With the bankruptcy of politics, economy, military culture and other aspects one by one, the authority of the Zhou royal family plummeted, and it could only barely survive in the strength of the various princes. But at the same time, life was not easy for the princes of various countries, and they also faced pressure from ministers, doctors, and even scholars, and the whole society underwent a great change. It is no wonder that Confucius lamented the famous saying. The emergence of these situations was caused by the disintegration of the Chinese legal system in the Zhou Dynasty.

To put it simply, the patriarchal system is a system of distributing rights and property based on blood relations, and it has a very long history, according to archaeological materials, it is known that there were rudiments of this system as early as the Shang Dynasty. However, the Western Zhou Dynasty reformed and developed this system to make it more suitable for the political and economic situation at that time, and at the same time, the Western Zhou patriarchal legal system stipulated that "the successor should be established by the long and not the virtuous".

It refers to the fact that only the eldest son is eligible to inherit the throne, and the rest of the sons born to concubines are called concubines and are divided into various places and become princes, and so on in the princes' countries, the same son-in-law inherits the position of princes, and the concubine is named qing, the concubine of the secretary is named a doctor, and the concubine of the doctor becomes an ordinary commoner. And so on. With the weakening of the bloodline, the nobles of the past will also become commoners.

Such a design makes the entire ruling class form a huge pyramid-shaped structure, in such a complex and rigorous system, everyone's identity is relative, the Son of Heaven at the top of the pyramid is the absolute great sect, and the princes are small sects relative to the Son of Heaven, and in their own fiefdom are large sects, so interlocking, closely connected, and politically the Son of Heaven is the king of a country, with absolute political potential, and in the clan the Son of Heaven is the patriarch, with the advantage of blood, and also sponsors the status of the ancestral sacrifice when the clan sacrifices, And in this chain. The patriarchal system integrated the political power and the clan power, and the close combination made the rule of the Zhou royal family more consolidated, and the power of the Zhou Tianzi came from this.

To be honest, to put it bluntly, it is to rely on blood to pull the relationship.

But times are always evolving. So the patriarchal system gradually cracked from within. Just as the aforementioned King of Zhou You favored Bao Xi and established his born Bofu as the crown prince, which undoubtedly destroyed the inheritance system of the eldest son, although King Zhou You made himself a smart first to abolish it after his death, and renamed Bao Xi as the queen, but this behavior of covering his ears and stealing the bell could not change the fact that he wantonly trampled on the rules of his ancestors, so King Zhou You also ruined the country.

King Zhou You set a bad example for his descendants, but unfortunately many of his descendants imitated him. In the Spring and Autumn Period, those who were not satisfied with the status quo of the concubines had united ministers or powerful princes to usurp the throne Chaos in the royal family was frequently staged, three years of King Zhou Zhuang, in 694 BC, the ruling minister Zhou Gong Black Shoulder, also known as Zhou Huan Gong, was not satisfied with the king of Zhou Zhuang who had not been on the throne for a long time, since he planned to kill the monarch and coup d'état, and changed the emperor of King Zhuang to Prince Ke. Fortunately, the incident was reported by Xinbo, Zhou Gong died in the shoulder, and Wang Zike took refuge in exile in Yan Kingdom.

King Xiang of Zhou three years, in 649 B.C., his half-brother prince with collusion with Xirong and Beidi, want to try the king to rebel, although King Xiang of Zhou first made a strong move, brought the prince to the country of Qi but the prince did not give up, King Xiang of Zhou 16 years in 636 B.C. The prince made a comeback, and captured Cheng Zhou under the cooperation of some ministers of the Zhou royal family and Beidi. King Xiang of Zhou had to flee to Zheng for refuge, and later it was Duke Wen of Jin who sent troops to quell the rebellion and kill the prince's belt, so that King Xiang of Zhou was able to regain the treasure.

