Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1585
Gao Wushi laughed when he heard it, and said half-jokingly: "This will shatter your view of history? I haven't even mentioned the root of the powerful assimilation ability of 'Huaxia'."

Liu Xin frowned and said, "I've always believed that it came from Qin Shihuang, that he implanted the 'Great Unification' deeply into the bones of the Chinese people... See what you mean now, do you mean that this source should continue to be pushed forward? "

"That's right, it is necessary to continue to push forward. You think that Qin Shihuang's ability to unify requires an ideological foundation, right? You can't ask Qin Shihuang to have an idea of ​​'unification' appear in his mind out of thin air, because since you Speaking of 'unification' means that there is already such an overall framework, but this framework is rather scattered and has not been really assembled, so it is called 'unification' when all the platters are assembled, right?"

"Oh... This seems to make sense. Just like drawing a map of China, I must first draw the national framework, and then draw the provinces."

"Very good, you agree with this basic concept, and it will be easy to explain later." Gao Wushi said seriously: "About the word 'Huaxia'—I mean, it first appeared in "Shangshu". Huaxia What does it mean? Some people in later generations explained: "China has great etiquette, so it is called Xia; it has the beauty of uniforms, so it is called Hua."

But in fact, "Huaxia" was not so high-end at first, it actually refers to the Zhou Dynasty and the Zhou regime.In other words, the countries in the core region of East Asia at that time regarded Zhou as a spiritual symbol, and used the big net of "Huaxia" to engulf each other.

After the snare is completed, the groups caught in the net are all 'My Clan' and 'Huaxia'.The groups outside the net are naturally "non-my race", and the "my race" in the net has given them many ugly names, such as Man, Yi, Rong, Di, Hu and so on.Countries in the East not only strengthen their relationship with each other through the concept of "Huaxia", but also implement "Inner China, Outer Barbarians" in action—for example, emphasizing the respect for the Emperor Zhou.

If you recall, when we look at the history of the Spring and Autumn Period, did the princes of all walks of life go out to fight under the banner of the Emperor Zhou, and hope to be recognized and praised by the Emperor Zhou after the war?This is the so-called 'respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians'.

In addition, the Eastern countries also built the Great Wall, creating a clearly visible edge of China in the north, so as to better protect the resources in the south.And looking at the "barbarian Rongdi" who were excluded from "Huaxia", what is the difference between them?

In fact, there is not much difference between the original "Huaxia" and "barbarian Rongdi" in essence. After all, even the Zhou royal family rose up in a land mixed with Xirong.However, the eastern vassal states began to repeatedly emphasize that 'people who are not of our own race must have a different heart', and built the Great Wall to isolate the surrounding tribes geographically.

This not only clarified the boundaries of China, but also gave the nomadic tribes in the north and west a strong self-awareness.They realized that the ethnic groups on the other side of the Great Wall were different from themselves, and they were rejected by each other.In this way, the overall nomadicization of the population north of the Great Wall was accelerated.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were both conceptual and geographical boundaries between 'Huaxia' and 'Non-Huaxia'. Now that the 'edge' has appeared, the 'circle' of Huaxia has also appeared.

However, Huaxia during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods was nothing more than the Central Plains area, which is the circle centered on Henan today.How did the circle of China keep expanding?In fact, there are two major adjustments on the edge of Huaxia.

The first time was the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and its representative adjustment was the addition of Wu, Yue, Chu, and Qin; the second time was during the Han Dynasty, when the border of China was expanded to the limit of ancient China.

Let me first talk about the first major adjustment on the edge of China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.Wu and Yue are located in the southeast of the Central Plains, Chu is in the south, and Qin is in the west. These regions originally did not belong to the earliest "Huaxia". How and why did they join Huaxia?This is about an important method, which is to shape 'historical memory'.Specifically, it is to look for a 'Legend of Chinese Ancestors'.

For example, the state of Wu, in order to join the big family of China, fabricated the legend of 'Tai Bo Ben Wu'.The general content of this story is that Zhou Taiwang, the ancestor of the Zhou people, had three sons, the eldest son Taibo, the second son Zhong Yong, and the youngest son Ji Li.King Tai of Zhou found out that Ji Chang, the son of his youngest son Ji Li, was smart and early-witted. King Tai loved him very much and wanted to pass the throne to Ji Chang.But according to tradition, the eldest son, Taibo, should succeed to the throne.

