Chou Tai-Pou changed his last name to Wu and became
the local warlord of thousands. Later, he was known as the founder
of the Wu Clan. His brother Zhong-Yong became Wu Zhong-Yong. When
Tai-Pou died, he was buried at 39 'li' (east of the town of Wu-Xi
in the Jiangsu province); his home is 5 'li' east of the grave.
He had no son, and Zhong-Yong became the leader of the Clan. When
Wu Zhong-Yong died, his son Xiou-jien succeeded him. Su-Ta, Xiou-jien's
son was next after Xiou-jien died. Later, Su-Ta's son Chou-Zhang
became the leader.
During this period, Emperor Chou's descendant Chou
Wu-Wang (The Warrior King) invited Wu Tai-Pou and Zhong-Young's
descendant (this would be Chou-Zhang) to join the Chou family. But
since Chou-Zhang was already the leader of Wu Clan, he asked his
younger brother Lu-Zhong to rejoin Emperor Chou. Emperor Chou appointed
Wu Lu-Zhong as the Minister of Xia-Xu (North of Chou's Capital).
When king Wu Chou-Zhang died, his son, Xioung-Zhu
continued. Xioung-Zhu died, and his son Ke-Xiang took over; Ke-Xiang
died, and his son Chian-Jiouyi continued. When Chian-Jiouyi died,
his son Yu-Jiao-Yi-Wu was named the leader, who would be succeeded
by his son Ke-Lu. Ke-Lu died, and son Chou-Yao was named. After
Chou-Yao was son Chu-Yu. Chu-Yi died, son Yi-Wu named.
Yi-Wu died and his son Ching-Zhu reigned. Ching-Zhu died -- son
Zhuan ruled. Zhuan died; son Pji-Kao was named. Pji-Kao died, and
son Jhu-Pji ruled.
During this time, Pu Clan Minister Hsien-Kung invaded
Northern Chou's territory, which was governed by Wu Lu-Zhong's descendant.
They destroyed Lu-Zhong's kingdom and expanded the Pu's territory.
Wu Jhu-Pji died, his son Qu-Qi ruled. Qu-Qi died
and son Sou-Mon ruled. During Wu Sou-Mon's time, Wu became strong
and powerful. Taking Tan-Yang as their capital in Jiangsu province.
The Wu family was divided into two clans. With Wu
Tai-Pou's fifth generation, Wu Chou-Zhang sent his brother to rule
the Northern part of Chou dynasty's territory (Wu Lu-Zhong was in
Northern China and Wu Chou-Zhang in the east); The Wu Clan, who
had established themselves in Northern China, would later be destroyed
by the Pu's militants after only two generations passed. At the
same time, the Wu Clan at the Southeast of China blossomed. From
Wu Tai-Pou to Wu Sou-Mon, a total of 19 generations had passed.
The Kingdom of Pu at that time was also becoming
a powerful force; they had destroyed many clans and kingdoms. The
Kingdom of Zhu was so afraid of Pu that they joined forces with
Pu. At Wu Sou-Mon's second year of government, Military Advisor/General
Seng Woo of the Zhu left his kingdom and joined the Wus. He taught
Wu's army how to ride and fight. He also told his son to join the
Wu clan by changing their last name to Wu.
The Wu clan, after extensive training, was well
prepared in governing China, and they invaded the Kingdom of Zhu
(during this time, Wu and Zhu were fighting for two nearby provinces).
In the sixteenth year of Wu Sou-Mon's reign, King Zhu Kong-Wang
(Common-King) invaded Wu at Mount Jhen (at Hunan Province). Twenty
fifth year: Wu Sou-Mon died. Sou-Mon had four sons: Zhu-Feng, Yu-Ji,
Yu-Wei and Ji-Zhe (or known as Price JiZha of Wu or Ji Zha).
Wu Ji-Zhe (considered one of
the four talented scholar knights during the spring and autumn periods
in China) was a humble person. Wu Sou-Mon wanted him to be the successor,
but Ji-Zhe refused. So Wu Sou-Mon appointed his older son Zhu-Feng.
