The spirit of aristocracy prevailed in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period

[This article is excerpted from "Wenhui Reading Weekly" on March 26, 2010 Author: Jin Bo and Zhang Hongjie (Jin Bo is the host of the "Cultural China" program, Zhang Hongjie is the deputy director of the Institute of Chinese Culture and Literature of Bohai University)]

There is a famous figure in Chinese history named Song Xianggong, who is said to have failed in the "Battle of Hongshui" because he adhered to the dogma of waiting for the Chu army to cross the river before launching an attack. Song Xianggong became a typical pedantic person. But some people say that the story of Song Xianggong embodies the aristocratic spirit of the Spring and Autumn Period - "Talking about rules and emphasizing demeanor". How do we understand such an act today? Jin Bo, the host of the "Cultural China" program, and Zhang Hongjie, deputy director of the Institute of Chinese Culture and Literature of Bohai University, interpreted the aristocratic spirit of the Spring and Autumn Period for us.

Moderator: The story of Song Xianggong appeared in middle school textbooks, and the comments left to us at that time were remembered as "stupid pig-like benevolence and morality". So now how should we interpret the character of Song Xianggong?

Guest: The story of Song Xianggong was first recorded in the "Zuo Chuan", which says that the Song State and the Chu State were going to fight, and they chose the side of Hongshui as their position. The Song army marched to the position very early and lined up, and the Chu State crossed the Hongshui from the other side to engage the battle. In the process of crossing the river in the State of Chu, there was a middle-level officer in the State of Song, equivalent to today's regimental commander, who ran to Song Xianggong to offer advice and said, Let's give him a surprise attack, what do you think?

Moderator: This suggestion seems very reasonable today, and it is the principle of war to surprise and attack the unprepared.

Guest: I didn't expect Song Xianggong to pull his face and say, how can this work! A gentleman cannot attack a man who has been wounded or has gray hair in a war, and when the enemy is in danger, he cannot fall into a well, and now that the enemy is not prepared, we must not attack suddenly. So they waited for the Chu army to cross the river before the Song army attacked. As a result, due to being outnumbered, the Song army was defeated, and Song Xianggong was also wounded in the war and died shortly after returning.

Moderator: From today's point of view, Song Xianggong is too stupid and pedantic. You say, "The soldiers are treacherous", they should have taken them by surprise and attacked them unprepared. But you have to talk about the rules, and it turns out to be a fiasco. This story can reflect the aristocratic spirit of Song Xianggong, but many viewers can't understand it, so let's talk about it.

Respect the manners and abide by the rules

Guest: Indeed, it is more difficult for our audience today to interpret the aristocratic spirit from Song Xianggong. However, we can think about it from another angle. Today we may not understand the aristocratic spirit of our ancestors, but we have all heard of the chivalry of the West to a greater or lesser extent. So what does Western chivalry consist of? The first point is to be brave on the battlefield, not greedy for life and afraid of death; The second point is to be polite and disciplined on the battlefield, not to attack samurai who are not wearing good armor, not to attack non-combatants, and to be lenient to the loser if the opponent fails. Do these words sound a little similar to the spirit of Song Xianggong?

Moderator: What you said provides us with a good reference. So what is the same between Song Xianggong's aristocratic spirit and Western chivalry, and why did he pay attention to this aristocratic spirit in the war at that time?

Guest: If we have some understanding of the background of Song Xianggong's times, we will understand Song Xianggong's choice. The views and methods of war before the Spring and Autumn Period were very different from those after the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Spring and Autumn Period, because the main body of both sides were aristocrats, and even the soldiers were aristocrats at that time, so the principle of everyone fighting was to the point to the end, to give the other side enough faces, and not to kill the other party for the purpose. Then two armies made up of nobles fought a battle, a bit like a gentleman's duel later.

Moderator: There was a very strict procedure for duels between Western aristocrats, and was it the same for the wars of the Spring and Autumn Period in China?

Guest: Yes. During the Spring and Autumn Period, wars between countries used chariots, so fighting with chariots required finding a relatively flat and wide land as a battlefield, so before the war, the two sides must choose a plain area that is more moderate to both countries, and then make an appointment, and the two countries will travel thousands of miles to this place to fight.

Moderator: The preparation in the early stage is meticulous and long.

