Chinese people all know the saying "three emperors and five emperors", but it is really not easy to sort out the specific relationship between these ancestors of Chinese civilization. The Three Emperors are the Fuxi clan, the Nuwa clan and the Shennong clan, and the Tang Dynasty historian Sima Zhen once wrote the "Three Emperors Benji" as a supplement to the "Historical Records" of the Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian;
The first article of the "Historical Records" is the "Five Emperors Benji", which refers to the Yellow Emperor, 颛顼 (zhuān xū), Emperor 喾 (kù), Yao, and Shun;
Yu, we are familiar with Dayu, he is the founder of the Xia Dynasty, so he is also called Xia Yu.
The Three Emperors, the Five Emperors, and Dayu, they are continuous in time. Among them, Shennong's is also Emperor Yan, he and the Yellow Emperor are called "Yanhuang", and they are the ancestors of Chinese civilization, so we are all called "descendants of Yanhuang".
As the first part of the 24th History, why did "Historical Records" start with the Five Emperors? This has to do with Sima Qian's academic character. In his opinion, "the Yellow Emperor is a hundred schools of thought, and his writing is taming, and it is difficult to recommend Mr. Gentleman", that is, each family narrates the Yellow Emperor, and the words are no longer elegant and reasonable enough, and it is difficult for scholars and doctors to explain clearly; He himself had traveled all over the country to collect information on this subject, but all of them were inconsistent and different; Even in the "Book of Shang", the situation recorded since Yao is recorded.
Therefore, without the support of specific historical materials, the three emperors before them were more like legends, the truth was indistinguishable, and the plausible were specious.
Therefore, as a record of Chinese civilization, the first person recorded in the "Twenty-four History" is the Yellow Emperor, that is, starting from the "Five Emperors". But even so, the records of the Yellow Emperor, Zhuan Xuan, and Emperor Yu are still not so detailed, and they are not relatively comprehensive until Yao and Shun begin.
From the Yellow Emperor to Shun and Yu, they all have the same surname and different country names", that is, the five emperors and Xia Yu are all from the same family, but the country names are different, in order to highlight their respective achievements. And it was Emperor Yan who was replaced by the Yellow Emperor at the beginning.
The Yellow Emperor, surnamed Gongsun and Xuanyuan, was said to be gifted and able to speak in his infancy. His main achievement was to lead his clan to defeat the Yandi tribe in the Battle of Hanquan, which led to the Yanhuang Alliance; Later, the Yan-Huang coalition defeated Chiyou at Zhuolu and established the Yan-Huang tribe's occupation of the vast Central Plains.
After that, the princes all respected Gongsun Xuanyuan as the Son of Heaven, replacing the Yan Emperor Shennong, which gave birth to the name of "Yellow Emperor" (there is the Rui of Tude, and the color of the soil is yellow). Since then, the Yanhuang tribe has gradually integrated and grown, and gradually absorbed Dongyi, forming the ancient Great China Tribal Alliance, and China has entered the Chinese era.
The Yellow Emperor had a total of 25 sons, 14 of whom established their own independent surnames. Among them, the son born to the ancestor of the concubine was named Changyi, and was later named a prince; And Changyi's son is named Gao Yang. After the death of the Yellow Emperor, his grandson Gao Yang ascended the throne of God, which was Emperor Zhuan.
He was calm, wise, and reasonable, and he led people to grow crops and raise livestock according to local conditions. In addition, the calendar was calculated according to the laws of nature, which was used by later generations. In the Warring States Period, the Qin people formulated the "Zhuan Calendar" on this basis, which was implemented throughout the country after unifying the world, and became an orthodox calendar in the early Han Dynasty. In addition, he also formulated etiquette and righteousness, educated all people, and led people to worship ghosts and gods, initially forming a set of civilization system.
The next five emperors, Emperor Yu, is the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor and the nephew of Zhuan.
The Yellow Emperor had a son named Xuanhuan, and the son of Xuanhuan was named Xuanji, and the descendant of Xuanji was named Gao Xin, and Gao Xin was the emperor.
It is said that Gao Xin, like the Yellow Emperor, was born with an aura, called out his name as soon as he was born, and succeeded Zhuan Xuan on the throne at the age of 30. He is discerning, knows people well, obeys the will of the people everywhere, thinks about the people, gives both grace and power, pays attention to credibility, and is widely convinced and loved by the people; He explored the celestial phenomena and divided the four seasons, which greatly promoted the development of agricultural production and helped agricultural civilization enter a new era. It is said that under his governance, the Central Plains society at that time was prosperous, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, realizing the peaceful and prosperous era of ancient times.
Among the sons of Emperor Yu, Zhi and Fangxun are half-brothers. After the death of Emperor Yu, Zhi was the first to take over, and Fang Xun was enshrined in the Tang Kingdom (present-day Linfen City, Shanxi) at the age of 15 to assist his brother.
But Di Zhi didn't do anything, and then he was succeeded by Fang Xun, this is Di Yao. Because the fief is Tang, it is also called Tang Yao.
