From ancient times to the present, it seems that every dying king must be extravagant, and must be accompanied by a demon princess and a few despicable people, which is the standard. The first national subjugation recorded in the history of China was Xia Jie. I remember the specific thing about his debauchery recorded in the history books, that is, sitting on people and treating people as livestock. However, I am used to watching grandfathers in costume dramas, and suddenly I find that this is nothing. Therefore, although Xia Jie was the first bad king recorded in Historical Records, he was not out of line. The most ruthless monarch of national subjugation should be headed by Shang Zhouwang. It can be said that his "popularity" in China is well known to men, women and children. The reason why he has such a high popularity is not only the shocking historical records, but also the novel "The List of Gods" in the Ming Dynasty. Many people's first impressions of Shang Zhouwang come from "The List of Gods". But what was Shang Zhouwang like in history?
Although he is the youngest son, he succeeded his mother to the throne.
In fact, Shang Zhouwang is not an only child. He also has two brothers, namely Song Weizi and Song Weizhong, who were the founding monarchs of the Song Dynasty and later inherited the sacrificial offerings from the ancestral temple of the Shang Dynasty. Some people may ask, wasn't the eldest son inheritance system implemented at that time? Shang Zhouwang should have appeared behind his two brothers. This is going to talk about the ancient system of "the son is more expensive than the mother". In ancient times, only the children born to the queen, that is, the eldest son, were eligible to inherit the throne. If the first son dies, he will choose the second son, and so on. If you really don't have a son, choose a concubine
The birth dates of Shang Zhouwang's two brothers have not been decided yet. When they were born, their mother was just a concubine and could only be regarded as an illegitimate child. By the time Shang Zhouwang was born, their mother had become a full-fledged queen, so Shang Zhouwang was the real son, and the inheritance right was better than his two half-brothers. Although both his father and mother wanted his eldest son, Wei Zi, to be the heir, they had to give up this idea because of the law of "the first eldest son", and finally the youngest son, namely Shang Zhouwang, inherited the ceremony.
Talent, strength, arrogance
Shang Zhouwang, whom we saw in The Book of Gods, is an ignorant figure. He has no respect for ghosts and gods, is greedy for beauty, and has strong military value and arrogance. As for his intelligence, it is completely invisible. But if he were smarter, he wouldn't be cheated by the fox. In fact, Shang Zhouwang was a very clever man in history. During his reign, he carried out political reforms, alienated the old nobles and boldly promoted and appointed new people; In addition, it also tried to suppress the theocracy that was still relatively strong at that time; In addition, it sent troops to attack barbarians and expand its territory many times. To tell the truth, what Shang Zhouwang did was done by a wise king, not like a bad king, but it happened that such a wise king led to the direct demise of the Shang Dynasty.
When the King of Zhou attacked the merchants, Zhou Wang abandoned his home and died.
When the Shang Dynasty arrived in Shang Zhouwang, it had lasted for more than 500 years. Due to the limitation of "home is the world", Yin Shang at this time is like an old man who is faltering and can't stand any big toss. Laozi said: to govern a big country, you can cook small and fresh. Shang Zhouwang's violent action offended both nobility and theocracy. Due to his lack of experience and virtue, coupled with the resistance of the traditional old aristocracy, domestic contradictions are more serious. Repeated expeditions to foreign countries led to huge consumption of manpower and material resources by the people of Yin Shang Dynasty, heavy burden on the people and complaints. However, Shang Zhouwang simply does not see these crises. He is still immersed in the success of expanding territory, and his complacent and headstrong personality makes him unable to accept the advice of the sages.
Under such circumstances, Xibo Hou Jichang, a powerful leader of Zhou tribe who had the revenge of killing his father in Shang Dynasty, had to surrender to Shang Dynasty and began to accumulate strength. When the time is right, when Ji Chang's son Ji Fa is Zhou Wuwang, King Wu will attack, and Shang Zhouwang soldiers and people who are tired of war and oppression will turn against it. Shang Zhouwang set himself on fire in Lutai and died, so did Yin Shang.
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Someone once said that "history is a little girl who can dress up". Shang Zhouwang's history itself was recorded by the Zhou Dynasty, so it is impossible to speak well of him. At that time, the crusade against Zhou only said that it was against nature, alienated from ancestors and brothers, reused villains, blackmailed the people, and was lewd and greedy. It didn't say that Shang Zhouwang wine pool meat forest, sent someone to cut open the belly of pregnant women to identify the sex of the fetus, invented the cruel torture of snake pit to deal with prisoners. It is precisely because he is a failed and brutal ruler that later generations can put many more outrageous and absurd things on him at will, which makes Shang Zhouwang have such a high "popularity" tyrannical reputation.