The ancestor nodded and said seriously: "Yes, this was the case at that time. Ji Fa dared to make a comeback so quickly after being ambushed by King Zhou for a year. He knew that the Shang Dynasty nobles were interested in establishing Wu Geng to replace King Zhou, and King Zhou was aware of this. Therefore, he stepped up his attack on Dongyi, hoping to use the Dongyi troops and horses of Dongyi, such as Eilai, to balance the local power of the Shang Dynasty. It is best to be able to fight against Dongyi in the east. With the Dongyi army like Eilai, the Dongyi army, and in turn, clean up the local nobles of the Shang Dynasty and eliminate the conservative forces of Bigan and Wu Geng. In this way, King Zhou's dominance will be achieved and no one will have to be controlled by others."
"But Ji Fa did not give King Zhou this opportunity. He was actually not considered retreating at all. The troops of the allied countries did not return to their own country, but stayed in the Zhou territory for rest. Once they heard that the Shang Dynasty's Eastern Expedition Army attacked Dongyi again, only Elai brought about more than 10,000 Dongyi troops to rest near Chaoge. Ji Fa knew that the opportunity had come, so he sent out his troops to cross the Yellow River, and went south from Bingzhou and rushed to Shangdu Moyi. Here, translated by later generations into Muye, which is where the two armies are now decisive. King Zhou had only about 15,000 direct troops who were truly loyal to him. In addition, Elai's 10,000 Dongyi troops, and more than 30,000 were Wu Geng and other noble soldiers. King Zhou also knew that these people were unreliable. Even his own son, Wu Geng, as the crown prince, had almost turned against his father and son in the process of killing Bigan."
Dou Peng suddenly said: "I looked at these ancient scrolls. Some say that in order to protect the life of his teacher Bigan, Prince Wu Geng not only knelt in front of King Zhou's palace for seven days, but also proposed to exchange his life for Bigan's life. In the end, Wu Geng directly returned to his fiefdom and never saw King Zhou again. He even ignored the matter of King Zhou asking him to send troops to Dongyi. Dozens of nobles and Zhenren priests responded to him and advanced with him. King Zhou was angry and even considered sending troops to attack Wu Geng. But later, under the persuasion of ministers such as Fei Zhong and Fei Lian, he stopped. King Zhou asked his other son Panshi to lead troops to attack Dongyi, accumulate military merits and reputation for him, and prepared to one day let Panshi bring the victorious army and the Eastern army and come back to replace Wu Geng."
The ancestor nodded and said, "Yes, that's how it was at that time. King Zhou led his army to take charge of Chaoge. While defending Zhou, he was also monitoring Wu Geng. The Evil Emperor was with him. This gave King Zhou the confidence. He also felt that Ji Fa almost fell into ambush and fled in a panic. He did not dare to come again in the short term. However, he was still fooled by Ji Fa. The spies he sent to Zhou State were all false information that Ji Fa deliberately spread to them, such as the army of various princes.
When he returned to China, the Zhou army was disbanded and went home to farm. It was impossible to gather again in the short term. However, Ji Fa secretly asked the princes' army to secretly gather supplies in Zhaofang, Yu and other places in Bingzhou. His Hu Ben army was ready to go. After Panshi's army was gone for several months and there was no time to turn back, Ji Fa suddenly summoned the domestic army, with the Hu Ben army and the army of the eight princes as the core, and the soldiers of the Zhou and Zhao Gong as the two wings, and then rushed straight to Muye."
"When King Zhou was shocked, he had no choice but to lead all his troops to attack, and sent envoys to Wu Geng to explain the righteousness and tell him that if the Shang Dynasty was destroyed, their father and son would die without a place to bury him. Perhaps aristocratic clan like Wei Ziqi could be retained in the future, but Wu Geng, as his son, was an unchangeable fact. Ji Fa would never allow him to continue to exist in this world. If Wu Geng was willing to summon conservative princes this time to lead troops to defend the king and protect the great Shang, King Zhou would definitely retain his position as the crown prince and let him ascend the throne. After the Battle of Muye, he could abdicate the position of the king to him on the grounds of Wu Geng's military merits. By then, Wu Geng became the King of Shang and could do what he wanted. For this reason, King Zhou would not hesitate to swear in front of the gods such as the Evil Heaven Emperor that if there is any violation, he would teach him not to die well."
Black Rou gritted her teeth and said, "King Zhou has already given up to this level. Wu Geng still refuses to take action. He is really inhumane and has no brains. Can Zhou give him more? King Zhou swears in front of the gods that he will be in charge of him. This is impossible to be fake, because in Da Shang, no one can deceive the gods. If Wu Yi deceived the Evil Heaven Emperor, wouldn't he be killed by lightning?"
Dou Peng said coldly: "What King Zhou said in desperation may not be true. Even if he abdicated to Wu Geng, as long as he made enough arrangements, such as handing over the army to Panshi, let Panshi lead the army of the Eastern Expedition, and the royal army of the Shang Dynasty and the evil Dongyi troops returned, he could still seize the throne. Xia Qi used this routine that time. Dayu said he gave up the throne to Bo Yi, but the army was all in Xia Qi's hands. In the end, Bo Yi could only abdicate to Xia Qi again. This kind of game of power, King Zhou is familiar with old foxes, and it seems that Wu Geng has guidance, so that he has no impulse and completely believed in his father."
Hei Rou said hatefully: "Why are you the one who is superior to others? Isn't it just Wei Ziqi? No matter how bad King Zhou is his father, he doesn't believe in his father, but he believes in spies who defected to the enemy country and the Zhou people who have a deep hatred of their own country. Isn't this a bad mind?"
The ancestor sighed: "It can only be said that Bigan's death had a great blow to Wu Geng. He had already determined that King Zhou wanted to destroy all the rules of the Shang Dynasty, become a god in his body, and then become the eternal master. Not only himself, but even Panshi was just a tool in his hand. He used himself to appease the old forces and conservative nobles in the country, and used Panshi to fight against the Dongyi and subdue the Dongyi country. In the end, he had to listen to King Zhou. Even the Evil Heaven Emperor wanted to replace him sooner or later."
"So Wu Geng planned again and again, and agreed to send troops first, but on the battlefield, he would watch the two sides fight. If King Zhou gained the victory, he would join the Shang army to pursue it. In this way, he would get the crown prince allowed by King Zhou and even abdicated king. If the Zhou army wins, he would turn against the Zhou army. At least he could preserve the Shang Dynasty as a great prince. Because the Zhou people could not control the Central Plains, they would inevitably leave great princes to stay here. Ji Fa also promised that if he joined the Zhou State, his fiefdom was still the same, so he could inherit the Shang Dynasty's title and the Central Plains, preserve the bloodline and fire of the Shang State, and find an opportunity to retake the position of the emperor in the future." (End of this chapter)