Zhong Hui's Public Admonition 仲虺作诰 | Chinese History - The Shang Dynasty E09

Now, in the past few episodes, we learned all about Shang Tang, we learned all about Yi Yin, and the roles they played in establishing the Shang dynasty, the roles they played in the Shang people's rise to power. However, there was another important figure in this entire saga, in this entire route to success. Now, who was he, and what role did he play in this entire story? You'll have to watch on to find out, won't you? 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 Great Ze to the last Imperial Dynasty, more than 6,000 years of stories, one video at a time. Now, before we move on, remember to give a thumb for the video and a sub for the channel. And if you'd like to support the channel and this little project beyond the thumb and the like, you can do so on our Patreon page. The links will be available here and down in the description box. Now, all patrons will get early access to videos before everyone else on YouTube, and second tier patrons and above would get a free copy of e-books whenever they are published. The first one should be out by the end of the year or quarter one 2021, if you are watching this in the future. And so, without much further ado, on to the story. Now, although not as well known as Yi Yin, today's protagonist Zhong Hui, who was also known as Zhong Lei, was another one of the Grand Counsellors that contributed greatly to the establishment and the building of the Shang Dynasty. Now, Zhong Hui and Yi Yin held the positions of Left Counsellor and Right Counsellor, respectively, in the Shang court. And he played instrumental roles in Shang Tang's rise to power and the establishment of the Shang Dynasty. Now, Zhong Hui was said to have pictures or patterns of red serpents coiling around his entire body. So, I don't know, they might be birthmarks or they might be tattoos, we don't know. All we know is that he has these red serpentine marks all over his body. And he took over as Chief of the Xue Clan at the age of 24. So, no, he was not from a humble background, nor was he just a commoner or a slave. He was actually noble or, you know, to a certain extent, royalty, if we look at his background. So, yeah, he was Chief of the Xue Clan by the age of 24. And not only was he a talented administrator that actually helped his people greatly, he was also known to be a political visionary and, I guess you could say, technological innovator. So, in his time as the Clan Chief of the Xue people, he prioritised the development of agriculture and animal husbandry as a way to build wealth and strength for his people. Much in the mode of how the Shang people rose to power in the early days through agriculture and animal husbandry. So, to that end, Zhong Hui actually led many projects to actually improve and upgrade the tools and the methods and the techniques and the skills that were used in farming and livestock keeping. Now, he instructed his people to dig wells and set up livestock farms on lower land, low land areas, while reserving the land on higher elevations for agriculturals and crops. And he also trained a group of specialists to teach the people the latest methods in farming and crop growing. Now, it was said that Zhong Hui was the one that innovated the method of straw feeding livestock. So, what it means is that livestock were being fed with the leftover plant material from the harvest that they collected from the previous season. So, after taking off the grains, the stems and the stalks and the branches that were left over, those were fed to the livestock. And in turn, the livestock's excrement, the dung, were collected and used as fertilizer to improve the soil condition of the farming land. So, in a way, you have this cycle. The livestock were fed the leftovers from the harvest, and then the crops and the soil were getting fed by the excrement of the livestock and animals. So, it's a cycle over and over, never-ending, kind of like upcycling, maybe. So, Zhong Hui was credited with the innovation of these methods and techniques. And on top of this agriculture and animal husbandry, livestock keeping, Zhong Hui also encouraged the development of crafts and artisanship among his people. So, under his leadership, crafts like bronze working, winemaking, leather tanning, cloth making, and even silkworm keeping. The techniques and the understanding of these skills reached a new height, a new level amongst the Xie people while under the leadership of Zhong Hui. Thus, making them some of the best craftspeople of the land. Now, naturally, with all the advancements and the progress that they made in all these crafts and animal husbandry, in agriculture and crop keeping, all the advancements and the progress resulted in massive, massive economical growth for the Xie clan and effectively making them one of the stronger clans of the realm. Maybe just a tier or half a tier beneath the Shang clan and the Shang people of the time. However, this was during the reign of the Tai Ren Jie, during the Xia dynasty. Zhong Hui was thinking to himself, no matter how much advancement we make, no matter how far we get under this