Chapter 5 5. Mandate of Heaven and Authorization

Sorrow accompanied Zhou Gong all his life.He once said to his son, as the son of King Wen, the younger brother of King Wu, and the uncle of the current King of Zhou, my status is not low, right?But I "wash my hair three times, eat my hair three times, and feed me three times". I often stop washing my hair and eating, so I can't enjoy myself.Why?I am always vigilant and dare not neglect! strangeness!Didn't the rebellion subside?What else is he worried about? People are dissatisfied. In fact, it was the rebellion of Wu Geng and the third supervisor that sounded the alarm for Duke Zhou.He is very clear that the new regime cannot be established overnight, and it is difficult to convince the public by force alone, even if it is combined with a soft policy.That's right, as Zhou is a small country, why should he be the boss when he is the boss?Besides, Zhou Yiyuan was inferior to the national power of Yin and Shang, and he actually won a battle.Can such a victory be kept?Is such a regime reliable?

Hard to tell. In fact, don't talk about others, people in Zhou may also murmur.This requires explanation, clarification, demonstration, and two important questions that need to be answered and resolved ideologically and theoretically. Which two questions? The rationality of the revolution, the legitimacy of the regime. This is something you can't think about, and you can't fail to answer.You know, this matter was still questioned until the Warring States Period and Qin and Han Dynasties.King Xuan of Qi asked Mencius, and Confucianism and Taoism also debated during Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty.Looking at the past from the present, when the Western Zhou regime was not stable, how could there be no discussion?As the parties involved, how could Duke Zhou and the others ignore it?

Zhou Ren answered frankly. However, from Zhou Gong to Zhao Mu Gong, and their descendants, there is only one theme—— fate. What is "destiny"?Not "luck", but "empowerment".The so-called "destiny black bird descends to give birth to merchants" means that the God of Heaven sent the black bird as an angel and endowed merchants with historical missions. The "rights" obtained from this are called "living in China"; the "power" obtained from this is called "ruling the world".Living in China is the "right of representation" which can represent the Chinese civilization; governing the world is the "right of domination" which can govern the Chinese nation.It can be seen that the prerequisite for ruling the world is to live in China.Expressed in the inscription of He Zun, a bronze vessel of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it is called "Zhaizi China".This is also one of the reasons why the Zhou people wanted to build a new capital in Luoyang.

Living in China, why is it a prerequisite? This involves our nation's view of the world.The ancients believed that our world is composed of heaven and earth.The sky is above, and the earth is below; the sky is round, and the earth is square.The high sky is like a dome, covering the four fields.Therefore, the whole world is called "Pu Tian Xia", or "Tian Xia" for short.The round sky is buckled on the square ground, and the four extra places are seas, one each in the east, west, north, south, called "four seas".The world is within the "four seas", referred to as "inside the sea".The square "land" draws two diagonal lines, and the intersection point is "the middle of the world".The cities and regimes built there are called "China".

The "China" in the world corresponds to the "Zhongtian" in the sky, so it is authentic, orthodox, and regular.Xia, Shang and Zhou (including later generations) all wanted to "live in China", and what they fought for was "right".Zheng means that the boss of the alliance or the monarch of the dynasty has obtained the "Heaven's Heart" and is a well-deserved "Heaven's Chosen One", referred to as "Tianzi". But this has little to do with geographical location, otherwise it would be impossible to move the capital.Of course it’s not okay to stay in a corner, but it’s okay to move appropriately. The key is to get the authorization of heaven.Authorization is "mandate of heaven", and authorization is called "following heaven".On the contrary, if the God of Heaven withdraws his order and prevents a certain person or a certain family from being emperor again, it is called "removing the mandate of heaven", or "revolution" for short.When Shang Tang destroyed Xia Jie, it was called "Shang Revolution Xia Ming"; when Zhou Wu destroyed Yin Zhou, it was called "Zhou Revolution Yin Ming".Therefore, it is reasonable for King Wu to defeat Zhou, and the regime of Western Zhou Dynasty is legal.

If you accept the destiny, you will live in China, and if you live in China, you will rule the world. Is there a problem? Have.

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