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Chapter 211: Investiture of the Gods

[Do the characters in Investiture of the Gods really exist in the Shang and Zhou dynasties?]

There are famous people in "Investiture of the Gods", such as Shen Gongbao who did not reflect on his actions and was beheaded but did not die, and Daji, the evil concubine who was able to destroy a country within a year of entering the palace, and who turned into a rabbit after her death.

Did they really exist or were they invented by later generations? What kind of storms did they stir up in the desert? Today, let's take a look at whether the characters in "The Investiture of the Gods" really existed.

When talking about "The Investiture of the Gods", we have to mention the leading male character Jiang Ziya. After all, the task of deifying the gods in the book fell on him, and he also accounts for a large part of the credit for reducing damage.

This famous Zhou Dynasty founding hero also had a junior brother, Shen Gongbao. Unlike Jiang Ziya, Shen Gongbao could be said to be the number one stumbling block on King Wu's road to defeating King Zhou. His favorite activity in life was to fight with his senior brother Jiang Ziya.

However, one of them is actually a fictional character. That’s right, Shen Gongbao, the famous villain junior brother, was actually created by the great Ming Dynasty writer Xu Zhonglin to serve as a background for Jiang Ziya.

He is also one of the few villains in the book "Investiture of the Gods" who is serious about his career. The book says that Shen Gongbao rode a white goose with a Kaitianzhu in his hand, and once fought against Jiang Ziya, and knocked Jiang Ziya off his mount with a Kaitianzhu.

However, what he is most praised for is not his martial arts ability, but his eloquence. In the book, he deceived countless Taoist friends into increasing the difficulty of the damage reduction game for King Wu of Zhou.

However, Mr. Xu Zhonglin would never have imagined that the fictional villain he created would have additional settings in later interpretations that he himself was not even aware of.

For example, Shen Gongbao was transformed from a leopard, and he became the imperial teacher of the Shang Dynasty and was trusted by King Zhou. Another example is Shen Gongbao's signature line "Daoyou, please stay", which was actually added by later generations, not Shen Gongbao's factory settings.

However, unlike Shen Gongbao, Jiang Ziya is a real person. Although he does not hold the "Investiture of the Gods" to communicate with the gods and ghosts of heaven and earth as in the novels, his legendary experience is no less than that of Shen Gongbao.

It is said that he was originally a commoner, but when he was 72 years old, he received an invitation letter from the Chinese government and then helped King Wu to defeat King Zhou. In the end, he created a myth that his boss was the emperor, his son-in-law was the emperor, and his grandson was also the emperor. This experience is something that even novels dare not write about.

Since Jiang Ziya is real, are the two monarchs he assisted in "The Investiture of the Gods" real or fake? If we verify, these two people Jiang Ziya held onto are real.

King Wen of Zhou, who met Jiang Ziya by chance on the banks of the Wei River, was the first person in charge of the damage reduction project. The hatred between him and the Shang Dynasty could not be finished in three days and three nights. As early as the reign of King Wen's father Ji Li and King Zhou's grandfather Wen Ding, the Shang and Zhou sides had a grudge.

Ji Li was not only the King of Zhou, but also one of the most famous generals in China. His bravery and skill in fighting also made King Zhou of Shang feel uneasy. So Wen Ding came up with a plan and tricked Ji Li to Yindu for Xibo Hou, using the excuse that Ji Li was weak and weak, and then sent him to the underworld.

The hatred for killing his father was irreconcilable. After Ji Li's death, Ji Chang succeeded to the throne. He became a workaholic, worked hard to govern the country, recruited talents, and wanted to seize the opportunity to kick out King Zhou and become the boss of the world.

Unexpectedly, King Zhou of Shang had learned his grandfather's true skills, so he repeated the old trick and invited Ji Chang, the Marquis of Xibo, to live in Youli Prison permanently.

However, even in prison, Ji Chang did not change his character as King Wen, and actually performed the Book of Changes while King Wen was imprisoned. That is to say, Ji Chang also wrote the famous Book of Changes in Youli.

