King Ji of Zhou, the eldest son of King Wu of Zhou and the grandson of Jiang Ziya, was the second generation of Tianzi of Western Zhou. During his reign, he quelled the rebellion of the Three Prisons, created the new capital Luoyi, the princes of Dafeng, and dingding the Central Plains, with outstanding merits. The famous "Rule of Cheng Kang" in history was created by King Cheng and his son King Kang, and both the "Chronicle of The Chronicle of Zhou Benji" and the ancient book "Bamboo Book Chronicle" both said that "when Cheng Kang was born, the world was peaceful, and the punishment was not used for more than forty years."
There are many theories about the reign of a king. The present "Bamboo Book Chronicle" records "Thirty-seventh Year Summer April Yi Ugly, Wang Zhi", called The Thirty-seventh Year of the Reign of King Cheng (including the Seven Years of the Regency of the Duke of Zhou); the "Project of the Xia Shang Zhou Dynasty" calls the twenty-second year of the reign of the King of Cheng (including the seven years of the Regency of the Duke of Zhou), and sets the reign time of 1042 BC to 1021 BC. In fact, neither of these statements is true.
The last year of becoming a king can be deduced through the "Little Lu Ding". The inscription of the Xiao Lu Ding records, "Only in August is the hope, the tatsu is in Jiashen, and the ,...... Wang Ge Zhou Temple ,...... Use animals to feed the Kings of Zhou, Wu, and Cheng,...... Only the twenty-fifth king and five gods". Obviously, this is a bronze vessel from the early Western Zhou Dynasty with complete years, months, days and stems, and moon phases, and is the standard instrument of the Kang Dynasty, the son of King Cheng.
The Western Zhou bronze calendar is the weekly calendar, that is, the beginning of November, two months earlier than the summer calendar. Consulting the ancient calendar, I learned that the "Little Lu Ding" contained in the "Only August is hopeful, and tatsu is in the Jiashen ,...... The corresponding date of the 20th and 5th Emperor of The Only King is June 16, 984 BC, which is the twenty-fourth year of King Kang. From this, it can be inferred that the first year of King Kang is 1007 BC, and the year of his accession to the throne is 1008 BC, that is, the year of King Cheng's death.
The first year of becoming a king can be deduced from the "Summoning" and "LuoHuan" in the "Book of Shangshu Zhou". The "Summoning" records that "the king became king in Feng, and wanted to stay in Luoyi, so that the summoner first lived in the house... But in February, the sixth day of the second day, the dynasty followed the Zhou. ...... As for Luo, the Zhou Gong Dynasty reached the Xinyi camp. The Luo Xuan records that "summoning the Duke to be a house, the Duke of Zhou went to camp into a Zhou ,...... The King ordered the Duke of Zhou to ,...... In October there are February. However, Zhou Gong's birthday Bao Wenwu was ordained, only seven years." Obviously, this is a one-year thing, for the seventh year of becoming a king, and the seventh year of the regency of the Duke of Zhou.
The calendar used in the Book of Shang is the Xia calendar. Consulting the ancient calendar, it is learned that the corresponding date of "February both looking, yue six days Yi Wei, dynasty steps from Zhou" corresponds to 1031 BC, this year is the seventh year of the king, the first day of February of the year of the first Shuo Jia Shu, the sixteenth day of the year of both looking at Yi Ugly, its year, month, moon phase, and day stem branch are completely consistent with the records of the Book of Shang. From this, it can be deduced that the first year of the king is 1037 BC, which is the first year of the regency of the Duke of Zhou.
Through bronze inscriptions and historical records, it is known that the first year of Chengwang was 1037 BC, and the last year of Chengwang was 1008 BC, a total of 30 years before and after (including the seven years of the regency of the Duke of Zhou).
That is to say, King Cheng actually ruled for twenty-three years (there were still wars in the early stages), plus his son King Kang ruled for twenty-six years (there were wars in twenty-four years), and the world was stable for more than forty years, which coincided with "when Cheng Kang was in peace, the world was peaceful, and the punishment was not necessary for more than forty years".
So, how old was the king when he ascended the throne? The "History of Zhou Benji" states that "the king of Cheng is few, the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty is determined, the Zhou Gong is afraid of the princes Pan Zhou, and the Gong is the regent of the state", and the "Shi Ji Lu ShiJia" says that "the king of Wu has collapsed, and the king has become a king, and he is in the midst of strength." The Duke of Zhou feared that the King of Wu would collapse in the world, and the Duke of Zhou would become the king of the state in charge of the state."
Strong bao is swaddling, usually said in swaddling, refers to infants and young children. Is it really a doll waiting to be fed when he becomes king? No. Judging from the early history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the inheritors must have children, such as the ancient gongli ji calendar, because the seasonal calendar had a son Ji Chang (King Wen); King Wen established Ji Fa (King Wu) when the great cause of the merchant was not yet completed, then king Wu must have a son Ji Chant (Cheng Wang). After the collapse of King Wen, King Wu destroyed the Shang in the eleventh year, and collapsed two years later.
According to the author's research, King Wen was born to King Wu in the fifteenth year, reigned for forty-eight years, and king Zewu was thirty-four years old when he ascended the throne, and changed the yuan the following year, and King Wu reigned for a total of thirteen years (including two and a half years of Zhou Tianzi), at the age of forty-seven.
The "History of Lu Shijia" says that "the king of Wu collapsed, the king became less, and in the midst of strength", obviously from the perspective of the State of Lu and the Duke of Zhou, this statement is undoubtedly too exaggerated, and its intention is to describe the age when the king took the throne, not enough to govern, so the regency of the uncle Zhou Gong acted on behalf of the tianzi, which seems to have the meaning of public dismissal for Zhou. In fact, when a king ascends the throne, he should be fourteen or five years old, changed his name the following year, reigned for thirty years, and died at the age of forty or six. (Liu Bingguang)
