Historical past 1: Qin Shi Huang's own mother was very lascivious, and there was once a sex scandal that caused a sensation in the government and the opposition.
Historical Episode 2: Was the abacus invented by the Chinese? This statement is not accurate.
Historical Past 1
The peachy scandal of Qin Shi Huang's mother
"Historical Records, Volume 85, Biography of Lü Buwei, Twenty-Five", records a peach-colored scandal that caused a sensation in the government and the opposition by Qin Shi Huang's biological mother (Zhao Ji).
Zhao Ji (Qin Shi Huang's own mother) and her male pet Chang Yu (stills)
Zhao Ji, as the biological mother of Qin Shi Huang, her peach-colored scandal at that time was large-scale, ruined the three views, and was very exaggerated.
The original text of the "Historical Records" is excerpted as follows:
King Zhuang Xiang ascended the throne for three years, and the prince was established as the king, respecting Lü Buwei as the prime minister, known as the "middle father". King Qin was young, and the Queen Mother was always secretly communicating with Lü Buwei...... The first emperor was stronger, and the queen mother was more than obscene. Lü Buwei was afraid that he would be in trouble, so he privately begged the great yin people to think that he would give up people, and when he indulged in music, he made Yu walk with his Yin Guan Tong Wheel, so that the Queen Mother could hear it and eat the Queen Mother. When the Queen Mother heard it, she wanted to get it privately. Lü Buwei entered the concubine and deceived people to sue him for corruption. Buwei and Yin said to the Queen Mother: "But if the matter is corrupt, it has to be given to the matter." "The queen mother is a corrupt official who is generous to the lord, and she deceives it, and plucks her eyebrows as a eunuch, so she has to serve the queen mother. The Queen Mother is private and communicative, and she loves it. has a body, the queen mother is afraid of being known, and when she avoids cheating, she moves to the palace to live in Yong...... In the ninth year of the first emperor, there was a person who told him that he was not a eunuch, and he often had an affair with the queen mother, and gave birth to two children, both of whom were hidden. conspired with the Queen Mother and said, "The king is the king, and the son is the queen." So the king of Qin ruled by his officials, and he was very realistic, and he was even the minister of the country Lu Buwei. In September, the three clans of Yi and Changyu killed the two sons born to the Queen Mother, and then moved the Queen Mother to Yong...... In the nineteenth year of the first emperor, the empress dowager, the empress dowager, and the king of Zhuangxiang will be buried in Qiyang"
Lü Buwei (stills)
Lao Feng roughly translates it into human words for you, which means something like this:
"Qin Shi Huang's father (Qin Zhuang Xiangwang) ascended the throne for three years, and then died, the young Ying Zheng (Qin Shi Huang) was established as the new monarch, Lü Buwei was established as the prime minister, and Ying Zheng called Lü Buwei "middle father", probably the meaning of "little father", "righteous father", and "godfather". At that time, King Yingzheng of Qin was still young, and the Empress Dowager Zhao Ji (Yingzheng's own mother) often committed adultery with Lü Buwei...... Later, Yingzheng gradually grew up, but the Queen Mother still maintained an adulterous relationship with Lü Buwei. However, Lü Buwei thought: Yingzheng will grow up soon, and he is worried that when he grows up, he will settle the scandal between me and his mother, so Lü Buwei felt that it was not a way to go on like this, so he found a XXX thick man from the people, named 嫪毐 (pronounced Lào'ǎi),
Lü Buwei hired Chang Yu under his own door and asked him to practice a peculiar kind of kung fu, what kind of kung fu? That is, he asked Chang Yu to use his XXX to push the wheel to turn, and Lü Buwei asked someone to tell the Queen Mother about Chang Yu and his unique kung fu. When the Queen Mother heard this, there were such macho men in the world, and sure enough, she said: I want this macho man. So, Lü Buwei dedicated Chang Yu to the Queen Mother. However, there was a rule in the palace at that time: only eunuchs could serve the queen mother. What should I do? Lü Buwei conspired with the Empress Dowager: to make people falsely accuse Chang Yu, and then convict and sentence, sentence him to the palace, pretend to castrate Chang Yu, but in fact he did not use the knife, and the Empress Dowager secretly rewarded the officials who presided over the castration operation.
So, pluck out Chang Yu's beard and eyebrows, disguised as a eunuch, and send it to the palace to serve the Queen Mother, after the Queen Mother pampered Chang Yu, she knew the taste of the marrow, felt very happy, and soon became pregnant, the Queen Mother was worried that the matter would be exposed, and lied to the outside world: The fortune teller said that she was unlucky during this time and wanted to move, so she moved to live in the capital...... In the ninth year of Ying Zheng (Qin Shi Huang) ascending the throne, someone secretly told Ying Zheng: Chang Yu is a fake eunuch, he often messes with your mother (Queen Mother), and has given birth to two sons, both of whom are hidden and raised, and Chang Yu also conspired with your mother (Queen Mother) to make their son the new monarch. After Ying Zheng listened, he sent someone to investigate and found that everything was true, so Ying Zheng ordered the extermination of the three clans, killed the two sons born to him and the Queen Mother, and then put the Queen Mother (his own mother) under house arrest...... In the nineteenth year of Yingzheng's accession to the throne, the Queen Mother died, and she was named "Emperor and Queen Mother", and was buried in this place in Chiyang with King Xiang of Qinzhuang"
This is Sima Qian's record of a peach-colored scandal with Qin Shihuang's own mother in the "Historical Records", and this text is really laughable to read.
