Although various individuals, clan princes, and officials from the incipient bureaucracy were frequently entrusted with field responsibility, Shang kings such as Wu Ting personally participated in numerous battles, sometimes in sole command, at other times accompanied by well-known figures, whether as allies or in a subordinate role. Overall, it appears that Wu Ting commanded perhaps a third of their expeditionary campaigns, primarily those directed against formidable enemies such as the Kung-fang and T’u-fang, particularly whenever initial Shang efforts proved inadequate.93However, he also relied on a small group of commanders who received frequent assignments and were repeatedly assigned to battle certain enemies, undeniable evidence that martial knowledge and expertise were being increasingly recognized.
As might be expected, a number of commanders who rose to prominence early on in Wu Ting’s lengthy reign perished or faded away before its conclusion. Martial responsibility was often assumed by leaders from allied states that had initially opposed the Shang, including four already noted: Ch’üeh, Chih Kuo, Yüeh, and Wang Ch’eng.94 However, without question, the outstanding figure of the first period was the leader known as Ch’üeh (or Ch’iao), chief of a tribe or proto-state located to the west of the Shang, perhaps in either Chin-nan or Yü-hsi.95 Vigorous throughout Wu Ting’s middle period as well, he was repeatedly deputed to conquer such rebellious proto-states as Hsien,96 Hsüan,97 Mu,98 Fu,99 Sang,100 Ko, Ch’ing,101 Chi-fang,102 T’an,103 Wo,104 Ch’iang (in the early period), Ts’ai, 105 Chi,106 Wang107 and Yüeh108 (whose leaders both became famous Shang generals after submitting), Yu,109 and others,110 including a few whose names (characters) lack modern equivalents and thus remain unpronounceable, as well as clan states with the Shang surname. In total, he undertook more than twenty efforts on the king’s behalf, sometimes even in conjunction with Fu Hao, as well as important thrusts with the king to the south in the initial period, far exceeding the four or five each directed by all others.111 Even though he was not a royal clan member, he was still entrusted with authority over the royal army,112 and his fate was frequently the subject of oracular inquiry.113
Although the tribal leader Chih Kuo became one of Wu Ting’s four major commanders in his middle and late periods, he was initially counted among the Shang’s enemies and similarly had to be forcefully coerced into submitting.114 His participation in several important campaigns, including those mounted against the T’u-fang,115 Pa-fang,116 Ch’iang,117 Hsia-wei,118 and Kung-fang,119 has already been recounted, but he was also instrumental in efforts against other proto-states, including the Jen-fang120 and T’an.121 Furthermore, he seems to have been chosen far more often than other prominent commanders to accompany the king and Fu Hao, suggesting that he specialized as an executive officer for the main commander or as the subcommander for a second, discrete force charged with independent but coordinated battlefield action.122
Wang Ch’eng became a staunch Shang ally after having been the objective of suppressive campaigns led by Ch’üeh and others. He eventually proved the key commander in the victorious effort mounted against the Hsia-wei, nearly always taking the field with the king.123 Despite clearly specializing in Hsia-wei warfare, he participated in critical actions against the T’u-fang, Hu-fang,124 and Kung-fang,125 and in a few other conflicts, generally in alliance with the king.126
A number of women clearly played a vital role in Shang administrative and military activities during Wu Ting’s reign. They were designated by the term “fu,” an important character with the fundamental meaning of “broom,” which, with the evolution of the written language, came to function as a signifier in the composition of Chinese characters, connoting “consort” or “wife.” (In the Shang the concise form is already functionally identical to this later character.)127 One theory holds that individuals designated as fu originated among the king’s attendants, with the role perhaps having been hereditary among clans, accounting for the occasional reappearance of a name across generations.128 However, more likely the term formally signified the king’s highest-ranking consorts, with the second character in “Fu X” indicating her clan or state of origin.
