Chapter 2 The Rebellion of Su Hu The next morning, King Zhou prepared one letter for each of the four Grand Dukes stating that one hundred virgin women that possess at least a moderate level of physical beauty should be presented before the capital as soon as possible. As prime minister Shang Rong reminded the king that such an action would only bring out mass contempt and future rebellion, King Zhou saw his reasoning and withdraw the edict immediately. When the eight–hundred marquises had appeared to offer their allegiance to the Shang Dynasty the following summer, Fei Zhong and You Hun became extremely influential in court due to the leave of Grand Old Master, and thus asked for many presents and additional bribes from the former wealthy classmen. However, Su Hu, Marquis of Jizhou, refuted such compliances due to his fiery resolve to stand against such injustices fully. Due to such, Fei Zhong and You Hun grew rather hateful towards Su Hu throughout the future. As the nation's marquises and dukes had arrived at capital Morning Song to display their obeisance at the end of the year, the four grand dukes would be specifically placed before King Zhou and fully honored for great diligence in their duty. After the four dukes had been well–feasted throughout the day, King Zhou returned to his inner chambers and discussed the current situation with his two favorite ministers Fei Zhong and You Hun. In a chance to force Su Hu to repent for his defiance, Fei Zhong declared to the king that the former possessed an exceedingly beautiful daughter that must be attained if the letter's ministers were to continue to trust his decision making. After Su Hu had thus been summoned to the Dragon Virtue Court, King Zhou told the latter that if he was to attain his daughter, Su Hu would be granted great wealth, rank, and recognition within the dynasty of Shang. As Su Hu declined with many words of insult towards the king's lack of virtue, King Zhou became rageful and ordered Su Hu to be arrested. However, Fei Zhong advised the king that if he allowed Su Hu to return to Jizhou out of consideration and personal dignity, the people of Shang would look upon the king as a worthy ruler that listens keenly to his people's desires; in such a way, Su Hu's daughter could also be more easily attained. Now settling down to an extent, King Zhou ordered Su Hu to be expelled from the court. As Su Hu thus returned to Jizhou, he considered his choices. If he was to give his daughter to King Zhou, ministers of the court would think of him as slanderous and immoral; if he refused to hand over his daughter, the king would most likely attack his prefecture with an army in order to ensure that his defiance could not spread further. Carefully analyzing this, he decided it best to gather his own forces to fight Shang while he wrote a poem that represented hatred towards the Shang Dynasty upon the Meridian Gate inside the capital Morning Song.
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After King Zhou had taken notice of this immensely defiant poem, he ordered a force of six armies to be placed under his command during the newly established attack upon Jizhou. As General Lu Xiong elaborated his suggestions to the king, it was decided that Grand Duke of the North, Chong Houhu, and Ji Chang, Grand Duke of the West, would lead a joint force against Su Hu's city instead. At the capital hall, where the grand dukes and other high ranking officials were present, Ji Chang ordered an investigation as to why a loyal subject such as Su Hu would be deserving of punishment, while Chong Houhu unconditionally accepted the king's words and headed out immediately with his army. Once Su Hu had attained word of Chong Houhu's movement towards his territory, the former ordered his soldiers to be well drilled to defend the city walls against the king's army. As Chong Houhu's army of 50,000 strong soldiers arrived before Jizhou, Su Hu grinded his teeth in frustration after hearing from an intelligence officer that Chong Houhu was the enemy commander due to his one– sided reasoning. Amidst the roar of cannons, Su Hu presented himself before Chong Houhu and elaborated the rationale behind his defiance. Chong Houhu became enraged at his words, and sent forth General Mei Wu to dispose of the former in a quick manner. Su Quanzhong, the eldest son of Su Hu, intercepted Mei Wu, who was cut down by Quanzhong after following twenty rounds of fierce battle. Now that Su Hu's son had won the first victory, an all–out melee was unleashed between both forces resulting in Chong Houhu's eventual retreat. As the Jizhou forces thus returned to the city, it was decided that a surprise attack should be ushered forth that night upon the latter's stockades as to deal a critical blow to Chong Houhu's morale and attain potential assistance of other neighboring powers— such as the Grand Dukes — after they had heard of Jizhou's strength. Once such a tactic had been fully employed at dusk, Chong Houhu fled to a newly established camp and drink his worries away at the thought of Ji Chang's future assistance. While his forces thus ignorantly slept for the night, Su Hu's forces charged forth with the furiousness of a tiger and slaughtered countless soldiers of Shang in mere moments. Now in a state of great fear for his life, Chong Houhu personally clashed his cutless against the resolved Su Hu until the former's generals ran to his assistance. As the Shang forces thus fled in majority, Su Hu called off their pursuit after twenty li 3 of distance was traveled. While currently fleeing through the stars of night with his generals, Chong Houhu came to the conclusion that strict defense should be employed for the moment while a messenger should be sent to Ji Chang in request for reinforcements. Unfortunately for Chong however, Su Quanzhong suddenly appeared before the light of the moon with his ambush–party completely determined to put an end to the former's life. With his immense renown and resolve, Su Quanzhong easily defeated three generals of Shang singlehandedly with his great dragon glaive.4 3. Chinese unit of distance, equal to about 0.6 km (0.4 mile). 4. A sword or a large curve blade fixed on the end of a pole; also, a light lance with a long sharp-pointed head.
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Chong Houhu, who became exceedingly fearful over the former's skill, fled away immediately from the combat. In a state of distraction over his father's sudden choice, Chong Yingbiao received a deep wound through his left arm from Su Quanzhong's glaive — and thus fled for his life in addition. As Su Hu held conference the following day, Quanzhong appeared before his father and elaborated his great victory in the previous night. With great joy, the former smiled in admiration at his son's prowess and thus made preparations for his next essential movement.
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