Three years after the fall of the Shang Dynasty, around 1043 BC, King Wu of Zhou died of illness, and his son Ji Yu ascended the throne as King Cheng of Zhou. King Cheng was still very young when he ascended the throne, so he was regent of the Duke of Zhou and managed state affairs instead of King Cheng. Uncle Guan was extremely dissatisfied with the regent of Duke Zhou because he tried to inherit the throne, so he spread rumors everywhere, and instigated Uncle Cai and Uncle Huo, and instigated Wu Geng and various countries in the east, saying that Duke Zhou wanted to murder King Cheng and steal the throne. In the autumn of 1042 B.C., Wu Geng saw that there was finally an opportunity, so he colluded with Uncle Guan and Uncle Cai, and united some old vassal states in the east to raise troops against Zhou, and the rebel forces spread throughout today's Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui and other places.

Faced with hostile forces from both inside and outside, Zhou Gong weighed many ways and decided to launch a crusade to the east. In order to organize the Eastern Expeditionary Army to launch a counterinsurgency war, the Duke of Zhou first explained earnestly to the Taigong Jiang Ziya and Zhaobo, indicating that his regent was completely for the sake of the Zhou royal family, and there was no dissent. Zhou Gong said: The reason why I did not avoid the difficult situation and presided over government affairs was because I was worried that the world would betray the Zhou Dynasty, otherwise I would have no shame to repay King Tai, King Ji, and King Wen; The three kings have been worried about the world for a long time, and today they have just achieved something, King Wu left us prematurely, and King Cheng is so young, I did this to achieve the Zhou Dynasty!

Jiang Ziya and Zhaobo no longer listened to rumors, and unity was strengthened within the Zhou Dynasty. Subsequently, the Duke of Zhou asked Zhaobo to stay in the capital city of Haojing, deal with the rear government affairs, and announce to the world, contact and mobilize the princes from all over the country. In the autumn of 1042 BC, the Duke of Zhou personally led an army to the east to crusade against the traitors.

At the divination ceremony before the expedition, the Duke of Zhou spoke to his courtiers, he said: The Yin people have just regained a little strength, and they want to take advantage of our internal chaos to rise up and rebel, and regain the power they have lost. Our little Zhou State has only prospered with the blessing of God, and our actions are given by the mandate of heaven. For this expedition, I divined again, and the divination showed that Heaven was coming to help us again, this is the majesty shown by Heaven, no one can disobey it, you should obey the will of Heaven and help me to accomplish this great cause. The words of the Duke of Zhou were recorded by the historians at the time and became one of the "Book of Shang".

After the propaganda and mobilization of Zhou Gong, Zhou Gong organized the army of the Eastern Expedition, and personally served as the commander, waving his army to the east. The army of the Zhou Dynasty came to the Yellow River at the end of the year, and the Yellow River was frozen at this time, and the army crossed the river on ice and successfully arrived at Mengjin, the old land of the Shang Dynasty.

At the beginning of 1041 BC, the Zhou army continued to advance eastward, directly taking Chaoge. The Yin people in Chaoge City were shocked, and Wu Geng hurriedly organized an army to resist. The Zhou army routed all of Wu Geng's horses, and Wu Geng was killed. At the same time, the Duke of Zhou divided his troops all the way to take Uncle Guan's garrison to defend the country, quickly eliminated Uncle Guan's arms, occupied the city, and Uncle Guan was also killed. Then the Zhou Dynasty army conquered Uncle Cai's garrison, captured Uncle Cai, and imprisoned him in Guoling.

After the Zhou army defeated Wu Geng and the three eunuchs, the Duke of Zhou wanted to expand the results of the Eastern Crusade and wiped out the other rebel forces in one fell swoop. Zhou Gong originally planned to go east to attack the state of Am, which was the main rebel force in the east and was considered a relatively large country. Xin Gongjia, a minister of the Zhou Dynasty, suggested to the Duke of Zhou: large countries are difficult to attack, and small countries are easy to attack, so it is better to attack small countries first to isolate large countries. Zhou Gong took his advice, so he changed his plan, waved his army to the southeast, and attacked Jiuyi. Jiuyi were all small countries, not strong, and under the powerful offensive of the Zhou Dynasty army, they were defeated and retreated. However, due to the fact that Jiuyi had fought against the Shang Dynasty for a long time before this, although the number of his army was very small, it was quite combative, and he was very familiar with the local geography and was good at fighting in low-lying rivers and lakes, while the Zhou Dynasty's chariots were inconvenient to move, and many soldiers were not adapted, so the battle of Jiuyi was very hard. After continuous battles, Jiuyi was finally conquered.

In the third year of King Cheng of Zhou, the Zhou army went north to attack the state of Xian, and the Zhou army occupied the neighboring countries on the west and south sides of the country. The dying country was alone, and the monarch was forced to surrender. The Annihilation of the Shang Dynasty by the Duke of Zhou was a major blow to the Yin Shang forces, and other rebel states also surrendered one after another.

Zhou Gong's eastern crusade lasted for three years, and finally put down the armed rebellion of Uncle Guan, Uncle Cai, and Wu Geng. After the Zhou Dynasty put down the rebellion, he took advantage of the victory and marched eastward, eliminating more than 50 small states that participated in the rebellion, and extending the Zhou Dynasty's rule to the eastern coastal areas. In order to completely eliminate the hidden danger of the remnants of the Shang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou built Luoyi on the north bank of Luoshui, which is today's Luoyang, Henan, as the eastern capital of the Zhou Dynasty, in order to strengthen his rule over the East. At the same time, the Shang Dynasty nobleman Weizi, who surrendered to the Zhou Dynasty, opened the Song Dynasty and established the Song State; Feng Zhou Wuwang's younger brother Kang Shu Yu Chaoge established the defense of the country; The eldest son of the Duke of Feng Zhou established the Lu State in the old land of the Xian Kingdom, and governed the remnants of the Yin Dynasty respectively. From then on, the Zhou dynasty's control over the lower reaches of the Yellow River was much firmer.

The hero of today's poem is a soldier who fought for three years with the army of the Eastern Crusade. Now that the crusade is over and he will soon be able to return to his homeland, his feelings are very complicated. Through the perspective of this ordinary soldier, he narrates his complex and sincere inner feelings before returning home after the East Confession, so as to express his thoughts on the war and sympathy for the people. There are memories of his difficult and dangerous life in the past, speculation about the changes and future of his hometown, and his thoughts about his wife, as well as sweet memories of when he and his wife got married.

Walking on the way home, unexpectedly, it was drizzling in the sky, and it was really a drizzly night. He really wanted to go home this time, but at this time, he was very depressed, he looked in the direction of his hometown, and his heart was very sad. From the bottom of his heart, he wished: If I could, I would always wear the coarse cloth clothes made by my wife, and never fight again! A cold wind blew, pulling his thoughts back to reality. Everyone is only on the way home, and because it is drizzling, everyone gathers together like silkworms and hides under the mulberry tree. When I slept at night, I could only curl up and hide under the military vehicles.

In his dream, he seemed to see a desolate scene, and although the vines were still spreading over other people's houses, the house was dilapidated and no one lived in it for a long time. The house was very damp, the turtle insects crawled slowly indoors, the cobwebs hung horizontally in the doorway, the hoof prints of various beasts were still left on the edge of the fields, and there were ghost fires flickering at night. But after a long time on the battlefield, he will not be afraid of these things in front of him, he sees such a scene, but more and more homesick, I hope his home is not like this!