Chapter 54 "Song of Shaobing": an oriental riddle

When it comes to prophecy books in ancient China, we have to mention "Song of Biscuits".This prophecy book written by Liu Bowen has the title of "Zhu Century" in the East, and it is listed as the three major prophecy books in ancient China together with "Song of Qiankun Wannian" and "Maqian Lesson".Because of this book, Liu Bowen was called the "Nostradamus" of the East by later generations. In folk unofficial history, Liu Bowen is a figure who is almost as famous as Zhuge Liang, and he is even called "Zhuge of the Ming Dynasty".Liu Bowen knows astronomy at the top and geography at the bottom, and he knows everything about the knowledge and speeches of the three religions, nine schools of thought, and hundreds of schools of thought.It was also his unrivaled talent that helped Zhu Yuanzhang finally achieve hegemony in the world.

When the Ming Dynasty finally ruled the world, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was sitting on the dragon chair, was actually not stable in his heart.He is always worried about whether his country can last forever, because he once seized power from the barrel of a gun, and he is prepared for danger in times of peace. Zhu Yuanzhang has also been worried about whether someone will secretly overthrow the Ming Dynasty like himself.This morning, Zhu Yuanzhang was eating in the inner hall. His staple food today was sesame seed cakes.However, when he just took a bite, he suddenly remembered something, so he quickly ordered someone to summon Liu Bowen.

What Zhu Yuanzhang remembered was that Liu Bowen had followed him on the battlefield for many years, and had gone through countless battles, big and small. It can be said that he used soldiers like a god.Every time at a critical moment, he was able to turn the crisis into safety by his own strength.Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself, since Liu Bowen has this ability, why didn't he call in this living god who can pinch and count and make a divination for himself? So Zhu Yuanzhang put down the biscuits he just took a bite of, covered them with a bowl, and ordered Liu Bowen to be sent to make a calculation for Daming Jiangshan.

After receiving the order, Liu Bowen hurriedly came to the palace to meet him.As soon as he saw the pilgrim, Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately made things difficult for Liu Bowen and asked: "Since Mr. is good at mathematics, do you know what is in this bowl?" A metaphor was used to say: "Half like the sun, half like the moon, once bitten by a golden dragon." This is exactly the biscuit bitten by Zhu Yuanzhang, which is not perfect but looks like a crescent moon.Liu Bowen then solved the mystery by himself and said: "According to what I saw, there is a sesame seed cake in the bowl."

There is no need to open the bowl, Zhu Yuanzhang already knew it well, and he had to admire his military adviser.There is no reason to doubt Liu Bowen's calculation skills, so Zhu Yuanzhang let go of his psychological defense and directly asked about the future of the Ming Dynasty. The emperor asked such a question, but it was not easy for a courtier to answer.If the calculated result is good, all is well; if the result is not good, how to express the result becomes the most complicated thing.Companion to a king is like companion to a tiger. Since Zhu Yuanzhang asked, Liu Bowen has no reason not to do it.In desperation, he hurriedly replied: "My emperor's sons and grandsons, why bother to ask!" But this promise is obviously not enough to deal with passing the test.

Zhu Yuanzhang had also expected Liu Bowen's answer in this way, and couldn't help but feel a little unhappy.Liu Bowen saw that this was the imperial decree of the emperor. On the one hand, he had to obey it, and on the other hand, he could not reveal too many secrets. After weighing the two, he finally used a lot of metaphors when answering Zhu Yuanzhang's question. .This conversation was recorded by people, and later it will be compiled into a book, which is "Song of Biscuits". The full text of "Song of Shaobing" has a total of 1912 characters and is composed of more than 40 metaphorical ballads. The perfect application of "Number, Reason, and Accounting" is also the posthumous work of the predecessors "Observation and Accounting". "Song of Shaobing" is widely spread among the people, and its influence is extremely far-reaching, but it is difficult to be understood because of too many metaphors.

In the prophecy of "Song of Biscuits", the Ming Dynasty and the history of nearly a thousand years after that have become the things it can take.For example, the well-known "Battle of Jingnan", "Civil Change", "Eunuch Intervention in Government" and other well-known events in the Ming Dynasty, as well as the final demise of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, are all described in it. The book "Song of Biscuits" mainly describes the prophecies between Liu Bowen and Zhu Yuanzhang at that time in the form of recorded dialogues. When it comes to the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Qing Dynasty, this dialogue is recorded like this: The emperor said: "Since ancient times The Hu people did not have a century of national fortune, so they have more than two hundred years of fortune?"

