When the authority of the emperor fell to the princes, he could still maintain the norms of rituals and music and social order to a certain extent.
Spring and Autumn was an extremely special period in ancient Chinese history. Political power has not yet been absolutely employed, abide by the rules, and respect for faith and righteousness.
Later, under the suppression of the Western Rong, the Western Zhou Dynasty was destroyed, and the Pingwang moved eastward, and the Chinese countries were constantly invaded and faced a serious survival crisis.
In such an era, the overlords of the Spring and Autumn Period became the key to maintaining the Chinese ritual and music civilization after the collapse of the authority of the Zhou emperor. The vassal states held high the banner of "respecting the king and expelling the barbarians" in order to achieve the cause of the overlord.
On the one hand, the overlord states joined forces with the Chinese countries to rescue the vassal states that were invaded by barbarians, and on the other hand, they respected the formal "common ruler of the world" Zhou emperor, and maintained the status of rituals and music and sect law.
The hegemonic politics of the Spring and Autumn Period effectively prevented the collapse of the world order and politics, largely protected the Chinese civilization, and opened up new horizons in the fields of political culture and spiritual civilization.
Qian Mu once said that Spring and Autumn Period was an era of extremely beautiful, delicate, noble and elegant, completely different from the bloody and violent during the Warring States Period.
Overlord politics is by no means a hegemonic country bullying the weak with its strong national strength, nor is it a strong country bullying the weak during the Warring States Period. Therefore, Confucius highly praised the Guan Zhong , which helped Duke Huan of Qi to achieve the hegemonic cause.
Overlord politics is a special phenomenon in the Spring and Autumn Period. How did the overlord country be formed? What are the standards and principles?
2. Research on the Overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period
For a long time, people have been controversial about the determination of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period . According to the age, there are mainly the " Five Hegemons " theory in the Warring States Period and the "Five Hegemons" theory after the Warring States Period .
The "Five Hegemons" of the Spring and Autumn Period in the Warring States Period refer to Duke Huan of Qi, Du Wen of Jin , King Zhuang of Chu , King of Wu Helou , and King Yue Goujian . They are mainly recorded in the documents and historical materials of King of Warring States Period, such as "Mozi", "Xunzi", "Lüshi Chunqiu ".
"Mozi·Suran" indirectly pointed out that the five kings who dominated the princes in the Warring States Period were Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, King Zhuang of Chu, King Helu of Wu, and King Goujian of Yue, but did not clearly put forward the concept of "Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period". The views in
The views in "Xunzi·Wangba" are the same as those in "Mozi". After the Warring States Period, the statements about the Five Hegemons in the Spring and Autumn Period were more diverse, and more people involved in the Five Hegemons, including Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, King Zhuang of Chu, Duke Mu of Qin , Duke Xiang of Song , King Helu of Wu, King of Wu Fuchai , and King of Yue Goujian of Yue .
"Zuo Zhuan" has many records about the princes. Duke Huan of Qi joined forces with the princes many times, and last year the emperor of Zhou even gave him a recognition of his hegemony. At this time, Duke Huan of Qi's hegemony reached its peak under the joint witness of the emperor and the princes.
After Duke Huan of Qi's death, Duke Xiang of Song joined forces with multiple vassal states to attack Qi's and supported Qi Xiaogong . At that time, 后六官网 's 后官网 saw its intention and thought it would be difficult for him to dominate.
King of Chu Cheng once established a alliance of princes with Chu as the leader. After the victory of Duke Wen of Jin, he summoned the princes as the leader of the State of Chu after winning the victory.
Duke of Qin Mu once helped the three monarchs of Jin to deliver food twice to save Jin famine. After the reign of the throne, Duke Dao of Jin resisted the Rong people in the north, actively developed the country, used the Wu Kingdom to restrain the Chu Kingdom, and at the same time actively fought for the dependence of Song, Zheng and other countries, and re-established their hegemony.
Duke Wen of Jin and Duke Xiang of Jin continue the hegemony of Jin and prevent the attack of Qin . King of Chu Ling , he did not comply with etiquette and law, ascended the throne, and eventually committed the anger of the public.
involves eight monarchs in five countries. Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin were ordered by the Zhou royal family in the Kuiqiu Alliance and the Taoist alliance , and were the most prominent overlords in the Spring and Autumn Period.
plus the princes involved in the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period after the Warring States Period, there are twelve monarchs in seven countries, namely Duke Huan of Qi, Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Xiang of Jin, Duke Dao of Jin, Duke Mu of Qin, Duke Xiang of Song, King Cheng of Chu, King Zhuang of Chu, King Ling of Chu, Wu Helu, Wu Fuchai, and Yue Goujian.
In addition, there are also scholars Zheng Zhuanggong included in Spring and Autumn Xiaoba . Therefore, this article discusses the standards of Spring and Autumn overlords from thirteen monarchs.
