Zhou GongDan

Duke Zhou

Duke Zhou (year of birth and death unknown), surnamed Ji, name Dan. He was the founder of the Western Zhou Dynasty, an outstanding statesman, militarist, thinker, educator, "Yuansheng", a pioneer of Confucianism, the fourth son of King Wen of Zhou Ji Chang, and the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou Ji Fa. The manor was in Zhou, so it was called Duke of Zhou.

Granted in Qufu, stay in the ruling dynasty, the eldest son Bo Qin was granted. King Wu died, King Cheng was young, and Duke Zhou was Regent. Uncle Guan, uncle Cai, and uncle Huo were not satisfied and united with Wu Geng and Dongyi to rebel. He led his division in the eastern expedition, calmed down the rebellion, and after the extermination (today's east of Qufu in Shandong Province), he enfeoffed the princes on a large scale and built zhouluoyi (today's Luoyang in Henan Province). As the main creator of the Western Zhou Dynasty's system of laws and regulations, he advocated "clear morality and cautious punishment" and ruled the country with "Rites", which laid the foundation of "the rule of Chengkang".

The achievements of Duke Zhou in his life are summarized in Shangshu Da Zhuan as follows: "one year to save the chaos, two years to conquer Yin, three years to practice Yan, four years to build Hou Wei, five years to run Zhou, six years to make rites and music, seven years to become king." The comments can be found in Dagao, kanggao, Duoshi, Wuyi and Lizheng in Shangshu.

Life of the characters

Assist King Wu

Zhou GongDan is the younger brother of Jifa, King Wu of Zhou Dynasty. When Jichang, King Wen of Zhou, was still alive, the Duke of Zhou was very filial, loyal and benevolent. When Ji Fa ascended the throne, the Duke of Zhou often assisted his prime minister Ji Fa and dealt with a lot of government affairs.

During the reign of King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, the people of Zhou Dynasty had already begun to struggle with the Shang Dynasty. At the beginning, Jichang gained the trust of Xin, King Zhou of Shang Dynasty. The king of Yin ordered Jichang to have the right to attack with bows, arrows, axes and axes. Ji Chang was ordered to die seven years later, and Ji Fa ascended the throne. He still took Duke Tai Wang (Jiang Shang) as his national teacher and Duke Zhou as his assistant. Tai Gong Wang and Zhou Gong were the most effective assistants of King Wu. Zhou GongDan was the brother of King Wu, so he always discussed with him on military affairs and other difficult matters.

In February, the year of King Wu's official accession to the throne, King Wu secretly contacted Duke Zhou in Fengdi. King Wu thought about destroying business day and night, and quietly considered how to get the cooperation and response of the princes. King Wu worried that when the time came to overthrow the Shang Dynasty, it would be easily lost. It was like in autumn, when the crops were ripe, if they were not harvested, the grains would fall to the ground automatically. Duke Zhou replied, "the decisive factor is virtue. For Zhou people, the most important thing is to respect heaven's destiny, not to offend the princes far and near, and not to lose the princes who have been reconciled. We should continue to cultivate morality and not be at ease, otherwise it will be difficult to clean up. ". King Wu planned to destroy the merchants, but he was also worried that some things could not be done well. One day in January of the second year after he ascended the throne, King Wu called Duke Zhou to him again and said to him, "I've always been afraid of business. I don't know what it is. Listen to the world and work hard. " He said that he was on guard against Yin people sooner or later, but he didn't know the best way. King Wu asked Duke Zhou for advice, so as to listen attentively and work diligently for the world. Therefore, Duke Zhou admonished King Shunde to do something.

In the ninth year of King Wu, with the assistance of Duke Zhou, King Wu went to the east to attack merchants and sent troops to Mengjin. The Zhou army made the God Lord of King Wen of Zhou, which was carried in a car and placed in the central army. King Wu called himself "Prince Fa" and said that he was following King Wen's order to carry out the expedition and did not dare to specialize in it. So he announced to all the officials that they should be respectful and faithful, inherit the virtues of their ancestors, and specify rewards and punishments, so as to better complete the task. It is easy to be familiar with the terrain and route, which is conducive to the northern expedition of the Army crossing the river in the future. It can also test the reality of the Shang Dynasty and the reaction of the princes. This alliance came unexpectedly to 800 princes. This is a better impetus for King Wu to strengthen his determination to destroy business and continue to cultivate morality.

