Chapter 51 "Tui Bei Tu": Planning the Track of History

China's first female emperor Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne was first predicted by "Tui Bei Tu".What exactly is "Tui Bei Tu"?Why is it so magical? "Tui Bei Tu" occupies an unshakable position in the history of Chinese prophecy.It is a prophecy made by Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng, the astrologers of the Tang Dynasty, who talked about the general trend of the world and analyzed the future world situation. The book uses four-character ancient style to write 60 groups of prophecy poems, and made 60 predictions about the fate of the Chinese people in the next 1,000 years. The great prophecy boldly and accurately predicted the trajectory of Chinese historical development after the Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing and the Republic of China a hundred years later.

Therefore, after successfully predicting Wu Zetian's ascension to the throne, "Tui Bei Tu" did not stop its own prophecy. It has been extending its tentacles to thousands of years later, talking about the development process of Chinese society bit by bit.Every time he speaks, it makes the hearer tremble with fear. During the Tang Dynasty, there appeared two strange scholars, one was Li Chunfeng, who served as Sitianjian in the early Tang Dynasty, and the other was Yuan Tiangang, a hermit.After Tang Taizong Li Shimin came to power, because he was worried about the affairs of his family and country, he invited the famous calendar experts Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng to the palace to calculate the future fortune of the Tang Dynasty.

No one expected that these two not only calculated the fate of the Tang Dynasty, but also explained everything that would happen in the next thousand years. On this day, the two of them sat back to back when they had nothing to do. You and I began to calculate. First, they predicted that Empress Wu would seize power in the future. way to extend backwards.The fate of Chinese history unfolds little by little under the prophecy of two people like a scroll.For several days in a row, the two of them have been concentrating on this matter, and every time they figured out a thing, they made a painting just for it, with a metaphor next to it.

After they made more than 60 paintings, the two were about to continue to calculate, when an old man with white beard and hair came, but he was very energetic.The old man suddenly interrupted what the two were doing and said: "Don't worry about any major events in the world, but first calculate whether I will advance or retreat?" After finishing speaking, the old man stood in front of the two with his legs crossed. Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng woke up suddenly, only then did they realize that what they were doing was leaking a secret.Yuan Tiangang pushed Li Chunfeng's back, and said: "The secret of heaven cannot be leaked anymore. Let's not make rash judgments here. Let's go back and rest!" "Tui Bei Tu" got its name from this.

There is another saying that the last two lines of "Tui Bei Tu" are: "Thousands and thousands of words are endless, so it is better to push back and go back to rest." Some people think that its name comes from these two lines of poems. "Tui Bei Tu" has been greatly influenced, and it can even be said that it is completely evolved. Each hexagram image starts with one of the eighty-eight sixty-four hexagrams, and a total of sixty hexagram images are obtained.Except for the introduction of the first image and the conclusion of the last image which are not prophecies, there are a total of 58 prophecies, each with two poems and one hexagram. From the fate of the Tang Dynasty to the great harmony of the world, it has been predicted for thousands of years fate of historical changes.

The order of prophecy in "Tui Bei Tu" was arranged after careful scrutiny. In fact, it completely conforms to the track of historical development. Therefore, it can be said that this is the historical track prophecy book carefully arranged by Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng. It was not an accidental incident that was said unintentionally. The historical events mentioned in the prophecy in "Tui Bei Tu" echo the various records mentioned in historical history books and historical monographs.According to legend, among the 58 hexagrams, 45 have been completely verified by history, and there are still 13 historical prophecies that have not been deciphered, waiting for future generations to get a glimpse of the many mysteries.

The most recent case where the prophecy of "Tui Bei Tu" was verified was the occurrence of the 1911 Revolution and the demise of the Qing Dynasty.It is mentioned in "Tui Bei Tu": "The prophecy said: 'The Han River is vast, and there is no unification. The north and the south are not divided, and they are in harmony." There is no king, half evil is half good."'" In "Tui Bei Tu", the demise of the Qing Dynasty has already been predicted. The prophecy directly mentioned "Han River", the birthplace of the 1911 Revolution, from the very beginning.Afterwards, "North and South are not divided, and they share one heart and one mind", directly expressing the birth of a new republic system, which is a prediction of the demise of the Qing Dynasty and the political situation at the beginning of the Republic of China.The "clear water will eventually run out" in the ode refers to the 1911 Revolution of 1911 which brought the 268-year Qing Dynasty to a complete end. "Shuiqing" obviously refers to the Qing Dynasty. According to the law of the evolution of the five elements, the Ming Dynasty is considered to belong to fire.Zhu Yuanzhang's Zhu is red, which represents fire, and Ming Dynasty's bright is the light of the sun and the moon, and it is more directly fire.According to the idea that the five elements generate and restrain each other, what arises instead of fire must be water, that is, the attribute of the Qing Dynasty is water. "Shuiqing will eventually run out" means that the Qing Dynasty will eventually perish one day. "August is the time of rebellion" undoubtedly refers to the time when the Wuchang Uprising occurred. This "August" is the timekeeping method in the Tang Dynasty.Since many of the rebels were from the former Qing army, they were called "rebels".It is also because the success of this uprising, to a large extent, relied on Yuan Shikai's coercion of the palace. On this basis, it is called "reversal", and all the metaphors have been explained.

The meaning of the last two sentences "There is no king in the sea, half evil is half good" is also obvious.After this uprising, there will no longer be an emperor on the land of the Central Plains, and even the term of office of the president of the Republic of China will be strictly limited, and no one will be able to dominate this land anymore.On the other hand, the meaning is a bit of a metaphor. After the Qing emperor abdicates, the Central Plains will soon face a state of leaderless dragons. Because there is no king, it will be in chaos. "Half evil is half good" is the best explanation for the political turmoil in this period.It was not until the Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army completely defeated the Beiyang warlords that the half-bad situation was finally returned to Banji.

However, many scholars have expressed doubts about whether "Tui Bei Tu" is a book of prophecy.They believe that not only is this book not a book of prophecy, but it is even less likely to be an ancient book produced in the Tang Dynasty.Because the social atmosphere in the Tang Dynasty was more civilized, prophecy had no place to stand in that period, as long as it was found that there were books of prophecy in the home, there was a risk of extermination.Therefore, it is unlikely that "Tui Bei Tu" was made by Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng in the Tang Dynasty. Judging from this statement, the earliest prototype of "Tui Bei Tu" that can be read today was produced in the Five Dynasties period, and was continuously improved by later generations as history progressed, and the latest part was also formed in the early Qing Dynasty up.

But in foreign countries, "Tui Bei Tu" has always been listed as the first of the "Seven Prophecies of China", and the Tui Bei Tu we see today is the version criticized by Jin Shengtan, a juren in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. The original is still preserved in Taipei. "The Palace Museum".