administration, under this reign, things will not be rosy. So, Zhong Hui actually had the foresight, the political foresight and vision to actually see that, you know, good times won't last. Well, you can't call that good times anyways, you know. Or rather, the Xia dynasty's time won't last and sooner or later, not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when, sooner or later the realm is going to go through an upheaval, so he better, you know, make some plans for that. So, after looking around the realm and considering his options, Zhong Hui decided that he will volunteer his services to the Shang court and in fact, he even brought his entire clan with him and merged the Xie people into the Shang clan. Now, Zhong Hui, as we mentioned earlier, was not like a commoner or from humble birth. He was actually from a line of nobles and in Shang Tang's mind, Zhong Hui was one of the rare talents of the land who naturally enjoyed a high status and a high renown amongst his peers and amongst the people and because of the contributions he made to better the lives of people around him, he also had a great deal of support from the populace. And so, Shang Tang did not even dare to entertain the thought of having Zhong Hui serve in his court, much less to join up with him with his entire clan. So, when Zhong Hui appeared before him and volunteered his services together with the proposal to merge the clans, I mean, this was like a godsend. This was like money falling out of the sky for Shang Tang. This was beyond his wildest dreams. So, of course, Shang Tang would organize a grand feast and a grand ceremony to welcome the Xie people and more importantly, Zhong Hui into his court. And after the formalities and the feast were done, Zhong Hui did not waste any time before immediately submitting a proposal to Shang Tang. Basically, what he proposed was a grand strategy or a grand direction of how Shang Tang should proceed in his quest or his undertaking of overthrowing the Xia Dynasty. So, what Zhong Hui proposed was actually a series of general guidelines or general directions that Shang Tang should adopt in his dealings with the surrounding clans and regional leaders. How he could deal with them in a way that would solidify and in fact increase the power and the strength and the foundations of the Shang people. So, firstly, for weak clans, Zhong Hui suggested that Shang Tang should support the weaker clans and offer them aid and then slowly over time assimilate them into the Shang clan itself. And towards these other smaller clans that refused assimilation, they should be forcefully coerced into becoming vassal states or vassal clans through military ways if necessary. Just to coerce them into becoming vassal states or vassal clans first before once again slowly assimilating them into the Shang clan itself. And lastly, for those clans already struggling with internal strife or were openly hostile towards the Shang people, those were the easiest. Shang Tang, if he had the strength, if he had the numbers and the manpower, he should just simply launch an invasion campaign and invade these other clans and take their lands and their people and their resources for himself and for the Shang clan. Now, this general idea and direction of the grand strategy, the big picture view of the situation was actually also used much later, more than a thousand years later during the Warring States period by the Qin State's quest to unite China for the very first time in Chinese history and it was actually used to pretty good effect at that time as well. However, back to the story, when Shang Tang heard this proposal and saw this grand strategy, he was floored. He was floored by the simplicity and the brilliantness, if there's such a word, of this whole idea and now he finally had a concrete plan and a direction to move into. It was all laid out for him. So, he could just follow these guidelines, follow this plan to achieve his goals and so he immediately appointed Zhong Kui and Yi Yin to the positions of the left and the right counsellors of the Shang court to execute this grand plan and this master strategy. Now, of course, we know through the past few episodes that Zhong Kui's strategy and his ideas worked brilliantly in the field, especially in those turbulent times and it wasn't long before the Shang clan's political and military might grew exponentially over the years to be able to finally overthrow the Xia dynasty and overtake them on the battlefield and replace them in the royal courts and thus the Shang dynasty was established. Now, of course, in the early days after Shang Tang took over the throne and replaced Xia Jie as rulers of the realm, there were still pockets of resistance from Xia loyalists who refused to give up the fight and there were, of course, still instability amongst the population, amongst the people. There were doubts and there were fears, there were confusions about what's going to happen, what's in store for the future. So, the risk of social order breaking down completely was still a very real threat at that time. Of course, Shang Tang also understood very clearly the precedent that he has set by