Historical Records is China's first biographical general history. It records the people and events that lasted for more than 3000 years from the legendary Huangdi era to the first year of Emperor Wudi's Yuan Shou. But Sima Qian, after all, was a man in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and he could not personally experience what he wrote in these 3000 years. His historical information comes from predecessors, including many legends. Because "Historical Records" is a history book, perhaps the legend has also become "Historical Records". Historical records are authoritative and people believe Sima Qian. However, is everything written in Historical Records a true history? We can't demand Sima Qian.
Di Xin, the last emperor of Shang Dynasty, was a tragic figure. The Shang Dynasty was destroyed by Zhou and by him. Become a sinner of history. Zhou people also called him "Shang Zhouwang" (and later generations). Is he really a cruel and heartless bad king?
It's Di Xin's fault.
In the later period of his reign, he was extravagant and extravagant, spending huge sums of money to build deer platforms, make wine pools, exchange meat for forests, and build luxurious palaces and gardens, leading a luxurious life and leaving the national treasury empty. He was headstrong, refused to listen to correct opinions, formed opposition at the top, and suppressed the people by torture such as branding. Kill Wan Gan, imprison Ji Zi, year after year, lose people's hearts. He didn't pay attention to guard against the tribes in the western regions when he marched eastward. He used troops year after year and his national strength was exhausted. He couldn't digest a large number of prisoners, which caused a burden. However, this account written for Wu Zhou is no longer elegant.
Again, Di Xin reused slaves and infringed on the interests of the nobility. Slaves are more than this filter (? ), the phenomenon of slaves all over the world changed during the Zhou Dynasty. Around BC 1046, Zhou Wuwang joined forces with 1 1 Small western countries and Jin Meng to attack the Shang Dynasty. In the battle of Makino, a large number of prisoners defected and Zhou Bing attacked. Di Xin boarded the deer platform, "all bejeweled, and died of self-immolation". Shangwu
In fact, in history, Di Xin was a very successful emperor. He is talented, has a keen sense of smell, is brilliant and powerful, and has the ability to caress Liang, thus winning the favor of Di Yi. After Di Xin succeeded to the throne, he attached importance to agriculture and mulberry, developed social productive forces, and became strong in national strength. (This is also the reason why there may be Wine Pool, Meat Forest and Lustful Life. ) He launched a war against Dongyi, repelled Dongyi's expansion to the Central Plains, extended the influence of Shang Dynasty to the Jianghuai area, and extended its territory to the coastal areas of Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian. Di Xin ascended the throne in 1075 BC and died in 1046 BC. He was in power for 30 years, and later generations gave mixed comments.
The history of Shang Zhouwang was written by Zhou people. Zhou is the winner. Of course, to the overthrown Shang emperor, he was a traitor and a tyrant-"Zhou Wang". Well, this is also Di Xin's own failure, and it is also a shame of history. Shang Dynasty, the second dynasty in the history of China, lasted nearly 600 years, and it destroyed a dynasty. This is the tragedy of an emperor.
As future generations, we will not belittle Di Xin because of some historical prejudices; Nor should we be partial to Di Xin in order to correct some unfair historical comments. History is a mirror for future generations to look after themselves.
About da ji. History books call him Di Xin's "favorite concubine", and Historical Records Yin Benji records that Di Xin "drinks dissolutely and is charming. Love da ji ... ". After the establishment of the ancient patriarchal society, the female orientation was the foil of history, and the female content recorded in the history books was relatively simple. There are many legends about da ji. In ancient times, people often associated the fault of the subjugated monarch with womanhood, saying that Xia, Shang da ji, Zhou, Spring and Autumn were the four enchantresses. Because of Di Xin's death, da ji became a supporting actress in his tragedy, and her reputation was very bad. It seems that women are to blame for men's national subjugation. "femme fatale" is a discrimination against women since ancient times. "The list of gods" even wrote her as a "fox sent by Nu Wa Niangniang to confuse and ruin the country, which is equivalent to a female spy. Unfortunately, in the end she was cut off with a beautiful head. " Da ji is widely known with the spread of the List of Gods.
Shang Dynasty was a dynasty with strong slavery in China. The personal freedom and social status of slaves are very low. Slaves can be sacrificed as nobles after death. As mentioned earlier, "Di Xin reused slaves, infringing on the interests of the nobility, and there were more slaves than this ..." Of course, there were also female slaves. A book called da ji a slave's daughter: "da ji is really a slave's daughter. Shang Zhouwang was different in his time. He doesn't believe in God. Of course, he doesn't believe that slaves are born humble, so he loves da ji. " "But later generations described da ji as a fox demon because of da ji's humble slave status, which was in line with the concept that slaves were equal to animals at that time." It can be seen that female slaves are the lowest status among slaves. When the emperor is happy, he can regard it as a "favorite princess" (that is, a princess, a woman played by the emperor). When he died, he blamed the curse on this "favorite princess". Whether this is true or not cannot be verified by later generations.
History makes people cry. History is so vivid and bizarre.