Chapter 10 Section 3 Maps of the Pre-Qin Period

Closely related to the production of local chronicles, there are also ancient maps.Map is the unique language of geography. In a sense, it can more vividly and effectively express the geographical characteristics of a region than written records. The map of China originated very early.Legend has it that in the era of Shennong and the Yellow Emperor, there were already "Shennong Topographic Map" and "Yellow Emperor Kyushu Map".When Dayu traveled all over the country to control the water, he must have had a map for reference.It is said that Xia Yu once collected all the gold (copper) in the world and cast it into nine big tripods, each representing Kyushu.The mountains, rivers, vegetation, products, characters and even ghosts of Kyushu are painted on the tripod, and they are placed in the ancestral temple as treasures passed down to the country.Later, when Shang destroyed Xia, Jiuding was moved to the capital of Shang; when Zhou destroyed Shang, the tripod was moved to Luoyi, the eastern capital of Zhou.During the Warring States Period, both Qin and Chu raised troops to "ask for a tripod" from the Zhou Dynasty, in order to seize the position of Zhou Tianzi as the "co-lord of the world".It can be seen that the "Nine Tripods" and the map on it were symbols of the country's ruling power at that time.

At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, when the feudal princes were enfeoffed, they all clearly stipulated the positions of the fiefdoms in the southeast, northwest, and obviously they were enfeoffed according to the map.The vassal states also managed their land and people based on pictures, and paid tribute to the Zhou emperor.During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, due to the frequent exchanges and wars between countries, the use of maps became more common. Not only the countries in the world had maps, but also the relatively small areas under the jurisdiction of each country had maps.The famous story of "Jing Ke (borrowing a map) to assassinate the King of Qin" quite vividly illustrates how many maps were there and how much they were valued at that time.

"Historical Records: Biography of Assassins" records: Qin State gradually annexed the princes, and the monarchs and ministers of Yan State were very panicked and unable to contend with Qin State. Prince Dan of Yan sent Jing Ke to assassinate King Qin (later Qin Shihuang).In order to get close to the King of Qin, one of Jing Ke's excuses was to present the "Picture of Du Kang" to the King of Qin.Dukang is the most fertile piece of land in the country of Yan. To offer a map is to offer land. The king of Qin was very happy, and he received him as expected, and asked Jing Ke to take a look at the map.Jing Ke rolled the poisoned dagger in the map and presented it. At the end of the map, the dagger was revealed.He grabbed King Qin's sleeve with his left hand, grabbed the dagger with his right hand, and stabbed at King Qin.This time the assassination was unsuccessful, but until now, the conspiracy about one incident has finally been revealed, and the allusion of "see you with a dagger" is still used.

Maps are not only very useful for governing a country, but also indispensable for military use.Judging from the descriptions in "Hanshu Yiwenzhi", the two famous military books in the pre-Qin period originally had pictures. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" has nine volumes of drawings, and "Sun Bin's Art of War" has four volumes of drawings, and the weight of the pictures is quite a lot. The book "Guanzi" is said to have been written by Guan Zhong, the Prime Minister of Qi in the Spring and Autumn Period, but according to later generations' textual research, it is also a work of the Warring States Period, and there is a special "Map" in it. "Maps" said: "Anyone who leads an army to fight must be familiar with the map before fighting, knowing where the terrain is dangerous, where are the famous mountains, valleys, rivers, tombs, hills, and where are the places. There are lush forests and pastures, as well as the distance of the roads, the size of the city walls, which are famous cities, which cities have been abandoned, which are wastelands, and which are cultivated lands. plan, and take military action without losing ground.” This passage tells us that not only were all the generals who were strategizing and winning on the battlefield at that time inseparable from the map, but the content of the map was already quite complicated.To clarify so many problems on one picture, not only need to use a variety of symbols, but also add some text notes.

It is the political, military and other needs that made the rulers of all dynasties always pay attention to the map, and constantly collect and update the map to make it more perfect.Later, the ancient maps were added with explanatory texts, and gradually evolved into map classics, which were finally integrated with local chronicles.Until now, maps are still an important part of local chronicles. Scholars of various dynasties have different opinions about the origin of local chronicles in our country.There are two main opinions: one thinks that the local chronicles originated from the ancient country history, asserting that the pre-Qin country history is the oldest local chronicles; Shi" a category of geography books.Some people even say that Xia Yu's Jiuding is "the beginning of ambition" (Yin Lian's "(Republic of China) Dingfanzhou Chronicles Postscript").Now more and more people believe that these statements have some truth, but they are not complete.Regardless of country history, geography books, ancient maps or "The Book of Songs·Guofeng", they only contain part of the later local chronicles.There is more than one source of local chronicles, just like the vastness of the Yangtze River, which is the result of the confluence of countless trickles.