Friends who have read the "Fengshen Yanyi" often have such a question, why can king Huan inherit the throne?
It is not that the king of Lu is faint and unworthy of the throne. In fact, according to the setting of the original work of the "Fengshen Yanyi", at the beginning of the reign of king Huan, he was not a faint monarch, on the contrary, he was outstanding in ability, his subordinates were like clouds, and the fierce generals were like tigers, so "all the people are happy, the wind and rain are smooth, and the country is safe and secure."
Questioning why king Huan was able to inherit the throne is related to the patriarchal system.
As we know, the inheritance of the throne of the emperor in ancient times adopted the system of primogeniture, the so-called concubine, that is, the son born to the emperor and the empress, and the eldest son of the emperor and the empress.
Whether the King of Lu is a concubine or not does not say, but it is certainly not the eldest son, and the first time in the original book of the Fengshen God, it is clearly written that Emperor Yisheng has three sons: Chang Yue Wei Zi Qi, the second Yue Wei Zi Yan, and the third Yue Lu King.
Therefore, according to the inheritance system of the eldest son, the third son of the King of Qi is not eligible to inherit the throne, and after the death of Emperor Yi, the throne should be inherited by the eldest son, Wei Zi qi.
Of course, there is also a possibility that according to the eldest son of the concubine to inherit the king of The Dragon can take the throne, that is, the eldest brother of the King of the Dragon, Wei Zi Qi, and the second brother of the Second Brother, Wei Zi Yan are both tree children, only the King of Qiu is a concubine, so that as the only concubine, the King of Qi, naturally is also the eldest son of the concubine, who is eligible to inherit the throne.
However, the original fengshen did not emphasize that the king of The Dragon was the only concubine, according to the ranking order, even if the King of the Dragon was a concubine, the micro-son Qi and the micro-son Yan were likely to be concubines, so they could be ranked before the King of the Concubine.
So, why did Emperor Yi bypass the primogeniture system and pass on the youngest king?
Some argue that a strict patriarchal system had not yet been established during the Shang Dynasty, and it is not surprising that the throne was passed to the youngest son.
However, "Fengshen Yanyi" is a kind of Fengshen novel, although it is a story about the Shang Zhou Dynasty, but the values come from its creative period - the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty that strictly implemented the inheritance system of the eldest son, and if there was no eldest son, the eldest son would be allowed to take the throne, and it would be impossible to pass on to the younger son.
Some people also believe that the reason why Emperor Yi passed the throne to the King of Lu was because of his outstanding ability, but he did not expect that the King of Lu would later become the Emperor of Xia.
Although the early years of the King of Qi were not lost, but Wei Zi Qi and Wei Zi Yan were not mediocre people, known as sages, regardless of virtue and ability, they were enough to inherit the throne.
Emperor Yi did not pass the throne to the eldest son Wei Zi Qi, nor did he pass the throne to the second son Wei Zi Yan, but to the younger son King Huan, in fact, the relationship with the King of Qi himself was not too big, but related to the important subjects behind him.
Behind the king were two powerful courtiers.
One is Wen Zhong. Wen Zhongguan worshiped Master Taishi, who had worked in the Court of Yin Shang for decades, had a very high prestige, and his protégés were all over the world, so why did he support the King of Sui? Because he was the teacher of king Huan.
The other is Huang Feihu. Huang Feihu was crowned king of Wucheng, holding the power of Yin Shang's soldiers and horses, and had a high prestige in the Yin Shang military circles, and his protégés were also all over the world. Why did he support the King? Because he was the eldest brother-in-law of King Huan, his sister Huang Shi was a concubine of King Huan.
Wen Zhong, Huang Feihu and King Huan are close to each other, and have long formed a united front, the two sides are a relationship of one glory and one loss, if King Huan inherits the throne, their power can be consolidated and developed, on the contrary, if they let Wei Zi Qi or Wei Zi Yan inherit the throne, will they still reuse Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu? On the contrary, they may spare no effort to suppress the two, after all, they are the close associates of the King of Sui.
Since it is not in wenzhong and Huang Feihu's interests to pass on the throne, can they not oppose the succession of the throne by the minor zi qi and the wei zi yan?
If Emperor Yi wanted Yin Shang to have long-term peace and stability, he could not but consider the attitudes of Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu. If these two powerful men were really forced to rush, the consequences would be unimaginable.
In fact, even without considering the opposition of Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu, for Emperor Yi, passing on the throne was also the most suitable choice.
Although Wei Zi Qi and Wei Zi Yan are quite famous, if they are regarded as crown princes, they have a very big shortcoming, that is, they have no foundation in the dynasty and do not have their own political team, how can Emperor Yi safely pass the throne to a prince who does not have any political team?
On the other hand, since Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu supported him so much, it showed that he had a strong political team and had already established his prestige and influence in the dprk. Let a prince with a political team, who has established prestige and influence, take the throne, of course, let the emperor be at ease, do not have to worry about his prestige, suppressed by the courtiers.
In summary, Emperor Yi would of course bypass the patriarchal system and pass it on to his youngest son, King Huan. As for the fact that king Huan later fainted and corrupted Yin Shangjiangshan, according to the setting of the original book of the fengshen god, it was actually due to the number of days, and had little to do with Emperor Yi.