| Annals of Yin: |
At this time Jie of Xia was oppressive, and his rule dissipated, and one of the princes Kunwu rebelled, so Tang, levying an army, put himself at the head of the princes. Yiyin followed Tang, who, grasping a halberd, marched against Kunwu, and then attacked Jie. Tang said: Come, ye multitudes of the people, listen ye all to my words. It is not I, the little child, who dare to raise a rebellion. The ruler of Xia has committed many crimes. I have indeed heard the words of you all, but the Xia ruler is an offender, and, as I fear the Supreme god, I dare not but punish him. Now, as the Xia ruler has committed many crimes, Heaven has charged me to destroy him. Now, ye multitudes, you are saying, 'Our sovereign does not compassionate us; he disregards our husbandry, and his government is a cruel one.' You say, 'As to his crimes, what remedy have we?' The king of Xia does nothing but exhaust his people's strength, and treat the kingdom of Xia oppressively. His people have all become idle, and are not in harmony with him, saying, 'When will this sun set? We shall all perish together.' Such being the conduct of the sovereign of Xia, I must advance. If you help me, the one man, to carry out the punishment decreed by Heaven, and I will greatly reward you. On no account disbelieve me. I will not retract my words. If you do not carry out the words of my speech, I will put you and your children to death; you shall not be pardoned. This being announced to the army, the speech of Tang was written. Tang then said, 'I am very warlike'; and he was styled the 'warlike king.' |