toppling the ruling dynasty through military force. He understood very clearly and he could see very clearly that what he did was effectively showing the world that the mandate of heaven, it was not inviolable. It was, in fact, very easily voided by he who has the most might and the most power in the land. Of course, he would be very worried that someone, anyone with enough support and with enough power could do the same to him someday in future. So, Shang Tang had all these feelings of guilt and all these feelings of worry. At the same time, the population was confused. They were kind of lost and then there were people who were believing in tradition and the idea of the mandate of heaven being inviolable were still putting up resistances. So, there were all these different forces at play at this time. In order to clear up all these differences, to clear the doubts from the people's mind, to remove objections against Shang Ru and to calm the populace and, of course, to assuage the doubts and the guilt and the worries that the King Shang Tang had, what Zhong Hui did in this situation was actually what he was best remembered for. He drafted a document which is basically a public admonition to address to the new King. At the same time, the content of this document, this admonition, was meant for everyone in the land to read and to understand. So, he made sure that it was spread far and wide across the realm and that every man, woman and children would know about this document and to understand the contents that was contained within it. Now, the next few minutes would be the translation that I made of this document, which was a few, you know, a couple of pages long. So, yeah, it might be a bit dry but I will try to deliver it as interestingly as possible. So, yeah, you don't want to know the amount of blood that I've puked out trying to translate this archaic Chinese. Anyways, here's the translation of the document, more or less. So, in the document that Zhong Hui wrote and addressed to the King, he said that the heavens birthed the people and nurtured the people. However, all men hold a desire for self-benefits in their hearts. And if we do not have leaders and kings to guide the people, there will be chaos in the land. Hence, the heavens saw fit to make wise and virtuous men to guide and to manage the populace. Now, Xia Jie was shameless. His excesses and his sins stoked the rage of the people and made their lives unbearable. The heavens, out of sympathy and mercy for the populace, then bestowed upon you, O Great King, the courage and the wisdom to be a paragon for the people. It is for you to inherit the great enterprise as built and established by Yu the Great. And it is for you to follow the examples as laid down by the Great Sage Kings and to obey the decree of the heavens. Xia Jie had sinned greatly. He had fraudulently used the name of the heavens to cruelly disregard the lives of men. He had fraudulently used the name of the heavens to commit despicable acts instead of honourable deeds. He surrounded himself with people of no talent nor virtue nor merits. And he surrounded himself with book leakers and hangers-on. And therefore, the heavens have deemed him irredeemable and have instead asked that the great Shang people shoulder the heavy responsibility of kingship. The heavens have commanded the Shang clan to deliver the people from their sufferings and to wake them from their mire. Now, when our great Shang ancestors established the clan under Xia Ru, we were like the weed among the crops, the sand among harvested grains, always cautious and always careful not to invoke the wrath of the royal court and getting the clan uprooted as a result. How much more so now with a tyrant in charge and with a leader as yourself, Great Tang, that you have achievements to your name that surpasses even the greatest deeds of the tyrant. O great king, you do not find pleasure in women, nor do you find joy in music. You do not hoard the riches for yourself, but instead you offer high office and status as rewards to virtuous men. You give away five dimes as rewards to men who have made contributions to the people and the land. You listen to suggestions with an open mind and you correct mistakes instantly with steely resolve. You are strict with yourself, but are tolerant and benevolent to the people around you. All your subjects and all the leaders of the land under the sky sees your integrity and they see your sincerity. Now, when Ke Puo disrespected the heavens by disregarding the worships and the rituals, and he murdered these innocent people who delivered food to his lands, his clan became the first target of our campaigns. O great king, when you led an expedition to the east, the west grew restless, and when you led expeditions to the south, the northerners lamented why they were left behind. Cheers and applause greet the Shang army wherever they appeared. The people exclaimed that they had been waiting for a wise leader for a long time, and now that the wise leader had appeared, the day of salvation is nigh. O great king, you do not see, but the people have been supporting the Shang for an awfully long time. To