1. The contradiction between Zhou Dynasty and ethnic minorities in remote areas.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, a joint policy was adopted to subdue and win over some Shang nobles, and several Shang nobles and descendants of ancient emperors were appropriately enfeoffed as princes. This appeasement policy also had an impact on the ethnic minorities in the remote areas of the Zhou Dynasty, and ethnic minorities all over the country expressed their obedience to the powerful Zhou Dynasty by paying taxes. Over time, there were some contradictions between the Zhou Dynasty and ethnic minorities, which was normal. As long as we continue the policy of combining kindness with kindness in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, I believe the result will be much better. At this time, the Western Zhou regime, which had reached its peak, gradually lost patience and tolerance. Since the late Zhou Kangwang, it has been arguing with several princes with different surnames and some ethnic minorities, and finally war broke out.
Among the ethnic minorities in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there are two ethnic minorities that pose the greatest threat to the Zhou Dynasty. One is Dongyi, which is located in the eastern coastal area of China. At the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, due to the tolerant and soft-hearted policy, the relationship with Dongyi was fairly harmonious, but later, when there was a contradiction, the Western Zhou regime blindly used force, which eventually led to a full-scale war between Zhou Kangwang and Dongyi in the later period. The struggle against Huaiyi, one of the Dongyi people, started in Zhou Kangwang and basically ended in Zhou Xuanwang period, which lasted for more than 200 years. Finally, the strategy of giving priority to politics and supplementing military affairs was adopted. If I knew this, why did I do it in the first place? The battle with Dongyi was unprecedented in time and scale, so it consumed a lot of financial and material resources in the Zhou Dynasty.
The other is Dog Rong, which has subdued most of them in Zhou Wenwang's time. One of the dog-Rong tribes directly participated in the war of cutting Zhou, and was finally treated as a hero, which was later Shen Guo. It became a model for the Zhou Dynasty to deal with ethnic relations. Shen Guo and Guo Qin, another vassal state, defended the northwest direction of the Zhou Dynasty, resisted and repeatedly attacked the invasion of other dog tribes, and formed a solid barrier in the western part of the Western Zhou Dynasty. However, in the Zhou Muwang period, the policy of integration of military and political affairs was abandoned because of the contradiction with Dog Rong, and a large-scale war was launched against Dog Rong. Although it ended in the victory of the Zhou Dynasty, it has since forged a deep hatred with various departments of Gourong. This result not only established a deadly enemy for itself, but also caused the Western Zhou regime to face the dilemma of long-term fighting with Dongyi and Gourong. After that, the ministries of the dog army invaded the border of the Zhou Dynasty from time to time until they jointly captured the Haojiang River with the original Shenguo.
2. The relationship between the vassal states and the kingship of the Zhou Dynasty gradually alienated.
Because most vassal States were originally divided by blood relatives with the same surname and heroes with different surnames, they were loyal and conscientious to the Zhou emperor. In addition to paying all kinds of taxes on time, it also actively appeased the wild tribes in remote areas and made great contributions to the stability of the Western Zhou regime. At the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the vassal States basically lived in peace, but later, due to the long time, after six or seven generations, the original intimate blood relationship began to gradually alienate. In order to expand their sphere of influence, the vassal States intrigued with each other, and some vassal States began to stop further enfeoffment of their fiefs and gradually recovered their power. Fewer and fewer taxes and tributes were paid to the dynasty, which greatly restricted the development and consolidation of the national strength and financial resources of the Western Zhou Dynasty. While the strength of some vassal States began to increase, they were also looking for various excuses to crusade and annex those weak vassal States. The number of vassal States is decreasing, while the remaining vassal States are getting stronger and stronger. And gradually have a further rebellious heart, all these circumstances more or less directly or indirectly provided objective conditions for the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty. (During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the ambitions of the governors began to expand rapidly, and the war of annexation between them intensified, forming a situation in which the governors competed for hegemony, and the history of China entered the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. )
Wang Ping moved to the capital.
After Zhou Youwang died at the hands of dogs, princes from all walks of life came to see him. They have expelled dogs, recaptured the capital Haojiang and established Zhou Pingwang. If we can adjust our political and military strategies in time, make great efforts to recuperate and slowly restore our national strength, the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty will last for at least some time. Unfortunately, Zhou Pingwang, who just acceded to the throne, was incompetent and lacked courage. He was soft-hearted and short-sighted. Encouraged by some etiquette with ulterior motives, he insisted on moving the capital. After Zhou Pingwang moved the capital to Luoyi, it directly declared the official collapse of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty gave up the dangerous place in Guanzhong area, and the fertile land was easily occupied by dogs. This was the biggest mistake of the Zhou regime, which not only lost a lot of grain and cash crops, but also surrendered all the military sites centered on Haojing to foreign countries, which drastically reduced the land area directly under the jurisdiction of the Zhou Dynasty.
What is even more ridiculous is that Zhou Pingwang told Qin Bosheng that all the land recovered by Qin State can be owned by Qin State. His original intention was to let Qin resist the aggression of dogs and Rong, so as to protect the security of the northwest of Zhou Dynasty. But he didn't expect that his decision was simply to raise a tiger as a menace, and it also laid a curse for his descendants! Under the four rewards, there must be brave people. Under the temptation of a large area of fertile land, Qin devoted all its strength to the whole country. After more than ten years of struggle, I finally got my wish, defeated Gourong, and suddenly opened up a territory of more than 1,000 miles, and incorporated the Haojiang River with dangerous terrain and vast fertile land in Guanzhong into the territory of Qin State. Since then, Qin's power has been growing, and finally it has become one of the seven vassal states. (Qin not only destroyed the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, but also destroyed six countries and established a powerful Daqin Empire. )
Through the analysis of the above three points, I think that the demise of the Western Zhou Dynasty was not caused by one or two simple factors, nor by a political strategy mistake in a certain period, but by the gradual accumulation and interaction of various unfavorable factors in different periods. In case of conflict with Dongyi and Quanrong, political and military means can be used at the same time. If we can resolutely crack down and punish the disrespectful behavior of individual vassal States when it just appears; If Zhou Xuanwang's reform is not too noisy and intense; If there is no fatuous and tyrannical Zhou Youwang.