King Zhou (纣王) was the last king of the Shang Dynasty. In his reign, especially later part, King Zhou, except for frequently fighting against rebeller, spent all his time on drinking and women and ignored almost all affairs of state.
In order to please Da Ji, his favorite Consort, and punish offenders, he created many brutal instruments of torture, among which the most notorious one was the "Cannon Burning Punishment" (炮烙之刑), a large bronze cylinder to burn victims alive.
Moreover, extremely heavy taxes were implemented to fund his heavy expenses each day. The people suffered greatly, and lost all hope for the Shang Dynasty.
Finally, angry people led by the king of the state of Zhou, a vassal of Shang, marched the capital of Shang. King Zhou hurried to made a stand; yet due to the fact that his main force was fighting in somewhere else, he had to arm slaves and prisoners. The clash took place at Mu Ye in 1046 B.C, bring a smashing defeat to King Zhou's scratch troop. According to some Chinese historical books, the battle was extremely fierce, and the blood that had bled from the wound and dead was enough to float shields.
Seeing the situation is hopeless, King Zhou gathered all his treasures around himself in the Palace, and then set fire to burn oneself to death.
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