html One day more than 23,000 years ago, in Makino, the Central Plains, which is near today's Xinxiang City, Henan Province, when Western Zhou Dynasty Zhou Wu King's 50,000 soldiers faced the Shang King Di Xin's 170,000 army, no one knew that there was such a huge disparity in military strength. What kind of mood did the two sides have? In that era of fighting with manpower, there seemed to be no suspense about victory or defeat.
However, no one expected that the outcome of the war would be decided in less than a day, and the weak King Wu of Zhou actually defeated the Shang King's army, which was several times his own, and won.
The outcome of the war was so unexpected. Was it God’s intentional arrangement or did the combatants have some strategic secrets? What is the truth hidden in history for thousands of years?
Around the middle of the 12th century BC, a tired team, led by the ancient public servant [dǎn], migrated southward with difficulty. They were members of the tribe surnamed Ji and had lived a self-sufficient life on the Weibei Plain for generations. farming life.
In the middle and late Shang Dynasty, domestic conflicts arose. Nomadic tribes from the northwest plateau continued to invade southward, and agriculture in the Weibei Plain was destroyed. The tribes surnamed Ji had to leave their homeland and migrate southward, arriving in Zhouyuan, which is under today's Qishan Mountains in Shaanxi and in the western part of the Guanzhong Plain.
The land here is fertile, the climate is pleasant, and it is suitable for farming. The tired tribe surnamed Ji stopped and decided to settle here, calling themselves Zhou people, which means people living in Zhouyuan.
Under the leadership of Gu Gongdanfu, the Zhou people developed fertile fields, built cities, and developed agricultural production, making Zhou gradually prosperous.
No one knows that this tribe will overthrow the Shang Dynasty in a few years and become the master of the world.
"The Book of Songs·Lu Song·Zhen [bì] Palace": "The grandson of Hou Ji, King Shiwei. Living in the Yang of Qi, Shi began to engage in Jian Shang."
And the person who achieved this great cause of Jian Shang was Ji Chang .
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Ji Chang was originally the child of Jili, the third son of Gu Gong Danfu. When he was born, a red bird with an alchemy book in its mouth landed in front of Ji Li's house. In the eyes of the ancients who believed in the gods of heaven and earth, this was a sign that a king was born. Moreover, Ji Chang was extremely intelligent when he was young, and his father-in-law Gu Gong liked him very much, so he deliberately passed the throne to Ji Li so that Ji Chang could take over.
The Zhou people's tradition is that the eldest son is the descendant, which may lead to a sibling fight for the position of leader.
However, unexpectedly, after the eldest son and second son of Gu Gongdanfu knew their father's thoughts, they took the initiative to give up the throne and went south to Jingman land. They cut off their hair and got tattoos, thus cutting off the possibility of succeeding to the throne.
In this way, after the death of Gu Gong's father, his third son Ji Li succeeded to the throne, and then passed it to Ji Chang. The eldest son who abdicated established the Kingdom of Wu on the eastern coast, which dominated the country for a while during the Spring and Autumn Period hundreds of years later.
After ascending the throne, Ji Chang did not disappoint his grandfather.
He lived a very diligent and frugal life. He often wore ordinary people's clothes to work in the fields and sympathized with the sufferings of the people. He formulated a series of policies to benefit the people, such as dividing fields and allowing farmers to help cultivate public land and pay one-ninth of the tax; Temperance allowed farmers to accumulate savings to stimulate their interest in labor; he pursued moral governance and advocated social customs of benevolence, respect for the elderly, and kindness to the young; merchants did not collect tariffs for their transactions, and if someone committed a crime, his wife would not even sit and wait.
In the past few years, the Zhou tribe's social economy has developed well and it has become the most powerful tribe in the west. Jichang was granted the title of Xibohou by the King of Shang, and he was in charge of the tribes in the west.
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Since the establishment of the Shang Dynasty in the 16th century BC, after more than 600 years of development, its prosperous period has passed, and the Dongyi tribes have continued to war. The monarch at this time was Prince Xin, the 32nd king of the Shang Dynasty, who later became the infamous King Zhou of Shang .
