With the help of various Confucian classics, from the pre-Qin era onwards, Ji Chang, the King of Zhou Wen, has always been regarded by the world as the prince of virtue and yixing. This leader at an important historical juncture of the Zhou Kingdom not only fulfilled his filial piety to his father Ji Li, but also acted like a loving father in front of his heirs such as Bo Yikao, Ji Fa, and Ji Dan. He more calmly accepted the unjust treatment of Emperor Xin of the Shang Dynasty imprisoning him in Qiangli, and was at ease to use yarrow to study the way of divination, and even after his release, he once showed loyalty. However, is there really such a "morally perfect person" in the deceitful power game?
It is generally believed that Ji Chang was born in the 12th century BC. At this time, the Central Plains was under the rule of Wu Yi, the 28th monarch of the Shang Dynasty. With the "Pan Geng Qianyin" officially ending the long "Ninth Dynasty Rebellion", the Shang Dynasty gradually came out of the turmoil of cannibalism and repeated relocation of the capital. Wu Yi's great-grandfather Wu Ding appointed xianchen and reorganized his armaments, successively attacked Peng Guo and Feng Wei, and defeated the Tufang, Gongfang, and Ghost Fang departments, and the Shang Dynasty thus entered the "Zhongxing Prosperous Era" of wugong.
However, although the Shang Dynasty ruled the region nominally encompassing present-day Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Anhui, Hubei and other provinces, its influence extended as far south as the Yangtze River and north of Yanshan. However, with the transportation and communication conditions at that time, it was obviously impossible to directly control such a vast territory. Therefore, the canonization of Fang Bo and the marriage with him became an important means for the Shang Dynasty to establish a ruling order.
The statue of King Wen of Zhou and his son King Wu of Zhou is located in the Sima Qian Scenic Area of Hancheng, Shaanxi.
It is said that wuding's harem had more than sixty women, of which in addition to the "women", who may also be the same family name and can fight good wars, the most famous is the "women's concubines" from Jingfang (present-day Xingtai, Hebei). Because of the hundred springs in the place where Jing Fang lived, and the water source was abundant, it was not only good at planting women's concubines, but also her mother's family frequently paid tribute to the Shang royal family with rare bu jia and bu bones, sometimes even as many as a hundred at a time. It was on the basis of these political contributions that his sons Zu Geng and Zu Jia were greatly favored and were able to inherit the throne successively. The "Hou (Si) Mother E" Da Fang Ding, which we are familiar with, was cast by these two generations of Shang kings to commemorate the merits of their mother.
In addition to widely accepting the daughters of various countries, the Shang Dynasty also encouraged the marriage of relatives and foreign tribes. Among them, the second daughter of the monarch of the Zhi kingdom, Ren Shi, married the third son of the ji clan leader Gu Gonggong's father, Ji Li. Regarding this matter, the "Book of Poetry and Daya" wrote boastfully: "Zhi Zhongshi Ren, from the other Yin Shang, came to marry Zhou, and concubine yu Jing." It is the journey of Wang Ji, Vader. This means that TaiRen, the second daughter of the Zhiguo from Yin Shang, married to our Ji Zhou and became the bride of the seasonal calendar (Wang Ji) in Kyoto, and together they promoted the virtue government.
It is worth noting that Ji Li and Ren clan were married before. His father, Gu Gonggong (古公亶), was forced by the raids of nomadic tribes such as Kaoru and Rong Di to move south from the land of the Ninth Emperor of the Founding Dynasty (present-day Binzhou City, Shaanxi Province, southwest of Xunyi County). In order to be able to gain a firm foothold, Gu Gong's father himself took the lead in marrying the daughter of the Jiang clan in the Weishui Valley. After years of diplomatic efforts, it was finally "rewarded" by Wu Yi who allowed him to establish a settlement in Qishan Zhouyuan. The Ji clan was also officially recognized by the Shang Dynasty in the name of the Zhou Dynasty.
