The Spring and Autumn Period is the disintegration period of our slave society. The authority of Zhou Tianzi plummeted, and some larger vassal States competed for hegemony. This tells us that one of the most remarkable historical features in the Spring and Autumn Period is the decline of the Zhou royal family and the hegemony of princes. So, what are the aspects of the decline of the Zhou royal family?

1. The strength is seriously weakened.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the strength of the Zhou royal family itself was seriously weakened. (1) The land directly under its jurisdiction has little population left. When the Western Zhou Dynasty was strong, the land directly under the jurisdiction of the Zhou royal family was about a thousand miles away from Haojing to Luoyi. After Wang Ping moved to the capital, the land in the west was owned by the State of Qin, and the land under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family was about 600 miles. Later, due to the embezzlement of governors, the occupation of Rong nationality and the reward of meritorious governors, the land became less and less, and finally there was only about a hundred miles of land. When the land decreases, the population naturally decreases. (2) the strength is greatly reduced. Land decreases, population decreases, and financial, material and military resources naturally decrease. When the Western Zhou Dynasty was strong, there were more than 6.5438+0.4 million troops under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family. After moving eastward, there are still 30 thousand people. Later, it was gradually reduced to only a few thousand.

2. The opposite change of status

The decrease of royal land, population and army shows that the political, economic and military strength of Zhou royal family has been seriously weakened, so the status of Zhou royal family has changed completely. In other words, in the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhou lost the qualification of "co-governing the world", but was politically and economically attached to a powerful vassal. Two examples cited in fine print vividly reflect this change. It was against the background of the decline of the Zhou royal family that the lively scenes of the vassal hegemony appeared one after another. As a "co-owner of the world", although Zhou existed in name only, the authority he enjoyed in the past was missed by some big vassal States. As a result, some larger vassal States fought for land and population, and for the political and economic privileges enjoyed by Zhou in the past, constantly carrying out merger wars and striving to be vassal hegemons. This is the reason and essence of warlord hegemony. Writing on the blackboard can be simplified as fighting for land, robbing people and enjoying privileges. ) In the early Spring and Autumn Period, there were more than 140 vassal states, the most famous of which was the Five Overlords in the Spring and Autumn Period. In history, there are two versions about the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period. Song Xianggong's hegemony failed, but he was killed. Qin Mugong's eastward advance was blocked, and it developed westward, dominating Xirong. Neither of them became the overlord of the Central Plains. The five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period described in this article mainly focus on the hegemony of Qi Huangong, Jin Wengong, Chu Zhuangwang, He Lv, King of Wu, and Gou Jian, King of Yue.