Where is Chen Sheng?

Zhao Hanqing Liu Xinhua

Chen Sheng(?) ~208 BC), leader of the anti-Qin rebel army at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Zi Shi, a native of Yangcheng, worked as a hired laborer as a teenager and had great ambitions. During the reign of Qin II, he was sent by the imperial court to Yuyang Shushou, and in the face of the threat of death in Daze Township, Pu County, he resolutely rose up and established the Zhang Chu regime in Chen County. Later, under the suppression of the Qin army, the rebel army failed, and Chen Sheng was killed by the coachman Zhuang Jia.

But where is Yangcheng? It is still controversial to this day. One is present-day Dengfeng, Henan, one is present-day Shangshui, Henan, one is present-day Henan City, and the other is present-day Suzhou, Anhui. One Chen Sheng, four hometowns. Competition is fierce. This is not surprising at all. Even a negative example like Ximen Qing's has two provinces and three places fighting for his hometown, not to mention Chen Sheng?

Where is the hometown of the hero of the first peasant uprising in Chinese history? I think the most powerful speaker on this issue should be Sima Qian or Chen Sheng himself. But before the invention of the time machine, I am afraid that no one will be able to get the most authoritative answer.

Since there was no authority, posterity continued to explain, explain, and then explain according to some data, and over time, the four kinds of YangCheng gradually emerged.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the scholar Wei Zhao and the Tang Dynasty scholars Sima Zhen and Zhang Shoujie favored the "Dengfeng Theory". Sima Zhen's Index quotes Wei Zhaoyun: "Yangcheng belongs to Yingchuan County. "Roughly near today's Dengfeng. Fan Wenlan, Lü Zhenyu, and others adopted this theory.

According to the "Chronicle of the Unification of the Ming Dynasty" Under the Fengyang Fu Monument Article: "Yangcheng, in the south of Suzhou, Qin County, Chen Sheng was born here. According to the "Chronicle of Suzhou" during the ming and qing guangxu years, "Yangcheng, the ancient land, is in the southeast of the prefecture, close to Pu. "Anhui said" does not seem to be unreasonable.

The representative of the proponents of the "Fangcheng Saying" was Mr. Tan Qijun, who, in his article "Chen Shengxiang LiyangCheng Kao", advocated that Chen Sheng's hometown should be in the territory of present-day Chengxian County, Henan.

The proponents of the "Shangshui Theory", according to the Tang Dynasty Yan Shigu's commentary in the Bangu "Book of Han and Chen Sheng Biography", deduced that Yangcheng should belong to Runan County, so it was ruled in the territory of present-day Shangshui County, Henan. The main people who hold this argument are Guo Moruo and Zhou Yu.

One Yang City, four places, all have their own truth.

1. Chen Sheng should be a native of Yangcheng, Hugou Town, Guzhen.

Nowadays, there is another kind of Guzhen theory - developed on the basis of the Suzhou theory.

According to Mr. Ding Yuqun, president and scholar of the Anhui Xiaxia Research Association, who spent 40 years to verify: Hugou Town, Guzhen County, Bengbu City, Anhui Province, originally belonged to Suzhou and was assigned to Guzhen County in 1965. There is no Yangcheng around Chasu Prefecture, only the former site of YiyangCheng near Hugou. There are many records in the "Suzhou Chronicle": "Su is Surabaya County, Xiang County, Qi County, Fu Li County, and Yangcheng County"; "The most authors of Cha Su Di, Yue Xiang, Yue Fu Li, Yue Zhen ... Near pu county is Yangcheng, Yongcheng, Daze Township..."; "Yangcheng, Gudi, in the southeast of the prefecture, and near, Qin Yangcheng County, Chen Shengsheng here", and even specifically referred to as "Yangcheng is now Hugou", the direction of which is the ruins of Guyangcheng near the current Hugou.

Second, Chen Sheng is a Chu person, and Dengfeng is not a Chu land.