Therefore, the marriage of the Ren clan seems to be an olive branch extended by the Shang Dynasty to consolidate its political alliance with the Ji clan, but to a certain extent, it is also a test of its political attitude. After all, Gu Gonggong's father and his wife surnamed Jiang had three sons, and according to the succession of the eldest and youngest, the eldest son Taibo and the second son Zhongyong were obviously ranked before the younger son Ji Calendar. It was precisely in consideration of Wu Yi, the Shang King, who was standing behind his third daughter-in-law, that Gu Gong's father had to clarify the priority inheritance of the Ji calendar after Ren gave birth to his eldest son Ji Chang, in the name of this child's xiangrui. In order not to let the fledgling tribes fall into infighting, Taibo and Zhongyong went farther away to Jiangdong, and tattoos and haircuts were integrated into local life.
King Wu Yi of shang was obviously very satisfied with Gu Gong's father's choice. In the period after that, with the nourishment of the advanced economic, political and cultural systems of the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou Kingdom continued to grow and develop. After the death of Gu Gonggong's father, Ji Li, with the direct support and instruction of the Shang Dynasty, took the initiative to launch an offensive against the Rong Di tribe, and repeatedly went to the capital of the Shang Dynasty to offer prisoners, and received rich rewards.
Although at the same time that Ji Li defeated Ghost Fang and captured 20 Di kings, the Shang king Wu Yi suddenly fell ill while patrolling the Wei River Valley, and in the nearly ten years since, Wen Ding, the 29th monarch of the Shang Dynasty, seems to have continued his father's established national policy of supporting the Zhou state against Rong Di, and even made Ji Li a "priest" who was responsible for animal husbandry.
However, the great martial arts of the Ji Calendar eventually aroused Wen Ding's suspicions. After all, for the Shang Dynasty, there was only nominal subordination and fragile political marriage with the Zhou Dynasty. With each victory of the season calendar returning, the aging Vintin also became increasingly uneasy. Eventually, when Ji Li again came with three nobles captured from the "Rong of the Disciples", Wen Ding first gave him Gui Zhan and Zhi Yu, and made him the Si bo who ruled the Western princes, and then suddenly ordered him to be imprisoned.
How the seasonal calendar touched The Reverse Scale of Wen Ding is not clearly recorded in the history books. Whether Wen Ding's purpose in seizing Ji Li was to kill him quickly, or whether he wanted to use it as a hostage to achieve the purpose of controlling the Zhou Kingdom, or even just to beat and warn him, it is not known. Even whether Ji Li died in prison or was killed on the spot is still inconclusive. But there is no doubt that his death paved the way for his son Ji Chang to ascend to history, and a new era began.
After Ji Li's body was transported back, the whole zhou state was indignant, but at this time, Ji Chang was not eager to send troops to avenge his father. Even when Wen Ding died of illness, and his son Emperor Yi succeeded to the throne and the key moment of power transition, Ji Chang still did not send it. By the time the years had passed, most merchants had probably forgotten that a Zhou monarch had died in his capital, but Ji Chang suddenly attacked and went on a rampage.
Regarding the course and victory of this war, there is also no clear record in the history books. However, at this time, Emperor Yi of the Shang Dynasty, who was at war with the "human side" belonging to the Dongyi system, was obviously unable to carry out two wars at the same time. However, after Ji Chang suspended the use of troops due to an earthquake in his territory the following year, the Shang Dynasty still chose to improve relations with him. Emperor Yi even gave his sister Xu to Ji Chang as a sign of "peace".
Being able to force the powerful Shang Dynasty to "sacrifice women for peace" obviously greatly satisfied the revenge psychology of the Zhou people. They proudly sang in the Book of Poetry: "The great state has a son, the sister of the heavens." Wen Ding was auspicious and greeted Yu Wei. The boat is made as a beam, and its light is not revealed. There is destiny from heaven, and this king of Literature is destined. This means that the woman of the great power is the sister of the Shang King. Bu Ci indicated that the marriage was auspicious, and King Wen personally came to the Weishui river to greet him, and the boats were connected as bridges to cross the river, and the wedding ceremony was grand and glorious.
At this point, the Zhou people completely got rid of the embarrassing situation of relying on people's sniffles and won a political position on an equal footing with the Shang Dynasty.