Four years ago in the spring, a torrential rain in Changzhuang Village, Ye County, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province, washed out a corner of an ancient tomb, and the local cultural relics department conducted a rescue excavation of the tomb. When archaeologists cleared the sealed soil, they found that this Eastern Zhou Stone Quicksand Tomb was actually set up with five anti-theft mechanisms. The grave robbers who used explosives also failed, and the rampant tomb robbers finally dug a hole from the bottom of the tomb, which avoided the five-fold anti-theft mechanism.
Subsequently, local archaeologists combined the excavated cultural relics and the remaining "Chu Great Wall" in Yexian county, and consulted a large number of historical materials to find that in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, Yexian was called Yeyi, and Fangcheng Mountain, where the broken city wall was located, was the dividing line between the Chu state and the Central Plains at that time. The "Book of Han and Geography" says: "Ye, Chuye Gongyi, there is the Great Wall, known as Fangcheng." Experts have verified that the first governor sent by the King of Chu to Ye Yi was Ye Gong in the idiom "Ye Gong Good Dragon". During the Spring and Autumn period, Shen Zhuliang, the Grand Master of the Chu State, was known as the Duke of Ye because of his fief in Ye. Through the examination of the shape of the Changzhuang Tomb, experts infer that the owner of the tomb is the chief of the governance of YeYi, and it is not excluded that it is a certain generation of Ye Gong.
What does Confucius's travel around the world have to do with the story of "Ye Gonghaolong"? Why did Confucius's disciples take revenge on Ye Gong? What kind of person is Ye Gong? According to historical records, in 524 BC, the State of Chu enfeoffed Shen Zhuliang with Ye Yi, known in history as "Ye Gong", and Ye Gong was the ancestor of the Ye clan at home and abroad. Shen Zhuliang, the governor in charge of managing Yeyi, persuaded Nongsang to build water conservancy projects in the local area, making Yeyi the largest grain production base in the Chu kingdom and deeply loved by the people.
Ye Gong's popularity is very high, but Ye Gong's reputation is not very good, which is probably related to the widely circulated story of "Ye Gong Good Dragon". The story of "Ye Gong Hao Long" comes from Liu Xiang's "New Order and Miscellaneous Matters" of the Western Han Dynasty, and later became an idiom. The gist is that Ye Gong is very fond of dragons, and there are many dragons in the carvings and paintings at home. The true dragon in the sky flew to his house, and Ye Gong was frightened when he saw the true dragon. "Ye Gong Hao Long" has an obvious pejorative meaning, which is used by later generations to satirize those who superficially like something and agree with a certain point of view, but are actually very hypocritical.
According to historical records, when Confucius and his disciples traveled around the world, they passed through Ye County twice, once on the way from Weiguo to Chen Guo, and the second time at the invitation of King Chu Zhao. Confucius went to Ye County for the second time and met Ye Gong. The two had many conversations, leaving behind a good story about Ye Gong's questioning of politics. Some experts believe that Ye Yi is an important town in the northern Xinjiang of the Chu State, and the Ye Gong who guards this place is a heavy subject of the Chu State, and Ye Gong was authorized by the King of Chu to meet with Confucius and represent the Chu State.
Compiled by Confucius's disciples and his disciples, the Analects epitomize Confucius's political ideas, ideological concepts, and educational principles. According to scholars, on many issues, the political views of Confucius and Ye Gong are not consistent. The Analects contains a dialogue between Ye Gong and Confucius, which shows that Ye Gong, who advocated the rule of law, believed that exposing his father's theft of sheep was a manifestation of integrity, while Confucius, who advocated "benevolent rule", believed that "filial piety" should be the priority, and that it was integrity for relatives to shelter each other.
Obviously, there are differences of opinion between the two sides, and the two people with different political views cannot say a piece. Confucius's trip to Yeyi did not achieve the desired results, so he quickly left Ye and went north, and Confucius did not take this matter to heart. Confucius's disciples were therefore dissatisfied with Ye Gong and made up this story to satirize Ye Gong. After that, Liu Xiangyi, who was an inquirer at the Western Han Dynasty University, spread a fable made up by Confucius's disciples as a real thing, and later generations spread it falsely for thousands of years, directly causing Ye Gong to suffer injustice for more than 2,000 years.
When Confucius traveled around the world, he admired The Leaf, Ye Gong Shen Zhu Liang asked the government, leaving behind the ancient saying that "the near is happy, and the far is coming". This means that the people in the territory will first be happy and complaining, and then people from afar will come to visit. The door of the early che and horse shop was often written with the words "near and far, at home", which is the meaning.
Ye Gong (叶公), whose real name was Shen Zhuliang (沈朱梁), was the grandson of King Zhuang of Chu, and was enfeoffed with Ye, so he was called Ye Gong (叶公), and his descendants' surnames were Wash and Ye, and Shen Ye was of the same origin. Ye Gong governed the important towns of northern Chu, sought meritocracy, built water conservancy, and firmly guarded the border defense, and was a well-educated, loyal to the country, and meritorious to Chu. Yexian County, one of the "Top Ten Ancient Cities in Henan", has more than 30 historical sites such as Yangshao Cultural Sites, Qinhan Ancient City Ruins, Kunyang Ancient Battlefield Sites, and 2 state-level cultural relics protection units, 4 provincial-level cultural relics protection units, and more than 50 city and county cultural relics protection units in Ming Dynasty County and Yeyi Ancient City. (Wang Jian'an Photography)