To find out Chen Sheng's Chinese nationality, it is advisable to start from the big picture, determine who is a Chinese, and then investigate in detail. According to historical data, Chen Sheng is certain to be a Chu person. First of all, before the uprising, he created public opinion of "Great Chu Xing, King Chen Sheng"; when the uprising, he was immediately called "Great Chu"; and then, according to Chen, he established a political power with the name "Zhang Chu". Obviously, Chen Sheng regarded himself as a Chu person and called for reviving the Chu state. Secondly, Chen Sheng's righteousness was supported by the Chu people. Chen Di "The Three Elders and Hao Jie all know: 'The general's body was stubborn and sharp, he had no way, he cursed Qin, he restored the society of the Chu state, and he was the king of merit.'" If Chen Sheng was not a Chu person, he would never "restore the State of Chu", and the Chu people would never accept him as the King of Chu. Third, Sima Qian also considered Chen Sheng to be a "Chu person", saying: "Qin is tyrannical, and the Chu people are difficult", "at the end of the world, they are involved in difficulties". This is equivalent to the perpetrator of the attack, the Chu people, Chen Shi. He also clearly pointed out in the "Biography of Li Slie" that "The Chu shu pawns Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, and others were in rebellion and originated in Shandong." Again, the reason why Sima Qian did not explicitly record that Chen Sheng was a Chu person, but only said "Yangcheng people also", was because at that time Chen Sheng was a Chu person, and Yangcheng belonged to Chu, which was a fact known to everyone and the whole world, and there was no need to repeat it. As he wrote: "Xiang Yuan, Xia Xiang Ren also"; "Gao Zu, Pei Feng Yi Zhongyang Li people" The method is consistent. In addition, the Qin government also designated Chen Sheng as a Chu person, and Zhao Gao said in front of the second emperor: "The Chu thief Chen Sheng and others are all sons of Xiang Xiang County", that is, it is unmistakably said that Chen Sheng is a "thief" of "Chu". As for "Pong County", it is not necessarily a neighboring place, and it is intended to implicate Li Si. In addition, from the dialect can also prove that Chen Sheng is a Chu person. Sima Qian said: "The Chu people are mostly called rams, so the world has passed them on, and the rams are kings, starting with Chen."

From the above, it can be seen that Chen Sheng is indeed a Chu person. And Dengfeng belonged to Zheng first, then to Han, and was not Chudi, so how could Chen Sheng be from there? There is also the most important geographical problem, that is, Chen Sheng and other "who Shu Yuyang", if you start from Dengfeng, you should take the shortcut and go straight to the north to the east, why should you give up the near and far, go closer to the thousand mile road, and go around a large circle to the south-east? Under the severe criminal law of the Qin Dynasty, knowing that "if you miss the deadline, you should be beheaded", wouldn't you have reached out and sent it to death? This not only makes sense geographically, but also makes sense! Therefore, Chen Shengli's origin could never be DengfengYang City, but only near the daze township of Puzhi. Over the years, as the discussion on Chen Shengli's origin unfolded, many people who originally held the "Dengfeng" theory have realized that the sub-theory is wrong and have changed their views, so it can be ruled out!

Third, the other statements are not based on enough.

After excluding Dengfengyang City, let's analyze the others one by one. Shangshui, Fangcheng, and Ruyin were all Chudi, and first of all had a basic condition, but these three Qin dynasties did not have Yangcheng County, so it was difficult to establish.

Shangshui - its Yangcheng is a princely state, which was sealed by Emperor Xuan of Han, and the number of households is only more than a thousand, and later cut to more than 600 households, which shows that its land is so small that it is simply not enough to set up a county. Moreover, Hou Guo is not equal to a county, and the Han needle "eats the county for those who have done great work, and the small one eats the township pavilion", and the Yangcheng at that time was at most one township. The most important thing is that the fact that emperor Xuan of Han had Yangcheng at the time did not mean that there was Yangcheng in Qin, because at that time Shangshui was still in Yingchuan, and it was the same county as the Yangcheng of Dengfeng, so how could there be two Yangcheng counties in one county?

In recent years, some people have used the excuse that Shangshui has "Fusu City" to say that Chen Sheng once started an incident under the banner of Fusu, and said that Chen Zhuang in his vicinity still had many surnames, saying that it was an important discovery of Chen Sheng's former hometown. In fact, this is a bit far-fetched and cannot withstand scrutiny. Note: First, "Fusu City" is not Yangcheng. Second, when Chen Sheng started the incident, he was only a fraudster who "falsely claimed to be Gongzi Fusu and Xiang Yan", and if he was false, how could he take it seriously with falsehood? Third, what is the basis for the "Fusu City" built by Chen Sheng? Even if he was built by Chen Sheng, how could he be sure that he was a person here? It is not built by later generations to commemorate Fusu or it may be a harmonic sound, it may also be "Fushu City", "Floating Book City", "Binding Su City" or "Serving the Lost City" and so on. Fourth, the surname Chen is the larger surname in China, distributed throughout the domain, if this is used as a basis, is it not nonsense?