3. The standard for the overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period
first, strong national strength. During the Spring and Autumn Period, a great country had two meanings: one was that its territory was wide and its military and economic strength was strong;
The other was that although its national strength was lacking, its political status was high. The early Spring and Autumn Period Zheng State should meet the second level of standards. Although the national strength is weaker than that of Qi Qin Jin Chu, Zheng Wugong and Zheng Zhuanggong were both nobles of King Ping of Zhou, and their political status is very prominent among the vassal states. In the first year of Duke Yin of Lu, Zheng State used the royal army and Guo army to attack Wei State. In the ninth year of Duke Yin, Zheng State raised troops because the Song State did not surrender to the Zhou royal family.
Zheng State took advantage of the emperor's order to act among the princes and directly had conflicts with the Zhou royal family. At this time, the Zhou royal family still had strength, unlike the need for the protection of the princes later.
Zheng State relies on the identity of Zhou Wang's Qingshi and acted as a king, but because of the limited strength of the country, hegemony was not enough to support it. At the same time, Zheng State was not morally appealing enough, so although it was very prosperous, it never established a hegemony.
aligns with Qin, Jin and Chu, and the term "big power" is reflected more specifically. Duke Huan of Qi successfully created a dominance, Jin and Chu rose one after another, Qin was blocked from advancing east, but it was also very strong in the west.
After being assisted by Guan Zhong, Duke Huan of Qi actively reformed and developed the country while implementing the policy of "respecting the king and expelling the barbarians" diplomatically, and ultimately dominate the Central Plains. Although the strength of these four countries has increased and increased, they are undoubtedly the overlords of the Spring and Autumn Period.
second, Fanping weekly room . Just as Confucius lost the "righteous" and "no way" to divide the world from the side of the regime, Duke Zhuang of Zheng realized this problem very early. As a minister of the King of Zhou, he became the first prince to "strike the unintentional court" in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Although the "Zuo Zhuan" does not directly indicate that Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin played the slogan of "respecting the king and expelling the barbarians", the ability of Duke Zhuang of Zheng to act with the king's order in the early Spring and Autumn Period is enough to show that King Zhou lost power.
Throughout the Spring and Autumn Period, the vassal states also participated in the activities of serving the king in order to gain benefits from it. In addition to Qi and Jin, there were also Qin.
At that time, Duke Wen of Jin had just restored his country, and civil strife broke out in Jin State. Tuishu, Taozi and others joined forces with the Di people to defeat King Xiang of Zhou, and King Xiang of Zhou had no choice but to flee to Zheng State.
King Xiang of Zhou asked for help from Qin and Jin. The following year, Duke Mu of Qin led his army to station on the shore of the Yellow River to prepare to welcome King Xiang of Zhou.
2 The emperor of Zhou declined and the regime fell. It was an undisputed fact that the emperor had almost only his name left in this period. It was also considered a matter of the king's affairs, which was in line with the great righteousness of the Zhou Dynasty in the vassal period.
The rise of overlord countries on the one hand, on the one hand, protects the vassal states from invasion by surrounding areas, and on the other hand, it can continue to maintain the identity of the Zhou emperor as the "common ruler of the world" and the patriarchal ritual system of Zhou Dynasty .
Duke Huan of Qi's hegemony is well-known, and his success in "respecting the king" is undeniable.
Third, help the weak. After King Ping of Zhou moved eastward, the territory of the Zhou royal family shrank, the country was insufficient, and the powerful vassal states annexed small countries to the surrounding areas, and many small countries perished during this period.
The emperor could not prevent the occurrence of annexation. If there is no new authority to maintain order, the annexation will develop viciously, surrounded by barbarians, unstable culture, and Chinese civilization will suffer a severe blow.
It is precisely based on this consideration that Confucius praised Duke Huan of Qi. His focus on establishing hegemony was to strengthen the unity of the Xia Dynasty, which has positive significance for preserving and developing Chinese civilization. The reason why hegemony can unite with the Chinese countries and gain the support and recognition of small and medium-sized countries in the alliance is that the hegemon itself practices morality and supports the weak in order to establish authority. Hegemony is not won by force, but by morality and behavior.
Conclusion
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the regime fell and society gradually became out of order. The Zhou emperor lost the ability to maintain patriarchal rituals and music and protect the vassal states, and the phenomenon of small vassal states being annexed.
is in a historical context of unstable cultural foundation and surrounded by barbarians. Allowing the vicious development of annexation wars will bring irreparable damage to Chinese civilization.
So the hegemonic country was born. The hegemonic country in the Spring and Autumn Period made important contributions to the maintenance and protection of Chinese civilization through "respecting the king and expelling the barbarians".
References: "Spring and Autumn" "Records of the Grand Historian"
