We read all the lead to present a different history.
There are many famous prime ministers in history, such as Qi has Guan Zhong, Han has Xiao He, and Shu Han has Zhuge Liang. These people have been known for their extraordinary ability to govern the country. Today I want to talk about a prime minister, he is yi yin, the prime minister of the Shang Dynasty. Of course, at that time, he was not called the prime minister, but called Yin, and Yin's function was the prime minister, so we used to call him the prime minister.
Yi Yin's popularity is different from that of the above-mentioned prime ministers, because Yi Yin lived a relatively long time ago, and there are few historical materials about Yi Yin. Because of this, Yi Yin's origin is full of mystery. According to legend, Yi Yin was born on the shore of Yi Shui, he grew up without parents, and was adopted by a royal cook with a Xinguo. Youxin guo was a small fang state of the Xia Dynasty, and he cultivated and studied in this small country, and soon he became a well-known scholar. His reputation even spread to another Fang state of the Shang State in the Xia Dynasty, when the monarch of the Shang State was Cheng Tang, and Cheng Tang heard that Yi Yin was a talented person, so he wanted to hire him to the Shang Kingdom to assist himself, but the king of the State of Xin did not agree. Cheng Tang hired three times without success.
At that time, the monarch of the Xia Dynasty was Xia Jie, xia jie had no way, fainted and tyrannical, causing the people's resentment to boil, Yi Yin persuaded King Youxin, hoping that he would hang the people to cut down the crime, overthrow the rule of Xia Jie, and liberate the people from hanging. However, Youxin guo was the same surname of the Xia Dynasty, plus Youxin was a small country, so Yi Yin failed to persuade him to succeed. Cheng Tang was thirsty for talents, so Cheng Tang thought of a way, he married the daughter of King Youxin as a concubine, and Yi Yin took the opportunity to marry as a slave and came to the Shang Kingdom.
Yi Yin went to the Shang Kingdom and made Cheng Tang the imperial cook, but his identity was a slave, and as a slave, he could not help Yi Yin govern the country, and he could not even directly state his political views to Cheng Tang. Cheng Tang then planned to change Yi Yin's slave status first. To this end, Cheng Tang carried out a solemn ceremony in the temple, which is colloquially a ceremony to change identity. The process of the ceremony is as follows: first let people smoke Yi Yin with reeds, then ask people to burn him with a stove, and finally smear pig blood on Yi Yin's body, the purpose of this is to remove the ominousness of Yi Yin's body. However, after this set of rituals was completed, Yi Yin felt that his dignity was insulted, so after he was relieved of his slave status, he not only did not serve Chengtang, but ran to Xia Jie, hoping to give Xia Jie a plan and change the government of the Xia Dynasty.
However, Xia Jie was not interested in this Yi Yin, especially seeing that Yi Yin looked strange, and he did not like this person even more. It is said that Yi Yin neither grew a beard nor eyebrows, and it is said that Yi Yin was born in Khlong Sang – which of course has a mythical and legendary nature. In short, Xia Jie did not like Yi Yin very much, and Yi Yin's many performances were rejected by him. Yi Yin originally wanted to do something for the Xia Dynasty, trying to save the Xia Dynasty, but who knew that he was treated like this. One day Yi Yin was walking sullenly on the street, and heard someone talking about it, and a common topic that these people were talking about was actually hating Xia Jie and going to Chengtang to defect to the Shang Kingdom, Yi Yin finally knew that Xia Jie had completely lost the hearts of the people. So he did not hesitate to pack his bags and prepare to return to the Shang Kingdom.
Cheng Tang saw Yi Yin again and did not mind that he had left him to join Xia Jie, not only that, Cheng Tang also immediately appointed Yi Yin as Yin, and Yin at that time was actually the prime minister. Yi Yin then told Cheng Tang what he had seen and heard in the Xia Dynasty, persuaded Cheng Tang to implement benevolent government, unite people's hearts, and actively prepare to eliminate Xia Jie and replace him. Since Cheng Tang's benevolence was famous all over the world, Xia Jie would of course know about it, so Xia Jie realized the threat of Cheng Tang, so he issued an edict and deceived Cheng Tang into going to the capital and imprisoned him in Juntai. Yi Yin also came to the capital at the same time, and he used his various connections during the Xia Dynasty to send a lot of money to Xia Jie, and finally said that Xia Jie released Cheng Tang.
