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Text: Remembrance Exploration Now
Editor: Tracing the Present
Introduction:
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when harsh government and heavy taxes made the people miserable, the Taoist priest Zhang Jiao took advantage of this to win over a large number of believers, and the people no longer trusted the imperial court and supported Zhang Jiao instead.
Zhang Jiao typed "Cangtian is dead, Huangtian is standing; The slogan of the uprising, ordering all believers to wear yellow turbans, launched the famous Yellow Turban Uprising in history.
Due to the joint stranglehold of the imperial court and local forces, as well as problems within the rebel army, this large-scale peasant uprising ended in failure.
However, the Yellow Turban Rebellion dealt a heavy blow to the decaying Eastern Han court, and also caused various localities to support their own troops, laying the groundwork for the arrival of the chaotic era of the Three Kingdoms era.
When reading the Three Kingdoms, we will think, since the officials had forced the people to rebel in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and such a serious Yellow Turban Uprising broke out, why did Zhuge Liang keep telling Liu Bei that people are thinking about Han?
1. What exactly is thinking?
The first appearance of the term "people's mind Han" occurred when Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty.
In the late Western Han Dynasty, land annexation was serious and social contradictions were sharp, and under the guidance of the Confucian theory of "changing the dynasty and changing surnames" at that time, Wang Mang successfully replaced the Han court.
However, after the usurpation of the throne, Wang Mang adopted a series of reform measures of "Togu reform", which not only did not alleviate the social crisis, but further intensified the contradiction.
In this situation, people completely forget that social contradictions were caused by land annexation in the last years of the Western Han Dynasty, and instead point the finger at Wang Mang, which set off a wave of nostalgia for the Han family surnamed Liu.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, although the Yellow Turban Uprising was directed at the Eastern Han court, which oppressed the people, the ensuing chaotic wars of princes led the people to hell.
No hundreds of people have been displaced, and the so-called "white bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles".
Even if the role of political propaganda is excluded, "people's minds and Han" still have a considerable political foundation in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
Throughout these two crises at the end of the Han Dynasty, a wave of "people's minds thinking about Han" broke out.
In fact, from the people at the bottom to the people who are officials, people are not thinking about the name "Han", but the kind of good days when the country is rich and the people are strong, and they live and work in peace and contentment.
Whether it is the rule of Wenjing and Zhaoxuan in the Western Han Dynasty, or the rule of Mingzhang and Yongyuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Under its long-term rule, the Han Dynasty left too many good impressions of government and people, the people were well fed, the society was stable, and the rulers were clear.
When chaotic times come, people will involuntarily miss the good days, and "Han" is synonymous with such good days.
As the Qing dynasty scholar Zhao Yi wrote: "Han Shen is benevolent and benevolent, although the times have changed, but the people's hearts have not gone... Sihan's heart is strong. ”
Second, the legitimacy represented by the "Mandate of Heaven"
In the face of the chaotic situation in the world, Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei did not pioneer the political slogan of "people's minds thinking of Han".
As early as when Wang Mang's reform aroused public indignation, two peasant rebel armies, Green Forest and Chimei, rose up.
However, as their power grew, they installed two fallen Han clansmen Liu Xuan and Liu Penzi as nominal leaders.
Obviously, the peasant armies of both routes understood that in the face of the perverse actions of the Xinmang regime, raising the banner of "rich man" was the most popular favor, and supporting a puppet emperor surnamed Liu was certainly the most proof of the legitimacy of his uprising.
Legitimacy, which is a factor of consciousness that is difficult to ignore when changing dynasties.
In modern changes of government, legitimacy is often understood as the legitimacy of the regime; In ancient times, there was a mysterious word: the mandate of heaven.
The first proposal of the concept of "Mandate of Heaven" may be in the Western Zhou Dynasty, explaining the reason for Shang in the Zhou Dynasty as "Shang loses virtue and Zhou has virtue".
During the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han, Dong Zhongshu and others put forward the concept of "divine right of kings", and then spread this concept to every corner of society through the spread of Confucianism.
The theory holds that it was decided by heaven to make the surname Liu emperor, and it was precisely because Qin Wudao and Han Youde were virtuous, so the heavens decided to make the surname Liu the lord of the world.
The theory successfully packaged the bloody and cruel change of dynasty into an undisputed "destiny of heaven", cut off people's idea of "I can do it with me", greatly reduced the cost of dynastic rule, and increased the mystery of imperial power.
Since Sima Qian described Liu Bang's "dragon appearance" and "dragon qi" in the "History", the heavenly descent and auspicious rui have become necessary when successive emperors are born.
