Wentang

Chapter 733 Dynasty Change (1)
"You're finally ready. I thought you'd have to prepare for the rest of your life." Li Shimin mocked.

"Hehe...the saint has been waiting for a long time." Yue Shan laughed.

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up." Li Shimin urged.

"No hurry, before I say that, I want to congratulate a saint first."

"Congratulations? What's the congratulations? Or did you find a way to crack the dynasty change?"

"That's not true, but you will certainly like the occasion."

"Oh, let's hear it."

Yue Shan opened the pass he brought, took out the oracle bone from it and placed it on the table in front of Li Shimin.

"You don't want to tell me that the surprise is these bones?" Li Shimin said.

"To be precise, it's the writing on these bones." Yue Shan said.

Word?Li Shimin looked at the bones carefully, only to find that the strange lines on them were not scribbles, they seemed to be real words.

As a calligraphy lover, he immediately became interested and asked, "What is this character?"

Yue Shan said: "Because it is carved on oracle bones, I call them oracle bone inscriptions."

Seeing that he was still playing tricks, Li Shimin said angrily, "Just tell me what's going on."

Only then did Yue Shan give the answer: "This is a text from Yin Shang."

"What?" Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, thinking he had misheard and asked again.

"In the Yin and Shang Dynasties, there was no paper, and it is still unknown whether there were wooden slips. People at that time were more accustomed to writing on oracle bones. These oracle bones are books from the Yin and Shang Dynasties." Yue Shan introduced.

"Hiss..." Li Shimin took a deep breath, and the look in his eyes that looked like these bones changed from indifferent to very serious: "Can you confirm?"

"I can confirm that this is part of my attempt to decipher, you can take a look." Yue Shan then took out the transcribed pages.

Li Shimin snatched it over and looked it over. He was excited at first, and then asked in doubt: "How did you decipher such a point, what is the rest?"

Yue Shan said helplessly: "I only remember about a thousand oracle bone inscriptions deciphered, and I don't know about the others."

"You...you're such a bastard." Li Shimin couldn't help cursing angrily.

From Li Shimin's point of view, Yue Shan must have seen Yin and Shang characters in the Three Emperors Book, or his immortal master taught him, but he didn't remember it.

But in any case, at this time, he has no doubt that the oracle bone inscriptions came from Yin Shang.

The characters of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, which were submerged by history, reappeared in the Zhenguan Dynasty, and there are too many things that can be manipulated.

Just as Yue Shan thought before, Li Shimin also immediately thought of how to use this matter in politics.

but……

He frowned and said, "Is that all?"

If there are only these few bones, I am afraid that I will not be able to win the trust of others, and I will even be bitten back and think it is a fake.

Yue Shan naturally understood this truth, so he explained the discovery of the oracle bone inscriptions by the medical school:
"For the time being, we only have a dozen oracle bones in our hands, but since we have these few pieces, it means that the relics of the Shang Dynasty have been discovered and excavated, and there must be other oracle bones that have been handed down. I have already asked the medical school to start collecting them."

Hearing that this kind of baby was being ground into powder and eaten as medicine, Li Shimin's expression was very complicated, very angry, wanting to laugh, and helpless.

But he also knew that no one could be blamed for this matter. Who would have thought that these bones would be ancient relics or books of the Shang Dynasty.Without Yue Shan's guidance, it is estimated that even if someone finds out, they will not be taken seriously.

"Have someone collect it quickly, and at the same time find out where these oracle bones were found." Li Shimin said.

"I've asked them to do it." Yue Shan said, "As for the ancient ruins of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, I do know the approximate address."

"Really? Where is it?" Li Shimin was surprised at first, and then showed such an expression as expected.In his opinion, since Yue Shan knew about oracle bone inscriptions, he would naturally not know where the remains of the Yin and Shang Dynasties were.

"The main body is in Henan Province, part of Shandong Province, and Gyeonggi Province. Henan Province is the birthplace of Chinese civilization. There are not only Yin and Shang ruins there, but also ancient dynasty ruins." Yue Shan said.

"Henan Road? That's right." Li Shimin said as it should.

After all, Heluo, Luoyang was once the capital of the Zhou royal family.In the Shang Dynasty of the Zhou Dynasty, it was normal for the capital of the Shang Dynasty to be in Henan Province.

"Before the Yin and Shang Dynasties was the Xia Dynasty. Are the ruins of the Xia Dynasty and the Yin and Shang Dynasties together?"

Yue Shan sighed and said: "There must have been one or more dynasties before the Yin and Shang Dynasties, but whether it was called the Xia Dynasty remains to be discussed. But what is certain is that there are ruins of the ancient kingdom before the Yin and Shang in Henan Province, dating back to 4000 years ago. .”

