Chapter 519 Yao Chi Fei Chi (II)

"King Zhou Mu, surnamed Ji, is full of names. The son of King Zhao of Zhou, the fifth monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty. He reigned for 55 years, making him the longest-reigning king of the Western Zhou Dynasty. King Mu of Zhou is one of the most legendary emperors in ancient Chinese history, known as Mu Tianzi. King Mu of Zhou wrote "Lü Xing", which is the earliest legal code handed down in China. Yun Ximing said.

"I've heard of this King Zhou Mu, and it's indeed a strange person." Uncle Lu said, "In the nineteenth year of King Zhao of Zhou, King Ji of Zhao personally conquered Jingchu for the third time and died in Hanshui. It was the crown prince Ji Manjian who became the fifth emperor of the Western Zhou Dynasty and was the king of Zhou Mu. At this time, he was already 50 years old, and legend has it that he lived for 105 years, and his reign was about 55 years. Regarding the age of King Mu of Zhou, according to the "Historical Records", King Mu ascended the throne, the Spring and Autumn Period was fifty years old, and King Mu was established for fifty-five years, collapsed, and was determined to be 105 years old. The "Bamboo Book Chronicle" says that from Zhou's mandate to King Mu's 100 years, not King Mu is 100 years old. Therefore, King Zhou Mu has his own opinions on how old he is. So far, the unearthed bronzes of the Zhou Mu period have only been dated to 34 years, and no more than 40 years old have been found. However, many people think that he may have reigned for a hundred years. ”

"Not only that, but this King Zhou Mu is also very politically accomplished. In the early days of the reign of King Mu of Zhou, he did not rely on military force to conquer the Quartet and quell various domestic contradictions like King Zhao, but believed that there were problems within the ruling class. He ordered the minister Bo Zhen to reiterate the ruling norms to the court officials and issue the "Decree"; He also used Lu Hou as the secretary, and ordered to write "Lu Xing", sue the Quartet, and correct the world. The criminal book formulated five punishments, including ink, slash, bing, gong, and dabi, and its detailed rules amounted to 3,000 articles. Under the hard work of King Mu of Zhou. The world is peaceful again, maintaining the continuation of the prosperous era of King Zhao. From the beginning of King Wu of Zhou, the focus of the Zhou Dynasty's development and operation was in the east, followed by the southeast. By the time of King Zhao of Zhou, the national strength was strong, and he developed to the south, and took a defensive position against the Rong people in the north. Although King Zhao of Zhou died on the second southern expedition, Zhou still achieved the goal of expanding southward. King Mu of Zhou continued to maintain an outward expansion posture and began to take the initiative to attack the northern dog Rong. According to the Chinese Zhou language, the dog Rong in the western remote area of the dynasty belonged to the Zhou desert. He often paid tribute to the Zhou royal family. The twelfth year of King Mu of Zhou. The dog Rong did not pay tribute in time, and King Mu of Zhou personally led the troops to conquer the dog Rong on this ground. The minister's father, the priest, once expressed his disagreement with the expedition, advocating the implementation of the policy of Yaode not watching the army during the reign of King Wen. That is, to seek the absurdity of dogs by political means. Only come to worship King Zhou on time. There were no other obligations, but King Mu did not accept the suggestion and insisted on the westward expedition. In the spring of the twelfth year of King Mu. King Mu of Zhou marched westward, marched into Yangxu, and the Zhou army won a great victory. However, due to the lack of historical data, the course of the war is unknown. Judging from the results, the military victory in this war was not great, and only four white wolves and four white deer returned. Moreover, because King Mu adopted a high-pressure policy towards the ethnic minorities in the border areas, the consequences were extremely unfavorable for Zhou. "Historical Records of Zhou Benji" says: Since the beginning of the desert, those who have not been served, and the remote countries no longer meet King Mu of Zhou, indicating that the Zhou Dynasty has lost its prestige among the surrounding foreign tribes. Bian Yi did not go to court, which exacerbated the contradictions, and King Mu reorganized his men and horses to crusade twice, won his five kings, and moved some of the Rong people to Taiyuan. The campaign ended in a complete victory for Zhou Da, but it intensified the confrontation with the dog Rong. Yun Ximing said.

