Original: Tang Fengye | Ye dialect literary history public number
It is said that since king Wu was sent to Keshang, he was restless, thinking about how to take measures to consolidate the Zhou people's rule over the world every day, and even asked his former enemy Jizi for advice on the "Hong Fan Nine Domains". Although King Wu summed up many lessons learned in governing the country and the country in the past few years, it was a pity that people were not as good as heaven, but God no longer gave him time to implement.
In the year that King Wu asked Jizi "Hong Fan Jiu Domain", that is, the thirteenth year of King Wen's appointment (King Wu took the throne without changing the Yuan, still following the chronological method of "King Wen was appointed"), King Wu fell seriously ill. The Shang Shu Jin Yun records that his fourth brother Zhou Gongdan secretly held a "yíng sacrifice" for him to eliminate the disaster, that is, to ask the gods of the Zhou people to transfer the illness of King Wu to himself. Coincidentally, After the Zen Festival, Wu Wangfa's condition improved for a while, but soon his illness recurred and eventually died.
According to the "Ancient Bamboo Book Chronicle", Wu Wangfa was only fifty-four years old when he died.
The death of king Wu was undoubtedly bad news for the Zhou people. If we look at the thousands of years of China's history before and after the Zhou Dynasty, there is indeed no founding monarch of a unified dynasty, and king Wu of Zhou is the only one who died within a few years of unifying the world. From this point of view, the fortunes of the Western Zhou Dynasty are indeed too back. What's more, his prince was only 13 years old at this time and did not yet have the ability to govern. The Western Zhou Dynasty, a newly launched ship, who can rely on at the helm at this time?
As the saying goes, the times create heroes, just when the Western Zhou Dynasty was in turmoil, there was really a person who stood up to turn the tide and help protect the Great Zhou, and he was the Zhou Gongdan who had planned to go to heaven on behalf of the King of Wu but did not succeed. As we all know, Zhou Gongdan is the son of King Wen and the brother of King Wu, and this great Zhou Jiangshan was originally from Zhou Gongdan's family, so how could Zhou Gongdan bear to watch his father's brother's inheritance be insecure?
After the death of King Wu, the first question was "The country cannot be without a monarch for a day." As the younger brother of the previous king, the first thing Zhou Gongdan did was to proclaim the crown prince to ascend the throne, which is also known as the King of Zhou Cheng in later generations. Secondly, zhou gongdan, without the unanimous support of the royal nobles and ministers, took the position of regent as an uncle and served as the position of Tsukasa Zai (equivalent to the prime minister), taking charge of the imperial government and assisting the king.
Regarding this paragraph, there is another theory since ancient times, that is, Zhou Gongdan not only took the throne after the death of King Wu, but also "claimed the throne", and even some people said that he was "usurper". The saying of the Duke of Zhou that "the regent is the king" was especially popular in modern times, and of course there were many people who opposed it.
In fact, whether the regent of the Zhou Gong was crowned king or not is an insignificant question for us modern people; but for the ancients, this problem is big
：
Because Zhou Gong was a "sage" known to Later Generations as Confucianism, and Confucianism was the most concerned about "great righteousness and fame", whether Zhou Gongdan's regency was in the name of "Tsukasa" or in the name of "Wang", it involved the question of whether Zhou Gongdan was a loyal subject and whether Zhou Gongdan's behavior was in line with Confucian morality.
Those who believe that the regent of the Zhou Dynasty once "claimed the title of king" cite an "ironclad proof", that is, there is a sentence in the "Shang Shu KangXuan":
Wang Ruoyue: "Brother, the younger son is sealed." ”
In the past, this sentence was usually translated as "The king said: 'My brother, the little boy Affon'".
