Bronze Age Crocodile Warfare

Author: Xiao Shui
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Lord Zhao Jianzi of Jin State (Zhao Yang), was one of the most influential among the Six Ministers. His grandfather was the famous "Orphan of Zhao" (Zhao Wu). As a scion of a distinguished family, Zhao Jianzi sought to restore his ancestors' glory and rise to prominence. He gathered 480 pounds of cast iron and engraved the penal code of former Chancellor Fan Xuanzi on a large iron tripod, proclaiming Jin State's first written legal code in 513 BC, replacing the previous customary law.
Excerpt: The Remarkable Lord Zhao Jianzi of Jin State Lord Zhao Jianzi of Jin State (Zhao Yang) was one of the most influential among the Six Ministers. His grandfather was the famous "Orphan of Zhao" (Zhao Wu). As a scion of a distinguished family, Zhao Jianzi sought to restore his ancestors' glory and rise to prominence. He gathered 480 pounds of cast iron and engraved the penal code of former Chancellor Fan Xuanzi on a large iron tripod, proclaiming Jin State's first written legal code in 513 BC, replacing the previous customary law. This bold act made Zhao Jianzi renowned across the land. The ruler could no longer hold absolute authority, as the written law became a "tight collar" on the king's head—whenever ministers recited it, the king's head ached. Jin Pinggong's authority further declined. The emerging families within the state praised the "casting of the criminal tripod" and their cheers gave Zhao Jianzi the capital to rise to the political stage. Indeed, in 497 BC (during the Wuyue Struggle), he was appointed as the Chief Minister of Jin State, governing the affairs of the state.
Soon after taking office, Zhao Jianzi was still reveling in his success when he found himself caught in the fierce rivalry among the Six Ministers. At that time, Jin Pinggong's authority had plummeted to its lowest point, while the private fiefdoms of the ministerial families had amassed significant economic and military power, forming the Six Ministers. The Six Ministers vied for dominance. Zhao Jianzi, with foresight, did not wish to join the fray and instead began constructing Jinyang (the precursor to Taiyuan) on the northern frontier. When the city was completed, however, the population remained sparse, as the Jin people preferred to live in the southern part of Shanxi, where civilization had advanced more slowly. The northern region was the domain of the Di people, Jin State's "Siberia." Thus, Zhao Jianzi decided to relocate 500 households from Handan, who were under his command, to Jinyang to populate the area. Handan was a large city in southern Hebei, originally part of the State of Wei, but captured by Jin and granted to the Zhao Wu family as a fiefdom. Some households from Wei were also given to Zhao Jianzi. Since Zhao Jianzi had no place to accommodate them, they were temporarily settled in Handan.
Zhao Wu, persuaded by his elder brothers, detained these 500 households. Upon realizing that his "funds" in Handan had been frozen, Zhao Jianzi flew into a rage and, in the name of the Zhao family's patriarch, summoned Zhao Wu and executed him, charging him with "defiance of orders." Handan immediately declared martial law, pointing all their melee weapons at the Zhao family and mobilizing the Fan and Zhongxing families (two of the Six Ministers) to assist, wielding large spears and shields to attack Zhao Jianzi in retaliation for Zhao Wu's death. Zhao Jianzi was taken by surprise and fled northward, retreating to Jinyang. The Handan Zhao family, along with the Fan and Zhongxing families, besieged him, nearly killing him. Zhao Jianzi quickly called for the other three ministers of Jin—the Zhi, Han, and Wei families—to rescue him. They defeated the Fan and Zhongxing families, lifting the siege on Jinyang and saving Zhao Jianzi from peril.
The Fan and Zhongxing families, despite their setbacks, sought foreign support. States like Qi, Wei, Lu, Song, and Zheng all sent troops to arm them in their battle against Zhao Jianzi. With a small force against many, Zhao Jianzi grew desperate. He was a man of fiery temper and, before the battle, those soldiers with tears in his eyes, declared: "Those who perform outstandingly in battle will be appointed as high ministers, lower ministers, or granted ten thousand mu of land. Slaves in the army who distinguish themselves in battle will be freed from slavery and no longer have to move props. As for me, Lord Zhao Jianzi, if I retreat personally, I am willing to die, be beheaded after hanging, and buried in a dishonorable manner with no burial in the ancestral tombs. Do you hear me?"
