The Shao Kang Restoration 少康中兴 | Chinese History - The Xia Dynasty E09

Yes! We're finally here! The revenge arc! The vengeance arc! Where vengeance is best served cold, or so they think! So are you ready? Let's go! Hello and welcome to the show! My name is Api Ngo, and I am The Chain-Smoking Writer. Here, we share the myths, legends and histories of the Chinese people, from the first creation myth to the last imperial dynasty. More than 6,000 years of stories, one video at a time! And if you would like to join us through this journey through time, remember to give a thumb to the video, a sub to the channel, and remember to click on the bell icon to be updated whenever a new video drops. And now, on to the story! Now in the last episode, we know that Han Zuo ordered his son Han Jiao to take care of loose ends, and what happened was that the Zhen Guan and the Zhen Xin clans were wiped out and annihilated, and together with the annihilation of the two clans, the rightful king, the rightful descendant of the Xia royal bloodline, Xiang, was killed as well on the battlefield. And you know, seeing that the last descendant of the Xia royal bloodline was taken out of the picture, Han Zuo was pretty confident that his hold on power was finally secured. But unbeknownst to him, the very pregnant wife of Xiang, the Lady Min, managed to escape the massacre by crawling through a dog hole, and after a long and hard journey, she made it back to her maiden home in the You Ren clan. And not only did she carry the last beacon of hope of the Xia royal bloodline's restoration in her womb, she also carried the searing flames of vengeance in her heart. Now back at the You Ren clan, it wasn't long before the Lady Min gave birth to a baby boy, and she named him Shao Kang. And through great difficulties and hardship, she raised the young boy, and made sure that Shao Kang knew exactly who he was, and the blood debt that was owed to him and his people. And as such, because of that, the little Shao Kang grew up with a steely determination to seek vengeance for the death of his family, and to restore the glory of the Xia royal bloodline and the Xia dynasty. And he made it his life's mission to destroy Han Zuo and the You Chong clan, and by extension, most probably also the Dong Yi people, to drive them out of the central plains. Now as the boy grew up, he was given the responsibility and the position of being the stable master of the You Ren clan, which basically means that he was in charge of all matters related to the clan's livestock and animals. Now he was a diligent young man, and he was hardworking, and he very soon earned the approval of everyone around him. And in his free time away from official duties, he would spend all this free time studying military tactics and command, and of leadership to prepare himself for the inevitable day that he would have to face off with the great big villain Han Zuo, and fight for his birthright. Now however, Shao Kang would not have the luxury of preparing in peace, because Han Zuo soon found out that a descendant of the Xia royal bloodline was still left out there alive. I mean, it was something they missed. And of course, Han Zuo knew that he could not afford to leave such a dangerous loose end out there in the wild to one day come back and bite him in the back. And so Han Zuo once again sent out assassins to take care of this problem once and for all. So Shao Kang, through ways and means, most probably they still have loyal people in the court. So Shao Kang received news that Han Zuo has sent out assassins, and so he made a very straight and simple decision to flee. And what he did was that he fled from the You Ren clan, and he fled into the lands of the You Yu clan, who were actually descendants of Shun the Great. And if you don't know who Shun was, or if you can't remember, I made a video about him and here's the link. Yeah, there you go. And so, being the descendants of Shun, the You Yu clan was actually pretty down influential in the land. Now the clan chief Yu Si Yi had been pretty much disgruntled with Han Zuo's tyrannical rule, and with Hou Yi's tyrannical rule before him. Basically, he knew he would be happy with usurpers. I mean, at least if they did something positive and did good for the land, yeah, people might begrudgingly accept them. But these two usurpers basically just took power for themselves and enjoyed the power without giving anything back in return. So understandable that Yu Si, the clan chief of the You Yu clan, was actually pretty much disgruntled with the rules of the usurpers for a pretty long time. And of course, with the close relationship between their ancestors, I mean, Yu Si did not want to see the last descendant of Yu the Great being wiped out. Yeah, Yu and Shun were pretty close back in the day. And so, with that relationship going on in the background, and the disgruntlement with the current status quo, Yu Si decided to give protection, offer protection to Shao Kang. And the assassins, seeing that, you know, now that Shao Kang is under the protection of such an influential clan and such an influential clan chief, they had no choice but to retreat. So they went back to the capital to report to Han Zuo about what happened. And yeah, they had to return empty-handed. Now, under the protection of Yu Si, Shao Kang was given the position or he was appointed the master of kitchens. Or in some translations, you say that he was master of shrines or temples. Now, what is this position? Is he just a chef? Or is he just a temple attendant? No, no, no, that position, that title, is roughly equivalent to what today we will call a quarter master. So basically, Shao Kang was in charge of the finances and the food sources for the entire clan, for the running