In Chinese history, Qin unified the Six Kingdoms, also known as the "Change of Zhou Qin". Unlike other dynastic changes, Qin used force to sweep away Zhou Tianzi and the princes of the world, and the remnants of the Six Kingdoms also overthrew Qin by force, so in the eyes of the people in the early years of the Han Dynasty, whether Qin was an orthodox dynasty or a chaotic courtier, and because of the lack of historical information, the historical circles continued to be controversial until 1973. In 1973, the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha was excavated. Unearthed in this Han tomb, there is a book, which is called the "Five Star Astrology" by the academic community.
The content recorded in the Five Star Astrology is similar to the Five Elements In the later Book of Han, and most of them are mainly divination content. The content of "Five Star Astrology" mainly argues and seeks the omen effect of celestial changes on the human world by enumerating celestial changes and human blessings and misfortunes. In the historical events listed in the Five Star Astrology, historians have found a narrative that in the Five Star Astrology, after the death of Qin Shi Huang and the period before the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the era name of "Zhang Chu" was used not.
This discovery is of great significance for understanding the historical truth of the late Qin Dynasty. Because in ancient China, the era name can not be used indiscriminately - in general, only the era name of the orthodox dynasty will be recognized by later dynasties. A typical example is the Song Dynasty. In the northeast region of China, many local chronicles (such as the "Gaiping County Chronicle"), when referring to major events from the 9th to the 13th century, always use the Song Dynasty era name, but the rule of the two Song Dynasties has never reached the northeast region.
Therefore, the "Five Star Astrology" does not recognize the Qin II era name, but recognizes the Zhang Chu era number, indicating that at least before the era of Emperor Wen of Han, some people believed that there was a Zhang Chu court between Qin and Han. However, neither Sima Qian's "Records of History" nor Ban Gu's "Book of Han" nor Lu Jia's "Chu Han Chunqiu" recognized the existence of the Zhang-Chu court, so that later historians could not determine the regime established by Chen Sheng.
Whether it is the national name "Zhang Chu" or the slogan "Zhang Chu", "Five Star Account" undoubtedly unveils this mystery. The reason for the obliteration of "Zhang Chu" is generally believed to be this: Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms, the resistance of the Chu people was the most intense, and the author of the Five Star Astrology was a Chu person, so Chu was regarded as orthodox. When Chen Sheng established the "Zhang Chu" regime, the authors of the Five Star Astrology and a considerable number of Chu people naturally immediately recognized the legitimacy of "Zhang Chu".
After the Han Dynasty, one of the reasons why the officials erased the existence of "Zhang Chu" was that Liu Bang's status was nominally "elected by the princes", while Chen Sheng was an "armed uprising", which was very different in nature. Although Chen Sheng had merit in opposing "violent Qin", if he regarded "Zhang Chu" as orthodox, it would inevitably lead to the formation of the cognition that "the emperor can be created" by the people of the world. No ruler would allow such a situation, so it was not surprising that Zhang Chu was obliterated.