Jiang Ziya

Jiang Ziya

Jiang Ziya

(before appointment? He was a statesman, strategist and strategist in the late Shang and early Zhou dynasties. He was the founder of the Zhou Dynasty and the founder of military science. Fishing on the shore of the Weihe River, I met Xibo Hou Jichang, worshipped him as "Taishi" (military official name), honored him as "Taigong Wang", and became the chief think tank to assist Jichang in establishing hegemony. After King Wu of Zhou ascended the throne, he became the military commander of the state of Zhou. He helped King Wu to eliminate Zhou of Shang Dynasty, establish Zhou Dynasty, confer the title of Marquis of Qi, set up the capital in Yingqiu, and became the founder of Qi State and Qi culture. In the sixth year of King Kang of Zhou Dynasty, he died of illness in hojing. Later generations revered him. Emperors of all dynasties and literary and historical books respected him as the originator of military strategists, the sage of martial arts, and a hundred masters. During the period of emperor suzong of Tang Dynasty, Wu Cheng Wang was granted the title of king and a temple was set up to offer sacrifices. During the period of emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty, he was named zhaolie after his posthumous title. 

Life of the characters

Half a life

Jiang Ziya and Jiang Ziya. His ancestors had been officials of the four mountains, and had made great contributions to assist Xiayu in harnessing soil and water. When Shun and Yu were granted the land of Lu, they were also called Lu Shang. In Xia and Shang Dynasties, some of them were granted to the descendants of Pangzhi, while others became civilians. LV Shang was the descendant of his distant generation. Lu Shangben's surname was Jiang. Because he took the name of his fiefdom as his surname, he was called Lu Shang.

When Jiang Ziya was born, his family was already in decline, so when Jiang Ziya was young, he worked as a butcher who slaughtered cattle and sold meat, opened a hotel and sold wine to make bricks without rice. Jiang Ziya, however, was a poor man with great ambition. No matter he slaughtered cattle or did business, he always studied astronomy, geography and military strategy assiduously, and studied the way of governing the country. He hoped to show his talent for the country one day. However, he was still useless until he was 70 years old and lived at home.

Prospering Zhou Dynasty and destroying Shang Dynasty

Jiang Ziya, fishing in the Weihe River (now in Baoji, Shaanxi Province), took the opportunity to meet Jichang. Before he went out hunting, Jichang divined a hexagram. The hexagram said: "the prey is not a dragon, not a fish, not a tiger, not a bear; the income is the assistant Minister of the overlord." When Jichang went hunting, he met Jiang Ziya on the North Bank of the Weihe River. After talking with Jiang Ziya, Jichang was overjoyed. He thought that Jiang Taigong was a genius and said, "ever since our country's first emperor Taigong said," there must be sages coming to Zhou, so the Zhou festival will prosper. " Is that you? We have been looking forward to you for a long time. " Therefore, Jiang Ziya was called "Tai Gong Wang", and they went back by car together and respected as the grand master.

This is the source of "Jiang Taigong fishing, willing to take the bait".

It is said that Jiang Ziya was knowledgeable and worked for Zhou of Shang Dynasty. When Shang Zhou had no way, Jiang Ziya left. He lobbied for the princes of other countries, and eventually went west to return to Jichang. It is said that Jiang Ziya was a hermit living on the seashore. When Ji Chang was imprisoned in kuali, his officials San Yisheng and Hong Yao called him after hearing Jiang Ziya's name for a long time. Jiang Ziya also thinks that "I heard that Jichang is virtuous and always respects and cares for the elderly. Why not go there?" In order to rescue Jichang, the three men searched for the beautiful woman Qibao and presented it to King Zhou to redeem Jichang. Ji Chang was released and returned to the state of Zhou. Although the legends of Jiang Ziya's return to Zhou Dynasty are different, they all think that he is the teacher of Jichang and Jifa.

