In the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, King Zhao of Zhou died on the bank of the Han River, and since then the authority of the Zhou royal family has been challenged, and the sphere of influence has gradually declined.

In the period of King Li of Zhou, although he expanded aggressively externally, he did his best to exploit people internally, such as appointing Rong Yigong to implement the "patent" policy. In order to suppress the dissatisfaction of the people, King Zhou Li implemented a high-pressure policy of being convicted for his words, so that three years later, the people who could not bear the tyranny launched a series of riots and overthrew the rule of King Zhou Li. Known in history as the "National Rebellion", after which all the princes gathered in Hojing. It was temporarily regent in the form of a conference, and was historically known as the "republican administration". On this occasion the rule of the Zhou royal family was truly shaken.

14 years later, the succession of King Xuan of Zhou, so that the Western Zhou Dynasty showed signs of prosperity, under the command of King Xuan of Zhou, the Zhou Dynasty in the northwest, southeast, south and other places have expanded their territory, but the difficult economic situation made the center of the Western Zhou Dynasty just an empty talk. The disintegration of the Jingtian system in the Western Zhou Dynasty made the economy of the Zhou Dynasty face a crisis, and the irrationality and wanton killing of the ministers in the handling of internal affairs by King Xuan of Zhou also made the ministers shudder, and the princes were detached. In the later years of King Xuan of Zhou, the Yi, Di, Man, and Rong around the Western Zhou Dynasty made a comeback, and once invaded the Central Plains and threatened the rule of the Zhou Dynasty.

After King Xuan of Zhou, the last king of the Western Zhou Dynasty, King You of Zhou inherited the throne. It's a pity that God gave him a big stick on the spot. When he succeeded to the throne, the Western Zhou Dynasty suffered a severe earthquake disaster. "Hundreds of rivers are boiling, mountains and mounds are collapsing, the shore is a valley, and the deep valley is a mausoleum" This is the description of this earthquake in the Book of Poetry. It can be seen that the earthquake has seriously damaged people's lives, but King Zhou You not only did not work hard, but became obsessed with the stunning beauty. Therefore, "from now on the king will not come to court sooner"

King Zhou You ignored the general situation of the dynasty and politics, and racked his brains all day long to make Pomeranians smile, but although Bao Xi was like a flower, his personality was as cold as frost, and he never smiled at King Zhou You. Then Yu Shifu came up with a very ridiculous idea for King Zhou You, that is, the famous princes of the Beacon Fire Opera. Bao Xi actually smiled.

A few years later, Bao Xi gave birth to a son Bofu, and King Zhou You, who loved the house and Wu, actually abolished the original queen Shenhou and the prince Yijiu, and wanted Bofu to succeed to the throne. And Empress Shen's father was a prince of the kingdom of Shen, when the news of the abolition reached Empress Shen. Shen Hou was furious and ran back to his father to cry about his misfortune, at this time the king of Zhou was already very little authority, and Shen Hou was eager to protect his daughter, and in a fit of anger, he united with Shanguo and Dog Rong to attack King Zhou You.

King Zhou You, who was powerless to resist when the soldiers pressed the border, lit the beacon again and asked the princes for help, but the princes thought that it was another joke made by King Zhou You for the Pomeranians to laugh. So I didn't pay attention to it at all. So that scene of chaos appeared, the dog Rong captured Haojing, and the Western Zhou Dynasty was declared extinct. A few days later, the vassal states that got the news came one after another, but it was too late, King Zhou You and Bofu died in the chaos, and the whereabouts of the beautiful woman Bao Xi are also unknown, there have been many people who speculated that he was treated as a slave, with the support of Shenhou and other princes, the prince Yijiu succeeded to the throne in Shen and called the Son of Heaven as the king of Zhou Ping, and then, with the support of the Jin State and the Zheng State, the king of Zhou Ping decided to move the capital to the east, that is, to move to the current Luoyang, Henan, which was called Cheng Zhou in ancient times. Since then, the Zhou Dynasty has risen and declined, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty opened, and the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period also began. Although King Ping kept the status of the Son of Heaven in the form of the Zhou Wang's winter, but in fact it was far from the case, due to the successive years of natural disasters and wars, and since the Li Wang's policy of deposing the poor soldiers, the Zhou royal family inevitably fell into internal and external difficulties, the territory gradually shrank, the financial revenue was not paid, the etiquette system was completely destroyed, and the authority also plummeted.