Guest: When you arrive at the battlefield, you have to follow a series of strict rules. The two sides first lined up, then beat the drums, and the chariots of both sides went in opposite directions, and when they reached the meeting point, they turned left at the same time, which is called left-handed. At this time, the distance between the two chariots was the closest, and the samurai standing on the chariots waved their spears and attacked each other, and if they picked each other off the chariots at once, they would win; If neither side is playing with each other, then after the left spin, return to the starting point, wait for the next round of drumming, and charge again. So it's very similar to a duel.

Moderator: The Spring and Autumn Period was a historical stage that paid great attention to etiquette.

Guest: Yes. When we understand the background of Song Xianggong's time, we will understand that his choice is determined by cultural concepts. Song Xianggong himself was a descendant of the nobility of the Yin Dynasty and received a strict aristocratic education since he was a child, so for him, it was important to win in the war, but it was more important to win reasonably and above board.

Host: Sometimes I feel very emotional when I think about it, Chinese people now appreciate the chivalry and gentlemanly demeanor of Westerners, and they are principled and honest in doing things. But today we found out that Song Xianggong, who has made us laugh at it for so many years, is precisely in the same vein as the chivalry of the West.

Have a sense of honor and responsibility

Moderator: The story of Song Xianggong mainly reflects the sense of rules in the spirit of the aristocracy, should there be bravery?

Guest: Yes. The martial spirit is a very important component of the aristocratic spirit, which is in common with the Western aristocratic society. In the pre-Qin period, every nobleman was born a samurai, and he had the obligation to be a soldier to fight. So at that time, it was a very honorable thing to be a soldier and sacrifice for the country.

Host: For example, among the six arts of "etiquette, music, archery, royalty, calligraphy, and mathematics" advocated by Confucianism, there are archery and driving. Confucius was a master of this, and he once demonstrated to his students.

Guest: The real Confucius is different from the Confucius we understand in later generations. At that time, Shangwu was a spiritual system shared from the top to the bottom.

Moderator: So what other creed does the aristocratic spirit have besides bravery?

Guest: Honors. The aristocracy was a class that valued honor above life, and this was the source of their bravery. They consider their blood to be noble, and they must not defile their blood with their debate deeds. Because they attach importance to honor, nobles often dare to take responsibility when they encounter danger, and they have a very strong spirit of commitment.

Moderator: Commitment is linked to the spirit of aristocracy, which seems incomprehensible to today's Chinese people. Because now the Chinese believe that nobility only means privilege. But in fact, the true aristocratic spirit is that with great power comes great responsibility.

Guest: Yes. The aristocracy was the upper class of society, which on the one hand gave them a sense of honor and on the other hand, a very strong sense of social responsibility. For example, there is an unwritten rule in the Western navigation industry that when a ship is in danger to sink, the captain must be the last to leave, or some captains simply choose to sink with the ship, which is a kind of commitment spirit inherited from the noble spirit.

Moderator: While enjoying all kinds of privileges, it also means being able to stand up and sacrifice your life for the country or for your own monarch.

Guest: In the Spring and Autumn Period, Zheng Guoyu held a "Armistice Conference", that is, an armistice conference, and all countries sent representatives to participate. During the meeting, there was news that Lu sent troops to attack Ju, which made the delegates very angry and decided to kill Shusun Leopard, the representative of Lu to the conference, to vent the anger in everyone's hearts. Among them, there was a representative of the Jin Kingdom, Le Huanzi, who was friends with his uncle Sun Leopard and wanted to save him. But Uncle Sun Leopard said that our Lu State sent me to the conference to safeguard the interests of the country, and now everyone has resentment against Lu Guo and wants to vent their grievances by killing me, then I can accept this result.

Host: When the monarch of the Jin Kingdom heard this, he said: "Don't forget the country in times of trouble, and be loyal; Thinking about difficulties does not exceed the official, and the letter is also; Tuguo forgets to die, and chastity is also; The three conspirators, righteousness. If there are four, and they can be killed? ”

Guest: So the king of Jin pleaded with the king of Chu, let's discuss and discuss to spare him death, because he is a person who has the courage to take responsibility, if we spare his death, we can also exhort those who are loyal to the country. Therefore, this story clearly reflects the spirit of courage and responsibility of the pre-Qin aristocracy.

