The mystery of whether Emperor Xin was brutal or not, perhaps the truth is far from what we imagined
We've all read the book "Feng Shen Bang", and the protagonist of the book, King Shang, is a ruthless ruler who is hated by everyone. He was an alcoholic, lustful, drunkard, profligate, mistreating his subjects, being kind, cruel, and so on. In the end, in the Battle of Makino, his army turned defeat into victory, and King Wu of Zhou was defeated by King Wu of Zhou, who ended his life of sin with fire. However, historical records and oracle bone inscriptions and other accounts of the Emperor of the Tsu seem to be full of contradictions. The name of the king of 纣 is in the Zhou language'Righteousness and mourning, crippled goodness'It is a bad nickname that later generations put on his head, expressing the meaning of barbarism and injustice, and it is also a derogatory evaluation of him by later generations.
However, in the "Historical Records-Yin Benji", it is written that the king of Zhou"Able to discern and see, strong and strong hands can catch beasts, stop but not scream, words are enough to decorate right and wrong"。It can be seen that the king of Shang is both civil and military, witty and brave. Confucius's **Zigong also doubted whether the king of Shang was ruthless. He believes that this is a person with ulterior motives who deliberately put all kinds of responsibilities on the king of Shang.
In ancient times, if you did great things, especially the change of dynasty, if the name is not right, it will not be good. If you want to get the hearts of the army and the people, your name must be correct, your words must be believed, your heart will be attacked, and the alliance between the monarch and the minister will be necessary. The general mobilization of the army before King Wu's invasion - Shang Shumu oath, summed up the six charges of the king of the emperor as follows: The six charges of the king of the emperor are the six charges of the king of the king"for the humble officials; submissive women (the status of women in the Shang Dynasty was very high, and the queen of Wuding was a priest); No emphasis on etiquette; Do not reuse the former nobles; believe that the destiny of heaven is in the body (disrespect for ghosts and gods); Alcoholism"。These were not the characteristics of tyrants in our eyes today, but they certainly were during the Shang and Zhou periods. However, as far as alcoholism is concerned, the king is not as good as the king"Drink a thousand bells"King Wen of Zhou.
As for the evidence of the crimes of the king we see now, it is said in the book "Seventy Evil Deeds of the King of Zhou" that most of the crimes were increased by later generations, such as the addition of 20 in the Warring States period, 21 in the Western Han Dynasty, and 13 in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Some of the charges are written more and more, and the more they are written, the more they are written, the more indiscriminately they are written. For example, Sima Qian said that the king of Shang built Lutai, and Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty said that Lutai is thousands of meters high! At the end of the Warring States Period, "Han Feizi" was first mentioned"Wine pond meat forest"with"Chinaka"；"Than gan dismemberment"** from Lu Buwei, Liu Xiang also said that it was to satisfy Daji's curiosity and wanted to see if he had a seven-trick exquisite heart. On the other hand,"Dismemberment of the woman"Originated from the Jin Dynasty's Huangfu Duan. Boyi's research on meat foam was first found in the Hanshu - Liutao. In any case, during the Warring States period, nearly a thousand years after the fall of the Shang Dynasty, these techniques began to gradually become popular.
In fact, since the time of Emperor Wuding, the Yin State has gradually declined, and in the Dixin era, it has collapsed again and again. This can be seen from the struggle between Di Xin and Sanren Yin Shang, as well as the Eastern Expedition to Dongyi. Later, the struggle between Emperor Yang of Sui and the Guanlong clique was somewhat similar to that of Goguryeo during the Three Expeditions. Therefore, one should not see Ti Xin as a mean, cruel and tyrannical ruler, but as a monarch who tried to make a difference when the state began to collapse. This is the general context in which the evaluation of Desin is evaluated. However, it is debatable whether it is an attempt to change or a stubborn one. After several generations of efforts by the Shang Dynasty, the ministers of Dongyi had become the main threat to the frontier, while Di Xin's dozens of expeditions to the east had little success, indicating that Di Xin was not necessarily a Ming monarch. However, the collapse of the state and the escalation of internal contradictions at the end of the dynasty are normal phenomena, and it cannot be said that this is the incompetence of the rulers, because freezing three feet is not a day's cold, and it must be seen in light of the specific situation.
The disintegration of the Jin Shang family was the result of a long-term struggle between the noble, priest and military factions within the Jin Shang family over the political disputes at the heart of the Shang Dynasty. King Su broke the previous balance, causing the hearts of the Central Plains to be torn apart, and the hearts of the Zhou people were cohesive, and Zhou should replace Shang.
What was the real King of Tsu like in history? First of all, he is a loser. Whether he was ruthless, incompetent, or hardworking is unclear and remains to be discovered as more oracle bones are unearthed. Coupled with the record of his ability in the "Historical Records", even if we look at him with the best eyes, I am afraid that we can only say that he is capable but not ruthless, which is similar to what many recorded texts in modern times say"Great"There is a difference of 108,000 miles, and such emperors abound in Chinese history.