Western Zhou strategist Lü Shang

Lü Shang Jiang surname, Lü clan, fame, a word Ziya, also known as Jiang Shang, commonly known as Jiang Taigong. A man of the last years of the Shang Dynasty. In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, he was given the title of Taishi (military attaché name) by King Wen of Zhou, assisting King Wen and conspiring with "Zhai Shang". Later, he assisted King Wu of Zhou in destroying shang. Because of his merits, he was sealed in Qi and became the ancestor of the State of Qi in the Zhou Dynasty. He was the most famous politician, military strategist and strategist in Chinese history.

According to legend, Lü Shang's ancestors were nobles, who were officials during the Shun dynasty, and were enfeoffed in Lü (present-day Nanyang, Henan) for their merits, so they were of the Lü clan and named Lü Shang. Later, the family fell in the middle of the road, and by the time of Lu Shang, he had become a poor person. In order to make a living, Lü Shang slaughtered cattle and sold meat in the Shang capital Chaoge (present-day Qi County, Henan) in his youth, and went to Mengjin (present-day northeast of Mengjin County, Henan) to sell wine. Although he was poor, he had great ambitions, studied diligently, and always tirelessly studied and explored the way to govern and rejuvenate the country, hoping to one day be able to develop his grand plans and serve the country. It was not until the twilight of his life that he finally encountered the opportunity to display his talents.

At that time, it was the period when the Yin Shang Dynasty, a great power in the east, was in decline. King Yin was tyrannical and unscrupulous, absurd, corrupt, socially dark, economic collapse, the people were not happy, and the complaints were rife. In the western part of the Zhou Dynasty, because Xi Bo jichang (later King Wen of Zhou) advocated benevolent government, developed the economy, and implemented the policy of building a country with diligence and thrift and the policy of enriching the people, the society was clear, the people's hearts were stable, the country was getting stronger and stronger, the people of the world were devoted to the Zhou, and the princes on all sides were dependent on the wind. Lü Shang, who was full of courage, learned that Ji Chang was seeking the world's talents in order to govern the country and rejuvenate the country, so he resolutely left the Shang Dynasty and came to the Western Zhou territory on the shore of the Weishui River, took refuge in the Lingxi River, fished all day long, watched the changes in the world, and waited for the opportunity to go out of the mountain. One day, when Lü Shang was fishing in the Lingxi River, he happened to meet Xi Bojichang, who was hunting, and the two of them met unexpectedly, and the conversation was very speculative. Ji Chang saw that Lü Shang was knowledgeable and well-versed in history and the times, so he asked him for advice on good strategies for governing the country and rejuvenating the country, and Lü Shang immediately put forward the saying of "three constants": "One is that the king is often a virtuous person, the second is that the official is a ren xian, and the third is a gentleman who respects the sage." This means that in order to govern the country and rejuvenate the country, we must take the meritocracy as the foundation and attach importance to the discovery and use of talents. Ji Chang was overjoyed when he heard this, and said, "My ancestor Taigong prophesied: 'When there are saints to the zhou, the week will prosper.' You're the saint, aren't you? My grandfather (Mr. Hope) has been around for a long time! Therefore, Ji Chang personally helped Lü Shang to the car and returned to the palace together to worship as a taishi. Since then, the hero has a place to play.

During his assistance to King Wen of Zhou, Lü Shang formulated a series of correct domestic and foreign policies for the qiang Zhou dynasty to destroy the shang. Internally, the implementation of one-ninth of the tax paid by peasants to help cultivate public land, eight families each divided into 100 acres of private land, large and small officials have divided the land, and their descendants inherited it, as an economic policy such as Feng Lu, which promoted the development of production and laid the economic foundation for the extermination of merchants. Externally, he ostensibly insisted on being obedient to Yin, in order to paralyze the King of Sui, and secretly implemented the strategy of winning over neighbors, gradually co-opting and disintegrating the allies of the Yin Shang Dynasty, and weakening and isolating the Yin Shang Dynasty in order to weaken and isolate the Yin Shang Dynasty. Under lü Shang's active planning, more and more princely states and tribes were subordinate to King Wen of Zhou, and gradually occupied most of the territories of the Yin Shang Dynasty, and a situation of "three parts of the world is divided, and the second returns to Zhou" appeared, creating conditions for the final elimination of King Huan and the replacement of Yin Shang.