"The ruins of the ancient country 4000 years ago?" Li Shimin was shocked again, which was completely beyond his cognition.

What is even more shocking is that such an ancient country does not have any historical records. If Yue Shan hadn't said that he would never have known about it.

Fortunately, it was Yue Shan who said it, otherwise he would definitely think he was lying and kill him.

What Yue Shan was talking about was naturally the ruins of the ancient Heluo country that he just unearthed before crossing over.

In order to deny the Chinese civilization, Westerners first denied all the history before the Yin and Shang Dynasties, saying that you did not unearth any ancient writings, how can you prove the existence of the Xia Dynasty?

Because of the strength of Western civilization and the promotion of domestic public knowledge and ignorance, this statement has been agreed by many people.

In desperation, China could only carry out excavations in Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi and other places, and then ancient ruins were discovered one after another.

Under this ironclad evidence, Westerners have changed their tricks again.In the absence of any evidence, it is said that the Chinese are a foreign ethnic group and established their own civilization after killing the aborigines.

The thousands of years ago relics unearthed on Chinese land have nothing to do with the Chinese civilization, but belong to the destroyed aborigines.

People are shameless, what else can China say, it can only study silently.Then the ruins of the ancient country of Heluo were discovered.

The emergence of the Heluo ancient country proves with iron-like evidence that the Chinese civilization is the aborigines of this land, and our history has continued and never stopped.

Then Westerners began to pretend to be stupid, pretending not to see.Those well-known people have also turned into quails, hoping that their Western fathers will quickly find a new place in black China.

But by this time, China has already understood a truth, Westerners don't care about the facts at all, their purpose is to black for black.

You unearthed the ruins, didn't you?It doesn't matter, I will find a place to blackmail you and deny you in a few days.

It is foreseeable that this struggle will continue.There is no possibility of compromise in the struggle of civilizations, especially for the narrow civilization of the West, there is no concept of common development.

They can't tolerate any different civilizations, especially those superior to them, and they will definitely find ways to destroy each other.

Although Li Shimin didn't know what a civilization war was, he knew what it meant to discover these ancient countries. He said excitedly, "Where are the exact locations of these ruins? I'll send someone to dig them out right away."

"Don't worry. Excavating ancient ruins is a very profound knowledge. It's not just a matter of just digging and digging things out. Yue Shan hurriedly dissuaded him:

"If we act rashly now, maybe 90.00% of the things will be damaged. It is best to keep them there and not move them. From now on, find someone to study this knowledge, and start digging when you are sure. "

Li Shimin said: "How can you prove the existence of Yin Shang without excavating the ruins?"

Yue Shan said: "Since there are oracle bones, it means that there are relics discovered by accident. Let's find out where this batch of oracle bones were found first, and then we will take the next step depending on the situation."

"If possible, excavate the exposed ruins first. It must be able to prove the existence of Yin Shang. If it is not possible, you can use this ruins to practice first, and dig other ruins when you have experience."

Li Shimin nodded and said: "Okay, I will do as you said, and find out the ins and outs as soon as possible."

The Oracle matter came to an end, and the two finally brought the topic to today's topic.

"Now, can you tell me about your experience in studying the change of dynasties?"

Yue Shan nodded and said: "It's a long story, and it starts from ancient times."

"But before that, I need to popularize a few words for you. The first one is productivity. Simply put, it is the ability of human beings to obtain various resources from this world."

"For example, the ability of human beings to hunt, graze, plant, fish, grow mulberry, raise silkworms and weave cloth to make clothes is all productivity."

"The other is the relationship of production, which is the mutual relationship based on productivity... Simply put, it is the relationship between people."

"And the social structure is... class..."

Yue Shan first explained to Li Shimin the words from his previous life one by one, otherwise many topics would not be able to be discussed.

And Li Shimin was very excited when he heard so many unheard but so accurate and appropriate words, and he was even more looking forward to what Yue Shan would say next.

After he understood these words, Yue Shan started to get down to business, saying:
"In ancient times, there was no iron or even any metal, and there were very few tools that humans could use. And at that time, humans had not mastered the skills of planting, and the only sources of material were hunting and natural collection."

"People with strong bodies are responsible for hunting. In fact, most of this work is done by men. Women are weaker and mainly engaged in gathering work."

"The efficiency of hunting without tools is very low, and most of the time they return empty-handed. Instead, they are collecting work, and the harvest is relatively stable, and they can get some food every day."

"So at that time, women's ability to obtain food was far stronger than that of men, and women would have children and reproduce. So women's status was higher than men at that time..."

This is a matriarchal society. Although it is very subversive, Li Shimin did not interrupt.

It is almost impossible to solve the dynastic change itself, and no matter how amazing the reason is, it is not worth mentioning.

