周穆王非中兴之主

King Mu of Zhou Was not a Ruler Who Led the Country to Rejuvenation

周穆王是西周时期在位时间最长的一位天子。在他统治的半个多世纪里,虽多所兴革,但师心自用,并无励精图治的善政。他继位之初,即不顾治国理政的基本职责,肆其私欲,游行天下,后世以“不恤国事”言之,是对其国家元首资格的质疑。继之改变既定民族政策,加重对边地部族的政治控制和经济索取,“自是荒服者不至”,还引起犬戎和淮夷的不断反叛,乃至危及王朝统治的腹心地带。穆王晚年针对日益严重的社会矛盾和财政危机,修改刑法,广收罚金,亦非治国良策。一个国君不以国家发展为己任,而是肆其私欲,极尽骄奢,滥用武力,巧取民财,既不能缓解日益尖锐复杂的社会矛盾,也不能有效应对周边少数部族的军事侵扰,致使西周王朝坠入衰微之途。那种把穆王视为中兴之主的看法,是不符合历史事实的。

King Mu of Zhou was the king who reigned the longest in the Western Zhou Dynasty.During his half-century rule,although he carried out several reforms,there are few good policies that can govern the country well because he is self-righteous and refuses to accept the correct opinions of others.At the beginning of his accession to the throne,he ignored the basic responsibility of governing the country and pursued his own selfish desires.Later generations said that“he did not care about the state”,which was a question of his qualification as a head of state.He changed the established national policy and increased the political control and economic demands of the frontier tribes,leading to“Outlying tribes no longer coming to pilgrimage”,which also caused the constant rebellion of Quan Rong and Huai Yi,which even threatened the inner region of the dynastic rule.In his later years,King Mu revised the criminal law and widely collected fines in response to the increasingly serious social conflicts and financial crisis,which was also not a good policy to govern the country.A ruler did not take the development of the country as his own responsibility,but pursued his own desires,indulged in extravagance,abused force,and skillfully took money from the people,which could not alleviate the increasingly acute and complex social contradictions,nor effectively deal with the military intrusion of the neighboring minority tribes,resulting in the decline of the Western Zhou Dynasty.The view that regards King Mu as the ruler of reviving the country is inconsistent with historical facts.