The so-called "gold has no feet, no one is perfect", even a saint like Confucius sometimes makes low-level mistakes. In interpreting "king" and "scholar", Confucius believed that "the consistent three are kings" and "pushing ten into one" seems to conform to the composition of glyphs, but in fact it is absurdly wrong.
Because Confucius was a saint, the ancients were convinced of this interpretation, so they further elaborated on the basis of Confucius's interpretation, but after the excavation of modern oracle bones, it was found that Confucius's interpretation was wrong. More importantly, through the correct interpretation of "king" and "soldier", it is better to understand why the supreme ruler of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties is called "king" and why "soldier" is a member of the ruling class.
"King" in Oracle: Has nothing to do with morality
According to the Confucian narrative, the person who calls the king the emperor should be a virtuous person who can be recognized by the heavens, that is, the so-called "virtuous people in the world live in it", and Confucius's interpretation of the "king" can echo it.
Confucius said, "The three are always kings." Later, Dong Zhongshu, a great Confucian of the Han Dynasty, explained: "The creator of the ancient writers, three paintings and even the king of them." Three, heaven, earth, and man, and the king of the one who participates. That is to say, only those who can connect heaven, earth, and man can be called kings.
However, the "king" in the oracle bone (see above) does not start with three horizontal and one vertical, but rather part of the outline of an axe. Obviously, the axe is a weapon used to kill, and mastering this great weapon means mastering military power, so that you can be called king, which has nothing to do with the immorality of the Tao. When archaeologizing many ancient sites, many tribal chiefs had axes and pygmy instruments in their tombs, indicating that the ancients regarded axes as representatives of power. Xu Zhongshu, an oracle bone expert, pointed out: "Like the axe shape of the blade, the axe of the main execution symbolizes the authority of the king." ”
Figures 5 and 7 below are the king characters in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, the Chu and Wu regions, the bird shape added above is only a decorative symbol, there is no practical significance, at that time the king characters of the Central Plains countries have evolved into three horizontal and one vertical.
"Taxi" in Oracle: Has nothing to do with numbers
According to historical records, during the Five Emperors period, there were already "scholars", who were criminal officers in prison at that time, the "scholars" class in the Spring and Autumn period of the Western Zhou Dynasty had the power and knowledge, and was part of the ruling class, the "scholar" class in the Qin and Han Dynasties gradually became a general term for officials, and the door valves from the Han Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties were all members of the "scholar clan", with an extremely noble family background, and after the Song Dynasty became a general term for readers, so China's "scholar" class lasted for more than 5,000 years and its status has always been higher.
Confucius said: "Push ten into one." But if it is interpreted as a combination of "ten" and "one", then there is no strong connection with the "criminal officer who governs the prison", and it has nothing to do with the "soldier" class's mastery of force at that time. Later, Xu Shen of the Han Dynasty said in the "Explanation of Words and Characters": "Scholars, things also." The number begins with one and ends with ten. From one to ten. Xu Shen believes that "shi" is a common word for "shi", and the original meaning of "shi" is the meaning of holding hunting gear to govern affairs, which has a certain connection with "criminal officer who governs prisons", but lacks connection with "soldiers" in mastering force. Therefore, both Confucius and Xu Shen lacked persuasiveness in their interpretation of "scholars".
The "shi" (see pictured above) in the oracle bone is a long image of an axe with an axe handle, and the meaning behind it is to master the force, just like the word "king" in the word creation, and later the axe handle evolved into a horizontal, and the axe blade part evolved into a short horizontal. Obviously, Confucius's "pushing ten-in-one into one" is outrageously wrong.
Therefore, the "soldiers" who master the axe and the axe, whether they are criminal officers in prison or the samurai class in the Spring and Autumn Period, can make logical sense. Of course, after the Song Dynasty, the "scholar" class had nothing to do with force at all, and became a generic term for the readers, but at this time, the social status of the "scholar" was still slightly the same as before, and it was still a superior class.
As a Chinese sage, Confucius was superbly learned and proficient in ancient history, so why did he make such an outrageously wrong interpretation of "kings" and "soldiers"?
In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the character of the king had changed, and the shape of the axe could not be seen, and it seemed understandable that Confucius had three horizontal and one vertical as the king. But the status of "Wang" is lofty, Confucius is the representative of the Zunwang sect, and the truth of the word "Wang" should be explored, and Confucius is only more than 200 years away from the Western Zhou, at that time, some Western Zhou materials should still be retained, and the "Wang" character recorded on it also has some traces of the axe, so Confucius really does not know that "Wang" is the image of the axe? The truth should be due to the frequent outbreak of wars at that time, the princes did not put the King of Zhou in their eyes, Confucius hoped to eliminate the war, the authority of the King of Zhou was respected by the princes, so he deliberately misinterpreted the "King" as "consistently three kings", regarded the "King" as an authoritative link connecting all parties, hoped that the princes would respect the King of Zhou, and in the end they had the expectation of peace and respect for the king.
Unlike the distorted interpretation of the word "wang" that implies political ideals, Confucius's misinterpretation of the word "shi" is difficult to understand. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the "ten" character was a vertical, and in the Spring and Autumn Period, it was a vertical middle plus a short horizontal, and the Shang Zhou "one" character was similar to today, while the upper horizontal of the "shi" character was longer and the lower horizontal was shorter, so the "push ten in one" was obviously not like the "shi" character. Judging from Confucius's misinterpretation of the word "wang", his misinterpretation of the word "scholar" may also have a certain missionary purpose.