Chapter 43 King Wen of Zhou's Preparations for the Founding of the State
After the capital was set in Fengjing, King Wen of Zhou extended Zhou's power to the south to the Yangtze River, Han River, and Rushui Valley, and two-thirds of the princes in the world were turned to Zhou, forming a situation of "two out of three in the world", and Yin Shang was already in an extremely isolated situation. This is most likely the result of Taigong's planning.
Many of the princes rebelled and came to submit to Heb. Sib's power grew stronger, and he gradually lost his power. Uncle Wang persuaded him, but he didn't listen. Shang Rong was a man of talent and virtue, and the people loved him, but they deposed him.
In fact, Di Xin did not like to listen to their important ministers at all, and he always suspected that these ministers were not of the same mind as him. In his opinion, Dongyi is a big problem, and he only needs to defeat Dongyi to sweep the Zhou and Xirong forces, and the forces of the Zhou State are not in sight at all, and now they can use Zhou to fight against Xirong and other separatist forces.
In the thirty-seventh year of Emperor Xin (the fifth year of King Wen of Zhou, BC1065), King Wen of Zhou established Piyong [pìyōng], or Taixue in the Zhou era.
Biyong, borrowed as a wall word, said to be a circle. Yongzi should be written with a Yong below the broad character. The word Yong means that there is water in all directions, and the earth is in it. Guang is in the shape of a tall house, that is, the building of the school, surrounded by water. This was the school of the government under the jurisdiction of the Son of Heaven at that time, just like today's "National University", which was originally a university established by the Son of Heaven of the Western Zhou Dynasty to educate the children of the aristocracy.
There are five of its learnings, the south is Chengjun, the north is Shangzhen, the east is the east order, the west is the Zongzong, and the middle is Piyong. Among them, Piyong is the most respected, so it is collectively referred to as it.
The children of the male aristocracy learned the various skills required to be a nobleman, such as etiquette, music, dance, poetry recitation, writing, archery, horseback riding, driving, etc., and sex education was also included in the curriculum. From the age of 10, the children of the nobility were required to live in the "primary school" in the city, and at the age of 15, they entered the "Biyong" in the suburbs, in other words, from the age of 10 to the age of 20 to perform the crown ceremony to indicate adulthood, and in between, they had to live a collective life away from home for 10 years.
"Little Dai Li: The Royal System" has a cloud: "The Son of Heaven said Biyong, and the princes said Pan Palace" This is the school at that time.
Pan Palace, Pan is a semi-circular water. "Poetry, Lu Song, Pan Shui", also known as Pan Palace, is a proof that the princes had Pan Palace at that time. It was a university in the princely kingdom, which is now a local university. The National University is surrounded by water. The local university is surrounded by water on three sides. In terms of form, it shows the distinction between the central and local governments. Since then, all provinces and counties across the country have Confucius temples. There is Minglun Hall next to the temple, and there is Panshui in front of the hall. That is, inherit the ancient Pan Palace relics. In the Qing Dynasty, Xiucai was enrolled, which was called entering the pan. (Minglun Hall, i.e. Ming Hall)
-- Qian Mu: A New Theory of National History: China's Education System and Educational Thought
"Mingtang Piyong" is a building, but it contains the meaning of two building names, and it is one of the highest level of royal ceremonial buildings in ancient China. Mingtang is a place where ancient emperors issued decrees, accepted pilgrimages, and sacrificed to the gods and ancestors of heaven and earth. Bi Yong is the circular ditch surrounded by the outside of the Ming Hall, the ring water is Yong (meaning perfection), and the round image is Pi (Pi is Bi, the emperor's special jade ritual vessel), symbolizing the perfection of the king's Taoism.
The building in the center of the plan sits on a circular rammed earth abutment with a diameter of 62 meters, in the shape of a "Ya (traditional Asia)" shaped platform, with a length of 42 meters on each side. The central building is surrounded by four walls, four far gates and four corners of the square ruler-shaped matching room. The perimeter of the fence is surrounded by a ring of aqueducts. The whole group of buildings forms a double outer circle and inner square pattern of the round water square courtyard and the round base square pavilion. In the center of the building is a 17-meter-square central platform, with two small square rammed earth platforms in each of the four corners. A large-scale square room is built on the central platform, which is the "Tai Room", and a small room is built on the small rammed earth platform on the outside, which together with the Tai Room constitutes the five rooms on the upper floor of the central building. The middle floor of the central building, a hall is built on each side of the platform, these four halls are Mingtang, Qingyang, Zongzhang, Xuantang, and the upper floor has five rooms and four halls to form nine rooms. The literature has "the system of Mingtang, circling in the water", Biyong "round as bi, Yong with water", "Mingtang outside the water is called Piyong", here the two are combined into one. It shows the typical image of a biaxial symmetrical pavilion.
In addition to the preparatory school for Taixue (also known as "foreign learning") in the late Northern Song Dynasty, it is a place for village drinking, big shooting or sacrificial ceremonies.
The Eastern Han Dynasty was founded in the first year of Emperor Guangwu (56 years), and Emperor Guangwu died before he had time to inspect in person. When Emperor Ming ascended the throne, he personally performed his salute.
In the thirty-ninth year of Emperor Xin (the seventh year of King Wen of Zhou, BC1063), the doctor Xin Jia defected to the Zhou State because he did not feel the attention of Emperor Xin.
In fact, this is also the difference between the personalities of Di Xin and Ji Chang, Ji Chang knows people well and appoints people on the basis of merit, while Di Xin has a strong personality and is unwilling to listen to others.
In the 40th year of Emperor Xin (the eighth year of King Wen of Zhou, BC1062), Zhou began to build a Lingtai in Fengjing, and the Lingtai was a building for the emperor to observe astronomical phenomena and auspicious disasters in ancient times.
As mentioned earlier, Ji Li married Tairen and was a woman of the Shang clan, so both King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou were relatives of Shang, and they were the ancestors of the Shang Dynasty who built a spiritual throne in Fengjing to worship the Shang Dynasty, because these ancestors, in terms of matrilineal, are also the ancestors of King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou.
And whether it is Biyong or Lingtai, it is the exclusive building of the Son of Heaven. The construction of the princes is a violation of the system, but King Wen got Jiuxi and was officially called the king, so it is not a violation. And Di Xin did not think that King Wen of Zhou's construction of the Lingtai was a violation of the law.
Di Xin also sent an envoy Jiao Qi to ask Zhou for local jade. Zhou's relationship with Shang was not broken.
In the spring and March of the forty-first year of Emperor Xin (the ninth year of King Wen of Zhou, BC1061), King Wen of Zhou and Xibohou Jichang died and were buried in Bi (north of Cheng, Xianyang, Shaanxi). He was 91 years old (BC1152-1061). Zi Jifa succeeded to the throne.
Tsinghua Jian's "Sermon" is a testament from King Wen of Zhou to King Wu of Zhou, which tells that "the things of yin and yang are measured, salty and not rebellious, and Shun is in the middle", and the core idea is the middle way. The idea of "China" has had a profound impact on later generations. The concept of the "middle" contained in the Sermon, or the Middle Way, is at the center of the entire Sermon, and it is intrinsically related to what Confucianism later called the "golden mean." "Zhong" is the religious belief and moral concept shared by all clans and tribes in ancient times, which comes from the sun worship shared by the primitive people. The Sermon contains ideas related to the traditional Chinese concepts of "middle way" and "harmony of yin and yang", which are core elements that have long influenced mainstream Chinese culture.