The demise of the Western Zhou royal family has always been believed by historians to have come from the "abolition of Concubine Lishu", that is, King You of Zhou deposed Yi Usu, the son of Empress Shen, and replaced it with the son of the favored concubine. This practice caused the displeasure of Shen Hou, who went on to unite with Rong Di to kill King You of Zhou.
Based on the records in the literature, we can summarize the historical events before and after as follows: first, King Youwang of Zhou favored Andi; second, The Prince Yiusu, who was born after King Zhou You's deposing of Shen, changed his uncle's clothes; third, Inuyasha killed King Zhou You; and fourth, King Ping of Zhou moved east.
"Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, Spring and Autumn" Zhou Youwang stills
The order of these events has always been indisputable. However, there are different ways of interpreting the specifics of these events. Inconsistencies are also revealed in the literature. For example, where is the "Shen" that Prince Yiusu ran? What does it have to do with Inuyasha? Wait a minute.
Shen Hou played an extremely important role in this series of events, so where does this "Shen" really refer to? The author believes that the geographical location of "Shen" should be close to that of Xi Rong, because historians have always regarded Shen, Jiao, and Xi Rong at the same time, and in terms of literary meaning, the geographical locations of the three should be similar.
If the above inference holds, then the "Shen" who participated in the Battle of Lishan is Xishen in the west of Hokyo and near Xijong. The reason for this reasoning is because in addition to Xishen, there is also Nanshen, and Nanshen is an option that the author denies.
Whether these two "Shen" are related by blood, we are not sure, but if Shen Hou is from Nanshen, a question will arise: Nanshen is located in Nanyang, so far away from Xirong, how will they form an alliance? Combined with the fact that Shen, Jiao, and Xi Rong are mentioned simultaneously in the literature, if the "Shen" of Shen Hou is interpreted as "Xi Shen", then this problem will be solved.
Stills of "Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, Spring and Autumn" after Shen
With this in mind, the next thing we're going to discuss is the role that Sishen played in these events. "Bamboo Secretary Year" Yun: "Thirty-nine years of King Xuan, Wang Zheng Shen Rong, broken." ”
Only seven years after Zhou attacked Shen, King You of Zhou took the throne and appointed Xi Shenlai's daughter as his queen, and made his son the crown prince. Why did Zhou's relationship and political stance with Xishen change so much?
We all know that Xishen has a very important strategic value for the Zhou royal family in terms of the control of Rong Di, that is to say, Zhou is quite dependent on Xishen. As the Zhou royal family's control over the princely states became weaker and weaker, when King Xuan of Zhou was in the middle, he tried to use force against Shen to regain the power of the Zhou royal family, but the effect was not good, so intermarriage became the first choice of the Zhou royal family.
However, what no one expected was that King Zhou You actually deposed Shen Hou and established a praise. When Xi Shen learned of this, he would naturally retaliate against the Zhou royal family with his influence on the West, which caused the tragedy of the demise of Western Zhou.
As one of the Ping Clans of Zhou, Xi Shen befriended his nearby Xi Rong in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and his strength should not be underestimated. The marriage between King Youwang of Zhou and Shen was indeed an out-and-out political marriage—after the shen woman was made, her son Yiusu was made crown prince. Just as the so-called "mother is precious to the child, and the son is precious to the mother", Yi Usu is the best example of "the son is precious to the mother", he was made the prince, and his mother's family played an important role.
In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou royal family was unfavorable for many years of war, which made the original majestic Zhou Wangshi disappear, and the original social class also underwent tremendous changes.
At this time, Rong Di was already eyeing the tiger, and it was conceivable that Zhou had to rely on Xi Shen as a screen domain. Not only that, this situation of serious external troubles also caused a backlash from the old nobles within the Zhou royal family. It should be known that although Xishen had the function of "Bao Xi Tri" during the time of King Xiao of Zhou, there was no position in the power core of the Zhou royal family. In the western weekend year, Xi Shen became the mother of the future Tianzi, which inevitably made the original magnates uneasy and dissatisfied, and it was likely that it would happen in such a context after the abolition of Shen.
According to the "Chronicle of History", after King You of Zhou changed his position to Qiu Ji, he forced Yi You to flee to his mother's family Shen Guo, and Shen Guo, in a rage, united with Xi Rong and Ji Guo to attack Hao Jing and kill King Zhou You under Mount Li. There seems to be nothing wrong with this passage, and combined with other literature, the same should be true of how things have been.
In fact, after Prince Yiusus arrived at Shenguo, Shenguo was not silent and inactive, and they immediately began to operate--they united with the surrounding forces to form a military alliance. So, what is Shen Guo's intention? I'm afraid it's Sima Zhao's heart—everyone knows it.
"Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, Spring and Autumn Chapter" praise stills
"Zuo Chuan" Yun: "First, Shen Hou, Lu Hou and Xu Wen gong ping wang Yu Shen, because of the eldest son of Ben, he was called the Heavenly King. If this statement is true, then Yi Usu first established himself as king, which is a blatant usurpation of the throne. Since Yi Usu established himself as the "Heavenly King", the relationship between him and his father could no longer be turned around, which could be described as a declaration before the war with the Zhou royal family, and there was no turning back from the bow.
Regardless of whether the "Heavenly King" established himself as king or simply called himself "the heir of the people", Shen Guo and Yi Usu's actions could not be interpreted solely as self-preservation, in fact, they were deliberately preparing to make a big move.
This was the case on the Shen side, and King Zhou You naturally couldn't sit idly by. Knowing that he was incapable of facing the Shenguo Alliance alone, he sought the assistance of the surrounding princely states and held an alliance at Mount Song. These actions showed that King Zhou You was also ready for a battle with the Shen, Jiao, and Xi Rong alliances.
We all know the final result- King Zhou You was defeated and died under Mount Li with Bofu.
This time the battle can be described as the success of Yi Usu's forced palace. The defeat of King Zhou You did not lie in the fact that he had changed his position to a prince, but because the situation at that time forced him. If at this time, the Zhou royal family still has enough strength, and they have not experienced successive years of military defeat by King Li of Zhou, then perhaps the final victor is King You of Zhou, and Bofu will also become the orthodox heir of the Zhou Dynasty. Then, King Yius of Zhou Ping was the loser of the usurpation.