During the Spring and Autumn Period, fierce struggles between the royal family, princes, ministers and officials at the upper level of society caused serious shock to the constraints between the monarch and ministers formed by the relationship between the patriarchal law.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, fierce struggles between the royal family, princes, ministers and officials at the upper level of society caused serious shock to the constraints between the monarch and ministers formed by the relationship between the patriarchal law.

Such as "Governing with virtue is like the North Chen, where the stars live and purr it" ("Analects of Confucius·Politics") , "The king has three things to examine, one is that virtue is not in his position, two is that merit is not in his salary, and three is that one is that one is that one is that one cannot be in his official position. These three books are the origin of governance and chaos" ("Guanzi·Li Zheng") and other new theoretical views on the relationship between the king and the king and the minister have gradually emerged and received attention.

The above view holds that one who is a monarch not only has bloodline, but also has the ability to govern the country and employ people. The Shiqing, who assists ministers, should also be tested by virtue, function, and capabilities.

In this atmosphere, the office, the ministers and officials and scholars successively presided over government affairs, which fully demonstrated that the system of the clan’s family based on patriarchy and blood relationships could only tend to collapse.

The patriarchal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty was the rule of the emperor as the main corpus of the world, so it was called "Zongzhou" . The throne was hereditary by the eldest son, and the rest of the king's sons were named princes and the small clan of the kingdom.

The princes were the chief clans in their country, and the princes were hereditary, and the sons of the princes were named the nobles and officials, and the small clans of the marquis.

The nobles and officials were the chief clan in their own fiefdom, and the eldest son was hereditary, and the sons of the nobles and officials were named scholars and the junior clans of the nobles and officials.

The princes of different surnames also implement this system. Those with the same surname as the king and prince are the common clan, and those with different surnames are the noble clan. They have been passed down from generation to generation to become the main clan, also known as "Classic clan" . With their superior status, these aristocratic races have served as officials in the kings and princes for generations, which is the so-called "Shiqing" system.

Later, the royal family declined and the princes rose. At the same time, the power of the nobles and officials in the vassal states also rose relatively. They praised government affairs around the monarchs of the vassal states, made merits and requested rewards in wars, and their private land and strength gradually expanded. They often gained the status of decision-makers in some matters, and often ignored the monarch, even drove the monarch, killed the monarch, and abolished the monarch.

As some examples are recorded in "Zuo Zhuan" :

• In the 18th year of Cheng Gong, Luan Shu of Jin and Zhongxing Yan killed Jin Li Gong. In the 25th year of Duke Xiang, Sun Linfu of Wei State and Ningjian expelled Duke of Wei Xian. In the 25th year of Duke Xiang, Qi State Cui Zhu killed Duke Zhuang of Qi.
• In the 25th year of Duke Zhao, Ji Sun Ruyi of Lu State expelled Duke Zhao of Lu.
• In the 14th year of Duke Ai, Chen State Huan killed Duke Jian of Chen, and the situation emerged that "the country is inconsistent and the monarch and ministers are inconsistent" ("Zuo Zhuan·Zhaogong 32nd Year").

After that, the three families divided Jin and the Tian family's reign on Qi were also caused by the autocracy of the nobles and officials.

At the same time, after seeing the lessons of the decline of the royal family, the princes were unwilling to repeat the same mistakes, and they were even more unwilling to be controlled by the nobles who were originally their ministers. Therefore, the princes also tried their best to strengthen control.

The princes thought of:

• The princes gave fiefs based on the official positions of the ministers. If the official positions were removed, part or all of the fiefs would be taken back ("Analects of Confucius·Xianwen").
• The ministers and officials must leave their official positions due to illness, and return the town to the Duke ("Zuo Zhuan·Xiang Duke 22nd Year").
• The private subordinates and armored soldiers of the ministers will be returned to the command of the king.

While annexing the fiefs of the nobles and officials, the various vassal states successively established county systems, and "Those who defeat the enemy will receive the county, the lower officials will receive the county, and the soldiers will receive the county, and the common people will receive the province in business and commerce, and the officials will be exempted from the jurisdiction of the officials." 's regulations on military merits but not completely according to blood ties.

Therefore, there have been bureaucratic systems without hereditary and employment relations and servants in various countries. In fact, the non-priest and ministers are used to check and balance the nobles and officials.

These people who are capable of helping the monarchs of the vassal states check and balance the nobles and officials mainly come from the class of "scholars" . "Scholars" 's composition is very complicated. They are lower than doctors and higher than common people, and many of them belong to low-level nobles.

According to the system, they enjoy the power of education, learn the six arts of etiquette, music, archery, imperialism, books, and mathematics. With the skills they have learned, they mainly engage in the following careers:

• serves the monarchs and ministers, acts as low-level officials, or holds important positions in the army with martial arts and strategies.
• The hero traveled far away and asked for appreciation, and even the one who knew him died.
• discusses debate theory based on literary talent, teaches students, and writes books and makes theory.
• uses skills to engage in business and business skills.

Therefore, it is a class that is widely distributed and widely surviving in all links of society and has considerable energy.

When the blood relationship between patriarchs was generally destroyed, and the monarchs and ministers of various vassal states urgently needed talented people to serve themselves, "Sir" became the object of their fight for and fight for.

The monarchs of the vassal states recruited scholars with their official positions, titles and salaries, and the nobles used their support to expand their power and improve their reputation. For example, in the Warring States Period, the Mengchangjun Tian Wen, there were thousands of diners under their sects.

There are naturally many thieves among them, but in the fierce competition, some talented soldiers are indeed standing out.

During the Warring States Period, he was a general and minister of various countries. He had significant political achievements and military achievements. He established his fame and fortune in the world, such as Wu Qi, Leyang, Shang Yang, , Pang Juan , Sun Bin , Zhang Yi , Su Qin , Leyi , Fan Sui , Bai Qi, Cai Ze , Lin Xiangru, Lianpo , Li Mu, Li Si , Wang Jian and others.

These people have become important auxiliary ministers of the monarch, either famous ministers, famous generals, or famous strategists for a while, and become important roles on the military and political stage at that time.

is in line with this, and the status of scholars has certainly been greatly improved. The commonly popular names of "Scholars and Doctors" , "National Scholars" , etc. at that time reflected that "Scholars" already had a high social status.