King Wu's campaign against the Shang

King Wu's campaign against the Shang is framed as a decisive intervention in a kingdom described as disordered and demoralized, but also as an undertaking that required patience before force. The account connects the campaign's eventual crossing of the Yellow River in 1122 BC with the Yijing's recurring image of crossing a great stream: a perilous enterprise should not begin until the moment for success has arrived.

Political Crisis and the Case Against Shang Rule

The campaign's background is a failing state under the Yin, or Shang, dynasty. A brother of the reigning king describes the dynasty as no longer able to govern: the ruler's excessive drinking has undone the founders' virtue, while robbery, treachery, violence, and disregard for law have spread among both common people and officials. The kingdom's condition is likened to someone attempting to cross a great stream without finding either a ford or a bank.

The account attributes this national crisis in large part to King Shou of Shang. In a declaration addressed to the states, King Wu denounces the ruler's contempt for virtue, idleness, and irreverence, and says that he has set himself against Heaven and the people. The charges also concern the exercise of power and the neglect of public and ancestral obligations: honors go to the wicked, advisers are dismissed, laws are disregarded, and sacrifices to Heaven, Earth, and ancestors are discontinued. The declaration presents the ruler's conduct as the reason Heaven will no longer tolerate his rule.

Waiting Before the Expedition

The western principality of Kâu, in what the account identifies as part of present-day Shen-hsî, was ruled by a house long distinguished for ability and virtue. Its chief, King Wen, had become a kind of viceroy over a large part of the kingdom. Though princes and people would have welcomed an attack on the tyrant, he held back rather than risk appearing disloyal. King Shou's suspicion eventually led to King Wen's imprisonment in 1143 BC, where he occupied himself with the lineal figures of the Yijing.

The book's image of going through a great stream gives the campaign a language of danger and timing. The commentary reads the stream not merely as a general figure for difficulty, but, more plausibly, as the Yellow River, which the lords of Kâu had to cross in a revolutionary movement against the Yin dynasty. In this interpretation, the campaign's long preparation is inseparable from its eventual action: the crossing was preceded by waiting until success seemed assured.

The Crossing and Its Consequence

King Wu, King Wen's son, took the field against the Shang and crossed the Yellow River in 1122 BC. The account calls the passage one of the greatest deeds in China's history. It presents the expedition as the practical culmination of the political indictment voiced in the declaration: a ruler whose conduct has destroyed confidence and order is opposed by the Kâu leadership, whose challenge had been delayed by concern for loyalty and the need to choose the right moment.

The campaign thus turns the perilous stream into both a real obstacle and a measure of political judgment. In the Yijing commentary, strength alone does not warrant immediate advance; the wiser course is to wait until the chance of success is secure. The crossing gives that counsel a historical point of reference, connecting a symbol of hazardous action with the decisive expedition against Shang rule.