Original link: https://cry33.com/archives/history1.html
Let’s briefly talk about the three divisions. Jin State was a big country in the Spring and Autumn Period and one of the five hegemons in the Spring and Autumn Period. However, the powerful state of Jin was later divided among three foreign ministers. So there are three kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Wei among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period.
At this time, everyone must have doubts, that is, the ministers with foreign surnames divided up the state of Jin, so where did the power of the monarch of Jin go? The clan of the Jin Kingdom just watched the ancestors’ inheritance be taken away by others?
With these questions, start today’s theme.
When it comes to the three divisions of Jin, we have to mention another major event in the early Jin state: Quwo Daiyi. I can say this, it was because of Quwo’s generation of wings that it planted the root of the disaster for the later three divisions.
Of course, first of all, I would like to introduce to you what is Quwodaiyi. Quwo and Yi are both place names. It is simply understood that the power of Quwo replaced the power of Yicheng.
When the emperor of Zhou divided the kingdoms, the capital of Jin was set in Yicheng. The monarch of the Jin Kingdom owns the territory, and will also carry out a second sub-sealing of his own territory. As the territory of Jin State, Quwo was entrusted to the youngest son of the monarch. Because the eldest son succession system was implemented at that time, the eldest son’s lineage has always been in Yicheng, while the younger son’s lineage has always been in Quwo.
Later, Quwo’s clan staged a coup d’état to usurp the throne and seize the throne of the eldest son’s lineage. To put it simply, it is equivalent to the Ming Dynasty king Zhu Di who successfully created a rebellion against his nephew Zhu Yunwen. Therefore, the power of Jin State was controlled by Qu Wo. This is Quwo on behalf of the wing, the small sect replaces the large sect, and the side branch replaces the direct son line. This directly negates the primogeniture system.
After the side branch succeeded in seizing the throne, he became a direct descendant. Since the early stage used disgraceful means to seize power, then in the later stage, it will do everything possible to consolidate its own power. The supreme ruler of Jin State was deeply afraid that the tragedy of his predecessors would repeat itself in himself, and lived in panic every day. In the end, he simply did not do the second, thinking that if he killed all the clan, there would be no worries. So the next monarch started a crazy clan slaughter game in Jin.
If the clan has been slaughtered and weakened, then only foreign surnames can be reused to control the government. The monarch of the Jin state was not stupid, so he began to implement the six ministers system in the country, that is, he reused six ministers with foreign surnames to control the government.
After the monarch of Jin State used the system of six ministers, the monarch thought that by appointing multiple surnames to hold power, the powers would be easy to check and balance each other, and then he could sit back and relax. In fact, this kind of system can still be suppressed by the early Ming lords, but the later mediocre lords inevitably lead the country to a situation where the power is controlled by several foreign families. People’s hearts are greedy, and no one will be satisfied with the power in their hands, so the era of conquest and merger of the six ministers has come.
The six masters fight each other, and the outcome is either your death or my death. At the end of the fight, only four remained: Zhi, Zhao, Han, and Wei Siqing. Among them, the Zhi clan was the strongest, and the Zhi clan was arrogant and domineering, so the Zhao clan offered land. When the Zhao clan refused to obey, the Zhi clan became furious and joined forces with Han and Wei to attack Zhao. In order to completely exterminate the Zhao clan, he did not hesitate to flood Jinyang with a flood. Seeing that the Zhi family was immoral, the Han and Wei families were all terrified. At the time of life and death, Zhao sent envoys, who knew it with affection, moved with reason, and said that the lips and teeth were cold, and successfully turned Han and Wei against the water. At a critical moment, the three Han and Wei families joined forces to destroy the Zhi clan.
After the Zhi clan was exterminated, the Han, Zhao and Wei families dominated. At this time, the Jin Lord was lonely and weak, and he had no power to rely on. He could only watch the ancestors’ inheritance be divided up by foreign surnames, and the three families were divided into Jin.
Taking history as a mirror, today when we look back on that history, we can only sigh that the current situation has no solution. When Quwo took over the wing, the original eldest son inheritance system was destroyed. When rule-breakers are lawless, then everyone will be rule-breaker careerists. The monarch’s purge of the clan was not entirely out of suspicion.
Its body is not upright, although orders do not obey. The coup usurper will inevitably be resisted by the original forces. In the face of resistance, those in power can only impose more brutal repression. Therefore, the cleansing of the imperial family is an inevitable necessity.
Today, we will stand from the perspective of God after the fact, saying that it is not good to slaughter the clan, because it is easy to be dominated by foreign surnames in the later period. But when the loyal and filial people at that time faced the usurper, why did they not resist? There was no reason for the high-ranking careerists at that time not to be brutally suppressed. Therefore, conflicts are inevitable, and we can only sigh that the current situation has no solution.
Let’s talk about the six ministers system founded by Jin Wengong, which is also a decision that cannot be made. The genes of distrusting one’s own family have been deeply buried in the decision-making of the monarch of Jin, so he can only use foreign surnames. He was also worried that the foreign surname would dominate the family, and the dictatorship would bring harm to the country, so he created the six-lord system. The six families jointly assist the monarch to govern, the monarch becomes more relaxed, and he is not so busy. When he has nothing to do, he can still make small moves to let the six families fight and balance the power structure. This seems to be very good. Why did it deteriorate later?
In fact, the reason is very simple, that is, there are too many incompetent and mediocre masters in the later stage. Having ancestry does not mean IQ or means. Then in the later stage, he will definitely be played around by Ning Chen, and he will help him count the money when he is sold. For example, in the later Qin Ershi Hu Hai, Zhao Gao wanted to kill him before he knew he was sold.
The biggest sadness of the Jin state is that the system of six ministers is essentially the rule of man, not the rule of law. Under the rule of man, even a good system will eventually deteriorate. Whether the system deteriorates depends entirely on the monarch’s own quality.
Of course, it is too harsh to measure the ancients with today’s political concepts. But a very sad fact is that only in this way can Jin be rescued in that time and space. But we all know that it is impossible, because human cognition is the biggest resistance.
Even today, many people still follow the rule of man and worship people blindly. There is no concept of the rule of law. There are laws and regulations, but not by the rules. The law does not forbid everyone to wear what kind of clothes, but they have to care. This is an arrogance of the system. Lack of contractual relationships in civil society, lack of a good understanding of rights and obligations, putting the cart before the horse by treating oneself as a citizen and an official as a parent. There are countless such cases.
Life is short, but history is long. If you don’t understand the present, read more history. If you don’t understand history, look at the present. Use human nature to comprehend history, and human nature to interpret the present. I believe that more perspectives will be opened and more experiences will emerge.
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