After the death of King Zhao, his son Man succeeded to the throne, which was the famous traveler King Mu of Zhou in history. The total annihilation of the Army of King Zhao, The Zhou Dynasty,000 was greatly weakened. By the time of King Mu, the Western Zhou Dynasty, which had been established for more than 100 years, was already "weak in the royal way", and some ethnic minorities refused to pay tribute to the Zhou Dynasty, and the Zhou Dynasty began to go downhill from its heyday.
The power of an ethnic minority in the West, the Inuyasha, gradually grew stronger, and King Mu wanted to conquer them on the grounds that the Inuyasha did not provide tribute according to the four hours. However, his minister, Gong Gong, dissuaded him from doing so.
King Mu did not heed the advice of the priest and insisted on sending troops to the west to conquer Inuyasha, but by chance won the victory, getting four white wolves and four white deer from Inuyasha to "pay tribute", and also receiving a sword. It is said that this knife is so sharp that it is as easy to cut jade with it as it is to cut a ball of mud. In order to strengthen his control over Xi rong, King Mu of Zhou took the five kings of the Xi Rong clan back as prisoners and moved some of them to the vicinity of Taiyuan. Although King Mu won the victory, from then on, "those who were desolate did not arrive", and the prestige of the Zhou Dynasty among the distant ethnic minorities was greatly lost.
King Mu defeated Rong Di and removed obstacles on the road to the West. The father who was good at driving a car for King Mu drove eight horses and horses, traveling thousands of miles a day, and the ruts and horses were all over the world. In the mythical story of King Mu's westward journey, it is said that King Mu traveled 202,500 miles to the east, 109 million miles to the west, more than 1070 miles to the south, and more than 200 million miles to the north. Particularly legendary of these is the story of "King Mu's Journey to the West".
According to the biography of Mu Tianzi, King Mu took a large number of people and treasures from Chengzhou, entered Henan along the west side of the Taihang Mountain, crossed the Yellow River, crossed the rock (present-day Pingdu, Shanxi), and then traveled west along the north bank of the Tuotuo River, through the area of present-day Yanmen Pass, to the place where the Hezong tribe (north of present-day Hetao, Inner Mongolia) lived. A member of the Hezong tribe sent people to greet him, and first presented 10 precious leopard skins and 26 good horses as a greeting gift to King Mu. After Zhou Tianzi stayed here, he went fishing by the Yellow River and went hunting for fun. In order to thank the Hezong tribe for its friendly reception, King Mu made sacrifices to the ancestors of the Hezong tribe by hunting white foxes and black raccoons.
King Mu continued westward, passing through Ledu, Jishi and other places (near Lanzhou, Gansu) to reach Kunlun Zhi'a. After King Mu ascended to the top of Kunlun and visited the palace of the Yellow Emperor, a famous place here, he also held a solemn mountain sacrifice ceremony. Then head north to Zhu Ze. In Zhuze, King Mu received white jade, wine, 300 horses and 3,000 cattle and sheep for food from the local tribes, and King Mu also gave many gifts such as the ring of gold, the jewelry of the vermilion belt, cloth, and breeding cattle to the local people.
From here, as we passed the Spring Mountain, King Mu inscribed an inscription on a large stone. Further west, you will reach the Chiwu tribe. It is said that the people of the Chiwu tribe are from the same ancestral Zhou as the Zhou people. The people of the Chiwu tribe were very happy to see the guests from their distant hometown, and presented thousands of fine wines and 900 edible horses, 3,000 cattle and sheep, and a large amount of grain to King Mujin. King Mu also gave the leader of the Chiwu tribe a black car equivalent to the zhou dynasty doctor level, 40 gold ytterbiums (20 pairs of yokes), 50 pairs of shell belts and other gifts. After spending more than 10 days here in a friendly atmosphere, King Mu set out again to the seat of the Cao Nu tribe.
The chiefs of the Cao Nu tribe are also hospitable. He held a sumptuous banquet for King Mu and his entourage, and also gave 900 horses, 7,000 cattle and sheep, and more than 100 carts of grain to King Mu as food to continue on the road. King Mu also gave back to the Cao Nu people special crafts made of gold and silver to make animal figures, 40 pairs of shell belts and a large amount of cloth.
From here again, after five days we reached Blackwater. It has been nearly five months since King Mu left. Many of the soldiers who accompanied the travels also died of exhaustion. Just in time for seven days of heavy rain in the BlackWater area, King Mu simply buried the dead here and established a "bone-leaving state".
He continued along the black water and rested for four days at the Jade Mountain where the Rong Cheng clan was stationed, where he obtained a large number of precious treasure jades. Further west are the Min lu clan, the Han clan and other tribes, and King Mu and these ethnic minorities also exchange gifts. After passing through Xuanchi, Maoyuan, The Mountain of The Weasel, and finally came to the State of the West Queen Mother.