After he was released from prison and returned to the Zhou Kingdom, he met Jiang Ziya by chance. The two joined forces to implement benevolent policies in China. Not only did they allow the people to cultivate public land, they also ordered merchants to travel back and forth without collecting customs duties, and opened duty-free shops in China.

In order to win the hearts of the people, Ji Chang even went to the fields to farm himself and dressed himself in civilian clothes. With the help of King Wen's chicken soup, the national strength of Zhou naturally increased.

By the time Ji Chang passed away and King Wu Jifa took over the responsibility of reducing damage, the Zhou Kingdom had already attracted the submission of various princes and was able to compete with the Shang Dynasty.

Finally, in the Battle of Muye in 1046 BC, King Wu Jifa led 5 troops to defeat the 70-strong Shang army, and officially became the top leader of the Zhou Dynasty with his great achievements.

Ji Fa, who was considered the top figure in destroying the Shang Dynasty in The Investiture of the Gods, also had a brother named Bo Yikao, who was a lieutenant colonel and had two academic degrees. He knew that meeting King Zhou was like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth, but he went without hesitation to save his father.

Since Ji Fa really existed, did his elder brother Bo Yikao really exist? In fact, King Wen did have an eldest son, also known as Bo Yikao, who was King Zhou's elder brother from the same mother. He was also made into a meat soup by King Zhou and given to his father, King Wen of Zhou, to eat.

In the book Investiture of the Gods, Daji fell in love with Bo Yikao, but Bo Yikao remained unmoved by the temptation, which made Daji want to kill him and she advised King Zhou to do something about it.

The character Daji in the book who had feelings for him was not fictitious. Not only that, Daji's story was also quite legendary.

She was originally a daughter of the Yousu tribe. When the Yousu tribe was defeated by the Shang Dynasty, they could only offer the beauty Daji to the emperor. However, they did not expect that the Shang Dynasty would be destroyed within a year of Daji entering the palace. Daji also became the number one scapegoat for the demise of the Shang Dynasty.

Rather than Daji being the cause of the Shang dynasty’s demise, it is more likely that King Zhou was solely responsible. Therefore, readers of The Investiture of the Gods often speculate that if King Zhou’s elder brother had succeeded to the throne, the Shang dynasty might not have fallen so quickly.

So did King Zhou of Shang really have an elder brother? Why did he, as the eldest son, fail to succeed to the throne, and instead let his younger brother King Zhou ascend the throne?

In history, King Zhou did have an elder brother named Weizi Qi. However, Weizi Qi was not good at reincarnation and was just a bastard's son. King Zhou's status as the legitimate son was enough to crush him to the ground, so King Zhou eventually ascended the throne.

Although Wei Ziqi and King Zhou were brothers, they were not in the same camp. According to the "Historical Records: The Biography of Wei Ziqi of Song Dynasty", King Zhou was cruel and Wei Ziqi advised him many times, but King Zhou ignored his words.

After hearing the wind blowing in his ears for a long time, Wei Zi was tired of it. After consulting the two loyal ministers of the Shang Dynasty, Tai Shi and Shao Shi, he got the answer "God bless the king".

In addition, the Grand Master and the Junior Master gave Wei Ziqi an idea: instead of waiting to die in the Shang Dynasty, it would be better to run away and fight for yourself. He immediately took the ancestral tablets and went to King Wu. After King Wu defeated Zhou, Wei Ziqi was also named a vassal and became the king of Song.

[Understand the novel Investiture of the Gods from the Ming Dynasty in one breath]

"The Investiture of the Gods" is a Ming Dynasty novel that contains many ancient gods, with a huge system and complex genealogy. Nezha, Erlang Shen, Taishang Laojun, Nuwa and other working gods all appear in the book as friendly actors.

So, what is the story of the all-star cast of "Investiture of the Gods"? This video will help you understand "Investiture of the Gods" in one go.

