Read the "Left Biography": the first year of the eleventh year of the Hidden Duke

Feel the "Spring and Autumn Brushwork"

1. Hidden

"Spring and Autumn" in: Spring of the First Year, Wang Zhengyue.

This is a record that makes the reader in the clouds, only time, no place, no people, no events. The "Zuo Chuan" explains that "the spring of the first year" is the spring of the first year of Lu Yin's common era, "Wang Zhengyue" refers to the first month of the Zhou calendar, and the Duke of Lu Yin is the throne of Lu. The reason why only the time is recorded, but not the event, is because Lu Huigong died, the eldest son Lu Huan was young, and the duke of Lu Yin was the regent, and the Duke of Lu Yin was not a monarch in the sense of the Western Zhou patriarchy, so there is no record of his ascension to the throne. This "hidden" brushwork reflects the editor Confucius's maintenance of the inheritance system of the eldest son of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

"Spring and Autumn" in: March, Gong and Yi Yi's father allied with contempt.

The Zuo Chuan explains that Yi Yi's father was a nobleman of the State of Yi, and the Spring and Autumn Period does not address him as an official because his actions were not recorded with Zhou Tianzi, but out of respect for him, he was called "Yi Father". This kind of "concealment" probably means "punishment" for feudal nobles who do not obey the etiquette system, and it is also out of respect for Zhou Tianzi.

Compared with this kind of semi-concealment and half-appearance, there are many events in the year of Lu Yin that are hidden and unremembered, such as the ultra vires acts of courtiers and princes, the behavior of diplomatic etiquette, and the events that did not cause disasters.

History is a fait accompli and cannot be added, deleted, or modified, but history books are written by people, and there must be trade-offs. High-taste history books must be under the premise of respecting history, under the guidance of the editor's value system, and have a choice of historical materials, which is "hidden". Judging from the contents of the Hidden Year of the Common Era, the "Hidden" of the Spring and Autumn Period seems to reflect the positioning of Confucius's history compilation: (1) the history book is a major event, and the events that have little impact on the family and the world are not remembered, so as not to delay future generations; (2) the history book is the main righteousness, and the historical events that deviate from the ritual system and have no disciplinary results are not remembered, so as not to mislead future generations. The Northern Song Dynasty philosopher Zhang Zai's so-called "establishing a heart for heaven and earth, establishing a destiny for the people, inheriting the study for future generations, and opening up peace for all generations" seems to summarize Confucius's original intention of writing the Spring and Autumn Period.

2. Jane

"Spring and Autumn" chronicles, almost only a "old news" title, outlining the time, place, people, events, lack of records of the causes and processes of the events, giving people a sense of dry tastelessness. For example, in the struggle between Zheng Zhuanggong and his brother Gong, Zuo Shi wrote a wonderful short story, but "Spring and Autumn" only has nine words of "Summer and May, Zheng Boke Duan Yu Yan". Just imagine, thousands of years later, the archives of the princes suffered from the disaster of war and fire, and all kinds of historical materials were lost, how many people can read "Spring and Autumn"? How much "historical" value can it have? In this sense, is it possible to say that without Zuo Zhuan, there would be no Spring and Autumn? Zuo Shi admired Confucius and made a note for "Spring and Autumn", saying: Non-Confucius, I do not know the honor of human nature; Confucius should also thank Zuo Shi for continuing the soul of "Spring and Autumn", I know: Non-Zuo Shi, I have done useless work!

3. Easy

Compared with the Shang Shu and Chinese, the Spring and Autumn Period, the Analects, and the Zuo Zhuan are more understandable and easy to understand, such as: In the summer and May, the Heavenly King made Zai Que come to Huigong and Zhongzi. In September, he and the Song Renmeng stayed overnight. Gongzi Yishi pawn. This type of sentence, the subject and verb object are complete, even if some sentence components are omitted (the second sentence), the reader can understand the omitted sentence components (Lu) from the local environment of the article. This is the "change" in the language expression of "Spring and Autumn" and "Zuo Zhuan", which represents the development trend of ancient language expression in China. In addition, the intellectuals of the late Pre-Qin Dynasty paid attention to the study of folk literature based on the "Wind" of the "Book of Poetry", and formed judgment sentences, prayer sentences, declarative sentences, question sentences, preposition sentences, postposition sentences, inverted sentences, and omitted sentences marked by the "Spring and Autumn" and "Zuo Zhuan" in written language, which became a model for the language expression of later generations, and greatly promoted the innovation and development of Chinese culture. It has also made indelible contributions to the reunification of the Chinese nation.

4. Qu

"Spring and Autumn" in: Zheng Boke Duan Yu Yan. GongShu Duan was the half-brother of Duke ZhengZhuang, who was sealed in the capital and was known as the uncle of the capital. Why doesn't "Spring and Autumn" call him brother and uncle because he is plotting to usurp his brother's throne, so "Spring and Autumn" directly calls him by his name (Duan); Zheng Zhuang Gong was originally "Gong", one rank higher than "Bo", why did he call him "Zheng Bo"? It was because he not only did not educate and stop his brother who was plotting to usurp the throne in time, but secretly instigated it, and waited until his brother had rebelled and the crime was known to the world, and then raised an army to suppress it, driving his brother out of Zheng Guo, venting the hatred in his brother's heart that had been hidden for a long time. Confucius believed that Zheng Zhuanggong had not fulfilled his brother's responsibilities, so he "privately" demoted Zheng Zhuang to the rank of knight. There is also a verb "ke", which accurately shows the humane relationship between Zheng Zhuanggong and his uncle Duan Brother, who is not friendly and disrespectful. This kind of brushwork, allegorically praised and degraded in the detailed description, later generations called "qu", so that the history is compiled, the editor's thoughts and feelings are expressed in a roundabout and silent way, so as to achieve the unity of respecting history and expressing emotions.