In the Mengjin (now Mengjin County, Luoyang City, Henan Province) alliance and oath held, the thought of respecting virtue of Duke Zhou was also reflected. King Wu first offered sacrifices to the gods and reviewed the army eastward until he reached Mengjin. This operation is the first large-scale graduation of King Wu after he ascended the throne.

Ke Yin Jianzhou

King Zhou of Shang Dynasty didn't deeply realize the infiltration of Zhou people into the East. He still frequently attacked Dongyi, refused to admonish and disguise the wrongdoers at home, indulged in wine and women, and made a mess of domestic politics. After the death of King Wen of Zhou, King Wu of Zhou ascended to the throne. With the help of Duke Zhao and Duke Bi, he watched the soldiers in Mengjin and met the princes of the world. This was a kind of general exercise before the attack and also a kind of trial.

In the 11th year of King Wu, in December of the second year after watching the army, with the help of Duke Zhou and others, King Wu led 300 chariots, 3000 Huben and 45000 Jiashi to pass through Mengjin and reach the pastoral area of King Shang. In the early morning of Jiazi in February 1046 BC, King Wu gathered people to take an oath in the pastoral area in the suburbs of Shang Dynasty. The oath is the "pastoral oath" in the book of history.

King Zhou sent troops to resist. As a result, the Zhou army turned around and rushed back to kill, and the Zhou army was defeated. King Zhou boarded the deer terrace and burned himself to death. The next day, the Duke of Zhou took the big Yue and the Duke of Zhao took the small Yue. Around the king of Wu, he announced to heaven and the people of yin that King Zhou was guilty, and officially declared the destruction of the Yin Dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty replaced King Wu as the son of heaven.. At this time, the position of Duke Zhou was second only to King Wu, and his big Yue was a symbol of power.

After the destruction of the Shang Dynasty, the king of Wu divided the area under the direct control of the Shang Dynasty into three parts, where he was under the control of Wu Geng Lu, the son of King Zhou. Wei is in charge of CAI Shudu, while Wei is in charge of Guan Shuxian, which is called "three supervisors" in history (some say that Guan Shu, Cai Shu and Huo Shu are called "three supervisors"). But it is said that Huo Shu is one of the "three supervisors", which is not recorded in historical records and Hanshu. Uncle Guan's fiefdom is in charge, and uncle Cai's fiefdom is in CAI. The son of Duke Zhou was granted the title of Bo Qin. Fengtaigong looked at Yingqiu. He was granted the title of Zhao Gong to Yan.

Divide Shaanxi and govern it

King Wu died two years after he destroyed the Shang Dynasty. The Duke of Zhou was afraid that people in the world would betray the imperial court when they heard that King Wu was dead, so he ascended the throne and took charge of the state affairs for King Cheng. Guan Shu and his brothers spread rumors in the kingdom that "Duke Zhou will be unfavorable to Cheng Wang." Duke Zhou told Duke Wang and Duke Zhao that "King Wu died early and King Cheng was young. It was only for the sake of stabilizing the Zhou Dynasty that I did so." In the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou assisted his son, King Cheng of Zhou, in the eastern expedition to wipe out the state of Yan, which was rebellious with Wu Geng. He enfeoffed the eldest son of the Duke of Zhou, Bo Qin, to the native land of the state of Yan, and established the state of Lu with the title of "Lu" in the early Zhou Dynasty. The capital of the state was Qufu, and its territory was in the south of Mount Tai and now the south of Shandong Province.

