The well-known Romance of Gods tells a mythical story of the struggle between good and evil and the melee between gods and demons under the historical background of the conquest of King Wu, which is widely circulated among the people.
Shang Zhouwang, the protagonist in the book, is a cruel king who is hated by everyone. He drank good wine, indulged in debauchery, doted on da ji, and even built a wine pool and meat forest. He is arrogant and extravagant, corrupt and depraved, cruel and tyrannical, poisoning the world, disrespecting his ancestors and loving his ministers. His crimes are numerous.
Finally, in the battle of Makino, the soldiers defected, and Shang Zhouwang, a tyrant who lost the hearts and minds of the people, was defeated by King Wu and set himself on fire in the palace.
However, Shang Zhouwang and historical legends are full of contradictions.
In fact, the word "Zhou" in the name means "damaging righteousness and damaging goodness" and is also a derogatory evaluation of him by later generations.
"Historical Records of Yin Benji" records: "The son of heaven is very sensitive in distinguishing diseases, has extraordinary brawn, is a beast of prey, is content to refuse to remonstrate, speaks enough to decorate chaos, praises the ability of people and ministers, and is famous all over the world, thinking that they are all under their own ..."
Therefore, Shang Zhouwang is a man with both civil and military skills. He is not only witty and brave, but also eloquent.
The Historical Draft of China, edited by Guo Moruo, said: "... it took great efforts to fight against Dongyi, repelled the expansion of Dongyi, and captured' 100 million Yi people' as its own army. The management of Dongyi has gradually developed the Central Plains culture to the southeast and made certain contributions to the history of our country. "
From this passage, we can see that Zhou Wang is not an incompetent person who can only eat, drink and be merry. He conquered Dongyi, expanded the territory of merchants to the southeast, developed the communication between the Central Plains and the southeast, and gradually spread the advanced culture of the Central Plains to the southeast.
However, later generations only talked about Shang Zhouwang's brutality and debauchery, but greatly obliterated his historical achievements.
Zi Gong, a student of Confucius, once questioned whether Shang Zhouwang was really cruel. In his view, it was a man of heart who deliberately put the blame on Zhou Wang.
A famous historian in modern times found that crimes in Zhou Wang increased with the passage of time. In other words, these crimes were fabricated by later generations, and their authenticity and credibility were greatly reduced.
So, why do people deliberately vilify Shang Zhouwang? Scholars believe that there are three reasons.
One is the propaganda of his political opponents with ulterior motives. Such as extravagance and corruption, brutality and debauchery, suppression of rebellion, elimination of dissidents, etc. These are the characteristics of many emperors, and they are not unique to Zhou Wang. However, these bad behaviors are so shocking and angry to Shang Zhouwang.
The second is to lead the source of evil to women. Da ji was originally a trophy of the tribe that destroyed the Soviet Union, and also a plaything of the emperor, but later generations considered it a "female disaster". As a matter of fact, in the feudal society where men are superior to women, the ferocious emperor is arbitrary and cannot be influenced by women.
The third is to obliterate Zhou Wang's historical achievements. This has been explained above. It is not difficult to see that Zhou Wang has achieved great success in both civil and military fields.
At present, there is no clear conclusion about what the real Zhou Wang looks like in history, which needs further study and discovery by future generations.