In the traditional official history, Ji Li, the son of Gu Gong's father and the father of King Wen of Zhou, seems to be a soy sauce character, dispensable. Although you are the king of a country, his life and deeds have always been obscure, and there are few historical records. In the "Historical Records of Zhou Benji", there are two main paragraphs about the record of the seasonal calendar:
Gu Gong has the eldest son called Taibo, and the second is called Yu Zhong. Tai Jiang gave birth to a young son Ji Li, Ji Li married Tai Ren, all virtuous women, Shengchang, and Shengrui. Gu Gong said: "There should be a prosperous person in my world, and he is in Changhu.""The eldest son, Taibo and Yu Zhongzhi, wanted to establish the Ji Calendar to pass on Chang, but the two of them died like Jing Barbarian, and their tattoos were broken to make the Ji Calendar. ”
This passage means that Ji Li is the youngest son of Gu Gong's father, and there are two elder brothers above, and it was not his turn to succeed to the throne, but Gu Gong's father especially likes Ji Li's son Ji Chang and thinks that he has the appearance of a holy monarch. So he let out the wind and said that he was going to pass on the throne to his grandson Ji Chang. The two sons understood this, so they fled to Wu and became barbarians, giving way to Ji Li.
Judging from this story, the reason why Ji Li was able to ascend to the throne was not because of his own talent, but because he was stained with his son's light.
The ancient father, the season is established, and it is the public season. Gong Ji repaired the ancient public relics, devoted to righteousness, and the princes obeyed it. ”
This passage means that after Ji Li ascended the throne, he always followed the concept of governing the country left by his father, practiced benevolence and righteousness, and the princes came to submit one after another.
Judging from this record, Ji Li's merits should be the same as that of Gu Gong's father, mainly the strategic and defensive internal cultivation of Wende, rather than the strategic offensive external expansion.
However, there is an incomprehensible logic of historical development here, if the four generations of monarchs of Gu Gong's father, Ji Li, King Wen of Zhou, and King Wu of Zhou were all conservative and introverted for more than 100 years, then how could there be a good situation of "two out of three parts of the world" ("Analects Taber") during the period of King Wen of Zhou?
History sometimes withholds or omits certain truths and details, consciously or unconsciously, for a variety of reasons. Now, through the comparative analysis of different historical materials, we can find the clues in them, and make more logical deductions and judgments. That's where it's interesting to learn and study history.
Below, let's take a different perspective to see how Mr. Wang Guowei's "Ancient Bamboo Book Chronicle" edited and proofread records the life and deeds of King Jili of Zhou.
Wu Yi is in Yin. Thirty-four years, Zhou Wang Ji has always been in the dynasty, the king gave thirty miles of land, ten jade jue, and eight horses. In the thirty-fifth year, the king of Zhou, Ji Va, fell to the west and captured twenty kings of Zhai. ”
Judging from this record, during the period of Emperor Wuyi, the relationship between King Jili of Zhou and the Shang Dynasty was quite close. When he came to Yindu to meet the Son of Heaven, he was richly rewarded by the king of Shang. King Ji Li of Zhou also lived up to his high expectations, and in the second year after his return, he attacked the Dog Rong tribe in the western region, and captured twenty tribal leaders in one go. "King Zhai" is King Di.
In the second year of Dading, the Zhou people attacked Yanjing's Rong, and the Zhou division was defeated. In four years, the Zhou people cut down the remnants of Rong, and the king of Zhou was appointed as Pastor Yin. In seven years, the Zhou people began to call for Rong and conquer it. In eleven years, he hired people to cut down the gangsters, and he was the third doctor. Wen Ding kills the season calendar. ”
Judging from this account, there was a major turning point in the relationship between the Zhou Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty, mainly after the accession of Emperor Taiding. In less than ten years, King Jili of Zhou launched four wars in a row, respectively against Yanjing Zhirong, Yu Wuzhi Rong, Shihu Zhirong, and Pengtu Rong, three of which achieved major victories.
At the beginning, the king of Shang was quite happy, after all, King Jili of Zhou was a prince of the Shang Dynasty, and attacking Rong Di was to help the Shang Dynasty expand its territory, so he was given an official and knighted, and he was also named the priest of the Shang Dynasty. But he didn't expect that the Western Zhou army led by King Jili of Zhou had a burst of combat effectiveness and wiped out the surrounding Dog Rong tribes. This rapid expansion of military power and the speed of land annexation really frightened the Shang king, so the Shang king killed Ji Li, and since then he has formed a feud with the Western Zhou.
Emperor Yi Juyin. In the second year, the Zhou people cut down merchants. Di Xin was rejuvenated. In the sixth year, the first Yu (yuè) of King Wen of Zhou was completed. Bixi is thirty miles away. ”
This passage means that after the death of Emperor Taiding, his son Emperor Yi ascended the throne, and the following year the Western Zhou launched a war against the Shang Dynasty. When Emperor Xin ascended the throne, just six years later, King Wen of Zhou officially proclaimed himself king on his own territory, and changed the spring festival of the Shang Dynasty to hold a summer festival with the gift of the Son of Heaven. "Zhen" is the temple sacrifice.
When we read these records about the Ji calendar of the Zhou kings in the ancient bamboo book chronology, the original incomprehensible logic of historical development suddenly became clear. This ancestor of the Zhou Dynasty, who was brought by the official history, turned out to have such outstanding military talents, so that most of the Western Zhou Dynasty was defeated by him. Only in this way did the hundred-year contest between the Western Zhou Dynasty and Yin Shang in order to compete for the world seem more real, more exciting, and more ambitious.