Ji Chang (1152 BC - 1056 BC), King Wen of Zhou, had a surname of Ji and a given name of Chang. He was the son of Ji Li and the founder of the Zhou Dynasty. After his father's death, he inherited the position of Xibo, so he was called Xibo Chang. He reigned for 50 years and was a wise king in history.
During the reign of Jichang, King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, he decided to sue Yu and Rui, making these two countries surrender, and attacked and destroyed Li (now Changzhi, Shanxi), Han (now Qinyang, Henan), and Chong (now Songxian, Henan). and other countries, established their capital in Fengyi (today's Xi'an, Shaanxi), laying the foundation for King Wu to destroy the Shang Dynasty. It is said that "The Book of Changes" was written when he was imprisoned in Youli, and he was buried in the Zhou Tomb in Xianyang after his death. In 1046 BC, his son King Wu of Zhou Fa destroyed Shang and honored him as King Wen of Zhou.
1. Diligent in political affairs
King Wen of Zhou Ji Chang, whose surname is Ji and whose given name is Chang, is the grandson of King Tai of Zhou and the son of Ji Li. He was the Western Count during the Shang Dynasty, that is, the western princes (Fang Kingdom ), also known as Xibochang.
According to legend, Xibo had been in office for fifty years and was fully prepared for the great undertaking of Jian Shang. However, he died before he could start his career. He was a very accomplished entrepreneur and diligent. Regarding political affairs, he attached great importance to the development of agricultural production, treated virtuous corporals, and recruited talents. He worshiped Lu Shang as his military advisor and asked about military and national plans, so that "the world is divided into three parts, and the other two are returned to Zhou."
2. Be kind and benevolent
"Historical Records of Zhou Benji" says that he followed the practices of Hou Ji and Gong Liu, followed the methods of his ancestors Gu Gong and his father Ji Li, and advocated benevolence, respect for the elderly, The social ethos of being kind and polite allowed the social and economic development of its territory.
During the period of governing Qi, we pursued moral governance internally, advocated "protecting the small people", vigorously developed agricultural production, and adopted the policy of "Jiuyi Erzhu", that is, dividing the fields and allowing farmers to help cultivate public fields. , pay one-ninth of the tax, merchants do not collect customs duties, and some people commit crimes and their wives do not even sit and wait. The politics of the early feudal system are implemented, that is, the politics of enriching the people, which is to collect taxes in a controlled manner, so that farmers can save money to make money. * Labor interest.
When recruiting talents from outside, he treated many talents from outside tribes and those who came from the Shang and Zhou dynasties with courtesy and appointed them. For example, Boyi, Shuqi, Taidian, Hongyao, Sanyisheng, Wanxiong, Xinjia and others all became subordinates of Jichang and became ministers. Ji Chang lived a diligent and frugal life, wore ordinary clothes, worked in the fields, and governed his country conscientiously. Under his governance, Qi Zhou's national power became increasingly powerful.
At that time, King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty invented the punishment of burning with fire, which meant that the prisoner was ordered to walk on a copper pillar covered with lubricating oil. If he slipped, he would fall into the pit of fire, and his skin would be instantly charred and his flesh would become rotten. However, the Shang Dynasty Zhou's favorite concubine Daji couldn't stop laughing when she saw this tragic situation, so Shang Zhou kept letting the prisoners do this to win Daji's smile. King Zhou Wen was very angry, and the princes and people all gnashed their teeth in hatred. King Zhou Wen came to the capital of the Shang Dynasty to pay homage. Song, was willing to donate a piece of land on the west bank of Luo River in Zhou Dynasty, and was willing to use it to ask King Zhou to agree to one thing, which was to abolish cannons. King Zhou therefore imposed the punishment of cannons on Xibo, and Ji Chang gained the sympathy of the people.
3. Imprisoned in Youli
Zhou Dynasty's national power increased, which caused uneasiness in the Shang Dynasty. King Zhou's cronies of Shang slandered his minister Chonghou Hu and secretly advised King Zhou, Xibohou did good deeds everywhere and established his own prestige. The princes all yearned for him, which might not be beneficial to King Shang. King Zhou therefore detained Ji Chang in Youli (now Tangyin County, Henan).
While in captivity, he devoted himself to "performing the sixty-four hexagrams of Yi, each for himself." In order to rescue King Wen from prison, Zhou Chen Hongyao and others searched for beauties, BMWs, pearls and jade to offer to King Zhou. King Zhou was overjoyed when he saw it: "Only this one thing (referring to the beauty) is enough, not to mention there are so many treasures!" So he pardoned King Wen from prison, rewarded him with bows, arrows, axes, and axes, and authorized him to conquer the enemy. The princes who obeyed his orders were what the history books call King Wen's "Yuli Disaster".
