when king wen decided to go hunting, bian, his official historian, burnt a tortoise shell to forecast the result. after reading the cracks he said, "hunting on the north side of the wei river is bound to bring a great gain. it will not be a dragon or a chi(1), nor will it be a tiger or a bear. it will be a wise man sent by heaven to be your minister and mentor." king wen got on his carriage, started the horses, and set out for the place. there he saw jiang taigong sitting on the grass and fishing.
zhou xibo went hunting and on the north bank of the wei river he met jiang taigong. after talking with him, xibo was very pleased, saying, "before he died, my father had anticipated that zhou would become prosperous when a sage came to us. are you the sage? my father had long expected your arrival!" so he called him taigong wang (father's expectation). he returned with taigong, sharing his carriage with him, and was to treat him as his mentor.
king wen made taigong the magistrate of guantan. during the year taigong was there, there was never a wind that was strong enough to disturb the leaves of the trees. once in his dream, king wen saw a beautiful woman weeping before his carriage. when asked the reason, she replied, "i am the daughter of the god of mount taishan and married to the god of the east sea. now i want to go home, but the virtuous magistrate of guantan makes the trip difficult. for my movements are always accompanied by a violent storm, which damage his good name." after waking up, the king summoned taigong to ask what had happened. he was told that a violent storm with pouring rain had swept areas outside guantan that day. king wen then promoted taigong to the position of chief general.
