Who was the first female commander in chief?

Good woman, unknown year of birth and death, good name. "Woman" is the address of relatives. That is, the bronze inscription called "Xin Mama". A famous female general in Shang Dynasty, one of the wives (concubines) of Wu Ding in Shang Dynasty, and the first talented female commander in chief in China.

More than 3,200 years ago, a talented monarch, Wu Ding, appeared in the middle and late Shang Dynasty in China's slave society. After he ascended the throne, he was determined to revive the Shang Dynasty, "cultivate one's morality and cultivate one's nature" and make great efforts to govern the Shang Dynasty. He has no concept of family status, nor does he have the concept that men are superior to women. He appointed Fu Shuo, who came from humble origins and was brilliant, as the prime minister, and asked his wife to command the army of Shang Dynasty and practice the martial arts of Wenzhi, which finally made "Yin Guo Da Zhi" one of the strongest slavery kingdoms in history. During his 59-year rule, Wu Ding brought the Shang Dynasty to its peak, and many neighboring countries and tribes began to rely on it. He also established the right, middle and left divisions with the division as the largest unit, so that the Shang army had a standing army in addition to the temporary recruitment system.

The name Fu Hao frequently appeared in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, not only because she was the wife of the king, but more importantly, she was an outstanding political activist and strategist who was active in the Wuding period.

In Shang Dynasty, because of the low social productivity, people could not correctly understand nature and society, so they attributed the movement, development and change of everything in the world to the manipulation and domination of ghosts and gods. Therefore, they should always offer sacrifices to the gods of mountains and rivers and ancestors, and pray for the protection and blessing of ghosts and gods. Especially the Shang royal family and the slave owners' ruling class, they repeatedly divined everything and prayed for ghosts and gods. Therefore, banners and divination became the most important political activities at that time.

There are many kinds of sacrificial ceremonies in Shang dynasty, such as offering sacrifices to heaven, spring water and ancestors, as well as items to eliminate diseases and disasters, as well as sacrifices before going out to war and so on. These numerous sacrificial activities are usually presided over by slave owners with higher status. Fu Hao is often ordered by the king to host such activities.

Most of the ceremonies were held in palaces and ancestral halls surrounded by cigarettes. Slave owners, nobles and civilians who attended the blessing ceremony were dressed neatly, and the solemn island bowed down with the order. Fu Hao, the host, stood in a prominent position next to the altar, reading a eulogy loudly, offering cows, wine, slaves and prisoners of war killed on the spot as sacrifices to the gods who enjoyed the sacrifice.

During 1976, a large number of bronzes were unearthed in Fu Hao's tomb excavated at Duan Xu site in Anyang County, Henan Province. Among them, the giant cookware of Shang dynasty, which was first discovered in China, was engraved with the word "Fu Hao" in many places. It can be seen that Fu Hao was ordered to preside over the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the handle and frequently participated in the activities of offering sacrifices to the handle.

In the archaeological excavation of the market in the past, some tortoise shells engraved with "Fu Hao Renovation" were also found. Thus, Fu Hao was also a fortune teller in Gao Chao. The divination of Shang people is to take the whole tortoise shell and moxibustion with fire to make the tortoise shell bone burn and crack into scorched lines. The fortune teller then judges good or bad according to the texture orientation of the focal line and decides whether things can be done. And the result of divination and what happened later are engraved on the same piece of Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The important preparation before divination is to correct the tortoise shell and animal bones. It is impossible to burn tortoise shell moxibustion without treatment. The so-called rectification is to remove the meat residue and rubber band left on the tortoise shell, wash it and cut it. After drying, drill a certain number of small circles on it with a special bronze drill at a certain interval, and burn moxibustion with a fire column when preparing for divination, so that cracks appear on the tortoise shell. At that time, only fortune tellers were qualified to correct Oracle Bone Inscriptions and divination. The fortune teller should not only personally rectify Jiahua, but also take it as a note and engrave it on his rectified Oracle bones to show his seriousness. As a fortune teller, Fu Hao can write on the Oracle Bone Inscriptions. There is no doubt that she was highly educated at that time. Fu Hao was indeed a great political activist in the slave owners' ruling group of Shang Dynasty.

The state affairs of the Shang Dynasty were not only flag bearers and divination, but also conquering wars to defend the frontier, expand the territory and plunder slaves, which is the so-called "state affairs are in harmony". During the Wu Ding period, Fu Hao was also an important figure in a series of anti-foreign movements. In the literature at that time, her military activities were recorded in considerable detail.

It takes a lot of people to participate in the war. Generally speaking, in ancient times, when fighting with cold weapons, which side of the warring parties invested more troops, which side had a better chance of winning. Therefore, before each war, the Shang Dynasty mobilized as many soldiers as possible to enrich the army. As a military general, Fu Hao often enlisted for Wang Shang. She not only collected in China, but also went deep into tribes and Fang Guozhong, which was obligated to Shang Dynasty, to collect extensively.

