Since the birth of human civilization, it has been accompanied by various prophecies and doctrines.
For example, the ten major prophecies of the Mayans, Zhuge Liang's horse lesson in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Li Chunfeng's push back during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, etc., among these starry prophecies, some can be said accurately, and some cannot be said accurately.
Most of them are inaccurate, and those prophecies that are accurate are often hindsight.
Therefore, people often have an entertaining attitude towards this kind of doctrine, and regard it as an after-dinner conversation.
In the history of mankind, there are three prophecies that have been recorded in historical records and have influenced the course of history.
Two of the prophecies about ancient China were all verified, and the other about modern America.
What exactly the three prophecies say, you might as well look down slowly.
Eight hundred years of the Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty was an extremely influential dynasty in Chinese history, and it was also the longest dynasty recorded in history, adding up to 790 years (1046-256 BC), with a total of 32 dynasties and 37 Zhou kings.
Historians have admired the Zhou Dynasty and summarized it as "eight hundred years of Xing Zhou" for the sake of memory.
Regarding the advent of the 800-year foundation of the Zhou Dynasty, it is accompanied by a legend and prophecy - "King Wen pulls a cart for 800 steps, and the Zhou Dynasty has 800 years of the world".
This sentence is what Jiang Ziya Weishui said when he met King Zhou Wen by chance.
King Wen of Zhou is a model of the Holy Lord of the Ming Dynasty, and he has been thirsting for virtue all his life, and he has found a capable minister to assist him.
I overheard that there was an elderly man next to Weishui who had the ability to travel through heaven and earth, so he immediately led everyone to visit.
After some discussion, King Wen of Zhou found that Jiang Ziya was a rare talent, so he sincerely wanted to ask him to go out of the mountain to help.
In order to test King Zhou Wen's determination, Jiang Ziya asked King Zhou Wen to personally pull the cart for himself, otherwise he would never help.
At this time, King Zhou Wen was already an old man, and in order to get the talent that was rare in a hundred years in front of him, King Zhou Wen gritted his teeth and pulled Jiang Ziya forward eight hundred steps.
It wasn't until he was exhausted that Jiang Ziya jumped down from the car and knelt down to worship King Wen and said, "The lord pulls the car for 800 steps, and I will protect the Zhou Dynasty for 800 years."
Strange to say, with the help of Jiang Ziya, the Western Zhou Dynasty destroyed Shang and Jianzhou in less than two years.
Although the Zhou Dynasty was divided into two stages, the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, after King Zhou Ping moved east to Luoyi, the title of Zhou Tianzi did exist for 800 years.
Maybe it's far-fetched by future generations, but if that's the case, Jiang Ziya's prophetic ability is really admirable.
Judging from the historical records, the story of King Wen of Zhou pulling the cart is the first prophecy in history.
Death of Qin will be Chu
From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the end of the Qin and early Han Dynasties, whether it was the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons or the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, the Qin State and the Chu State were a pair of "happy enemies", and the two sides were equal in strength among the vassal states.
There must be only one leader, but everyone wants to be it, and there are too many battles around Qin and Chu.
In the end, a historical prophecy was derived: "Although Chu has three households, it can die in Qin".
Many people think that this sentence was put forward by Xiang Yu and his faction to destroy Qin, and it was actually said by Chu Nangong, the first wise man of Chu in the pre-Qin period, but Xiang Yu Fan Zeng's fame was too great and overshadowed Chu Nangong.
The original words are "I heard that Nangong, a hermit of Chu State, was proficient in the art of divination, and there was a proverb that 'although Chu has three households, the death of Qin will be Chu'".
I have to say that Chu Nangong is indeed very powerful.
In 224 BC, when Qin sent the general Wang Jian to destroy Chu, Xiang Yan led the army to resist on the Chu side, and Xiang Yan was finally defeated by Wang Qian.
After a lapse of seventeen years (207 BC), Xiang Yu was ready to destroy Qin.
Coincidentally, the lord of the Qin State was Wang Li, the grandson of Wang Qian. Xiang Yu used a strategy to defeat the 200,000 army of the Qin State, and killed Wang Li and all the prisoners.
The "Qin Chu grudge" did not end there.
When Xiang Yu's troops were defeated and killed themselves in Wujiang, the first person who rushed up to besiege Xiang Yu was called Lu Matong, who happened to be a native of Haoqi County in Qindi.
If it is said that "although Chu can kill Qin, three households" is really what Chu Nangong said, not Fan Zeng in the name of others, the hermit Nangong can refine the public and private grievances of the Qin and Chu families into eight words, and he is indeed worthy of being a master in the world.
The United States is on the decline
Among the prophecies known to mankind, the two major prophecies about China, whether true or false, have all been fulfilled.
The third is the prediction that the United States will decline from 2020, which sounds somewhat bizarre.
There is a Norwegian social scientist named John Galton, which may seem a little strange to you.
He is a surviving scholar, and he is 90 years old, still working on the front line of research.
Although he is not as well-known as Jiang Ziya and others, most of the prophecies spoken by him have been fulfilled.
A few words about his deeds.
In the 80s, when John Galtung predicted that "the Soviet Union would collapse and Berlin would fall", international relations were in a very cold state, and everyone laughed at his old age and lack of clarity.
Sure enough, a few years later, the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall were exactly what he said.
Earlier in the century, John Galtung published a book, The Fall of the American Empire, in which he devoted himself to a study of American society and concluded that "the United States may be on the verge of collapse in 2020."
After John Galton's prediction was reported, rebuttals came one after another from all sides, because the international environment would be relatively stable, and everyone would be in the stage of concentrating on development, and it would never be as bad as John Galtung said.
Now, it seems that John Galton's findings are coming true.
While far from the state described by John Galtung, it does seem a bit of a rosy mood when it comes to the two septuagenarians fighting over a job.
There is an old Chinese saying, "Take history as a lesson to know the rise and fall, and use history to know the gains and losses".
Those so-called prophecies seem to be very incomprehensible, and the principles behind them are not so complicated.
Because the development of things always follows a certain law, although sometimes there are some small changes, but from the big picture, they basically move forward in a circular along a line.
As to whether the third prophecy will be fulfilled, the answer should soon be available.