Wen | Strange Cat
"The things of Yao Shun, I know," Cao Pi said at the Zen ceremony.
The recent hit "Secret of the Three Kingdoms: The Hidden Dragon in the Yuan" reinterpreted the different relationship between Emperor Xian of Han and Cao Pi to the audience. Emperor Xian not only saved Cao Pi, the two also broke into Yuan Shao's territory, and even Empress Fushou was cao Pi's "crush" object, which was indeed more exciting than the monotonous power plot between Emperor Xian and Cao Pi in history.
But the real history is so simple and violent: the Han Xian Emperor is the old king, the Wei Jin Zen Dynasty, and Cao Pi becomes the new emperor.
Figure 1: Cao Pi in the play
When it comes to Cao Pi's acceptance of the title of emperor by Zen, it is necessary to mention his father Cao Cao. Before Cao Cao's death, he coerced tianzi to order the princes to control the government of the dynasty, and he was already the de facto emperor. However, in the end, Cao Cao did not claim the title of emperor of the Han Dynasty in his lifetime, not because he did not want to, but because he could not.
In fact, Cao Cao's desire to claim the title of emperor in his later years became stronger and stronger, and many ministers pandered to Cao Cao and persuaded him to advance, and Xun Yuxun Lingjun was killed because he resolutely opposed Cao Cao's claim to the throne of Han. Although the desire was strong, the constant bondage of being a Han chen and the complicated situation of the Three Kingdoms made Cao Cao unsatisfactory.
Historians have summarized the five-step process of "Zen Concession" for successive dynasties:
1. The First Nine XiShu Ceremony; 2. The Duke, the Xiangguo (丞相), and the General Leader; 3. The Crown Prince; 4. The Use of the Heavenly Son Ritual; 5. The Zen Emperor. Cao Cao had already taken the first four steps before his death, but the fruits of victory eventually fell into the hands of his son Cao Pi.
In the third year of Cao Pi's reign as King of Wei (220 AD), he was proclaimed emperor of the Han Dynasty through "Zen Rang". The first reason is that he does not have the moral + political burden of his father Cao Cao's "Han Chen", and the ministers around him are no longer the old Han courtiers of his father's generation, but a group of new families eagerly looking forward to the Wei Dynasty Han.
Figure 2: Portrait of Cao Pi
Han Wei Chan Rang was indeed a novel political performance at the time, because the last performer was Wang Mang hundreds of years ago. The history book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has a rather detailed record of Han Wei Chan Rang.
Do the right thing at the right time. In order to create a mysterious atmosphere for Cao Pi's Han Dynasty, various auspicious rui, figures, and stars have appeared one after another throughout the country, all of which indicate that The Wei King Pi is destined for heaven.
Under the manipulation of Cao Wei's courtiers, such as Hua Xin and Huan Jie, Emperor Xian of Han issued an edict to Cao Pi, the king of Wei, requesting Zen concessions, and Cao Pi naturally had to make a resolute refusal. If this is the third, Emperor Xiandi repeatedly said that the Han Dynasty was immoral and that the Mandate of Heaven was in Wei, and Cao Pi also refused with greater "trepidation" more and more time. It was not until the fourth time that Cao Pifang accepted the Emperor's edict of Zen concession under the "persecution" and "pleading" of the courtiers.
Figure 3: Emperor Xian of Han in "Secrets of the Three Kingdoms"
This is followed by a lively "Zen Ceremony", how is the ceremony held?
On October 29, the first year of Yankang (220), Cao Pi ascended the altar to be zen. Located in today's Fancheng Town, Linying County, Luohe City, Henan Province, the history books have few records of the shape and system of the Zen Platform, but according to the existing ruins, we can still roughly restore its appearance. The high platform is made of rammed earth, covered with buckets, about 13 meters high, about 30 meters in length and width, presumably the original Zen platform that has not been eroded by the years is even higher and larger, and there is originally a main hall building on the platform, which is very majestic.
Fig. 4: Remains of a Zen platform (altar).
On the altar, Cao Pi took over the seal of Emperor Xian of Han, including the most important imperial jade seal, as a symbol of the transfer of power. However, according to historical records, the emperor's seal was not directly handed over to Cao Pi by emperor Xian. In the ceremony, in addition to the old and new emperors, there was also an important figure was the "Zen Governor", who was served by the imperial master Zhang Yin at the time, who was responsible for presenting the seal of the emperor to the new emperor Cao Pi, which can be understood as an item transfer intermediary.
At that time, the number of people attending the Zen renunciation ceremony was large, tens of thousands of people. In addition to Cao Wei's Gongqing, Marquis, And Wu generals of the Manchu Dynasty, there were also Xiongnu Shan Yu and other leaders and representatives of surrounding ethnic minorities.
In addition to handing over the seal, it was also necessary to "burn the heavens and the earth, the five mountains, and the four defilements" in this way to inform the heavens about Cao Wei's Zen. Burning is the sacrifice of heaven and earth by burning firewood and sacrifices. During the sacrifice, Cao Pi also personally recited the sacrifice text to the heavens: "Emperor Pi dared to use Xuanmu to tell the Emperor Empress: there are four out of twenty in the Han Dynasty, four hundred and twenty in the year of practice, the four seas are poor, and the three programs are not established... Wei Er has a god, Shang Yi Yong Ji, zhaomin hope, and zuo wei shixiang."
Interestingly, although Cao Pi is the Son of Heaven and the Emperor, he should also be humbly called "Chen Pi" when making offering sacrifices to the Heavenly Cang, which may also be the only occasion when ancient emperors called themselves "Chen X".
Figure 5: Zen scene in The League of Soldiers
After receiving zen, Cao Pi issued his first imperial edict: "The present emperor's edict, which takes the first year of Yankang as the first year of the Huang Dynasty, discusses the correction of Shuo, yifu color, special emblem, tong law measurement, inherits the soil line, and pardons the world; after his death, all those who are not properly forgiven are pardoned." ”
The new dynasty has a new atmosphere, but for the former emperor, the new emperor Cao Pi still treats courtesy, "to the mountain of Hanoi YangYi Wanhu to worship the Han Emperor as the Duke of Shanyang, to perform Han Zhengshuo, to sacrifice the courtesy of the Son of Heaven, not to be called a subject, Kyoto has something to do with the Taimiao Temple, to the Qi; the fourth son of the Duke of Fenggong is the Marquis." This was an important aftermath of the legalization of the Cao Wei regime, and since the story of Yao Shun was flaunted and the world was won through "Zen Concession", it was natural to treat the Han Room as well as Shun Li treated Yao.
Cao Pi, the second son of Yuan Shao' base camp with Emperor Xian, finally took a step to replace him. Those preferential treatment and courtesies may be to thank Liu Ping for his grace of struggling to save under the Wang Family's fast sword. (The plot of this "Secret of the Three Kingdoms", non-canonical history)
After the emperor ascended the altar, Gu said to the group of ministers: "The things of Shun and Yu are known to me." "
bibliography:
1. Sun Zhengjun. "Zen Let the Officials Examinee", in the "Historical Collection";
2. Lou Jin. "The Zen Revolution since the Wei and Jin Dynasties and Its Ideological Background", in Journal of East China Normal University;
3. Qian Mu. Outline of National History, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2016;