It is said that King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned by Shang Zhou in Youli City of Tangyin, Henan.
King Zhou Wen was imprisoned by Shang Zhou for 7 years. It is conceivable that during these 7 years, King Wen faced the risk of being killed at any time. Therefore, in order to survive, he could not be brave and fearless, nor could he be unyielding. He had to "follow the crowd", He had to bow his head to Zhou to show his "loyalty", and he also had to try to get his ministers Hong Yao and others to search for beauties, horses and other rare treasures, and present them to Zhou through Zhou's favorite Fei Zhong.
King Wen finally got his wish and won the favor of Zhou and released him. Of course, there may be pressure from the princes to release King Wen of Zhou. For example, "Zuo Zhuan: The Thirty-One Years of Duke Xiang" says: "Zhou imprisoned King Wen for seven years, and all the princes followed him, so Zhou was afraid and returned."
Although King Wen was imprisoned, Zhou released Zhou and returned to Zhou, but he knew that Zhou did not believe him from the bottom of his heart. Judging from the current strength of Zhou and his allies, it was impossible to compete with Shang. If he accidentally showed his flaws, his previous efforts would be wasted and the previous tragedy would repeat itself. Therefore, he deeply buried his grand plan to overthrow the Shang Dynasty in his heart, and tried his best to appear loyal to Zhou.
In the second year after returning to the Zhou Dynasty, that is, in the spring of the 30th year of Emperor Xin of , King Wen persuaded the princes who had surrendered to him to go with him to Shangdu to pay tribute to Zhou.
In order to further paralyze Zhou, King Wen "built a jade gate, built a spiritual platform, lined up maids, beat bells and drums" in Zhouyuan, pretending to have no ambition and a greed for pleasure. Zhou was very happy, thinking that King Wen had subdued him, so he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Zhou Bochang has changed his ways, and I have no worries." So he "named King Wen the uncle of the West" and generously "granted him a land of thousands of miles." Zhou was completely relieved by King Wen of Zhou and concentrated all his energy on conquering the barbarian forces in the east.
King Wen couldn't help but be overjoyed when he got two birds with one stone. After returning to Zhouyuan, he specially reported the matter to his ancestors in the form of sacrifice - the words "Book Zhou Fang Bo" were found in the oracle bone inscriptions of Zhouyuan.
Won the trust of Zhou, King Wen of Zhou began to make a strategic layout and pushed his power to the south and southwest, which was beyond the reach of the Shang Dynasty. This area, including Jianghuai, Jianghan, and Southwest Bashu, all later surrendered to King Wen and became important allies of Zhou. "Poetry·Guofeng·Hanguang" says: "Hanguang, Deguang can also reach it. The way of King Wen was adopted in the southern country. The beautification spread throughout the Jianghan area. Without thinking about violating the etiquette, you can't get it if you ask for it."
King Wen of Zhou's management of the Jianghuai, Jianghan River basins and southwest areas in the south was strategically intended to form a unified system for the Shang Dynasty from the northwest, west and south. It is a semi-encirclement state, but there may be another purpose, which is to open up Jianghan, and then connect with the Wu people located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to instigate rebellion against Dongyi. Taibo, the founding leader of the Wu Kingdom, is the eldest brother of Zhou Hou Ji Li and the uncle of King Wen of Zhou.
While conquering the south through soft policies and force, King Wen also quietly expanded his sphere of influence in the west, successively "invading Meng, Ke Ju, and Juzhan (Feng)." After hearing the news, King Wen became suspicious of King Wen. King Wen learned that he hurried to Shangdu and offered Zhou the land of Luoxi and the land of red soil thousands of miles away, hoping that he could abolish the punishment of cannon burning.
King Wen killed two birds with one stone. He not only eliminated Zhou's suspicion, but also saved the people from the worry of torture, and gained the people's support. His great wisdom made Confucius who was born 500 years later full of praise: "What a benevolent King Wen! Please forgive the punishment of cannon fire for taking a country thousands of miles away. What a wise King Wen! You can win the heart of the world after traveling a thousand miles away."
On the basis of "repairing punishment", King Wen also took "loving the people" as the basis for governing the country, which alleviated the domestic class contradictions to the greatest extent and received widespread support from people of all walks of life in the country.