Ji said: "The god of rain and grass head comes out, and the red-headed boy bleeds. Inverting the three yuan, he said that it must be the Sichuan Water Page Tower Que. Eighteen years of water and fire, mediocre people do not use water and fire ministers. Here I use Han people, hexagrams The number of points is less than three, and the kiss is added to the kiss and matched with the kiss." The emperor said: "The Hu people have used human water to extinguish the fire, and kissed each other. Could it be that the son-in-law seized it and caused chaos?" Ji said: "That's not true. The barbarians are heroes. They enjoy both water and fire. They enjoy peace and power. When the time is up and down, it is called a prosperous age. The spirit is not extinguished, and there are successors. The sword is sharpened again and again. Eunuchs hide evil ghosts in the land of eunuchs, and there are many filial piety, loyalty, traitors and slaughters. Li Huajie is in spring, and cows cry on the 28th to insert Ding. In sixty weeks, there is one more carapace, and there is no sound when the snail horn blows backwards. In the past, the heirs were distorted. The mud chickens crowed and there was no mouth, and the branches and branches of the trees lacked souls. The courtiers begged for the moon and there was no light, and the people kowtowed to each other.

The emperor said: "Have the Hu people been defeated here?" Ji said: "It's not yet. Although there has been chaos for a long time, and the people have different opinions, luck has not yet come to an end. A 20-year-old strongman opens his mouth, and people are single-minded. At that time, there were 8,000 monks in my temple, and the fire dragon Crossing the river is hot. When I kowtow, my head is small. Although Chang'e has a moonless light. The hexagrams in front of the Taiji Hall are opposite, and there is a lot of fighting and chaos in the court. The golden amniotic monkey is famine years, and the dog barks and the pig cry. Only water from the platform can restore the old government. Burning rats and cows is still free, and tigers have nowhere to hide in mud dens. Caotou’s family has ten women, and they hold children to make decisions.”

In this conversation, "Chuan Shui Yetai Que" refers to "Shunzhi", "Mediocre people don't use water and fire ministers" refers to "Kangxi", "stippling beauties are divided by themselves, and the line of the year is distorted" refers to "Yongzheng", "Courtiers begging for moonlight, kowtowing, and the population is small" refers to "Qianlong", "twenty-year-old wrestlers open their mouths, and people are single-minded" refers to "Jiaqing", "going to the water platform by the cave" refers to " Tongzhi".

In addition, some sentences mentioned the time of the emperor's reign. For example, "the number of gua points and qi is less than three" means that Kangxi reigned for sixty-one years, because the eight trigrams of yin and yang are eight, eight, sixty-four, and the reduction of three happens to be sixty-one. "Xiaoyao Zhoujiale Famine" refers to Qianlong's 60-year rule of the world, boasting of the world's peace, and calling himself "the perfect old man". From these inferences, it can be seen that there is very little discrepancy between the content recorded in "Song of Biscuits" and historical events.In "Song of Biscuits", many things that will happen today and in the future are also predicted. But "Song of Biscuits" did not predict the end of the world like many Western doomsday prophecies, but boldly proposed that after a lot of suffering, people will definitely see a rainbow after the storm.Although there are many ups and downs, human beings will eventually usher in a peaceful and prosperous world. Regarding the final bright future in the future, it is written in "Song of Shaobing": "The dog barks and the pig sings in the peaceful year, all talents in civil and military affairs are all talented, and the wandering and scattered are all fleeing the people. Love the people like brothers and sisters. Establish a new king and repair the old capital. Know the true and false in all words, and stay with the common people to testify and make an alliance." These few words are easy to understand, and they describe a world of great unity to everyone.The only thing that is not clear is when this wonderful future will come. Because "Song of Biscuits" is written in an extremely cryptic manner, it is inevitable that it will fall into the vortex of self-interpretation forcibly added by later generations. "Song of Shaobing" was popular in the public before the Republic of China, but there is no record in the official history that Liu Bowen made this book.An American Sinologist once verified that "Song of Shaobing" originated from a notebook written by people in the Qing Dynasty.This increases the suspicion that this book was written by people in the late Qing Dynasty under the guise of Liu Bowen.Who is right and wrong is still left to history to judge.