4
Around that time, in the land of Zhou centered on Qi in the west, there was a feudal lord named Ji Chang. He was a descendant of Hou Ji, who had overseen agriculture in the time of Emperor Shun. Ji Chang had received from the Yin dynasty the title of Xibo. Xibo meant the leader of the feudal lords of the western regions. It seems his power was considerable, and the trust he commanded was deep.
There is an anecdote handed down about him.
In that region were two small states called Yu and Rui. Whenever they had the chance, the two states quarreled over their borders. Yet they could never settle who was right and who was wrong. The rulers of the two states entered Zhou territory to receive a judgment from Xibo Ji Chang. But as they were passing through one area, they saw farmers yielding fields to one another, and young men stepping aside to the edge of the road for the elderly. At that moment, the rulers of Yu and Rui looked at each other.
“What we are fighting over is something the people of this country would find deeply shameful.”
So they returned without even meeting Xibo Ji Chang, yielded to one another, and settled their border. Such is the story.
As this rumor spread to neighboring states, Xibo Ji Chang’s fame rose even higher. The number of states that submitted of their own accord, without being compelled, reached more than forty.
Thereupon Ji Chang called his state “Zhou,” and this man was none other than King Wen of Zhou. Wen was a posthumous title given after his death. While he lived, he was simply called Xibo. For convenience, I will refer to him here as King Wen of Zhou.
When one thinks of King Wen of Zhou, another figure comes to mind: Jiang Taigong. He is also called Taigong Wang.
His surname was Jiang, and his given name was Shang, or Wang. The surname Jiang was closely connected to the Qiang, a non-Han people. The Qiang belonged to the Tibetan lineage. The word wang means “waiting.” He is also called Lü Shang, and Lü (near Henan Province) is the name of a place. It seems that one of Jiang Taigong’s ancestors must have lived in a land called Lü. In this way, most surnames of this period were connected either to place names or to official posts.
The anecdote of how King Wen of Zhou met Jiang Taigong is famous. There are so many versions that it is difficult to guess which comes closest to the truth. Here, I will do no more than introduce the most widely known version. After all, if the truth is hard to approach anyway, the dramatic version is more interesting.
One day, before King Wen of Zhou went out hunting, he had a divination performed. The oracle appeared, and its contents were strange.
Finding it uncanny, King Wen summoned his retainers and had them interpret it.
“This oracle is an omen that Your Grace will obtain a worthy man and save the realm.”
King Wen of Zhou rode out in his carriage to hunt by the Wei River. After traveling for some time and arriving at the riverside, he saw an old man with white hair fishing with a rod lowered into the water. Strangely, however, the hook was straight. There was no way a fish could be caught on it. Finding this odd, King Wen asked politely.
“Why are you fishing with a straight hook? Surely no fish could be caught that way.”
The white-haired old man replied.
“I am not fishing for fish. I am fishing for time.”
King Wen suddenly thought of the oracle and looked at the old man anew. The more he looked, the less he seemed like an ordinary elder. Then a song flowed from the white-haired old man’s lips.
The wind blows from the west,
White clouds drift away.
The hour is already late.
How can one remain still?
As King Wen listened quietly, he found the song deeply meaningful. He waited for the song to end, then prostrated himself before the old man and bowed deeply.
“I am Ji Chang, the lord of the western marches. At present, King Zhou has sunk into wine and women and has driven the people into misery. I wish to save them, but my strength is insufficient. Sir, please help me save the realm.”
Thereupon the old man reeled in his fishing rod and discoursed on the means to save the realm, and his words were like a waterfall plunging down a cliff.
King Wen concluded that the sage spoken of in the oracle was none other than this old man, and he was greatly delighted.
“Since the time of Taigong (referring to King Wen’s father, Ji Li), it has been said: ‘A sage will surely come to Zhou, and Zhou will rise greatly because of that man.’ You, sir, are that sage. My Taigong has long awaited your coming.”
This white-haired old man was Jiang Shang. The one whom Taigong had awaited—thus he came to be called Taigong Wang. King Wen of Zhou took Jiang Taigong as his teacher on the spot, climbed into the carriage with him, and returned to the palace seated shoulder to shoulder.
****
After Zhou obtained Taigong Wang Jiang Shang, it achieved dazzling development.
Jiang Taigong was well versed not only in politics and economics but also in military affairs. He trained soldiers, raised elite troops, and then brought the surrounding feudal states under submission one by one. By now, Zhou had grown stronger than Yin.
At that time, King Wen of Zhou passed away, and his son Fa succeeded him to the throne. This man was King Wu of Zhou.