our vassal clans, we must aid the wise, we must hail the loyal, we must assimilate the weak, but we must also punish the fatuous and invade the chaotic. If we learn the lessons of other people's failures and stabilize our own positions, we will definitely grow from strength to strength. If we are resolute in working for the people and spreading kindness through the land, all the clans and all the people of the land will definitely remember you fondly. However, if you become arrogant, if you become complacent, even your closest friends, your closest allies, and your closest family will leave you. Therefore, O great king, you must do your utmost to rule with great moral and virtue. You must deliver policies of tolerance and benevolence. You must make your judgments based on sound reasoning and evidence, and you must preach the ideals of benevolence and tolerance through proper etiquette and protocol. I have heard that he who is studious and curious have the capacity to be king, but he who is opinionated and refuses to listen are doomed to fail. Now ask more questions and your knowledge will grow. Insisting on your own beliefs will only make you short-sighted. O great king, if you maintain your attitude of cautiousness, your nurture and support of virtuous clans and leaders and people, and your punishment and destruction of cruel regimes and self-indulgent fools, and if you obey the orders of the heavens, then the mandate of heaven will always be with you and with the Shang. Why then, O great king, would you need to feel any guilt? Why, O great king, would you need to feel any worry? Phew, that was a speech. Well, anyways, what Zhong Gui did with this document and this admonition was that he pointed out very clearly in the document that the destruction of the Xia Dynasty was solely down to the tyrant, to Xia Jie's excesses, his cruelty and his oppression. It was a very clear warning to Shang Tang to remember the consequences of unjust and oppressive rule. Zhong Gui also listed out the reasons for Shang Tang's success, namely his benevolence, his tolerance, his open-mindedness and his merciful nature. And this idea of rule with tolerance as a core governmental direction and policy was also firmly established in this document as a way to show the people, show the population the direction that life under Shang Ru would be moving towards. It's like telling the people, guys, don't worry, you are not getting another tyrant, we are not going to oppress you. In fact, we are going to be treating you nice, we are here to help you be better versions of yourself and lead better lives. So don't worry about it, we are going to rule through tolerance. So that was the objective. And this document was very important. In fact, it was the most important thing that Zhong Gui was remembered for and after being an advisor and counselor to Shang Tang, Zhong Gui also went on to advise subsequent Shang dynasty kings. And he would always return back to this document, use it as a guideline, as the core, to advise them extensively on policies, on talent recruitment and identification, and policies on how to improve the lives of the populace and the people. Now between Zhong Gui and Yi Yin, the early Shang dynasty was indeed extremely fortunate to have two of the greatest counselors any ruler could have asked for, could have dreamed of. And that, their talents and their visions coupled with the open-mindedness and the determination and resolve of Shang Tang as the king, as the leader, saw the realm go through a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity that laid an extremely solid foundation for the next 500 years of Shang Ru. Now, for his role in assisting Shang Tang in his route to kingship, Zhong Gui was actually later granted his ancestral land of Xue as his own personal fiefdom. So, you know, the piece of land and his clan and his people, whom he brought with him and merged with the Shang clan early on in his career, were kind of, in a way you could say, returned to him as a personal fiefdom, making the Xue clan one of the most important clans, or by this time you could say one of the most important states, in the east of the Shang kingdom or the Shang dynasty. So, yeah, it's a pretty interesting story. So that was the story of the lesser-known left counselor of the early Shang court, the story of Zhong Gui. Well, I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed translating the big wall of text, Taishou, when I was working on this video. Anyways, hopefully you enjoyed it, and if you did, remember a thumb for the video and a sub for the channel. As usual, I look forward to all your thoughts, comments and feedback in the comment section below, and I really look forward to having some interesting banter again. Let me know which part of Chinese history are you most interested to hear about, and which are the parts of Chinese history that you are most familiar with. Leave your comments down in the comment section below, I do personally go through all of them, and I do personally try to reply to all of them if possible. And I guess that's it for today, that's all I have, and I will see you in the next episode.