Before the Qin Dynasty, everyone could say "朕", not only the emperor could call himself "朕", this should be clear to everyone, so the "朕" in this can not explain anything. But who is this "Afeng"? As we mentioned before, King Wu of Zhou had a ninth brother named Kang Shufeng, and at the "Revolutionary Ceremony" held in Yindu after King Wu's cutting, Kang Shufeng was responsible for laying mats woven with Gongming grass. Originally, among the kings of Western Zhou, only King Wu of Zhou could call Uncle Kang a "younger brother". However, the "Shang Shu Kanghuan" is written about the later time when Zhou Gongdan won the Eastern Expedition and plotted to build the Eastern Capital, when King Wu of Zhou had been dead for many years. Therefore, some people said that at that time, King Cheng was the nephew of Uncle Kang, and it was obviously impossible to call Uncle Kang "younger brother"; at that time, the only person who could call Uncle Kang the "king" of his brother could only be King Wen's fourth son, Zhou Gongdan, so this showed that Zhou Gongdan was "king" when he was regent. Ancient books such as "Xunzi Confucian Effect" and "Huainanzi Yin Theory" all hold this kind of statement, and modern historians hold this kind of statement, such as the famous gu jiegang, the grandmaster of the ancient history school.
When Zhou Gongdan was regent, did he ever call himself "King"? Although the positive and negative sides have argued happily since ancient times, no one can convince anyone when they fight back and forth. But fortunately, we are more fortunate than our predecessors to see more historical information.
It is said that in December 1976, the members of Famen Commune in Fufeng County, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, at that time, accidentally discovered a Western Zhou bronze cellar while in the fields. A total of 103 bronzes have been unearthed from this cellar, one of which is a historical wall plate with inscriptions of 284 characters. So why is this bronze called the Shi Wall Plate? Because according to the inscription, the owner of this plate was a historian named "Wall", hence the name. The reason why this historical wall plate is famous is not only because it is the longest bronze with inscriptions found since the founding of New China, but also because the content of its account is very meaningful: it records the merits of the seven generations of Zhou kings such as Western Zhou Wen, Wu, Cheng, Kang, Zhao, Mu, and the reigning Zhou Kings (that is, Zhou Gong Wang), which proves the correctness of the names and orders of the six Zhou kings in the ancient history books.
▲ The inscription of the "ShiQiangpan" mentions the royal titles of the six Zhou kings (Wen, Wu, Cheng, Kang, Zhao, mu)
However, what we want to emphasize here is that among the Western Zhou kings recorded in the history wall, the King of Wu is followed by the King of Cheng, and obviously there is no position of "Zhou Gongdan" as the king.
The casting date of this historical wall plate was during the zhou gong wang period, which shows that in the eyes of the nobles of the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, especially the historians, Zhou Gongdan was not considered a "king".
Therefore, according to Shi Wallpan, Zhou Gongdan did not claim the title of king.
Of course, some people may not be convinced, he may say, perhaps Zhou Gongdan was called king when he was regent, but it may be that King Cheng and later Western Zhou kings did not recognize that Zhou Gongdan was really "King of Zhou", so they "hidden" him when writing history books. Yes, this possibility does exist.
If it is said that the casting era of the historical wall plate is relatively late (the age is to the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty), so it is possible to be affected by later political factors, then the bronze ware in the early period of becoming a king or the time when Zhou Gongdan was alive should reflect the real situation at that time, right?
The early Zhou bronze Ran (plus soil under both hands) Fang Ding (also known as Zhou Gongdong Zhengding), excavated in Fengxiang, Shaanxi province in the early 20th century and now in the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, USA, begins with the following inscription:
Only the Duke of Zhou conquered Dongyi, and Fengbo Bogu was cut down.
As we all know, this record is the history of the Zhou Gongdong Crusade. The second half of the inscription says that after the triumph of the Zhou Gong, the Temple was sacrificed and a feast was held, during which the minister Ran 100 peng (string) shells were rewarded. Obviously, the casting of the Ding was at the time of the triumph of the Zhou Gongdong Crusade.
