Chapter 9 Confucian scholars began to meddle

After Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty was Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, and after Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty was Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Until the early years of Emperor Wudi, everyone still habitually believed that the Han Dynasty belonged to Shuide.Emperor Wu even took it a step further, simply changing the name of Shangyu County, where Liu Bang set up the Tianshui Temple, to Tianshui County—Jiang Wei, the general of the Shu Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, was from Tianshui. people. It was not until the calendar turned to the seventh year of Yuanfeng, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (104 BC), that the characters who really "set things right" finally appeared.At that time, Sima Qian, who was in charge of the Taishi Ling, together with Gongsunqing and Hu Sui, the Taizhong officials, wrote a letter to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, saying that the current calendar is a mess, especially after the Han Dynasty won the world. Make it up.

For ancient dynasties, the calendar was a big deal. The calendar was directly related to the people's sowing and harvesting according to the season, and also directly affected the government's policy on agricultural issues. At that time, agricultural issues were the most fundamental issues of the whole society.So what is "Zhengshuo"?The beginning of a year is called "Zheng", and the beginning of a month is called "Suo". The so-called Zhengshuo refers to which month and day the calendar uses as the beginning of a year.It is said that in the Xia Dynasty, the first month was the second month after the winter solstice, and the beginning of the year was counted; the Shang Dynasty was changed, and the December of the Xia Dynasty calendar was used as the first month; the Zhou Dynasty took the November of the Xia Dynasty calendar. It is the first month; the Qin Dynasty used the October of the Xia Dynasty calendar as the first month-so this change is probably to show that we are different from the previous dynasty and have a new atmosphere and a new calendar.

So according to the rules, when the Han Dynasty replaced the Qin Dynasty, the "Zhengshuo" had to be changed. Liu Bang didn't expect this at the time, and no one reminded him, so it didn't change, and the big guy still used the Qin Dynasty's calendar. .But at that time, astronomy and mathematics were very primitive, and the year calculated by the compiled calendar was somewhat different from the real earth orbiting the sun, that is, the "return year".At the beginning, a few minutes and seconds are nothing, but if this kind of calendar is used for a long time, it can be several days or even a month or two, which directly affects the spring sowing and autumn harvest.Therefore, the dynasties of the past dynasties often compiled new calendars, on the one hand to adjust the error, and on the other hand, the calculation became more and more precise.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not dare to be scornful of such a major matter as the calendar, and immediately played it, and called Erkuan, the doctor of the imperial censor, and said that you will take the lead, and take the three to discuss and calculate, and look at the new calendar. How should it be compiled, and how should Zhengshuo be determined. So Erkuan and Sima Qian met together and decided that we should stop studying the three dynasties of Shang, Zhou, and Qin, and push forward Zhengshuo month by month.So they compiled a new calendar, named it "Taichu Calendar", and Emperor Wu accepted it completely, and according to the name of the new calendar, changed the year name of this year to the first year of Taichu.Since then, more than two thousand years have passed, and the dynasties of all dynasties have said Dingzhengshuo and Dingzhengshuo. In fact, in most cases, the beginning of the year has not really been changed, so the lunar calendar we use today is still the same. It has the alias of "Xia Li".

The compilation of "Taichu Calendar" has a deep relationship with the theme of our book, because Erkuan, Sima Qian and others also included a "private item" when compiling the calendar, that is, to completely "set things right" and put the false The academic authority Zhang Cang was knocked down with a stick and stepped on 10,000 feet, telling him that he would never stand up again-they played Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, repeating the suggestions of Jia Yi and Gongsun Chen, asking to abandon the virtue of water and change to the virtue of Tude.Unlike his great-grandfather Liu Bang, Emperor Wu was a cultured monarch, and he also felt that Zhang Cang's nonsense at the beginning was really incomprehensible, so he went ahead with it.

But there is one more trouble.Dong Zhongshu, the great master of Confucianism at that time, once put forward a brand-new "Three Traditions Theory" in his famous book "Chunqiu Fanlu". The king should change the name of Yin in response to the sky, and the time is Baitong... King Wen was ordered to be king, and the name of Yin was changed in response to the sky, and the time was Chitong... Therefore, "Spring and Autumn" should be the matter of the new king in the sky, and the time is black..." Translated into the vernacular: "The Shang Dynasty was a white state, and the Zhou Dynasty was a red state. According to "Spring and Autumn", there should be a new dynasty now, which is a black state."

