For a long time, ancient China had a historical fate, that is, agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization fought for thousands of years, during which peace was few and wars were mostly. From the perspective of the Central Plains civilization, the nomadic people from the steppe are invaders and out-and-out barbarians and bad people, but the Central Plains civilization respects the Yellow Emperor as its ancestor, so which civilization does the Yellow Emperor originate from?
As the first humanistic ancestor of Chinese civilization, in people's traditional impressions, the Yellow Emperor has always been the representative of agricultural civilization, but according to Sima Qian's records, the Yellow Emperor may not have originated from agricultural civilization, but from nomadic civilization.
Sima Qian recorded very little about the life of the Yellow Emperor, only "the Yellow Emperor, the son of Shaodian, surnamed Gongsun, and known as Xuanyuan." Born and divine, weak and able to speak, young and wandering, long and Dunmin, mature and intelligent" such a sentence, meaning that the Yellow Emperor was born into a famous family, or the family of tribal chiefs, is the descendant of the Shaodian tribe, the surname Gongsun Xuanyuan, born with spirituality, in the swaddling can speak, grow up honest and diligent, after adulthood to see a wide range of knowledge, very intelligent ....... In short, it is some words of praise, similar to the descriptions of the founding emperors of the past generations.
When the Yellow Emperor took over the post of tribal chief, the descendants of the Shennong clan had already declined, the princes of the world were constantly conquest, and the people were displaced, but the Shennong clan could not stop the disputes between the princes. Therefore, for the sake of peace in the world, the Yellow Emperor learned to practice martial arts and recruited the princes who were not subjects, so "the princes were invited to obey".
But at this time, there were still two forces in the world that were not convinced, one was the most ferocious Xuan You, the combat effectiveness was strong, no one dared to go to the Xuan You, and the other was the yan emperor, a descendant of the veteran leader Shennong, the representative of the agricultural civilization at that time, saw that the princes all went to worship the Yellow Emperor, and the inner estimation was unbalanced, "wanting to invade the princes of the tomb", but did not expect that the princes would all defect to the Yellow Emperor faster, the so-called "princes return to Xuanyuan".
Therefore, at this time, it can also be regarded as the "Three Kingdoms Era" of the Yan Emperor, the Yellow Emperor and Xuan You. Among them, the Yellow Emperor lived in the Central Plains, the Yan Emperor was in the west, the Taihang Mountains were west, and Xuan You lived in the east, which was the monarch of jiuli.
After the establishment of the three kingdoms of Yandi, Yellow Emperor, and Xuanyou, the situation was temporarily stabilized, and the Yellow Emperor introduced a series of measures to enhance national strength.
"Five Emperors Benji": Xuanyuan is Xiu De Zhenbing, Zhi Wu Qi, Qi Five Kinds, Fu Wanmin, Du Sifang, Teach Bear Qi Qi, Qi Hu Hu.
In addition to practicing virtue and rectifying the military, the Yellow Emperor studied the changes in the four seasons, measured the land in the four directions, appeased the people, planted grains, and trained bears, cats, cats, cats, tigers and other beasts of prey. In particular, the twelve words of "cure the five qi, the five kinds of qi, the five kinds of people, and the four squares" clearly show the position of the Yellow Emperor in the Chinese agricultural civilization.
After a period of time, the situation in the Three Kingdoms changed, first the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor fought the Battle of Banquan, the Yellow Emperor defeated the Yan Emperor three times, and the Yan Emperor declared himself a vassal to the Yellow Emperor; secondly, the Yan Emperor and Xuan You fought for the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and the Yan Emperor failed, fled north to the Yellow Emperor for help; the third Yellow Emperor joined forces with the Yan Emperor to conquer Xuan You, but failed to win the nine battles in three years, and finally the Yellow Emperor mobilized the armies of the princes and defeated Xuan You through the Battle of Zhuolu.
Therefore, before the Yellow Emperor "unified the Three Kingdoms", he fought two famous wars, namely the Battle of Hanquan and the Battle of Zhuolu. It is worth noting that the location of these two wars may be related to the origin of the Yellow Emperor!
The location of the Battle of Zhuolu is relatively easy to determine, it is in Zhuolu County in present-day Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, but there are four theories about where the "Hanquan" of the Battle of Hanquan is located.
1, northeast of Yangqu County, Shanxi Province, according to legend, the old name of Hanshan, now through the highway to Zhuolu County the whole journey of about 451.3 kilometers.
2, southeast of Zhuolu County, Hebei Province, very close to the battlefield of the Battle of Zhuolu.
3, yuncheng county south of Shanxi Province, now through the highway to Zhuolu County the whole journey of about 873.3 kilometers.
4, Fugou County, Henan Province, now through the highway to Zhuolu County, the whole journey is about 863.7 kilometers.
Linked to the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum, Shi'an Ancient City, Baojiyan Emperor's Mausoleum and other sites, the location of the Battle of Hanquan is unlikely to be in Zhuolu County, Hebei Province. If the "Hanquan" is not in the southeast of Zhuolu County, Hebei Province, but in the other three places, there will be a paradox: with the transportation and organizational capabilities of the Yellow Emperor's era more than 4,000 years ago, small troops may be able to break through thousands of miles, but it is bound to be difficult to put the large troops of the princes thousands of miles away to fight. Therefore, after the Yellow Emperor defeated the Yan Emperor in Hanquan, how did he run to Zhuolu, thousands of miles away, to defeat Xuan You? With the means of agrarian civilization, it is almost impossible to achieve such a leap!