If Yue Shan continued to talk in the same old way, saying that good ministers are far from villains and love people like sons, he would be disappointed instead.Only this astonishing theory can explain that his thinking is different from others.

"Later, people discovered that the seeds of plants scattered on the ground can germinate and grow, and can bear fruit. And this is more stable and safer than hunting and gathering... Slowly they learned to farm."

"After humans learned to farm, social relations changed again. Men are stronger than women and are more suitable for farming. They become the main labor force of a family and the main source of food for a family."

"The status of men gradually improved, and finally surpassed that of women. Since then, they have been inferior to the patriarchal society, which is the society we know today where men farm and women weave."

"If the matrilineal society is regarded as one dynasty and the patrilineal society is another dynasty...then this change is a dynastic change."

"The reason for this replacement is the improvement of productivity, which is what I just said that productivity determines the relationship of production and determines the social structure."

Li Shimin nodded subconsciously. Just now he understood the so-called productivity and production relations very clearly. Hearing this, he completely understood what was going on.

Yue Shan paused for a while to give him time to react, and then continued: "The land is fixed and cannot be moved. Human beings live in huts close to the land, and gradually developed tribes and towns."

"Although humans have learned to farm, they lack tools, especially metal tools, and the production efficiency is very low. In order to improve efficiency, everyone must work collectively."

"The so-called collective labor means that all the land is collective, and the labor tools are also collective. Under the leadership of the leader, everyone works together, harvests together, and enjoys the fruits together."

"This era is called the collective era, and the legendary Xia Dynasty is this kind of collective."

"But the collective system has a fatal flaw. Everyone works together and enjoys the fruits. Over time, it is inevitable that some people will steal and play tricks."

"Those who work hard find someone to be lazy, they will feel that it is unfair, and they will be lazy along with them."

"Some people eat a lot of food, and some people eat less food. People with small meals will also feel unfair, feel uncomfortable, and may be lazy when working."

"The most frightening thing in the collective age is the corruption of the ruling class. What is good at the top is bound to be bad for the bottom. The ruling class does not engage in production and seeks pleasure, which will inevitably lead to the whole country's imitation, and eventually lead to the collapse of the entire country."

Li Shimin interrupted aloud: "I thought you could come up with a different conclusion. I didn't expect that the country would die because of the incompetence of the monarch in the end. It is no different from what other people said."

Yue Shan smiled and said: "Don't worry, listen to me slowly."

"The advantage of the collective era is that everyone's strength is gathered to do big things together. When there is a lack of production tools and low productivity, everyone can't even eat enough to eat and don't think about crooked ideas."

"Even if someone is lazy, the manager will severely punish him so that he does not dare to be lazy, so as to protect the interests of the collective. Because being lazy will make everyone have nothing to eat, and no one wants to see this situation."

"The times are changing, and productivity is gradually developing. Gradually, humans have mastered the ability to smelt metals and have metal tools."

"Bronze smelting technology was already very advanced during the Xia Dynasty, metal tools began to be popularized, and productivity was greatly improved."

"Without metal farm tools, ten people can cultivate ten acres of land, but with metal farm tools, one person can cultivate ten acres of land."

"In this way, there will be a surplus of labor force, and there will be room for laziness, and the atmosphere of the whole country will start to deteriorate. It is not that no one in the Xia Dynasty discovered this, and even tried to make changes."

"But their way of changing is too simple. It simply increases the workload for everyone. In the past, ten people planted ten acres of land, but now they are asked to plant fifty acres and one hundred acres of land."

Li Shimin couldn't help but said again: "Is there any problem with doing this?"

Yue Shan understood his thoughts, this is the limitation of the times.But understanding is understanding, and the negation should still be negated.

He shook his head and said: "People are complicated, and human society is more complicated and interlocking. It can be said that one hair affects the whole body."

"With the increase in productivity, the amount of food that can be produced by a single person has increased. In the past, ten people had to work together to feed everyone. Now I can not only support myself but also have a surplus by working on my own."

"When you don't have enough to eat, everyone will work hard and don't think wildly. But once there is a surplus of food, some people will be lazy. Anyway, if there is a surplus of food, it doesn't matter if I do more or less."

"And where did the surplus food go? When it was taken away by the ruling class, what would the workers think? Would they be unhappy? Would they be passive and lazy because of it?"

"The problem brought about by the increase in productivity is not as simple as one plus one, but that the whole society has to change together. If the change is not in place in any place, it will cause problems for the whole country."

"The increase in productivity will inevitably lead to the collapse of the collective era, and the entire country will have to make adjustments. However, the rulers of the Xia Dynasty failed to find a new system to replace the collective system in time, and its failure is inevitable."

