The first sentence of the handed down version of the book of history, the book of history, the golden emperor, said, “in the second year of conquering the Shang Dynasty, Wang Youji and Fu Yu. It can be seen that Sima Qian’s reference in that year was the book of history, the book of history, the golden emperor, which was handed down for this purpose. As for the textual research on the death of King Wu after conquering the Shang Dynasty, the author believes that the key lies in the question of what year the handed down version of the book, the golden emperor, which records that King Wu” had disease and did not Yu “, was written.
The first sentence of the handed down version of the book of history, Jin Yong, said, “since I conquered Shang Dynasty for two years, Wang Youji, Fu Yu.” According to Sima Qian’s words in the historical records: Duke Lu’s family, “in the second year of King Wu’s reign, the world has not set, and King Wu has illness and will not be unprepared.” What they say is almost identical. In particular, the historical records of Fengchan book clearly pointed out: “in the second year of King Wu’s reign, the world collapsed before peace.” Obviously, Sima Qian believed that the year of King Wu’s “failure” was the year of his collapse, which was two years after he conquered Shang Dynasty. It can be seen that Sima Qian’s reference at that time was the book of history, Jin Yong, handed down for this purpose.
However, with the appearance of Qinghua Jane’s “golden chapter”, the “two-year theory” has a strong tendency to waver. As Mr. Li Xueqin said in his great work “viewing the history of the early Zhou Dynasty from the Tsinghua bamboo slips” the first sentence of the Tsinghua bamboo slips is: ‘King Wu has conquered Yin for three years, and it is not too late for him to predict.’ it is’ three years’, not ‘two years’, so the foundation of the theory that King Wu conquered Shang and reigned for two years has been shaken. ” (in the eighth edition of Chinese classics edited by Peng Lin)
Obviously, Mr. Li Xueqin’s view is reasonable. Cover Qinghua bamboo slips for the Warring States period, and the collation of the handed down text of Shangshu and Sima Qian’s writing of Shiji were all in the Western Han Dynasty. In this regard, it seems that Qinghua bamboo slips are not as ancient as Qinghua bamboo slips; Moreover, the simplified version of “Jin Yu” clearly refers to King Wu’s “Bu Yu” book as “the third year of Ke Yin”, and both Mo and Shen exist. Therefore, Mr. Li Xueqin’s argument is well founded and undeniable.
However, the right or wrong of academic research is sometimes not absolutely either one or the other, and there is a choice between the two. That is to say, to affirm the correctness of the “three-year theory” of Tsinghua Jane’s “Jin Yong chapter” means that the “two-year theory” of the handed down book “Shang Shu · Jin Yong” is wrong? Obviously, there is still room for discussion.
The author believes that in order to verify this matter, we still need to start with the problem of King Wu’s attack on Zhou.
The time when King Wu started to attack Zhou should be 11 years after King Wen was appointed. Or ask: since King Wen is Hongwang and King Wu is enthroned, why should we use “King Wen is ordered” to record the year? The author believes that this is because King Wen ruled Qi for 50 years, and his benevolence was heard all over the world, which laid a deep foundation for the king of Ji Zhou, and also made sufficient preparations for the early stage of the attack on Zhou. However, King Wu’s talent and boldness of vision are far from his father, and he has not been in the throne for a long time, and his achievements have not been established. Therefore, everything is held high the banner of King Wen, and everything is done in the name of King Wen. Therefore, King Wu did not dare to use his own chronology when he ascended the throne, but continued to use the year when King Wen was appointed. As Sima Qian said when describing the matter of Ke Yin in the historical records of Zhou Benji, “King Wu claimed to be the crown prince and said to serve King Wen to attack, so he dared not be self-confident.” This is very illustrative. Therefore, when describing this period of history, most of the ancient books such as “today’s Bamboo Annals” and “historical records” use the year when King Wen was appointed to record the year.
