In recent archaeological research, there are two issues related to the age of Chu and Yue, which have attracted the attention of the academic community. This brought the historical controversy of the Warring States period back into focus.
One problem is that multiple Yue Wang swords were found within the boundaries of the Chu State. As early as the end of the 30s, a Yue Wang sword was found in Changsha, Hunan, and then many were unearthed in Jiangling, Hubei, Huaiyang, Henan and other places. Especially in the No. 1 tomb of Wangshan in Jiangling, the sword of King Goujian of Yue is extremely precious. Many scholars believe that the presence of so many weapons of the Yue king in the tomb of Chu indicates that the Yue Kingdom may have been destroyed by the Chu State. Therefore, the age of Chu and Yue can be used as the upper limit of the age of these tombs.
Another issue is the tomb of King Zhongshan in Pingshan, Hebei. One of the tombs unearthed Zhongshan Wang Ding, there is a paragraph in the inscription that is interpreted as: "The former Wu people and Yue (Yue), the Yue people cultivated and prepared for protection, five years to cover Wu, and the current day." This inscription indicates that at the time of the inscription of Ding, the Yue State still retained the territory of the Wu State and had not yet been annexed by the Chu State. Therefore, there is a close relationship between the age of Chu and the age of the tomb of King Zhongshan.
These two questions are of great significance to the study of archaeology and history and culture of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, so we must find out the age of Chu and Yue.
At present, the popular theory is that the date of Chu Zhenyue is 306 BC, that is, the twenty-third year of King Chu Huai. This statement was originally used by the Qing scholar Huang Yizhou and later adopted by many works. However, after receiving a letter from a reader asking for the basis of this date, the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House recently found that this statement is still open to debate after careful examination of historical sources.
The most famous monarch in the history of the Yue Kingdom was Gou Jian. Regarding the lineage of Gou Jian, there are differences between the "Historical Records of the Yue Family" and the ancient "Bamboo Book Chronicle", and the "Historical Records of Suoyin" have been compared. Mr. Chen Mengjia once quoted the "Book of Yuejue" and other materials for a detailed discussion. He deduced the age of the Yue Jun lineage based on the "Bamboo Book Chronicle", which is similar to the age arranged by Fan Xiangyong.
According to the available information, the name of the last king of Yue in the "Bamboo Book Chronicle" is Wuyuan. "Historical Records Suoyin" pointed out that after Wuli was Wuyi, and the major events in Yue history recorded in "Yue Shijia" were until there was no stiffness.
It is recorded in the Yue Shijia": "When Wang Wuyi was in power, Yue Xingshi, the Northern Expedition to Qi, the Western Expedition to Chu, and the struggle with China for the frontier, when the King of Chu Wei." In the northern expedition to Qi, King Qi Wei made people say that the king of Yue said: ......Omitted) so the more and more Qi and Chu. The king of Chuwei raised troops and attacked it, defeated the Yue, killed the king without borders, took the old Wu land, went to Zhejiang, and broke Qi in Xuzhou in the north. And the more this is scattered, the sons of the clans contend, or for the king, or for the king, on the south of the Yangtze River, on the sea, and under the Chu. ”
There is also a similar record in Suoyin: "Ten years after the "Bamboo Book Chronicle" Yue (Yue) Zi Wu Xuan, Chu Var Xuzhou, no Chu defeated the more Yue killed Wu Yi, it is Wu Yi after Wu Yi, and the "Bamboo Book Chronicle" is not recorded. It can be seen that the "Bamboo Book Chronicle" omits this matter.
The Yue Family recounts the incident of King Chu Wei's defeat of the Yue Kingdom, and the cause and effect of the event is clear. King Wuyi of Yue was originally an enemy of Qi and Chu at the same time, but was later persuaded by the envoys of Qi to give up attacking Qi and attack Chu instead, and was defeated by Chu. King Chu Wei not only seized most of the territory of Yue, but also destroyed Qi to the north, taking revenge on Chu for provoking Yue to attack Chu.
Liang Yusheng, a Qing scholar, questioned the account of the Yue Shijia, arguing that King Chu Wei and King Qi Wei were not contemporaries and should be changed to King Xuan of Qi. Liang was made according to the misarrangement of the "Chronology of the Six Kingdoms" in the Historical Records. Corrected by using materials such as the Bamboo Book Chronicle, the two Wei kings happened to be contemporaries.
Chu's defeat of Qi in Xuzhou was an important event during the Warring States period. Xu Guang's words recorded in the "Yue Shijia" believe that this incident occurred in the forty-sixth year of King Xian of Zhou, which is wrong. The Chronology of the Six Kingdoms records that the siege of Xuzhou by the state of Chu was in the thirty-sixth year of King Xian of Zhou, not the forty-sixth year.
This incident also appears in the chapter "King Chu Wei's victory over Xuzhou" in "Warring States Policy Qi Ce I", as well as in "Wei Ce I" and "Qin Ce IV". According to the calculations of Cewen, this happened in the thirty-sixth year of King Xian, that is, in 333 B.C.E. The defeat of the Yue state by the state of Chu also occurred in this year.
The historical sources cited in the Yue Shijia mention the number of years of the reign of the Yue kings from Gou Jian downward, and Fan Xiangyong extrapolated based on these sources, listing the events of Chu's invasion of Xuzhou in the twenty-fourth year of King Xian of Zhou, that is, in 345 BC. This is inconsistent with the records in the "Yue Shijia" and "Warring States Policy", which may be due to the error in the number of years of King Yue in the "Bamboo Book Chronicle".
To sum up, the era of Chu and Yue is of great significance for the historical study of the Warring States Period, and we need to clarify this issue as soon as possible.
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