| On Ghosts III: |
Not only is this so. Anciently, King Zhou of Yin was also an emperor in honour and possessed the whole empire in wealth. He cursed Heaven and blasphemed against the spirits above and destroyed the multitudes below. He exposed the aged and murdered the children, tortured the innocent, and opened a pregnant woman. The common people and the widows and the widowers cried aloud, but were not heard. Thereupon Heaven commissioned King Wu to carry out the judicious punishment. With a hundred selected chariots and four hundred warriors King Wu appointed his officials and reviewed his forces. He battled the armies of Yin in the Wilderness of Mu. He captured Fei Zhong and E Lai, and the multitude deserted and ran away. King Wu rushed into the palace. He executed Zhou and hung him on a red ring with his crimes published on a white flag, to punish him for the feudal lords in the empire. Now King Zhou of Yin was an emperor in honour and possessed the whole empire in wealth. He had men of such daring and strength as Fei Zhong, E Lai, and Duke Hu of Zhong, who could kill a man at the move of a finger; and the number of those killed amounted to a million, and they were thrown into the lakes and mountains. Yet with all these Zhou could not evade the punishment from the ghosts and spirits. This is why I say even wealth and numbers, daring and strength, strong armour and sharp weapons cannot frustrate the punishment from ghosts and spirits. Moreover, Qin Ai has said: "No virtue is too small, no extermination of a lineage is too big." This is to say, in distribution of rewards by ghosts and spirits no man is too insignificant to be rewarded for his virtue. And in the meting out of punishment by ghosts and spirits no man is too great to be punished. |
