"Poetry Classic": "March Ishira", March is a good time. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors regarded March as a good time, especially in the pre-Qin era, most people regarded March as the most beautiful period, and the Book of Poetry especially respected March. In the "Zheng Feng", it is recorded: "Qin and Huan, Fang Zhuo is sloppy." Soldier and woman, Fang Bingrui... The men and women meet by the river, and finally the men and women give each other gifts.
Therefore, March often becomes a symbol of spring, a symbol of love. Many emperors and princes also in March, with the people who love each other into their favor, such as Chen Linggong: "The widow has long heard of his name, but the age has reached forty, afraid of the March peach blossom, it is inevitable to change color", Chen Linggong believes that only the peach blossom in March is the most beautiful, saying that the beautiful xia Ji is like the March peach blossom. March is spring, when the flowers bloom, when the grass warblers fly, or when the fish and birds leap. Wu Guozhuo's specialty in Taihu Lake to learn the seared fish is "everyone who tastes its hot in March thinks it is beautiful."
But the more this happened, the more many emperors and princes would have many ideas, such as hunting in the royal garden in March, and even more, they would attack neighboring countries with large armies. For example, "In March of the first year of the first year of the Duke of Qi, Song Xianggong was the division of the three kingdoms of Hewei, Cao, and Yi, and fengshizi Zhaofa Qi, and Tun Bing was in the suburbs", Song Xianggong was in March, uniting with the states to help Qi Gongzi Zhao counterattack the State of Qi. There is also "In March, the Jin Division encircled Cao", indicating that when the time is good, the nations will often lead troops out on expeditions.
But in any season, if it is good, it is bad. Although March is spring, on the whole, it is the season of revival of all things, full of life, but spring will also have many disadvantages, such as the transition from cold winter to warm spring, melting ice and snow to form rivers, and will revive many frozen things, such as viruses. Therefore, in the past dynasties, spring is also mostly the time when chicken fever and swine fever occur, such as "In the spring of the fourteenth year of King Jing of Zhou, in March, there was occasional heavy rain, and Liu Chuan suffered from malaria", which led to the failure of the army of the Jin Dynasty to return.
In the march of the pre-Qin Dynasty, there was another very important thing, that is, the pilgrimage. Since the founding of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Tianzi has carried out the "pilgrimage ceremony", that is, every March, many princes will come to the Zhou King's City to report on the work of the past few years, which is for the "pilgrimage ceremony". This custom was also used by the great powers during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, that is, the small princely states that submitted to the big countries had to go to the big countries every year to carry out pilgrimages, which also formed a custom of the orthodox princely states. For example, "In the spring and March of the fourteenth year of king Xiang of Zhou, Zheng Wengong performed a pilgrimage ceremony like Chu", and Song Xianggong, who claimed to be a great power in the Central Plains, believed that Zheng Guo did not worship himself in a righteous name, but instead wanted to worship barbarian Jing, that is, "to raise the army of the country and personally seek Zheng's sins".
There is no strong wind, no heavy rain, no bitter cold, no heat, so it is very suitable for long journeys, perhaps this is the reason why Zhou Tianzi and the princes want to promote the pilgrimage. And by extension, there is also an alliance between the princely states, often chosen in March. For example, "Duke Huan then announced to the states of Song, Lu, Chen, Cai, Wei, Zheng, Cao, and Yi with the order of the king, about the new day of March, to meet the land of northern apricots", and Qi Huangong's northern apricots would ally choose March. For example, "The Spirit King Dayue, send the Great Expedition to the princes, about next spring and March as the meeting in Shen", that is, the Chu Ling King and the nations met, but also to hold a meeting in March.