However, this gimmick almost could not be sustained more than a hundred years later, and the social contradictions in the late Western Han Dynasty made the "Mandate of Heaven" of the royal family surnamed Liu begin to be tested, and eventually led to the "Mandate of Heaven" changing the surname - Wang Mang usurped the Han.
Dramatically, Wang Mang's reforms succeeded in attracting the firepower of the peasant uprising, and Liu Xiu, who eventually won among the various forces, was still the Liu clan.
At this time, everyone was convinced, it seems that the Liu Han Dynasty is indeed "the destiny of heaven".
Guangwu Zhongxing gave the Han Dynasty a perfect renewal, and people began to believe that the Han Dynasty might really be passed down from generation to generation and would not perish.
Therefore, when the society was in danger again at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, people hoped that another glorious martial arts reincarnation could help the general of the building.
In people's hearts, the Han Dynasty is not only a dangerous puppet court, but also a totem that will never die.
Cao Cao
It is precisely because of this that even though Cao Cao was already a powerful minister, he still did not take the final step of usurping power and seizing the throne.
On the contrary, he and his son Cao Pi have always carried the notoriety of "usurping the Han and rebel vassals" throughout the ages.
It is enough to see the unique lethality of the "Mandate of Heaven" of the Han Dynasty in that era.
3. Unique slogan
Like Cao Cao, Liu Bei's goal was to dominate the world.
But the circumstances of the two in the first half of their lives can be described as clouds and mud.
By the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao's side had swept away Yuan Shu and Lü Bu, Guandu defeated Yuan Shao, unified the north, and watched the sea on the way to the triumph of Wuhuan in the north.
Liu Bei's side still lives a life under the fence, and can only show Liu Biao of Jingzhou the gate in Xinye.
Fortunately, Liu Bei's career ushered in a turning point in Jingzhou, and after many sincere visits, Liu Bei finally received Zhuge Liang, the professional manager of the group, and the famous Longzhong pair was born.
In Longzhong Counterpart, Zhuge Liang sketched a perfect blueprint for Liu Bei, who had nothing at this time, from establishing a foundation to dominating one side and then to the Central Plains, and for the first time proposed the advantages of the three forces of Cao Sun and Liu: Cao Cao occupied the heavens, Sun Quan occupied the land, and Liu Bei occupied the people.
The so-called "people" actually refers to "people's minds and minds of Han", and the behavior of Liu Bei's group is endowed with the great righteousness of Kuangfu Han's house, so "how dare the people not eat pot pulp to meet the general".
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, although it was already full of holes, "the hundred-footed worm died but not stiff", and the name of the Han family still had quite strong appeal.
Whether it is the people or the clans, the mention of the Han family is a yearning for it.
Among the princes vying for power, although the strength in their hands is the last word, the so-called "master must be famous", the honorable Han room will allow you to occupy the moral high ground, and you can justifiably fight others.
Correspondingly, the behavior of the encroachment gives others a great excuse to fight you.
This is why Yuan Shu, who could not bear to call himself emperor, was attacked by a group, and the so-called "Son of Heaven to order not subjects" Cao Cao's power was able to grow rapidly.
Of course, for Cao Cao, the benefits he received in his early years from honoring the Han dynasty became further political shackles in his later years.
In contrast, Kuangfu Han's propaganda slogan was simply a tiger boost to Liu Bei, a Han clan relative known for his benevolence and righteousness.
In a sense, for Liu Bei Group, whether people's hearts are really thinking Han is not so important, but it is very important to publicize people's minds.
It not only legally gave Liu Bei's clique the legitimacy to compete for world dominance, but also set up a golden signboard outside the Eastern Han court, which had become a puppet, and took those great talents who hoped for the revival of the Han court into their own great cause.
The officials forced the people to rebel, resulting in the Yellow Turban Uprising and the chaos in the world, Zhuge Liang will not be unaware.
Even Liu Bei himself started from the Ping Yellow Turban Rebellion.
However, Zhuge Liang still proposed "people's minds thinking about Han" for Liu Bei, and its fundamental purpose was to set up such a propaganda slogan as "Kuang Fu Han Room" for Liu Bei.
In summary, because the people wanted to live and work in peace and contentment, and the Han Dynasty itself carried a sacred "sense of fate", Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei used it as a political banner.
Facts have proved that with this banner, Liu Bei, a late bloomer, was finally able to divide the world and achieve a career.
Reference: Book of Han
"Three Kingdoms"
"History"
#古籍里的历史#