In the 24th year of King Jing of Zhou and in 520 BC, King Jing of Zhou died, and was supposed to be succeeded by the crown prince Meng, but King Jing of Zhou favored his eldest son, Wang Zichao. And designated by him to succeed to the throne, the two for the throne to fight, although the prince Meng called the king, but then was killed by the prince dynasty, the son of the prince Meng Wang Zi Kuo ascended the throne and the prince dynasty for three years.

In the 28th year of King Zhou Ding, in 441 BC, the prince who succeeded to the throne of King Zhou Ding was killed by his younger brother Uncle Wang Zi after only three months of succession, and Uncle Wang was killed by his younger brother Wang Ziwei after 5 months on the throne, at this time it was the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, and the inside and outside of the Zhou royal family had reached the point of intensification, which finally led to the division of the Zhou royal family again.

Even the royal family is so in civil strife, the vassal states that occupy political and economic advantages have not taken Zhou Tianzi in their eyes, and often participate in the civil strife of the Zhou royal family, but at the same time, the civil strife set off by the prince in the princely country in order to compete for the position of the monarch is also endless, one after another, according to the statistics and analysis of the historical records of later historians, there were 43 monarchs killed by his subordinates or enemy countries in the entire Spring and Autumn Period, and the Qing doctors who died in the riots are countless.

With the bankruptcy of the patriarchal system. With the increasing rise of lower-class aristocratic forces such as doctors and even scholars, they took advantage of their numerical advantage to participate in politics and enter the center of power.

With the change of the system of electing officials, it also caused the change of the system of the suffocation, the original patriarchal system could be linked to the well field system, and the distribution of the suffrage was distributed by dividing the land, but with the increase in the number of officials, the rise of the commodity economy and the private ownership and sale of land, the land was obviously not enough to be distributed, so it was changed to the grain system with grain as the means of payment.

In the Book of Poetry, it is written that "the price is a vassal, the master Weiyuan, the great Bang Weiping, the great Zong Weihan, the Huaide Weining, the Zongzi Weicheng, the city is not bad, and the only one is afraid" This sentence is full of beautiful tones, comparing the patriarchal system to a solid city wall, but in the Spring and Autumn Period, this seemingly unbreakable castle has been dilapidated by the torrent of the times.

In order to consolidate the rule, the rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty in accordance with the principle of patriarchal system, the land was divided into the children of the Zhou royal family and the meritorious ministers, the Duke of Zhou, the king of Wu, during the period of the king, successively rewarded 71 countries, with the expansion of the Zhou Dynasty and the increase of noble children, the princes of the wind country increased day by day, and there was the so-called 1,800 countries in the Spring and Autumn Period. Of course, among the more than 1,000 countries, there must be large and small countries, and its famous wood industry is not all in this, of course, among the more than 1,000 countries, there must be large and small countries, and its name is not all contained in the annals, historical researchers have counted the records of the Spring and Autumn War, which have a total of 148 countries, and the larger countries have Qi, Jin, Chu, Qin, Lu, Cao, Zheng, Song, Wei, Yan, Chen, Cai, Wu, Yue and other 14 countries.

The reason for the gradual decrease in the number of vassal states is mainly due to the fact that in the feudal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the jurisdiction of the princes became a state domain. And there are strict restrictions, the princes can not change or leave the territory at will, but after all, the help of the princes is big and small, which has caused the national strength of the princes to be strong and weak, with the development of the times, some of the vast territory, the well-governed vassal states their influence gradually spread across the gang to other places, building their own sphere of influence.

The small countries within the sphere of influence of the powerful countries have become vassals, or simply destroyed by the big countries, this situation has existed in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and in the Spring and Autumn Period, with the decline of the power of the Zhou royal family, it has been unable to effectively control the affairs between the vassal states, so the ambitious vassal states often break out fierce annexation wars, not to mention the fall of small countries, according to the statistics of the Qing Dynasty scholar Gu Donggao, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Qi State annexed 10 countries, the Jin State annexed 18, and the country Qi annexed 12, The state of Chu annexed 42, and the state of Lu, a medium-sized vassal state, also annexed 9, and the state of Song annexed 6.

