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King Wu of Zhou

Given / Temple NameJi Fa

Founding king who destroyed Shang and founded Zhou at the single Battle of Muye

Holders of the Mandate · Emperors & Kings

The Western ZhouThe Battle of MuyeThe enfeoffment system

Who they are

King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa, inherited his father King Wen’s unfinished work and, aided by Jiang Ziya, shattered the Shang army in a single stroke at the Battle of Muye — King Zhou of Shang burned himself on the Deer Terrace, and a six-hundred-year dynasty fell in a day. After founding the Zhou, King Wu carried out enfeoffment on a grand scale, granting his brothers and meritorious officials domains across the land to shield the throne, and the "feudal" system was fixed; the Duke of Zhou then codified the rites and music, giving this feudal order its ideology. The Zhou lasted nearly eight hundred years in name, the longest of China’s dynasties, and "King Wu’s campaign against Zhou," alongside the "Tang–Wu revolution," became the eternal precedent for overthrowing a tyrant.

Key stories

The Battle of Muye

In 1046 BC, King Wu led forty-five thousand men across the Mengjin ford and met the Shang army at Muye. The Shang held the numbers, but much of the force was slaves and captives thrown together, who defected before the lines — the Book of Documents describes "blood floating the pestles," and King Zhou fled to the Deer Terrace and burned himself. A six-hundred-year dynasty fell in a day: what decided it was not troop strength but a Shang regime whose people’s hearts had long since fallen apart.

The muster at Mengjin

Two years before conquering Shang, King Wu led his army to Mengjin, where eight hundred lords gathered unbidden, all saying the time to strike had come. Yet King Wu ordered the army home: "You do not yet know the will of Heaven." Two years later, after King Zhou killed Bigan and imprisoned Jizi and stood abandoned by all, King Wu at last marched. This famous "retreat" was cited again and again by later strategists: when the moment is not right, no coalition is large enough to move.