At that time, the Western Zhou Dynasty was very unstable, so Zhou GongDan and Zhao Gongyu decided to divide Shaanxi into two parts. "Shan" refers to the area of Sanmenxia, and "shuijingzhu" refers to the area of old Shanzhou city (Shanmo), while "kuodizhi" refers to Shanyuan (zhangbianyuan, Shanxian County, Sanmenxia). At that time, Duke Zhou and Duke Zhao agreed to chisel a stone pillar with a height of 3.5 meters and plant it at the boundary, which is called "pillar as boundary". The Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Zhao divided the rule of the Zhou Dynasty into two administrative regions: the East and the West. The Duke of Zhou managed the East and the Duke of Zhao managed the West. This stone pillar, which was planted at the boundary at that time, is the earliest boundary stone in China.

After Zhou Zhao divided Shaanxi, Zhou GongDan could use his main energy to guard against the rebellion of the adherents of Shang Dynasty and stabilize the newly expanded territory in the East; and the responsibility of Zhao Gong was to further develop the agricultural production in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, establish a consolidated economic rear, and relieve the worries for the Zhou Dynasty to further expand its territory.

The second eastern expedition

Guan Shu and Cai Shu colluded with Wu Geng, the son of King Zhou, and joined the Dongyi tribe to rebel against the Zhou Dynasty. The Duke of Zhou was ordered by Cheng Wang to March eastward and wrote Dagao. Duke Zhou successfully appeased the rebellion of the third prison, killed Guan Shu, killed Wu Geng, and exiled Cai Shu. He accepted the adherents of Yin, granted uncle Kang to Wei, and granted the Weizi to Song Dynasty, so that he could perform the sacrifice of Yin. After the Duke of Zhou conquered Guan Cai, he took advantage of his victory and marched to the East, destroying more than 50 countries, such as Yan (today's Qufu in Shandong Province), and driving Feilian to the seaside to kill him. From then on, Zhou's power extended to the seaside. Pacifying Huaiyi and other areas in the East will be completed in two years. All the princes lived in the Shun Zhou Dynasty.

King Wu only attacked the core of the Shang Dynasty. It was not until Duke Zhou's eastward expedition that his peripheral forces were swept away. Although there were about 50 states destroyed in the three-year eastern expedition, the consolidation and expansion of the occupied territory was still after the enfeoffment of the same surname. After the eastern expedition, the Zhou people were no longer the "small state Zhou" in the west, but became a great country with sea in the East, Huaihe River Basin in the South and Liaodong in the north. The signs of zhougongdong stormed the lower reaches of the river, stirring the pattern of the original clan. Some of Xu fled to Jiangnan (now Jiangxi); some of Dongyi were driven to Huaihe River Basin; Ying family moved to the West; Chu fled to Danshui River Basin. The battle of the eastern expedition was cruel and fierce. The soldiers followed the Duke of Zhou in the eastern expedition, and the axe cut a gap. Even though they had suffered a lot from the battle, they were very lucky to live. The soldiers of the eastern expedition yearn for their hometown. Once they return home, their hearts are full of reverie. The book of songs · CHENFENG · Dongshan is a vivid portrayal of this psychology. It's no longer a situation of internal and external difficulties. Before the battle, the situation of "being swayed by the wind and rain and being only heard by the voice" was no longer the same.

To screen Zhou with fan

After Zhou GongDan's rebellion, in order to strengthen the control over the East, he formally suggested that King Cheng of Zhou move the capital to Luoyi (now Luoyang). At the same time, a large number of Shang Dynasty nobles captured in the war, namely "Yin stubborn people", were moved to Luoyi, and Zhaogong was sent to garrison eight divisions in Luoyi to strengthen supervision over them. How to rule the conquered areas is a big problem after the victory of the war. The destruction of Xia by the Yin people and the destruction of Yin by the Zhou people were all caused by the destruction of the surrounding feudal states of Gongwei capital. For example, Wei, Gu and Kunwu in the late Xia Dynasty were all vassals of different surnames, "Wei, Gu Jisha, Kunwu and xiajie". Li, Ying and Chong in the late Shang Dynasty were the defenders of the Western Shang Dynasty. After the fall of King Wen of Zhou, King Wu could drive straight to the Muye near the capital of Shang to destroy Zhou. The rebellion of Wu Geng, the state of Yan and Huaiyi showed that the old clan leaders could no longer be used in important areas, but had to be replaced

Chinese PinYin : Zhou Gong Dan