Transnational Mount Tai, Lu is located in the southwest corner of Qi State. The state of Lu was originally the fief of the Duke of Zhou, and had a close relationship with the Zhou royal family, so it also enjoyed special treatment, and there are such verses in the Book of Songs. "Uncle Wang said, Jiaer Yuanzi, Marquis Yulu, Daqi Eryu, for the Zhou Chamber"

Located in the south is the ancestor of Chu Chu Xiong Ze, it is said that it is the descendant of Zhu Rong, although after the canonization of King Wen of Zhou, but due to the geographical location outside the Central Plains, has always been regarded as a barbarian exclusion by the Central Plains countries, but this is this barbarian in the Zhou Zhao King, King Mu was once inseparable from the Western Zhou royal family, forcing the King of Zhou to canonize the Shen State in the south, as an outpost to guard against the Chu people, to the early Spring and Autumn Period, the increasingly powerful Chu State, simply called itself the king and Zhou Tianzi on an equal footing.

Located in the west is the state of Qin, which, like the state of Chu, although claimed to be a famous family, is said to be a descendant of Boyi, the main assistant of Dayu to control the water. Because of its remoteness, it was regarded as Rong Di, until the period of Qin Xianggong, it was the king of Fengping who moved eastward, and Qin Xianggong contributed a lot before he was officially named a prince, and then took over the royal hometown of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and gradually grew into a hegemon.

Located in the north is the Jin State and the Yan State, the Jin State is the fief of Tang Shuyu, the younger brother of King Zhou Cheng, the son of King Wu of Zhou, originally called the Tang State, and later, because of the Jin water, it was renamed the Jin State, and the Jin State was also involved when King Ping moved eastward. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Jin Kingdom was in rebellion for a long time, and there was also a situation where small sects destroyed large sects. Despite this, the national strength of the Jin State was always strong and played a pivotal role in the political arena of the Spring and Autumn Period.

The northeast of the Jin Kingdom is the Yan Kingdom, and the ancestor of the Yan Kingdom is Zhaogong, who is as famous as Zhou Gongdan. Yan is located in the northeast, the terrain is remote, but fortunately it is the grandson of the Zhou royal family, so it was not excluded by the princes of the Central Plains, but affected by the geographical location, Yan did not have much movement in the Spring and Autumn Period.

In the Central Plains, that is, the area of Henan now, the vassal states near the Zhou royal family are even more numerous, forming a staggered trend. Among them, the relatively large Zheng Guo, in fact, Zheng Guoguo, was formed by King Xuan of Zhou canonized his younger brother Prince, the prince has quite a political vision In the chaos of the Western Zhou Dynasty, he transferred the property and population of the fief in advance, so Zheng Guo not only did not suffer losses, but because he contributed a lot when King Ping moved eastward, his status was promoted to become a powerful country in the Central Plains in the early Spring and Autumn Period.

To the east of Zheng is the Song State. The Song State was established by the descendants of the Shang Dynasty royal family, as the old man of the previous dynasty, was canonized in the Central Plains, and was originally to accept the supervision of the children of the Western Zhou royal family, but in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Song State actually rose briefly by virtue of the favorable terrain. It's a pity that there is no such power, its hegemony is fleeting, and later it has become a battleground for soldiers, and the local people have suffered from the scourge of war.

Wei Guo is also a more important vassal state in the Central Plains, his history is relatively long, is the fief of Uncle Kang, the son of King Wen of Zhou, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Wei Guo has participated in political activities many times, and his performance is also active, but what is surprising is that perhaps Wei Guo is too small, so small that it is insignificant, even if it is too ostentatious. It is also difficult to attract the attention of other countries. Therefore, the name of Weiguo remained until the period of Qin II, when it was officially abolished.

In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the states of Wu and Yue in the southeast also rose one after another, that is, in the present-day Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. These two countries were originally called barbarian countries by the countries of the Central Plains. But they all successively gained the status of the hegemon of the Central Plains with great strength.