Although the king of Shang was brutal, he was both civil and military, and once fought fierce beasts

Mondo History Updated on 2024-01-19

King Shang, the last emperor of the Shang Dynasty, also known as Emperor Xin, his name is Shou. According to historical records, King Shang was a famous tyrant in Chinese history. He was the youngest son of Emperor Yi of Shang, and because of his mother's humble status, he stood out among many princes and was made queen, and then gave birth to King Yi.

As a young man, the king of Shang was gifted, both civil and military, eloquent, quick-witted, receptive, and powerful, and was said to be able to fight beasts with his bare hands. These extraordinary talents made him a high-profile prince at the time.

However, the Shang king had a fatal flaw - he refused to accept advice. He is blindly confident, believing that his intelligence and judgment are superior and that the opinions of others will only interfere with his decision-making. Therefore, he always does not listen to the advice of others and insists on doing things according to his own ideas. Bigan repeatedly admonished him and advised him to correct his mistakes, but instead of accepting the advice, the king became furious, claiming to see if Bigan's heart had seven tricks to prove his loyalty. Bigan suffered cruel torture and the threat of death because of this, but he always insisted on admonishing and would rather die for the sake of the country. Mizi also once advised the king in every possible way, but he was also severely punished.

In addition to refusing to accept advice, the king of Shang also has a critic's Xi - he likes to drink and have fun. He ordered the craftsmen to dig the ground into the pool, and let the attendants pour wine into the pool, and the wine pool was so large that it could be rowed. The king of Shang and the beauties of the harem rowed boats on the wine pool, drank and had fun, and lived a life of extravagance. His debaucherous behavior plunged the entire country into chaos and turmoil.

In addition, the king of Shang also built a large number of buildings, spent a lot of manpower and financial resources, and spent a total of seven years to build a deer platform. Lutai is surrounded by three miles square, up to 100 zhang. The king of Shang gathered the gold and silver beauties he had scavenged on the deer platform, and after seven days and seven nights of drinking, singing and dancing, he forgot the passage of time, the sun and the moon. His debauchery plunged the entire country into poverty and turmoil.

In order to suppress his opponents, the Shang king also created cannon torture. He burned the pillars of brass red with coals and forced those who opposed him to stand on them. This cruelty makes his image even more brutal.

The tyrannical behavior of the Shang king finally led the Zhou tribe to raise an army against the Yin Shang. Ji Fa, the king of Zhou Wu, inherited his father's ambition and led the princes to attack the king of Shang, and the two sides fought in Muye (now southwest of Hongxian County, Henan). Due to the loss of the hearts of the Shang king, his soldiers defected in front of the battle, and the king of Shang was defeated, climbed the deer platform, wore gorgeous clothes, and died. His death is a historical inevitability and a punishment for him.

To sum up, the Shang Dynasty is a famous tyrant in Chinese history. His actions led the Shang Dynasty to its demise. Through the description and analysis of the Shang king, we can see the image of a tyrant who is blindly confident, refuses to accept advice, is extravagant, cruel and ruthless, and builds a lot of buildings. His actions wreaked havoc and repercussions on Yin Shang's rule. Therefore, we should learn from the lessons of history and constantly strengthen our self-cultivation and moral character building in order to become a person who is beneficial to society.

History

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