King Wu of Zhou Dynasty

Ji Fa

The king of Zhou Wu Ji Fa (?)? (about 1043 BC), surnamed Ji, named fa (the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty often call him king Yu), the second son of King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty Ji Chang and Tai Si, who was born in Qishan, Shaanxi Province, and was the founding monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

In 1056 B.C., King Wen died and Jifa succeeded him as King Wu. After King Wu succeeded to the throne, he inherited his father's ambition and made the state of Zhou more and more powerful. In 1046 BC, King Wu united with Yong, Shu, Qiang, Lu, Peng, PU and other tribes to attack Zhou of Shang Dynasty. He fought against the Shang Dynasty under the rule of tyrant King Zhou. It was a battle for Muye. The Shang Dynasty was defeated, King Zhou burned himself in Lutai, and the Shang Dynasty perished. The Zhou Dynasty was established, with the capital of hojing (now southwest of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province).

Three years later (about 1043 BC), King Wu of Zhou Dynasty died and was buried in the tomb of Zhou Dynasty.

Life of the characters

The rise of Xianzhou

During the period of Jichang, King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, the national strength gradually became strong, "the world was divided into three parts, and the other part was returned to Zhou", which laid the foundation for the destruction of Shang Dynasty. After the collapse of Jichang, his son Jifa succeeded to the throne, known as King Wu of Zhou.

Ji Fa continued to use Jiang Taigong (i.e. Jiang Shang) as his military adviser, and his younger brother Zhou GongDan as his prime minister. Zhao Gong, Bi Gong, Kang Shu, Dan Ji and other good officials all played their respective roles. With the accumulation of talents, his politics flourished. We should strive to unite more vassal states and expand our strength. King Wu judged the situation, actively prepared conditions for the destruction of business, and waited for the opportunity. In order to attack Chaoge, the capital of Shang Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou established a new capital, Haojing (now Xi'an), on the East Bank of Fengshui.

Meng Jin's observation of soldiers

In the second year after King Wu of Zhou ascended the throne, he led the army westward to the tomb of King Wen in Biyuan (now in Chang'an District of Shaanxi Province), and then moved eastward to Chaoge. In the Chinese army, a big wooden board with the name of his father xibochang was erected. He only called himself Prince FA, which meant that King Wen was still in command. When the army arrived at Mengjin (now the northeast of Mengjin County, Henan Province) on the South Bank of the Yellow River, 800 princes came to take part. The situation that the people of Zhou Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty were isolated and helpless was formed. The princes urged King Wu to march to Chaoge immediately. King Wu and Jiang Shang thought that the time was not yet ripe. After the army crossed the Yellow River, they ordered the whole army to return, and warned everyone not to act too hastily with "you don't know the destiny of heaven.". Because the time is not yet fully ripe, it's time for us to return. The rehearsal of the destruction of business was known as "Mengjin meeting" or "Mengjin watching soldiers".

King Wu conquered Zhou

After Meng Jin watched the soldiers, King Wu stepped up his military training and sent people to inquire about the trend of Yin merchants. After hearing the spies' three reports, they learned that the Shang Dynasty had "slandered the evil and dethroned the loyal and the good": the prince Bigan had his heart cut open; Jizi pretended to be crazy and was punished as a slave; the neutrino felt hopeless and had left and lived in seclusion; the common people did not dare to complain. King Wu felt that the Shang Dynasty was falling apart, and the time was ripe for conquering King Zhou.

In the spring of the fourth year after King Wu ascended the throne, he launched an unprecedented war against commerce. Thanks to Jiang Shang, he sent 50000 troops to cross the Yellow River and move eastward. When the army arrived in Mengjin, 800 princes also led their troops to help. King Wu held a pledge meeting in Mengjin. In a solemn and solemn atmosphere, Ji Fa held the Yellow Yue in his left hand, which symbolized the command power of the army, and the yak tail staff in his right hand. Under the protection of LV Shang and Shu Dan, he ascended the earthen altar and made a famous oath to all the soldiers

All of you, the kings and generals of the friendly countries, yin and Zhou abandoned the state affairs, disrespected the Shinto, abandoned the compatriots, violently attacked the common people and made people angry. Now, God ordered me to punish Yin. All officers and men, raise your spear and your shield to fight like a tiger and a bear. Work hard, soldiers!

After the swearing in ceremony and the oath of alliance, King Wu led his army to Chaoge, the capital of the Shang Dynasty. Along the way, they were in full swing, and soon they came to the Muye, which was only 70 miles away from Chaoge. The armies of the two sides set up a decisive battle near the Muye.

King Zhou thought that he had 700000 troops and horses, but Zhou had only 50000 troops, which was like beating a stone with an egg and throwing a moth at a fire. But he didn't know that King Wu's army was a highly trained, brave and tenacious army. Among his 700000 troops, more than half were slaves temporarily armed and prisoners captured from Dongyi. They were oppressed and abused by King Zhou. They hated King Zhou to the bone. Who would work for him. So as soon as the two armies met each other, the slaves turned around and surrendered one after another, cooperating with the Zhou army to attack the Shang army. King Zhou's so-called 700000 army collapsed in an instant. Jiang Shang then commanded Zhou Jun to chase after him until Chaoge.

After Muye's defeat, King Zhou fled back to Chaoge. Feeling that he had no power to return to heaven, he ordered people to move all the treasures in the palace to Lutai. Then he set fire to himself and died. Hearing that King Zhou was dead, the people of Chaoge lined up to welcome the Zhou army into the city. When King Wu came to Lutai and saw King Zhou's body, he shot three arrows, cut off the heads of King Zhou and Daji, and displayed them under the white flag outside the palace. The two favorite officials of King Zhou, Yelai and Fei Zhong, were also beheaded. It's a great deal of people's heart to cut off the group of murderers. Since then, the Shang Dynasty, which lasted for more than 600 years, completely perished with the self Immolation of King Zhou, who was full of evil, and was known as King Wu conquering Yin.