After Tai Bo learned of this, he and his second brother Zhong Yong fled to the desolate Jiangnan area together by taking the opportunity of collecting medicine for their father.The Taibo cut off his tattoos to show his severance with China, and later created his own foundation and established the Wu Kingdom—you see, as soon as this legend came out, "My Wu Kingdom" became a "Huaxia ethnic group" with roots in Hongmiao , and this approach is to shape historical memory.

The reason Wu Guo wanted to join the Huaxia family so much was because he was facing a real threat, that is, the Chu country bordering on his own land.In the eyes of the vassal states in the Central Plains, Chu State has always been the "land of the southern barbarians", so Wu State felt that if he could join Huaxia, he would have a helper.

In the Wu-Chu War, the State of Wu defeated the State of Chu and went north to form an alliance with the king of the State of Jin, the eldest brother of the Central Plains vassals.This is the highlight moment of Wu State, and it is also the fuse of the country's subjugation-Yue State took advantage of Wu King Fuchai's northward movement, quickly surrounded the capital of Wu State, and destroyed Wu State.But what is very interesting is that immediately after that, King Fuchai of Yue also went north to meet the League.

What is the significance of the alliance?Is it true that Wu and Yue think that they are powerful enough to dominate the princes and become the "eldest son" of China?Obviously not, they just hope that the 'China Alliance' in the north will recognize them as new members.Since then, Wuyue Land has officially joined the Huaxia family.

Like Wu, Yue claimed to be the descendant of Prince Shaokang of Xia, and the royal families of Qin in the northwest and Chu in the south both claimed to be descendants of Zhuanxu, one of the Five Emperors.Shaping these histories is not because they are full and idle, but basically to join the big Chinese family - after all, no one wants to be called a barbarian land, right?

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Qin State, which only raised horses for the Zhou royal family, eventually unified the six kingdoms, and the Chinese civilization formed a unified political entity for the first time.But it is a pity that the Qin Dynasty died too quickly and failed to continue to expand the territory for China.And this historical task was handed over to the Han Dynasty, which succeeded the Qin Dynasty.

The Han Dynasty was the second major adjustment on the edge of ancient China.Until the Song Dynasty, and even our Dynasty (Gao Yushi refers to the Dynasty here), the ancient Chinese’s imagination of China was still the version created by the Han Dynasty—at most it was 2.0 or 3.0, which was upgraded or strengthened a little, but roughly Not much has changed.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when people imagined China, they would use "barbarian Rongdi" to draw a boundary for China. How did people in the Han Dynasty imagine China?In the concept of the people of the Han Dynasty, they were also surrounded by foreign races from all directions, so the Han Empire adopted different measures to treat different marginal groups.

Let me first talk about the northern Xinjiang area, which is the first place where the edge of China appeared, and it is also the area where the separation between China and foreign races is the most clear.Due to climate reasons, the north of the Great Wall is a nomadic economy, and the south of the Great Wall is an agricultural economy.Nomads cannot support themselves through their own development, and it is inevitable to go south to rob. This is what caused the irreconcilable contradiction between nomads and farmers.

In the early days of the Han Empire, the national power was relatively weak, and peace could only be bought with money.After the Han Empire became stronger, it began to take the initiative to attack, not only repelling the Xiongnu, but also occupying some areas north of the Great Wall, using these areas as a military buffer zone, not only stationing its own troops, but also letting the surrendered Hu people help guard the frontier.

But in any case, the northern border of the Han Empire has never broken through the basic control area of ​​the Great Wall, and China's expansion in the north is coming to an end.On the western edge of the Han Empire, there lived the Qiang people. The river valleys where the Qiang people lived could carry out agricultural production, so the Han Empire took the initiative to invade and occupy the land of the Qiang people.

Of course the Qiang people were no match for the growing Han Empire, so they thought: If they can't beat them, then let's integrate.Therefore, the upper class of the Qiang people also used the tool of "historical memory" to connect their own people with the ancient Chinese ancestors, and the Han Empire also recognized their "historical memory" in order to ensure the legitimacy and stability of the rule.In this way, the Han Empire expanded the western fringes of China.

Compared with the north, China's expansion in the southern border is relatively smooth.Southern expansion, specifically Yue, Dian, Yelang, and southern mountain tribes.More roughly equivalent to today's Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi, they were collectively called Baiyue at that time.Dian and Yelang are located in Yunnan and Guizhou.The southern mountain tribes are those tribes distributed in the continuous mountains.

The south is different from the north. The arable land environment in the south is generally very good. The Han Empire itself was an agrarian empire, and the Confucian ideology was promoted very smoothly.Of course, in the process of military expansion and cultural promotion, shaping the family heirloom of "historical memory" is naturally indispensable.

