宋微子世家 — Shiji

Weishizi Kai was the eldest son of Emperor Yi of Yin and the half-brother of Emperor Zhou. Once Zhou ascended the throne, he proved incapable, indulging in licentiousness and misrule. Weishizi remonstrated with him repeatedly, but Zhou refused to listen.

When Zu Yi learned that Chang, the Duke of the West of Zhou, had cultivated virtue and was destroying states, he feared disaster was coming and reported this to Zhou. Zhou replied, "Does my life not depend entirely on Heaven? What can Chang possibly do!"

Zhou indulged in debauchery and excess. Jizi remonstrated with him, but he would not listen. Someone said: 'You may leave.' Jizi said: 'For a minister to remonstrate, not be heeded, and then depart—that would be to make plain the ruler's faults while seeking favour with the people. I cannot bring myself to do that.' So he let down his hair, feigned madness, and became a slave. He lived in seclusion and played the zither to express his sorrow; thus the piece handed down is called 'Jizi's Melody.' Prince Bigan was also a kinsman of Zhou. When he saw that Jizi had remonstrated without success and had become a slave, he said: 'When a ruler has faults and his ministers will not risk their lives to argue against them, what crime have the common people committed to suffer?' Thereupon he spoke out plainly to remonstrate with Zhou. Zhou, enraged, said: 'I have heard that a sage's heart has seven openings—is that indeed true?' He then had Prince Bigan killed, cut open his chest, and examined his heart.

"Grand Preceptor! Junior Preceptor! Should I leave? Can I hope to preserve myself in the midst of this ruin? Now you advise me without cause—to fall, to stumble. What is to be done?"

Prince Bigan was also a relative of Zhou. Seeing that Jizi had been ignored and reduced to slavery, he said, "When a ruler has faults and his ministers do not die to correct them, how can the common people be held blameless?" He forthrightly remonstrated with Zhou.

Weishizi said, "Father and son share blood ties, while ruler and minister are bound by righteousness. Thus, if a father has faults, a son who remonstrates three times without success may weep and wail; but a minister who remonstrates three times without success may, by righteousness, depart."

When King Wu of Zhou attacked Zhou and conquered Yin, Weishizi brought his sacrificial vessels to the military camp, bared his chest, bound his hands behind his back, held a sheep in his left hand and mao grass in his right, and advanced on his knees to present himself. King Wu thereupon released Weishizi and restored him to his former position as before.

After conquering Yin, King Wu visited Jizi. The king said, "Alas! Heaven shelters and settles the common people, harmonizing their dwellings, but I do not know the principles by which this ordering is maintained."

Jizi replied: "In ancient times, Gun dammed the great flood, disrupting the proper order of the Five Elements. The Lord was enraged, rejected the Nine Categories of the Great Pattern, and the ordered principles fell into ruin. Gun was put to death, but Yu succeeded and prospered. Heaven then bestowed upon Yu the Nine Categories of the Great Pattern, and the ordered principles were established.

"The first is the Five Elements; the second is the Five Affairs; the third is the Eight Policies; the fourth is the Five Records; the fifth is the Great Standard; the sixth is the Three Virtues; the seventh is the Examination of Doubts; the eighth is the Multitude of Signs; the ninth is the Encouragement of the Five Blessings and the Warning of the Six Extremes.

"The Five Elements: the first is Water, the second Fire, the third Wood, the fourth Metal, the fifth Earth. Water moistens and descends; Fire blazes and ascends; Wood can be bent or straightened; Metal yields and transforms; Earth is the basis of cultivation and harvest. Moistening and descending produces Saltiness; blazing and ascending produces Bitterness; bending and straightening produces Sourness; yielding and transforming produces Pungency; cultivation and harvest produces Sweetness.

"The Five Affairs: the first is Bearing, the second Speech, the third Seeing, the fourth Hearing, the fifth Reflection. Bearing should be Reverent; Speech should be Appropriate; Seeing should be Clear; Hearing should be Acute; Reflection should be Profound. Reverence produces Awe; Appropriateness produces Order; Clarity produces Wisdom; Acuteness produces Strategic Sense; Profoundness produces Sageliness.

"The Great Standard: the sovereign establishes the Standard. He gathers the Five Blessings and broadly bestows them upon the multitudes. Thus do the common people be directed toward the Standard, receiving the protecting Standard. Let all the common people avoid forming licentious factions; let none form clique-like associations. Only the sovereign shall establish the Standard.

