Wey (state)

Wey, commonly spelled Wey to distinguish it from the larger Warring States Wei, was an ancient Chinese state founded in the early Western Zhou and prominent in the Spring and Autumn period, ruled by men of the Ji surname like the Zhou kings themselves. It lay in today's north-eastern Henan, east of Jin and west of Cao. Its history begins with the Rebellion of the Three Guards: after the Duke of Zhou crushed it, Kang Shu, a younger brother of King Wu, was given a fief centred on Zhaoge, the old Shang capital and the heart of the revolt. Wey peaked early, under Duke Wu, who reigned fifty-five years, but later rulers brought succession troubles, and under the dissolute Duke Yi, obsessed with his cranes, the Rong attacked Zhaoge in 660 BC, killed the duke and nearly destroyed the state; only Duke Huan of Qi's aid restored it, with the capital moved to Chuqiu. In 632 BC Jin conquered Wey because its duke had slighted the exiled Chong'er, and Duke Cheng was nearly poisoned, though the state survived. In 492 BC Duke Chu took the throne from his grandfather Duke Ling while his own father, the disinherited heir, lived in exile, opening decades of legitimist strife, and the little state lingered on into the Warring States age.