Wu Yi (ruler)

Wu Yi (武乙) was king of the shang dynasty of China from 1147 BC to 1112 BC. His given name is Qu (瞿).

According to Bamboo Annals, His capial was at Yin (殷).

One of the vassal Fen (邠) moved to Qizhou (岐周).

He rewarded the vassal Zhou named Koufu (□父) a city called Qiyi (岐邑).

In the 15th years of his regime, he moved one of his palace to Mo (沬).

In the 21st year of his regime, the Zhou leader Koufu (□父) died.

In the 24th year of his regime, Zhou attacked Cheng (程) at Bi (毕) and defeated Bi. Cheng was a tyrant.

In the 30th year of his regime, Zhou attacked Yiqu (义渠) and captured the king Yiqu. According to Sima Qian, the King of Yiqu has two sons by different mother, after the king died, they fought each other for throne and Zhou defeated them brought an end to the King Yiqu very easily.

In the 34th year of his regime, Jili (季历) came to Shang capital to worship King Wu Yi, Wu Yi rewarded him place of 30 li (里), 30 pieces of jade and 10 horses.

In the 35th year of his reign, Jili attacked Guirong (鬼戎) at Xiluo (西落). According to Sima Qian, he captured 20 kings of that tribe.

In the same year of his regime, he hunted at He (河) and Wei (渭) and was killed by lightning.

According to the Book of History (3.104) Wu Yi was a very rebellious person. Once, he carved a wooden statue of "the God of Heaven" , and had one of the priests to represent it 令人為行. He played chess 博 with the "God" and the "God" lost three times in a row, so he derogated the god by destroying the statue. He filled a leather bag with blood and hung it high in the air, and shot it with a strong bow; he called this "shooting the Heaven". He blasphemed by saying the god of thunder and lightning was a complete nothingness. Once he went on a hunt between the Wā (Wei) River and the Hẽ (He) River and was killed by a lightning bolt.

帝武乙無道，為偶人，謂之天神。與之博，令人為行。天神不勝，乃僇辱之。為革囊，盛血，卬而射之，命曰「射天」。武乙獵於河渭之閒，暴雷，武乙震死。

The later historians concluded that that was a "revenge" of the god for his blasphemy.

Last update 16-06-2012

References