of the clan. And as you know, food and finance, food and money, these are basically the two most important things in any household, any organization, or any clan. And so yes, Shao Kang was given very heavy and important responsibilities in the You Yi clan. And over time, I mean, you know, he learned on the job. And over time, he proved himself to be honest and reliable. And he excelled in his job. And Yu Si, being very impressed by this young man, decided to offer two of his daughters in marriage to Shao Kang and also granted him a small piece of land in this place called Lun, or the land of Lun. And it was recorded that at this time, Shao Kang was lord over 10 square li of land. It is roughly about five square kilometers and had 500 subjects under his governance. Now he diligently, you know, administered to this small fiefdom, putting everything he knew, all his knowledge of, you know, governance and finances and livestock, putting all this knowledge. And of course, with his leadership, he put all this effort into developing the land and improving the lives of his subjects. And, you know, to make sure that his people could grow and prosper in peace. And of course, with this kind of diligence and hard work, the population soon grew. And Lun, the land of Lun, acquired a kind of a good reputation for being a land of abundance and prosperity and peace. And now when the word started to spread and the remnants of the now dispersed Xia clan heard that this land of peace and abundance was actually ruled by a descendant of the royal family, they came from far and wide to join up with Shao Kang. And the numbers slowly grew. And while it was slow progress, I mean, it was sure by this time, it was certain by this time that Shao Kang's strength was no doubt growing steadily over time. Now, at the same time, in the northeast of the realm, near to where is today's Shandong, there was this man named Bo Mi. Now, Bo Mi was an official lawyer to the royal family back in Hou Yi's time. And when Han Zuo killed Hou Yi and usurped the throne, Bo Mi refused to surrender. And instead, he escaped to the Youge clan in what is today's Shandong region. There, he sought out the remnants or the survivors of the Zhen Xun and the Zhen Guan clans that survived the massacres that happened and slowly built an alternate power base there, built up his strength there, and was basically just waiting for an opportunity to strike back at this usurper, to take at least a small measure of revenge or vengeance, even if he could not topple the regime. And so when Shao Kang found out about this lost army of his father's followers, he quickly established contact with Bo Mi and they started sowing the seeds of the plans to overthrow the regime and to reclaim the throne for the Xia royal family. Meanwhile, in the capital, since the death of Xiang and the massacre of Zhen Guan and Zhen Xun, Han Zuo, basically, being comfortable in the knowledge that his own power was secure, Han Zuo cared less and less about the affairs of states and he followed into the great footsteps of the tyrants before him, spending more and more time, or rather most of his time in a life of indulgence, which basically means a life of wine, women, and most probably Hans. Now, with his power secured and with the two major pillars being his two sons, who were fearsome warriors with great armies of their own, objecting voices and objecting viewpoints were quickly and violently put down by the might of Han Jiao and Han Yi. Now, this kind of became a vicious cycle because when the objecting voice came up, instead of trying to deal with it diplomatically, Han Zuo would just send one of his sons to put them down and maybe wipe them out. This, in turn, would cause more unhappiness among the other subjects of the land and they would speak up and more violent oppression, more unhappiness, more violent oppression, and so on and so forth. You get the point. It was a period of great upheaval and conflicts, never-ending conflicts and never-ending upheavals. Things were really going not really well out there in the land, but Han Zuo wouldn't care because he's just enjoying himself and his power and his riches in the palace complex in the capital. However, while there was still a veneer of loyalty to Han Zuo and his regime, even those who were in positions of power at this time were basically scheming against each other and everyone just looking out for themselves and trying to grab as much as they can for as long as they can in preparation for the inevitable downfall of another tyrant and usurper. I mean, that's how they see it and that was how the court was operating at this time. Yeah, not very good, not very nice. Now, observing the situation from afar and seeing how these conflicts and these upheavals were getting more and more frequent and the hearts and minds of the people were drifting more and more from the regime of Han Zuo, Shao Kang decided that it was most probably time to act. Now, we have to remember, in terms of numbers and in terms of power and equipment, Shao Kang and Bo Min, even put together, were at a great serious disadvantage compared to Han Zuo and the power he wielded. So, they could not possibly, by any stretch of the imagination, go up mano-a-mano, face-to-face with Han Zuo in a full frontal conflict or an assault. So, they have to get creative and they have to deal with the situation in more creative ways. So, the plan was kind of divide and conquer. They will take out the two main pillars supporting the position and the regime. They will take out the two main pillars out first before taking out the big boss man himself. What that means is that they will have to take out Han Jiao and Han Yi individually before facing off with Han Zuo. Kind of like playing