Hearing his master's fierce resolve, the soldiers also fought with greater ferocity and ultimately defeated the foreign coalition. During the battle, Zhao Jianzi was struck in the shoulder by a Zheng soldier and collapsed into his chariot, spitting blood, yet he continued to beat the drums without stopping until the enemy was driven back. The following year, Zhao Jianzi launched a surprise attack, driving the Fan and Zhongxing families to the coast (near Qi), and through a series of sieges, seized their fiefdoms—Xingtai, Zhaoxian, Baoding, Lingshi, Yangqu, and Longguang. The Fan and Zhongxing families, once among the elite Six Ministers, had produced chancellors like Fan Xuanzi and Zhongxing Yan, but now they were reduced to nothing. After fleeing Jin, their homes were neglected, and their valuables were looted by nearby villagers. One man arrived late, broke into their ruins, and found only a bell left behind, too heavy to carry. Wanting to sell it, he hammered it to pieces but feared being heard, so he covered his own ears and began to break the bell—this became the story of "" (blocking one's ears to steal a bell).
This conflict was the first full-scale civil war in Jin State involving all Six Ministers (previously, the Fan Xuanzi family had fought against the Luan family, as mentioned in the section "Hou Qi Xiang Qiang" in "The Lizard War of the Bronze Age," marking the beginning of the Six Ministers' strife). Zhao Jianzi eliminated two of the Six Ministers (the Fan and Zhongxing families) and began ruling Jin State firmly. Although he was domineering, Zhao Jianzi also had a gentle side. In his fiefdom, each mu of land was 2.4 times larger than the state standard, allowing farmers to produce more grain and pay less tax (since taxes were levied per mu). He even exempted newly cultivated land from taxes and reduced household taxes for residents in the northern frontier city of Jinyang—all measures to win hearts and strengthen his family's power.
Zhao Jianzi harbored grand ambitions (though what they were remains a secret) and was eager to recruit talent. At the time, government positions were monopolized by the great families, leaving commoners no chance to hold office. The ministerial families also had their own administrative teams in their fiefdoms, managing various affairs. Zhao Jianzi did not appoint his relatives to these teams but instead gave opportunities to virtuous commoners, seeking to recruit anyone with a talent, regardless of their background. This approach later inspired Cao Cao, who, in his "Order for Seeking Talent," specifically praised Zhao Jianzi for his policy of "promoting the worthy." Zhao Jianzi was not picky about talent and even defied opposition to recruit Yang Hu, a notorious terrorist from Lu State, who was deeply moved and contributed significantly to the fight against the Fan and Zhongxing families. He even recruited the capable ministers of the Fan and Zhongxing families into his own ranks.
Zhao Jianzi's fame spread so far that even Confucius, in the east, was moved and traveled to Shanxi in a chariot. However, Zhao Jianzi suddenly killed Dou Mingdu, a Jin minister who, like Confucius, was a loyalist opposing the rise of the ministerial families like Zhao Jianzi and their threat to the throne. Seeing this, Confucius felt as if a rabbit had died and a fox had mourned, and he dared not seek a position in Jin State. Instead, he sighed over the Yellow River: "How vast and magnificent! But I cannot go!" and turned back midway. The Yellow River he admired was no longer as clear as it was in the era of the Yellow Emperor; it had become the "Yellow River" in its truest sense. The Loess Plateau once had forests and rhinos (Jin people had even captured them), but now even tree branches were scarce. Every year, 300 million tons of loess eroded, as if all the world's trucks were digging here and dumping it into the Yellow River—this left the nation in deep reflection!
A Few Incidents of Lord Zhao Jianzi: Zhao Jianzi had a fiery temper and sometimes enjoyed killing. He had a servant who always supplied him with pleasures but never recommended talent, and Zhao Jianzi executed him, throwing him into the river as a warning (though this punishment was a bit excessive). Another man named Zhou She heard that Zhao Jianzi was eager to recruit talent and came to apply for a position. He stood at the door for three days and nights. When Zhao Jianzi asked what he could do, Zhou She replied: "I can do nothing but carry ink, brushes, and tablets, following you and recording all your shameful mistakes." Zhao Jianzi quickly bowed in apology for keeping him waiting for three days. However, this unfortunate applicant died shortly after starting his job. Zhao Jianzi publicly mourned: "The skin of a hundred sheep is not as valuable as the fur of one fox. The silence of many is not as valuable as the bold speech of one." He lamented that people dared not oppose the dragon's scales, criticizing their lack of advice. This became the idiom "a thousand yes-men are not as valuable as one bold critic."
