■ Yang Bo

　　During the Spring and Autumn Period, due to the decline of the Zhou royal family's royal power, the control of the princes gradually weakened, and the phenomenon of the so-called "ritual collapse and happiness" appeared.

At that time, the ritual and music system was still maintaining the operation of aristocratic society to a certain extent, but the rules that could only be used by the emperor were used by the princes, and the doctors followed suit and used utensils that could only be used by the princes.

Strictly speaking, this situation is arrogant.

　　Jin and Chu have been struggling for hegemony for a long time, and the countries are unbearable

　　During the Spring and Autumn Period, most of the time there were "two hegemonies"-Jin in the north and Chu in the south.

In order to compete for the control of small and middle countries, Jin and Chu have formed a long-term see-saw situation in the Central Plains.

　　In 638 BC, Zheng State became a subject of Chu State.

So Song State defeated Zheng, and Chu State sent to rescue soldiers, and the two armies met in Hongshui.

At that time, the Song State army was already lined up by the water, and the Chu State army had not had time to cross the river.

However, Song Xianggong was righteous and waited until the Chu army crossed the river before starting the war. In the end, the war ended in the defeat of Song Dynasty. Song Xianggong was seriously injured and soon died of illness.

　　The battle of Chengpu between Jin and Chu took place in 632 BC.

Regarding this war, the opinions within the Chu state were not uniform: King Chu Cheng did not want to fight, and Yin Cheng Dechen was determined to fight. Therefore, King Chu Cheng did not hand over the main force to Cheng Dechen, which led to the fact that Chu's military strength was actually weaker than Jin. National army.

In the end, Jin Wengong won and established the hegemony in one fell swoop.

　　Due to the prolonged war for hegemony, the small Central Plains country was overwhelmed, and the two countries of Jin and Chu were also exhausted.

So, the veteran state of princes and state of Song came out to reconcile.

In 589 BC and 546 BC, Song State twice invited the monarchs of various countries to conduct peace talks, which was known as the "Meeting of Killers" in history.

　　Politics are decided by private individuals, and the people have nowhere to follow

　　With the downward movement of the emperor's authority and the arrogance of various countries for hegemony, the authority of the princes is slowly disappearing.

　　"Zuo Zhuan" records the story of Yan Ying and Shu Xiang discussing Ji Shi, which means the end of the world.

We have all heard the story of Yanzi making Chu, but this time it happened when Yanzi was envoy to Jin.

　　According to historical records, Qi State once married Shaojiang to Jin.

After Shaojiang died, Qi State sent Yan Ying to Jin State to propose again in order to continue the marriage relationship.

After getting engaged, Yan Ying accepts a banquet from Jin.

Uncle Xiang accompanied him to a banquet and started talking.

　　Shu Xiang asked: "How is Qi State?" Yan Ying replied: "Now it is the last generation, I don't know how to say it. I am afraid that Qi State belongs to the Chen family." Shu Xiang said, "Yes. It is our Jin State. The office is now at the end of the world. There are no war horses and people to control the warrior, and the secretary of state does not lead the army; the monarch’s chariot does not have good talents, and the infantry team has no good officers. Luan, Que, Xu, Yuan, Hu, Xu, Qing, The descendants of these eight big families have been reduced to lowly servants. Political affairs are decided by private individuals, and the people have nothing to follow."

　　Yanzi asked, "What are you going to do?" Shu Xiang said, "I heard that when the office was about to decline, its clan fell first like the branches and leaves of a tree, and then the office declined. There are ten of my clan. One clan, only one of the Yangtong clan is still there. I don’t have a good son, and there is no law in the office. It’s a blessing to be able to get a good death. Can I still count on the sacrifice of the descendants?"

　　Through this dialogue between Yan Ying and Shuxiang, we can see that the monarchs, public clans, and the original great nobles of the Qi and Jin Dynasties have shown a clear trend of decline.

In contrast, the Chen family of Qi and Han, Zhao, and Wei of Jin are thriving.

　　The Chen clan of Qi is the monarch of Qi during the Warring States Period, that is, the Tian clan.

Tian and Chen are actually different ways of writing the same word.

The power of Qi and Jin was gradually controlled by these newly-emerged clans of the Qing Dynasty, so there was a major event in which the Tian family divided the Qi and the three families into the Jin Dynasty.

　　Similar situations exist in other small and medium-sized countries.

Zheng State has the "Seven Mu", and Lu State's state politics has long been controlled by the "Three Huan" (namely, the Meng Sun family, the Shu Sun family, and the Ji Sun family, they are all descendants of Lu Huan Gong).

　　The power of the monarch was greatly weakened, and the decree was controlled by the original retainers and the official family.

At that time, people called this phenomenon "politics out of the house."

These officials and retainers with real power are the main force of arrogance.

　　The idiom "is tolerable or unbearable" was originally Confucius' criticism of Ji Sun, one of the "Three Huan"s, who used Ba Ya in his family temple.

Bayi is a system of court music and dance in the Zhou Dynasty. Eight people each act and one behavior, and Bayi is 64 people.

Consistent with Zhou's emperor's use of Jiuding, the Zhou dynasty's ritual system stipulated "eight princes, six princes, four doctors and two scholars.

Therefore, Lu Zhaogong can use up to six yi, but Ji Sun deliberately broke the ritual system and set up a large dance band of 64 people.

Therefore Confucius sighed: "Eight yi dances in the court, it is tolerable, and which is not tolerable!"

　　The seriousness of the ritual system of Ji Sun's overruling the Emperor of Zhou is that not only the Emperor of Zhou, but also the monarch has lost the ability to control the doctor and his retainers.

After that, Chinese history entered the Warring States Period.

(Author unit: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)