However, when he was young, Emperor Xin was actually talented, diligent and militant.
"Historical Records·Yin Benji" records: "Emperor Zhou was talented in identifying diseases, was very sensitive in hearing and seeing, had extraordinary physical strength, and was capable of fierce beasts."
After he succeeded to the throne, he paid attention to farming and mulberry, and social productivity was well developed. In order to quell the war in the southeast and expand the territory, he handed over the management of the western part to Ji Chang, and focused on attacking the Dongyi tribes, and controlled the Shang Dynasty. Its power extended to the East China Sea and the Yangtze River Basin, and its territory expanded to the coasts of today's Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian, and its national prestige spread far and wide.
But the warlike Di Xin was also a very grumpy and cruel person.
Wen Zhong, the Grand Master of the Shang Dynasty, assisted two generations of monarchs and led troops in battles. He was highly respected and loyal. He was deeply respected by Emperor Xin and was respected as his uncle. All civil and military officials also bowed to him. There was only one thing: Wen Zhong was afraid of his wife, which was known to both the government and the public.
Once, Wen Zhong returned from a victorious battle, and Emperor Xin led his officials to hold a banquet to celebrate his victory. During the dinner, Emperor Xin's favorite Chonghou Hu joked that Wen Zhong was afraid of his wife, which made everyone burst into laughter. Wen Zhong was immediately ashamed and unable to respond.
Di Xin saw the scene where the ministers were making fun of his uncle. After the wine was over, Di Xin quietly came to Wen Zhong's house. As soon as he walked to the door, through the crack in the door, he saw that his uncle, who had always been tall and mighty, turned out to be half Kneel down in front of your aunt, rub her shoulders and back.
Emperor Xin was very angry. When he returned, he issued an order, ordering all civil and military officials to bring their wives to the palace the next day. The officials didn't know what was going on, so they brought their wives to pay homage the next day.
In the main hall, Di Xin suddenly ordered: Bring Wen Zhong's wife up.
After hearing that his wife was escorted to the stage, Emperor Xin scolded: "My uncle has made great contributions to the country. Not only are his ministers respectful and admire him, but even I, the lonely king, also respect him very much. You are a woman, how can you be so virtuous and capable?" Dare to humiliate him at home! How dignified is it for a dignified general to be half-kneeling in front of you! I heard before that my uncle was afraid of you at home and thought it was a joke. But I saw it with my own eyes yesterday and it was really outrageous!
After reprimanding him, Di Xin immediately ordered to chop off the woman’s head! The samurai raised his sword and fell, and Mrs. Wen's head was chopped off at the neck level. The warrior brought a piece of white silk to cover it, and the bright red blood dyed the three feet of white silk red in an instant.
Emperor Xin immediately issued an order: Use the red silk to warn women all over the world not to humiliate and look down on men after marriage. From today onwards, when a woman gets married, she will wear a red silk on her head, cover her head and face, move into her husband's house, be at his beck and call, and serve her husband wholeheartedly!
The custom of brides covering their heads in red was formed and passed down from generation to generation.
We don’t know whether the romantic and festive red hijab custom is really related to the violent and cruel Emperor Xin. However, this legendary story gives us a glimpse of Di Xin's temperament.
Although Emperor Xin was cruel, with his talents, if he continued to be diligent in political affairs, the Shang Dynasty might have a different fate. However, Di Xin changed, some people say, it was because of a woman.
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One year, Di Xin launched an attack on the Yousu tribe. Like many other small tribes, the Yousu tribe could not withstand the powerful merchant army and could not escape the fate of destruction. The daughter of leader Yousu became the trophy of the Shang king. No one knew that this beautiful woman would become the trigger that changed the fate of the Shang Dynasty.
Her name is Su Daji.
When the slim and charming Daji came to Di Xin, her delicate brows were filled with tears, which made Di Xin feel pity for her. Di Xin, who had spent his life as a soldier and was approaching old age, rekindled the flame of life deep in his heart.