When King Zhou of Shang was offering sacrifices and burning incense in Nuwa Palace, he accidentally saw Nuwa's appearance. He was shocked by her beauty for a moment, and as a king, he wrote an obscene poem in Nuwa Temple to tease Nuwa.

After seeing this, Nuwa was furious and gave King Zhou of Shang a five-star bad review. She then summoned the three demons from Xuanyuan Tomb - the fox demon, the pheasant demon, and the jade-faced pipa demon, and asked them to confuse the army and weaken the fortune of the Shang Dynasty without harming the people.

After returning from the Nuwa Temple, King Zhou of Shang was obsessed with beauty. The treacherous ministers took the opportunity to suggest that King Zhou find beautiful women from all over the world to "work" in the harem. After several twists and turns, King Zhou learned that Su Hu's daughter Su Daji was as beautiful as a popular actress, so he sent a "letter of employment" to Daji alone.

However, Su Hu was dissatisfied with this and broke with King Zhou in anger, starting a rebellion against the Shang Dynasty. Just as Su Hu and the Shang generals were facing each other at Honghu Lake, Xibohou Jichang persuaded Su Hu to send Daji into the palace.

On the way, the fox demon possessed Su Daji at the post station and embarked on the "road of attack".

After Daji entered the palace to carry out the "kingdom mission" issued by Nuwa, King Zhou of Shang began to indulge in wine and women. Yun Zhongzi also discovered that there was a fox demon in the harem of the Shang Dynasty, so he took the sword to sell it to King Zhou of Shang.

As expected, after King Zhou hung the sword on the tree, Daji felt unwell, so she pitifully told King Zhou that she felt unwell because she was frightened by the "health care". King Zhou saw this and burned the sword, and Daji escaped.

After failing to exorcise the demon, King Zhou became more and more licentious and immoral under the spell of Daji. He invented the "runaway" method, sent the concurrent queen to the underworld, and promoted Su Daji to the queen.

Even her two sons Yin Jiao and Yin Hong were sent to the execution ground by him. However, just when the execution was about to take place, Yin Hong was rescued by an immortal.

King Zhou's incompetence and tyranny made the loyal ministers extremely worried about the fate of the Shang Dynasty. Shang Rong threatened to die in the palace, and Wei Zi Qi was also "run away" by King Zhou in court for his rude remarks.

While the ministers of the Shang Dynasty were worried about their jobs, the four princes in the southeast, northwest and northeast were worried about their own lives. King Zhou ordered them to come to the capital, wanting to send them all to the underworld "direct train" to deter the princes from all directions.

Before going to Chaoge, King Ji Chang of Xibo calculated through divination that he would be in danger on the trip, so he repeatedly told his son Bo Yikao not to go to Chaoge to find him.

During the trip, it suddenly rained heavily and a flash of lightning passed by. Ji Chang and his companions unexpectedly found a child on the ground. This child was the future craftsman star Lei Zhenzi. Lei Zhenzi was then taken away by the immortal Yun Zhongzi, and Ji Chang was about to meet King Zhou of Shang.

At the request of the ministers of the Shang Dynasty, Bo Hu and Ji Chang among the four marquises escaped, but Ji Chang was eventually sent to Youli Prison, where he lived a life of "food and lodging provided" in the Shang Dynasty.

When Ji Chang was suffering in Youli Prison, Jiang Ziya also accepted the task, wrote "The Investiture of the Gods" and went down the mountain to confer gods.

After he came down the mountain, he captured Daji's sister, the Jade Pipa Fairy, by chance. He then performed a "magic trick" in front of King Zhou, directly turning a rich man into a Jade Pipa, and was given an official position for this.

Seeing her sister being executed, Daji was heartbroken. In order to get rid of Jiang Ziya and save the Jade Pipa Fairy, she presented King Zhou with the architectural drawings of the terrace.