As for the historical facts of King Wu's attack on merchants, the first batch of Li Zhen, who banned the exhibition of cultural relics abroad, can prove it. Lizhen, also known as Zhengshang Zhen, is a sacrificial instrument made by Yousi (official name) Li in the period of King Wu of Zhou Dynasty. It was unearthed in Lintong, Shaanxi Province in 1976. It is the earliest bronze ware of Western Zhou Dynasty. At the bottom of Li Zhen's abdomen, there are four lines of 32 characters on the inscription, which is to the effect that: King Wu attacked Shang, and the year star was in its place in the early morning of Jiazi day, which was suitable for the expedition; on the eighth day of Xinwei day after the victory of Shang Dynasty, King Wu rewarded "Yousi" Li with copper in the local military station. Li felt very proud, so he used copper to cast treasures to commemorate this event. The historical facts recorded by Li Zhen confirmed the records of Shangshu · Mushi and yizhoushu · Shifu.

"The book of songs" in the battle of Muye chanted: "Wei Shi Shang father, when Wei Yingyang." In the battle of Muye, King Wu was the commander in chief and Tai Gongwang was the commander in chief. It may be that the army flag with eagle emblem was flying in the wind with high morale, so it was called "Muye Yingyang".

Eliminate business and build week

The Zhou Dynasty was established, with the capital of hojing (now southwest of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province). King Wu of Zhou made his father Jichang king of Wen and enfeoffed them as princes.

As a result of overwork, Ji Fa fell ill the second year after he destroyed the business. At that time, the world was not peaceful, and the ministers of Zhou Dynasty were worried that Ji Fa's death would bring turmoil. After a slight improvement, Ji Fa's condition soon deteriorated. On his deathbed, he still remembered the unsettled world. He worried that his son Jisong was too young and lacked political experience to take on the responsibility of managing the world, so he entrusted all the affairs of assistant politics to Shudan. He died soon, and his posthumous title was "King Wu".

Political initiatives

Establish a state

After the Muye war, the king of Wu entered the capital of Shang Dynasty. The capital was divided into three kingdoms, i.e. Ying, Ying and Wei. He was granted the title of Lu Fu (i.e. Wu Geng), the son of Zhou. Guan Shuxian and Cai Shudu, the younger brothers of the king of Wu, were in charge of them respectively. They were collectively called three supervisors (i.e. Guan Shujian Wei, Cai Shujian and Huoshu Jian, to supervise Wu Geng). Then they sent troops to subdue the feudal lords of Shang Dynasty. According to records, there were 99 conquerors and 652 conquerors.

In the fourth year of King Wu (about 1046 BC), after King Wu destroyed the Shang Dynasty, he returned to the West and held a grand ceremony in his new capital, Haojing (Zongzhou, now fengshuidong, northwest of Xi'an, Shaanxi), officially announcing the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty.

After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the political situation was quite severe. King Wu ruled such a large area as the king of "small states" and worried about the rebellion of the princes. In order to consolidate the political power and meet the needs of the new situation, King Wu decided to reward according to his merits, adjust the internal relations of the ruling group, and implement the enfeoffment political system with the Zhou royal family as the center. The main meritorious officials who have been granted successively are: Jiang Taigong, Zhou GongDan, Zhao Gong, etc. In order to control the vast new conquest area, the early Zhou Dynasty followed the enfeoffment system of Shang Dynasty, and enfeoffed the royal family, meritorious officials and the nobles of the previous generation to various places to be vassals and establish vassal states. There were 71 feudal states successively, such as Lu, Qi, Yan, Wei, song, Jin and Guo.

There are three main purposes of King Wu's feudalism

1、 Appease the Yin people

Wu Geng, the son of Zhou, was granted to Yin, and Three Kingdoms, Ying, Yong, and Wei, were set up around Yin. They were granted to Huo Shu, Guan Shu, and Cai Shu to monitor Wu Geng, which told the world clearly that exterminating Zhou was a crime of condoning the people, and there was no intention of exterminating Yin, so as to appease the people of Yin in the East.

2、 Rise and fall

Jiao, Zhu, Ji, Chen and Qi were granted to the descendants of the ancient emperors who had made great contributions to the people, which showed the intention of honoring virtue and encouraging the people.

3、 Immigration to Shibian

The Three Kingdoms of Qi, Lu and Yan were Zhou's new territory in the East. These feudal states were for immigration to attack the border. They had the intention of regional development and sufficient food and soldiers. At the same time, in the use of policies, they also established the power of containment in the rear of the Yin nationality.

Patriarchal system

The patriarchal clan system sprouted as early as the primitive clan period, but as a complete system to maintain the relationship between the nobility, it was formed and appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty. After King Wu of Zhou conquered the Shang Dynasty and unified the world, under the patriarchal system, "the son of heaven was founded, the princes established their families, the princes set up side rooms, the officials had two schools, and the scholars had subordinates", forming a systematic and complete management system.

Patriarchal system is a kind of right inheritance system which distinguishes the kinship and estrangement according to the lineage. It originates from patriarchal system of patriarchal clan. Its core is the eldest son inheritance system, which is mainly used to distinguish the relationship between the family and the kinship and estrangement. Its purpose is to establish the inheritance right of status and property within the family, improve and consolidate the enfeoffment system, and prevent disputes between nobles because of the inheritance of power. Because they have the right to inherit property within the family,

Chinese PinYin : Zhou Wu Wang