The Pugu are recorded as existing during the
Shang and were counted among the "
Eastern Barbarians" or
Dongyi of
Qingzhou. They occupied the shore of the
Bay of Bohai around present-day
Binzhou and
Boxing, an area which the
silt deposition from the present course of the
Yellow River has since made miles inland. In alliance with the former Shang prince and son of
Di Xin,
Wu Geng, Pugu joined the
Dongyi of
Yan (, near present-day
Qufu) and
Xu in the
Huai valley in opposing Shang's replacement by the
Zhou after the
Battle of Muye. This insurrection joined with the
Rebellion of the Three Guards within Zhou itself, opposing the regency of the
Duke of Zhou BC. The Duke undertook a successful campaign across the
North China Plain, defeating Wu Geng and forcing the submission of the opposing Yi. Pugu's area was granted to the
minister Jiang Ziya as the fief of
Qi. The
Bamboo Annals record that during the Duke of Zhou's expedition the "royal troops... attacked Yan and destroyed Pugu". The word used () means "destroy" and even implies "extermination". This was, however, patently hyperbolic since "belligerents" required a combined response from Qi,
Lu, and
Zhou ten years later and the Pugu is again said to have been "destroyed" in the autumn three years after that. During the reign of
King Yi,
Duke Hu moved the Qi capital to the former site of Pugu. This prompted the residents of the former capital
Yingqiu to
revolt under
another member of his house, who defeated him in battle and restored the former capital. ==Legacy==