Fangcheng - is based on the "Han Zhi" "Nanyang County Block yang" article under the "Mang Yue Yang City" saying. Please note that this place was originally "blocking the sun", and when it was in Xinmang, it was changed to Yangcheng by this "name change habit". As for the record in the "Cao Xiangguo Shijia" about "attacking from the south, defending with Nanyang, Guo Dong of Zhanyang City, trapping Chen, and attacking Wan", it should be combined with other historical materials. The "Gao Zu Benji" records as follows: "In the east of Luoyang, the army is unfavorable, and it is still to Yangcheng, collect the horses in the army, and fight with Nanyang to defend the east and break it." "Here there is a geographical orientation problem: First, the yangcheng city of Fangcheng is in the south of the present-day Pingding Mountain, and the Yang City of Fangcheng is behind the fangcheng. If He hadn't attacked, how could he have reached Yangcheng again? Second, at that time, Liu Bang had few troops, and it was impossible to divide the army. Third, how should the subsequent "trapping" be understood? There are many contradictions. Therefore, this Yang City is the Yang City of Yingchuan, so that it can be "trapped" later.

As for Ruyin, it is even more a city without yang, shi shao discusses, the people lack legends, but some historians speculate. The so-called "Chen Sheng was born in Yu and grew up in Anhui" may be because of Wu Guang's example. Because Wu Guang was a native of Yangxia (present-day Taikang, Henan), he was forced to flee to northern Anhui for his livelihood; and he and Chen Sheng were the same as 'Tun Chang' and at the same time raised righteousness. In fact, this analogy is difficult to stand on, and more of it is taken for granted. If this is the case, then Taishi Gong should also be recorded as "Imperial Master Han An Guo, Liang Cheng'an Renren, and Later Suiyang". Therefore, this theory is difficult to justify.

Fourth, there is Yangcheng in Chu, and Chen Sheng is the yangcheng of Chu.

There are as many as nine annotations on Yangcheng in the Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Place Names in China, one of which is "Spring and Autumn Chudi, Song Yu's "Deng disciple lustful endowment" has 'Confused YangCheng, Fan Xia Cai, Yang Cheng, Xia Cai, two county names, ancient Guijie Prince sealed'. However, Chudi has yangcheng, and it is the same as Xia Cai, and it is also the county of Chu. Xia Cai is now Fengtai County, Anhui, and Yangcheng, Guzhen County, is only about two hundred miles away from Fengtai, which is undoubtedly here. However, this Yangcheng was not a county at the time of the Qin and Han Dynasties, and it should be meaningless to be a county in Chu Shi. As for the historical data called "Qin Shi Zhi County", it should be broadly considered to include before the unification of Qin, not one or two decades after the first emperor, that is, after the throne.

Chen Sheng was a native of Chu zhiyang City and could also be seen from before and after his righteousness: (1) Chen Sheng and the other nine hundred pawns were recruited from the area around Pu County, and concentrated in Daze Township ("Tun" contains the meaning of concentration), so that it can be made clear, not from Henan Dengfeng. (2) Since most of the pawns, including Chen Sheng, were nearby, they were familiar with local customs and customs, so they could smoothly carry out the matter of bonfire fox singing and fish belly Danshu, and get the cooperation and support of local people, including the bu and fishermen. (3) The Qin system of "five people and one tun commander" shows that the tun commander is only a small leader such as a squad leader. However, when Chen Sheng started the incident, he responded with a hundred responses, "all disciples know: 'respect and accept orders'" shows that he has considerable appeal and has the support of everyone, especially the backbone. (4) Most of the backbone of the rebel army were also people from northern Anhui, such as Ge Bao and Zhu Jishi as Fu Liren, Wu Xu, Song Liu, dong Ji, etc. as Thun people, Ding Yi as Xu people, Deng Zong as Ruyin people, Deng Said as Yangcheng people, And Zheng Bu as worriers. (5) Chen Sheng's uprising to failure, but only a few months. After his defeat, he retreated eastward through Xiachengfu (下城父; in present-day Bozhou, Anhui), with the aim of retreating to the yangcheng area. Because this is the place where he was born and raised, there is a certain mass base. This is the same as Xiang Yu's practice of retreating to Jiangdong after failure, and it is also the common sentiment of people.