King Wu and the princes met with Meng Jin, and should be at the end of the eleventh year of King Wen’s appointment. According to the records of the historian, Zhou Benji, “on the fifth day of December in the eleventh year, the division crossed Mengjin and the princes met Xianhui.” The battle of Makino was obviously in the next spring. According to Zhou Benji, “in February, Jiazi was cold, and the Wu Dynasty swore as for the pastoral areas in the suburbs of Shang Dynasty.” In the first war of Muye, Zhou soldiers defected, and King Ke Yin succeeded. He was appointed by King Wen in spring and February of the twelfth year. About this historical fact, it is also recorded in today’s Bamboo Annals, which says, “in the twelve years, the king led the Western barbarians and the princes to invade Yin, which was defeated by Makino.” Both books clearly set the time for the success of King Wu’s suppression of business at the twelve years of King Wen’s appointment.
As for the textual research on the year when King Wu collapsed after conquering the Shang Dynasty, the author believes that the key lies in the question of the year in which the handed down book “Jin Xi Pian”, which records King Wu’s “illness, not Yu”, was written. This matter is properly recorded in the “current bamboo annals”: “in the 14th year, Wang Youji prayed in front of the altar and wrote” Jin Bing ” This clearly shows that the situation described in the handed down version of the book of Shangshu · Jinxi chapter that “both conquered Shang Dynasty for two years, Wang Youji and Fu Yu” should have occurred in the 14th year of King Wen’s appointment, which was also the year of King Wu’s death. Therefore, if King Wu collapsed in the 14th year after King Wen was ordered to conquer the Shang Dynasty for 12 years, and his reign time was actually calculated as two years (14-12=2), then the “two-year theory” in the handed down book of Shangshu Jinxi was not wrong. However, if the year of King Wen’s 12-year appointment to Ke Yin is included, there will be a total of three years around 12, 13 and 14, which shows that the “three-year theory” of Tsinghua bamboo slips “Jin Dan chapter” is also correct, and Mr. Li Xueqin’s view is not wrong. This is just like the age of today. There is a difference between the virtual age and the real age (that is, the first year of life). There is no contradiction, which makes sense. Similarly, this kind of situation also appears in the records of “the second year of Zhou Gongju’s East” in the handed down edition of “Jin Rong” and “the third year of Zhou gongzhai’s East” in Tsinghua Jane “Jin Rong”, and there is also the problem of “two years” changing into “three years”. The author believes that this is by no means accidental. The reasons for changing the number of years twice should be the same, which is enough to explain that the compilers and transcribers of Tsinghua’s simplified version of “Jin Yong” obviously have the habit of changing the real year to the virtual year in the year counting.
Then, why are there these differences in chronology between the handed down version of the book of history and the simplified version of Tsinghua University? The author believes that this is obviously related to the differences between the north and the south in regional concepts and chronological habits of historians who recorded or copied the book of history · Jinli. For example, the handed down version of Shangshu has long been finalized in the pre-Qin period, and Pre-Qin classics such as the Analects of Confucius, Zuo Zhuan, Guoyu, Mencius and Xunzi have long been cited, and their origins are very ancient. In the early Han Dynasty, Fu Sheng, a scholar in Jinan, Shandong Province who was formerly Dr. Qin, sorted out the “Shangshu”, and obtained 29 pieces, which were called “Jinwen Shangshu”, including the “Jin Xi”. When Sima Qian wrote Zhou Benji and Lu Zhougong aristocratic family in the historical records, which involved relevant issues, he referred to the handed down Book Shangshu Jinxi compiled by Fu Sheng. Therefore, it can be said that the “Shangshu · Jinbing” circulated in the north before the Qin Dynasty and the handed down version “Shangshu · Jinbing” collated by Fu Sheng in the early Han Dynasty are obviously from the hands of northerners. When calculating and recording the years, they are used to using the real year (that is, the anniversary). While the Qinghua bamboo slips “Jin Yong” and a large number of simplified classics, including “Chu Ju”, should be Chu bamboo slips of the Warring States period, and their collation and transcription are obviously mostly from the hands of the Chu people in the southern country. When calculating and recording the number of years, they are used to using virtual years. Obviously, the problem of changing “two years” into “three years” is completely understandable. Therefore, according to the above textual research, the author believes that no matter the “two-year theory” in the handed down version of “Jin Rong” or the “three-year theory” in Tsinghua Jane “Jin Rong”, it is not wrong and can exist together.