Qin Shi Huang: My mother is very romantic
Of course, none of the of Qin Shi Huang's mother (Zhao Ji) has seen with our own eyes, is it possible that Sima Qian wronged her?
However, it is worth noting that not only the "Historical Records" recorded the scandal of Zhao Ji and Chang Yu, but also many other historical materials such as "Warring States Policy" and "Zizhi Tongjian".
In all fairness, Zhao Ji (Qin Shi Huang's mother) is a widowed woman, and it is not too much to find another man, but the problem is that Zhao Ji's boyfriend (Chang Yu) was introduced by her lover Lu Buwei, and she is still greedy for Chang Yu's XXX to be able to push the wheel to turn (the legend is like this), so no matter how you look at it, it is a bit unserious, which makes people feel that the interpersonal relationships here are quite chaotic, and as for right and wrong, it is a matter of opinion.
However, judging from the era of that year, these absurd things are not uncommon, and they are also logical, in fact, before the Han and Tang dynasties in the mainland, women were actually very unrestrained, and it was not until later after the rise of "Song and Ming Dynasty" that women's three views became conservative.
Historical Past II
The Chinese invented the abacus?
From the time we were very young, our elders told us that the abacus was invented by us Chinese.
Chinese abacus
We have always believed in this statement and have never questioned it.
Interestingly, however, the statement that "the Chinese invented the abacus" is both true and incorrect.
What does it mean to be "right or wrong"?
The answer is: the problem is the "concept".
What exactly is an "abacus"?
The truth of the matter is actually this: the "Chinese abacus" was indeed invented by the Chinese. However, the "abacus" was not invented by the Chinese.
In fact, as early as 2700 to 2300 B.C., the Sumerians, in this part of present-day Iraq, invented the abacus.
Yes, the Sumerians, their civilization, is the famous "Sumerian civilization" in the history of mankind.
That is to say, more than 4,000 years ago, in this place in Iraq, the people at that time had already invented the abacus, but the abacus invented by the Sumerians was just a little similar to our Chinese abacus, but it was different, it looked like this:
Sumerian abacus
More than 4,000 years ago, the Sumerian abacus was a simple clay tablet with some mud balls on it, which was used to make calculations, and the way it calculated was also different from our Chinese abacus.
However, we can't say that the Sumerian abacus is different from ours, so their abacus is not called "abacus", which is a bit nonsense.
Interestingly, when the Sumerians invented the abacus, we in China were still in a primitive state of drinking blood.
So, when did we Chinese invent the abacus?
The answer is this: it is generally believed that the prototype of the Chinese abacus appeared in the Han Dynasty, but the approximate time of the formation of the Chinese abacus should be in the Song Dynasty, that is, around 1000 AD, more than 3,000 years later than the Sumerian invention of the abacus.
Interestingly, the ancient Romans also invented the abacus in the era of BC, more than 1,000 years earlier than China.
Three Roman abacus
It can be seen that the abacus of the ancient Romans is similar to our Chinese abacus, but it is also different, not only does it look different, but also the way of using it is also different.
However, although it is different, the abacus invented by the ancient Romans is also called the abacus, which is an objective and fair statement.
Reading this, we know that not only did the Sumerian abacus be earlier than China, but the ancient Roman abacus was also earlier than China.
And what's even more interesting: the Russians, too, created their own abacus, which looks like this:
Russian abacus
This is the famous "Russian abacus".
It can be seen that the abacus of the Russians is not the same as our Chinese abacus, and it only looks alike, but it is obvious that it looks different, and the usage is obviously not the same.
Then, here comes the most interesting thing: the "Inca Empire", an empire established by the Indians of South America in the 15th century AD, who also invented the abacus and looked like this:
Inca abacus
Yes, this is the famous "Inca abacus".
The Indians, whom we have always looked down on, turned out that they also invented the abacus 600 years ago, but the "Inca abacus" invented by the Indians is obviously different from the abacus of our Eurasia.
We can see that the Indians adopted a completely different set of calculation methods: they divided a mud plate into several grids, different grids representing different digits, and then put stones on it, using this method to calculate, it can be seen that the brains of the Indians are not the same as those of our people in Eurasia.
Speaking of which, let's mention by the way: the Sumerian abacus, the ancient Roman abacus, and the Russian abacus seen above are similar to our Chinese abacus.
It's possible. After all, in ancient times, there was a long Silk Road, which connected the entire Eurasian continent, merchants traveled from east to west, abacus in the east and west, there was the possibility of imitation of each other, it is not surprising at all, and as for who imitated whom, this is probably difficult to verify.