The thousand-year-old family began with King Wu's conquest of King Zhou.

What Ji Dan said to the other feudal lords was all what he had agreed upon with Zhang Zhao beforehand.

The feudal lords were to take seriously the new system of rites and music implemented by the Zhou Dynasty; anyone who outwardly complied but inwardly defied it was considered disobeying the king's orders.

Then, the enfeoffment system was revised in detail, using titles, land, and clan system to define the status of all feudal lords and scholars.

The emperor is the most honorable person between heaven and earth, and all matters of his daily life are conducted at the highest level.

Secondly, there were dukes. Generally speaking, the dukes of the Zhou Dynasty were not much different from the honorary titles of later dynasties.

However, the various aspects of the feudal lords' lives, as well as the positions of court officials they could appoint, were closely related to their titles.

For example, dukes and marquises, like the emperor, could appoint six ministers: Grand Protector, Grand Tutor, Grand Preceptor, Grand Minister of Rites, Grand Chancellor, Minister of Education, Minister of War, Minister of Works, and Minister of Justice.

However, the six ministers of the vassal states could only be considered as middle-ranking officials, and could not be ranked the same as the emperor's six ministers.

Ji Dan implemented many new systems, and the feudal lords of different surnames dared not speak out against them, especially the barbarian feudal lords.

The Zhou emperor of today is not the same Zhou emperor of 275 years later, and the barbarian lords dare not utter words like "I am a barbarian."

If someone shouts, someone will die; if someone dies, someone will cry.

If I had to use a single metaphor, it would be that the Zhou sun is currently so intensely hot that the Zhou emperor's kindness can never be fully repaid in a lifetime. Loyalty! Sincerity!

Although the Zhou Dynasty was also a tribal alliance leader like the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou emperor's power was greatly enhanced, since two-thirds of the feudal lords in the land were members of the Ji clan.

The time for the feudal lords of different surnames to leave has finally come.

Nobody knows how they got through the past month or so.

When they left Haojing, they took with them a large number of retainers, slaves, goods and weapons. Zhang Chengsi also returned to Liang.

What Zhang Zhao didn't expect was that Ji Dan not only granted him the position of Left Supervisor of the Liang Kingdom, but also bestowed upon him the imperial regalia and halberd.

This means that if any of the vassal states within the Liang state's jurisdiction were found to have committed any wrongdoing, the Liang state could arbitrarily attack them without the emperor's consent.

Zhang Zhao's assessment of this was that his status had increased, but it was of little use.

The State of Liang was merely a small vassal state, and sometimes it even had to request the emperor to send troops to help it when faced with invasions from the Quanrong.

"I think I'll never be able to go to Liang in this lifetime..."

Zhang Zhao and Ji Dan stood on the city gate of Haojing, watching their wives who had already gone far away, and couldn't help but sigh.

Ji Dan chuckled, "Duke Zhao, what are you talking about? I can't go either."

"Duke Zhao, cherish these days, for we may never see each other again in the future," Ji Dan said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhao couldn't help but chuckle.

……

The news that the emperor had conferred the title of duke upon the descendants of past kings spread the most joyous news among the remnants of the Shang dynasty in the ancient ruins of Yin.

"The emperor allows us to use the old customs of the Yin and Shang dynasties; he is truly a benevolent emperor."

That's what they said, but Bei Gong Wu Geng didn't feel that good.

"I am merely a prince of a former dynasty. Since the emperor has granted me the posthumous title of regent in my old capital to pacify the remaining people, why must the states of Guan, Cai, and Huo surround me?"

But he never expected that the three royal relatives didn't take him seriously at all.

Guan Shu Xian was King Wu's eldest brother. According to the Shang Dynasty's system of succession by brother, he should have succeeded to the throne.

However, he tolerated King Wu passing the throne to his nephew. At worst, he would become a regent and then, like the sage kings of the past, return power to his nephew when he grew up, so as to preserve the reputation of a sage king.

However, what Guan Shu did not expect was that King Wu would bypass him and give the power of regent to his younger brother Ji Dan.

He had repeatedly vented his dissatisfaction to the Right Supervisor—the overseer sent by the State of Qi—saying, "I am the eldest son of the clan, while Ji Dan is merely the fourth son. How can I allow him to act as regent?"

Two others, Cai Shudu and Huo Shuchu, were also dissatisfied with Ji Dan.

As soon as the two saw Uncle Guan start a group buy, they immediately joined in.

They first spread rumors among the various feudal lords: "Ji Dan's regency is detrimental to the emperor! And that Zhang Zhao, a treacherous minister, how can he be appointed as the Sima of the Great Zhou?"

As the saying goes, as long as someone starts a group, there will be people joining.

Therefore, Wu Geng, who was constantly worried about being under the surveillance of the Three Supervisors, immediately joined forces with several feudal lords in the Yin Shang region who had not been granted fiefdoms by the emperor to rebel upon hearing the news of the Three Supervisors' rebellion.

