Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1805 Five Stars Rising from the East

"Then go quickly." Zhang Cheng knew the seriousness of the matter. The solution to this mystery would directly determine whether "Hanwu Shooting the Dragon" was authentic. If "Hanwu Shooting the Dragon" was authentic, then it would be the only authentic work of Zhang Sengyou in the world!

  The paintings of the "Four Masters of the Six Dynasties" who hold an important position in the history of Chinese painting have all come to light!

"We were planning to arrange a meal here." Zhou Zhi felt very embarrassed: "I don't know when the next meal will be..."

"What time is it to talk about this?" Fei Guan was very happy to make Zhou Zhi feel like he owed him a meal. This feeling was better than eating: "It's more important to solve the big problem first!"

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"Five stars rising in the east bring good luck to China?" When Zhou Zhi arrived at the History Department of Shu University and met the Dean Jiang Tianxi, upon hearing that the arm guard he had found was this, he immediately slapped his forehead and said, "So this is it!"

"What's wrong? Are you familiar with this word or this thing?"

"Uh... that's what I said." Zhou Zhi said, "I've been obsessed with the astronomical phenomena and calendar deductions in the Five Elements Records recently. I know that the ancients attached great importance to the special astronomical phenomenon of 'five stars gathering'."

"The gathering of five stars is a sign of great fortune and luck. Ancient feudal emperors also used this to claim that they had received the 'Mandate of Heaven' and legitimize their dynasties. This saying was particularly popular in the Han Dynasty."

At this point, Zhou Zhi had already connected his notebook to the ancient classics database, entered "Five stars rising in the east are auspicious for China" in the search bar, and pressed the Enter key.

Soon, classics related to this sentence appeared on the screen.

"Records of the Grand Historian·Book of Celestial Officials", "Book of Han·Biography of Zhang Er", "Han Ji", "Book of Han·Biography of Zhao Chongguo and Xin Qingji", "Seventeen Histories·Biographies of One Hundred Generals·Volume 2", "Seventeen Histories·Biographies of One Hundred Generals·Volume 7", "Qianfu Lun·Volume 5", "Cefu Yuangui·Generals and Commanders·Jilue" and other chapters all have records about "five stars rising from the east".

"This search engine is so easy to use, isn't it?" Dean Jiang looked at Zhou Zhi's computer and asked, "So many five-stars appearing in the east?"

"Let me take a look..." Zhou Zhi clicked on the index and took a quick look: "It's basically all about the deeds of Liu Bang and Zhao Chongguo. Huh? Cui Hao of the Northern Wei Dynasty also mentioned it."

"The Records of the Grand Historian says, 'The five stars are divided in the sky. If they gather in the east, China will benefit. If they gather in the west, foreign countries will benefit. The five stars all come from the star Chen and gather in one house. The country in which they gather can follow their example to rule the world.'"

"Here, the Book of Han explains that the five stars are Suixing, Yinghuoxing, Tianxing, Taibaixing and Chenxing. As the heaven and earth rotate and the sun and moon pass by, it is difficult for the five stars to gather together. However, in October of the first year of the Han Dynasty, the five stars gathered in Dongjing."

"Here, there is also the phrase 'When the Han Dynasty rose, five planets gathered at the East Well'. It seems that in May of the second year after Liu Bang entered Xianyang, there was indeed a celestial phenomenon of five planets gathering together. After the founding of the Han Dynasty, in order to prove that 'the Mandate of Heaven is upon the Han Dynasty', this phenomenon was highly valued by the Han Dynasty and Confucian scholars. The successful establishment of the Han Dynasty was attributed to the celestial omen of 'the gathering of five planets', which became an important ideological concept of the Han people and society."

"What about Cui Hao?" Director Jiang said, "Cui Hao was born in the Qinghe Cui family. He was a famous military strategist in the Northern Wei Dynasty. His status and achievements were almost the same as Zhang Liang in the Han Dynasty. It seems that after the Northern Wei Dynasty completed its reforms, it completely regarded itself as the Central Plains."

