Before the Qin Dynasty, there was no title of emperor, and the king was the supreme ruler of a country. For example, the Shang King and the Shang Fake King in Shang Dynasty, Zhou Wuwang and Zhou Pingwang in Zhou Dynasty, although noble, had the same power as the emperor. At this time, there is only one throne in the whole world, which is the most powerful time for nobles.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the influence of the Emperor of Zhou gradually weakened and the five tyrants rose. They were unwilling to be named Hou, and they were the first courtiers to be kings. Chu Zhuangwang, king of Chu, was the first monarch to be king. He thinks he has a strong national strength and wants to compete with Zhou Tianzi. After the knighthood, he became king, and then he became the king of more than ten ancestors in one breath. Zhou was exhausted by torture and had to acquiesce in the title of King Chu. But the title of "King of Chu" is only King of Chu, not King of Zhou, and there is an essential difference between them. The title of king of Chu is the original meaning of the title of king, that is, men and women are first class.
During the Warring States period, there were seven countries with thousands of riders, namely Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei and Qin from east to west. These seven people grew up together, thoroughly remoulded themselves and became kings. They all have the strength to fight against the Zhou emperor, among which Qin and Qi are more powerful. Although these seven kings were powerful, they were nominally under the command of King Zhou.
The Qin dynasty created the title of emperor, ranking above the Lord, and was the master of the world, ruling all peoples. In the early years of the Qin Dynasty, there were no barons, and even the emperors' sons Fu Su and Hu Hai were not enfeoffed. At most, he entered the DPRK as a son to participate in politics. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, there was chaos in the world, and various kings appeared, such as Chu Huaiwang, Wang Yong of Zhang Han, Chu Bawang of Xiang Yu and Hanwang of Liu Bang. At this time, the princes not only had political power, but also military power, administrative power and territory. He is a real little emperor.
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, in order to stabilize his rule, Liu Bang made many heroes kings, such as the King of Chu in Han Xin and the King of Liang in Peng Yue. These vassals have territory, military power and political power, but they have to pay taxes to the court and handle their own affairs under the leadership of the central government, and their power is slightly less than that of previous vassals.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, governors no longer gave people different surnames, and even the number of royal governors was greatly reduced. They have territorial and administrative power, but they have no military power. The governors in the Three Kingdoms period were similar to those in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but with the rise of the powerful ministers in the later period, the different surnames began to covet the titles of kings, and the different surnames appeared again.
These dynasties were not divided into princes, counties and kings. Whether a king's title is noble depends entirely on whether the country's national strength is strong, whether its territory is vast and whether its products are rich. For example, the king of Qin and the king of Qi are the first powerful countries among the seven warring states, so these two kings are slightly higher than the other kings. For another example, the Dai Wang and Chengyang Wang in the Western Han Dynasty were not as noble as King Zhao Qi, not because their nobles were not noble, but because Daiguo and Chengyang were barren and narrow, and they were typical small countries.
After Wei and Jin Dynasties, princes began to be divided into princes and county kings. Under normal circumstances, the emperor's brothers and nephews were made princes, and ministers with military achievements were made county kings. The prince is higher than the county king in administrative level, and the prince has territory, administrative power but no military power; The county king is an honorary title and has no corresponding rights. The real power of the throne is gradually declining.
In the Sui Dynasty, Yang Di made all scholars become kings, with actual territorial and military power, but no political power. After the Tang Dynasty, the princes existed in name only, with no territory, political power and military power, and the princes enfeoffed their brothers. The county king is a great hero, which is an honorary title. The Song and Yuan Dynasties were similar to the Tang Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang enfeoffed all the vassal regions in order to stabilize the ruling foundation. At this time, the princes were brilliant again. They not only have territory, but also an army. Compared with the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, their strength has been greatly improved, but it is much worse than that of the Western Han and Pre-Qin Dynasties.
Although the rank of governors in the Qing dynasty was greatly improved, even higher than that of a surname, which belonged to super-rank, but its strength was greatly reduced. They have no territorial, administrative or military power and are supported by the state.
What is worth mentioning here is the title of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. At the beginning, the five kings lived up to their reputation and were independent military and political valves. But later, the title of Wang was chaotic and miscellaneous. The title of king is not the king of a country, but more like the length of an army. The length of an army is generally a king, which is very different from the traditional title of king.