Which of the kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty was the most legendary?
Answer: How many gods and men are King Mu? It is the pleasure of being poor.
Where does his aura of "god-man" come from? Let's start with the "Biography of Mu Tianzi", which is sprinkled with thousands of words.
The Biography of Mu Tianzi", Jin Guopu's note. "The Biography of Mu Tianzi" is also known as "King Zhou's Parade", is a kind of bamboo book found in the early years of Taikang in the Western Jin Dynasty, recording that King Mu of Zhou drove eight horses to the west to patrol the world, and met the Queen Mother of the West, the author is unknown, and it is said that the book was written in the Warring States Period.
The travel log of the Son of Heaven.
To put it simply, "The Legend of Mu Tianzi" is the travel diary of King Mu of Zhou, just like the name "The Parade of King Zhou" when it was first edited.
According to the "Biography of Mu Tianzi", King Mu of Zhou with a large number of people, gifts to the first destination for the jurisdiction of the Hezong clan - now the Hetao area of Inner Mongolia, after scholars research, the route of King Mu of Zhou and his entourage should be: starting from Chengzhou (now Luoyang, Henan), along the west side of Taihang Mountain, crossing the Yellow River, crossing the Panshi (now Pingding, Shanxi), westward along the north bank of the Hutuo River, after the northern expedition to the dogs, passing through the area of the current Yanmen Pass, and then arriving at the place where the Hezong tribe lives. There, King Zhou Mu and his entourage were warmly received by the local people, they offered 12 horses, 10 leopard skins as a meeting gift, King Zhou Mu rested for several days, hunting, fishing, and then took the gift on the road, at the foot of Yanran Mountain (now Yin Mountain) to go to the appointment of the head of the Hezong clan. Under the guidance of the latter, he began the magical march to the west, passing through many unheard of tribes, "west expedition to Kunlun Hill", seeing all kinds of plants, animals, collecting horses, cattle and sheep, cheese, jade and other gifts, King Zhou Mu finally came to the state of the West Queen Mother more than 10,000 miles away from the Central Plains.
The first time they met, King Zhou Mu left a good impression on the Queen Mother of the West, and the gifts he brought were jewels and beautiful jade such as jade and jade, and exquisite clothes such as splendid silk, which were much higher than those awarded to the tribes along the way. A few days later, the two sides met on the Yao Pond, feasted, sang and expressed their hearts to each other
The Queen Mother of the West is the ballad of the Son of Heaven, saying: "The white clouds are in the sky, the mountains and tombs come out of themselves, the road is far away, the mountains and rivers are there, the son is not dead, and he can still come back." The Son of Heaven replied: "Give it back to the eastern land, and govern the summer, and all the people will be equal, and I will see you, and I will return to the wilderness after three years." ”
It was to the effect that the Queen Mother of the West thanked King Zhou Mu for visiting friendly countries despite the long distance, and hoped that he would come to visit them often in the future. In the face of the warm invitation of the Queen Mother of the West, King Zhou Mu happily agreed: Wait for me to go back to stabilize the political situation and ensure that the people have a good life, and then come back to the appointment in three years.
Painting, depicting the meeting between King Mu of Zhou and Queen Mother of the West.
After the two separated, King Zhou Mu climbed the mountain, carved a stone to commemorate, and continued to march to the northwest wilderness, along the way to collect treasures, such as animal skins and feathers, shells with cinnabar, colored gems, etc., countless.
According to the statistics of "The Biography of Mu Tianzi", on this trip, King Zhou Mu and his entourage traveled 35,000 miles (round trip). On the way back, when crossing the desert, there was no water to drink, and King Zhou Mu almost died of thirst. Someone had a plan, stabbed the horse's neck, took some horse blood and handed it to Mu Tianzi to drink, which saved his life. It was a long journey, and accidents could have happened at any time, and without the best rider Father to ride eight horses (which could travel thousands of miles a day), without Bo Yao as a guide, and without the army personnel ("people of the six divisions") to follow him closely, King Mu of Zhou would not have been able to complete the journey. What drove him to persevere, leaving footprints in the grasslands, deserts, and forests? Is it just to see the blue sky and white clouds, the beautiful mountains and rivers, and realize the dream of traveling around the world?
I'm afraid it's not that simple.
Fake book or history book?
Before answering this question, let's talk about how we should look at the book "The Biography of Mu Tianzi".
