King You of Zhou — The Controversial Empire Ender and His Beautiful, Icy Queen Bao Si
Ji Gongsheng (795 BC — 771 BC), respected as King You of Zhou or Zhou You Wang, was the 12th king of the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC — 256 BC) in the history of China.
The Zhou Dynasty consisted of two periods: the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC — 771 BC) when kings reigned feudal vassal states, and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (771 BC — 256 BC) when the kings of Zhou lost control over other lords and states.
And this important turning point happened during King You of Zhou’s reign.
Bronze Ritual Water Basin (Qiang Pan) with 284 Characters Carved Inside, Recorded History of First Seven Kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty — Baoji Museum
King You of Zhou and his beloved son were assassinated after they failed in a war, and his kingdom ended afterward.
However, the reasons for this war and the perishing of his kingdom have been controversial.
He might be an absurd monarch who lost his kingdom for his gorgeous icy queen Bao Si, or an ambitious monarch who fought bravely to recover the prosperity of his kingdom but failed epically.
Human and Phoenix Shaped Jade Decoration (Yu Zhang) of Western Zhou Dynasty — Henan Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
Enthronement of King You of Zhou and Crisis of His Reign
King Li of Zhou (904 BC — 828 BC), the grandfather of Ji Gongsheng, was banished after a riot by his people.
King Xuan of Zhou (? — 783 BC), the father of Ji Gongsheng, recovered the Zhou Empire’s prosperity for a while but later failed in a series of wars and caused considerable losses to the kingdom.
Besides, he passed away controversially, possibly to be assassinated, during a hunting trip.
Hence, when the 13-year-old Ji Gongsheng ascended to the throne, many feudal lords became stronger.
Unearthed Bronze Watering Utensils (Yi) of the Western Zhou Dynasty — Baoji Bronzeware Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
Besides, the following year after Ji Gongsheng's enthronement, many natural disasters happened around his capital city, including earthquakes, dried-up rivers, landslides, and famine.
In ancient Chinese culture, those were signs of a bad reign and decline of the royal family.
These natural disasters made more people believe that he wouldn't be a good monarch, and more feudal lords didn't respect and pay tribute to the king as they used to.
Unearthed Bronze Water Container of the Lord of Jin of the Zhou Dynasty — Shanxi Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
Encounter with Queen Bao Si
His queen, Shen, was the daughter of a powerful lord, and their son Ji Yijiu (? — 720 BC) was nominated as crown prince.
No one knew if he loved the woman from this political alliance, but he disliked her after encountering another woman named Bao Si, a gorgeous and mysterious woman.
Some said she was a princess of the Bao State and married the king in a political alliance.
Others said she was an abandoned child and was trained and sent to the king after her state lost in a war against Zhou.
Whether Bao Si was noble or humble, King You of Zhou fell in love with her at first sight; soon, she gave birth to a baby boy named Ji Bofu (779 BC — 771 BC).
Maybe King You of Zhou didn't like the political alliance with his queen Shen and her powerful father, a feudal lord who should have respected the king but barely did.
Maybe King You of Zhou loved Bao Si too much.
He abolished Queen Shen and Crown Prince Ji Yijiu and made Bao Si his new queen and Ji Bofu the new heir.
Jade Necklace of the Western Zhou Dynasty — Shanxi Archaeology Institute (Photo by Dongmaiying)
The Controversial War Signal Drama
In some historical documentation and novels, the War Signal Drama ended the Western Zhou Dynasty.
In some documents, Bao Si, the stunningly gorgeous woman, was an icy beauty.
No matter how many precious clothes and jewelry the king gave her, how many fancy palaces were built for her, or how many hilarious people were hired to make her laugh, she never smiled.
Even after the king gave her the queen’s crown, Bao Si still was a Lady of Ice with a poker face.
Later, a person suggested that King You of Zhou send war signals to other lords and command them to come, then see how Bao Si would react.
So, they light fires on the beacon tower or hit war drums to summon armies.