4. Mediate Yu Rui
After King Wen was released from prison, he determined to destroy the merchants. When he went hunting by the Weishui River, he happened to meet the old and unappreciated Jiang Shang fishing by the water. They had a very good conversation with each other. King Wen knew that Jiang Shang was really talented, so he asked Jiang Shang to ride back with him, and he became his teacher, and together they planned the strategy to destroy the merchants.
According to "Shangshu Da Zhuan", King Wen did six major events in the last seven years of his reign. In the first year, he mediated the dispute between Yu and Rui.
Yu (Pinglu County, Shanxi) and Rui (Ruicheng, Shanxi) were both vassal states in the west of the Shang Dynasty. However, they did not seek judgment from King Shang. They all admired King Wen of Zhou for his reputation and asked King Wen for judgment.
According to the annotation of "The Book of Songs·Daya·Mian": Yu and Rui saw that in the Zhou Kingdom, "the cultivators gave way to their shores, and the travelers gave way", "men and women took different paths, and they were grizzled and did not support them", " A scholar is promoted to a senior official, and a senior official is promoted to a minister." This is the style of a gentleman. Comparing the two, they felt ashamed in their hearts. After returning home, both Yu and Rui took the initiative to make the disputed land free, and the dispute was resolved.
5. Expand the territory
In the second year after he was released from prison, King Wen of Zhou sent troops to attack Quanrong, defeated the Xirong barbarians, and destroyed several small countries; in the third year, he attacked Misu (in today's Lingtai County, Gansu), which relieved the worries of the north and west; in the fourth year, Li was conquered (in today's Licheng County, Shanxi); in the fifth year, Han (in today's Qinyang County, Henan) was conquered, and Li and Han were actually conquered. This constituted a direct threat to Chaoge, the Shang capital; in the sixth year, he destroyed Chongguo (in today's Hu County, Shaanxi Province), moved the Zhou capital from Qishan to Zhouyuan eastward to the Wei River Plain, and established Fengjing (on the west bank of the Feng River in today's Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province). .
"The Book of Songs·Daya": "After cutting down in Chong, building a city in Feng." Then it expanded its influence southward to the Yangtze River, Han River, and Ru River basins, forming a "two-thirds of the world" situation.
This sentence in "The Analects of Confucius Taibo" shows that Qizhou actually controlled most of the world, while the Yin and Shang Dynasties were in an extremely isolated situation.
Just when this great achievement was about to be completed, Ji Chang died unfortunately. "Shang Shu·Wu Yi" and "Lu Shi Chun Qiu·Zhi Yue" both said that he lived the country for 50 years and established the country for 43 years before becoming king. After his death, he was buried in Bi (referring to the north and south banks of the Wei River between Xi'an and Xianyang, with a wider territory). King Wen of Zhou was a famous king and saint in Chinese history, and was praised and admired by later generations. There is a record in "The Book of Songs·Daya" Ode to poetry.
6. Creation of Zhou Rites
Ancient Chinese people generally have a mentality of admiration for ancient times. Following the example of the ancient sage kings and the methods of the "Three Dynasties" is a topic that the ancients talk about. King Wen of Zhou It is the perfect image in people's minds, and there are countless people in the past dynasties who have taken Fuzhou Rites as their responsibility.
In fact, due to the long history and incomplete documents, people may not know much about King Wen of Zhou, and the Zhou rites may not be perfect. However, as a kind of yearning for the king and system of Qingming, its The meaning is still positive, so it is not an exaggeration to say that King Wen of Zhou has influenced Chinese history for more than two thousand years in an abstract sense.
Later Confucians, in order to link morality and politics, promoted King Wen as a model of "inner sage and outer king", and King Wen's influence became greater and greater.
Confucius particularly admired King Wen. He dreamed of restoring the "Yu Yu Wen Zai" Zhou Li Jichang Introduction, but King Wen's remarks have not been seen much today. It is said that King Wen was good at playing Zhou Yi, and today's Zhou Yi has Perhaps from King Wen’s organizing efforts, we can see some of King Wen’s political ideas.
The source of Chinese science, thought and culture is the Book of Changes. The Book of Changes was the first to put forward the definition of "astronomy". Although the Book of Changes was written during the Warring States Period, it did express the ideas formed in the Zhou Dynasty. Regarding the idea of ??destiny, "Yi" said: "Observe astronomy to observe the changes of time." "Yi·Xici" said: "The sky hangs down like an image to see good and bad luck, and the saints like it." Wait, the yin and yang that emerged in the Western Zhou Dynasty Thought has an important influence on the development of Chinese astronomy.
"The Book of Changes" has a long process of formation and development. What later generations called Hetu and Luoshu are manifestations of burning divination bones and the practice of ancient ancestors in their long-term life and divination. It is a reflection of the interconnection and interpenetration of rational thinking and image thinking realized in the book. According to legend, Fu Xi summarized it, arranged the yarrow repeatedly, and painted it as Bagua, including the phenomena of all things in the world. This is Original Yi.
