Text | On Yun Xuan
Edit | On Yun Xuan
There is a popular saying in ancient China, called "If you are long, you must divide, and if you divide for a long time, you must be together", and it can be seen from this sentence that in ancient times, marching and fighting was a very normal thing.
In ancient times, astrology was basically related to military affairs, especially those in power often made different decisions based on celestial phenomena.
So, was ancient astrology accurate?
Ancient emperors were very respectful of astrologers.
Whenever the emperor wants to take any large-scale action, he will first let the astrologer look at the astrologer in advance.
For example, the emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty at that time wanted to send troops to fight Rouran, and the courtiers at that time were divided into two factions, one group thought that this war should not be fought, but Cui Hao chose to support the emperor.
In order to make the emperor give up this idea, the courtiers at that time specially brought in an astrologer, who watched the stars at night and told the emperor that now was not the time for war.
What people didn't expect was that Cui Hao was also very good at astrology, so he quarreled with the original astrologer.
Because from his point of view, the current astrological signs represent a good time to go on an expedition, and Emperor Wu still believes in Cui Hao's words more and chooses to send troops.
Therefore, the emperors of ancient times could really influence their behavior because of the astrological signs.
Because, this kind of behavior was not an exception in ancient times, but a universal phenomenon.
The ancients believed in astrological phenomena very much, for example, in the Yuan Dynasty, through Tian Zhongliang's astrological hexagrams, they believed that the Song Dynasty was exhausted, and sent troops to attack the Song Dynasty.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang also had a very powerful astrologer by his side, and his name was Liu Ji.
Through his predictions, Zhu Yuanzhang did a lot of things that seemed bold, but they all achieved good results.
From these events, we can see that ancient astrological techniques influenced the king's military decision-making to some extent.
There are even more examples of horoscopes being used for other things.
For example, during the period of Qin Shi Huang's conquest of the Six Kingdoms, some people looked at the astrological signs and said that the comet had appeared four times in 15 years, and each time it was very long, adding up to 80 days.
Comets are generally considered to be unlucky, and the prolonged appearance of comets seems to indicate that wars will continue to occur in those years.
According to the ancients, whenever there is a great chaos in the world, there will be comets in the sky.
And the length of time that comets appear also represents the size of the calamity in the world.
Sima Yi is also a loyal lover of astrology, and in all the wars he waged, he used astrology as a sign of whether he wanted to move forward, so in ancient times, the relationship between astrology and military was still very close.
Later kings would set up a special department in the court to observe the stars, which was used to observe the celestial phenomena.
When the ancients observed the celestial phenomena, they would focus on what to watch, or what kind of astrological signs were worthy of attention to the ancients.
In ancient times, people believed in the revelations of the stars because China had always emphasized the unity of heaven and man, and the emperor considered himself to be the Son of Heaven, that is, the person closest to heaven.
Observing the stars, the emperor thought that this was a revelation from heaven to the emperor's "son".
Therefore, whether it is the occurrence of disasters or the advent of auspicious fortunes, the heavens will give the emperor a "warning".
From ancient times until the Qing Dynasty, the state has set up observation institutions for the stars, and the names of these institutions are generally referred to as Si Tianjian.
However, in ancient times, not everyone could enter this department.
Since the emperor thought that the celestial phenomena were so important, it was natural that the people in charge of the heavenly eunuch were his own henchmen.
Especially at the beginning of the establishment of a dynasty, it was very strict about this, and Zhu Yuanzhang once issued a holy decree to the members of Qin Tianjian, so that their children and grandchildren could only learn Xi astronomy and could not do other things.
And the most ruthless sentence Zhu Yuanzhang said was that if the children of the members of the Qin Tianjian or their juniors, if they are not willing to continue to work in this post, they will be sent to the South China Sea to join the army to avoid the leakage of secrets.
So, what did this ancient astrological observer observe on a daily basis?
This range is actually very broad, somewhat similar to modern meteorology.
Whether it is the sun, the moon, or many stars, and even the changes in the weather, when there is thunder and when the rainbow appears, it is all within the scope of observation.
According to the ancients, every different star in the sky has a different meaning.
But these signs do not necessarily affect the behavior of the emperor.
Because the ancients did not leave a specific application method, from the existing ancient books, there is a high probability that it is a matter of facts, as long as the emperor wants to do something, he can find the corresponding from the stars.
In the final analysis, the observation of these astrological signs is still to serve the emperor, or more simply, it is so that the emperor can be more confident in doing things, and he will think that the heavens have agreed with him to do this.
However, in times of dynastic chaos, the science of astrology was often used as a tool in political struggles.
Someone, in order to satisfy the emperor's needs, would even make up astrological signs, which is of course a capital offense.
So, does astrology really work?
The relevant knowledge of astrology in ancient times can be learned from the "Zuo Chuan".
However, there is a lot of content related to the accuracy of astrology in "Zuo Chuan", but these are all added by later generations.
In other words, the content of a prediction was not explained by the people of the time, but by the later generations, and it seems that there is no way to verify it.
In fact, as early as the primitive period, people at that time were Xi to regard things as a whole, trying to find the relationship between certain parts of this whole.
Therefore, it is not so appropriate to think about ancient things purely with modern scientific ideas, because they have the limitations of their thinking at that time.
The content in "Zuo Biography" is only a reference and cannot be used as a standard answer.
Because the people who wrote "Zuo Biography" were all historians, and the role of historians was not to add any personal feelings, but to simply record the events at that time.
The content that can be written into the "Zuo Chuan" and recorded is generally representative, and the daily inconsequential divination is generally not written.
Later generations may think that these written stories are the whole of ancient history, and forget what the historians did not record, so they will feel that the divination of the ancients is very accurate.
The things that astrologers generally predict are about the rise and fall of a nation, and for this kind of thing, the degree of secrecy is very high.
Moreover, if an astrologer is a person who can read people's hearts, of course he knows what kind of words the emperor wants to hear.
Therefore, this ability of divination is not a superpower, in today's terms, it is a person with very high emotional intelligence and a very good eye.
In addition, what astrologers say is generally not easy to understand, but something that is more vague, and no matter who listens to it, they can get different understandings from it.
Therefore, the words of the ancient astrologers are not necessarily accurate.
In fact, up to now, including things like Bazi, or constellations are still very popular among the younger generation, which is similar to the ancient emperors who always liked to look at the stars, in fact, it is the same.
Therefore, the ancient astrology may have its certain truth, but it cannot be completely believed, and it is better to believe in science.