Because of the various Records of Confucianism, Shang Yi became a brutal king of the subjugated country, and because of the "Fengshen Yanyi", Shang Yi was widely circulated as a typical tyrant. But is that really the case?
Regarding the origin of Shang Yi, the "Records of History" recorded as follows: "Emperor Yi's eldest son, Wei Zi Qi, Qi Mother, is a lowly person, and is not allowed to be heirs." The youngest son, Xin, was the heir of Xin Muzheng, and Xin was the heir. Emperor Yibang, Zi Xin Li, is for Di Xin, the world is called the Silk. "The eldest son of Emperor Yi (the father of Wei Zi Qi and Qiu) was called Wei Zi Qi, because his mother was of a low status and could not inherit the throne. Emperor Yi's younger son was named Xin, and his mother was the queen, so he was made the heir, and after Emperor Yi died, Xin took the throne, that is, Emperor Xin, and the world called him "纣". It can be seen from here that in the Shang Dynasty, the system of concubine succession had begun to be used, and Shang Yi had obtained the throne because of his status as a concubine.
Shang And Dai
Look at Shang's personal introduction: "Emperor Gong is quick to argue, smells very sensitively, has excellent material strength, and has a fierce hand." Knowledge is enough to distance from advice, words are enough to decorate wrong. "Talented, eloquent, quick-witted, receptive, strong in strength, able to fight with beasts of prey with empty hands, intelligent enough to rebuff the advice of his subordinates, able to speak eloquently enough to be overly eloquent." This is simply an all-round emperor of culture and martial arts, obviously a wen ke dingguo, a promising king of the wu ke an world, why has it become synonymous with tyrants?
As we all know, the Shang Dynasty attached great importance to sacrifice, and whenever there was a vision from heaven, a war, and an indecisive matter in the imperial court, it was necessary to divinate and sacrifice, and it used the "weekly sacrifice" system, that is, to sacrifice the ancestors over and over again. The Shang Dynasty also attached great importance to the "human martyrdom" system, which can be seen from the tombs of the Shang Dynasty excavated by archaeology. This led to a huge waste of manpower and financial resources, and the fastest way to obtain more financial and human resources (slaves) was to constantly go to foreign wars, which was also an important reason why the Shang Dynasty actively expanded abroad. But when the speed at which the war acquires resources does not match the rate of consumption, the problem arises. Because of the continuous war, the resources obtained were less than the resources consumed, which led to resentment in the Fang State (a small country or tribe under the Shang Dynasty) and the people in the country. In addition, the Shang Dynasty belonged to a slave society, the ruling class was only a very small number of people, and the wanton squandering of the aristocratic group consumed a large number of national resources, which also posed a great threat to the royal power. After Shang Yi took the throne, he took over a mess full of holes and declining, "Wu Yi hunted between the river and Wei, thunderstorm, and Wu Yi was shocked to death." Emperor Tai Ding Li. Emperor Taiding collapsed, and the son Emperor Yili. Emperor Yili, Yin Yiyi. "So reform is imperative.
than dry
In view of the situation, Shangyi took several measures to carry out reforms: first, increase taxes for the purpose of creating a new capital (moving the capital, creating war readiness) and sending troops to expand abroad (plundering resources); second, strictly "weekly sacrifice" and "human martyrdom" systems, reduce the waste of resources (reduce the number of sacrifices, lower the specifications, control human martyrdom, can save more financial and manpower for reform and war consumption); third, change the employment policy, suppress the use of microns, bigan, The old aristocratic forces headed by Shang Rong (these people were not as loyal as in the yanyi) and others promoted their own cronies Fei Zhong and Evil Lai (these people were not traitors, but Shang's reform ministers) to carry out reforms; fourth, the implementation of a severe criminal law to deter opposition forces and ensure the smooth implementation of the reform (since ancient times, there are many oppositions to the law, you can refer to the later Wu Qi Change Law, the Shang Martingale Change Law, the Wang Anshi Change Law, the Peng Shu Change Law, etc.); fifth. Actively launch foreign wars to plunder resources and divert internal contradictions.
However, the external hostile forces (Zhou) and the internal opposition forces (Wei Zi Qi, etc.) no longer gave Shang Yi time, and the two sides joined forces ("Wei Zi did not listen to the advice, but conspired with Taishi and Shaoshi to go away" "Yin Zhi taishi and shaoshi were carrying their sacrificial instruments to Zhou). "), destroyed the Shang Dynasty, and completely interrupted the reform of the Shang Dynasty.
What is the entanglement between Shang and Zhou? This is quite interesting. Zhou was originally a Fang state of Shang, and from the time of the founding of Shang Tang to Wu Yi, everything changed when Ji Chang (the famous Xi Bohou in Yanyi, the father of Wu Wang Ji Fa) was born. Legend has it that during the Yellow Emperor's time, there is a saying that a person who lives in the northwest will become an emperor to rule the world, and in the year of Jiazi, a man named Chang is subject to the Mandate of Heaven, a person named Fa carries out a curse, and a person named Dan promotes the Heavenly Dao. Ji Chang's grandfather, Gu Gongqian's eldest son, was called Taibo, the second son was called Yu Zhong, the younger son was called Ji Li, Ji Li married TaiRen, and Ji Chang was born, and Xiang Rui appeared. Gu Gongqi said: My descendants should have people who have achieved great things, probably in Chang's body! The eldest son Taibo and the second son Yu Zhong knew the idea of the ancient gong, and the two escaped together out of the southern Jingbaran land, and like the locals tattooed their bodies (tattoos), cut off their hair (I don't know whether it was like the Manchu Qing or like our modern, this is not known, there is no image record), and in this way ceded the throne to the ji calendar.
