The Shang Dynasty, which has been passed down for more than 550 years and 30 emperors in the 17th century, has created a splendid Yin Shang culture. As the founding hero of the Shang Dynasty, Yi Yin played a decisive role in the establishment and initial prosperity of the Shang Dynasty, and the story of Yi Yin's negative ding and Yi Yin's return to the government is widely known. However, as a famous person throughout the ages, There are still many mysteries in Yi Yin's body.
Speaking of Yi Yin, everyone is no stranger, and he has two stories that are widely circulated. One is Yi Yin's negative ding, and the other is Yi Yin's return to the government.
Yi Yin lost Ding. There are two theories about this story, one is that Yi Yin was a cook of the State of Youxin, and wanted to ask to see Shang Tang before Shang Tang or the princes established the Shang Dynasty, but there was no chance, so he took advantage of the fact that the King of the State of Xin married his daughter to Shang Tang, volunteered as a concubine (that is, a dowry), followed the sending team to the territory of Shang Tang, and also carried a ding and a board. Finally, having the opportunity to meet Shang Tang, he said the way to govern the country with the principle of cooking, and Shang Tang was greatly inspired to hear it, so he made Yi Yin a high official.
Another theory is that Yi Yin was famous as a hermit, and Shang Tang wanted to hire him as a minister of the Shang Kingdom, and invited Yi Yin five times before he was willing to follow Shang Tang, and then explained to Shang Tang the principles of the rule of the Ancient Kings such as King Shangsu (that is, people with imperial virtue and no imperial thrones, such as Gao Tao) and the Three Emperors and Five Emperors. Shang Tang was very appreciative of this, so he made him a high official.
These two statements, the first is that Yi Yin took the initiative to meet Shang Tang in order to become an official to govern the country, and the second is that Yi Yin was passively invited by Shang Tang to be an official, the process is different but the results are the same, in short, Yi Yin became the prime minister and was very virtuous.
Yi Yin returned to power. This story is more familiar to everyone, Yi Yin assisted Shang Tang to establish the Shang Dynasty, and then assisted the two short-lived emperors of Wai Bing and Zhongren, and then assisted the emperor Taijia, the eldest grandson of Shang Tang. After Taijia ascended the throne, he was very tyrannical, did not govern the country well, did not abide by the laws formulated by Shang Tang, and morally corrupted politics, so Yi Yin exiled Tai Jia to shang Tang to guard the tomb for three years, during which Yi Yin acted as the government. Three years later, Taijia was reborn, and Yi Yin returned the power to Taijia, the people were peaceful, and the state affairs were prosperous.
From these two stories, we can see that Yi Yin is very talented, has entrepreneurial talents and Shou Cheng talents, helps Cheng Tang establish the Shang Dynasty, and helps TaiJia govern the country.
However, there are still three mysteries about Yi Yin.
Mystery One, the Mystery of ancestors. The Chronicle of History records that Yi Yin was a slave of the Xin clan. However, Yi Yin, recorded in the Taiping Imperial Records, was a descendant of Li Mu, a famous minister during the Yellow Emperor's period. The Yellow Emperor "raised the wind, Li Mu, Chang Xian, and Dahong to rule the people", so Yi Yin, whether he was a slave or not, was after the nobility. In the ancient period, when the bloodline was valued, this bloodline after the nobility gave him the possibility of becoming an official.
Mystery two, the mystery of making a fortune. The story of Yi Yin Negative Ding, whether it is story one or story two, has unreasonable points. If Yi Yin took the initiative to ask to see Shang Tang, it means that Shang Tang did not know that there was Yi Yin as a person, so when Yi Yin, as a dowry, saw Shang Tang, he said some great principles for governing the country, and Shang Tang let him be a high official, which was obviously unreasonable. If Yi Yin was passively invited by Shang Tang, it means that Yi Yin was already wise outside at this time, but he was not willing to go out of the mountain after five times, and the ancients paid attention to things only three times, and it was impossible to do so many times.
Therefore, compared with the "Records of History", the record of the Taiping Imperial Records may be more credible, that is, Yi Yin was originally a farmer with the Xin clan, very virtuous, and his reputation was far-reaching, and Shang Tang invited him to be an official when he heard about it, but the monarch of the State of Xin did not want to lose talent and did not let people go, Shang Tang said that he was willing to marry with you, and the king of the State of Xin married his daughter to Shang Tang, and at the same time let Yi Yin as a dowry, and also gave Yi Yin to Shang Tang.
Of course, some people will ask, why did the monarch of the State of Youxin have to borrow Yi Yin to marry Shang Tang? In fact, the state of Youxin is very powerful, and in today's Shandong region, it has not decayed for hundreds of years after the Xia Shang Zhou. Dayu's mother was a woman with a Xin clan, and the later King Wen of Zhou also married a woman with a Xin clan. The Shang Dynasty was already very powerful in the last years of the Xia Dynasty, and the Xin clan judged the situation and wanted to marry the Shang Dynasty through Yi Yin, and then realize the alliance.
Mystery Three, The Mystery of Identity. After serving as an official in the Shang Dynasty, Yi Yin ran to the capital of the Xia Dynasty and then returned to the Shang Dynasty. Why did he "go to the soup to go to summer"? The "Spring and Autumn of the Lü Dynasty" records that "Tang Nai was afraid and worried about the restlessness of the world, and wanted to make Yi Yin look at Kuang Xia, fearing that he would not believe it, Tang Yu personally shot Yi Yin." Yi Yin Benxia for three years, the reverse report to Yu Bo. That is, Yi Yin and Shang Tang played a bitter meat plot, on the surface Shang Tang took a sword to shoot Yi Yin causing him to defect to the Xia Dynasty, but in fact, he was arranged to inquire into the false reality of the Xia Dynasty and prepare for the overthrow of the Xia Dynasty's rule. So, his identity is still a spy.
So, in any case, there are a few things that can be determined about Yi Yin. First, his birth was not noble, at most he was a fallen nobleman with aristocratic blood, and it is recorded that he only met Shang Tang when he was seventy years old, but he was single-minded and finally became an extremely popular subject. Second, the ability is indeed outstanding, otherwise it would not have received the attention and attention of the two emperors of Shang Tang and youxin, and also helped Shang Tang overthrow the Xia Dynasty and establish the Shang Dynasty. Third, he was broad-minded, and he was able to exile his own emperor for three years to act as his own deputy, needless to say, he must have received a lot of criticism, but he resisted the criticism; moreover, when the time was ripe, he returned the political power to Taijia and could afford to put it down.