Shang Tang's Benevolence 商汤仁义 | Chinese History - The Shang Dynasty E05

And here we are, finally we are catching up to where we last left off in the previous series on the Xia dynasty. Today we are finally going to talk about Shang Tang, the founder of the Shang dynasty. Hello and welcome to the show. My name is Api Ngo and I am the chain smoking writer. Here we share the myths, legends and histories of the Chinese people, from the first creator to the last imperial dynasty. And if you would like to join us on this journey through time, remember you can give a thumb to the video and a sub to the channel to be notified whenever a new video drops. And now, on to the story. Now the protagonist of today's story is Tang of Shang or Tang of the Shang clan, is viewed by the Chinese people as one of the four sage kings in ancient China. He was the 14th generation leader of the Shang people or the Shang clan, and he took over the leadership of the clan during the reign of Jie the tyrant that we have spoken about in the previous series. And here's a link there. Now having witnessed the cruelty and the excesses of the tyrant's rule and you know the sufferings of the people under the oppression of the CR court. Now Tang vowed to bring an end to this rotten regime and deliver the people from their sufferings. However, as with any great man in history, Tang was not a rash or impatient man. He understood that such an undertaking could not be achieved overnight or in any reasonable short time frame. And he knew that with popular support waning for the central court, it was just a matter of time before the CR dynasty would actually collapse under his own excesses and his own cruelty. And all he needed to do was to be sufficiently prepared to seize the opportunity when it presented itself for him to strike the last blow on this dying dynasty. Now to that end, in preparation for that day, Tang moved the capital of the Shang clan of the Shang people to this place called Haocheng, which is in today's Henan Zhengzhou region, so that he could be closer to the heart of the CR court, to the center of activity of politics and military activity of the CR dynasty. And he started to actively reach out and form alliances with the different clans and tribes that actually bore grudges against Jie, the tyrant, and his court. I mean, it won't be hard to find these people around because of the oppression and the cruelty that the tyrant has inflicted on the people under his rule. Now once Shang Tang established his new base at Haocheng, he governed with tolerance and made sure that the people's benefits were actually well looked after, and thereby gaining a stellar reputation for being an understanding and benevolent ruler. And he also built friendships and alliances with all the neighboring tribes and clans by providing aid and resources to those in need, and thereby also building up a strong network of regional powers that were, in a way, under Shang's influence. So, you know, Shang Tang is slowly expanding the sphere of influence that the Shang people and the Shang clan enjoy. Now one of the first clans that Tang tried to win over was the clan of Ge, which was just to the west of the new Shang base at Haocheng. They were actually bothering each other, you know, and their leader Ge Po was actually a staunch supporter and a lackey to the tyrant Jie. And he was also well known to be a very greedy man who basically lived with excesses, you know, just like his overlord and master, the tyrant. So I guess you could say that birds of a feather flock together. And, you know, Ge Po couldn't care less about the welfare of his people as long as they could be squeezed to fund his own excesses. And so greedy was this man that he would, you know, hoard the wealth of the clan of the people for himself, rather than to use it to perform worship rituals and ceremonies, which were, you know, basically the most important events of the people at that time. Now, when Shang Tang heard that Ge Po had not performed any of the worship rituals and ceremonies for, you know, many, many years, he sent an envoy to the Ge clan to find out, you know, why this was the case? What's happening? Do they have any difficulties? Or, you know, what's the reason? And when the envoy reached the clan of Ge, Ge Po simply told the Shang envoy that, you know, he too, he also know that, you know, the rituals and ceremonies and worships are very important. However, you know, to perform the rituals and ceremonies, a large number of cattle and goats were required to be used as a sacrifice to perform the rituals. And because Ge was such a small and poor clan, they simply could not afford the resources required. Now, when Tang, you know, heard the reply, he decided that, okay, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. So, he sent out a herds of livestock, herds of the best livestock in the Shang reserve, and he gifted them to Ge Po and the people of the Ge clan. The thing is, Ge Po, you know, never had the intention, in the first place, to actually perform any of the rituals and ceremonies. You know, what he told the Shang envoy was basically just a ploy to trick Shang Tang into giving him resources. So, when, you know, the herds arrived in Ge lands, Ge Po basically just took all of them for himself, hoarded them all for himself, and slaughtered them for his own consumption, and giving them out as rewards to his own lackeys and his own entourage. And still did not perform any of the rituals and the ceremonies and the worships. And so, when word reached Shang Tang that Ge Po still had not performed any of the required and necessary rituals and worships, he once again sent an envoy to inquire about the reason. Now, this time, you know, when the Shang envoy arrived, Ge Po, seeing that, you know, his ploy worked the previous time, he told the envoy that, you know, the clan of Ge is small and poor, and we don't have much of farmable land. So, we could not grow enough grains to make alcohol that is necessary for all these rituals and ceremonies. So, once