After King Wu arrived in Mengjin, why did he want to conquer in the name of King Wen instead of hims

People in the Shang and Zhou dynasties were very superstitious about the ghosts and gods, and they were famous for their teachers, and in Mengjin, King Wu called himself the crown prince, saying that he conquered in the name of King Wen, and also persuaded everyone with the theory of ghosts and gods.

Most of these historical materials come from the Qing Dynasty Daoguang unearthed on the Heavenly Death Gui, this bronze unearthed in Shaanxi Province, Yixian, Shaanxi Province, engraved with 8 lines of 78 characters of inscriptions, recording the process of King Wu of Zhou and the princes sacrificing to God. This bronze tripod is also the oldest bronze vessel found in the Western Zhou Dynasty so far, which reads "Worship in the king without first showing the examination", "King Wen is happy with God", from which it can be seen that it tells the process of King Wu of Zhou coming to worship God in the name of his father King Wen of Zhou.

In fact, in addition to Shang Xuan, the sacrificial sorcerer ran to King Wu of Zhou because of some things, which led many people to think that the Ji clan should be the lord of the world, King Wu of Zhou himself is not very prestigious, at least in the eyes of the princes, he is still very tender, so King Wu of Zhou needs to borrow the prestige left by King Wen of Zhou to deter the princes. The second division is famous, especially the ancient belief in ghosts and gods, in the name of King Wen can also be their own name, can be under the slogan of inheriting the will of King Wen of Zhou to crusade against the king of Shang, the third in the name of King Wen and the princes to worship God can play the effect of mourning soldiers, King Wen of Zhou's own good reputation is very famous in the entire Shang Dynasty between the government and the opposition, in the name of King Wen of Zhou, the army of the princes can remember the good of King Wen of Zhou, so as to achieve the effect of mourning soldiers.

Therefore, the incident of King Wu and the princes worshiping God recorded in the Heavenly Death Ceremony is just a religious mobilization action before King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang, and this religious mobilization action was used to unite the princes and make sufficient preparations for the subsequent destruction of the Shang.

If you conquer in your own name, it will be unjustifiable, so you will do it in the name of King Wu, and if something goes wrong, people will not blame him.

In my opinion, this is because people in ancient times were more justifiable. Because King Wu's dispatch of troops is actually a bit nonsensical, he must borrow the name of King Wen, so as to better boost the morale of the soldiers.

The ancients needed a reason to send troops to war, so that the start of this war was justified, and it was inconvenient for King Wu to start a war in his own name after arriving in Mengjin, so he had to start a war in the name of King Wen.

In ancient times, it was a very serious matter to justify the name, at that time King Wu did not have enough prestige to conquer, and the prestige of King Wen of Zhou was far greater than that of King Wu, so it was easier to succeed in the name of King Wen of Zhou.

First of all, at that time, King Wu's prestige was not as good as his father, King Wen, so if he wanted to become famous, he had to rely on his father's prestige. Again, the ancients were more superstitious, at that time, divination said that King Wu was not the successor of the king, so King Wu needed to use his father's virtue to justify his name.

In fact, this approach is very easy to understand, after all, if the Martial King at that time chose to do this in his own name, he would be able to find his head if something went wrong later.

Because King Wu didn't want to be discovered, he used the name of King Wen to conquer, so that even in the end, he would not find his head.

It may be that he wants the other party to underestimate the enemy, or if the war fails, he also has a reason to throw this pot to King Wen, and he can stay out of the matter lightly.

Because when the princes were in alliance, although it was possible to make the king of Yin suffer defeat, but it could not make him never turn over, at that time, King Wu thought that since he wanted to attack the king of Yin, then he had no room to turn over, so he thought that the time had not come.

At that time, the princes only saw a victory, but King Wu thought that this attack could make him make a comeback, so he thought that he needed a time to completely defeat the king and not turn over.

In order to be more sure of the victory in the war, so that the king has no chance to turn over, so when the princes will meet the alliance, the king of Wu said that the time has not come.

Because what other princes thought could be cut down was only a superficial success. But King Wu may be thinking more far-reaching, he wants to beat King Xuan at one time and have no place to turn over.

For King Wu, this is not a good time to take it in one fell swoop, King Wu hopes that after taking down King Wu in one fell swoop, he will no longer have the ability to run away and turn over alive, so this is the best time for King Wu to think.

Because King Wu wants to reach the best time, so that he can take him down in one fell swoop, King Yin still has some defense, and he has to wait for the best opportunity to succeed.

King Wu wants to be able to fight a sure battle, and the important thing is to be able to annihilate the King of Xuan in one fell swoop, he is waiting for a moment when the time and place are favorable, and when the King of Xuan completely loses the support of the people.

Because for King Wu, what he wants most is to directly defeat King Yin Xuan, so he needs to find the best time, rather than making a decision casually.

Because they are still waiting for the best time, when King Yin's army is empty, and when the defense is weak, they will attack in one fell swoop, and win the greatest victory at the least cost.