The Battle of Muye, which broke out in 1046 BC, symbolized the completion of the Shang Zhou Dingge. With the self-immolation of the last ruler of the Yin Shang Dynasty, Emperor Xin of The Sui Dynasty, the powerful Shang Dynasty collapsed overnight.
After the war, King Wu of Zhou excitedly offered a prayer to the heavens: "Yu Qi's house is in the middle or (the country), and the people are from Zizi" (I will build the capital in China from today and rule the world), and the former small state Monday jumped to become the co-lord of the world.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > however, the loss of the co-ownership status of the Shang Dynasty does not mean that the Yin Shang ethnic group has also disappeared from history. </h1>
As the central dynasty that ruled China (the Central Plains) for nearly 600 years, the Yin people had huge roots. Some scholars have calculated that the number of people directly under the rule of the Shang King exceeded 4 million.
Coupled with the fact that the Zhou army's power only expanded from central Shaanxi to the area around YinQi (northern Henan), King Wu of Zhou did not have time to establish an effective rule over the vast area from the liaohe river to the south of the Yangtze River to the east of Jianghuai.
Therefore, King Wu of Zhou had to rely on Wu Geng, the son of King Huan, to rule the hinterland of Yin Shang. According to the Records of History, "King Wu of Zhou enfeoffed his son Wu Genglu (武庚禄) the father of Wu Genglu (武庚禄), in order to continue yin and make him practice the government of Pan Geng".
"Wu Geng" and "Father Lu" are not the real names of the son of king Huan, Wu Geng is the temple number, "Geng" refers to the day of sacrifice, before the japanese name is crowned with the word "Wu", is the Yin people's good name for the deceased king. "Father" is an honorific title. The reason why I want to introduce the temple number of the son of king Huan is because Wu Geng is the focus of our description later.
King Wu of Zhou killed his father and son not because of how benevolent he was, but out of a compromise with the strong influence of the Yin Shang clan. Of course, in order to monitor Wu Geng, King Wu of Zhou arranged for his younger brothers Guan Shuxian, Cai Shudu, and Huo Shu to garrison the three kingdoms of Shao, Shao, and Wei around the Yin capital, which was what later history books called the "Three Prisons".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > but I did not expect that it was this "three prisons" that first attacked the nascent Zhou Dynasty. </h1>
In the third year after Ke Yin, King Wu of Zhou died of illness and was succeeded by King Cheng of Zhou, who, because of his youth, was fully regent by Zhou Gongdan, but this move caused the dissatisfaction of the three prisons. The "Records of History" left the following records: "Gong Nai was the regent of the state, and the brother of Uncle Cai Shuqun suspected the Duke of Zhou, rebelled with Wu Geng, and Pan Zhou", "The King of Wu collapsed, the king became a young man, and the Zhou Gongdan was dedicated to the royal family." Uncle Guan and Uncle Cai suspected that Zhou Gongzhi was not conducive to becoming a king, but they threatened Wu Geng to cause rebellion. ”
This is the "Rebellion of the Three Prisons" in history. In order to increase political chips, Guan Shu and others also pulled Wu Geng into the gang, and a "coercive" character seems to indicate that the main body of the rebellion was the Western Zhou clan Guan Shu, Cai Shu and others, and Wu Geng was forced to join.
After that, Zhou Gongdong's eastern expedition, after 3 years of long conquest, finally put an end to the rebellion of the Three Prisons, Guan Shu and Wu Geng were killed, and Uncle Cai and others were exiled.
However, contradictions arise.
Doubt 1: Zhou Gong's life turtle.
Before the expedition, Zhou Gong made a statement of fate: "There are great difficulties in the Western Soil, and the people of the Western Soil are not quiet, the Yuezi is stupid and shy, the birth dares to ji Qishu, the heavens descend on The might, knowing that our country has flaws, the people are not healthy, and they know: 'Give back! 'Despise me Zhou Bang.' ”
The gist of this life is: when the Western Lands are in trouble, Yin Xiaoyi (Yin Shang nobles) wants to restore the rule of Yin Shang and turn our Zhou Kingdom into a border dependent state again. The Duke of Zhou does not mention the Three Prisons, and the focus of his narrative is on "Yin Xiaoyi", that is, the former nobles of the Yin Shang Clan.
Doubt two: the purpose of the rebellion of the three prisons.
Among the many sons of King Wen of Zhou, the eldest son Bo Yikao died prematurely, the second son Ji Fa succeeded to the throne, Uncle Guan and Uncle Cai were the third and fifth sons respectively, and Zhou Gongdan, who was an auxiliary politician, was the fourth son.
As mentioned above, the main reason for the rebellion of Guan Shu and others was dissatisfaction with the zhou gong's royal power of king Zhou Cheng, who was above himself, and in Guan Shu's view, he was obviously more qualified to lead the Zhou Dynasty than Zhou Gongdan. Even if the use of the "guardianship" power is linked to Wu Geng and other Yin Shang remnants, the three prisons are only trying to maximize political interests, not to restore the Shang Dynasty.
Even if the Shang Dynasty were rebuilt, the status of the Three Prisons would never be higher than it is now, and Wu Geng and the Three Prisons would not have common political interests. Therefore, there is no reason for the Three Prisons to support the restoration of Yin Shang.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="45" > the emergence of Tsinghua Jian explains the above doubts. </h1>
After being interpreted by Tsinghua University, the excavated Chudi Bamboo Jane in the middle of the Warring States period was found in the "Year of the Lineage": "Wu Wangzhi, Shang Yixing rebelled, killed the three prisons and established Zi Geng".
