Wu Yi of Shang

Wu Yi (武乙), personal name Zi Qu (子瞿) was

In the 21st year of his reign, the Zhou leader Koufu (口父) died.

Records

According to the Bamboo Annals, in the 24th year of the regime of Wu Yi, Zhou attacked Cheng (程) at Bi (毕) and defeated Bi.

According to the Bamboo Annals, in the 30th year, Zhou attacked Yiqu (义渠) and captured the king of Yiqu. According to Sima Qian, the King of Yiqu has two sons by different mothers; after the king died, they fought each other for throne only to have Zhou defeat them both and absorb the territory of Yiqu.^[5]

In the 34th year of Wǔ Yǐ's reign,

In the 35th year of Wǔ Yǐ's reign, Ji attacked the Guirong (鬼戎) at Xiluo (西落). According to Sima Qian, he captured 20 kings of that tribe. In the same year, Wu Yi went hunting between the Yellow and Wei Rivers and was killed by lightning. According to the Book of Documents, this was blamed on Wu Yi's grave impiety.^[6]

According to the Records of the Grand Historian, he was supposed to have carved a wooden statue(偶) of "the God of Heaven" and had one of the people to throw dice to represent it. He played liubo with the idol and if the idol lost the game, he humiliated it. Another time, he filled a leather bag with blood and hung it high in the air, then shot it with arrows; he called this "shooting Heaven".^[7]

References