King Mu was received by the Queen Mother of the West. In order to show friendship, King Mu brought precious gifts such as yugui, bi and silk fabrics. The Queen Mother of the West accepted these gifts with great pleasure and respect. After the meeting, King Mu invited the Queen Mother of the West to the beautiful Yaochi where he was staying to attend the cocktail party. During the banquet, King Mu and the Queen Mother of the West had a very harmonious conversation, and the Queen Mother of the West sang a song full of affection and friendship for King Mu, hoping that he would visit the room again in the future.
King Mu was also very pleased, and improvised a poem saying:
After I return to the East, (to the East,)
Specialize in ruling the Zhou State. (And rule zhuxia.) )
Bittersweet, (average of all people,)
I have time to visit again. (I see the woman.) )
But two or three years, (than three years,)
Definitely come to your hometown. (Will fuer wild.) )
The poem written by King Mu to the Queen Mother of the West expresses the friendship of the people of the East for the peoples of the distant West. King Mu also ascended mounted Mount Yi, a high mountain in the State of the Queen Mother of the West. King Mu flourished on the mountain, and wrote down several large characters such as "The Mountain of the Queen Mother of the West" with a pen and carved them on the stone as a souvenir. A locust tree was also planted as a symbol, indicating that the Zhou Dynasty recognized the territory of the Western Queen Mother State east of the locust tree on Mount Tai. King Mu reluctantly bid farewell to the Queen Mother of the West and returned to Chengzhou with precious gifts and friendships from the people of all ethnic groups in the West.
According to the Biography of Mu Tianzi, King Mu's westward journey traveled through the provinces and regions of present-day Henan, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu, up to the Tianhe and Yeerqiang rivers in Xinjiang. The State of the Queen Mother of the West is 3,000 miles away from this area. King Mu finally reached the place of "feathers from birds" more than 2,000 miles northwest. According to scholars, this area should be the area of central Asia now. We can see that the place where King Mu traveled westward is basically the same as the area that Zhang Qiantong experienced in the western region in the later Han Dynasty.
The Biography of Mu Tianzi was compiled during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period based on the historical records of Mu Wang's Western Expedition to Inuyasha and the mythological stories about the Western Queen Mother. The "Biography of Mu Tianzi" introduces in detail the customs and customs of some ethnic minorities in northwest China, especially some famous mountains, rivers and place names that appear in the book, which have certain reference value for our study of ancient geography. While some place names are now difficult to find exact locations, we can also find their current locations based on some geographical history from the northwest to Central Asia.
This shows that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chinese people have begun to have some understanding of the people of all ethnic groups in the West, and china's ancient geographical knowledge has also developed to a certain extent. Therefore, the Biography of Mu Tianzi is not only a beautiful mythological storybook, but also a valuable ancient geography book, reflecting the desire of the people of all ethnic groups in our country since ancient times to yearn for friendly exchanges and mutual promotion of economic and cultural exchanges.
In his later years, King Mu also waged successive wars against Huaiyi and Qunshu in the southeast and south. The Zhou Dynasty had mobilized the forces of the Ninth Division, east to the Jiujiang area of Anhui; Xu Yi had also entangled Jiuyi to attack the Zhou Dynasty, all the way to the Edge of the Yellow River, causing great fear in King Mu, and had to adopt a policy of "using Yi to control Yi" and ordering King Xu Yan to manage these Yi tribes for him.
These activities of King Mu of Zhou are also reflected in the bronze inscriptions passed down from generation to generation. There is a bronze vessel that records that King Mu had consulted Xu Shu when he was there. Another bronze artifact records the interaction between the Zhou Dynasty and Xu Shu.
These bronzes corroborate each other with the records in ancient books, indicating that after King Mu, the Zhou Dynasty attacked some ethnic minorities in the east and south, sometimes co-opted, and gradually lost control.
The content of this article is compiled from the "History of the Western Zhou Dynasty" of the China International Broadcasting Publishing House's China Reading Book "Classic General History of China". The author of "The History of the Western Zhou Dynasty" is Mr. Wang Yuxin, born in May 1940, and a researcher at the Institute of History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
There are 16 books in the complete set of "Classic Chinese General History", namely: "Xia Shang History", "Western Zhou History", "Spring and Autumn History", "Warring States History", "Qin and Han History (Part I)", "Qin and Han History (Part 2)", "Three Kingdoms History", "Two Jin And Northern And Southern Dynasties History", "Sui and Tang History (Part 1)", "Sui and Tang History (Part 2)", "Five Dynasties History", "Song Dynasty History", "Yuan Dynasty History", "Ming Dynasty History", "Early Qing Dynasty History", "Late Qing History".
The book was compiled by 17 historians of the older generation, mostly born in the first half of the last century, over several years. From the historical migration of xia and shang to the late Qing dynasty, the panoramic depiction of 5,000 years of Chinese history is professional and authoritative, and it is easy to understand, suitable for all ages, passing down classics, and it is worth learning and cherishing.
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