Yao created the national political system for the first time, replacing the previous loose tribal associations, and also appointed full-time ** according to the content of the work, which was a great progress in history and laid the foundation for promoting Chinese civilization into slavery.
He also perfected the astronomical calendar, and the solar terms such as the spring equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox, and winter solstice were all officially defined at that time; At the same time, for the first time, a year was set as 366 days, and a leap month was set every three years to adjust the relationship between the calendar and the four seasons. In this way, there was no error in the agricultural time at that time, and there was a huge leap forward in Chinese farming culture.
In addition, winemaking and Go were both invented during the Yao period, and the dragon totem was also established by him. At the same time, Yao paid attention to moral governance, and his ideal personality became a model for later monarchs. "Dazai Yaozhi is the king! Majestic! Only the sky is great, and only Yao is the rule. Confucius's praise of Yao also made him gradually become the spiritual ancestor of Confucianism.
The reason why Yao was revered by later generations was also because he put the world first and created a move that had a far-reaching impact on later generations - to give the imperial throne to Shun.
This is an epoch-making feat, after all, from the Yellow Emperor to Yao, the throne of China has been passed down from generation to generation within the Yellow Emperor family. But in Di Yao's view, this is not a perfect system, because his son Dan Zhu is stupid and vicious, and the others are not enough to lead the people of the world, so his vision has jumped out of his immediate family and expanded to the four seas. At this time, Siyue (the princes in charge of the four directions, four people) recommended Shun.
But it was precisely because of his belief in Siyue that Yao appointed Kun to deal with the floods. But in the end, Kun controlled the water for nine years, but it did not achieve results. In view of this failed case, Yao decided to investigate and cultivate Shun himself.
Shun is the eighth grandson of the Yellow Emperor, and the blood relationship is as follows: Yellow Emperor Changyi Zhuan Poor Cicada Jingkang Juwang Qiaoniu Gazu, the son of Gaza is named Chonghua, and he is Shun. Since the poor cicada, these generations have a low status, and when Shun was recommended by Siyue, he was just a young man who fished and made pottery by the river, because he was favored by Siyue because of his famous filial piety.
The investigation of Shun lasted two stages and took 28 years.
At first, Di Yao married his two daughters to Shun, and let his nine sons observe and evaluate them at any time. Since then, the fate of the poor boy Shun has changed since then, and he has become a member of the Diyao family, and his status is not what it used to be, laying the foundation for his future governance.
In the past 20 years, Shun has been widely recognized by relatives and guests. Then Di Yao started the second round of tests, and gradually delegated power to Shun and made him the first son of heaven.
Shun inspected the Quartet according to Yao's instructions, he was low-key and highly praised. For eight years, he wholeheartedly assisted Di Yao, and in addition, for the sake of the anger of the common people, he also killed and exiled the extremely bad reputation Gonggong, Zhen Dou, Sanmiao and Kun (the so-called four murderers) to further establish his prestige.
After 28 years of running-in and handover, when Di Yao died, Shun officially took over after three years of mourning. "Don't benefit one person with the disease of the world", for the benefit of the whole world, Yao decisively gave up his son Danzhu, thus creating a "Zen concession" system that will be worshiped by future generations. "The world is the world" has become "the world is for the public", which is undoubtedly a great and valuable progress.
Facts have proved that Yao's choice was extremely wise, and Shun humbly accepted advice and appointed-only people during his reign, which promoted the prosperity of all industries and the harmony of politics. In his later years, he also followed Siyue's advice and ceded the imperial throne to Dayu, who successfully managed the flood.
Since then, Yao Shun has become a model of the holy king respected by later generations, and "for Yao Shun" has almost become the highest praise for a feudal emperor.
Yu, whose real name is Wen Ming, is the great-great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor, the grandson of Zhuan, and the son of Kun. He was a clever and witty man, and "his morality did not violate, his benevolence was amiable, and his words were credible." With these qualities, coupled with the successful management of the flood, he was recommended to Shun by Siyue and became the next monarch. After Yu inherited the throne of the Son of Heaven, the country was called Xia Hou, which was regarded as the beginning of the Xia Dynasty. At first, he designated the minister Gao Tao as the heir to the throne; Soon after, Gao Tao died, and Yu chose Yi again. But after Yu's death, in view of the fact that the auxiliary government time was too short and the hearts of the people in the world were not oriented towards him, Yi gave up the throne to the widely supported Qi (Yu's son) and hid in the mountains. Since then, the family has returned to the world, almost monopolizing it for thousands of years.
The "Zen concession system" pioneered by Yao Shun was originally a system innovation that broke through selfishness and had a people-oriented thought. However, in the later feudal period, driven by interests, "Chan Rang" gradually turned into a show, and Wang Mang, Cao Pi, and Sima Yan used this as a package to forcibly seize the power they had served. The Yao Shun era has been widely remembered in later generations, and there may be reasons for this.