In the 16th century BC, the rule of King Jie of Xia Dynasty was in crisis. In the East, the Xia Dynasty conquered the neighboring Xia state Ge (now the north of Ningling county) to ensure the safety of the Shang capital Nanbo (20 Li south of Caoxian County, Shandong Province). Yiyin, an important minister, was sent to the capital of the king of Xia to explore the reality. Then they took the strategy of removing the Xia Dynasty's wings separately, and broke down the Xia Dynasty's vassal states, such as zaowei (now the southeast of Huaxian county), guguo (now the southeast of Fanxian county), Kunwu (now Xuchang), which were located between Xia Dynasty and Shang Dynasty. Then Shangtang led 70 chariots and 6000 soldiers to attack the capital. Xia Jie had no choice but to hastily lead the Wang division to fight with the Shang army in mingtiao. As a result, the Xia army was defeated.
This war became the turning point of Xia Dynasty's demise. As a result of the war, the Xia Dynasty perished, and Shangtang established the second Shang Dynasty in China.
Background
Since Kong Jia became king of Xia, Xia Dynasty ignored the government, superstitious in ghosts and gods, and specialized in hunting and playing, which made the people resent and the princes rebel. Because of the weakness of national strength, it was unable to control the development of the power of the vassal states.
By about the 16th century BC, when Xia Jie was in power, the princes of all countries had not come to celebrate. The king of Xia had no internal politics, constant foreign invasion, increasingly acute class contradictions, and the people were in dire straits. But Xia Jie did not want to make progress, extravagant and licentious. He also searched for beautiful women from all over the country, hid them in the back palace, drank and had fun day and night with Zhen Xi and the maids in the palace, built the Qing palace and decorated the Yao terrace, and wasted money, hurting the country and the people. Xia Jie ignored the sufferings of the common people and ordered them to search for their wealth everywhere. Enslave the people, their countries and tribes, and lose their hearts increasingly. The minister Guan longfu admonished Xia Jie several times. Xia Jie scolded Guan Longfeng and said, "the earth is shaking, but the sun in the sky has not yet fallen. I am the sun in the sky, as long as the sun does not fall, I will not die! " When he saw that Guan longfu said some "alarmist" words, he became very angry and ordered Guan longfu to be executed.
People pointed to the sun and cursed Xia Jie: "sun, when will you perish? We are willing to perish with you."
Xia Jie's tyranny aroused strong resistance from his subjects, and the four princes betrayed him one after another. Xia Jie fell into an isolated situation of internal and external difficulties.
In the process of the decline of the Xia Dynasty, the Shang tribes in the lower reaches of the Yellow River gradually became strong. After SHANG Jia was destroyed, Shang's power gradually grew. The development of agriculture and animal husbandry, and the increase of social wealth promoted the transition from clan system to slavery. In order to develop their power and plunder more slaves and property, they moved to Yin (today's Xiaotun village in Anyang City) and Shangqiu from Yin (now Xiaotun village in Anyang City) twice when they were six Shang Marquis from shangjiawei to Zhugui. By the time of Zhu GUI, Shang was already a great power with king power. After Zhu GUI died, his son Tang took over the throne. After Shang Tang took over the throne, he moved the ruling center of the tribe to Nanbo, and actively planned to destroy Xia.
Cause
With the help of the left Prime Minister Zhonghui and the right Prime Minister Yiyin, Shangtang first managed its internal affairs and encouraged the people in the Shang ruling area to farm and raise livestock. At the same time, we should unite the princes and Fangguo who are friendly with business. Encouraged by Zhonghui and Yiyin, some princes rebelled against Xia and became obedient to Shang. After hearing the story of Shangtang's "opening up all sides", all the princes praised it in unison and said: "Tang is extremely benevolent and kind to animals [10]. Everyone believed that Tang was a virtuous king and could be trusted. The number of princes who returned to business soon increased to 40. The influence of Shangtang is also growing.