In case of trouble, we insist on credibility

Moderator: At that time, people admired Fang Gang, despised ingenuity, and were full of that kind of fierce temperament. There is such a story, in the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a person named Cui Shu who always wanted to monopolize the government, he killed the Duke of Qi Zhuang, and then established the younger brother of the Duke of Zhuang as the monarch. The state arrangements have been completed, so he found Tai Shibo, what is he doing? Recording history. He said to Tai Shibo, a few days ago, the lord molested my wife, but was killed, in order to take care of the lord's face, so when you record history, you have to write like this, "The first monarch died of illness." As a result, after listening to Cui Shu's words, this Tai Shi Bo said coldly, it is Tai Shi's duty to write history according to the facts, as for how the lord died, you understand it in your heart, I also understand it in my heart, inside and outside the court, people up and down understand it in their hearts, let me tell a lie, I can't do it. A historian has no power in his own right. Cui Shu said, okay, then how are you going to write? You let me see. As a result, the historian wrote it to him on the spot, and when Cui Shu looked at it, it said "In the fifth month of summer, Cui Shu killed Jun Zhuang Gong". Cui Shu was furious and killed this Taishi official. Then the successor came up again, and the result was taken to take a look, and it was still written like this "Cui Shu killed Jun Zhuang Gong", and killed, killed several in a row, and finally Cui Shu had no choice, sighed and said, I only know now that history and the horror of the historian, he let the last historian go.

Guest: There is a very interesting epilogue to this story, saying that there is a historian in the south of Qi State, he heard that all the historians of Qi State have been killed, he is very anxious, afraid that no one will write this history, holding bamboo slips, holding Jane in the past, to continue to write history in the court, to go to the middle of the road, to hear that the last historian was released, then turned back.

Moderator: So in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were many stories of loyalty, righteousness and uprightness. It is precisely because of such people who can write history directly that we now study history and do not take many unjust roads.

Guest: The stories of the Spring and Autumn Period are actually not entirely generous and bloody, but there are also some very warm-sounding stories, such as a story called "Ji Za Hanging Sword", which sounds very poetic. It is said that there was a son named Ji Za in the state of Wu, who had a very good cultivation, and the king sent him as an envoy to the Jin country. On the way to the Jin Kingdom, he had to pass by the Xu Kingdom, so he went to visit the monarch of the Xu Kingdom, but he did not expect the two to talk very closely and became good friends, and he stayed in the Xu Kingdom for several days. During the chat, Ji Za noticed that the monarch of the Xu Kingdom had been looking at the sword hanging from his waist. We know that Wu is a place where famous swords are produced, and Ji Za is very interested in swords, and is a big collector of swords, and he carries his best sword. Then when he saw that the monarch kept looking at his sword, he knew that he liked it. However, because the gentleman does not take away the beauty of people, he is embarrassed to ask for it directly. Ji Za read his mind and wanted to give this sword to the monarch of Xu State, but at that time, there was an international rule that as a diplomatic envoy, he must wear a sword. He thought, after I finish my mission, when I pass through Xu on the way back to China, I will give the sword to Xu Guojun, so that it will be the best of both worlds. So he stayed in the state of Xu for a few days, and then continued to set off to the kingdom of Jin. When he completed his diplomatic mission in the Jin Kingdom and passed through the Xu State again on the way back to China, he was excited to give the sword to Xu Guojun, but heard the unfortunate news that Xu Guojun had fallen ill and died in the past few days. This Jiza was very sad, so he found the successor of the king, and he said that this ancestor was very good to me when he was alive, and I once wanted to give him this sword, but he unfortunately died, and now I give you this sword to express my heart. But this successor is also very principled, and he said, "Our monarch did not explain this matter to me when he was alive, so I cannot accept such a valuable gift from you." When Ji Za heard this, he said, "That's it, I'll go and worship your ancestors." So he came to Xu Guojun's tomb with various offerings, respectfully saluted Xu Guojun in silence, and after finishing the work, Ji Za took off the sword from his waist and hung it on the tree next to Xu Guojun's tomb, and then left.

Host: What a beautiful story this is, the temperament of the aristocracy at that time, graceful, noble, elegant, and calm. However, it is regrettable that in later years, this aristocratic spirit of the pre-Qin era gradually declined with the continuous expansion of imperial power in the later period.

The plebeian emperor abdicated the noble spirit

In the Battle of Wujiang, Xiang Yu had the opportunity to escape, but he chose to use Wujiang to kill himself to maintain his last dignity. As a result of the Chu-Han dispute, the aristocratic culture represented by Xiang Yu was completely defeated by the commoner culture represented by Liu Bang. So, why did China's aristocratic culture disappear so early?