King Wu of Zhou upheld his father’s will and finally raised an army to punish the tyrant King Zhou. Two-thirds of the many feudal states joined that punitive force. King Wu placed the ancestral tablet of his father, King Wen of Zhou, in a carriage and advanced eastward.
At this time, there appeared men who opposed King Wu’s advance. They were Bo Yi and Shu Qi. Bo Yi and Shu Qi were brothers, sons of the ruler of the state of Guzhu. Having heard rumors of King Wen of Zhou’s great virtue, they had come from the east to the west, but when they arrived, King Wen had already passed away, and his son King Wu of Zhou had raised an army to punish King Zhou. Bo Yi and Shu Qi blocked King Wu’s path and remonstrated with him.
“To wage war before even holding your father’s funeral is not filial piety. Moreover, though King Zhou may be without the Way, he is undoubtedly the Son of Heaven, and for a subject to strike the Son of Heaven is not proper conduct. Please turn your army back.”
When King Wen of Zhou’s close retainers became angry and tried to kill Bo Yi and Shu Qi, Jiang Taigong blocked their path and stopped them.
“These men are righteous men. There is no need to kill them.”
Bo Yi and Shu Qi escaped death, but later, deeming it shameful to serve King Wu, who had become the Son of Heaven, they went into Mount Shouyang, lived by digging up bracken, and starved to death. This is the old story of Bo Yi and Shu Qi.
Meanwhile, King Wu of Zhou, leading the punitive army into the Yin capital, won a great victory at the Battle of Muye. The defeated King Zhou climbed onto the Deer Terrace and threw himself into the flames to die. Daji also hanged herself. With this, the Yin dynasty vanished beyond history, and the Zhou dynasty arose in the Yellow River basin.
This is the content of the prayer King Wu of Zhou offered up to Heaven. The word “revolution” originates here.
Zhou had possessed its state name since the time of King Wen of Zhou, but it was in the time of King Wu of Zhou that it destroyed the Yin dynasty and pacified the realm. This is why King Wu of Zhou is regarded as the founder of the Zhou dynasty.
The capital of Zhou was Haojing. It is present-day Xi’an. The secondary capital was set at Luoyi (Luoyang), because it was a center of industry and transportation.
As its method of rule, Zhou followed the institutions of the Yin dynasty and implemented the feudal system—that is, the system of feudal lords. Those who had rendered the greatest service in the founding of the Zhou dynasty were appointed as feudal lords first.
First of all, Taigong Wang Jiang Shang was enfeoffed as ruler of the state of Qi; he was Qi Taigong, the first ruler of Qi. In this case, Taigong does not refer to Ji Li, King Wen of Zhou’s father, but to Taigong as ruler of Qi. In other words, it is a posthumous title, and with the surname attached, he is commonly called Jiang Taigong. Next, King Wu of Zhou enfeoffed his younger brother, the Duke of Zhou, Dan, as ruler of Lu. However, the Duke of Zhou Dan remained in Haojing to assist the Zhou royal house and instead sent his son Bo Qin to govern Lu. In this way, fiefs were granted to each region and their holders appointed as feudal lords, until their number reached more than 170 states.
****
This happened around that time. The Duke of Zhou Dan ordered the rulers of each fief to report on the results of their governance, and after five months, Taigong Wang was the first to hurry in and make his report. The Duke of Zhou Dan asked in surprise.
“How were you able to report so quickly?”
Taigong Wang replied.
“I simplified the rites between ruler and subject and governed according to the customs of the region, in a way all the people could easily understand. Thanks to that, I was able to report so quickly.”
The Duke of Zhou Dan’s son Bo Qin was the last to come up to the capital and report, only after three years had passed.
“Why is your report so late?”
“I fundamentally reformed the customs and rites of that region. Also, I was late because I taught them to observe the three-year mourning period.”
At this, the Duke of Zhou Dan sighed and said,
“When the commands of a state are excessively complicated, the people will not follow them gladly. Ah, how regrettable! In later generations, Lu will surely come to serve Qi.”
Three hundred and fifty years later, Duke Huan of Qi and Guan Zhong would appear in Qi.
Zhou was peaceful in its early days, but by the time of its tenth king, King Li of Zhou, and its eleventh king, King Xuan of Zhou, signs of disorder began to appear. This was because, over the passage of time, the power of the Zhou royal house had weakened, while the power of the feudal lords in each region had grown strong.
From this point on, China, that vast land of the dragon, entered an age of schemes and stratagems, alliances and divisions, and the contention of the Hundred Schools. This was the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, which would continue for more than 550 years.