However, the pain of losing her country and relatives made Daji depressed and unsmiling all day long. In order to win Daji's favor, Emperor Xin tried every means and spent huge sums of money to build luxurious palaces and gardens. He filled the pools with wine, hung meat on the branches, chased and laughed with Daji, sang and danced, and expressed his love in the sounds and colors.
The extravagant and lustful life made the treasury empty, so Emperor Xin increased taxes and brutally squeezed the people.
Gradually, Daji, who was accustomed to Di Xin's extreme pampering, became interested in killing people.
In order to make Daji happy, Di Xin invented the punishment of burning with fire: the prisoner was ordered to walk on a copper pillar covered with lubricating oil. If he accidentally slipped and fell into the fire pit, his skin would be instantly charred and his flesh would be rotten. Daji couldn't stop laughing when she saw this tragic situation, so Emperor Xin often summoned the prisoners for execution.
Emperor Xin's behavior made the subjects of the Shang Dynasty worried and disappointed, and the people were miserable.
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At the same time, the Zhou tribe in the west, under the governance of Ji Chang, presented a scene of social clarity. The people of the surrounding tribes could not stand Emperor Xin's brutal rule, so they joined him one after another with their young and old. Faced with the talents and wise men from outside tribes who came to seek refuge, Ji Chang treated them with courtesy and appointed them.
Emperor Xin's trusted minister Chonghou Hu secretly advised Emperor Xin that Jichang, the Marquis of Xibo, was doing good deeds everywhere to establish his own prestige. Many princes defected to him, which might not be good for King Shang.
This made Di Xin very uneasy. Is there any way to eliminate the threat of Ji Chang without triggering a rebellion in the west?
On this day, Ji Chang met with Emperor Xin as usual and proposed the abolition of cruel punishments such as cannon and roasting. But the headstrong Emperor Xin no longer accepted any advice. He was very angry and took this opportunity to send Ji Changfa to the national prison- Youli City.
In order to rescue Ji Chang, the Zhou tribe sent people to the King of Shang several times to plead for mercy, but they were not received.
A few days have passed, and Ji Chang has gradually recovered from the grief and anger of being imprisoned.
Looking at today, the people of the Shang Dynasty are living in water and fire. Emperor Xin is arrogant, obsessed with beauty, and does not listen to advice. However, he is dedicated to the people, but he is imprisoned here. When the sincere heart for the country is poured cold water on, maybe it is time to find another way out for the country and the people.
One day, Ji Chang's eldest son Boyi Kao asked to see Emperor Xin and asked for his father's release. In order to cut off the hopes of the Zhou people and test Ji Chang's surrender, Emperor Xin brutally killed Boyikao, made meat soup, and gave it to Ji Chang.
For the future of Zhou people and to save his life, Ji Chang, who had already known Emperor Xin's thoughts, ate the meat soup. No one could empathize with the humiliation and pain he endured.
When Ji Chang ate the meat soup, his hatred with Di Xin finally reached the point of no return. The future of the country's people was fiercely intertwined with personal hatred. From that moment on, there was a voice in Ji Chang's heart that became stronger and stronger - destroy the business .
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Not far from Youli City, at a market in Chaoge, the Shang capital (now Tangyin, Henan), Emperor Xin, who was out on a cruise, slowly passed an old man hawking.
This old man's name is Jiang Shang, also known as Ziya. He is a descendant of Emperor Yan in ancient times. He has been a wanderer for most of his life, knowledgeable but unsuccessful. He once sold meat in Mengjin on the edge of the Yellow River, and now sells wine here. Emperor Xin's brutal system made the people of the Shang Dynasty miserable. Jiang Shang, who silently observed the situation of the country and the people, was well aware of the suffering of the people, but no one appreciated him because he wanted to save the people from the fire and water.
Di Xin would not know that this ordinary old man whom he ignored would become his nightmare together with Ji Chang in a few years.
How will Jiang Shang, who has been drifting for half his life and has gray hair, find an opportunity to realize his ambition?
And when will Ji Chang, who is in prison at this time, be released?
How should he plan to destroy business?
is not finished, to be continued...
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