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Zhao Gongming was a character from the classic Ming Dynasty novel 'Fengshen Yanyi'. Zhao Gongming was a good friend of General Wen Zhong, also known as Grand Tutor Wen, who served King Zhou of Shang. Zhao Gongming was described as being a Taoist hermit with magical powers, and agreed to help King Zhou fight against King Wu and the Zhou army due to his close friendship with Wen Zhong.<br/><br/> Despite knowing that King Zhou was a cruel and tyrannical ruler, Zhao Gongming continued to fight for him, wielding various magical weapons and supernatural powers to decimate his rivals. He was so powerful that even the legendary sage Jiang Ziya concluded that he could not beat him, therefore turning to black magic instead. He enlisted the help of a Taoist sorcerer by the name of Lu Ya, who made an effigy of Zhao Gongming and then struck him down through a dark ritual, thus ending the threat of Zhao Gongming.<br/><br/> At the end of the novel, when Jiang Ziya began deifying various heroes and generals who had fought in the last years of the Shang Dynasty, he acknowledge Zhao Gongming's bravery and valour, uplifting him to a god of wealth and fortune, becoming an embodiment of the god Caishen.
Bi Gan, or Bigan, was a prominent Chinese figure during the last days of the Shang Dynasty, and played an important role in the Ming Dynasty novel 'Fengshen Yanyi'. Bi Gan was the son of King Wen Ding, and uncle to King Zhou of Shang, last of the Shang Dynasty.<br/><br/> King Zhou was infamous for his corruptive and cruel ways, especially after his betwitching by the fox spirit Su Daji, and became annoyed with Bi Gan's constant advice and attempts to rectify his ways. It is said that, on Daji's whisperings, King Zhou ordered Bi Gan to be executed through the extraction of his heart, under the pretext of curiosity on whether 'a good man's heart has seven openings'.<br/><br/> In 'Fengshen Yanyi', Su Daji plots to kill Bi Gan after he kills some of her fellow fox spirits. The sage Jiang Ziya, predicting that Bi Gan will die soon, gives him a charm that will save his life. After his heart is removed, Bi Gan does not die immediately, and follows Jiang Ziya's instructions to go straight home without looking back. On the way home however, he is fooled by the malevolent spirit Pipa Jing to turn around, collapsing and then dying on the spot. Bi Gan was honoured by Confucius as 'one of the three men of virtue' of Shang, and he was later deified as Cai Shen, the god of fortune.