Lord Zhou assists King Cheng

After King Wu established the Zhou Dynasty, he fell ill and died after two years. His son, Ji Chant, succeeded to the throne and became King Cheng of Zhou. At that time, King Cheng of Zhou was only thirteen years old, and besides, the newly established Zhou Dynasty was not yet stable. So King Cheng was assisted by King Wu's younger brother, Zhou Gong Dan, who was in charge of the state affairs, actually acting as the son of heaven. History usually does not call Zhou Gong Dan by his name, but only by the name of the Duke of Zhou.

The Duke of Zhou's fief was in the state of Lu, but since he had to stay in the capital to deal with political affairs, he could not go to his fief, so when his son Bo Zi grew up, he sent Bo Zi to be the king of Lu on his behalf.

When Bo fowl was leaving, he asked his father what he wanted to do. The Duke of Zhou said, "I am the son of King Wen, the brother of King Wu, and the uncle of the present Son of Heaven, what do you think of my position?"

Bo fowl said, "That is naturally very high."

The Duke of Zhou said, "That's right! My status is indeed very high, but whenever I wash my hair, I stop washing it as soon as I come across an urgent matter, and hold it in my hand to go to work; whenever I hear that someone is asking for an audience while I am eating, I spit out the meal that I cannot swallow and go to receive those who ask for an audience. When I did so, I was afraid that the talents of the world would not come to me. When you arrive at Lu, you are only a king, so you must not be proud of yourself!"

He nodded repeatedly and said that he would remember his father's teaching.

But his brothers Guan Shu and Cai Shu started a rumor that the Duke of Zhou was ambitious and wanted to usurp the throne.

Although Wu Geng, son of King Zhou, was appointed as the Marquis of Yin, he was under the surveillance of the Zhou Dynasty and felt very unfree. He was eager to regain his throne of Yin and Shang by having civil unrest in the Zhou Dynasty.

The rumors created by Wu Geng and Guan Shu became so popular that even Zao Gong Shi was suspicious. King Cheng was too young to know what was going on, so he was not sure whether it was true or not.

The Duke of Zhou was saddened, and he first spoke to Zhaogong Shi with his liver and guts, telling him that he had no ambition and that he should take the overall situation into account and not believe the rumors. Moved by his sincere words, Zhaogong Shi removed his misunderstanding and cooperated with the Duke of Zhou again. After the Duke of Zhou had settled his internal situation, he resolutely mobilized his army and led it to the east personally.

At this time, several tribes in the east, such as Huaiyi and Xu Rong, were cooperating with Wu Geng and were eager to move. The Duke of Zhou gave orders to Taigongwang, authorizing him to conquer all the vassals who disobeyed the Zhou Dynasty. In this way, Taigongwang controlled the East, and he did his best to deal with Wu Geng.After three years of work, the Duke of Zhou finally put down Wugeng's rebellion and killed Wugeng, who had led the rebellion. When Guan Shu saw Wu Geng's defeat, he felt ashamed to meet his brother and nephew and hanged himself. After the rebellion was over, Zhou Ping dismissed Huo Shu from his post and sentenced Cai Shu to a term of imprisonment.