During Zhu-Feng's late twenties, following the mourning period for
his father, he asked Wu Ji-Zhe to govern. People of the Wu Kingdom
wanted Ji-Zhe to take over; Ji-Zhe declined. Zhao's emperor died,
and his generals nominated his son Zhi-Zhang as their clan leader.
However, Zhao Zhi-Zhang was young and needed to mourn his father's
death, and he also wanted Ji-Zhe to help him. Wu Ji-Zhe had agreed
already to help Chao Zhi-Zhang. Since the people of Wu wanted Ji-Zhe,
Wu Ji-Zhe then decided to abandon his responsibility and became
a farmer. That fall, Wu invaded Zhu and lost. Four years later,
Pu Ping-Kung (The Fair King) was established as the new king of
Pu Kingdom. Thirteen years, Wu Zhu-Feng died, and appointed his
brother Yu-Ji as King and commanded him to continue to hold the
power until Ji-Zhe was named as the king to fulfill their father's
desire. Wu Ji-Zhe continued refusing the position and was sent as
the governor of Yen-Ling City and was known as the Yen Ling Ji Zhi.
During Wu Yu-Ji's third year, one of Chi clan's general was in trouble
and went to Wu for refuge. Wu Yu-Ji appointed him as governor of
one city (Chutown) and gave his daughter as wife; this made Chi
well established with enough fortune.
Four years, Wu King sent Wu Ji-Zhe to Lu Clan to
observe and exchange music and poetry. On his way there, he passed
through the Xu Village at Jiangsu Province. Ji-Zhe was practicing
his sword and amazed many people, including one particular fellow
named Xu Pou-Zhong, who befriended Ji-Zhe. Ji-Zhe knew that Xu Pou-Zhong
admired the quality of the sword. It was said to be a sword that
shines like sunrise and cut steel as mud, and he had promised to
give it to Xu in his return back from the mission. Upon his return,
Ji-Zhe found out that Xu had died. Ji-Zhe went to Xu's grave and
lamented not to ever join Xu, and he hung the sword on the tree
next to the grave and left. This place is now known as the Sword
Hanging Stage, located at the South Gate of Xu Village (Xu Village
is surrounded by four gates: East, West, North, South. (Note: according
to the history, Wu Ji-Zhe's sword was worth more than $1000 dollars
during that time). According to historians, there was another sword
used by Wu Ji-Zhe but hasn’t found to date. (The sword Wu
Ji-Zhe had left at that tree was about 3 feet long, 2 1/2"
wide and weighs about 2 lbs.)
Seventh year: Zhu prince attacked his king and named
himself the King Lin (the spiritual king). Tenth year: King Zhu
had a meeting with his ministers and agreed to attack Wu's Chutown
which was governed by General Chi and his wife (King Wu's daughter).
King Wu attacked the Zhu and took three of his cities. Eleventh
year: Zhu attacked Wu up to Ling Lou. Twelfth year: Zhu returned
again and lost at Chien-Luo. Seventeen years, at Wu Kingdom, King
Wu Yu-Ji died, and appointed Wu Yu-Wei as successor. Second year:
Zhu Lin King's son tried to destroy his father but failed and died.
Fourth year: Yu-Wei died and wanted to name Ji-Zhe, Wu Ji-Zhe ran
away, and with no choice, he chose his son Wu Liao as the King.
When King Wu Liao was in power for two years, his cousin Wu Kwang
invaded Zhu, during the war, Wu Kwang lost and was about to be killed
along his boat. He decided to attack Zhu's troop secretly and was
able to retreat back home. Five years later, one of Zhu's general,
Woo Zi-Shung, joined the Wus. He became a friend of Wu Kwang, Wu
Kwang wanted Woo to stay with him but Woo decided to live in the
camp awaiting the right time. Wu Kwang always thought that because
Wu Ji-Zhe didn't want his throne, and if King Wu, his cousin, died,
he would automatically gain power as the successor. So Wu Kwang
convinced several generals to begin planning the overthrowing of
his cousin.