In fact, since its excavation, "The Biography of Mu Tianzi" has been regarded as a record of the historians of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and like the "Bamboo Book Chronicle", it is a history of letters. However, some of the content in the article is easy to remind readers of the myths and legends in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Chu Ci", and the Ming man Hu Yinglin took the lead in doubting its authenticity, thinking that it was a fake book made up by later generations, and King Zhou Mu had never been to so many places, and the so-called Queen Mother of the West, flowers and plants, birds and beasts were all made up for children to see. Hu Yinglin called it "** abuse".
Since then, the academic community has carried out a long discussion on the nature of the historical materials and the age of creation of the book, and it is unanimously agreed that "The Biography of Mu Tianzi" is by no means a fiction to the wall, and it can be confirmed from other classics of the pre-Qin Dynasty or unearthed cultural relics - it is a historical document with historical value.
Taking the pre-Qin classics as an example, the Chinese Language has always been regarded as an important classic for understanding and studying the history of the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn periods, according to the "Chinese Zhou Language".
King Mu will levy dogs, and the priest will advise his father: No. The first Wang Yaode did not watch the soldiers. ......The king did not listen, but took it. ”
The side confirms the authenticity of King Mu of Zhou's northern expedition to the dog in "The Biography of Mu Tianzi". The "Bamboo Book Chronicle" also has a clear record of King Mu of Zhou's expedition to the west. Sima Qian's "Historical Records" once clearly stated:
Yu Benji" and "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" all the monsters, Yu dare not speak. ”
However, in "Qin Benji" and "Zhao Shijia", it is quoted that the father drove west for King Mu of Zhou, and King Mu saw the Queen Mother of the West and forgot to return. The most direct evidence is the minister "Mao Ban" who followed the Son of Heaven to the west in the "Biography of Mu Tianzi", which is not recorded in other ancient books, but appears in the bronze Ban Gui inscription made in the era of King Mu of Zhou, which is enough to prove that the journey of King Mu of Zhou to the west is not nonsense, as the bronze expert and historian Tang Lan said:
Mao Ban saw "The Biography of Mu Tianzi", although this book is full of exaggerations, it was written ,...... a relatively late eraIf there is a historical basis in general, this can be mutually proven. ”
As the historian Cen Zhongmian said:
It is suspected that "The Biography of Mu" is a pseudo-author of many people, and the misunderstanding is nothing more than conjecture rather than reality. Even if it is done, it will be full of leaks. ”
That being the case, how to explain the existence of the Queen Mother of the West? After all, the story of the Queen Mother of the West was first seen in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", and the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" was written in the Warring States period. Historian Yang Kuan gave a reasonable speculation in the "History of the Western Zhou Dynasty", and he believes that "The Biography of Mu Tianzi":
Because the author is taken from the ancestral myths and legends of a nomadic tribe that survived from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Warring States period, the Hezong clan. Since the Western Zhou Dynasty, they have passed down the myths and legends of their ancestor Hezong Baiyao (i.e., Boyao) participating in King Mu of Zhou's long-distance journey to the west, and have changed from a guide to King Mu of Zhou's entourage**, and as a result, they have to be given the official position of 'Hezong Zheng', so that this tribe can prosper. They believed that this was the glorious history of their entire tribe, passed down orally from generation to generation, and it was not until the early Warring States period that it was interviewed by Wei historians and became the main content of "The Biography of Mu Tianzi". ”
Parade of the Eight Horses, 18th century illustration of the Illustrated Legend of the Emperor. Painting Zhou Mu Wang Ji full of eight horses to parade the world.
In other words: King Mu of Zhou, under the guidance of several nomadic tribes, led the people of the so-called six divisions to the west along the upper reaches of the Yellow River, crossed the Rong and Di regions, experienced many Rong Di tribes, gave gifts to each other, and did the work of pacification, which is a true story. ”
It's just that the Hezong clan has put on a mythical cloak for this true story, they consider themselves to be the descendants of the god of Hebo, and the river out of Kunlun is a legend of their faith, so in their discourse system, the main purpose of Mu Tianzi's westward expedition is God's order - as for the Kunlun Hill, to view the treasure of the mountain. As a work of the Warring States Period, "The Legend of Mu Tianzi" inevitably added the popular mythological elements of the time "Queen Mother of the West", which is why it will present a fantasy journey full of gods and monsters.
The farthest to reach**?
