Ji Chang's ancestor was Houji, the son of Emperor Ku, the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor, and Concubine Jiang Yuan. He was enfeoffed by Yao in Tai City (now Wugong County, Shaanxi Province). In the early years of the Shang Dynasty, the descendants of Houji, Gong Liu, led his clansmen to move to Bo (now Bin County and Xunyi in Shaanxi Province). When they arrived at the ancient duke Danfu, they crossed the Qishui River, Ju River, and Liangshan, and moved to the Zhou Yuan south of Qishan in the Wei River basin. They changed from nomadic life to farming life, and the ancient duke Danfu was honored as the Great Duke of Zhou.
Ji Chang's father, Ji Li, was the youngest son of Great Duke Zhou. His eldest brother, Ji Taibo, and his second brother, Ji Yuzhong, knew that their father wanted to pass the throne to Ji Li, so they fled to the south, where they lived and multiplied.
After Jili took over the throne, he practiced benevolence and righteousness, built irrigation works, developed agricultural production, trained the army, and married the noble Ren of the Shang Dynasty. He was conferred the title of " Priest " by King Wending of the Shang Dynasty and became the leader of the western vassals, known as the West. Later on, the Zhou tribe that continued to grow and develop caused the Shang King Wending to feel uneasy. He summoned Ji Li to Yan City and put him under house arrest. Ji Li starved to death.
After Ji Li's death, Ji Chang inherited the position of the West Uncle. He wholeheartedly carried out benevolence and righteousness, respected the elderly, and loved the younger generation. He was modest and polite to the wise men. Sometimes he did not have time to eat at noon to receive the wise men, so the scholars all attached themselves to him. When Boyi and Shuqi were in the Lone Bamboo Kingdom (now east of Taihang Mountain, Inner and Outer Mongolia, Northeast China, and North Korea), they heard that Xi Bo respected the old man very much, so they discussed why they didn't go to Xi Bo. Taidian, Hong Yao, San Yisheng, Yu Zi, and Doctor Xinjia all submitted to Xi Bo.
Jiang Ziya was the founder of the military of the Celestial Dynasty. He had profound military attainments. He taught Ji Chang the Six Tactics, made chariots, armor, improved weapons, and practiced new formations, creating an invincible army for Ji Chang. Ever since Ji Chang got Jiang Ziya, he was like a tiger with wings, like a fish in water. He conferred Jiang Ziya the title of "Grand Preceptor"(the name of a military officer) and thought that Jiang Ziya was the person he wanted the most. He also called Jiang Ziya "Taigong Wang."
With Jiang Ziya's help, Ji Chang developed production and took in a large number of escaped slaves to prevent the loss of labor force and strengthen the Zhou Family. On one hand, he continued to expand his territory and make some tribes near Zhou submit.
Chonghou Hu (the king of Chongcheng (now Hu County County, Shaanxi Province) said to King Zhou of Yin,""Heber has accumulated good deeds and virtues, and all the vassals have submitted to him. This will be detrimental to you!”King Zhou of Yin felt that Chonghou Hu's words were reasonable. In order to prevent Ji Chang from usurping the Shang Dynasty, he summoned Ji Chang to Zhaoge and imprisoned him in the Tangyin area of Henan Province.
Hong Yao, San Yisheng, and the others quickly asked Jiang Ziya about the plan to rescue Ji Chang. Jiang Ziya said,"Give him what he likes. Di Xin loved beautiful women and treasures, so he gave them to him in exchange for Xi Bo.”
Hong Yao, San Yisheng, and the others tried to find beautiful women from Youshen, horses with red manes and white bodies and golden eyes from Lirong, thirty-six good horses from You Xiong Kingdom, and some other rare treasures. They presented them to King Zhou through Fei Zhong, a favorite of King Zhou of Yin. Fei Zhong put in a lot of good words for Ji Chang.。
When Zhou saw the beauty and the treasure, he was very happy and said,""One of these things can release Heber, let alone so many!”Therefore, he pardoned Heber and gave him bows, arrows, axes, and axes, giving him the right to conquer the neighboring princes. He even said to Ji Chang,"It's all because Chonghou Hu said bad things about Xi Bo that I imprisoned him."”
After Ji Chang returned to Xi Qi, he offered the land west of Luo River and asked King Zhou to abolish the criminal law of branding. This punishment was to smear oil on the copper pillar and burn charcoal below. The punished would climb the copper pillar. If they could not climb, they would fall into the charcoal fire. King Zhou agreed to Heber's request.
West Uncle Ji Chang secretly did good deeds, and all the vassals came to ask him to adjudicate disputes. At that time, the people of Yu Country and Rui Country had a dispute and couldn't settle it, so they came to Zhou Country together. After entering the territory of Zhou, he found that the farmers gave way to each other. People had the habit of modestly giving way to the elders. The people who were arguing between Yu and Rui felt ashamed even before they saw Xi Bo."What we're fighting for is something that the people of Zhou feel ashamed of. Why are we still looking for Heber? We'll only bring shame upon ourselves.”So they returned, gave up their fields, and left. When the dukes heard about this, they all said,"Heber is most likely the sovereign who has received the mandate of heaven.”
Ji Chang of the West took advantage of the power granted to him by King Zhou of Shang to conquer the vassals and sent Jiang Ziya to lead the army to conquer the Western Quanrong tribe. According to the archeological records of the two words "Ran Sun" in the jade town that the Quanrong tribe dedicated to the Yellow Emperor, the Quanrong tribe called themselves "Ran Sun". In the Xia literature,"Sun" was the self-proclaimed name of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor, and the ancient Quanrong tribe was also the descendants of the Yellow Emperor.）Then, he conquered the Qi Kingdom (in the southwest of Changzhi, Shanxi Province) and the Yu Kingdom (in Qinyang, Henan Province) eastward. Finally, he conquered the Chong Kingdom of Chonghou Hu and destroyed the Chong Kingdom loyal to King Zhou of Shang Dynasty. At this time, the Zhou Kingdom already had one of the three parts of the world. Ji Chang moved the capital to Fengdu (now the west bank of the Feng River in Hu County, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province) and prepared to attack King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty and seize the world.
The minister Zoe panicked and hurriedly ran over to King Yinzhou, saying,""Son of Heaven, I'm afraid the heavens are going to cut off the fate of our country! The man who knew the fate of heaven used the big turtle to divine, but could not find any good omen. It's not that the former king didn't want to help us, but because the king was lascivious and playful. Now, even the subjects hope that the Yin Kingdom will perish.'Why hasn't the heavens sent down a punishment?'Destiny no longer belongs to us. What does Your Majesty plan to do?”
King Zhou said,"Ha! Wasn't my fate already decided by the heavens?”"You've made too many mistakes," Zoe retorted."The heavens already know about it. Can you still pray for their blessings? The Shang Dynasty is about to perish. From your actions, I can see that your country will not be destroyed by the Zhou Country!”
The second year after Ji Chang moved the capital to Fengdu (now the west bank of the Feng River in Hu County, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province), he passed away. His second son, Ji Fa, succeeded the throne. This was King Wu. He respected Jiang Ziya as "Shishang Fu" and Ji Chang as King Wen. He followed King Wen's example and inherited King Wen's cause.
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