Eighth year: King Wu asked Wu Kwang to attack Zhu
and won, taking their capital. He continued conquering the North,
defeating Chen and Cai's armies. Ninth year: Finally caught up with
King Zhu Zhong escaped. At first, the reason for this battle was
because of one woman -- Zhu named Liao -- had a fight with a woman
at the border of Wu, so both families fought and when this issue
was sent back to the governor of both border castle, they decided
to attack each other. Wu's border lost and King Wu was angry so
he attacked Zhu and took two cities. Wu Kwang nominated Woo Zi-Shung
to be the General and also requested Sun Woo to be the Military
Advisor (Sun Woo, born in Santong Province, in Chi Kingdom, in 514BC,
after Wu Kwang hold the throne, he appointed Sun Woo as the General
and Military Advisor. Sun Woo wrote the famous book, "The Art
of War", which had a total of 13 chapters). General Woo Zi-Shung
realized that it is a chance to revenge the Zhu, he convinced Wu
Kwang to attack Zhu after Zhu's king died. But King Wu didn't want
to start another war, so Wu Kwang planned a murder scene: In 514BC,
at a welcoming party, Wu Kwang pretended to had fallen down from
drinking and stabbed his king with a dagger that killed him. This
act of civil war forced Wu Ji-Zhe to seek hideout at Pu's kingdom.
Wu Kwang then named himself as the successor of Wu Kingdom calling
himself King Wu Yen-Lu.
During this time, Wu Ji-Zhe expressed his feeling
of his uncle's death that he will not avenge the death of his uncle
but to obey the law within the boundary of the Wu Kingdom. He said
also that although Wu Kwang might be evil, but the rules are there
to control our living status and it is not meant to be broken. Two
other cousins of King Wu whom was at the war with the Zhu heard
of the assassination of their king, they decided to surrender to
the Zhu and were appointed Governors of Su.
Wu Kwang, after becoming the new King, sent word
to a famous blacksmith to create swords for his use. According to
the legend, Wu Kwang requested the blacksmith Wu Kan-Jian, who lived
in Muo Kan Mountain, to forge a sword for him, but it was difficult
to merge the metal. His wife curiously asked why, and he replied
that his teacher's technique was to use the energy of YIN to merge
the metal together in creating a powerful and sharp sword. After
hearing this, Muo-Xie jumped into the fire and the sword was created.
(Another story said that she then cut her hair and nails and added
into the making of the swords). The male sword is called the Kan-Jian
sword, and the female sword is the Muo-Xie Sword. The mountain has
its own nature beauty, with a sword pond, falls and others, including
a stone with writing that said "The Place of Past Wu Kan-Jian,
Muo-Xie Sword Making."
Once Wu Kwang had the throne, he and General Woo
and General Sun (who also was the military advisor of Wu Kwang,
known as Sun Tse, the author of the Art of War book) planned many
strategic moves to attack his deserted cousins. Three years, Woo
Zhi-Shung went to Sun Woo and asked advice on how to attack the
Zhu kingdom, Sun Woo explained that before they proceed in attacking
Zhu, they should first destroy the 2 cousins: Kai-Yu and Zhu-Yong
who had surrender to Zhu and was living in Xukuo and Zhongwoo, they
were eager to avenge their brother's death. King Wu killed the 2
cousins and destroyed those cities of Zhu (that was 512 B.C.). King
Wu Kwang (Yen Lu) wanted to continue with the invasion, but General
Sun Woo felt it wasn't the right time and stopped (Sun Woo deserted
Zhu and joined the Wu at that time) King Wu Kwang.
Fourth year: Wu attacked Zhu, taking two cities:
Liou and Chieng. Fifth year: Attacked Yue and lost. Sixth year,
Zhu sent his son to attack Wu but lost at Yu-Chan and took Zhu's
capital.