again, Shang Tang gave Ge Po the benefit of the doubt. And this time, he sent teams of his best farmers to help the Ge clan and the Ge people to reclaim farmable land, and even gave them a seed stock to start new farms. And in the meantime, just to make sure that the Ge people were well fed and had enough to eat, Tang actually sent over, you know, caravans of food and people to help them prepare the food for consumption. However, this time, when the caravans crossed the border, Ge Po simply just robbed them, like, openly robbed the caravan of the food. And any Shang escorts that went with the caravan, who dared to even put up a fight, Ge Po murdered them in cold blood. So, by this time, it's pretty obvious that Ge Po was just, you know, taking Shang Tang for food. He was taking Shang Tang's kindness for weakness. And so, Shang Tang realized that, you know, this man is not worth any of the goodwill that has been shown to him. And thus, as a lesson, Shang Tang ordered an invasion of the Ge clan. His armies marched into Ge lands and killed Ge Po on the battlefield, before assimilating the entire Ge people under Shang's rule. Now, as Ge Po already had a reputation for being a cruel and greedy man, and let's be fair here, let's be honest here, he was in the wrong in the first place to begin with. And so, the other leaders of the land, the other regional leaders of the land, not only did they not censure or condemn Tang for his action or his invasion of the Ge clan, they actually applauded him for reading the realm of this despicable man and bringing a better life for the people of the Ge clan. So, after this show of both benevolence and kindness, and a show of force and the power he wielded, Shang Tang's reputation, you know, as a just and a fair man was further boosted across the realm. And with the wealth at his disposal, the wealth of the Shang clan at his disposal, and the massive reserves that they hold, and the fighting force that they command, Shang Tang continued to reach out and win over many other clan chiefs across the land that have been suffering under Ge's rule. And so, the influence of the Shang people and Shang Tang himself continued to grow at a pretty fast pace. Now, apart from his physical deeds, Tang was very conscious and shrewd about the image that he projected to the world, to the people. I mean, if you have followed the previous series on the Xia dynasty, you would have known that Shang Tang basically kind of controlled a very powerful propaganda machine. In a way, I think he was one of the first people that understood the power of propaganda. So, you know, as part of that, Shang Tang held his own words and his own actions to very high standards, and was always conscious about projecting an image of tolerance and benevolence and open-mindedness to the world, to the people. And in a way, we could say that he was setting himself up, image-wise, he was setting himself up as the total opposite of the tyrant of Jie. So, he could garner more popular support for his cause to win over the hearts and the minds of the people and the regional leaders of the land. And to that end, there was this story that was spread far and wide about Shang Tang and his benevolence. It was said that, you know, Shang Tang once met a hunter in the woods when he was on an inspection tour outside the city. Now, he saw that the hunter was setting up nets to cover all directions, you know, while muttering under his breath, you know, Oh, please, all the birds and the animals of the woods, please, all of them, you know, from all directions, please, let all of them fall into the nets and become my bounty, you know. And when Shang Tang heard that and saw what was happening, he approached the hunter and told him, you know, isn't what you're doing kind of like trying to wipe out the entire population of the woods? You know, that seems kind of cruel to me, don't you think? Why don't you just set up one net and remove the rest? I'm sure you could catch enough prey to feed yourself and your family. Now, the hunter, you know, having heard what Tang said to him, and of course, he knew Tang was the ruler of the land, in a way, he felt that Tang was making things difficult for him and, you know, basically told him straight to the face and told him as such. Yeah, if I set up the net in just one direction, just one net, how would I be able to catch, you know, any birds at all? And to that, Tang, you know, kind of just like sighed and told the hunter, you know, birds that fly in the sky are free to go wherever they desire. Only those who have lived long enough and was tired of living and only those who refused to see danger in front of them or refuse to see reason will willingly fly into your net. Now, this story and this conversation quickly made its way throughout the land, throughout among the population, among the people. And when people heard the story, they kind of like exclaimed or they thought, wow, you know, Tang is kind even to the birds and the animals of the woods. How much more benevolent and kind would he be if he was king of the people? You know, we should really, you know, most definitely support him and follow his leadership and support his cause. And to be very honest, I believe this story is actually, it shows actually much more than his kindness and benevolence or the image he was trying to project. I mean, if we take the last sentence or the last part of the reply that he gave to the hunter, you know, only those who have lived enough or could not see reason or refuse to see reason will willingly fly into your net. I guess that was kind of like a hint to the people and the leaders around the land in a way is like telling them, you know, I'm on the rise and I will take down the tyrant. So, unless you refuse to see the danger in front of you, you refuse to see reason, then you will be the prey and you will fly into the net and you will die. If you could see reason and if you know and understand the situation, you will be joining me. So, I guess that is like a double entendre in what