Chapter 12 11 The Duke of Zhou became king

After King Wu of Zhou established the Zhou Dynasty, he fell ill and died two years later.His son Ji Song succeeded to the throne, this is King Zhou Cheng.At that time, King Cheng of Zhou was only thirteen years old. Besides, the newly established Zhou Dynasty was not yet stable.Therefore, Zhou Gongdan, the younger brother of King Wu, assisted King Cheng in managing state affairs, which was actually acting as the emperor's power.In history, Zhou Gongdan was not usually called by his name, but only Zhou Gong. Duke Zhou's fief was in the state of Lu, because he had to stay in the capital to handle political affairs, so he could not go to the fief. When his son Boqin grew up, he sent Boqin to replace him as the king of Lu.

Before leaving, Boqin asked his father what instructions he had.The Duke of Zhou said: "I am the son of King Wen, the younger brother of King Wu, and the uncle of today's emperor. What do you think of my status?" Boqin said, "That is naturally very high." The Duke of Zhou said: "That's right! My status is indeed very high, but every time I wash my hair, whenever I encounter an urgent matter, I stop washing my hair immediately and hold my hair in my hand to do something; every time I eat, I heard that there were people asking for an audience, so I spit out the food I didn't have time to swallow, and went to meet those people who asked for an audience. I did this because I was afraid that people in the world would not come to me. When you come to Lu, you are just a king, but Can't be proud!"

Boqin nodded repeatedly, expressing that he must remember his father's teaching. Duke Zhou did his best to help become king and manage state affairs, but his younger brothers Uncle Guan and Uncle Cai spread rumors outside, saying that Duke Zhou was ambitious and wanted to usurp the throne! Although King Zhou's son Wu Geng was named Marquis of Yin, he was under the supervision of the Zhou Dynasty and felt that he was not free. He wished that the Zhou Dynasty would have civil strife and restore his Yin Shang throne, so he colluded with Guan Shu and Cai Shu to contact A group of old aristocrats from the Yin and Shang Dynasties were recruited, and several tribes in Dongyi were also incited to rebel.

The rumors made by Wu Geng, Uncle Guan and others caused a commotion in Gaojing, and even Zhao Gongshi became suspicious when he heard about it.Cheng Wang was young and immature, and he couldn't tell whether it was true or not, and he didn't trust this uncle who assisted him. Duke Zhou was very sad. He first had a heart-to-heart talk with Duke Zhao, telling him that he had absolutely no ambitions, and asked him to take care of the overall situation and not to believe rumors.Zhao Gongshi was moved by his sincere words, cleared up the misunderstanding, and cooperated with Zhou Gong again.After the Duke of Zhou stabilized the interior, he resolutely mobilized the army and personally led the army to march eastward.

At this time, several tribes in the east, such as Huaiyi and Xu Rong, all cooperated with Wu Geng and were ready to move.The Duke of Zhou issued an order to Tai Gongwang and authorized him. If the princes of various countries disobeyed the Zhou Dynasty, Tai Gongwang would punish them.In this way, Tai Gongwang controlled the East, and he himself dealt with Wu Geng with all his strength. After three years of hard work, Duke Zhou finally put down Wu Geng's rebellion and killed Wu Geng who led the rebellion.When Uncle Guan saw Wu Geng's failure, he felt that he had no face to see his brother and nephew, so he hanged himself.Zhou Gong ruled the rebellion, dismissed Uncle Huo, and charged Uncle Cai with exile.

During Duke Zhou's eastern expedition, a large number of nobles from the Shang Dynasty became captives.Because they rebelled against the Zhou Dynasty, they were called "recalcitrant people".The Duke of Zhou felt uneasy about letting these people stay in their original place; at the same time, he also felt that it was inconvenient for Haojing to control the vast Central Plains in the east, so he built a new capital in the east called Luoyi (now Luoyang, Henan). City), moved all the "stubborn people" of the Yin Dynasty there, and sent troops to monitor them. After that, the Zhou Dynasty had two capitals.In the west is Haojing, also called Zongzhou; in the east is Luoyi, also called Chengzhou.

The Duke of Zhou assisted King Cheng to govern for seven years, and finally consolidated the rule of the Zhou Dynasty. He also formulated a set of rules and regulations for the Zhou Dynasty.When King Cheng of Zhou was twenty years old, the Duke of Zhou handed over the political power to King Cheng. From King Cheng of Zhou to his son King Kang, about 50 years ago, it was a period of prosperity and unification of the Zhou Dynasty, which was called "the rule of Chengkang" in history.