a video game, you know, Of course, even then, they do not have the strength and the power to go face-to-face with either one of them. Now, first, Han Jiao. Now, Han Jiao, as we know, was a fierce warrior on the battlefield with great strength and endurance that it would be extremely difficult, if not just plain impossible, to take him down in direct combat. So, what Shao Kang did was that he sent his trusted follower, this lady named Nu Ai, into the You Guo clan to spy on Han Jiao and to find an opportunity to remove him. Now, Nu Ai is most probably the first female spy recorded, if not in history itself, at least in Chinese history. The first female spy, the first femme fatale, you know. And so, what Nu Ai did was that she disguised herself as a servant, as a serving maid, and some say as a washer lady, and kind of like got herself into Han Jiao's household. And once she gained access to Han Jiao's household, she started collecting intel, important personal and military intel for Shao Kang and his organization. And so, it was through this intel collection that Nu Ai found out that Han Jiao had a hunting trip planned. And so, she tipped off Shao Kang on the route that was to be taken and the area, the hunting grounds that Han Jiao would be in. And Shao Kang sensed that this was an opportunity. I mean, you know, usually Han Jiao would be surrounded by his army and his soldiers. And so, on a hunting trip, he would most probably have a skeletal crew with him, just his small personal retinue. And so, Shao Kang sensed that this was an opportunity. And so, what he did was that he trained a pack of vicious hunting dogs, not to track animals and hunt animals, but to track and hunt humans. Specifically, Han Jiao. The plan worked exceptionally well. I mean, when Han Jiao got into the hunting grounds, Shao Kang released the pack of hunting dogs. And they seeked out, tracked down, and hunted down Han Jiao. And before anyone knew what was happening, the pack of dogs descended on Han Jiao, mauled him to death, and devoured his corpse. And most probably did not even leave a bloody bone behind. Would you maul my enemies to death? Huh? Would you maul my enemies to death? And then devour their flesh? Would you? Would you? Nah, nah, he wouldn't. Yeah, he might be known as a tarot or some bawang. But this fellow is actually afraid of cats. Can you believe it? A dog afraid of cats? Definitely not a hunting dog. And of course, preparations were also being made behind the scenes. Once Shao Kang received news that Han Jiao was dead, eaten by dogs no less, Shao Kang personally led his armies, led his troops into a surprise attack against Han Jiao's forces. Now by this time, Shao Kang already had detailed intel on the numbers and the deployment and the setup of his opponents. And so he knew how to deploy his own men to counter what he already knew of his opponents. And together with the element of surprise, the forces of the You Guo clan was defeated relatively easily. I mean, it wasn't like they were swept out of the way, but taking into consideration the disparity in strength and powers, the You Guo clan was taken out relatively easily. Now that's one of the pillars taken out of the equation. On the other hand, Shao Kang sent his son, Ji Shu, to deal with Han Jiao's other son, Han Yi. So what Ji Shu did was that he went into the lands of Ge, which was basically the fiefdom of Han Yi. And rather than going in as an antagonist or as a hostile force, Ji Shu went in under the pretenses and under the guise of being a sycophant, of being a bootlicker, of being a hanger-on. He lavished Han Yi with rich gifts. He flattered him. Basically what Han Jiao did with Hou Yi back in the day, Ji Shu is doing with Han Yi. And, you know, to lull him into a false sense of security, you know, to make him feel self-important and make him feel like, ah, this guy is nothing, he's not a threat. Now once Ji Shu knows for a fact that Han Yi has, you know, totally dismissed him as any form of threat whatsoever and has totally let down his guard, Ji Shu together with the armies of the You Yu clan launched a surprise full-scale invasion. Don't ask me how they pull it off, a surprise full-scale invasion, but they did pull it off. They launched a surprise attack into Han Yi's lands, into the land of Ge, and they wiped out the main bulk of the You Chong forces under Han Yi's command. And that's the second pillar of Han Zuo's regime taken out of the equation by this time. Now with both Han Jiao and Han Yi out of the picture, you know, the two major pillars that was propping up the entire regime, with both of them out of the picture, the usable Han Zuo was left practically defenseless and his cronies and sycophants, you know, basically seeing what's coming and of course tired of his tyranny and oppression, they deserted him and left him to his own device and they escaped with however much they could carry with him, basically. And so, you know, and now with a great big giant opening down the middle, Bo Mi and the remnants of the Zhen Guan and the Zhen Xing clans, together with the army of the You Ge clan, marched practically uncontested, you know, into the capital and destroyed whatever was left of the You Chong forces that was still defending the city. Now seeing the imminent demise of his regime, Han Zuo was said to have tried to take his own life. However, he was unsuccessful in the suicide attempt. Instead, he was captured alive by Bo Mi. So what happened was that he was tied up and Bo Mi dragged him out of the main gates of the capital city. And in front of the gathered people and supporters, Bo Mi basically listed out all the crimes and the travesties that Han Zuo has committed in his time. And after listing out all the crimes and all the evil