In Kuaiji County in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which is today's Zhejiang and Fujian areas, people strengthened the saying that "Shun is also a man of Dongyi".The local people believe that Shun, the ancient sage of Huaxia, is actually related to the people of Kuaiji by blood, so the people of Kuaiji County also belong to the Huaxia system.

There is also Shu County in the southwest, which is the area around Chengdu, Sichuan today. There is a local saying that 'Yu prospered in Xiqiang', and through this, he got rid of the status of the fringe of China and successfully joined the big family of China.

However, in some southern and southwestern mountainous areas where it is inconvenient to quickly promote agricultural production, the Han Empire had to spend a little more effort.These places practiced a mixed economy of farming, animal husbandry, fishing, and hunting. Farmers of the Han Empire infiltrated into these areas, occupying river valleys and lowlands as much as possible, and merchants bought native products in these places and hired local laborers. The tribal leaders came to collect local taxes.

All in all, in the process of continuous expansion to the west and south, the Han Empire, as the "Chinese orthodox", expanded the edge of ancient China to the extreme at that time, and finally formed the Chinese consensus of today (or the Ming Dynasty), which is the later Tatar The Qing Dynasty considered the 'Eighteen Provinces of Han'. "

Liu Xin didn't interrupt the whole process this time, and listened carefully to Gao Wushi's explanation of the entire process of the formation of "Huaxia" in his eyes. Although Gao Wushi didn't directly talk about the source of the "assimilation power" of the Han people, she obviously understood it.

So she tried to sum it up by herself, thought for a while, and said: "You mean that China, a civilization disguised as a country, relies on emphasizing its own strength and nobility, which makes some surrounding forces feel ashamed. Hurry up to 'shape history' for yourself, strive to join this 'Huaxia' alliance, and finally become a part of Huaxia?"

Gao Wushi stretched out his thumb and praised: "The two elements you summed up are very important, that is, 'powerful and noble'. Powerful means that divine power is invincible; noble means sacred and inviolable.

The former makes people regarded as barbarians irresistible, it is difficult to break the pride of the 'Huaxia Alliance' through violent means, and prove that they are no worse than 'Huaxia'; 'Identity crisis occurred, so I was eager to improve and enhance my status-obviously, bringing myself into the Huaxia system must be the easiest and most effective way. "

"Hiss..." Liu Xin suddenly made a "sudden thought" inhalation movement, opened her eyes wide and said, "The 'shaping history' you mentioned reminds me of a country."

Gao Wushi understood it all at once, and said haha: "You mean South Korea at that time? Oh, they had a huge demand for this, otherwise what would you ask them to do? They split the regime and Unlike Japan, which had a brilliant past, so I don't mind admitting that I am influenced by Chinese civilization, and I even proudly say that I am a "Little China".

South Korea, or North Korea in a broad sense, has always been a vassal state of China in history, and it was easy to get a nominal independence. Of course, it has to find some self-confidence.However, this cultural confidence is hard to find. After all, China has been strong for thousands of years, and only napped for 200 years during the Qing Dynasty.

However, Koreans at that time did not have the prerequisites to shape history and join China from the perspective of the world structure, so of course we had to shape history to emphasize ourselves.So, although their performance is hateful, in the final analysis, they are just poor people. "

"So you now acquiesce in allowing the Shimadzu family to call themselves descendants of the Qin Dynasty, and you also consider Japan's need to 'shape history and join China' in the future?"

"Otherwise? The three Shimadzu brothers... oh, now there are only two brothers left. They are older than me. I can't adopt them as adopted children, can I? Besides, Japan has a high degree of Sinicization, and they 'shape history in Japan. 'It's relatively easy. Since they are so self-conscious and proactive, I naturally won't refuse.

I agree with the marriage proposed by the Narita family, and I have also considered this point, that is, to strengthen ties with some high-level people in Japan, and to foster pro-China forces within the Japanese ruling class, so that they can actively think about how to 'shape history and join China'.This is much easier than me just engaging in military conquest, and the effect is more powerful and long-lasting.

You can know this point by referring to Wu, Yue and other countries in the Spring and Autumn Period. Who doesn’t acquiesce when they study history now that “Wu and Yue were originally China”?And my vision for the future of Japan is the same. My purpose is to let future generations think of the word "Japan" and they will acquiesce: Japan is an inseparable part of China!This is what the art of war says: attacking the city is the bottom, attacking the heart is the top. "
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(End of this chapter)