After the death of King Wen of Zhou, Ji Fa the Prince of Wu succeeded to the throne, and Lü Shang was made a national teacher, honoring him as Shi Shang's father. Lü Shang continued to assist the Zhou Dynasty. Once, King Wu of Zhou asked, "How can I do that I want to punish lightly and be more powerful, to reward less and persuade more to be good, and to educate the people by simply ordering?" Lu Shang replied, "Kill one man and a thousand people are afraid, kill two people and fear ten thousand people, kill three people and the three armies are vibrating, kill them." Reward one person and a thousand people rejoice, reward two people and ten thousand people rejoice, reward three people and three armies rejoice, reward it. He who orders one man and a thousand people to walk is ordered; he who forbids two people and stops by ten thousand people is forbidden; he who teaches three people and three armies is righteous, and teaches him. Kill one to punish ten thousand, reward one and persuade the multitude, the blessing of this bright king. "The King of Wu obeyed his words, always cautiously rewarded his actions, and strove to prohibit them, so that the politics of the Zhou Dynasty would become clearer and clearer. At this time, the political situation of the Yin Shang Dynasty was even darker, and there were more and more rebels against the Zhou Dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty gradually became full-fledged, and the country's power was rising day by day. In the ninth year of King Wu (about 1059 BC), the Zhou army, under the command of Lü Shang, marched to Mengjin, where King Wu of Zhou held the famous "Oath of Mengjin" in history and issued a text denouncing King Yin. At that time, 800 princes will be here, showing the prestige of the King of Wu. At that time, many princes said: "Shang Can be cut!" King Wu and Lü Shang believed that the time was not yet ripe, and although the rule of the Yin Shang Dynasty had fallen into internal and external difficulties and precarious situations, there was no obvious disintegration within it, and if the division was revived, it would inevitably encounter stubborn resistance. So, it was decided to go back to the class. This action, which was actually a rehearsal before the destruction of the Shang, had a strong impact on the princely states and made more princes obey the orders of King Wu of Zhou.

In the eleventh year of King Wu (about 1062 BC), the core of the yin shang dynasty's ruling clique occurred in Neijiang, Liangchen Bigan was killed, Jizi was imprisoned as a slave, Weizi Qi fled in fear of disaster, and Taishi and Shaoshiqiang surrendered to King Wu of Zhou. King Wu asked Lü Shang, "If Chancellor Yin dies or flees, is King Huan ready to be cut down?" Lu Shang replied, "Heaven and not taking, but being blamed by it; when the time is not right, it suffers from it." The King of Wu heard this and decided to raise an army to cut down the silk. So with Lü Shang as the commander, he commanded 300 military vehicles, 3,000 tigers (warriors), and 45,000 soldiers, and took the call of "cutting down the sins of the people" as the call, united the princes and countries, and sent troops to advance into the shang capital. In the Makino area, 70 miles from the Shang capital Chaoge, he fought against the 170,000 troops of the King of Sui. As a result, the Shang army was defeated and lost, with countless casualties and many defectors. Seeing that the general trend was gone, the king fled in a hurry overnight, and together with his concubine Daji, he set himself on fire in Lutai, at which point the Yin Shang Dynasty was declared dead. The Battle of Makino was thus able to win a complete victory thanks to The Organization and Command of Lü Shang's Wise Organization. In terms of grasping the timing of the battle, we chose to take the time when the king of Lu was paralyzed and lax and the people rebelled and left; in the organization of the forces, with the call of "hanging the people and cutting down the crimes," they united with the princes to jointly cut down the merchants; in terms of operational command, they first launched a surprise attack from the front with military vehicles and warriors, and then launched a fierce charge with armored soldiers, which disrupted the position of the shang army in one fell swoop and won the victory in the war.

Lü Shang was enfeoffed with Qi for his meritorious service in destroying merchants, and ruled the State of Qi as one of the "Five Hegemons" and "Seven Heroes". According to legend, the book "Liutao" was written by Lü Shang, and later generations have verified that it was relied on by people during the Warring States period to rely on his works. However, judging from the existing contents, it basically reflects Lü Shang's military practice activities and his strategic ideas. Sima Qian pointed out in the "History of the Family of Prince Taigong of Qi": "The words and soldiers of the later generations and the yin power of Zhou are all based on the plot of Emperor Taigong. From this point of view, Lu Shangshi is the founding father of Chinese strategists