Every time Fu Hao goes out, there are thousands of troops in the ligament. There is an Oracle saying: "It is almost impossible for three cadres of Fu Hao to attack Qiang", which means that Zheng sent three cadres of Fu Hao and 10,000 other soldiers to order them to attack Qiang. Fu Hao's team of more than thirteen thousand people was indeed a mighty army at that time. She not only holds heavy troops herself, but also sometimes directs other military generals to fight. Four handfuls of copper coins, two big and two small, were unearthed in Fu Hao's tomb, and the words "Fu Hao" were engraved on them. Two big copper anchors, each weighing eight or nine kilograms. These two huge and heavy steel seals symbolize the supreme kingship of Shang Dynasty, and the word "Fu Hao" engraved on them shows her supreme military authority.

More than a thousand miles away from the capital of Shang Dynasty (now Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan Province), it is a powerful upper tribe. They often invaded the hunting area on the border of Shang Dynasty at will and plundered imported property. The Shang king fought against the Turks many times, but failed to subdue the enemy. The Turks invaded the south year after year. When Wu Ding acceded to the throne, Mingmu led the troops to battle, and defeated the invading enemy in only one battle. Fu Hao followed closely and finally defeated the earth completely. From then on, the Turks never dared to attack the city again, and their power gradually declined (see Shang Wu Ding's War against the Northwest Nomads).

Iraq is located in the southeast of Shang dynasty, and its national strength is not strong, but occasionally attackers invade the territory of the river dynasty, killing and looting. Wu Ding and his wife are good soldiers to meet them. Fu Hao came to the front line, held his ground, secretly spied on the enemy's situation, seized the favorable opportunity, and suddenly attacked all fronts. After only one battle, Guo Yi never got into trouble again. In the northwest, the women's team also repelled the invasion of Qiang people.

Pakistan in the southwest of Shang Dynasty often had wars with Shang Dynasty. Wu Ding once sent troops in person. Before the war, he and Fu Hao discussed a plan to let Fu Hao lead the troops to advance in the direction of the Pakistani army's retreat. Wu Ding personally led the elite troops to attack the Pakistani army barracks. The Pakistani army was suddenly hit, panicked and ran away. Fu Hao commanded the ambush to intercept head-on. As a result, all Pakistani troops were annihilated by Wu Ding and Fu Hao (see Wu Ding attacking Pakistan).

Fu Hao died in Wu Ding first. After Fuxi's death, our tribe, which grew up in the north, became the main enemy of Shang Dynasty. Wu Ding often worries that he can't conquer the negative side. From time to time, he divined and begged the kind charming women to win over us. This, from another aspect, reflects Fu Haosheng's fame as a military commander before his birth.

Fu Hao, a noble slave owner in Shang Dynasty, not only played a great role in social life at that time, but also was independent economically. Like other nobles and heroes, she managed the fief and a private field granted by the Shang king completely independently. In addition, the rich also have two kinds of personal movable property: one is bronze, jade and cargo shell, which symbolizes power and wealth. Thousands of pounds of exquisite bronzes, more than 600 jade articles and more than 7,000 seashells were found in Fu Hao's tomb, which is a considerable wealth. The other is a talking tool-a slave. Fu Hao obtained a large number of slaves through the reward of Shang king and personal conquest and exile, forcing them to work for himself. After his wife died, Wu Ding killed 16 slaves for her martyrdom.

When Fu Hao was born, Wu Ding was very concerned about her and often divined her daily life, health, fertility and other aspects. After Fu Hao's death, she still enjoyed a high position in the eyes of Shang kings in previous dynasties. After Wu Ding's death, his descendants did not regard Fu Hao as a wife attached to Wu Ding, and moved his body into the tomb to be buried with Wu Ding, but kept Fu Hao's own grave alone; When the ancestors of the dragon robe sacrificed, they also held sacrifices for women alone.

In the Shang dynasty of slave society, the patriarchal clan system was not perfect, and some remnants of matriarchal clan society were still preserved. Noble women like Fu Hao can give full play to their intelligence and make outstanding contributions to a certain extent. Compared with the establishment of feudal patriarchal clan system in Zhou Dynasty, the status of women plummeted. Women are cut under theocracy, clan power and husband power, and become the bottom of society.

Comments: Fu Hao is the earliest female military commander in the history of China and the world, and an outstanding representative of women in China.

Attachment: Fu Haohan White Jade Statue:

The statue of the rich white marble standing in front of the rich viewing hall was carved according to relevant information. Look at it. Bright-eyed, indomitable and magnificent, it shows the heroic demeanor of the earliest women in China. This large bronze cymbal with dragon pattern in her hand is a weapon she used before her death and weighs 8.5 kilograms. The other tiger-patterned brass cymbal weighs 9 kilograms. Women are good at using such heavy weapons, which shows that they have superior martial arts and extraordinary strength. The ancient axe was mainly used to run the army. "The axe was once a symbol of military command, that is, kingship.