In 506 B.C., two neighbor clans of Zhu Kingdom,
who were under Zhu's jurisdiction (Cai and Chen kingdoms), sent
Ambassadors to Wu explaining the bad deeds controlled by the Zhu's
governors. At this time, Sun Woo analyzed the situation and explained
to King Wu as since in the past, many neighbor clans were always
helping the Zhu kingdom out, and it was very difficult to attack
Zhu, but recently many of these clan leaders wanted to get away
from the dictatorship of Zhu, so the time to attack was right then.
During the winter of this year, King Wu appointed Sun Woo as the
general of 60,000 troops and sent him in the name of defending the
Cai clan to invade Zhu Kingdom.
Wu and Zhu engaged to battle many times, and Zhu
has been losing and moving North all the time. Wu's first general
Fu-Kai (Kwang's son), suggested to take this time while the Zhu
armies were tired and disorganized -- and attack. King Wu didn't
take the suggestion, so Fu-Kai decided to proceed with the attack,
he took 5000 men and entered Zhu's military main camp, and destroyed
their camping area, Zhu's general Zhi-Zang escaped to Zheng Clan.
Wu troupe continued attacking the Zhu throughout west (even when
their general escaped to Zheng Clan), they encountered another troupe
of Zhu's. King Wu wanted to attack then but Fu-Kai explained that
they should wait until the Zhu are in the middle of the water so
it will be easier to defeat them. So, they waited as Zhu's troupe
crossed the Qing-Fa River, and -- right in middle -- the Wus attacked.
Since many Zhu soldiers tried to save their lives they tried to
get back to the shore and were very disorganized. Wu attacked from
the back and killed many Zhu's. Wu continued invading up to southwest
of Jingsan City in Hupei province. They encountered Zhu enforcement
and defeated the as well. Wu continued winning several battle and
finally on November 29, of 501BC, they took Zhu's capital: Jung
Chen.
King Zhu Chao Wang escaped the city and tried to
seek hideout at Yuen's. Yuen's brother wanted to kill King Zhu so
Yuen and King Zhu escaped.
King Wu's troupe entered Jung Chen (the city where
King Zhu was relocated), and General Woo destroyed King Zhu's grave
and house in revenging his father's death. Tenth year, Yue head
that Wu is at Jung Chen and no one is in the Wu capital, they decided
to attack Wu. King Wu sent other troupe to attack Yue, and was wining.
King Zhu, who was in hiding, heard of the attack; he immediately
requested help from Ch'ing's kingdom. It took the representative
of Zhu, named Seng Kong-Xu begging and crying for seven days and
seven nights that Ch'ing finally accepted to help. With the help
of Ch'ing, Yue and Ch'ing defeated Wu. King Wu's brother saw that
King Wu didn't want to leave Jung Chen and Yue and Ch'ing defeated
Wu's troupe, so he named himself the new King Wu.
King Wu Kwang heard of the news, he immediately
attacked his younger son Wu Fu-kai. Fu-kai lost and went to King
Zhu. Zhu had returned back to Cheng in September that year. King
Wu then named Fu-kai to govern Tang-Yu.
Eleventh years, King Wu Kwang sent his son Wu Fu-Chai
to attack Zhu at Cheng. Zhu got afraid and left Cheng City again.
Fifteen years, Confucius joined the Lu. Nineteenth year, summer:
Wu attack Yue; King Yue Kou-Jien defended very well and sentenced
death upon the criminals of Wu, but the criminals all committed
suicide in front of Wu's trope. Yue lost the battle at Ku-Shu after
trying to invade Wu. King Wu Kwang got a cut in his finger, which
became gravely infected and led to his death. His son Wu Fu-Chai
became the successor and vowed to avenge his dad's death by promising
to destroy Yue in 3 years. Wu Kwang was buried at Tiger Hill located
at Wu Town in Jiangsu Province. The Sword Pond is also located here.
