Chapter 3 2. Solve the mystery of Liu Bang's age

Liu Bang's birth age is a mystery. His related experience is another mystery. But it is necessary to unravel both mysteries if we want to understand this man.We must know what kind of era Liu Bang was born in, and what happened in that era.It is this specific era background and related events, as well as Liu Bang's own cognition of his own life background and events, that constitute his specific person. A person's experience is the person himself.This rule should be no exception for Liu Bang. So Liu Bang, in what year was he born? There are at least two different theories about the year of Liu Bang's birth. One says that he was born in 256 BC.Another theory holds that he was born in 247 BC.But there is no dispute that Liu Bang died in 195 BC.

If Liu Bang was born in 256 BC, then he lived to be sixty-two years old. The ages of the characters involved in this book all refer to imaginary years. ——Editor's note.If he was born in 247 BC, then he lived to be fifty-three years old - it is very important to clarify this issue. If Liu Bang's age is the latter, then, during the period of the Chu-Han struggle, he and the young Xiang Yu (born in A.D. 232 BC) confronted an old man Liu Bang.And if Liu Bang's age is the former, it is an older man who confronts Xiang Yu.Whether old or old, this will upend our conventional memory. At present, the statement that Liu Bang was born in 247 BC is obviously at a disadvantage. Only two texts adopt this statement.In particular, the book "Historical Records Huizhu Textual Research" by Takikawa Fushiyan is a collection of annotations and textual research annotations of the past dynasties. After more than 70 years after its publication, it is still unmatched. It is still the highest authoritative text in international historical research. A must-read book for historians.Therefore, the sparse notes in this book should not be underestimated.

However, more domestic history books mostly adopt the first statement, believing that Liu Bang was born in 256 BC.According to "Historical Records Collection", Xu Guang said: "Gaozu was forty-eight years old." This time value refers to the first year of Qin II, that is, 209 BC.Pushing forward forty-eight years from this, Liu Bangdang was born in 256 BC."Liu Bang and the Great Han Foundation" written by Chen Longyu, an authority on domestic history, also adopted this statement. Through the observation of Liu Bang's incident, one is the age of Liu Bang's family, and the other is the historical events Liu Bang experienced. Comparing many events with each other, it is more reasonable to think that Liu Bang was born in 256 BC, and if he was born in 247 BC, The details of many events cannot be matched.

For example, it is recorded in "Historical Records Gaozu Benji": "(Liu Bang) was a strong man, tried to be an official, and was the head of the pavilion in Sishui." And "Book of Rites: Qu Lishang" said: "Thirty is strong, and there is a room." That is to say, Liu Bang only tried to be an official when he was thirty years old.After the age of 30, you will have the opportunity to serve as the head of the pavilion. However, the peculiar official position of pavilion chief only came after Qin State destroyed Chu State and established Chu County.And Liu Bang was originally from the state of Chu, and was appointed as the head of the pavilion by the Qin Dynasty only after the fall of the state of Chu.After he became the head of the pavilion, many incidents happened.If he had been born in 247 B.C., Liu Bang was only twenty-five years old when Qin Shihuang ruled the world, and he was not yet "mature". It would be too late to wait until he became the head of the pavilion and experienced many historical events.And if he wants to have enough time to complete his life growth experience, then he has to be "grown up" earlier, born earlier, and be the head of the pavilion earlier, in order to be able to complete his life.

Therefore, in terms of the events that Liu Bang has experienced since he became the head of the pavilion, the claim that he was born in 247 BC is obviously untenable.So he can only be born in 256 BC - a few years earlier or later, it doesn't matter much, but if it is later than 247 BC, it will be too late. Once we confirmed Liu Bang's birth, we scanned his peers immediately: Qin Shihuang (born 259 BC). Qin Shihuang was born only three years earlier than Liu Bang, and they were the same age.