So, why did King Mu of Zhou in real history still venture to travel far away after his father King Zhao's southern expedition failed? To put it mildly, it is nothing more than for the further expansion of the dynasty and the achievement of the great cause of Dabang Zhou. Since King Wu Keshang, the rule of Chengkang, the Western Zhou Dynasty has gone through more than half a century, although there was a small setback in the middle of King Zhao's death in the Han River, but it did not prevent King Mu of Zhou from taking his dynasty to the prosperous era. His ambition can be seen from his insistence on going out to fight against the dog in spite of the advice of his father. King Mu of Zhou finally captured the "Four White Wolves" and "Four White Deer" and returned - some scholars speculate that it may have been the name of several leaders of the northern minority tribes at that time. Although the "Chinese" slightly sarcastically says that "those who are desolate do not come" (after that, the tribal leaders did not come to the court to see the king of Zhou), it seems that Mu Tianzi's use of troops this time is too much more than merit, but considering that most of the pre-Qin and Han classics have a lot of negative evaluations of King Mu of Zhou - basically an image of a no-way monarch who does not listen to advice and wantonly solicits, does not attach importance to state affairs, and plays arbitrarily, this statement of "Chinese" is not necessarily correct.
The Zhou Dynasty took the dog Rong as a big disaster, and King Mu was able to use troops to conquer, which was rare. According to the "Bamboo Book Chronicle", after King Mu of Zhou conquered the dog in the west, he "took the east of his five kings, and the king moved to Taiyuan", and moved the subjugated leaders to Taiyuan (now Longdong area) to act as the northwest barrier of the dynasty, which can be regarded as clearing the obstacles on the road to the west for himself. It stands to reason that when the Son of Heaven travels, he can bring a few attendants with him, why did King Mu of Zhou bring the most elite main force "Western Sixth Division" with him when he traveled west, and the military general Mao Ban accompanied him, at first glance, he was prepared to go, not only to inspect the subject country, consolidate the suzerainty of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but also to eliminate the threat from the tribes in the northwest, with a strong economic, political, and military purpose.
Gui, King Mu of the Western Zhou Dynasty, bronze, 21 cm high, 22 cm caliber, unearthed in March 1975 in the Western Zhou Dynasty tomb in Zhuangbai Village, Famen Town, Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province, now in the Fufeng County Museum.
On the way to the west, King Mu of Zhou got along with various tribes and exchanged gifts, which promoted the material and cultural exchanges between the Zhou royal family and the tribes. King Mu of Zhou not only harvested a large amount of jade and good horses, but also bestowed the leaders of some important tribes. He climbed to the top of Kunlun, admired the palace of the Yellow Emperor, met the Queen Mother of the West in Yaochi, and hunted in the ...... of the wilderness
Some people believe that it is Warsaw, Poland, some say it is the steppe region of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, some scholars speculate that Mu Tianzi's westward journey will not go beyond Xinjiang, and others believe that he is just in present-day Shandong Province. Historical geographer Wang Shouchun took the geographical landscape and products in the Biography of Mu Tianzi as clues, and argued that the geographical scope of King Mu of Zhou's westward expedition was mainly west of the Hetao in the northwest, the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the Hexi Corridor and the Xinjiang region. He noted
The area traveled by King Zhou Mu has a vast desert, a vast grassland, rich in horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, this natural landscape and human characteristics, can only be the northwest grassland and desert areas of China. The area where King Mu of Zhou went also produced jade, especially white jade, which should be today's Tarim Basin in Xinjiang. ”
In his opinion, the so-called "Yao Chi" and "the State of the West Queen Mother" are all located in the territory of present-day Xinjiang, and the natural scene around the "Yao Pond" sung by the West Queen Mother is "white clouds in the sky, and the mountains come out of their own" is relatively close to Sailimu Lake, "The weather of 'blue sky and white clouds' here is more common." Although it is also located in the intermountain basin of the Tien Shan Mountains, the lake is wide, and the surrounding mountains appear to be hilly at a relatively low height. In addition, the lake is located on a major transportation route, from the Junggar Basin to the Ili River Valley, the lake is a must-pass. At the same time, the latter chant of the Western Queen Mother describes the nomadic life of the steppe, and the Junggar Basin was a nomadic area in ancient times, so the state of the Western Queen Mother should be in the Junggar Basin or adjacent areas". As for the residence of the Queen Mother of the West, Wang Shouchun speculated based on the route after the two said goodbye ("The Return of the Queen Mother of the West") that it was very likely to be in the valley of the Ili River.
The above are all speculations by scholars, and it is difficult to reach a conclusion, just like everyone does not know the identity of the Queen Mother of the West, maybe it is the female chief of the prehistoric Xinjiang tribal alliance, or maybe it is the daughter of King Zhou Muyuan.
