Faced with the incompetence and incompetence of Zhou Zhou, the Zhou people said, "The destiny of heaven is impermanent, only virtue is auxiliary." They said that the King of Shang has no virtue and Xibo has virtue, so the destiny of heaven has been transferred to Ji Chang . In 1056 BC, Ji Chang became the king of the inner world, that is, Zhou Wenwang . In 1055 BC, Ji Chang sent troops to attack 天风. The following year, he attacked the secret besides that invaded neighboring countries, eliminating the worries of attacking merchants. In 1053 BC, Ji Chang sent troops to attack Li in the east (southwest of Changzhi City, Shanxi Province); in 1052 BC, he captured the city (now Qinyang City, ); in 1051 BC, he captured the favorite minister of the Shang king, Chonghouhu . After the victory of these three wars, Zhou cut off the ties between the Shang Dynasty and its western vassal states.
Mushe Battle Both sides mobilized a large number of troops. " Weekly Chronicle " records that "the princes had 4,000 chariots, Chen Shi Muye, Emperor Zhou heard that King Wu also sent 700,000 troops away from King Wu." Most scholars believe that sending 700,000 troops was untrue, perhaps a mistake of 170,000, but Zhou's army should also have a considerable number. "The Book of Songs·Daya·Da Ming" has "The journey of the Shang Dynasty, and its meetings are like forests", which records that Shang and Zhou mobilized a large army, and the military flags were like prosperous trees, floating in Muye. In " Mu Yu ", King Wu said, "I have the tomb of the king, Situ, Sima, Sikong , Asian brigade, Shishi, Thousand Masters , centurion, and Yong, Shu, Qiang, Jie, Wei, Lu, Peng, and Pu people, called Ergo, Bilgan, and made a spear, and gave him the oath." It can be seen that the number of Zhou army and allied troops is also large. In addition to the records of "the military meeting is 4,000 chariots", the "Book of Zhou" records that King Wu "led 300 chariots, 3,000 tigers, and 45,000 soldiers to attack Zhou in the east." "Mencius·The Complete Heart" also shows that "Wang King attacked Yin, with two hundred revolutions and three thousand tigers", and in addition, " Warring States Policy " and " Lushi Chunqiu " also show similar records
Battle of Muye-1 Paddi oath. January 26, 1046 BC (The Book of Documents and the inscriptions on the rituals are called "Jiazi Day", but the year is unknown. This entry adopts the view of " Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasty project ", Zhou Wu Wang personally led 300 chariots, 3,000 Tiger Ben (elite warriors), and tens of thousands of infantrymen to send troops to the east. On February 21 of the same year, the Zhou army arrived in Mengjin and met with Yong, Lu, Peng, Pu, Shu and other tribes. The total number of coalition forces reached 45,000, and many kings of the , Fangguo arrived in person. It rained before the coalition was deployed on February 26, and it was said in history that the coalition had a total of "six divisions". Military historians speculate that there were about 300 chariots, and 3,000 tigers were a "armored division" and the first echelon. The remaining 40,000 people were divided into five "departments", forming a square formation behind them, which was the second echelon. Later, the coalition forces continued to advance eastward in the rain from Sidi (now Sishui Town, Xingyang City) to cross the river ( Yellow River , which is said to cross the river from Mengjin), and then headed northward to Baiquan (now northwest of Huixian ) and headed eastward.
27, in the pasture land, King Wu of Zhou solemnly swore: "As the saying goes, the hen is a misfortune at home.Now King Zhou only listens to the words of women, and even the sacrifices of ancestors have been abandoned. He did not appoint his royal brothers, but let the fugitive slaves take important positions, allowing them to endanger the nobles and disrupt the merchant country. Today, I, , Ji Fa , is to execute God's punishment!... Soldiers, work hard!" The morale of the Zhou army soldiers was greatly boosted, that is, the "mu oath" recorded in the Book of Documents
Muye's decisive battle against King Wu of Zhou won a complete victory. Chaoge, as soon as the first batch of emergency military information was introduced, the coalition forces followed him He came, and was really caught off guard. There were not enough elite troops in Chaoge City to defeat the enemy, and there were no available chariots. It was difficult to compete with the powerful chariot array with strong impact, not to mention the strong morale of the Zhou army. When Emperor Xin heard that the Zhou army was attacking, he had to rush to arm a large number of slaves and prisoners of war, together with the army guarding the capital, to go to Muye to fight. According to the records of "Records of the Grand Historian", Emperor Xin dispatched a total of 700,000 troops, and other documents recorded 170,000. "The Book of Songs: The Ming Dynasty" It is said: "The journey of the Shang Dynasty, its meeting is like a forest."
Regarding the process of this battle, "Yi Zhou Shu" There are very detailed records in "Ke Yin". The Zhou army first sent hundreds of elite troops to challenge the army, shocking the Shang army and disrupting its positions; then King Wu of Zhou personally led the main force to follow up and completely dispersed the opponent's formation. The slaves and prisoners of war in the Shang army did not want to work for King Zhou, and almost all turned against each other. The Shang army collapsed quickly. Seeing this, King Zhou returned to Chaoge and climbed Lutai, "clothed his pearls and jade, and died of burnt by fire." The Shang Dynasty officially declared its demise. After King Wu of Zhou arrived at Lutai, he personally cut off King Zhou's head and made it public.
The Battle of Muye This is a famous battle example in Chinese history where few defeat the more, weak defeat the strong, and preemptively take action. It is also a famous battle example in the early days of ancient Chinese chariot wars in . It terminated the 600-year Shang Dynasty, established the rule of the Western Zhou dynasty, and opened up the way for the comprehensive prosperity of ritual and music civilization in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The strategy and combat art reflected in the Battle of Muye also have an inappreciable significance for the development of ancient Chinese military thought.