(King Wu's grave is about 60 feet wide, 5 meters deep; the casket
is made of bronze, and it has been told that nearly 5000 swords
were buried with him. After his burial, more than 10,000 people
tried to get the swords... It was named Tiger Hill, due to the fact
that three days after the burial, a white tiger sought shelter on
the grave.)
King Wu Fu-Chai started to learn martial arts with
General Sun Woo. He wanted to master the art in order to avenge
his father's death. Second year, he strategically attacked Yue and
defeated General Fu-Su of the Yue Kingdom. King Yue Kuo-Jien wanted
a truce with King Wu by offering 5000 good soldiers and his daughter
as wife and accepted to obey King Wu's command (as a minister of
Yue). King Wu accepted the gift even though General Woo tried to
talk him out of it.
Seven years, King Wu Fu-Chai heard of King Chi Jing-Kong
died and the new king is still weak, so he attacked Chi, at this
time General Woo requested that Wu should also eliminate King Yue
Kou-Jien because he has been living day by day with the basic needs,
and he seems to hold a grudge against the King Wu... Now that many
of Yue's people are in the kingdom, they might be a problem if Yue
Kou-Jien is not eliminated. King Wu was busy with the planning of
attack of Chi, so he ignored the pleas.
Wu attacked Chi and won at Ai-Ling City. They decided
not to continue the attack and let the Chi struggle in South. Ninth
year, Wu attacked Lu and signed a treaty. In the tenth year, The
Wus returned after the invasion of Chi. Eleventh year, attacked
Chi again -- this time, Yue Kou-Jien wanted to volunteer his troops
against Chi, and so King Wu was quite pleased. But General Woo was
still skeptical about this issue... King Wu ignore Woo and Woo left
to Chi. General Woo later changed his family last name to Chi as
an insult to King Wu.
In
the same year, the Kingdom of Zhu attacked the Cheng Clan; Wu Ji-Zhe
went and helped the Chengs. Later Wu Ji-Zhe attacked the Chi and
lost his son during the battle. Upset, Wu Ji-Zhe decided to retire
and live in a mountain. Wu Ji-Zhe died when he was about 90-years-old.
Confucius had commented Wu Ji-Zhe to be a highland educated, humble
and kind 'highlander' who understood to give and not to take. When
he died, he was buried with his other sword that was famous during
his time.
After hearing that Woo changed his family name to
Chi, King Wu got angry and wanted him dead. Woo's son killed his
father. When King Wu heard of this, he cried for three days and
then attacked Chi from the ocean. Chi defeated Wu.
Thirteenth year: Wu summoned the kings of Lu and
Wei; later he summoned all his ministers in planning to rule China
once again. Yue attacked Wu in June by surprised with his 5000 troops
already penetrated in Wu's kingdom. Wu lost. King Wu became so enraged
that he killed seven of his people at one meeting.
This time, Yue has become very powerful. Zhu defeated
Chen clan, and Wu destroyed Zhu... Twentieth year: Yue attacked
Wu... 21st Century: Wu was being chased and when Yue Kou-Jien got
closer to Wu Fu-Chai, King Wu committed suicide after realizing
he could no longer defend.
NOTE:
Wu Ji-Zhe was a loner.
He hated being part of politics and government, and because
of that, he had destroyed the Wu Kingdom. Wu Kwang died after a
battle against the Yue and was buried in Wu Town. Later, Wu Fu-Zhai
(Wu Kwan's son) became the successor to Wu and fought against Yue.
He successfully captured Emperor Yue Kou-Jien -- after three years,
King Wu released him. But Yue vowed to get revenge -- and so, a
famous legend arose: "Ten Year Together, Ten Years of Lesson"
was one of the famous metaphors of that time. Wu Fu-Zhai owns many
good weapons, including a set of 6 swords, which were recently displayed
(August-December 1995) at the Beijin Museum, along with Yue Kou-Jien's
swords and spears. Yue attacked Wu and so the Wu's lost their kingdom.
Wu destroyed Zhu and Pu -- and Wu was finally defeated by Yue.