In addition, Dengfeng, Shangshui, Fangcheng, Ruyin and other places not only have very little literature about Chen Sheng, some of them do not have at all, even if there are or three words and two words, one stroke; or quotations are not to be said, the language is not clear; and there are also very few folk legends. Even in Wu Guang's hometown of Taikang, although he moved abroad, there are many legends about him. Will the people of Henan favor one over the other? On the contrary, in the area of Guzhen Yangcheng and Suzhou Pu County, there are many relics related to Chen Sheng, such as Guyang City, Gu Pu County, Shi gu tai, Xuegu Tomb, Dead Deer Lake, Hidden King Temple, Bonfire Fox Ming Ancestral Hall, Fish Belly Danshu Bay, Iron Rod Chen, seventy-two camps; the legends and stories are even more numerous. This just shows that as a Yangcheng native, Chen Sheng's hometown father and elder are very respectful and nostalgic for his feats and deeds of "advocating for the world", so they have been passed down from generation to generation and have endured for a long time.

5. Yangcheng is now a guzhen town, but not Guyangcheng

Suzhou Yangcheng theory is the closest to Guzhen Yangcheng theory, because Guzhen Yangcheng originally belonged to Suzhou, so the historical records of the past are recorded as "Suzhou Yangcheng". Guo Moruo also listed Suzhou Yangcheng in the "Chinese History Manuscript" as one: "Chen Shengsheng's Yangcheng belongs to the present-day place, there are four different theories, Henan Shangshui County, Henan Dengfeng County southeast, Henan Chengxian East, Anhui Su County Hugou area." At that time, Hugou still belonged to Su County and did not enter Gu Town. Although Guo Lao adopted the "first statement", that is, the "Shangshui theory", it did not provide more convincing arguments. The late Suzhou cultural historian Mr. Ma Daokui advocated the "Suzhou Theory", and while proposing that "Yangcheng is near the lake ditch" as the "greatest possibility", he also proposed the second possibility of "the misrememberment or misrepresentation of Yangcheng guyang County". Mr. Ma is well versed in the study of history, especially familiar with the legends of Suzhou and the surrounding areas, and is a respected elder. We believe that his first view, that "Yangcheng is near the lake ditch", is desirable, while the second view is debatable. Mr. Ma also mistook Guyang City for Guyang City, which also needs to be corrected.

Guyang City and Yangcheng are two places in their own right. Guyang was a County of the Han Dynasty, named after its city at Gushui (present-day Lihe), and later set up Yangping Commandery, Wei Xiaowen Emperor Taihe set up Guyang Town, and later changed to Guyang County, Sui restored Guyang County, Tang Gaozong Xianqing County abolished. Its site is in the south of the present-day Guzhen County, the yin of the water, the city site covers an area of about 3 square kilometers, and is a provincial key cultural relics protection unit. Yangcheng is more than ten kilometers northwest of it, east of Hugou Street, on the south bank of the XunHe River, the site covers an area of tens of thousands of square meters, the south side is gentle, the north side is steep, the outline is recognizable, and the Cultural Relics of the Qin Dynasty have been unearthed. Due to the short period of time for Yangcheng to establish a county, although it prospered for a while, it tended to decline in the future. Now the locals call it "Bawang City", which is the ancient Yang City, the place where Chen Sheng was born.

As for the north bank of the Xun River northwest of Yangcheng, there is also the ruins of an ancient city, and the current city outline does not exist, only the earthen mounds are uplifted. This should be the place where Gugu Yangshu is located, and the Water Sutra Notes yun: "The water flows east through Guyang Shu south, and southeast through the north of Guyang City, and the right and the water society." "Its orientation corresponds to the site of the city.

It can be seen that on the banks of the Xun River (涣水), which is about 20 kilometers apart, there used to be three ancient cities, from top to bottom, Guyang Shu, Guyang City, and Guyang City, in a clear order and should not be confused. Guyang City was once the seat of county governance, and the history books do not contain the transfer of the rule elsewhere, and it must not be confused with Guyang City.

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