Zi Geng (彔子耿), also known as Wu Genglu (武庚禄), the son of King Huan.) This account shows that the three prisons were killed by Wu Geng. The account of Qinghua Jian contradicts the statement of the "Records of History".
There are two possibilities: the first may be the "History" statement: the three prisons launched a rebellion and co-opted Wu Geng, and the final rebellion was determined by Zhou Ping; the second possibility is the "Qinghua Jian" statement: the three prisons rebellion and the restoration of Wu Geng were originally two things that arose before and after, and the three prisons died at the hands of Wu Geng. So which scenario is closer to the truth?
Numerous evidence suggests that the Qinghua Jian is more accurate.
First of all, the "Shang Shu Biography" mentions that the Duke of Zhou "saved the chaos in one year, Ke Yin in two years, and practiced in three years", and it is obvious that the Duke of Zhou only sent troops to conquer the Yin capital where Pan Geng was located after dealing with the civil unrest in Western Zhou. For the rebellious Guan and Cai, Zhou Gong adopted the gentle means of "preaching again and again".
The second is the unearthed Bamboo Book Chronicle, which records two key pieces of information: it only records the first year of King Cheng's reign, "Wu Geng rebelled against Yin, and Zhou Wengong (Zhou Gong) lived in the east", and does not mention Guan and Cai's confrontation with the imperial court. In addition, the loyal Yin Shang, Yan, Xu, and Huaiyi "entered Shao to rebel", and the first target of the attack was the Shao state where the three prisons were located, which also showed that the three prisons and Wu Geng did not merge.
It can be seen from this that the hidden truth behind the Rebellion of the Three Prisons is actually the restoration of the Shang Dynasty by Wu Geng and other Yin Shang remnants. However, for political reasons, the Western Zhou Confused this Restoration with the Rebellion of the Three Prisons, just as the Qing rulers evaluated the Southern Ming regime with the rebellion of the King of the Domain.
Therefore, before the fall of the Yin Shang and the completion of the Western Zhou Dynasty's rule over the whole country, there was actually still a dynasty, which was the "Shang" established by Wu Geng, and the national name was "Bo" or "Northern Yin", which also explained why after the death of King Lu, Lu Father could still have the temple name of "Wu Geng" in later generations, precisely because Wu Geng was also a king.
Judging from the records of Zhou Ping's rebellion, Wu Geng's dynasty, in addition to encompassing the former Yin qi territory such as Yin Du (present-day Anyang), also included the Fang states of Yan, Feng, Bogu, and Xu, which was almost equivalent to the vast areas of present-day Shandong, Hebei, and north-central Henan, as well as Anhui and northern Jiangsu, and remained strong.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="49" > then the regime established by the Wu Geng Restoration did not continue to be called the Shang Dynasty, why was it called "Bo" or "Northern Yin" instead? </h1>
Three generations ago, the names of regimes often changed as the capitals moved. The Shang Dynasty was also known as Yin because Pan Geng moved the capital to Yin. Although Pan Geng was restored in the old capital of Yin Shang, with the Eastern Expedition of the Duke of Zhou, the Capital of Yin soon fell. The Book of Yi Zhou records that "Zhou Gong came to wei zheng (zheng) Yin, and Yin Da collapsed".
However, Wu Geng himself was not killed by the Duke of Zhou as recorded in traditional history books, but fled north and gained a foothold in the Laishui area of Hebei Province, and the founding capital was Bo, also known as the Northern Yin clan, and formed a long-term confrontation with Western Zhou.
The Great Bao gui unearthed in Shouzhang, Shandong, records the rebellion of Zhao Gongyi against Lu Zisheng, who was also the father of Wu Genglu. This also shows that after the Zhou Gong's Eastern Expedition to conquer the capital of Yin, Wu Geng's dynasty did not collapse, after which Zhao Gong continued to carry out a long-term conquest war with Bo (Northern Yin).
The archaeologically found Inscription of Lü Xinghu also records that during the reign of King Kang of Zhou, Bo Mao's father formed a coalition with the State of Yan and Su Shen to attack Bo, and eventually died at the hands of the State of Yan. Since then, the "Zuo Biao" has left a record of "Su Shen, Yan, Hao, and Wu Bei Tu Ye".
It can be seen that after the death of King Huan, the Yin people led by Prince Wu Geng still fought a long-term struggle against Western Zhou, and once established a powerful Northern Yin Dynasty, until the time of King Kang of Zhou, this regime was destroyed by the Western Zhou princes led by the State of Yan.
However, out of orthodoxy, the Western Zhou Regarded this restored dynasty as a local rebellion, and the conquest of the Wu Geng Dynasty in the literature became a record of The Wu Geng Dynasty in the literature.
The defeat of Muye, mainly due to the suddenness of the war with King Wu of Zhou and the eastern adjustment of the main force of King Huan, perhaps we can make such a hypothesis, if King Muye did not commit suicide in a hurry after the defeat of Muye, but had the opportunity to flee, his appeal to the Yin people was obviously stronger than Wu Geng, then with the support of Xiang, Xu and even the lone bamboo state in the north, history might be a different direction.