-Most of our sources on the Xia Dynasty come from the Bamboo Annals ("Zhushu Jinian") / Ji Tomb Annals ("Ji Zhong Jinian") (written in 300 BC), the Book of Documents ("Shujing") / Classic of History ("Shangju") (compiled by Confucius between 550-480 BC (we think)), and the Records of the Grand Historian ("Shiji") (written c. 140-86 BC).
-Because these works were written so long after the Xia dynasty, we don't have much info to go off of in terms of knowing much about this time, or even if the Xia dynasty existed at all!
-We're lucky to have these sources, as there was an attempt to eradicate all copies of them by Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of (unified) China.
-Anyway, so King Shao Kang was dead, and King Zhu was his heir.
-The capital at this time was Yuan (modern-day Jiyuan, Henan Province).
-Eventually, King Zhu moved the capital to Laoqiu (modern-day Kaifeng, Henan Province).
-Apparently, the capital moved around a lot during the Xia dynasty, and at least 13 different cities: Daxia (Xia Xian/Xia County, Shanxi Province); Song (Luoyang, Henan Province); Yangcheng (Zhengzhou, Henan Province); Yangzhai (Xuchang, Henan Province); Chu (?); Qiongshi (Luoyang, Henan Province); Zhen/Zhenxun (Zhengzhou, Henan Province); Diqiu (Puyang, Henan Province); Yuan (Jiyuan, Henan Province); Laoqiu (Kaifeng, Henan Province); Xihe (Anyang, Henan Province); Zhen (Zhengzhou, Henan Province); and Henan (?).
-Also invaded some place called "Sanshou".
-King Zhu died, replaced by his son, King Huai (AKA Hui or Fen).
-We don't really know much about this dude other than that he ruled for a long time (26-44 years).
-King Huai died, replaced by his son, King Mang (AKA Wang or Huang).
-Nothing cool happened here that we know of except that it was noted that he gave a bunch of jade to his men when he was enthroned, perhaps hinting at the growing decadence of the court.
-King Mang died, replaced by his son King Xie- fought some barbarians, acquired more vassal states.
-King Xie died, replaced by his son, King Bu Jiang.
-King Bu Jiang was allegedly really smart.
-Fought a war with the city/state of Jiuyuan (modern-day Baotou, Inner Mongolia) and continued to expand the empire.
-Ruled for almost 60 years!
-King Bu Jiang died, replaced by his brother, King Jiong.
-Ruled for 18-21 years.
-King Jiong died, replaced by his son, King Jin.
-After 21 years, King Jin died, replaced by his son, King Kong Jia.
-King Kong Jia only cared about drinking alcohol, hunting, and sex!
-He was also really superstitious.
-This was around the time that the Xia dynasty really began to fall into decline as its local lords began to grow too powerful.
-King Kong Jia died, replaced by his son, King Gao.
-King Gao died after ruling for 11 years, replaced by his son, King Fa.
-During this time was allegedly the first ever recorded earthquake (at Mount Tai, Shandong Province) in the history of the Xia dynasty, an ill omen indeed...
-King Fa died, replaced by his son, the dreaded King Jie (also known as Lu Gui) (c. 1728 BC).
-At this time the Xia capital was at Zhenxun (modern-day Zhengzhou, Henan Province).
-King Jie kicked off his reign with the construction of something called a "tilt palace", which took 7 years, thousands of slaves, and huge amounts of money (which of course required a huge increase in taxes).
-King Jie also was frequently accompanied by the psychopath concubine Mo Xi (AKA Mei Xi), who was completely depraved and fucked up.
-Famously, she convinced King Jie to have a lake of wine constructed, and then they got a boat and sailed around in the wine while hosting and participating in a giant orgy, after which Mo Xi ordered 3000 slaves to drink the lake dry. Of course, all of the slaves died attempting to do this, and Mo Xi famously laughed as all of this was happening.
-King Jie was also insane about his meals, and if the ingredients were fucked up the people responsible were decapitated!
-He also loved drinking a special kind of pure alcohol wine.
-During these drinking sessions he would get on top of someone's back and ride around on them like a horse. If they couldn't do this, he would have them executed, no matter their status in the court.
-Meanwhile, the ill omens continued, including meteor showers, earthquakes, auspicious positions of the stars, etc.
-He also began to engage in various wars with neighboring lands.
-Moved the capital from Zhenxun to Henan (?).
-When waging war in the southwest (near the Min Mountains of Sichuan and Gansu Provinces, respectively), King Jie took two of the local lords' daughters as his own wives, naming them Zhao and Hua, and kicked Mo Xi to the curb!
-Meanwhile, in the east, the mighty Shang state was on the rise!
-Shang was a tribute state dominated by the Xia dynasty, and at this time its lord was a dude named Tang (AKA Cheng Tang or Da Yi).
-Lord Tang had had enough of King Jie's bullshit! He summoned 40 other local lords to support his cause, citing King Jie's extreme cruelty and natural disasters as evidence that the heavens no longer favored King Jie.
-In order to weaken the Xia dynasty, Lord Tang began picking fights with various other vassal states that were important tributary states in terms of military contributions to the Xia dynasty.
-This tactic was meant to "divide and onquer", slowly weakening the overall army of the Xia dynasty.
-These states included Wen, Kunwu, Jingbo, Mixu, Wei, and Gu.
-As King Jie's reign continued, more disasters, bizarre weather, and crop failure ensued.
-Some scholars believe that these events coincided with the Minoan eruption (which occurred some time between 1642-1540 BC and was also a possible major cause for the decline and fall of the Minoan civilization).
-Finally, after also heeding the advice of his close adviser, Yi Yin (AKA Yi Zhi, or A Heng), Lord Tang decided to invade the Xia dynasty and strike at King Jie directly.
-Lord Tang's troops were completely worn out from fighting so much, so he decided to give a famous speech (known as "Tang's Speech") to rouse their spirits.
-The speech seemed to work, and the armies then clashed at a site named Mingtiao (present day Yuncheng, Shanxi Province).
-It is estimated that the Shang army had about 6000 infantry, but the Xia army was significantly smaller and unwilling to fight.
-Of course, the battle did not last long, as Xia morale was so low, and soon most of the Xia army surrendered.
-Thus, after the battle King Jie was on the run! He fled to another city, but was soon captured by Lord Tang and exiled (unclear as to where).
-Lord Tang then mopped up any resistance armies, eliminated any political loyalists in the capital, and then enslaved the majority of the Xia population to serve his own people.
-Thus, c. 1600 BC (estimations vary wildly), the Xia dynasty fell and Lord Tang became King Tang (or Da Yi) of the Shang dynasty!
-Religion during this time was a mix of shamanism, ancestor worship, and ritual sacrifice.
-The Shang dynasty king would eventually take on the role of "high priest" for the various religious ceremonies.
-This was the middle of the Chinese bronze age (c. 3000-1700 BC), so while they used bronze weapons and shit, they also used jade weapons for ceremonial purposes because they believed that jade had mystical properties and symbolism.
-Bronze weapons:
-Spears (known as the "King of Weapons", ran from 9-21 feet long!).
-Swords (single-edged blades)
-Bows and arrows
-Polearms (such as the "ge" ("dagger-axe") used to swing (and miss) but then decapitate the foe from behind!
-The Shang dynasty also had chariots, but they used them mostly for transportation, not warfare.
-Soldiers were conscripted from their vassal lords who were in charge of supplying (and equipping) the troops from their lands.
-Usually an army was between 5000-13,000 men.
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