that Han Zuo had committed, Bo Mi sentenced Han Zuo to death by a thousand cuts. Now, you have heard about death by a thousand cuts many times before, I'm sure, but what does it really entail? Now, this is going to be a bit gruesome. So yeah, you have to admire the skills of the executioner in this kind of situation because what death by a thousand cuts means is that the executioner has to actually leave the condemned person alive for as long as possible, making cuts into the body and cutting out pieces of meat from the sentenced person piece by piece without hitting any major artery, veins or organs. And the entire process could take as long as three days to a week, slowly cutting up pieces from the body. Yeah, it's gruesome. Yes, so pardon me. Just let you know what it entails. So yes, Han Zuo was sentenced to death by a thousand cuts. So he died a long, slow, very painful death. And as we know, his son, Han Jiao, was mocked to death and eaten by dogs. So what happened to Han Yi? Han Yi was actually captured alive after the battle at Ke and he was brought to the capital together with the army as well. And what happened to Han Yi was that he was sentenced to be made into minced meat. Just like how Han Zuo minced up Hou Yi back in the day, his own son, Han Yi, was made into minced meat. He was minced up and made into Han Yi patty. Well, at least they did not feed Han Yi patty to his own father. But yeah, that's what happened to him. So all three of them, the entire Han household, came to horrible ends. And I guess you could say what goes around comes around. And yeah, at this point in time, we could say that Shao Kang has successfully reclaimed the throne. And knowing how difficult it is to reclaim the throne, having gone through all the hardship and all the difficulties to get to where he is today, and seeing the sufferings of the people, the people that have suffered for decades under two different usurpers and tyrants, Shao Kang did not spend any time celebrating or blowing his own trumpets or reveling in the praises that came his way. In fact, just after a very solemn but very grand ceremony to give thanks and offerings to his ancestors and to report to the heavens of his reclamation of the throne, Shao Kang dove straight into work. And the first order of business, after driving out the remnants of the Tongyi forces from the central plains, the first order of business was reinvigorating the agricultural developments that were sorely neglected and sorely ignored for more or less 40 years under the regimes of two usurpers, Hou Yi and Han Zhuo. And Shao Kang focused a great deal of his energies on waterworks to ensure there was proper irrigation for the farmlands and proper flood management to protect these agricultural lands. And he also implemented policies that benefited the people and encouraged growth, personal growth as well as societal growth. And by soon, I mean relatively over years, the land came back to life. And the socioeconomic status of the people, the living standards of the people, the quality of life of the people under his rule saw a marked improvement over the previous decades. And this was around the years 1875 BC to 1855 BC. And this part of history was known as the Shao Kang Restoration or the Shao Kang Zhongxin. Now, after Shao Kang reclaimed the throne and restored the Xia dynasty, the Xia royal household, the political stability allowed the Xia kingdom to further expand their borders ever eastwards beyond the middle Yellow River regions. In fact, when his son Jishu took over, because of the foundations that Shao Kang laid down, the economical foundations that Shao Kang laid down, his son Jishu was able to focus more on the military side of things. And he was known to be quite a conqueror. He was known to be a more conquest-oriented ruler. In fact, there are many records of Jishu being a developer of new forms of weaponry, or he made improvements over many of the weaponry and the armors that were being produced at the time. And Jishu, maybe because of how he grew up and the influences he had growing up, I guess he still bears some grudges against the Dongyi people. And most probably he also wanted to secure the rule of the Xia kingdom further east. So after Jishu ascended to the throne, he embarked on multiple military campaigns against the Dongyi people, the Dongyi tribes, and he conquered the lands from the lower Yellow River regions all the way to the lands around the Huai River regions, securing and expanding the borders of the Xia kingdom ever so much eastwards. Now, at this point in time, under the rules of Shao Kang and Jishu, under this father and son pair, we could say that the Xia dynasty was at the peak of its glory. This was the golden age of the Xia dynasty. Now, I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed telling it. And to be very honest, I was really excited for this story because yay vengeance! I don't like a good vengeance story, right? But anyways, if you like the story and you like the video, remember a thumb for the video, a sub for the channel, and remember to click on the bell icon to be notified whenever a new video drops. And if you would like to support me on Patreon, and if you can afford to support me on Patreon, the links for the Patreon and the other social media platforms are available here and down in the description box below. And as usual, I look forward to all your feedback and your comments. And I do personally go through all of them. And I do try to reply to all of your comments and your feedback if possible. So yeah, say something to me. Tell me something I don't know, you know. Leave your comments in the comment section and I would reply to you. And I guess that's it for today. And I will see you in the next episode.