After Shang Tang led his army to destroy the Xia Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty was established, which lasted for more than 500 years, and the Battle of Makino became the decisive battle to end the Shang Dynasty.
The last monarch of the Shang Dynasty, Emperor Xin, was also killed in this battle, and there is no exact record of the time of the Battle of Muye, most of which are said to have taken place between 1130 BC and 1018 BC.
In the more than 500 years of history of the Shang Dynasty, in addition to Shang Tang, which established the Shang Dynasty, the most well-known is the last king of Shang, Emperor Xin.
Some people say that the fall of the Shang Dynasty was a disaster to the country and the people, while the Emperor Xin recorded in the history books was indulged in wine, extravagance and corruption, so the "纣" of the Shang Dynasty is the world's derogatory evaluation of him.
During the reign of Emperor Xin, although he sent troops many times and defeated Dongyi, the various systems and laws he admired eventually brought the already declining Shang Dynasty to its demise.
The Shang Dynasty destroyed Xia in order to overthrow the tyrannical, alcoholic and lustful Xia Wei, and in the records of historical books, the Zhou Dynasty destroyed Shang in order to overthrow Di Xin, who was called "Ji Xuan" with Xia Wei.
Although Di Xin was gifted and intelligent, he was also arrogant, and after sitting on the throne, he thought that no one in the world could compare with him.
Emperor Xin, the king of Shang, was especially fond of Daji, and he would do his best to satisfy Daji no matter what he requested, and according to legend, Daji did not hesitate to leave the pregnant woman's belly behind in order to observe the growth of the fetus in the womb.
Seeing the farmer crossing the river barefoot in winter, she wondered why the farmer was not afraid of the cold and biting water of the river, so she had the farmer's feet cut off and smash the bones for examination.
For his own desires, Emperor Xin increased taxes, looted the people's wealth, put all the gold, silver and jewelry in Lutai, and liked to drink, so he dug the ground into a pool, filled the pool with wine, and the wine went on the boat.
These are only the tip of the iceberg of Emperor Xin's extravagance, and under such a rule, the tribes and princes around the Shang Dynasty naturally rebelled.
It is said that at that time, Emperor Xin appointed Ji Chang, Jiuhou and Ehou as the three dukes, and Jiuhou dedicated his daughter to Emperor Xin, but because she did not like filthy things, she was executed by Emperor Xin, and Jiuhou was also implicated.
In order to exonerate the nine candidates, the Hou also caused the anger of Emperor Xin when he admonished, and finally the nine candidates were chopped into meat sauce, and the Hou was made into jerky, and also imprisoned Ji Chang.
At that time, Zhou was just an ancient tribe, because of Di Xin's various evil deeds, the surrounding vassal states gradually alienated the Shang Dynasty, but Ji Chang preached morality to the outside world, and was followed by a group of princes.
After the power grew, Ji Chang declared himself to be the man of the Mandate of Heaven, because the Shang Emperor Xin was not virtuous and Xibo was virtuous, so the Mandate of Heaven was transferred to Ji Chang, and then Ji Chang called himself King Wen of Zhou internally.
Although it was Ji Chang's son Ji Fa, King Wu of Zhou, who destroyed the Shang Dynasty, it was inseparable from Ji Chang, the founder of the Zhou Dynasty, who was able to destroy the Shang Dynasty so smoothly.
After Ji Chang proclaimed himself the queen of Zhou Wen, he successively attacked the vassal states of the Shang Dynasty, cut off the connection between the Shang Dynasty and many subject states, and arranged the strategic deployment of the crusade against the Shang Dynasty.
After Ji Chang's death, Ji Fa succeeded to the throne as King Wu of Zhou, and led the army to continue to expand his power to the east, but because he had not been able to wait for the right time, he never sent troops to the Shang Dynasty.
As King Ji Fa of Zhou Wu attacked the vassal states everywhere, Emperor Xin had no time to take care of it, and he became even more lascivious and committed atrocities at home, and there was also civil strife within the Shang Dynasty.
During this period, a nobleman of the Shang Dynasty took refuge in King Wu of Zhou, and in order to show his loyalty, he revealed a lot of information about the Shang Dynasty to King Wu.
At that time, the main army of the Shang Dynasty was in the southeast, and the defenders of the national capital were weak, so King Wu of Zhou planned to take this opportunity to directly target the royal capital of the Shang Dynasty and catch the other party by surprise.
Before the army, a number of vassal states converged, plus the army of King Wu of Zhou, about 45,000 people swore in the pastureland, and then sent troops to Makino, and the battle of Makino, which destroyed the Shang of Zhou, broke out.
When he learned that Ji Fa had led his army to Makino, Di Xin knew that the army within the royal capital alone was completely insufficient to counter Ji Fa's Zhou army.
According to historical records, the army of Emperor Xin at that time was 700,000 people, but there are also records that there are only 170,000 people.
Even if it is 170,000 people, it is nearly 4 times the 45,000 people of the Zhou army, such a huge difference in the number of people, there is no common sense of defeat of the Zhou army, but the Zhou army won more with less, and defeated Di Xin.
According to historical records, Ji Fa first sent Lü Shang to lead the elite troops to fight, and then Ji Fa personally led his troops into battle, completely disrupting the army formed by Di Xin with a large number of slaves.
The troops led by Di Xin were originally a large number of slaves, and under the long-term oppression, they all had resentment towards Di Xin, and naturally they also had a rebellious heart, and it was impossible to sell their lives in order to keep Di Xin's throne.
So not long after the war began, many slaves either fled or surrendered, and became a mess, and as the defense lines were defeated one by one by the army led by Ji Fa, Di Xin could only choose to flee.
It can be said that although there are many people in Di Xin, they are all rabble, and there is no real elite willing to sacrifice for the country, but Ji Fa's side is all about overthrowing Di Xin, although the number is small, but the victory is in the hearts of the people.
The fall of the Shang Dynasty is a foregone conclusion, and there are different theories as to how Di Xin died in the end, most of which are that Di Xin returned to Lutai, burned himself to his death, and was subsequently beheaded by King Wu of Zhou.
However, there are also opinions that Di Xin did not self-immolate, but hanged himself, and was directly beheaded by King Wu of Zhou for public display.
This war is also a famous example of winning more with less and preemptively attacking in Chinese history, which not only ended the century-old Shang Dynasty, but also opened up the road of the Western Zhou Dynasty civilization of ritual music.