It can be seen that the real identity of the Yellow Emperor may be that he is a nomadic herder and has long been familiar with the grassland, so he transferred troops from Shaanxi and Shanxi and rode horses through the northern grassland to Zhuolu County, Hebei. Sima Qian also has an important record in the "Records of History" that can support this conjecture.
The Five Emperors: East to the Sea, Mount Dengmaru, and Daizong. As for the west, as for the empty tree, climb the chicken head. As for the south, as for the river, Dengxiong and Xiang. The northern porridge is in line with Busan, and the Yi is in Zhuolu'a. Migration is in a precarious place, with divisions and soldiers as the battalion guards. The official names are all named after Yun Ming, who is the Cloud Master.
After the Yellow Emperor subdued Emperor Yan and defeated Xuan You, he went east to the East China Sea and mounted Mount Tai, to the west to Kongtong and Jitou Mountain, to the south to the Yangtze River, to the XiangShan, and so on. Whether the Yellow Emperor has been to these places is questionable, but the most crucial record is that the Yellow Emperor was "a place of impermanence of migration", migrating around, having no fixed residence, and setting up military camps for self-defense wherever he led his troops, which is almost consistent with the nomadic customs we know!
In addition to the "History", the Yellow Emperor mentioned in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" almost clearly points out that the Yellow Emperor was from a nomadic ethnic group!
"Classic of Mountains and Seas: The Great Wilderness Of the West Classic": "The grandson of the Yellow Emperor, Ri Shijun, was born in this Northern Di". "Shan Hai Jing : The Great Wilderness Of the North Classic": "The Yellow Emperor gave birth to Miao Long, Miao Long sheng Ming, Ming Sheng White Dog, white dog has Mu Mu, is for the dog Rong." ”
The Classic of Mountains and Seas clearly states that the Yellow Emperor originated from The Northern Di, and the Northern Di is a 100% nomadic people! However, after all, the Classic of Mountains and Seas is not a history book, and the content of the record is still questionable, but through the history of the Zhou people and the site of the Yellow Emperor, it can be inferred that the Yellow Emperor was born.
1, The Han Dynasty Wang Fu pointed out in the "Qianfu On the Zhi Surname": "Kui surname Chi Di, Ji (Ji) surname Bai Di ... Short (姬) is the Inuyasha clan, whose ancestors originated from the Yellow Emperor". In the final analysis, there is a clear connection between the Yellow Emperor's surname Ji, Bai Di's surname Ji, and zhou's surname Ji. Before King Wen of Zhou's grandfather, Gu Gong and his father, the Zhou people were still in a nomadic life, until the ancient Gong Gong's father moved to Qi and began to step into civilized society, the so-called "degrading the customs of Rong Di, and yingcheng Guo Palace Room, and Yi Bei lived in it". Therefore, it was probably the Yellow Emperor who first entered the Central Plains and slowly integrated into the local area to transform into an agricultural civilization, but the rest of the ethnic group remained in their hometown to graze, and many years later, the descendants of the Zhou people rose up and re-entered the Central Plains.
2, According to the Spring and Autumn "Zuo Biao" record, Bai Di was distributed in the northern part of Yongzhou (now northern Shaanxi) - the residence of the ancient gonggong father before he moved to Qi. What is amazing is that there are many Yellow Emperor sites in northern Shaanxi, such as Shi'an Ancient City, Yellow Emperor Mausoleum, Yellow Emperor Temple, etc., and the "History" records that "Yellow Emperor Collapse, Burial Bridge Mountain", buried in the Yellow Emperor Mausoleum - Baidi Traditional Settlement! Obviously, the many Sites of the Yellow Emperor in northern Shaanxi and the traditional habitat of Bai Di must not be accidental coincidences, but there is a certain inevitable relationship, and it is not difficult to infer that the Yellow Emperor is from Northern Di in connection with the "Classic of Mountains and Seas"!
The life of the Yellow Emperor more than 4,000 years ago is now difficult to reveal 100% of the truth, but through the "History Books" and archaeological findings, it can be judged that the Yellow Emperor is more likely to be born of a nomadic people! But scholars' views are bolder, arguing that the Battle of Yanhuangsakaquan was actually a defense battle of agricultural civilization against nomadic civilization.
Scholar Liu Yuqing: The Yellow Emperor is from Shaodian, which is Xiaodi, a branch of Northern Di. Xuanyuan is a different translation of "Hehan" and "Khan". The Yellow Emperors were first active in the Great Northwest and great north, and the Kunlun Mountains in Gansu and Qinghai were the centers of their early years. Southward due to the drought of the steppes....... The Battle of Yan and Huang was a defensive battle fought by agrarian peoples against nomads. The reason why the war took place at the foot of the Great Wall of Beisai was because the line of the Great Wall was the dividing line between nomadic and agrarian peoples.
Not only the scholar Liu Yuqing, but also Guo Moruo, Yi Hua and other historians have pointed out that the Yellow Emperor was born into a nomadic people, of which the scholar Yi Hua believes that "it is more certain that the Yellow Emperor is a legendary nomadic hero, and Genghis Khan is the inheritor of the nomadic tradition."
After coming into contact with the traditional Chinese people, the Yellow Emperor gradually accepted and integrated into the agricultural civilization, and eventually became one of the ancestors of Chinese humanities. The races represented by the Yellow Emperor, the Yan Emperor, and Xuan You eventually merged, and then slowly formed the later Huaxia clan.
References: History, Classic of Mountains and Seas