Let's explain this "Three Traditions Theory" in more detail.According to this theory, a year is divided into twelve months, which are compared with the twelve colors between heaven and earth, and three months are the most critical, and the corresponding three colors are called "three systems".Which three months are the most critical?That is November, December and Thirteen. Speaking of which, everyone is going to ask, regardless of the lunar calendar or the Gregorian calendar, there are only twelve months in a year, so where did the thirteenth month come from?It turns out that the so-called thirteenth month refers to the removal of the first month (because the Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Qin dynasties have different first months), and counts from February, so the thirteenth month actually represents January.These three months are in winter, when all things are dormant and about to recover, which symbolizes the birth of a new orthodox dynasty. Therefore, the calendars of each generation choose one of these three months as the beginning of the year, and set it as the beginning of the year. first month.

To draw it back, the color of November is red, so the Zhou Dynasty took November as the first month, which represented the heavenly order and still red; the color of December was white, so the Shang Dynasty took December as the first month, which means Represents the order of the land, Shangbai; Master Dong did not mention the Xia Dynasty, but he said that the color of the thirteenth month is black, and black is the beginning of the orthodox rotation, which is equivalent to admitting that the Xia Dynasty with January as the first month is the rule of the people , still black.In the end, he said that according to the study of "Spring and Autumn", the new dynasty should be black and white, with January as the first month, and still black.

As far as the issue of Zhengshuo is concerned, his words are consistent with those of Sima Qian and others, but as far as the issue of virtue is concerned, the theory of the Three Traditions naturally contradicts the theory of the Five Virtues—black is the color of water, and so on. That is to say, the Han Dynasty should still be the virtue of water.It is estimated that when Grandmaster Dong wrote the book, he was not aware of Jia Yi or Gongsunchen's article asking for moral improvement, or even though it was clear, he did not approve of it, so he used the standard answer according to the official statement at the time.Considering the problem from the perspective of our modern people, this is nothing more than the setting of the two fantasy novels is different, but at that time it was a big deal, a major event related to the fundamental line.

You must know that the "Huang-Lao Theory" was enshrined in the early Han Dynasty.Huang is the Yellow Emperor, and this god does not exist at all. In fact, it refers to the alchemists who respect the Yellow Emperor, and the Yin-Yang family line; Laozi is Laozi, which actually refers to the traditional primitive philosophy of Chu.When he came to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he felt that "Huang Lao" was not strong enough to provide a theoretical basis for his great achievements in opening up territories, so he turned over Confucianism, which had little influence in the court.

Emperor Wu first promoted Gong Sunhong, a Confucian civilian politician, to be prime minister, and then moved out Dong Zhongshu, a great Confucian master who was writing a book in the countryside of Hebei, and invited him to the capital Chang'an.Dong Zhongshu made a high-level speech, not only clearly expounding the orthodoxy of Confucianism inherited from Confucius and Mencius, but also mixed a lot of counterfeit goods that he made up himself, and proposed "great unification" and "interaction between heaven and man", and he told Emperor Wu on the spot Silly.To put it bluntly, the Confucianism of Confucius is utopian, the Confucianism of Mencius is kingly, and the Confucianism of Dong Zhongshu completely tied Confucianism to the chariot of the unified dynasty, fabricating a theoretical basis for the emperor to rule the whole world.For this kind of practical theory, how could Emperor Wu not like it? So Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty immediately issued an edict: "Depose all schools of thought, and only respect Confucianism." Therefore, it is impossible for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to turn a blind eye to the fantasy setting of Grandmaster Dong. He has to save some face for the old man. wrong.So what should we do?It doesn't matter, Emperor Wu is very talented, he can accept man-made theories, and he can also fabricate theories himself. It is a fringe subject and has since become an official theory.When he was enshrining Zen on Mount Tai, he hugged grass and beat rabbits, and by the way he gave an edict to the world, which finally brought the long-term controversy to an end. To make a digression, Mr. Feng Youlan also mentioned this theory of the Three Traditions, and half-jokingly said: "Fascism is black, capitalism is white, and communism is red." In short, the big joke of "Han Yingshui Virtue" that has continued since the beginning of the Han Dynasty finally came to an end after 102 years. Under the majesty of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty Ying Tude was confirmed, and the Han people could finally take off their security uniforms. , put on the yellow vest.And Confucianism's "Three Traditions Theory" finally merged with the Yin-Yang School's "Five Virtues Ending and Beginning Theory", which marked that alchemists and Yin-Yang Schools withdrew from the stage of history step by step. Confucian scholars who have become obsessed.