In order to realize the strategic goal of exterminating Xia, Shangtang decided to get rid of Xia's wings, first attack the weak enemy, and attack the neighboring Xia Kingdom Ge. When Gebo, the king of Ge, did not offer sacrifices to his ancestors, Shangtang sent someone to question him and said that there were no cattle or sheep to sacrifice. Shang soup sent cattle and sheep, but Gerber slaughtered them and ate them. Shangtang then sent someone to question and said that there was no food for sacrifice. Shang Tang also helped to cultivate grain. But Gerber sent people to attack the people who sent food to the tillers, snatched food and wine, and even killed children, which aroused the indignation of the Shang people. On this pretext, Shangtang took the opportunity to lead a large army to attack the state of Ge, defeated its army at one stroke, and destroyed the state of Ge, which opened the prelude of the war against Xia.
Process
Espionage
Before the decisive battle with the Xia Dynasty, in order to observe the situation of the Xia Dynasty, Yi Yin conspired with Shang Tang, and Yi Yin himself went to live in the capital of the Xia Dynasty for a period of time to watch the movement of the Xia Dynasty. Shangtang prepared local products and other tributes, and sent Yiyin to pay tribute to xiawangdu.
After observing the situation of Xia Jie and the dynasty clearly, Yi Yin went back to Shang Dynasty and offered advice to Shang Tang, saying: we should not rush to attack Xia Jie, but also accumulate more strength, continue to weaken the power of supporting Xia Dynasty and wait for the opportunity. Shangtang accepted Yiyin's idea.
Shangtang jailed
Xia Jie learned that Tang continued to invade the princes and expand the power of Shang, so he sent envoys to summon Shang Tang to the capital of Xia king, and ordered Shang Tang to be imprisoned in xiatai (the prison set up by the Xia Dynasty). After learning that Xia Jie had imprisoned Shang Tang, Yi Yin and Zhong Hui collected many treasures, toys and beauties for Xia Jie to ask for the release of Shang Tang. Xia Jie ordered Shangtang to be released back to Shang. Xia Jie's imprisonment of Shang Tang caused more panic among the vassal states and the local governments. They all went to Shang Tang and were willing to help Shang Tang destroy Xia.
Cut off the wings
Among the princes and Fangzhong of the Xia Dynasty, there were three vassal states loyal to Xia Jie in the eastern region: one was Zaiwei (now in the southeast of Huaxian county), one was Gu (now in the southeast of Fanxian county), and the other was Kunwu (now in Xuchang County). The influence of these three Xia vassal states is not small, and their areas are close to Shang.
After Shang Tang returned to Shang Dynasty, he saw more and more people rebelling against Xia and returning to Shang Dynasty, so he discussed with Yi Yin and Zhong Hui about conquering Liao Wei and Gu Guo. After a lot of planning and preparation, Shang Tang and Yi Yin led a coalition army of all parties to help Shang. They attacked raowei first, and raowei was soon destroyed by Shang army. The state of Gu was destroyed by the victory of Shang Tang. All the land, property and people of zaowei and guguo are owned by merchants.
Kunwu, located in the north of zaowei and guguo, is called "Xiabo". When Xia Bo saw that Shawei and Gu were destroyed by Shang Tang, he immediately reorganized Kunwu's army and prepared to fight Shang. At the same time, they sent envoys to the capital of Xia Dynasty to report to Xia Jie the situation of Shang Tang's extermination of the state of Zaiwei and Gu. Xia Jie was very angry, so he ordered the "division of nine barbarians" (the army of Dongyi people's tribe), ready to levy merchants. Shangtang originally wanted to lead his army to destroy Kunwu, then to invade Dongyi, and then to destroy xiajie. Yi Yin stopped Shang Tang and said, "the people of Dongyi still obey Jie's dispatch and listen to Xia's orders. At this time, they will not win in the expedition. The time to destroy Xia is not ripe. It's better to send envoys to pay tribute to Jie and plead guilty, submit to his duty and move on standby.". Shang Tang adopted Yi Yin's suggestion and temporarily withdrew his troops. He prepared tributes, wrote memorials to plead guilty, and sent envoys to the capital of King Xia to meet Xia Jie. After seeing the tribute and the memorial, Xia Jie discussed with his courtiers, who congratulated him and said, "the king is so powerful that no one dares to rebel. Even the Marquis of Shang Dynasty knows his guilt and pleads guilty. He can enjoy peace without sending troops.". In this way, Xia Jie ordered a strike, still drinking all day.