Zhou Wen Wang Ji Chang
So from the beginning of the seasonal calendar, Zhou launched a war against neighboring countries and tribes that lasted for generations. The Bamboo Book Chronicle records: "(Wu Yi) Thirty-five years, Zhou Gongji calendar fell to the west of the ghost Rong." (Wen Ding, "Records of History" as Tai Ding, grandfather of Shang Yi) In the second year, Zhou Gongji fought yanjing zhirong and was defeated. For four years, zhou gongji calendar cut down the remnants of the rong, kezhi. For five years, Zhou Zuo Cheng Yi (the royal palace of the Ji Calendar). Seven years, the Zhou Gongji calendar began to call the Rong, Kezhi. Eleven years, Zhou Gongji calendar cut down the disciples' Rong, Kezhi. King Kill Quarter Calendar. After Ji Li ascended the throne, he had been consulting with the outside world in order to strengthen Zhou's power and target the Shang Dynasty, so in order to remove the threat in advance, The Shang King Wending killed Ji Li (actually imprisoned to death).
After Ji Li's death, Ji Chang inherited it for Xi Bo, Ji Chang developed implicitly, absorbing a large number of talents such as Tai Gong Wang (that is, Jiang Ziya), Boyi, Shu Qi, And Shan Yisheng, and secretly colluded with a large number of princes. "When Xi Bo returned, he cultivated virtue and did good deeds, and the princes rebelled and returned to Xi Bo. Siberius is big, and the reason is slightly out of weight. Then began the road to the loyal vassal states of the Shang Dynasty: "(Di Xin or Shang) Seventeen years, Xi Bo cut Zhai. Twenty-one years, the princes dynasty Zhou. Twenty-three years, imprisoned in Siberius. Twenty-nine years, Shi Xibo. Thirty-three years later, the secret people descended to the Zhou Division. Thirty-four years later, Zhou Shi took Qi and Han, and then he revered and revered people. In the thirty-sixth year, the princes dynastyed Yu Zhou and conquered Kunyi. Spring and March of the forty-first year, Xi Bo Chang xue. "Ji Chang inherited his father's ambitions and went on a campaign, so he was imprisoned, and after being released (the Zhou people offered treasure to the King of Sui), he continued to fight until his death.
King Jifa of Zhou Wu
After King Ji of Wu ascended the throne, Shang Yi held a large-scale military parade in the spring of 43, on the one hand, to show force to Zhou, and on the other hand, to send troops to attack Dongyi (shang dynasty's old rival, Shang Yi was defeated by King Wu of Zhou, and the reason was largely because of Dongyi). Because the main army of the Shang Dynasty invaded Dongyi in the east, forty-four years, Xi Bofa Fa Li (a loyal supporter of Shang Yi, the gateway for Shang Yi to defend zhou against The Shang capital). Because of the demise of the State of Li, fifty-one years later, King Wu of Zhou "Looked at the Soldiers of the East, as for Mengjin." The princes will meet with eight hundred princes unexpectedly. All the princes know: Silk can be cut down. Wu Wang yue: The female unknown destiny, not yet. It is to return to the teacher. "The King of Wu sent an army to the east, and the army gathered, so why did he retreat?" Because his allies within the Shang Dynasty (WeiZi Qi and others) found an enemy for Shang, "Wang imprisoned Jizi, killed the prince Bigan, and Weizi ran away." Therefore, he chose to retire. However, because of the arrival of Wei Ziqi, he learned that the main army of the Shang Dynasty had not returned to the Eastern Expedition, so he launched the Battle of Zhou Fayin the following year, that is, the "King of Wu".
Because the main force did not return to the Eastern Expedition, Shang Yi had no troops to adjust, so he gathered his people and slaves, rationed weapons, and personally led them to fight with the King of Wu, the address of the engagement was located in Makino, known in history as the "Battle of Makino". It was not realistic that the king of The King of Sui gathered an army of 700,000 in the history books, there was no city with a population of hundreds of thousands at that time, and the soldiers of the King of The King of The King were temporarily composed of civilians and slaves, and it was impossible for the Shang to have so many people, but it was just an exaggeration of the later generations in order to show that the King of Wu obeyed the will of Heaven. Because of the reform, ShangXi caused resistance and betrayal by the old aristocratic forces, and the internal deployment of Shang was useless, which is why Shangyi chose to go out of the city to fight a decisive battle. Because of the increase in taxes and the use of troops for many years, the people's resentment boiled over, which led to the rebellion of the army and the defeat of the Shang Dynasty.
The Han Feizi - Saying Doubts records: "Shun forced Yao, Yu forced Shun, Tang Fangjie, and King Wu cut down the silk." These four kings, the subjects of man, also their kings. "As a pioneer of reform, Shang Yi single-handedly made enemies of the whole world, and he did not lose to hostile forces and opposition forces, but lost to time and the times, although he lost to Yourong.