Ji Chang and Jiang Ziya secretly planned how to carry out the virtuous government to overthrow the Shang Zhou regime, many of which were military stratagems and tricks. Jiang Ziya assisted Jichang to cultivate virtue, understand the way and practice benevolence; urged Jichang to contact with other vassal states that were not satisfied with King Zhou to pay tribute to him, so that King Zhou relaxed his vigilance; he made the policy of loving the people, doing things that benefit the people, advocating production and training soldiers and horses; therefore, future generations who talked about the way of using soldiers and the secret power of the Zhou Dynasty all respected Jiang Ziya's basic strategy. Jichang was a clean and peaceful government, especially after the land dispute between mingduan Yu and Rui, he was praised by the poet as receiving the mandate of heaven. Jichang also attacked Chongguo, MISHU and Gouyi, and built Fengyi on a large scale. Two thirds of the princes in the world turned to Zhou, which was mostly the result of Taigong's plan.

After Ji Chang died, Ji Fa ascended the throne. In the ninth year, Jifa wanted to continue to complete the great cause of Jichang. He went to the eastern expedition of Shang Zhou to see if the vassals gathered. When the army left the army, Jiang Ziya, who was honored as "the father of the division", held a yellow Tomahawk in his left hand and a white oath in his right hand, saying: "Cang, Cang, lead the troops, assemble the ships, and behead those who are late." So they went to Mengjin. As many as 800 princes of various countries came without calling. All the princes said, "it's time to invade Shang Zhou." Ji Fa said, "not yet." The head teacher returned and wrote Tai Shi with Jiang Ziya.

Two years later, Shang Zhou killed Prince Bigan and imprisoned Jizi. At this time, King Zhou's wanton tyranny reached the extreme. Seeing that the time was ripe, Jiang Ziya proposed to Jifa to cut down King Zhou. Jifa then informed the princes to join in the expedition. Jiang Ziya selected 300 chariots, 3000 warriors and 45000 Jiashi to form an army to subdue Zhou. When he sent out his troops, Ji Fa divined and the tortoise was in bad omen; on the way to March, he encountered a storm, and the determination of Ji Fa and his ministers was once shaken. Jiang Ziya's strong rejection of public opinions strengthened Jifa's confidence in conquering Zhou. On the Jiazi day of the first month of the 11th year, the Zhou army arrived at the pastoral area 70 miles outside Chaoge, the capital of the Shang Dynasty. King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty also gathered 700000 soldiers and horses to drive to the pastoral areas. As soon as the curtain of war opened, Jiang Ziya led a few elite troops to challenge in front, and then Ji Fa led a large team to attack King Zhou's army. The soldiers of Shang Dynasty were numerous and powerful, but the soldiers and King Zhou of Shang Dynasty turned against each other. Zhou army took advantage of the situation to attack, and a large number of Shang army were killed. When King Zhou saw that the situation had gone, he fled back to Chaoge, boarded the deer terrace and burned himself to death. Jiang Ziya introduced Ji Fa into the court song of the capital of Yin, announcing the demise of the Shang Dynasty and the birth of the Zhou Dynasty.

The next day, Ji Fa stood on the altar. The officials held the clear water in their hands. Uncle Wei Kang sealed the colorful mat. Shi Shang's father brought the sacrifice. Shi Yi prayed according to the plan book and told the God about the attack against the evil Shang Zhou. They distributed the coins that Shang Zhou had accumulated in Lutai and the grain that Shang Zhou had accumulated in Juqiao to relieve the poor. Build the tomb of jiagaobigan and release the imprisoned dustpan. He moved Jiuding, the symbol of the highest power in the world, to the state of Zhou to repair the government affairs of the Zhou Dynasty, and began to create a new era together with the people of the world.