After Cheng Tang returned to his fang kingdom, he actively implemented the strategy of destroying Xia with the assistance of Yi Yin. Cheng Tang first tested the strength of the Xia Dynasty and deliberately did not pay tribute to the Xia Dynasty. Xia Jie was very angry and ordered the Jiuyi Division to attack the Shang State, at which point Yi Yin suggested that Cheng Tang resume its tribute to the Xia Dynasty, and the Xia Dynasty then withdrew its troops. Yi Yinjunchen took this opportunity to continue to cultivate obscurity and store strength. A few years later, around 1601 BC, Yi Yin suggested that Cheng Tang once again stop paying tribute to the Xia Dynasty, and Xia Jie once again ordered jiuyi's division to cut down the merchants, but jiuyi's army did not obey the order. Yi Yin told Shang Tang that Xia Jie had lost his authority and could not command the world, and the time was ripe to attack the Xia Dynasty. So Cheng Tang, assisted by Yi Yin, launched an attack on the Xia Dynasty, and the Xia army was defeated, and Xia Jie fled. Cheng Tang destroyed the three Fang states of Wei, Gu, and Kunwu of the Xia Dynasty, and then sent troops to attack the capital of the Xia Dynasty. Soon, Cheng Tang captured the Xia capital, and the Xia Dynasty was declared to be destroyed, so Cheng Tang established the second dynasty in Chinese history, the Shang Dynasty, and became the founding prince of the Shang Dynasty, and Yi Yin of course became the founding prime minister of the Shang Dynasty.
Seven years after the establishment of the Shang Dynasty, Cheng Tang died. Because crown prince Taiding was dead, Yi Yin put Cheng Tang's second son on the throne, that is, Emperor Waibing. Three years later, When Wai Bing collapsed, Yi Yin made Wai Bing's third brother Zhongren the King of Shang. Four years later, Zhongren collapsed, and Taijia, the son of Yiyin Litaiding, became king. Taijia reigned for a relatively long time, the first two years, Taijia did not do a good job, and later it was absurd and tyrannical, very unbearable, not like the descendants of Cheng Tang. Although Yi Yin was the minister of state, he had absolute authority, and he was afraid that Chengtang's imperial inheritance would be destroyed in the hands of Chengtang's unworthy descendants, so he exiled Taijia to the Tong Palace near Chengtang's cemetery, where Taijia reflected and thought about it. History called Yi Yin Fang Tai Jia. The exile of the Son of Heaven by the chancellor is the only case in history.
Tianzi was exiled, Yi Yin was regent, and state power functioned as usual. Yi Yin's trick really worked, Taijia was exiled in Tonggong for three years, during these three years, he faced the grave of his grandfather Cheng Tang every day, he finally realized that it was not easy for his grandfather to establish the Shang Dynasty, and vowed to inherit his grandfather's legacy and build the Shang Dynasty into a prosperous country. Yi Yin knew that Tai Jia had repented and rehabilitated, so he personally went to the Tong Palace to meet Tai Jia, took Tai Jia back to the imperial court, and then still let Tai Jia be his Shang King, while Yi Yin himself still did Xiang Guo. Taijia, who returned to the imperial court, did not live up to expectations, he became a virtuous king, very diligent, and loved the people, and the people of the whole country lived a peaceful and happy life, not only that, the princes obeyed, and the world returned to their hearts.
Taijia reigned for twenty-three years, and after his death, Yi Yin made his son Wodin the King of Shang. Wodin died shortly after he took the throne, when he was already a centenarian. When Yi Yin died, the sky fell fog and did not disperse for three days. Wodin respected the Five Dynasties patriarch so much that he buried him as an emperor.
In his lifetime, Yi Yin said that he had done three things that were not in line with the morality of the people. First, he changed his master three times, he was a subject of King Xin, and then he switched to Shang Tang, then Xia Jie, and finally Shang Tang, which seriously violated the moral code of "loyal subjects do not do two masters". The second is that he is guilty of the following. As a courtier of the Xia Dynasty Fang Kingdom, he instigated the rebellion of the monarch of his own Fang Kingdom to create the Son of Heaven, which obviously belonged to the following crimes. However, later historians said that the Chengtang rebellion he supported was the "Chengtang Revolution", so he became the party representing justice. Third, as a courtier, he exiled the Son of Heaven, which was not in keeping with the old morality, but his deeds were not only not condemned, but praised; mainly because he did not covet power, but only to force the Son of Heaven to change.
Any of the three things that Yi Yin did, any one of which was put on someone else's body, would definitely make his legacy stink for thousands of years, but the three things concentrated on Yi Yin's body made him live forever. This was mainly because he was devoted to justice, and even the exile of the Son of Heaven was out of loyalty to the imperial court. It can be seen that the ancients did not judge people to be stuck in moral provisions, but were still very dialectical.