After pacifying the west, King Mu continued his expedition to the west, and in the thirteenth to seventeenth year of King Mu, he marched to Kunlun Hill, which was recorded in the "Biography of Mu Tianzi". Modern people believe that "The Biography of Mu Tianzi" was written by the Warring States Period, and the content is mostly untrue, but it reflects the situation of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the tribes of the northwest countries at that time, and is the earliest historical record of the exchange between the Central Plains and the Western Regions. Conventional scholars believe that according to the mileage stated in the story, the kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West should be in Western Asia or Europe. King Siloh of Zhou Mu was absent from the court for many years, and the state of Xu, located in the southeast of the Zhou Dynasty, took the opportunity to rebel and led the princes who submitted to him to attack Zhou. So after King Mu of Zhou went west, he moved to the southeast.

Xu was a big country in the Shang Dynasty, and at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, he followed Wu Geng to rebel, and after the second eastward crusade of the Duke of Zhou, Xu rebelled and obeyed. During the reign of King Mu, the state of Xu flourished again. According to the "Historical Records of Zhou Benji" and "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Dongyi": Xu Zi, the monarch of Xu State, proclaimed himself King Xu Yan, and led the Jiuyi Huaiyi tribes to invade Zong Zhou, and King Mu united with Chu to attack Xu. After breaking the state of Xu, King Mu named his son Ying Baozong to Pengcheng as the son of Xu and continued to manage the state of Xu. After pacifying the Xu Rebellion, King Mu continued to march eastward, arrived at Jiujiang, and began his southern expedition. Through the parade and conquest, King Mu of Zhou made many states and tribes in the southeast submit to the rule of Zhou, which was of positive significance to the development of the Zhou Dynasty. After the achievements of the southern expedition, King Mu imitated his ancestors and joined the princes at Tushan, consolidating Zhou's rule in the southeast. Yun Ximing said.

"From this point of view, this King Zhou Mu is nothing remarkable." Dazhe said, "You will only fight and kill." ”

"The ancient man naturally thought differently from us, but he didn't just do that." I said, in the first year of King Mu of Zhou, King Mu appointed Junya as the great Situ, and Botong as the servant, and admonished Zhou Zheng. King Mu went west to conquer the dogs, won his five kings, and got four white deer and four white wolves, and then moved to Taiyuan. You have to refine the red knife, and use it to cut jade like cutting mud. Later, the father was favored by King Mu of Zhou because he was good at riding horses, and King Mu was lucky, so he used his father to conquer the west, as for the solution of Qingwu. In the same year, Huaiyi invaded westward and advanced to Rui. King Mu of Zhou drove back to the country, and the fate of the eighth division of the Zhou Dynasty was finally used to attack Huaiyi and set up camp in the ancient division. Prior to this, he had led the division of the provincial bran land to the ancient division and the final division of the record, copied the back road of Huaiyi, and Huaiyi retreated. Later, I went to the country of the West Pole to see the magician, who could enter the water and fire, penetrate the gold and stone, and change a lot, and King Mu was confused by it, so he traveled to the west. On the way, you have to be a skilled craftsman, and the puppeteer Xiao looks like a real person, and can sing and dance together. King Mu returned to Zong Zhou with him. Later, the Queen Mother of the West entered the Zhou Dynasty to see her, and King Mu treated him as a guest and gave him a residence in Zhao Palace. Then King Mu raised the Ninth Division and cut down Jing Chu. In the thirty-ninth year of King Mu of Zhou, the princes of King Mu were in Tushan. In the same year, King Mu of Zhou traveled eastward, happy and forgetful. Ling Zhai bribed 100 good horses, returned Bi national treasures, and tried to reach a peace agreement with Bi through Xu Nan, but failed, and then invaded Bi. Bi Ren warned the police, and King Mu of Zhou sent Meng Xi to Bidi to ask for Rong. King Mu returned to Nanzheng and appointed Lu Hou as Sikou. King Mu ordered Lu Hou to write "Lu Xing". These are all the merits of King Mu of Zhou. I said.