About one hundred or so fu appear in the oracle inscriptions, including Fu Ching, Fu Hsi, Fu Lung, and Fu Chi. A few clearly attained significant status and exercised surpassing, though derived, authority. Perhaps after initially being responsible for managing ritual and internal palace functions,129 they came to be entrusted with directing a wide range of external activities, including marshaling troops for military campaigns,130 exercising active command in the field,131 administering external areas,132 providing for border defense,133 and overseeing agricultural activities.134Most of the “Fu” who appear in the oracular inscriptions were the formal consorts of Shang kings, but a very few wives of powerful local lords, clan chiefs, and even high officials managed to acquire similar status. Collectively referred to in the inscriptions as the “tuo fu” or chu fu—literally, the many fu or more simply “the fu”—as a group they were sometimes entrusted with specific military responsibilities such as providing for regional defense.135
Apart from Fu Hao, one of King Wu Ting’s three consorts, even the most famous Shang dynasty commanders are known solely through oracular inscriptions. However, the remarkable artifacts preserved in her tomb, only recently discovered, flesh out her portrait and dramatically verify the extensiveness of her political and martial activities. Fortuitously still undisturbed by robbers, Fu Hao’s tomb included unusually massive cauldrons of superlative quality and entire sets of bronze vessels otherwise unseen. Totaling some 3,500 pounds, they provide evidence not just of her status and wealth, but also of Shang opulence and the vast scale of its bronze industry.136
Hundreds of jades and numerous weapons, including eighty-nine ko or dagger-axe blades, many with the identifying mark of Fu Hao or her posthumous title Mu Hsin, and a number of sacrificial victims have also been recovered. Two large axe blades, similar to those employed during ceremonies in subsequent ages to formally bestow martial power, inscribed with her name have also been discovered. These astonishing findings have prompted a closer examination of her life and her unique career as a martial hero as chronicled by some 250 oracle inscriptions.137
Most analysts believe she was active only during Wu Ting’s era and died before the Kung-fang campaign, though whether in battle or from natural causes was not recorded.138 Based on the composition of “hao”—a character composed of the character “tzu,” referring to Shang kinsmen, and “nü,” the basic character or signifier for “woman”—she may have originally been from the king’s clan and probably entered Wu Ting’s household quite young, in accord with regional custom in the period.139 Prognostications indicate she gave birth to several children, both male and female;140was otherwise the subject of the king’s inquiries about her health and security;141 and became the recipient of sacrifices after her death142 and even perturbed the king by appearing in his dreams.143
Fu Hao conducted numerous sacrificial ceremonies,144 authorized divinations, and also sent in turtleshells to be used for divination while undertaking military duties out in the field.145 Moreover, she apparently enforced clan discipline, even acting in a judicial capacity to apprehend a member who had committed a capital offense,146 and handled inner court functions and foreign relations.
From the numerous inscriptions focusing on the auspiciousness of her military expeditions, she not only directed her own troops, but also served as overall commander in campaigns that included one or more experienced, well-known generals such as Chih Kuo, apparently acting as the king’s alter ego in these efforts.147 As already noted, she also had charge of (possibly) the largest recorded Shang force, some 13,000 troops, or more than four times the usual levy of 3,000 men. However, the actual nature of her role remains unknown, prompting some historians to claim it was merely symbolic. Nevertheless, since it is spoken of in the same terms as the king or any other general exercising command, such doubts seem unfounded. Despite the many weapons found with her name inscribed in tomb number five, including symbolic axes of power, whether she actually wielded any weapon, perhaps a bow, is another question.
Although Fu Hao participated in virtually every important campaign from Wu Ting’s middle and early late periods, the great confrontation with the Kung-fang apparently came after her death.148 She successfully attacked the T’u-fang,149 Pa-fang (accompanied by Chih Kuo),150 Yi (accompanied by Hou Kao),151 Ch’iang (the famous campaign in which she was ordered to conscript 3,000 men, 10,000 more men were levied, and a number of prisoners were taken),152 Lung,153 and others.154 In addition, she assembled and led an advance force that prepared the way for the main army in several instances155 and also executed a coordinated, two-pronged attack in conjunction with the king in another.156 Her martial career was thus extraordinary in terms of the number of campaigns directed, victories achieved, and realm of activity, because she commanded efforts in every quarter but the south. During her life she clearly enjoyed higher status than the other fu,157 and around the time of her death she was already being emulated to some extent by Fu Ching, evidence that her role as a commander, though surpassing ordinary mortals, had not been an aberration.158