Xia Jie ordered a strike against Shang, but a year later, Xia Bo led his army to attack Shang. Shang Tang led his army against Kun Wu. He defeated Kunwu's army in the first World War, killed Xiabo in the Second World War, destroyed Kunwu, and merged Kunwu's land and people into the Shang Dynasty.
When Xia Jie learned that Shangtang had destroyed Kunwu and no longer paid tribute to him, he ordered the army of Dongyi to invade Shangtang, but the leaders of Dongyi did not listen to the dispatch. Seeing that the time was ripe to destroy Xia, Yi Yin asked Shang Tang to lead his army to attack Xia Jie.
Vow to fight
Around 1600 BC, Shang Tang formally launched a campaign against Xia Jie. Before the beginning of the battle, he held a grand campaign to declare that he was fighting Xia Jie according to the God's will, in order to save the people from fire and water.
Shangtang read out a vow to attack Xia. Shangtang said, "listen to me, it's not my boy who dares to attack the king with his ministers and make trouble. It was because King Jie of Xia had many evils. God ordered me to kill him. As you all know, Jie's crime was that he ignored our farming, robbed the people of the fruits of agricultural production, and hurt the traditional political affairs of the Xia Dynasty. As I have heard you say, Jie's crime is not only to invade the people's agricultural production with some of his courtiers. For their pleasure, they also amassed the property of the princes for their extravagance. All the people in Xia Dynasty could not live in peace. We all agreed not to be in the same heart with Jie, but also pointed to the sun to curse him, when perish, we are willing to die with him. It's already an outrage. Jie's sins were so many that God ordered me to fight against him. I was afraid that God would punish me, so I didn't dare to lead everyone to fight against him. If God wants to punish me, I will receive it alone, and I will give you a great reward. Don't believe me. I'll never break my promise. If you don't listen to my vows, I will kill you. I hope you won't be punished. "
Shangtang also announced strict battlefield discipline. After Tang Dong's pledge, the Shang army's morale was greatly improved and they all expressed their willingness to fight to the death with Xia army.
A decisive battle
After the oath, Shang Tang chose 70 chariots and 6000 death squads. He united with the armies of all countries and took a strategic detour to the west of Xiadu to attack Xiadu. Xia Jie rushed to fight and refused Tang. He fought with Shang army in Puzhou (now Yuncheng in Shanxi Province) and backed back to defend mingtiao.
On the day when the two armies fought in mingtiao, they were caught in a thunderstorm. The Shang army did not avoid the thunderstorm and fought bravely, but the Xia army was defeated. Seeing that the defeat was out of control, Xia Jie led 500 remnant soldiers to escape to Sanyi (now Dingtao north, Shandong Province). Sanyi was a Fang state of Xia Dynasty. Seeing that Xia Jie was defeated and fled, Chen soldiers immediately set up an array to protect him and threatened to fight against Shang Tang. Shang Tang and Yi Yin saw Xia Jie's defection to San Yi and immediately moved eastward. The Shang army and the Sanhe army fought in Chenger (now the north of Wenshang, Shandong Province). As a result, the Shang army defeated the Sanhe army and seized Sanhe's treasure, jade and property. When Xia Jie saw that Sanhe had been destroyed by Shangtang, he took 500 remnant troops and fled south.
Shangtang and Yiyin led an army to fight. Xia Jie fled to Nanchao (now Chaohu City, Anhui Province). Xia Jie said to people, "I regret that I didn't kill Tang in xiatai, so I ended up like this." Xia Jie died soon.
Result
Shangtang and Yiyin, in order to completely eliminate the remaining forces of Xia Dynasty, led their troops to the West and soon occupied the capital of Xia. The ministers of the Xia Dynasty expressed their willingness to submit to Shangtang. After Shang Tang appeased the subjects of the Xia Dynasty, he held a ceremony to offer sacrifices to the heaven in Chonghe, which indicated to the subjects of the Xia Dynasty that they killed the guilty Jie according to the will of heaven, and officially declared the demise of the Xia Dynasty. The first slavery Dynasty in Chinese history came to an end.