King Zhou also gave Jiang Ziya a test with this blueprint, asking him how long it would take to build the terrace. However, the answer he gave did not satisfy King Zhou. Under Daji's instigation, Jiang Ziya finally met with a fatal disaster. In order to avoid disaster, Jiang Ziya used the earth escape technique to escape to Xiqi.

As soon as Jiang Ziya arrived in Xiqi, Bo Yikao took the three treasures of Xiqi to Chaoge to rescue his father. The fox demon Daji saw that Bo Yikao was handsome and wanted to seduce him.

Unexpectedly, as a genuine vixen, she fell into trouble with Bo Yikao, so Daji lured Bo Yikao to attack her. King Zhou was furious at the thought of "near death", and at Daji's suggestion, he made Bo Yikao into meat patties so that he could "reunite" with Ji Chang as food.

When Ji Chang saw the meat pie, he knew his son had met with an accident, but he ate the meat pie reluctantly for revenge. Later, with the rescue of Ji Chang and Lei Zhenzi, he finally returned to his hometown in Xiqi.

He missed his eldest son so much that he vomited the rabbit. After arriving in Xiqi, workaholic Ji Chang dreamed of a unique revitalization plan. He also met Jiang Ziya by the Wei River and gained a five-star wise minister.

While the people of Xiqi were working hard to revitalize the city, the terrace of Yinshan was also repaired. In order to perform a "god descending to earth" for King Zhou, Daji invited a group of foxes to transform into immortals to feast on the terrace.

Unexpectedly, after three rounds of drinking, the foxes showed their tails due to drunkenness, and were discovered by Bigan. So Bigan and Huang Feihu tracked down the foxes' lair, set fire to the foxes, and skinned them to make robes, which they presented to King Zhou.

Daji never thought that she would risk the life of "Hu Sun" by rehearsing a stage play of "Newcomers". She took her anger out on Bigan and the pheasant spirit Hu Ximei, and played a double act, pretending to be sick and wanting to use the "Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart" as medicine. King Zhou was fooled, and Bigan was killed by having his heart dug out.

Upon learning that the court was in chaos, Master Wen made 10 suggestions to King Zhou, of which King Zhou only agreed to 7. The most important ones, "demolishing the terrace to appease the public anger", "deposing Queen Daji", and "exiling Fei Zhong and You Hun", were all rejected by him.

Master Wen wanted to continue to remedy the situation, but he was restrained by the soldiers and could only rush to the East China Sea to quell the rebellion. However, Xiqi became increasingly powerful, and Xibohou Jichang sent the treacherous minister Chen Tong and his son to the underworld, but he himself was also dying, and died on a crane. King Wu Jifa ascended the throne and took charge of Xiqi.

After Master Wen left, Daji killed Huang Feihu's wife and sister, forcing Huang Feihu to rebel. Under the pursuit of the Shang Dynasty, Huang Feihu fled to Xiqi and surrendered to Ji Fa.

Xiqi, which took in Huang Feihu, also attracted the attack of the Shang Dynasty. Seeing the fierce attack, Jiang Ziya hurried to Kunlun to ask for help. Unexpectedly, he was deceived by his junior brother Shen Gongbao and almost burned the "Investiture of the Gods". Fortunately, the Nanji Immortal intervened.

When Shen Gongbao was performing the beheading performance, a crane took away Shen Gongbao's head, which allowed "Investiture of the Gods" to be preserved.

Jiang Ziya went to Kunlun to seek external aid, and Master Wen also began to invite "resident guests" to help him deal with Xiqi.

The Four Saints of Jiulong Island were his teammates. The mounts of the Four Saints were all mythical beasts. The war horses of Xiqi were frightened and paralyzed by the mythical beasts. Jiang Ziya had no choice but to go to Kunlun again and ask his master Yuanshi Tianzun for money.

Yuanshi Tianzun not only gave Jiang Ziya his own mount Sibu Xiang, but also gave him a magic whip. Although he was covered in "Krypton Gold Equipment", Jiang Ziya was still at a disadvantage against the Four Saints of Jiulong Island, and was even killed by Wang Mo, one of the Four Saints.