At the end of the Shang Dynasty, a powerful country named Zhou emerged in the Weishui River Basin. The ancestor of Zhou was Ji, who had a long history. It is said that their distant ancestor Houji served as an agricultural teacher when Yao was in power, and later inherited this position from generation to generation to manage agricultural affairs. At the end of the Xia Dynasty, the government was corrupt and the agriculture was weak. Zhou's ancestors moved to the east of Gansu and the west of Shaanxi and formed their own tribes. In the late Shang Dynasty, the Zhou people were invaded by the Di people in the northwest. Gu Gongfu, the leader of the Zhou people, led the people to move from the north of Qishan to the Zhouyuan in the south of Qishan, where they built Chengguo palace, reclaimed wasteland and set up officials. From then on, the Zhou people gradually formed a slavery state. When Ji Li, the son of Gu Gongyu's father, was in power, Zhou became powerful. The king of Shang Dynasty felt the threat of Zhou and killed Ji Li.
After Ji Li's death, her son Ji Chang succeeded to the throne, the famous King Wen of Zhou. Because his ancestors worked as an agricultural teacher, King Wen of Zhou also attached great importance to agriculture. He treats others leniently, treats the old people very respectfully, treats the child to be very loving, therefore the common people support him very much. King Wen of Zhou especially respected the capable people and asked them to help him govern the country. Many talented people came to him one after another, so he had many generals.
When King Zhou of Yin saw that Zhou's power was getting stronger and stronger, he was very afraid, so he found a reason to find King Wen of Zhou and imprisoned him in Fuli (now the northwest of Tangyin County, Henan Province). In order to rescue King Wen, the officials of King Wen of Zhou collected beautiful women, good horses and treasures to offer to King Zhou, and bribed the ministers of Shang Dynasty to ask him to intercede in front of King Zhou. King Zhou was greedy for money and liked beautiful women. He accepted gifts, listened to the minister's words and released King Wen.
After gaining his freedom, King Wen of Zhou was determined to govern his country well so as to seek opportunities to overthrow the Shang Dynasty and avenge his humiliation. He saw that although he had many generals and generals, he still lacked a man who was able to coordinate the overall situation and help him plan a plan to destroy the business. Therefore, he often paid attention to such great sages.
Once, when King Wen of Zhou was out hunting, he met an old man fishing on the side of the stream, a tributary of the Wei River. The old man's hair is gray. He looks like he's 70 or 80 years old. The strange thing is that while he was fishing, he kept nagging: "get on the hook, get on the hook! The old man's fishing hook is three feet high from the water, and it is straight, not curved, and there is no bait on it. King Wen was very puzzled and went to talk with the old man.
The old man's surname is Jiang Mingshang and his name is Ziya. He is a descendant of Emperor Yan in ancient times. He once slaughtered cattle in Chaoge, the capital of the Shang Dynasty (now Tangyin County, Henan Province), and sold wine in Mengjin, near the Yellow River. He didn't know how to do business and lost money, so he went fishing on the edge of the Wei River. In fact, he was waiting for the wise monarch to visit him.
In the conversation between King Wen of Zhou and Jiang Shang, we find that Jiang Shang is a man of great vision and profound learning. He had a good command of astronomy and geography. He studied politics and military affairs, especially the political situation at that time. He believed that the Shang Dynasty would not last long, and that wise leaders should come out to overthrow it and establish a new court so that the common people could live a comfortable life.
Jiang Shang's words are all about the heart of King Wen. In order to overthrow the Shang Dynasty, he went everywhere to look for great sages. Isn't Jiang Shang the great sage he is looking for? King Wen earnestly said to Jiang Shang, "we have been looking forward to you for a long time. Please come to us and help us govern the country." Then he asked his men to drive the car and invited Jiang Shang and himself to get on the bus and go back to the capital.
When Jiang Shang went to King Wen, he was first appointed as the national division, that is, the largest military officer; later he was promoted to the state minister, in charge of the national politics and military affairs. When King Wen's father, Tai Gong Ji Li, was in power, he looked at such a great sage as Jiang Shang, so people respected Jiang Shang as "Tai Gong Wang". Later, people simply omitted the "Wang" of "Tai Gong Wang" and called Jiang Shang Jiang Tai Gong.
Jiang Taigong was indeed a pillar of the state. He became the Prime Minister of King Wen of Zhou, helping him to rectify his politics and military affairs, develop production at home, and make the people live and work in peace and contentment. He conquered three tribes, opened up territory, and weakened the power of the Shang Dynasty. With the help of Jiang Shang, King Wen of Zhou defeated the tribes of Darong and mishude, conquered the small countries such as Zhige, and annexed Chongguo, which belonged to the Shang Dynasty. He built a Fengcheng on Chongguo's territory and moved the capital from Zhouyuan to Fengcheng in the south of Qishan. In the late years of King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, the territory of Zhou Dynasty expanded greatly. In the west, Zhou's ancestral home was recovered. Now in Shaanxi and Gansu, the Northeast developed to the vicinity of Licheng in Shanxi, and in the east to Qinyang in Henan, approaching the capital Chaoge of King Zhou of Yin. In the south, Zhou's power expanded to the Yangtze River, Hanshui River and Rushui river. It is said that King Wen of Zhou had already controlled two thirds of the world at that time, which laid a reliable foundation for the destruction of business.