If the Duke of Zhou had a king title at that time, then the inscription should say "Only the king conquered Dongyi", not "Only the Duke of Zhou conquered Dongyi"
。
The Bronze Bird Gui of the Western Zhou Dynasty, now in the National Museum, also has an inscription on it:
Wang Fagai (奄) Hou, Zhou Gongmou, Poultry Zhu...
This inscription tells the story of Zhou Gong's crusade against the Kingdom of Xiang during the Eastern Expedition, and the time of casting this artifact should also be the period when Zhou Gongdan was still alive, and it can even be narrowed down to the time when the Zhou Gongdong Crusade was just over. And what we want to emphasize is that in the inscription here, there is both "Wang" and "Zhou Gong", and it is obvious that "Wang" and "Zhou Gong" are two people.
Bird inscription:
Wang Fa Xiang Marquis, Zhou Gong Plotting Birds
Good luck, the birds have
Congratulations, the king gave jin baiyu.
Birds are used as treasure yi.
If shiqiangpan may have been influenced by later political factors, then Zhou Gongdan was in power and the army was in his hands during the Eastern Expedition, and if he really called him king at that time, why didn't the people of the time call him "king" in bronze? Why are there both kings and Zhou Dukes in the bird basket?
This can only show that during the Zhou Gong's Eastern Expedition, he did not use the title of "King", and the "King" at that time had someone else, that is, and could only be, xiao Tianzi became king.
However, some people will certainly ask, then who is the "king" in the "Shangshu Kang" who calls Uncle Kang as a "younger brother" and is not the Duke of Zhou? Before clarifying this question, we must understand what "Wang Ruoyue" means in the Book of Shang - "Wang Yue" is "Wang Yue", why add the word "Ruo" to it? Literally, "if" means "like" or "like.".
We know that the ancient emperor was high up, and in order to create a sense of mystery, he would not speak like the current leader, speaking in public, or condescending to meet directly with whom. Everyone watching TV also understands that the will and words of the emperor are to be read or conveyed by eunuchs or courtiers.
It turned out that the "Wang Ruoyue" in the Book of Shang meant that when the ministers passed on the king's orders on behalf of the king, they said to their subordinates, "The king said so...". To put it bluntly, this is the opening words of the minister before relaying the king's order. Figure this out, and the problem suddenly opens up.
In fact, in the "Shang Shu Kang Xuan", it is not the king who directly talks to Kang Shufeng, but an envoy of the Son of Heaven conveys the king's order in front of Kang Shufeng. The person who called Uncle Kang the title of "younger brother" was the envoy who conveyed the king's orders, of course, he was Zhou Gongdan. King Cheng originally meant to say, "How do you want to be uncle nine"; but when Zhou Gongdan conveyed the king's order to him in front of Uncle Kang, it was naturally inconvenient to call Uncle Kang "Uncle Nine", but according to his relationship with Uncle Kang, he changed it to "How do you want to say brother to the king", that is, he changed the title of King Cheng to Uncle Kang's title "Uncle Nine" to his title of "Brother Brother" to Uncle Kang, so everyone misunderstood.
This phenomenon of the messenger modifying the title in the client's words is very common in reality. For example, Xiaoming wanted to say to his mother, "Mom, you cook less dinner, I will eat with friends at night." But Xiaoming did not see his mother directly, and could only ask his father to relay it. When Dad was talking, the words must have become like this: "Son let me say, wife, you cook less dinner, he has a show at night." When a father talks to his child's mother, of course, he does not use his son's address to his mother as "mother", but uses his own name to his wife as "wife". Understanding the truth that "paraphrasing can be renamed", the sentence "Wang Ruoyue: 'Fall of his brother, the younger son is sealed'" in the Shangshu Kangxuan cannot be used as evidence for the Zhou Gong to be called king.
Conclusion: Combined with the history wall disk,
tender
The inscriptions of Fang Ding and Bird Gui record that Tang Fengye believes that after the death of King Wu, Zhou Gongdan was indeed regent, but he did not claim the title of king, and of course there was no case of "usurpation". (Excerpt from Tang Fengye's "Brief History of the Western Zhou Dynasty")