Chapter 58 Feudalism ends, autocracy begins

If there really is an omnipotent god looking down on the earth, he will find that the land of China, which has been turmoiled by wars since 770 BC, is finally calm now. Qin State unified the world and established a brand new dynasty. This dynasty is unlike any that has come before.Before it appeared, there were three dynasties of Xia, Shang, and Zhou in Chinese history, but strictly speaking, it was only a historical era named after the three countries of Xia, Shang, and Zhou. For example, in Europe during the ancient Greek period, everyone knew that Greece was only a small part of Europe.

The same goes for Xia, Shang, and Zhou.During the heyday of Zhou Dynasty rule, the vassal states spread all over the Yellow River Basin, and even the south of the Yangtze River had its subjects, known as "under the whole world, is it the land of the king".However, the only thing that Zhou Tianzi could directly control was Wang Ji's small area.The rest of the vassal states, large and small, are nominally the subjects of Zhou Tianzi, but in fact they have strong independence.China at that time could be said to be a kind of ancient federation.Of course, our ancestors had their own term for this political system, which was called "feudalism and founding the country", or "feudalism" for short.

This feudal system is very similar to the feudal system in the Middle Ages in Western Europe. It is a pyramid-shaped enfeoffment, or a layer-by-layer subcontracting of power. The son of heaven is ordered by heaven and obtains the legitimacy of his rule.But the real power of the Son of Heaven was not enough to rule such a vast land, so he delegated power to the princes and let them establish their own countries in various places.The rule of the feudal lords also depends on the family with the patriarchal clan as the link, so the power of the ministers is guaranteed.Doctor Qing supported his servants and guards, the so-called scholars.

It is not difficult to imagine that the Son of Heaven, who is at the top of the pyramid, is known as the Lord of the World, and his influence has been diminished in the process of power passing through layers.His voice could not reach remote areas. Even in the vassal states near Wang Ji, he could only issue orders to a few vassals, and could not penetrate the base of the pyramid. When the royal family is strong enough, a superficial balance can still be maintained between the emperor and the princes.The former pretended to be magnanimous, while the latter pretended to be submissive, so that they lived in peace.

When the royal family declined, the princes no longer paid attention to the emperor and went their own way.In the various vassals, the power of the officials is also growing, and there will be some powerful families in every country. They control the political situation and attack each other, and they don't pay attention to the vassals.The princes bullied the emperor, and the officials bullied the princes. This is the typical political ecology of the Spring and Autumn Period. From the Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period, the biggest change on the surface was, of course, the decrease in the number of vassal states, which was the result of annexation wars.At the same time, there are two other changes, which are more influential and far-reaching than the superficial changes.

First, Zhou Tianzi is no longer important, and even the superficial appeal does not exist; Second, the major vassal states, the so-called Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, have established a solid centralization of power.In other words, the power of Doctor Qing can no longer control the political situation as before, and can only submit to the absolute rule of the monarch. If you compare China with the West, the power structure of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period is already close to that of France during the Louis XIV period, or England during the Elizabeth period—the kingship has been magnified.

And Qin State stood out among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period. From the time of Qin Xiaogong, it took nearly a century and a half to rule the world with martial arts and martial arts, and finally took the world as its own.King Qin Yingzheng became the first veritable ruler in Chinese history, which is also unprecedented.