Xiang Yu maintained the spirit of nobility with death

Guest: Xiang Yu is a descendant of nobles, and his grandfather Xiang Yan was a famous general of the Chu State and was very famous in the late Warring States period; Liu Bang was born at the bottom of society, was a commoner, and never studied. Xiang Yu not only has a heroic spirit, but his aristocratic blood also gives him an aristocratic spirit, and in the Chu-Han War, he once made a very interesting suggestion. Because the war has been going on for a long time, both sides are exhausted and miserable, and the people are also displaced. So Xiang Yu proposed to Liu Bang, saying that let's just have a duel between the two of us, and through this duel to duel the male and female, what do you think?

Host: It's a bit like a duel between Western aristocrats.

Guest: Yes, it's a completely Western aristocratic way of thinking.

Moderator: I think another thing is more illustrative, which is "self-slaughter". In fact, Xiang Yu reached the last moment of his life, and this aristocratic spirit seemed to be more fully embodied.

Guest: I think the Battle of Wujiang is a very typical illustration of Xiang Yu's own value orientation. When Xiang Yu came to the edge of the Wujiang River, he could actually escape, because at that time there was a small boat parked on the Wujiang River, and the Wujiang Pavilion Chief was waiting for him. c Wujiang Pavilion Chief saw Xiang Yu and said, King, hurry up and get on the boat, I will take you across the river, now there is only one boat on the entire Wujiang River, the Han army will definitely not be able to catch up with you, let's go over, and then find a way to make a comeback. But Xiang Yu refused his kindness, and only asked him to cross the river with his precious war horse, and he led a dozen or so personal soldiers around him to fight back into the Han camp. Xiang Yu actually chose to die in battle to maintain his last dignity. So this outnumbered war was finally fought in a gloomy way, and Xiang Yu killed hundreds of Han soldiers with his bare hands, and finally killed himself because he was seriously injured.

Moderator: In later generations, some people often sigh for it, why can't they choose to take a boat and escape first, and then make a comeback?

Guest: If you want to do that, it's not Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu is a real man, a great husband. He was accustomed to the kind of aristocratic and personable competition, and he was not accustomed to Liu Bang's competition that relied on intrigue and trickery. It can be said that he actively chose to use death to make a martyrdom for the aristocratic spirit. Li Qingzhao can be said to be Xiang Yu's bosom friend, she fully interpreted Xiang Yu's spirit, so she wrote the poem: "Life should be a hero, and death should be a ghost." So far, I think of Xiang Yu and refuse to cross Jiangdong. "

Qin Shi Huang exterminated a generation of nobles

Moderator: If Xiang Yu's death represents a loss of the spirit of the ancient Chinese aristocracy, then if we look at the West, the spirit of the nobility in the West has actually lasted for a long time, why is the spirit of the Chinese aristocracy lost so early?

Guest: This is because Qin Shi Huang basically killed the nobles of the original country in the unification of the Six Kingdoms, and those who were not killed either migrated or exiled, so after he unified the Six Kingdoms, the aristocracy of other countries basically disappeared. And what about the aristocracy of the Qin state itself? Because the autocratic system of the Qin State developed very early, the privileges of the nobles had long been abolished, and they were all slaves of the emperor like the commoners. Thus, after Qin Shi Huang established the emperor system, the Chinese aristocracy, as a class, basically died out. After that, although all dynasties would divide some kings, dukes, marquis, and uncles, their aristocratic status was not the same as that of the nobles before Qin Shi Huang. These previous nobles had fiefs, and they could have the final say in their own fiefs like the emperor of the soil, and they had relative independence. However, these nobles of the following dynasties only enjoyed the high lordship and did not have the actual right to rule the common people, and were not allowed to interfere too much in politics. Therefore, the aristocratic class basically came to an end when Qin Shi Huang arrived. Then, since there is no aristocracy as a class, aristocratic culture is gradually dying out.

Moderator: Culture needs to be cultivated. In the aristocracy of the past, education was very good. We now often talk about the "six arts of gentlemen", that is, "etiquette, music, archery, royalty, calligraphy, and mathematics", which is a high-quality aristocratic education method. "Etiquette and music" are for teaching self-cultivation, "archery and royalty" are for teaching military skills, and "calligraphy and mathematics" are for teaching people life and other skills. You see, there are both external skills and inner spiritual sentiments.

