First of all, we must explain the so-called "morality" problem! During the Warring States period, everyone could see that Zhou Tianzi had absolutely no hope of revival. In the future, there will definitely be a new dynasty to replace Zhou Tianzi. So far, there have been two dynastic changes, the Shang Dynasty has replaced the Xia Dynasty, the Zhou people have replaced the Shang Dynasty, who will replace the Zhou Dynasty in the future? Is there any law for dynastic changes?
Sengoku Seven Heroes
At this time, a man named Tan Tianyan appeared in the State of Qi in Shandong Province, his real name was Zou Yan, because he often talked about some heavenly opportunities, so he was called Tan Tianyan. In the late Warring States period, the ideological concept of the five elements of mutual restraint has been generally accepted by people. Therefore, Zou Yan began to use the concept of the five elements to explain the development law of human history. He believes that the change of dynasties is carried out in accordance with the law of the five elements of Xiangke, the Xia Dynasty is Mude, the Shang Dynasty is Jinkemu, and the Shang Dynasty is Jinde. And the Zhou Dynasty, Huo Kejin, zhou people are huode. In the future, the people who replaced the Zhou Dynasty occupied the "water" virtue in the five elements.
Qin Shi Huang
After Qin Shi Huang unified the world, the Qin Dynasty regarded itself as the replacement of the Zhou Dynasty. Since the Zhou people belong to fire and water is fire, the Qin people regard themselves as water virtues.
In the last year of the Qin Dynasty, after the great chaos in the world, Liu Bang captured Guanzhong, and used Guanzhong as a base to eventually unify the world and establish the Han Dynasty. We often say that the Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system. In fact, the Han Dynasty inherited not only the system of the Qin Dynasty, but also the "water" virtue of the Qin people. After Liu Bang captured Guanzhong, he inherited the Qin Dynasty, both in terms of state system and other aspects. For example, the calendar of the Qin Dynasty was called the Lunar Calendar, with October as the first month. After Liu Bang ascended the throne, he has been following this calendar. It was not until Emperor Wu of han changed the calendar at the beginning of the taichu period that he gave up. At this time, the lucky color of the imperial court was black, the color was still black, and Liu Bang himself was even more self-styled as a black emperor.
However, after all, the Qin Dynasty was overthrown by Liu Bang, so in the concept of the Western Han People, the greatest political correctness was to attack the Qin Dynasty. Since this is the case, the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty are certainly not the same virtue! At the time of Emperor Wen of Han, some people advocated that the Han Dynasty belonged to the soil among the five elements, because since Qin was water, then Tuke water, the Han Dynasty should be Tude. However, during the time of Emperor Wen of Han and Emperor Jing of Han, the focus of the imperial court was not on these aspects. By the time of Emperor Wudi of Han, Emperor Wudi of Han had made many changes to the internal and external systems, including this question of virtue. Later, Emperor Wu of han adopted the opinion that Han was Tude, which was marked by the change of the calendar at the beginning of the taichu and the official declaration of the Han Dynasty as Tude.
Chen Baoguo plays Emperor Wu of Han
But later, why did it say that the Han Dynasty was a fire virtue? This is because, in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty, people's ideological concepts changed, and people believed that the development of history and the change of dynasties were not carried out in the order of the five elements, but in the order in which the five elements coexisted. In such a genealogy, the Zhou people are considered to be wooden virtues, while the Qin Dynasty is still considered to be water virtue, and the wood should be fire after it, so the Qin Dynasty that belongs to the water must be short-lived. Then there was the official appearance of the Han Dynasty, which belonged to the fire! After the emergence of this concept, from the late Western Han Dynasty to the entire Eastern Han Dynasty, people firmly believed that the Han Dynasty belonged to fire among the five elements.
Portrait of Liu Xiu
However, what is the matter with "the Red Emperor beheading the White Emperor"? This story was already made up by Liu Bang when he was alive. It is said that Liu Bang once killed a snake in Mount Mangzhong, and this snake was the White Emperor, and Liu Bang who killed this snake was the Red Emperor. Previous scholars have also explained this, which must be said from the relationship between the five elements and the five parties. In the concept of the ancients, the oriental is wood, which is cyan. The southern part is fire, which is red. The Western genus is gold, which is white. The north is watery and is black. The central part is soil and is yellow. In the direction of the time, the Chu state was in the south, while the Qin people were in the west. In the south is red fire, in the west is white gold. At that time, the main force rebelling against the Qin Dynasty was the Chu state in the south. Therefore, liu bang group, who was a Chu person, made up such a story, which meant that the Chu people in the south were bound to destroy the Qin people in the west!
Of course, you may find these ideas absurd. But we need to look at these issues historically. The ancients have been trying to unravel the mystery of history, what is the heavenly machine. Probably after the Tang and Song dynasties, people no longer believed in these things. If you have the opportunity to see Mr. Gu Jiegang's "Alchemists and Confucians of Qin and Han", as well as Mr. Qian Mu's "History of Qin and Han", it may be of some help to you.