Southern Expedition to Huaiyi, the princes of the General Assembly.
If you think that King Zhou Mu's dream is as simple as being a traveler and exploring the world, you are wrong: he wants to create a thousand achievements and become a prosperous king. Judging from the admiration of the people in the Spring and Autumn Period, judging from the juxtaposition of Shang Tang and Zhou Wugong, King Mu of Zhou has indeed achieved the reputation of the hero with practical actions. It is rumored that when he was wandering and lingering, King Xu Yan in the southeast rebelled, posing a huge threat to Cheng Zhou.
King Xu Yan is the monarch of Xu State, and it is said that he is a descendant of Boyi who assisted Dayu in controlling the water. King Xu Yan was born destined to be extraordinary. According to Jin Zhanghua's "Naturalist Chronicles" quoted in the "Xu Yan Wang Zhi", Xu Yanwang's biological mother is the palace maid of Xu Guo, one day, the palace maid laid an egg, Xu Guojun thought it was very unlucky, so he ordered someone to throw the egg to the river, which happened to be picked up by a divine dog named "Hu Cang" and brought home. The owner of "Hucang" is a lonely old woman, she was very surprised to see this situation, under her careful care, hatched a baby boy lying on her back from the egg, named "Yan", after hearing this anecdote, Xu Guojun decided to adopt the boy, the child gradually grew up, both benevolent and intelligent, after becoming the monarch, the small vassal states in the Jianghuai area have succumbed to him, and the strength of Xu has been greatly enhanced.
The rumors of King Xu Yan's life may seem nonsense, but this oviparous myth is widely spread among the Dongyi people, reflecting the bird-worshipping psychology behind it.
As early as the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Xu Guo, which was active in southeastern Shandong, was the backbone of the anti-Zhou army and the main force of the Dongyi group. After the Eastern Expedition of the Duke of Zhou, the Xu State rebelled from time to time, and often had friction with the Lu State, so that the latter once blocked the traffic in the eastern suburbs. After several failed battles with the Lu State, the Xu State fled south and settled on both sides of the Huai River in the northeast of present-day Anhui and the northwest of Jiangsu, and provoked wars from time to time. By the time of King Xu Yan, he united with the surrounding vassal states to launch a powerful attack on Zhou, fighting from the Huai River to the edge of the Yellow River, penetrating deep into the core area and threatening the eastern capital Luoyi. There are a number of bronze inscriptions that record the confrontation between the two sides, and the Ban Gui in the Capital Museum is the "physical evidence".
To put it simply, Ban Gui's discovery, like the Book of Mu Tianzi, was purely accidental. After 1966, a large number of old books, cultural relics and antiques in Beijing became the objects of the "four olds", some were burned on the spot, and some were sent to scrap stations, paper mills and copper smelters. In order to rescue and protect cultural relics, Beijing cultural relics workers formed a team to clean up ancient books and cultural relics, and searched for treasures in the waste heap every day. One day in June 1972, Hu Yuheng and Hua Yiwu of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics came to the non-ferrous metal ** station of Beijing Municipal Materials ** Company early, Hua Yiwu later recalled that they began to pick from 9 o'clock in the morning, and at more than 12 o'clock at noon, three pieces of bronze fragments were found from the scrap copper pile, one is the wall, one is the bottom of the vessel with inscriptions, and one is the foot. This is terrible, the two of them will find the fragments packed, brought back to the office to ask the bronze expert Mr. Cheng Changxin to identify, Mr. Cheng carefully inspected the ornaments and inscriptions, preliminarily identified as a Western Zhou Dynasty inscribed bronze, so everyone returned to the scrap copper pile to rummage carefully, and finally found the mouth, abdomen, ears and other fragments of the artifact. After careful docking and identification of the inscription, it was finally determined that this cultural relic was the old collection of the Qing Palace, which was dispersed out of the palace when the Eight-Nation Coalition occupied Beijing, and was "hidden" in the people until it was discovered again.
Ban Gui, Western Zhou Dynasty Mu Dynasty, Bronze, Tonggao 225 cm, caliber 257 cm, once collected by the Qing Palace, and included in the "Western Qing Dynasty Gujian", now in the Capital Museum.