"In the Zhou Dynasty historian's pen, King Mu is full of wisdom, and can rule the four directions, and the king of the powerful Yu. In the Spring and Autumn Period, when Wu Zixu, the grandfather of Chu Dafu Wu Zixu, persuaded the monarch of Chu State, he compared King Mu of Zhou with Shang Tang, King Wu of Zhou, and a generation of male lords such as Duke Huan of Qi and Duke of Jin; Guan Zhong said to Qi Huan Gong that King Mu of Zhou imitated the governing philosophy of King Wen and King Wu, and achieved his reputation by making meritorious achievements. These all affirm the historical merits of King Mu of Zhou. During the reign of King Mu of Zhou, the territory of the dynasty continued to expand, effectively consolidating the rule of the Zhou dynasty. However, the perennial conquest, the absence of the Son of Heaven in the court, led to the relaxation of the government, since King Mu, the Zhou Dynasty began to decline from prosperity. I said.

"Then this King Zhou Mu is still a powerful and ruthless character." Dazhe said.

"Not only at that time, but also in later generations, there are still people who pay tribute to King Zhou Mu. In the south of Gongzhang Village, Guodu Street, Chang'an District, Xi'an, there is a rammed earth platform, and legend has it that this is the tomb of King Zhou Mu. The rammed earth Taifeng soil was originally covered bucket-shaped, due to the long-term soil extraction, the south, east and north sides of the damage are serious, has become very irregular, has become a straight up and down the steep wall. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Bi Yuan, the governor of Shaanxi, erected a stone tablet in front of the mausoleum: the four official characters of the tomb of King Mu of Zhou were written, and the stone tablet was now missing. Later, the Shaanxi Provincial People's Committee announced that the tomb of King Zhou Mu was the second batch of key cultural relics protection units in Shaanxi Province. Later, the top of the tomb of King Mu of Zhou was excavated, revealing the dome of bricks. Under the dome roof is a square antechamber, its north is the back room, there are side chambers in the east and west, according to the analysis of the tomb shape, bricks and sealed soil, this tomb seems to be a tomb of the Han Dynasty. People often come here to worship and make wishes. I said.

"Such a god." Dazhe said.

"Ancient kings were considered to be chosen by heaven, so they were also called the Son of Heaven, and naturally they had extraordinary qualities." I say.

"But I don't understand one thing, since Zuo Ci wants to build this place as a model of the Heavenly Palace, why can't it be built according to the actual one? This Yao Pond shouldn't be a pool, shouldn't there be water in it? Yun Ning asked, "But there's nothing here." ”

"This Yaochi Temple must be related to Yaochi, but I don't know what the specific situation is. However, it is said that the presence of holy water in the Yao Pond is holy water. I said.

"Looking back at the past, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, all dynasties, people and water have formed an indissoluble bond. We revere water, praise water, understand water, and still cherish water, care for water, and distribute water fairly. Because water is the source of life, since the birth of the earth's primitive life in the ocean, life and water are inseparable, whether it is the plant kingdom, or the animal world, or human society, all life forms are born and developed because of water, as Engels said: there is no life without water. Water is the mother of life and the mother of humanity. Water is the foundation of civilization. The embodiment of civilization is the progress of society and culture, the development of agriculture, industry and cities. If human beings want to break through the grass and achieve civilization, they have always been inseparable from water. All things in water also exist in all things, so it seems that water is everywhere, and there is no special need to build Tianchi into a pool. I said.

"Yin Yin, what you said is a bit profound, I don't understand it." Dazhe said.

"If you build a house out of air, can you do it? You can say yes or no, because the air is everywhere, you can't see it, you can't touch it. Water is also, water gives birth to all things, exists in all things, is all things, and is nothing. From this point of view, holy water is not water, and Yao Chi is not a pool. (To be continued.) )