News of the rebellion of the four states of Guan, Cai, Huo, and Bei reached Haojing at top speed.

Because Luoyi was a fortified city and was garrisoned by a large army known as the "Luo Army," the three states of Guan, Cai, and Huo suffered initial setbacks in their battles against Luoyi and had to send envoys to Bei, Xu, and Yan respectively to seek assistance.

Wu Geng was a clever man. He joined the rebellion, but instead of attacking the Zhou emperor, he marched north. As a result, he quickly conquered a large area of ​​territory east of the Taihang Mountains and north of the Yellow River.

Wu Geng, who was initially afraid of the emperor's six armies, was suddenly inspired by the smooth progress. He raised the banner of restoring the country and called himself "Lu Fu" and actively contacted the old forces of the Yin Shang.

When the states of Xu and Yan saw that Guan Shu and his forces had already reached Luoyi, they quickly raised troops to follow suit.

However, many warlords saw the situation clearly and knew that this rebellion would not cause much of a stir.

So, in order to take advantage of the chaos, they all used the pretext of serving the king to annex the surrounding small states, and then marched to Luoyang to observe the situation.

……

In the royal palace of Haojing.

Nine-year-old King Cheng sat on his throne, looking at Ji Dan and Duke Shao, who were already dressed in armor, and said, "Uncle, you must be careful!"

Of the ministers in the main hall, only five were entrusted with the care of King Wu on his deathbed.

Ji Dan and Zhang Zhao showed no sign of panic; this rebellion was something they had anticipated.

"Your Majesty, please do not worry. This is just a minor rebellion. I will be going on campaign this time, and I will leave the affairs of the court to the Grand Tutor and Duke Zhao."

"Fourth Young Master, please rest assured, with me here, Gaojing will not be in chaos."

As I said before, the Zhou dynasty's brilliance is too dazzling now, and the army, nobles, and people are all subservient to the Zhou court.

Furthermore, a number of feudal lords surnamed Ji, such as the Marquis of Jin and the Marquis of Cheng, also sided with the Zhou dynasty.

At the grand court assembly, Ji Dan announced to the court officials of the capital that he and Zhang Zhao would be going on a campaign, and the emperor held a grand ceremony to worship Heaven.

Ji Dan was the commander-in-chief, Duke Shao was his deputy, Zhang Zhao was stationed in Haojing and in charge of all grain and fodder allocation, while Nangong Tian, ​​who was appointed as the Marquis of Zeng, was pulled out by Ji Dan to be the vanguard commander.

According to the military system of the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor had six armies, and below the army was the division, which had 2,500 soldiers and was commanded by a senior official or middle official.

Nangong Tian was one of the "Four Friends of King Wen" and a key minister in the founding of the Zhou Dynasty. Also known as "Nangong Zi", he was skilled in military strategy and made great contributions in the process of the Zhou Dynasty overthrowing the Shang Dynasty. At this time, he had been granted land and the state was named Zeng.

After receiving the order, Nangong Tian marched only fifty li a day. His subordinates felt that this was too slow and worried that Luoyi would not be able to withstand the rebel army's attack, thus delaying the military operation.

However, Nangong Tian said, "Luoyi is a formidable city; how could it be so easily breached by the rebels!"

Nangong Tian marched slowly along the Wei River, trying his best to maintain the army's morale. It took him eight days to reach the vicinity of Luoyi.

At this point, exactly fifteen days had passed since Uncle Guan and his troops attacked Luoyi!

Looking into the distance, everyone saw that the city wall, which was as tall and majestic as Haojing, was surrounded by the armies of four kingdoms, and the flag of Zhou was still flying on the wall!

Standing on the chariot, Nangong Tian drew his sword and shouted:

"The three kingdoms have been besieging Luoyang for a long time without success, and are now extremely exhausted. My men, follow me to kill the enemy!"

Having said that, he immediately led his troops in a fierce attack, throwing the armies of the three kingdoms into chaos!

Upon seeing this, the city's garrison commander ordered the city gates opened, allowing Nangong Du to lead his armored soldiers out of the city to attack the rebels from both inside and outside.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"King Wu fell ill, and the Duke of Zhou made a golden sash. The golden sash reads: 'Two years after the conquest of Shang, the king fell ill and was not well.'" — *Shangshu* (Book of Documents), "Golden Casket"

"After King Wu's death, Guan Shu and his brothers spread rumors throughout the state, saying, 'Your Excellency will bring misfortune upon the young prince.' The Duke of Zhou then addressed the two dukes, saying, 'If I do not flee, I will have no way to report to my late king.' The Duke of Zhou resided in the east for two years, and then the guilty were apprehended." — *Shangshu* (Book of Documents), "Jin Teng" chapter.