Zhao Jianzi had unique aesthetic tastes. His favorite pets were two white mules, a newly imported species from the nomads that could not reproduce, making them quite special. However, when Zhao Jianzi learned that his beloved general needed mule liver for treatment, he immediately ordered the chefs to kill the white mules for their livers. This general later fought bravely in battles against the Di people. Zhao Jianzi's respect for talent also influenced his subordinates. One of his charioteers, Shao Shi Zhou, was his bodyguard. To protect the marshal's safety, he used his free time to train in martial arts and improve his wrestling skills. In Jinyang, there was a man named Niu Tan who was an excellent wrestler. Shao Shi Zhou challenged him to a classical wrestling match. After losing the first two rounds—first falling face down, then being thrown onto his shoulder—Shao Shi Zhou was deeply impressed by Niu Tan's skill and recommended him to Zhao Jianzi, offering his own position as charioteer to Niu Tan.
Although Zhao Jianzi had a fiery temper, he was relatively receptive to advice. Once, while commanding an army to attack Wei State, he hid behind a shield for safety and issued orders from a place beyond the range of arrows. Someone nearby gave him the finger in protest, and he quickly admitted his mistake, removed the shield, and moved into the enemy's range to lead the battle, boosting morale.
Zhao Jianzi eventually defeated the Handan Zhao family and seized the prosperous Handan. During the New Year's celebration (the first day of the first lunar month), the people of Handan gave Zhao Jianzi a cage of doves to release. Zhao Jianzi was delighted. Others pointed out that the people were so eager to give him birds that they were hunting them, nearly driving the doves to extinction—this was cruel. Zhao Jianzi realized his mistake and abolished this entertainment.
Zhao Jianzi also implemented a revolutionary political reform. Under his rule, officials who achieved military merit or outstanding talent were granted salaries paid in grain () rather than fiefdoms. This replaced the feudal system with a market-based system of professional bureaucracy, breaking the iron rice bowl of high-ranking officials' offspring (like the Jia Baoyu type) and making it possible for commoners to enter politics—a qualitative leap and a historical progress! More importantly, the recruited capable officials only received salaries and had no fiefdoms or the armies that came with them, making it impossible for them to grow powerful or threaten the throne. This objectively strengthened the ruler's centralized authority. It marked the transition from the feudal system of the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the future autocratic society of the emperors. Future legalist reforms, such as those by Wu Qi and Shang Yang, followed in Zhao Jianzi's footsteps.
Zhao Jianzi enjoyed sports and even took his entourage hunting in the area of present-day Shijiazhuang during military campaigns. Suddenly, a white wolf, famous for its quality in the Zhongshan region, leaped out of the forest. It could speak human language and was quite handsome, but Zhao Jianzi shot it with an arrow. The wounded wolf fled, but was saved by the well-known kind-hearted Dong Guo, who put it in a bag. Zhao Jianzi and his men chased after them and asked, "Did you see a wounded wolf that could speak?" Dong Guo, an animal rights activist, replied, "No, no!" After the Zhao family's troops passed, Dong Guo opened the bag and was nearly bitten to death by the ungrateful wolf. They then had a legal dispute: "I saved you with a bag, why do you want to bite me?" "I'm hungry. You're a great humanitarian—how can you let me starve to death on the road? Please, let me eat a little of your precious body!" Fortunately, Zhao Jianzi arrived again, and Dong Guo and the wolf rushed forward to ask for judgment. Zhao Jianzi said, "You're lying—the bag couldn't hold a wolf!" The wolf, desperate, immediately crawled into the bag to show them, and Zhao Jianzi ordered his men to beat it to death with sticks.
Zhao Jianzi was truly a strong and wise man! The ungrateful wolf became known as the "Zhongshan Wolf," and unfaithful men were called "white-eyed wolves." The story of "Dong Guo and the Wolf" became a famous fable passed down through the ages.
Several years ago, during the expansion of a thermal power plant in Taiyuan (the area where Zhao Jianzi built Jinyang), workers discovered a. With the support of a provincial leader, the construction crew was determined to demolish the site without hesitation. Upon hearing the news, archaeologists rushed to the scene, linking arms and blocking the rumbling bulldozers, saving the ancient tombs. Afterward, over 2,000 bronze artifacts were unearthed, invaluable. It is said that the owner of the tombs was none other than our remarkable Lord Zhao Jianzi!