Later, it is said that after careful study by King Wen of Zhou, he standardized and organized it into sixty-four hexagrams and three hundred and eighty-four lines. With the hexagrams and line words, it was called "The Book of Changes". It uses simple images and numbers, and uses the opposite changes of yin and yang to explain complicated social phenomena, showing tens of thousands to infinite numbers. It has the characteristics of using less to express more, using simplicity to express complexity, and is full of changes.
Zheng Xuan explained that the reason why it is called "Yi" has three meanings: one is simplicity, the other is change, and the third is difficulty, which means that the principles of all things change and remain unchanged, phenomena are constantly changing, and some The most basic principles are unchangeable, which abstracts the theoretically rich simple dialectics from the dialectical development of the objective world.
It is said that in the late Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius explained and discussed the "Book of Changes" and completed the ten wings, which is the "Book of Changes". In this way, "The Book of Changes" developed into a philosophical work that expounded the changes in the universe with extensive and profound content.
7. The Book of Changes
It is said that in ancient times, Fuxi created the Xiantian Yi (Xiantian Bagua), Shennong created the Lianshan Yi (Lianshan Bagua), and Xuanyuan created and collected it. Yi (Guizang Bagua), we don’t know who else created what Yi at the same time or before them. Speaking of it, the above from Fuxi to Shennong to Xuanyuan is a kind of cultural inheritance.
In the teachings of shamanism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and even among the people, there are still some very magical secrets in the Xiantian Yi, Lianshan Yi, Guizang Yi, and Zhou Yi, but there is no such thing. Special personnel will be assigned to collect and organize the information.
Only the Bagua of King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty was passed down due to the birth of two great figures, Duke Zhou and Confucius. After their study, inference and interpretation, the so-called hexagrams are not good or bad. It analyzes and explains people's correct attitude, behavioral norms and methods of doing things in good times and bad times. After being passed down by scholars, scholars and ruling classes of the past dynasties, King Wen's "Book of Changes" has become China's Bible, the source of various schools of thought, and even has been included in people's daily lives. Life is closely related to it, and the two hexagrams are repeated and arranged into sixty-four hexagrams. The hexagram names are:
Qian, Kun, Tun, Meng, Need, Litigation, Master, Bi, Xiaozhu, Lu, Tai, Bu, Tongren, Dayou, Qian, Yu, Sui, Gu, Lin ﹑Observe, Eat, Eat, Peel, Rejuvenate, Wuwu, Da Zhu, Yi, Da Guo, Kan, Li, Xian, Heng, Escape, Da Zhuang, Jin, Ming Yi, Family, Jie, Jian, Jie, Loss , Yi, 夬, 姤, Cui, Sheng, Kun, Jing, Ge, Ding, Zhen, Gen, Jian, Guimei, Feng, Lu, Xun, Dui, Huan, Jie, Zhongfu, Xiaoguo, Jiji, Wei Economic.
Qian is the sky, Kun is the earth, Shuileitun, Shanshuimeng, Shuitianxian, Tianshuiyi, Earthshuishi, Shuidibi, Fengtianxiaoxu, Tianzelu, Earthtiantai, Tiandi No, Heaven and Fire are the same person, Fire and Heaven are great, Earth Mountain Qian, Lei Di Yu, Ze Lei Sui, Shan Feng Gu, Di Ze Lin, Feng Di Guan, Fire Thunder Eater, Shan Huo Ben, Shan Di Peel, Di Lei Fu,
The sky is thundering, the mountain is big, the mountain is thundering, the wind is over, the ridge is water, the distance is fire, the mountain is salty, the thunder is constant, the sky is escaped, the thunder is strong, the fire Earth Jin, Earth Fire Mingyi, Fenghuo Family, Fire Zeyi, Water Mountain Jian, Lei Shuixie, Shanze Loss, Fenglei Yi, Zetianzhuang, Tianfengxiao, Zedicui, Earthfengsheng, Zeshuitrap , Shui Fengjing, Ze Huo Le, Huo Feng Ding, Zhen Wei Lei, Gen Wei Shan, Feng Shan Jian, Lei Ze Gui Mei, Lei Huo Feng, Volcano Brigade, Xun Wei Feng, Dui Wei Ze, Feng Shui Huan, Shui Ze Jie, Fengze Zhongfu, Leishan Xiaoguo, water and fire both come together, fire and water do not come together.
Jiawei "fake the middle in the river" and "return to the middle in the river", the core idea is the middle way.
The preface of the hexagram "Two and two coincide with each other, either overturn or change" in "The Book of Changes" talks about dialectics. The Tsinghua Bamboo Slips "Cheng Wan" talks about "Shang Qi is in Zhou, Zhou Qi is in Shang", "Bao Xun" It is also said that "there are things above and below that are far and near, but the changes are far away." These are also talking about dialectics.
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