Unearthed Bronze Bell with Inscriptions Carved on of the Western Zhou Dynasty — Shanghai Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
When large numbers of lords and soldiers from other places hurried there and saw nothing happened, Bao Si found the looks on their faces hilarious and finally smiled.
The King You of Zhou was quite happy and then did this several times until no one would show up to amuse this couple again.
Soon, the state of the banished queen Shen, allied with a nomadic regime named Quan Rong, invaded the capital city.
When the actual threat came, and the King You of Zhou kept sending war signals to summon armies, no one ever showed up to protect him.
Though soldiers in his imperial army were brave and loyal, they couldn’t win over such outnumbered, invasive alliances.
In the end, the king and the new crown prince got caught and assassinated, and his queen Bao Si was captured by the nomadic army.
Unearthed Set of Weapons of the Western Zhou Dynasty — Shanxi Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
Rebel and Conspiracy Version Against King You of Zhou
However, the War Signal Drama is not mentioned in other historical documents.
In some other bamboo strips from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, they recorded otherwise.
After Bao Si was rewarded as the new queen, the king’s former queen Shen and former crown prince Ji Yijiu escaped to State Shen.
In some versions, Lord Shen even supported Ji Yijiu as the king and established a new Zhou empire.
King You of Zhou led his royal army and enclosed State Shen, commanding them to hand over Ji Yijiu and former queen Shen.
Bronze Ceremonial Axe (Yue) of the Western Zhou Dynasty — Sichuan Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
Lord Shen allied with nomadic Quan Rong and another lord, defeated the king's army, and assassinated King You of Zhou, Queen Bao Si, and their son Ji Bofu.
Maybe Zhou's other loyal lords didn't have time to react, or they didn't want to save the king for their best interests, or some of them were not satisfied with the king's reform which jeopardized their authority.
The real truth and reasons are still being argued; however, the result was quite clear.
King You of Zhou and his crown prince died, their empire was burnt down and ended, and no feudal lords showed up in time to fight for them in their final war.
Bamboo Strips Written in Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Recording the History of King You of Zhou Differently, Now Preserved in Tsinghua University.
Rebuilding and Division of the Zhou Empire
Nomadic Quan Rong’s army robbed and burnt down Zhou’s prosperous capital and escaped after other lords led their armies and arrived.
Ji Yijiu was supported to ascend to the throne as King Ping of Zhou by his grandfather Lord Shen.
However, other lords believed that Ji Yijiu was a traitor since he and his grandfather allied with other forces, buried their kingdom, destroyed the capital city, and murdered his father and brother.
Hence, Ji Yuchen (about 790 BC — 750 BC), the younger brother of King You of Zhou, was then supported by these lords as King Xie of Zhou.
Afterward, these two kings co-existed for quite a long time until King Xie of Zhou was ambushed and assassinated.
Unearthed Tiger Shaped Jade Decoration (Yu Yuan) of Eastern Zhou Dynasty — Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Photo by Dongmaiying)
The Rise of Powerful States and the Dawn of New Eras
Then Ji Yijiu, the King Ping of Zhou, migrated (some say he was forced to) his capital city to another place eastward, representing the beginning of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.
Since then, other feudal lords kept expanding their territories and competing over hegemony through countless merger wars, while the kings of Zhou kept losing authority and territory.
Hence, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (771 BC — 256 BC) was also named the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC — 403 BC) and the Warring States Period (403 BC — 221 BC).
Bronze Weapon Ge of Spring and Autumn Period with Inlaying Gold Patterns and Inscriptions (Wang Zi Yu Ge) — Shanxi Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
During King Ping of Zhou’s large-scale migration, a vassal state named Qin protected the new king from nomadic regimes.
Hence, the lord of Qin got the king’s permission to occupy as many lands as possible from nearby nomadic regimes as long as they could win.
Since then, the state of Qin kept expanding and became stronger.
In 256 BC, a king of Qin perished Zhou and killed Zhou’s last king; later, Qin Shi Huang defeated other kingdoms and established the unified Qin Dynasty in 221 BC.
Colorful Lacquerware (Qi Dou) of Warring States Period that Used to Place Food — Hubei Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
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