Zu Geng
Zu Geng, king of the Shang Dynasty, surnamed Zi Yue, reigned for about 7 years, he was the second son of Wu Ding, a famous king of the Shang Dynasty, who died of illness and was buried in Yin. Zu Geng had an eldest brother, Zu Ji, who was framed by his stepmother and expelled from the capital by his father Wu Ding, and later died of injustice. The third brother, Zu Jia, was born to his stepmother, and in order to express his reluctance to compete with his brother for the throne, he secretly ran away from the palace, And Wu Ding died of illness, and Zu Geng was able to succeed to the throne. After Zu Geng's death, the third brother Zu Jia succeeded to the throne.
real name
Ethnic groups
The Shang tribe of the Huaxia Tribal Group and the ancestors of the Han people
Time of death
1198 BC
Major achievements
Follow the etiquette system
Mausoleum
abundant
The struggle for the throne
Wu Ding wanted to pass the throne to his eldest son, Zuji. Zu Ji is a filial piety, with a filial name, known as "filial piety". He had to get up five times a night to see if his parents were sleeping well, so he was deeply favored by Wu Ding. However, due to the early death of his mother, his stepmother did not like him and said many bad things about him in front of Wu Ding, and as a result, he was exiled to other places. After Zu Ji endured this blow, he soon died of grief.
"Corpse sacrifice" has existed since the Xia Dynasty, and "corpse" is generally performed by the eldest son or eldest grandson. The idiom "corpse vegetarian meal" evolved from "corpse sacrifice", because "corpse" can eat only fasting and not work in addition to receiving worship on the altar. Zu Ji had served as a "corpse" to be worshiped by hundreds of officials, and his qualification was actually equivalent to the status of a prince. When the Shang royal family sacrificed ancestors, the ceremony was very solemn, and the living people should act as the "corpses" of the ancestors to accept the worship of hundreds of officials, which is the so-called "corpse sacrifice".
It was precisely because Of Wu Ding's experience in being released when he was young that he followed the example of expulsion from Zu Ji, but it was a pity that Zu Ji did not understand his father's painstaking heart. In the Taiping Imperial Records, it is said: "Emperor Gaozong of Yin had a virtuous son who was filial to himself, and his mother died early, and Emperor Gaozong deceived his wife's words and let him die, and the world mourned." "It is believed that Zu Ji was exiled by Wu Ding and was released by Xiao B when Wu Ding was young, which is of different nature. It is said that the former was caused by the struggle for the right to inherit the throne, and the latter was to cultivate the heir to the throne, so It was regarded as "immoral" for Wu Ding to exile his ancestors. Yuhuo believes that this statement is biased, in fact, Wu Ding exiled Zuji, first, to avoid the contradiction between Zuji and his stepmother; second, because he was also let go by his father Xiao Yiwai since he was a child, so he thought that it was not a good thing to put Zuji in other places to observe the people's feelings.
Zu Geng's younger brother Zu Jia was more general than Zu Geng, and when Wu Ding was dying, he wanted to establish Zu Jia as his heir, but Zu Jia thought that he was Zu Geng's younger brother and did not deserve the position of elder brother, so he fled to the people. The Book of Shang records: "In Zujia, the unrighteous king was a villain. This means that when zujia arrived, he thought that it was an unrighteous act to replace his brother as king, so he fled to the people and became a small people. Since the crown prince Zuji died early, after Wu Ding's death, the throne was inherited by Zu Geng. Zu Geng had no talent, and Wu Ding did not look favorably on him before he died.
Zu Geng died after only seven years on the throne, and was succeeded by Zu Jia after his death. Because Zu Ji's filial piety was deeply popular with the people, Zu Geng obtained the throne because of the conspiracy of his birth mother, and Zu Geng did not achieve anything after he ascended the throne, so it caused criticism from the civil and military officials of the imperial court.
Stepmother Pentadydon
Zu Geng inherited the cause of "Wuding Zhongxing", actively pioneered, obeyed the etiquette system, and was an active and filial monarch. During the years of his reign, the Shang Dynasty was very strong in economic culture and national strength.
The second mother is a ding made for his mother by him (one said to be Zu Jia), so it is filial piety.
Miscellaneous anecdotes
Zu Jia avoided the throne: Zu Ji (孝己), Zu Geng, and Zu Jia were all sons of Wu Ding. The eldest son, Zu Ji, died before he could succeed to the throne, and the second son, Zu Geng, was made crown prince. But Wu Ding both loved, Zu Jia was born to the stepmother mother, of course, in front of Wu Ding to raise Zu Jia as the crown prince. Zu Jia thought that this was a violation of etiquette, and if he forcibly abolished the establishment, he was afraid of repeating the situation of the "Rebellion of the Ninth Dynasty", so he imitated Wu Ding in that year, left the imperial capital, and lived among the commoners. After Wu Ding's death, the throne was inherited by Zu Geng. Zu Geng died of illness about ten years after he ascended the throne, and Zu A returned to the imperial capital to inherit the throne.
Historical records
When the Shang royal family sacrificed ancestors, the ceremony was very solemn, and the living people should act as the "corpses" of the ancestors to accept the worship of hundreds of officials, which is the so-called "corpse sacrifice". "Corpse sacrifice" has existed since the Xia Dynasty, and "corpse" is generally performed by the eldest son or eldest grandson. The idiom "corpse vegetarian meal" evolved from "corpse sacrifice", because "corpse" can eat only fasting and not work in addition to receiving worship on the altar. Zu Ji had served as a "corpse" to be worshiped by hundreds of officials, and his qualification was actually equivalent to the status of a prince.
Zu Geng historical data
In the Taiping Imperial Records, it is said: "Emperor Gaozong of Yin had a virtuous son who was filial to himself, and his mother died early, and Emperor Gaozong deceived his wife's words and let him die, and the world mourned." "It is believed that Zu Ji was exiled by Wu Ding and was released by Xiao B when Wu Ding was young, which is of different nature. It is said that the former was caused by the struggle for the right to inherit the throne, and the latter was to cultivate the heir to the throne, so It was regarded as "immoral" for Wu Ding to exile his ancestors. Yuhuo believes that this statement is biased, in fact, Wu Ding exiled Zuji, first, to avoid the contradiction between Zuji and his stepmother; second, because he was also let go by his father Xiao Yiwai since he was a child, so he thought that it was not a good thing to put Zuji in other places to observe the people's feelings. It was precisely because Of Wu Ding's experience in being released when he was young that he followed the example of expulsion from Zu Ji, but it was a pity that Zu Ji did not understand his father's painstaking heart.
He secretly ran away from the palace, Wu Ding fell ill and died, and Zu Geng was able to succeed to the throne.
Evaluation of future generations
After Zu Geng's death, his younger brother Zu Jia succeeded to the throne, adhering to his etiquette.
Zu Geng period oracle bones
Zu Jia once lived among the commoners and understood the sufferings of the commoners, and he restricted the exploitation and plundering of the people by nobles large and small, and even modified the "Tang Punishment" to restrict these unfilial descendants with severe punishment. As a result, it caused the nobles to be dissatisfied with ZuJia and difficulties, and internal contradictions became increasingly acute.
During this period, Zu Geng played a transitional role in carrying forward the past and the future. In the Shang Dynasty after Zu Jia, the national strength gradually declined, and finally went to extinction. During the more than 100 years of the reign of Wu Ding, Zu Geng and Zu Jia, it was the peak of the Shang Dynasty's Zhongxing. During this period, the dominance and national prestige of the Shang Dynasty spread far and wide, and the Central Plains civilization represented by bronze was also very brilliant.