The Guanzhong region was originally the birthplace of the Zhou royal family, but when the Qin State defeated Xirong, the land of Qishan and the east of Guanzhong was returned to the Zhou Wang, but due to the threat of Xirong to the Central Plains, the Zhou king after moving east was unable to take care of this place at all, so soon this land nominally belonging to the Zhou royal family was naturally taken over by the Qin State, which was also in the northwest.

In order to reward the Jin State for supporting the Zhou royal family, Zheng Guo, and the King of Zhou successively gave them some surrounding land. In 673 B.C., the king of Zhou gave the land east of the Tiger Prison Pass to the state of Zheng and the state of Jiuquan in the east of Shaanxi to the state of Qiu. In the 17th year of King Xiang of Zhou, that is, in 635 BC, he gave the Wen land north of the Yellow River to the Jin state, which led to the continuous shrinking of the territory of the Zhou royal family.

In the 14th year of King Xiang of Zhou, in 638 BC, with the conquest of Luhun by the Qin and Jin dynasties, and the internal relocation of their people to the Central Plains and Yichuan, the territory of the Zhou royal family was further compressed, and only a part of the land in the northwest of Henan Province was obtained. Its area is not even comparable to that of a vassal state of the country of ten thousand times.

The problem brought about by the shrinking of land is the financial stretch, the handicraft industry and commerce in the early Spring and Autumn Period were not developed, the country's economic resources almost all depended on agricultural production, and the Zhou royal family relied on that little bit of land and even the normal operation of the state machinery is very difficult, not to mention the huge daily expenses of the royal family, it is said that after the death of King Ping of Zhou, the royal family was so poor that they could not take out the money, and held a decent funeral for King Ping, both for King Huan of Zhou can only send people to Lu State, hoping that they will sponsor some funeral expenses and funeral goods.

It turned out that the boss actually ran away and borrowed money from the person who used to work for him, which is ridiculous.

In the face of the deteriorating economic situation, the Zhou royal family can not maintain the image of the high, after King Xiang of Zhou succeeded to the throne, he actually poured the strength of the whole country and could not find a carriage for the son of heaven, so he had to send people to the country of Lu to ask, but was driven back by Lu Huan Gong with high-sounding reasons, "the princes regardless of the car uniform".

The reduction of the territory under his jurisdiction and the lack of finance made the political and economic capital that Zhou Tianzi had originally surpassed other princes disappear, as the so-called "economic foundation determines the superstructure", which is a classic phrase in political textbooks. A comprehensive and systematic ritual system that was originally established on the basis of the old political and economic situation in the Western Zhou Dynasty also "collapsed and was broken". According to the regulations of the Zhou rites, during the sacrifice, the Son of Heaven is listed in nine tripods, the princes are listed in seven tripods, the Qing doctor is listed in five tripods, and the scholars are listed in three tripods, and they are also buried with the same number after death.

However, by the Spring and Autumn Period, this system had long been completely destroyed by the princes who did not take the authority of Zhou Tianzi seriously. In the 9th year of King Zhouzhuang, that is, in 688 BC, the southern state of Chu destroyed the state of Shen from this territory directly adjacent to the Zhou royal family, and later the king of Chuzhuang competed for hegemony in the Central Plains, tens of thousands of soldiers on the border of the Zhou royal family, and asked the doctor sent by the Zhou royal family, Wang Sun Man, about the importance of Zhou Tianzi Jiuding, that is, the origin of the idiom "winning the Central Plains", King Chuzhuang nakedly exposed his ambition to replace the Zhou royal family. On the surface, this is still the case, not to mention that the princes who sleep underground are even more unscrupulous. It's okay to put a few tripods in your own tomb. In the Spring and Autumn Period, although the etiquette of receiving the order of the Son of Heaven still exists, but the solemnity and sacredness in this form is not as good as before, and when the princes succeed to the throne, they only need to send an envoy to ask for the royal order of the Son of Zhou, and the Son of Zhou has to deceive himself and call it "life". As for some of the more powerful princes, Zhou Tianzi took the initiative to give the king's order to the other party for a long time, and there was no way to talk about debriefing. The princes not only did not report to Zhou, but Zhou Tianzi sent doctors several times to "ask" the princes.