In contrast to Shang Zhou's brutality, lewdness and indiscriminate killing of innocent people, the image of King Wen of Zhou as a moral gentleman attracted the attention of the world like a magnet. King Wen of Zhou's prestige was getting higher and higher, and even when there were some disputes among the princes, they would come to Zhou State to find King Wen to judge and reason.
One of the most famous things is that at that time, Rui and Yu, who lived near in the Zhou Kingdom, had a dispute. The two sides couldn't get over the dispute and competed to find King Wen for comment. As a result, after entering the Zhou Kingdom, I found that the Zhou people gave up their field boundaries to each other when farming, and they also had a good custom of being humble to their elders. When Rui and Yu saw this, they felt a little ashamed and said, "What we are fighting for is exactly what others have given us. Why go to see King Wen? You will only bring humiliation to yourself!" So the two sides gave in to each other and returned hand in hand. "The princes heard about it and said, 'Xi Bo Gai is the king who has been ordered'."
The lawsuit against Yu Rui not only showed that King Wen had achieved results by persuading people with virtue, but also that King Wen's "acceptance" was already popular. The more important significance was that the Zhou people were able to control the natural dangers in the Tongguan and Xiaohan areas, forming an overwhelming strategic advantage for the merchants to advance, attack, and retreat. The objective conditions for King Wen's public "acceptance" were ripe.
At that time, Boyi was hiding from Zhou and lived on the remote coast of the North Sea; Taigong Jiang Shang lived on the remote coast of the East China Sea. Both of them were well-known virtuous people in the world. When they heard that King Wen respected the old and loved the young and had a reputation as a wise man, they all went to King Wen in unison. Mencius said: "The two elders are the eldest elders in the world. When they return, the father of the world returns. When the father of the world returns, how can his son go."
Jiang Shang is Jiang Ziya. His ancestors once served as officials of the Four Mountains , and assisted Xia Yu in flood control. Shun and Yu were sealed in Lu Di, so they were also called Lu Shang. "Historical Records: The Second Family of Qi Taigong" records that after Jiang Shang arrived in the West, he found out that King Wen had gone on a hunting trip recently, so he pretended to fish in Fengxi River on the shore of the Weishui River, which King Wen must pass through, in the hope of meeting King Wen and gaining King Wen's appreciation.
When King Wen was traveling, he met Jiang Shang on the edge of the Weihe River . After the two had a conversation, King Wen was greatly impressed by Jiang Shang's literary and military skills. King Wen was overjoyed and said to Jiang Shang: "My ancestor, Taigong, said that there will be a saint coming to Zhou, and Zhou will prosper because of it. It is you. We have been looking forward to you for a long time." King Wen then worshiped him as Taigong Wang, respectfully calling him Taigong Wang.
Jiang Taigong Fishing
King Wen of Zhou courted virtuous corporals and recruited talents, and more virtuous people flocked to him. It is said in history: "To help many scholars, King Wen brings peace." This made King Wen of Zhou even more powerful.
In the late Shang Dynasty, due to the cruel oppression of slaves by slave owners, slaves could not bear it and fled one after another. There are many records of "mourning the masses" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The "public" here refers to slaves, and "mourning" means loss or loss.
King Wen of Zhou Dynasty was the representative of the slave-owning aristocracy, so he naturally wanted to protect the interests of the slave-owning aristocracy, so he formulated targeted legal provisions to protect the interests of slave-owners. The core content was "you must die without reading", which means that if a slave is found to have escaped, a large-scale search must be launched. No matter who catches the escaped slave, he must return it to the original owner, and no one is allowed to take it in without authorization. King Wen's move won the support of slave owners and the support of the vassal states at that time, which won him more intangible political capital.
While trying to make himself better, King Wen also did not forget to play dirty tricks to make his enemies rot.
" Han Feizi·Yu Lao " records such a story: There was a jade edition in Zhou Dynasty, and Emperor Zhou ordered Jiao Ge to go and ask for it, but King Wen did not give it to him. Zhou also sent Fei Zhong to Zhou to ask for it, and King Wen gave it to Fei Zhong. Why didn't King Wen give it to Jiao Ge but to Fei Zhong? King Wen believed that Jiao Ge was a virtuous man but Fei Zhong was an immoral man.
