In the history of Asia, there has long been a special international order dominated by China, the clan domain. Unlike the historical colonies of Europe, vassal states had sovereignty and monarchy, but were required to pay regular tributes to the suzerainty, and their own monarchs also needed to be canonized by the Central Plains Dynasty to be recognized. Korea, Ryukyu, Namphong, Siam, Nepal, etc. were all historical vassal states.
Although after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the word "clan genus" also disappeared in the long river of history, but due to the long-term influence of the Central Plains Dynasty culture, the vassal state still retains many marks to this day, the most typical is the historical record. History books like Korea and Japan are basically written in Chinese characters, which means that if you don't understand Chinese characters, I'm afraid you can't even read your own history.
Not only that, but many times Japanese and Korean experts who want to study their own history have to go to China to consult historical materials, because we have more detailed records here, and sometimes there are some magical discoveries in excavated tombs.
In June this year, the Xi'an Museum exhibited a special cultural relic: Your Army Epitaph. Who is this army of Yours? The epitaph states that this person is the tang dynasty's late Right Wei general Shangzhu Guo. Listening to the name may not be as loud as the famous names of famous generals such as Li Jing, Hou Junji, and Guo Ziyi in the history of the Tang Dynasty, but the content of his epitaphs left to future generations is a major discovery.
You Junshang was the famous You Heng of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and during the Wuhu Rebellion, your clan fled to the Korean Peninsula and became the Sahei of baekje (similar to the Six Great Members). In July of the fifth year of Emperor Gaozong's reign (660 CE), the general Su Dingfang was ordered to send troops to Baekje.
Your army, which was serving in Baekje at the time, took the opportunity to launch a mutiny, captured King Yici and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and was given the title of Chong Du Lieutenant. Since his ancestors were from the Central Plains and had lived in Baekje for a long time, Emperor Gaozong of Tang appointed You as a general under the andong capital protectorate, stationed on the Korean Peninsula and responsible for sending envoys to the Uighurs.
It is precisely with such a legendary experience that Your Army's epitaph also records many important historical facts missing from the three kingdoms of China, Japan and South Korea.
1. The emperor is a vassal. In all previous records, Japan has never been a vassal state of the Central Plains Dynasty, and unlike the monarchs of the vassal states who call them kings, Japan directly calls them "emperors", which sits on an equal footing with the emperors of the Central Plains Dynasty.
However, your army epitaph clearly records: In 665 AD, You jun sent an envoy to Japan as a Tang envoy, after Japan sent troops to rescue Baekje, and the entire army of the Tang army was destroyed by the Tang army in the Battle of Baekje, so Emperor Tianzhi deposed the emperor and submitted to the Tang Dynasty, and abolished the original calendar and adopted Tang Gaozong's Linde calendar.
2. Japan national name. When it comes to Japan, many people's first reaction is to think of a country made up of four large islands in the eastern part of the peninsula. However, in your army's epitaph, you found a passage such as "Yu Shi Japan Yu, according to Fusang yi jie". This is also the earliest known record of the appearance of the name "Japan".
What does that mean? Yu Ya refers to the remnants of the fallen kingdom, when the Tang Dynasty had just destroyed the Baekje state, so the translation is to say: The remnants of Baekje (present-day Korea) fled to Fuso (today's Ben) to escape punishment. In other words, the earliest name "Japan" was actually Baekje on the Korean Peninsula.
Could it be a misinterpretation? It is absolutely impossible, because five years after Your army sent to Japan, the Tang Dynasty's national letter to Japan still reads "The Book of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty To Ask the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty", that is to say, the Tang Dynasty still calls them the Kingdom of Wu. This discovery also refreshes current cognition.
Because as early as the Sui Dynasty, the Uighur Kingdom had written to the Sui Emperor that "the son of heaven at sunrise to the son of heaven in the day is not in the sky", so later generations naturally believe that the name of "Japan" was originally the first used in Japan today. The discovery of Your Army's epitaph completely overturned all this. It is no wonder that Japanese netizens learned of this discovery and commented sadly: "So we inherited the Baekje national name?" Shame", "Tianzhi and the like, completely puppets of the Tang Dynasty", "It turns out that we are the cottage country".