Chapter 14: Dividing the World (2)
After the victory of the Zhou division's Eastern Crusade, the territory of the dynasty changed dramatically. The power of the Western Zhou Dynasty extended eastward to the sea, north to the Jixian area of Hebei, and south to the Huai River Valley. A large amount of land lacked a new lord, so the royal family carried out a second great partition.
The eldest son of the royal family named the Duke of Zhou, Bo Yu Yu, and the country name was "Lu"; Feng Lu Shang is in Pugu's hometown, and the country name is "Qi". Qilu became a horn, clamping down on the Dongyi countries.
The royal family also named Uncle Kang, the younger brother of the Duke of Zhou, in the southwest of Shao Kingdom, with the country name "Wei" (the same as Yin and Wei in ancient times), and belonged to six divisions in the Wei Kingdom, known as the "Wei Sixth Division" in history; Feng Cao Shu Zhenduo in present-day Shandong Dingtao, the country name "Cao"; The son of Feng Zhaogong was in the southwest of present-day Beijing, and his country name was "Yan".
With the further expansion of the power of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the partition continued for many years, and most of the active states in the Spring and Autumn Period appeared during this time.
A few years later, King Cheng of Zhou destroyed the Tang Dynasty (now west of Yicheng, Shanxi), and then sealed his younger brother Shu Yu here. In the early days of his reign, Shu Yu followed the name of the Tang Dynasty, and later changed the name of the country to "Jin".
As the dynasty's influence expanded to the Jianghan area, the Zhou people began to look for new spokespersons there.
King Wen had a teacher named Mane Xiong, a descendant of Zhuan, and he was not awarded the title during his lifetime. When King Cheng heard that the clan of Mane Bear had gathered in the area of Danyang (now Zigui, Hubei), he sent an envoy to posthumously seal them and said: "Bugu is grateful for the merits of your ancestors, Mane Bear, and I will seal you in Danyang, and the country name is 'Jing' (later known as Chu)." Since then, he has guarded the wilderness for the royal family and crusaded against disrespect. ”
After the death of Dayu buried in Huiji Mountain (now near Shaoxing, Zhejiang), when the mausoleum was built for Dayu, the descendants of the people who guarded the spirit settled here, and over time, people established the country. King Cheng repeated what he had said to the Jing people and named his country "Yue".
King Cheng also appointed a prince from the Yuguo office to Gusu, and the country name was "Wu". It is undeniable that the purpose of Wu's existence is to prevent the northward expansion of Yue.
A few generations later, due to the open confrontation between the Chu State and the Western Zhou Dynasty, the royal family canonized several countries with the surname Ji to the east of the Han River to contain the Chu State.
Generally speaking, there were two forms of feudal princes in the Western Zhou Dynasty:
The first is to divide the members of the royal family. There are sixteen countries established by the sons of King Wen alone, and there are at least sixty other noble feudal states surnamed Ji, most of which are built in rich and strategic places;
The second is to appease those vassal states that already exist, some of which have a history that can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty. Re-entitle them, such as Chu, Yue, Deng, Yu, Yan, etc.
The feudal state is based on the five-rank system of "duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male": the land of the duke and marquis is within a radius of 100 miles; Fifty miles of uncle, son, and man; Less than 50 miles cannot be an independent state, and must depend on a large country to exist, which is called a "vassal".
The feudal Grand Duchy of the Western Zhou Dynasty had two kingdoms, the East and the West, the Yu State, and the Song State; Hou Bo has Qi, Lu, Jin, Wei, Chen, etc.; Zi Nan has Wu, Chu, Yue, Xu and so on.