"All common people who have plans, actions, and principles should be kept in mind. Those not in accord with the Standard, yet not involved in transgression, the sovereign shall accept. They may live in peace and show pleasure, saying, 'I delight in virtue,' and the sovereign shall grant them blessings. Thus do the people cherish the sovereign's Standard.

"Gather around those who have the Standard; return to those who have the Standard. When the Standard is spoken of with affection, it is taught and expounded, and even Heaven looks on with favor.

"All common people, when they speak the Standard with affection, obey it and follow it, thereby drawing near to the sovereign's radiance. When the sovereign acts as father and mother to the people, he becomes ruler of all under heaven.

"Ministers must not bestow blessings, exercise authority, or enjoy fine food. Ministers who bestow blessings, exercise authority, or enjoy fine food bring harm to their families and calamity to their states. People will then become biased and deviant, and the common people will become transgressing and erring.

"The Examination of Doubts: appoint skilled diviners in turtle-shell and reed-stalk divination. Command the diviners to divine, saying: 'Rain,' 'Crossing,' 'Tears,' 'Misting,' 'Conquest,' 'Affirming,' 'Regret'—seven in all. The turtle-shell provides five divinations, the reed-stalks provide two interpretations, to be expanded and elaborated.

"If the turtle-shell and reeds both contradict human opinion, then inaction is auspicious, action is inauspicious.

"The Multitude of Signs: Rain, Sunshine, Warmth, Cold, Wind—five in all. When all five arrive in proper sequence, the weeds and grain flourish abundantly. If one is excessive, it is calamitous. If one is absent, it is calamitous.

"The Auspicious Signs: Reverence brings timely Rain; Order brings timely Sunshine; Wisdom brings timely Warmth; Strategic Sense brings timely Cold; Sageliness brings timely Wind.

"When the king is virtuous, the year is orderly; when ministers are virtuous, the months are orderly; when officials are virtuous, the days are orderly. If the years, months, days, and hours do not change, the hundred grains ripen, governance is clear, the worthy are honored, and households are peaceful.

"If the years, months, and hours have changed, the hundred grains do not ripen, governance is clouded and unclear, the worthy are diminished, and households are troubled.

That foolish boy—

The "foolish boy" referred to Zhou. When the Yin people heard this poem, they all wept.

The Duke of Zhou, acting on King Cheng's behalf, executed Wu Geng, killed the Duke of Guan, and exiled the Duke of Cai. He then commanded Weishizi Kai to take the place of the Yin heir, to continue the ancestral sacrifices. He composed the "Mandate of Weishizi" to declare this, and established him as ruler of Song.

When Weishizi Kai died, his younger brother Yan succeeded him, becoming Weizhong. Weizhong died, and his son, Duke Jian of Song, took the throne. Duke Jian died, and his son, Duke Shen of Ding, succeeded. Duke Shen died, and his son, Duke Min, took the throne. Duke Min died, and his younger brother, Duke Yang, succeeded. Duke Yang had barely ascended when Duke Min's son Fu Si assassinated him and seized the throne, declaring, "I should be the ruler!" He became Duke Li. Duke Li died, and his son, Duke Li of Cai, took the throne.

In the seventeenth year of Duke Li's reign, King Li of Zhou fled to Zhi. In the twenty-eighth year, Duke Li died, and his son, Duke Hui, succeeded. In the fourth year of Duke Hui's reign, King Xuan of Zhou ascended the throne. In the thirtieth year, Duke Hui died, and his son, Duke Ai, took the throne. Duke Ai died after one year, and his son, Duke Dai, succeeded. Duke Dai ruled for twenty-nine years. King You of Zhou was killed by the Quanrong, and Qin was first ennobled as a lord.

Duke Xuan had an heir apparent named Yiyi. In the nineteenth year of Duke Xuan's reign, he fell ill and offered the position to his younger brother He, saying, "A son inherits from his father, a younger brother from his elder—this is the universal principle of the realm. I will establish He." He refused three times before accepting.

In the eighth month, on the day of Gengchen, Duke Mu died. Duke Xuan's son Yiyi ascended as Duke Shang. A nobleman who heard of this remarked, "Duke Xuan of Song truly knew people. By establishing his younger brother he fulfilled righteousness, yet in the end his own son enjoyed the fruits of it."

In the first year of Duke Shang's reign, Prince Zhou Xu of Wei assassinated his ruler Duke Tao and installed himself, wanting the support of other lords. He sent word to Song: "Feng is in Zheng, and he will surely cause trouble. Will you join me in attacking him?" Song agreed, and together they attacked Zheng. They reached the eastern gate before retreating.