the story was trying to say. Yeah, so that's the story. And it's stories like this and, you know, his obvious generosity in aiding other clans in need that slowly attracted more and more allies and followers to his cause. And it wasn't long before Shang Tung became the leader of an alliance of more than 40 clans of the realm. And it was at this time that, you know, his reputation and news of his rise to power reached the ears of the tyrant Jie, who, you know, was obviously concerned about this potential new threat to his rule and to his tyranny, to his regime. And just as the tyrant was trying to come up with a plan to lure Tang into the capital city to imprison him, a separate event actually made it much easier for him. Now, as we know in the episode on Jie, he executed the loyal servant Guan Longfeng just for having the balls to speak up. Now, this execution, as we all know, sent shockwaves across the realm, across the entire land. And while most of the righteous subjects of the Siakot were indignant at this unjust execution, none of them dared to attend Guan Longfeng's funeral or even mourn his passing for fear of incurring the tyrant's wrath and become the next lost soul under his place. Now, Shang Tung was different. As soon as he heard the news of this execution, he brought with him his own small entourage, his own retinue of followers, and he rushed into the capital to mourn the passing of Siak dynasty's most loyal servant. Jie was overjoyed at this turn of events because now he could use this excuse to have Tang arrested and thrown into the dungeons at Juntai or Siatai. And that's what happened. Tang was arrested by Jie and he was thrown into the dungeon. And when news of his arrest and imprisonment reached the Shang lands, back to the Shang lands, Tang's Grand Counselor and Chief Advisor Yi Yin, we will have an episode on him, I think the next episode will be on Yi Yin. So Yi Yin found out about Shang Tung's arrest and imprisonment, he rushed to the capital with gifts of gems, precious metals, and of course, beautiful women, and presented them to the tyrant. Yi Yin told Jie that Tang's intention, his whole reason for coming into the capital was actually to present you with these gifts of gems, treasures, and women. However, because you're so anxious to meet your majesty and your highness, that he travelled ahead and left the caravan behind. Rest assured, Tang is still a loyal subject of the Siak dynasty. He's in awe of your majesty and he wouldn't dare dream of betraying the court, blah blah blah, etc, etc, etc. Together with the gifts, and the repeated reassurances, and other court officials speaking up on behalf of Shang Tang, Jie's rage was kind of like a surge and he felt like, okay, since you gave me gifts and everyone said that you're still loyal, alright, I guess they are right. So, Jie released Tang and let him return to Hao Cheng. Now, Shang Tang used his time in captivity to better understand the situation in the capital, in the Siak court. I mean, most probably by speaking to other prisoners that were unjustly imprisoned. What he found out further affirmed his belief that the Siak dynasty and the Siak court was totally corrupted and beyond all hope of redemption. And the only way to give the people a better life was to completely overthrow this rotten regime and rebuild a new order in its place. So, by the time Shang Tang returned to Hao Cheng, the disgruntlement against the tyrant and his court was already threatening to boil over, with many regional leaders actually pushing Tang to actually lead them in a campaign against the court, to lead the rebellion. And many Siak officials also defected to join Tang after this incident. And of course, the most famous of which was Zhong Gu, the royal historian of the Siak court, who defected with all the official documents and maps of the land. And you could find out more about him through this video up here. So, by now, with all the support that he had garnered, Tang finally decided that the time is right and it is now that we should raise the flag and embark on a mission to topple the Siak dynasty. Now, he started off by going after the clans and regional powers that were still loyal to the tyrant, slowly taking them out one by one and encircling and isolating the central court from possible reinforcements and external aid. And with the popular support and the will of the people at his side, Shang Tang used various justifications to launch 11 campaigns against the tyrant's allies. And he won all 11 engagements with the help of the people. And his reputation, by this time, because of all these victories and his successes, his reputation as a champion of the people skyrocketed. And while at this time, he was still a subject of the Siak dynasty in name, his power and his influence and the influence of the Shang clan, of the Shang name and brand, was basically already on par with the central court by this time. Now, that's the first part of the story about Shang Tang and his rise to power and how he would build the Shang dynasty. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed telling it. And if you did, remember a thumb for the video and a sub for the channel. And if you would like to support the channel and this little project beyond the likes and subs, you could do that on our Patreon page. The links are available here and down in the description box below. All patrons get early access to videos by at least about 1 week before everyone else on YouTube. And tier 2 and tier 3 patrons get free copies of the ebook when it's published, most probably by end of the year or quarter 1 2021. And top tier supporters will definitely get a copy of physical books if and when they are published. And well, I guess that's it for today. I look forward to your comments, your thoughts and your feedback regarding the videos and the stories. And I do personally go through and respond to all of them whenever possible. So yeah, leave your comments and your feedback and thoughts down below. And I will see you in the next episode.