Cui Hao served the three emperors of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Daowu, Mingyuan, and Taiwu. He destroyed Huxia and Beiliang, defeated Rouran, and opened up the Western Regions. History has described him as "a man of great talent and a profound understanding of heaven and man." He was known for his resourcefulness and was the most critical figure in the Northern Wei Dynasty's unification of the north. He was very good at "observing the stars and observing the weather," and often dissuaded or encouraged the emperor from using troops by explaining celestial phenomena. He was always as good at predicting things as a god, and his words were always right. Almost half of his biography is about these miraculous deeds.

"If five stars appear in the east, the people below will win. The Qiang people are in the west. If the stars appear in the east, it means Han." Zhou Zhi read the search results. "This is a saying from the Han Dynasty. When Emperor Xuan issued an edict to reprimand Zhao Chongguo for being cautious, he also said, 'If five stars appear in the east, China will benefit greatly and the barbarians will be defeated. If Taibai appears high, it will be auspicious for those who dare to fight deep into the enemy's territory, and bad luck for those who dare not fight.' Cui Hao overcame all objections and persuaded Emperor Taiwu to take action against the Rouran with the theory of five stars. He used this saying."

"Afterwards, they attacked and attacked the Rouran over a distance of 5,000 miles from east to west and 3,000 miles from north to south, captured millions of people, and also persuaded the Gaoche to surrender over 300,000 people. In the end, the Wu Kingdom in the south did not dare to take advantage of Emperor Taiwu's northern expedition to attack."

"After returning, Emperor Taiwu praised Cui Hao highly for being unable to bend a bow or hold a spear, and for having more in his heart than weapons."

"Then this arm guard has nothing to do with Cui Hao. It is an arm guard from the Han Dynasty." Dean Jiang brought up the slides sent by the expedition team: "Just last week, the Zhongdao-Niya Ruins Academic Expedition Team, sponsored by the Yu Tang Cultural Heritage Protection Fund, conducted routine archaeological excavations at a cemetery at the Niya Ruins in MF County, Hotan Prefecture, northern Xinjiang, and unearthed a double burial tomb."

"The specifications of the tomb in this province are not high. It is the tomb of a local rich man. Elbow, do you know anything about the Jingjue Ancient City?"

Zhou Zhi wanted to say that he knew about it, but Ghost Blows Out the Light is not available yet, and the content in it is definitely inconsistent with archaeological history, so he could only say: "I passed by the area when I was traveling with my roommate in Northern Xinjiang, and heard a few words from the locals, but I don't know much about it."

"After Zhang Qian opened up the Western Regions, he discovered that there were 36 small countries on that land at that time. The Niya ruins was the Jingjue Kingdom, one of the 36 countries in the Western Regions."

"The official documents of the time recorded that the Kingdom of Jingjue was 8,820 li away from Chang'an, with 480 households and a population of 3,600. The king lived in Jingjue City, had 500 soldiers, and had one Jingjue Commander, one Left General, and one Postmaster."

"I have a question in mind," Zhou Zhi said, "Does this population and number of households fit the actual situation of the ancient Greek city-states? Since Jingjue is a country of this size, wouldn't it be similar if it were in the Aegean Sea area?"

"You are very interested in studying these things." Dean Jiang did not comment and continued to introduce: "Although this country is small, it is prosperous and wealthy due to its very important geographical location. The ancient country is a kingdom that relies on the Niya River for its existence, and water problems have always troubled them."

"By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as the climate changed, the temperature in the entire Central Asian region gradually changed, causing the flow of the Niya River to decrease year by year and the oasis to gradually retreat."

"I visited the riverbed of the Niya River when I was in northern Xinjiang." Zhou Zhi nodded. "The Niya River used to have abundant water power and a wide riverbed. In addition, the riverbed should have been relatively shallow at that time. It was easy to divert water to the city for irrigation."

"According to the records on the Lu-script wooden slips unearthed by the expedition team, the Jingjue Kingdom was already in decline at the time, with water shortages common. In addition, corruption was rampant, and the royal power fell into the hands of others. Eventually, the Jingjue Kingdom disappeared after a neighboring country invaded."

"This is why we can find from the tombs that wealth is more important than power in the Jingjue Kingdom. For example, this couple was buried together. They wore a lot of clothes, many of which were made of very fine materials and workmanship, and were obviously very valuable, but there was no burial object that symbolized power and status."

(End of this chapter)