Although more than half of the body of the Ban Gui vessel was destroyed, only the mouth, abdomen, and ears remained, but the inscription on the bottom of the vessel was basically intact. The inscription is to the effect that: on the day of Jiaxu in early August, the king of Zhou ordered Mao Bo to take over the position of Duke of Yucheng in Zong Zhou, as the ruling minister of the dynasty, to protect the throne as "Mao Gong", to set an example for the world, and at the same time to take charge of the three kingdoms of Fan, Shu and Chao, and to give Mao Gong a reward. After the canonization was completed, the king of Zhou ordered Mao Gong to lead the feudal monarch and his tribes to conquer the eastern "Rong", and at the same time assigned Wu Bo to lead his army to assist Mao Gong from the left, and ordered Lu Bo to lead the army to assist on the right, and ordered Mao Ban:
Lead your people to follow Mao's father on the expedition, and be responsible for protecting Mao's personal safety after leaving the city. ”
Three years later, Mao Pingping rebelled, and the class returned to the dynasty and told the heavens: the people of the eastern kingdom did not understand the will of heaven, so they perished. Therefore, it is only by respecting virtue that nothing is lost. In order to praise his father's merits, Mao Ban made this gesture, "the descendants of their eternal treasures", hoping that future generations will cherish it.
King Zhou is so excited, who is the opponent "Rong"? Many scholars believe that the war is the king of Xu Yan. In addition to the participation of Mao Gong, Lu Bo, Wu Bo, etc., King Mu of Zhou also ordered Bo Yong's father to lead his division to guard in the ancient division (now south of Taikang County, Henan), with Dao (near Runan, Henan) and Hu (near Fuyang, Anhui) two small countries as outposts, and Bo Yong's father came and went to these three places. In fact, the Zhou people had already set up defensive strongholds on the border of the Huai Domain to prevent Huaiyi attacks. Rao is like this, Huaiyi still broke through the defense line and "dared to attack the inner country". In the battle of Boyong's father to resist Huaiyi, the most critical battle was that Gui Zai (that is, Boyong's father) led the Chengzhou army to pursue Huaiyi, and fought fiercely with Rong in Qilin (now east of Yexian County, Henan), and won a complete victory, capturing 100 enemies, capturing 135 weapons, and rescuing 114 people of the Western Zhou Dynasty captured by Rong, and the whole war was unscathed. Although Huaiyi's invasion ended in failure, Huaiyi's ability to take action across the border should not be underestimated.
Traditional texts say that King Xu Yan provoked a war, and then the wise and martial King Mu of Zhou was easily defeated by himself, but this is not the case shown by the Jin Wen, although the result is ultimately the same - King Xu Yan was defeated, but the process must have been far more complicated and difficult than we imagined. After this battle, the situation in the east, west, north and south was generally stable, and King Mu of Zhou followed the example of his predecessors, and the princes of the assembly were in Tushan to announce the authority of Zhou Tianzi to the world.
Beside the door of the car with movable latch, there is a naked person with a broken left foot (the person who was tortured), which confirms the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty, that is, the person who was tortured by cutting off his foot and asked him to guard the gate of the animal garden.
"Historical Records" said: King Mu ascended the throne, and the Spring and Autumn Period was fifty years old. ......King Mu was established for fifty-five years and collapsed. ”
According to Sima Qian, Mu Tianzi ascended the throne at the age of 50 and reigned for 55 years, so he should be a rare long-lived person in ancient times. Looking at Chinese history, the emperors who served for more than 50 years after him were Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi, and Emperor Qianlong. Some scholars use the bronze inscriptions of the recognized Mu Dynasty as the basis for dating and looking for clues from the lineage of the Emperor. The plate was unearthed on January 19, 2003 in Yangjia Village, Changxing Town, Meixian County, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, and the inscription of 21 lines and 372 words at the bottom of the plate recorded the history of the 12 Zhou Tianzi of the Shan family for 8 generations to assist the Western Zhou Dynasty, and was named after the name of the maker of the plate. According to the inscription, it is generally believed that King Zhao reigned for 19 years and King Mu for 55 years, which means that Hui Zhong's father's working life was as long as 74 years. According to the regulations, nobles can only govern people at the age of 20, enjoy the privilege of rule, and serve as ministers of the royal family. In this way, Hui Zhongyun's father will be 94 years old when he retires, and it is doubtful whether the ten-year-old minister has the energy and ability to assist King Zhou. The question is, how long did King Mu reign? Some say 37 years (according to the "Bamboo Book Chronicle"), some say less than 40 years, probably twenty or thirty years, no conclusion. His life is as legendary as "The Legend of Mu Tianzi", leaving many mysteries waiting for future generations to solve.