What were the reasons for moving the capital many times in the early Shang Dynasty?

About 3600 years ago to 3060 years ago in history, it was the period when the Shang Dynasty ruled the Central Plains. This period is called Shang Dynasty. There is a very special phenomenon in the history of Shang dynasty, that is, the capital often moved. It stands to reason that the transportation conditions at that time were not very developed, and large-scale relocation should be very troublesome. Then why are they so keen?

Before the establishment of Shang Dynasty, there were "eight major movements" in Shang tribes.

According to Records of the Historian Yin Benji, "Tang lived in Bo from Qi to Eight Movements in Tang Dynasty".

The first time I moved from today's Caoxian County, Shandong Province to tengxian, Shandong Province.

The second time I moved from tengxian to Jishi, and today I live in Luanshui, Hebei.

The third time, I moved from stone to Shangqiu.

The fourth time, I moved from Shangqiu to Taishan.

The fifth time, I moved back to Shangqiu from Taishan …

The sixth time, I moved from Shangqiu to Yin, which is today's Anyang, Henan.

The seventh time, I moved back to Shangqiu.

For the eighth time, Xia and Shang dynasties were overthrown, and Bo made its capital.

(Where is Du Bo? Some say it's Cao County in Shandong, some say it's Bozhou in Anhui, and some say it's Yanshi in Henan. There is no exact answer. )

That's too much trouble.

The capital has been built and can be settled this time. Let's stop it.

No ... keep moving!

According to historical records, Du Yao, Du Xiang, Pidu and Du Ya crossed the Yellow River and reached Yindu.

This is still a recorded migration record. I don't know how many small-scale migrations have not been recorded.

The following is the reason why I arranged for you to migrate frequently in the middle and early Shang Dynasty, which only represents my personal point of view.

Location of capital migration

Dayi (Shang Tang) was originally established in Bo (the site of Zhengzhou Mall), and moved its capital five times in the next 300 years. Zhong You moved its capital to Bei 'ao Mountain, south of Xingyang, Henan, why did he move its capital to Xiang (west of Anyang, Henan), and Zu Ti moved its capital to Xing (east of wen county, Henan or southwest of Shanxi? ), Nangeng moved its capital to Yan (now east of Qufu, Shandong Province), and Pan Geng moved its capital to Yin (now northwest of Anyang, Henan Province). Before Pan Geng moved to Yin, from Dayi to Yang's family, a * * * spread to the 19 kings of the ten dynasties, about 300 years, which was called the early Shang Dynasty. After Pan Geng moved to Yin, from Pan Geng to (Zhou Wang), one * * * inherited eight generations and twelve kings for about 270 years, which was called the late Shang Dynasty. The time span between the early Shang Dynasty and the late Shang Dynasty is almost 300 years. The capital of the late Shang Dynasty was stable in Yin, while the capital of the early Shang Dynasty was constantly migrating in the Central Plains. There are many views on this issue, generally there are four views. The middle and early Shang Dynasty was the reason for frequent migration.

The flood said:

According to this view, the capital of Shang Dynasty is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, in the flooded area of the Yellow River, and often suffers from the floods of the Yellow River, so it constantly moves its capital to avoid floods. But there are obvious loopholes in this statement. First of all, there is no record that several capitals in the early Shang Dynasty were invaded by the Yellow River flood. As the first capital city in the early Shang Dynasty, Bodu (the ruins of Zhengzhou Mall) experienced six dynasties and ten kings from Dayi to Zhongding, with a span of about 180 years. Archaeology found no obvious signs of flood invasion. Moreover, even if there is a flood, it is impossible to persist in building the capital 180 years without moving the capital. Other capitals are not in low-lying places, such as the Surabaya Valley where Du Yan (now the east of Qufu, Shandong Province) is located. The terrain is obviously higher than the Yellow River Plain, and it already belongs to the hilly area of Shandong Province. Secondly, Yin, as the capital of Shang Dynasty, has been recorded many times in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Yindu suffered from floods, but Yindu persisted in being the capital for more than 270 years without moving the capital. It can be seen that the flood theory is not established.

The royal family argued:

According to the theory of royal disputes, Shang Dynasty was a transitional period from tribal society to feudal society (enfeoffment society, not Qin Qing in China's traditional historiography), and members of the royal family and other nobles had great influence. The king is just one of many nobles, sometimes stronger than other nobles, even weaker than other nobles. In a similar situation, for example, in the late Jin Dynasty, when the aristocratic power was huge, after the death of Huang Taiji, his brothers, sons and nephews competed for the throne. Finally, the emperor shunzhi, whose strength is far weaker than that of Dourgen and Haug, can only rely on his mother, Horqin. In this case, it is very easy for powerful nobles to kill the king and seize the throne. The foundation of nobility is probably not in the capital, but in other cities. Therefore, it is normal for the new king to choose to move the capital to his fief after seizing the throne. For example, in the late Jin Dynasty, after Yan Yanliang seized the throne, he moved the capital from Shangdu to Yanjing. Another example is the Ming Dynasty, when Judy seized the throne, he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing.