Guest: Therefore, this kind of aristocratic education has been passed down from generation to generation, which has made this aristocratic spirit more and more refined and enriched. Generally speaking, the first generation of nobles got up recklessly, and it was difficult for him to completely remove the reckless smell and the smell of rivers and lakes with time; The second generation is different, because there are conditions created by the first generation, so his life experience and values are also very different from the first generation; In the third generation, his environment became more prosperous, his education was perfected, and his energy was no longer put into expanding his territory and working hard for his family, but on perfecting his spiritual world, improving his demeanor and upbringing, and the aristocratic spirit was integrated into his bones. So we say that it takes three generations to raise a nobleman.

Tough emperors see cowardice as shameful

Moderator: So what kind of consequences will this loss of aristocratic spirit bring to society?

Guest: The disappearance of the aristocratic spirit has two sides to it. On the one hand, the hierarchical system has also disappeared, and the innate hereditary mentality has disappeared. In its place is the enterprising spirit of the common people, the sense of competition. This can also be said to be a kind of social progress and a kind of ideological emancipation. On the other hand, after all, the aristocratic class is the best soil for cultivating aristocratic culture, and the commoner class cannot provide such a growth environment, so the transcendence, elegance and delicacy of aristocratic culture naturally loses its brilliance.

Moderator: I think that the spirit of the commoners and the spirit of the aristocracy seem to be a trend of one thing and the other. You see, with the decline of the aristocratic spirit, there will be a lot of spiritual factors in the consciousness of the common people. Some people say that starting from Liu Bang, Chinese society can be regarded as a real civilian society.

Guest: Liu Bang is a very vivid watershed. Before Liu Bang, all kings and emperors were born into the nobility, so after Liu Bang, all emperors were born from commoners, and even most of them were born from the kind of exiles among the commoners, which is a very characteristic phenomenon in Chinese history. Some scholars have studied and said that the founding emperors of China, except for the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Sui and Tang dynasties, who had ethnic minority blood, the other founding emperors of the Han nationality were all born at the bottom of society. Let's count them from the beginning. Liu Bei, the founding emperor of Shu Han, was a vendor in mat weaving.

Moderator: So after Liu Bei, what were the founding emperors of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties?

Guest: The first founding emperor of the Southern Dynasty was named Liu Yu, and the history books said about him: "He came from a humble family, lived in Jingkou, and has always been selling shoes. He is a fierce person, only literate and literate, and his family is ruined because of his good gambling, and he is extremely depressed. That is to say, he was a shoe seller, he couldn't read a basket of big characters, and he usually liked to gamble, so he went bankrupt, so he embarked on this road of resistance, and finally became the founding emperor of the Southern Dynasty.

Moderator: In the future, Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, is recorded in the history books, Zhao Kuangyin's background is okay, at least he is a soldier.

Guest: In fact, this is a kind of beautification of Zhao Kuangyin's background in the official history, if you read it carefully, you will find that Zhao Kuangyin's father was from a very low background, homeless when he was young, wandered in Dujiazhuang, and became an inverted son-in-law in Dujiazhuang. We know that in the past, the identity of a son-in-law who was inverted was very low. When Zhao Kuangyin was young, he also had a wandering career, and he was poor, and he slowly made his fortune after joining the army.

Moderator: Let's not talk about the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty is the most typical.

Guest: Yes. Zhu Yuanzhang's background can indeed be described by the word "extreme poverty". He wandered in the rivers and lakes for several years, practiced boldness and blackheartedness, and later became the founding emperor.

Moderator: As we said earlier, in an aristocratic society, in power struggles, political struggles, and even military wars, there is room for each other, and they act relatively mildly. But since Qin Shi Huang, all kinds of struggles have become bloody and brutal.

Guest: Indeed, after Qin Shi Huang, the cruelty of China's political struggle is also rare in the world, and all politicians believe that in the political struggle, they must be ruthless and kill everything, and they cannot leave the other side a chance to turn the tables. So you see that after the Xuanwumen Incident, Li Shimin hurriedly ran to Li Yuan and admitted his mistake to him, saying that I killed my brother, and I committed a great crime; On the other hand, he secretly sent his own men to his brother's and brother's house and killed all the children of his brother and brother, including the infant baby.

Host: Therefore, the successive emperors of China, in their spiritual level, should not be said to be far from the spirit of the aristocracy, and even the basic human nature could not be reached, so that later there was such a standard: whoever is soft in the center of the political struggle is cowardly, and cowardice is shameful. Of course, no one is going to be cowardly, so they continue to uphold the kind of political struggle that has no humanity.