Wu Ding is a famous virtuous king in the history of the Yin people. Legend has it that when he did not succeed to the throne, his father Xiaoyi once ordered him to go out to serve, "the old work outside, love villain", so he is familiar with the suffering of the people. It is said that at the beginning of his accession to the throne, "thinking about reviving Yin, but not getting his support, three years without speaking, the political affairs decided in the mound to observe the national style", this is the famous "Gaozong Liangyin" story (see "Shangshu Wuyi").
However, there are other explanations for this. Because judging from the oracle bone inscriptions, Wu Ding Bu Ci has a record of "the queen and my mother's delivery", which is Wu Dingbu asking his mother about childbirth, which shows that at least at the beginning of Wu Ding's reign, his father Xiao Yi was still alive, that is, as some scholars speculate, Xiao Yi gave way to his son Wu Ding in old age.
If this is indeed the case, then we only need to compare the performance of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty when he proclaimed himself "Emperor Taishang" in his later years, and his son Jiaqing at the beginning of his succession, it is not difficult to understand why Wu Ding "did not say anything for three years, and the political affairs were decided by Tsukasa Zai" in the initial period after his accession to the throne. ——Wang He, The Trajectory of History, The Commercial Press, 2013, p. 254.
Thoughts: There are many records of things in history, which are very strange and often difficult to understand. In fact, the truth of the matter is not so, but caused by the inaccuracy of rumors.
The chronicler of history often did not personally experience what he recorded, and most of them came from hearsay, and because of exaggeration and distortion, the rumor became more and more mysterious and incomprehensible.
The task of historiography is to explore the truth of history in a new way by excavating new historical materials and applying reasonable logic.