Before Pan Geng in Shang Dynasty, the succession to the throne was chaotic, with a father dying and a son succeeding, a brother dying and even an uncle dying and a nephew succeeding. In order to compete for the throne, the royal aristocrats had a bitter battle, which was called "the ninth rebellion" in history. After Pan Geng moved to Yin, although there would be brothers and sisters in the succession to the throne, it was much less than in the early Shang Dynasty. The mainstream is that the father dies and brother and sister occasionally, and then it will be immediately adjusted to the succession of the father and son. Unlike the early Shang Dynasty, the throne will be passed from brother to brother three or four times in a row. However, there is a loophole in the theory of the struggle for the throne, that is, in the early Shang Dynasty, why was the capital still stable in Bo? Hanshan believes that there is a third reason for moving the capital, that is, colonial conquest, in addition to luxury inspection and the struggle for the throne.

Merchants entered the Central Plains from Hebei, initially occupying only the north-central part of Henan, that is, the eastern part of the inner culture. Although Xia Guo was defeated, the remnants of Xia Guo and its allies still surrounded the commercial enterprises, such as Guo Yu, Tang Guo and Chong Guo in the west, Guo Wei, Gu Guo, Su Guo and Peng Guo in the east and so on. In addition, the Dongyi countries in northern Jiangsu and Anhui did not submit to the Shang Dynasty. Generally speaking, the frequent relocation of the capital in the early Shang Dynasty has nothing to do with floods and agricultural production methods, but with alleviating the polarization between the rich and the poor, weakening the aristocratic forces, consolidating the royal power and conquering the surrounding hostile forces. Moving the capital is the comprehensive result of these factors.

Herdsmen and farmers said:

According to the nomadic theory, before Pan Geng moved to Yin, the Shang Dynasty was still a nomadic people with uncertain migration, and it was not until the Pan Geng period that there was initial agriculture and people began to settle down. This statement is also very flawed. First of all, Dubo, as the capital of the early Shang Dynasty, still lasted for more than 180 years, and the period of moving the capital frequently concentrated in 120 years from Zhong Ding to Pan Geng. If people in Shang Dynasty before Pan Geng were nomadic people, Du Bo's long history cannot be explained. Secondly, archaeological data and Oracle Bone Inscriptions have confirmed that in the early Shang Dynasty, agriculture was the main industry of Shang people, and animal husbandry was only a subsidiary industry of agricultural production. You Nong said that before Pan Geng moved to Yin, the Shang Dynasty was still in the primitive farming stage of slash and burn. They burn forest land, sow seeds on calcareous soil, and don't know how to plow and fertilize. Once the soil fertility is exhausted, they have to move to other areas and open up new farmland. During the period of Pan Geng, merchants' agriculture had developed to the stage of settlement.

This statement is also flawed. First of all, archaeological data show that the agricultural tools in the early and late Shang Dynasty remained basically unchanged, and agricultural production could not leap from slash-and-burn to settled farming. Secondly, if Pan Geng used to be a nomadic farmer and later a settled farmer, then the history of Dubo (Zhengzhou Mall) 180 years can't be explained, just like the nomadic theory.

Go to the luxury inspection and say:

According to the theory of extravagance, businessmen live in a capital for a long time, which leads to polarization between the rich and the poor. Moving the capital can move the rich with a lot of wealth away from the old capital and establish the capital in the new area. The fixed property of the old capital can't be taken away. The whole process of capital movement is the redistribution of wealth. In layman's terms, it is called alleviating class contradictions. There seems to be some truth in this statement. In the history of later generations, many emperors treated the extended family by forcibly dividing the rich and poor areas and moving to a certain place, which not only made them give up their local farmland and houses, but also broke the local network of extended families, which was convenient for the court to control the extended family. However, this statement does not mean that after Pan Geng, the Shang Dynasty established its capital in Yin for more than 270 years. If we want to alleviate the contradiction of polarization between the rich and the poor, why set the capital after Yin and move it irregularly? It can be seen that the theory of eliminating luxury inspection can not fully explain the phenomenon that early businessmen frequently moved their capitals.