He uses a divorce strategy. "Han Feizi Nei Chu Shuo Xia" revealed the secret in one sentence: "King Wen paid a fee and wandered beside Zhou, ordering him to admonish Zhou and disturb his mind."
Western Han Dynasty "Feng Baojie" written by Liu Xiang records that King Wen adopted the strategy of four beetles and five losses against the Yin Shang Dynasty. The four beetles used four methods to promote the disintegration of the Shang Dynasty from within: using rare and strange things to seduce him; deceiving him with irrelevant words; using large-scale construction projects to make him waste people and money; and using ghosts and spirits to dazzle and confuse him.
The five falls are: express your loyalty, make Zhou feel noble, make him satisfied, and no longer be wary of yourself; choose the opportunity to win over the wise people of the Yin Shang Dynasty to be used by the Zhou Dynasty; win the trust of the Yin Shang expatriate population and make them join the Zhou Dynasty; bribe the Yin Shang wizards to act as spies and provide the Zhou side with confidential information about the Shang Dynasty ; spread your own virtues so that the deluded people can see clearly the evil deeds of the Shang Dynasty.
The four beetles and the five falls are obviously the vaginal strategies used by King Wen after he realized the Tao. They were to use illusions to confuse Zhou, and to use a submissive attitude to make Zhou lose his vigilance, causing internal friction among merchants, and poaching their corners from the outside, so as to win over the wise men of Shang to be used by Zhou.
In the 32nd year of Emperor Xin's reign, which was the second year after Jiang Shang defected to King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, the Mixu Kingdom located in Lingtai County, Gansu today sent troops to invade the Ruan Kingdom. In the name of morality, King Wen decisively led his troops to attack Mixu, but Mixu could not resist and surrendered to Zhou the following year. King Wen of Zhou's attack on Mi Xu not only won him further moral support and the support of most princes, but more importantly, he also won the trust of Zhou, who granted him the power of exclusive conquest.
This means that from now on, King Wen of Zhou had the power to conquer other princes Fang Kingdom without Zhou's consent. This was of epoch-making significance in the history of Zhou people cutting merchants. King Wen of Zhou overturned the adversity and gained a good opportunity to expand his strength, laying a solid foundation for the future destruction of Shang.
After King Wen defeated Misu, he drove the slaves of Misu country to build an altar, which was called "lingtai". Later, a massive, grand and solemn "military ceremony" sacrifice was held at the spiritual platform to offer sacrifices to heaven and comfort the people. The former site of Lingtai is located in today's Lingtai County, Gansu Province. It is a large building complex, with Lingtai as the main building, and also includes Lingnan, Lingmarsh, Piyong, etc. To comfort the people means to "have fun with the people" and even to "be kind to the birds and beasts". Offering sacrifices to heaven to comfort the people entrusted King Wen of Zhou's people-centered thought of "Heaven sees itself and the people see it, and God hears it and the people listen". It also included his true thoughts that he wanted to express to the outside world that he was "mandated by heaven".
The question is, how can we let the world know that he, King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, is the "destined emperor" of Zhou Dynasty business?
Around this time, a ridiculous but captivating legend at the time spread like wildfire among the vassal states: a red bird, holding a jade gui in its mouth, descended on the ancestral shrine of the Zhou people, and chirped "Tweet, Tweet, Tweet," saying: "It is destiny that King Wen of Zhou conquers Yin, and there will be a country."
Soon afterwards, King Wen of Zhou's queen Taisi claimed that she had a very strange dream. She dreamed that thorns grew in the palace of the Shang Dynasty. She also dreamed that Prince Fa took a catalpa tree from Zhou's palace and planted it in the palace, and it turned into four types of trees: pine, cypress, elm, and oak.
After King Wen heard about it, he quickly summoned the prince and asked him to go to the Mingtang to do a careful divination. The Mingtang is the most solemn building built by ancient emperors. It is used as a place to meet with princes, issue government orders, and hold festivals to worship heaven and ancestors in autumn. The result of the divination by the prince was very auspicious: "The great order of Shang is from the Emperor of Heaven." That is to say, the Emperor of Heaven will grant the political power of the Shang Dynasty to King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou .
In order to find the basis for the destiny of "Dai Shang", it can be said that King Wen of Zhou spent all his efforts. The Zhou people not only used this to "dream to tell the destiny" and used the auspicious "red bird holding Gui" descended from the sky to show the legitimacy of accepting the destiny, but also directly communicated with heaven and the Shang ancestors in the form of sacrifices through the "Lingtai" and the temples of the Shang ancestors such as Chengtang in Zhouyuan, thus obtaining the orthodox basis for the "transfer of destiny".
This alone was not enough. In the late Yin and Shang Dynasties when superstition was prevalent, the general public would still be doubtful if there was no concrete reminder of the Emperor of Heaven. So, the Emperor of Heaven really appeared and gave King Wen a face-to-face instruction:
- Don't wander, don't waver, don't let go of unreasonable delusions, and you have to land on the shore first to cross the river.
- I appreciate your virtue. Don't pay attention to strong words and harsh words, and don't rely on torture tools and soldiers. You must be silent and follow the will of the Emperor of Heaven without forgetting it.
True and false, false and true, the clouds cover the fog, and the "right man" suddenly appears. " Shangshu Da Zhuan" says: "Heaven ordered King Wen to have a voice other than the chirping. When King Wen was on the throne, the world was in full submission, and everyone listened to his administration.If the order is followed, it will be carried out, and if it is forbidden, it will be stopped. If it wavers, it will not go against the way of heaven. Therefore, it is said that "Heaven is the great destiny king". "
"Tian Nai Da Ming King Wen" actually established Zhou's leadership position among Western countries, and also marked the final formation of the anti-business alliance with Zhou as the core. It was 1058 BC, more than 40 years had passed since King Wen succeeded to the throne.
The tide ebbs and the sun sets, and the sun rises. In sharp contrast with the emperors and emperors in the East, "it is the emerging Zhou nation and the emerging moral God who are rising from the west. The name of this virtuous God even has another name. Although he is not a new person, he has appeared on the stage of history from covert to obvious. The emerging political force of 'Zhou' also brought with it the emerging religious concept of 'Heaven', a moral God who is shining on the land of Middle-earth. This emerging God conveys a new message in the ceremony. ” (Yang Rubin: “King Zhou and King Wen during the Yin and Zhou Dynasties—Interpretation of the New Concept of Destiny”, “Shenzhen Social Sciences” 2018 No. 2 period. )
- This article is excerpted from Li Linzhi's "Eight Hundred Years of the Yin and Shang Dynasties in Late Summer". The annotations have been deleted for smooth reading. If necessary, you can read the original work.
About the author
Li Linzhi is a historical scholar who has published more than ten works including "Chinese Ancestors", "Past Stories of Family and Country", "Ancestors, Ancestors", "Yuan Chinese Era" and "Pre-Chinese Era". Among them, "Pre-Chinese Era: 4000 BC ~ B.C." published by Commercial Press The three works "The Scene of the Chinese Land in 2300", "The Yuan China Era: The Scene of the Chinese Land from 2300 BC to 1800 BC" and "Eight Hundred Years of Late Xia Yin and Shang Dynasties: The Early Chinese Era from the Perspective of Big History" published by Research Press constitute his public works. A complete system of ancient history from 4000 BC to 1046 BC, it is the first series of books at home and abroad that uses archeology combined with philology to reveal the historical development context of the three thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to the fall of the Shang Dynasty.
"Pre-Chinese Era" was selected into the "2021" officially released by the Commercial Press. "60 Good Historical Books" list.
"Yuan China Era" was selected into the "2020 Baidao Original Good Books Annual List·Humanities", and at the same time in 2020 It won second place in the "Commercial Press Readers' Voting for Humanities and Social Sciences Books" and topped the list in the "Echoes of History" category.
"Eight Hundred Years of the Yin and Shang Dynasties in Late Summer: The Early Chinese Era from a Big Historical Perspective" has been selected by the Chang'an Street Reading Club since it was published by Research Press in June 2022. tml4 Good Books of June 2022 Issue 5, Baidao.com Good Books of July 2022, China Publishing Group Good Books of July 2022, as well as China Social Science Network "Social Science Good Books", Today's Toutiao Good Books and other recommended lists.