So why did King Wu fall ill and die in just two or three years after he conquered Shang Dynasty? What kind of disease did he have?
The author studied the ancient books of traditional Chinese medicine for many years, and was quite familiar with the art of Qi and Huang. Therefore, he was very concerned about the reason why King Wu fell ill and died two or three years after Ke Yin. According to the common records of the two versions of the handed down edition “Jin Rong” and the Qinghua bamboo slips “Jin Rong”, it is said that King Wu was “severely ill”, that is, severely ill, which constituted a danger to his life. It shows that King Wu was indeed ill and in a critical state at that time, so the first book of “Jin Xi” was “unprepared”, which was in line with the actual situation. The reason why King Wu became ill can be seen from the chapters of Yi Zhou Shu that his spiritual endowment was weak. Before the attack on Zhou, he had symptoms such as palpitation, fear, panic, insomnia, dreaminess, etc., indicating that his tolerance to pressure was low and he was not strong enough. And in his character, there is also a desire for pleasure, so that the “Yi Zhou Shu Da Kai Wu” has the record that the Duke of Zhou exhorted him to “clarify virtue without leisure”. Of course, with the help of Duke Zhou, Tai Gong, Zhao Gong and others, King Wu made great efforts in the battle against Zhou, which reflected the demeanor of the emperor and contributed to the establishment of the Ji Zhou Dynasty. But he was soon overwhelmed by the huge victory, and his playful temperament relapsed. “Yi Zhou Shu · world capture solution” records that King Wu held a large-scale hunting shortly after Ke Yin. Neizhongyun:
Wu wangshou, two birds and tigers, two cats, five thousand two hundred and thirty-five MI, two rhinoceros, one yak, one bear, one bear, eight total, two boars, two raccoons, eight raccoons, six dust, six musk deer, thirty milu deer, and three thousand five hundred deer.
At the beginning of the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, there were a myriad of military affairs, but King Wu held such a large-scale hunting activity, which cost a lot of time and energy. It can be seen that he really wanted to have fun. Coyett’s book of history, chapter of the mastiff brigade, stated that Xirong offered mastiff dogs to King Wu, obviously for his hunting. Zhao Gong, who had the same surname as Ji and was also the founding father of the country, was deeply afraid that the king of Wu would lose his will by playing with things, so he admonished the king of Wu with “playing with people and losing his will by playing with things”, pointing out that “not being careful will eventually tire the great virtue”, which is obviously dangerous to the indulgence of the king of Wu. Therefore, the author believes that the words of admonishing King Wu in the book of history · brigade mastiff are not aimless. And the most crucial thing is that King Wu not only “plays with things”, but also “plays with people”, which is a common disease of those who have fun. Cover “few people are lecherous”, which is mostly true of ancient emperors. But the problem is that indulging in “playing with women” not only “loses morality”, but also may “die” due to excessive lust. Since ancient times, it is not uncommon for emperors with weak endowments, lecherous and unrestrained to be short-lived. This is the weakness of King Wu’s character. In addition, he was originally weak and suffered from various symptoms of neurasthenia. Two or three years after the success of Ke Yin, King Wu was obviously addicted to women’s sex, indulged in fun, and suffered too much injury. At that time, he was obviously terminally ill and unconscious, which led to the death of the medicine stone. Finally, there was a scene of not asking the common people and ghosts in the handed down edition and Tsinghua Jane “Shangshu · Jinxi”.