Enfeoffment and peace

After King Wu destroyed the Shang Dynasty, he negotiated with Jiang Ziya and Zhou GongDan to divide the whole country into several Marquis states. The emperor of Zhou granted the capital to the relatives of Ji family and the meritorious ministers who had made great contributions to the great cause of destroying the Shang Dynasty, which served as a barrier for the ruling center of the Zhou Dynasty, that is, the so-called "feudal relatives, who ruled the Zhou". Jiang Ziya was first granted the title of state of Qi in Yingqiu (now Linzi District of Zibo City) to stabilize the East because of his outstanding contribution to the prosperity of Zhou Dynasty and the destruction of Shang Dynasty.

Jiang Ziya led his troops to Yingqiu. Because the long journey was very tiring, the marching speed of the party was very slow. One evening, they came to camp not far from Yingqiu, ready to arrive at Yingqiu tomorrow. Some people say, "you Dao is a rare opportunity. These people sleep sweetly and soundly, which looks like they are going to build the capital of the country. ". After hearing this, Jiang Ziya felt sleepless and rushed to Yingqiu. When we arrived at the West Bank of Zihe River at dawn, we saw that the Lai army was wading into the water and rushing to the camp. The situation was critical. It turned out that the kingdom of Lai was very close to Yingqiu, which belonged to King Zhou of Shang Dynasty. The two armies fought each other on the West Bank of Zihe River. Jiang Ziya's command was calm and his soldiers fought bravely and tenaciously. In this way, the state of Qi was formally established.

After the establishment of Qi, Jiang Ziya first ruled the country by law to stabilize the people. Sikouying Tang, who was a villain, took bribes and bewitched the public. He claimed that he wanted to govern Qi with the so-called "benevolence and justice", so Jiang Taigong asked Yingtang to be beheaded and ordered by the government. In the East China Sea, there were Kuangyu and Huashi brothers, who were called "sages" by the time, who did not submit to the emperor or work for the princes, and peacefully fought against the new Qi state with a non cooperative attitude. Jiang Ziya thought that they were selfish If they don't do their duty for the country, they are the "black sheep" and order to kill them. For a time, Qi never disobeyed the orders and regulations again, and the chaotic situation was quickly stabilized. In just five months, Jiang Ziya went to report to the Duke of Zhou, that is, to report to him his political achievements in stabilizing the country.

Strengthen the country and enrich the people

Jiang Ziya carried out the policy of respecting the virtuous and respecting the meritorious in politics. It is to select talented people as officials, absorb a large number of talents from the local Dongyi aborigines to join the ruling class of Qi, and let them play their due role in national construction. For those who meet the criteria of selecting talents, they should make full use of their strong points to maximize their positive creativity. This line of employment broke the orthodox thought of "respecting relatives" based on blood relationship in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Jiang Taigong also raised the employment of personnel to the height of the rise and fall of the country, and put forward the talent theory of "six guarding", "eight levying" and "six not using". Practice has proved that his thought of employing talents not only created a precedent of appointing talents on the basis of merit and ability, but also laid a foundation for Qi to dominate other countries.

Culturally, it carries out the enlightened policy of "being simple because of its vulgarity". Tai Gong believed that if Zhou rites were vigorously carried out in Qi, conflicts would easily arise, which would be detrimental to the governance and stability of the country. After much deliberation, he decided to proceed from the reality of Qi, simplify the etiquette from the common customs, without compulsory intervention, and created a new system which not only made Qi people happy to accept, but also did not go against Zhou etiquette.

According to the book of the Han Dynasty, geography annals, Qi is rich in sea and salt, and has few grains, but few people "On salt and iron" says: "in the past, Taigong sealed the camp mound, opened the grass and lived there. The land is thin and the people are few. " In the face of extremely harsh natural conditions, Jiang Taigong adjusted measures to local conditions since the early establishment of Qi state. While focusing on the development of millet and rice production, he made full use of the rich mineral resources and Fish salt resources in the territory to vigorously develop smelting

Chinese PinYin : Jiang Zi Ya