the Wei, The centre of all the states, The resort of the lower people.
God said to king Wăn, 'I am pleased with your intelligent virtue, Not loudly proclaimed nor pourtrayed, Without extravagance or changeableness, Without consciousness of effort on your part, In accordance with the pattern of God.' God said to king Wăn, 'Take measures against the country of your foes. Along with your brethren, Get ready your scaling ladders, And your engines of onfall and assault, To attack the walls of Khung[1].'
The engines of onfall and assault were (at first) gently plied, Against the walls of Khung high and great; Captives for the question were brought in, one after another; The left ears (of the slain) were taken leisurely[2]. He had sacrificed to God and to the Father of War[3], Thus seeking to induce
- ↑ Khung was a state, in the present district of Hû, department Hsî-an, Shen-hsî. His conquest of Khung was an important event in the history of king Wăn. He moved his capital to it, advancing so much farther towards the east, nearer to the domain of Shang. According to Sze-mâ Khien the marquis of Khung had slandered the lord of Kâu, who was president of the states of the west, to Kâu-hsin, the king of Shang, and our hero was put in prison. His friends succeeded in effecting his deliverance by means of various gifts to the tyrant, and he was reinstated in the west with more than his former power. Three years afterwards he attacked the marquis of Khung.
- ↑ So far the siege was prosecuted slowly and, so to say, tenderly, Wăn hoping that the enemy would be induced to surrender without great sacrifice of life.
- ↑ The sacrifice to God had been offered in Kâu, at the commencement of the expedition; that to the Father of War, on the army's arriving at the borders of Khung. We can hardly tell who is intended by the Father of War. Kû Hsî and others would require the plural 'Fathers,' saying the sacrifice was to Hwang Tî and Khih Yû, who are found engaged in hostilities far back in the