"The Xia Dynasty did not go through the road, and someone went through it, and that is Yin Shang."

"The Yin Shang Dynasty was still a vassal state of the Xia Dynasty at that time, and its lord discovered the changes brought about by metal farm tools in time, and adjusted accordingly."

"In the beginning, they also increased everyone's workload like the rulers of the Xia Dynasty, but they found that doing so could not fundamentally solve the problem. Then someone thought of another way, private ownership."

"Some people are lazy when working for the public, and some people think it's unfair that others eat more than they eat, so they should just separate."

"The collective land is distributed equally among everyone, and the things produced in each family's land are owned by each family. Those who steal, play tricks and do not work hard will only be hungry."

"In this way, it is fair, and everyone's enthusiasm for production has become higher. The well field system was born in this process."

"Private ownership and the well field system are better adapted to the increase in productivity. The strength of Yin Shang is getting stronger day by day, gradually surpassing the Xia Dynasty, which is the suzerain state."

"The Yin and Shang Dynasties became inevitable, whether there was Xia Jie or not."

Li Shimin was dumbfounded. No one had ever interpreted the issue of dynastic change from this angle before.This answer was really unexpected, and the impact it brought him was unprecedented.

So much so that his head was a little dazed, and when he heard this, he quickly said, "Wait a minute, let me take care of it."

Yue Shan took advantage of the situation and stopped. His mouth was a little dry after talking so much just now, so he just had a rest.

Li Shimin, on the other hand, fell into contemplation, and kept chanting: productivity, tools, production relations, collective system, private ownership and other words.

At the beginning, his expression was bewildered and puzzled, then slowly changed to thoughtful, and finally suddenly realized.

It took about 20 minutes before he sorted out the relationship, and exclaimed: "Listening to what you say is better than reading ten years of books. Cuilan really didn't lie to me, you did find a problem that no one else has ever discovered."

Yue Shan said modestly: "I can only see this by standing on the shoulders of giants, and I dare not take credit for it."

Li Shimin said: "That is not easy."

Yue Shan's so-called giant shoulders are the conclusions of previous historians, but Li Shimin thinks it is the contribution of the Three Emperors Book.

He said that the Three Emperors Book can glimpse the secrets of heaven, earth and people, but no one knows what it is.When others think about it, they can definitely see the past and the future.

If Li Shimin was only so skeptical in the past, then he is sure of it now.

Otherwise, how could Yue Shan accurately tell about matrilineal society, patrilineal society, collective era, and Xia Shang.

"Go on, what about after the Shang Dynasty?" Li Shimin asked impatiently.

Yue Shan continued: "After the Yin and Shang conquered the country, on the one hand, they inherited the enfeoffment system of the Xia Dynasty, and continued to divide the vassal states, relying on the vassal states to rule the entire country."

"On the other hand, they changed the collective system to private ownership, which greatly promoted the enthusiasm of the people for production, and the national strength became stronger day by day."

"But private ownership is not perfect, and it has brought about a bad result, which is to intensify class differentiation and exploitation.

"In the collective system, everyone has the blessings and the hardships together. When encountering disasters, we support and support them together. When we are sick, the public provides free treatment."

"After private ownership, the land is owned by the individual, and the relationship between people has become more utilitarian. Enjoy the benefits by yourself, and overcome the difficulties by yourself."

"Someone is unlucky and encounters a disaster, or their family is seriously ill and has no money to treat, so they can only sell their land. If they have no land, they can only be tenants for other people's families, or even sell themselves as slaves."

"Those who are capable and able to exploit their fortunes will become richer and richer, and gradually become powerful and masters, otherwise they can only be reduced to slaves."

"So the social structure of the Yin and Shang Dynasties underwent great changes and gradually evolved into what we are familiar with."

Li Shimin asked: "Then why did Yin Shang die? Could it be because of the development of productive forces?"

Yue Shan nodded first, then shook his head and said, "You can say yes or no."

Li Shimin said: "I would like to hear the details."

Yue Shan said: "The reason why the Yin and Shang Dynasties perished was because the productivity could not keep up with the ambition of the monarch."

"King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty is indeed cruel, but he is not as stupid as the history books say. On the contrary, this man is a man of great ambition."

"At that time, the territory of Yin Shang was roughly between the four lands of Henan, Hebei, Shandong, and Shaanxi, which were not as large as the four lands. It was surrounded by various foreign forces, such as Gourong, Guifang, Huaiyi and other groups surrounded Yin Shang in the middle. "

"These alien races are not honest at all. Their productivity is far less developed than that of the wealthy merchants, and they can't even eat enough. So they moved their minds and wanted to invade the wealthy merchants to plunder food and women."

"Since the Xia Dynasty, China has been fighting against these alien races, and the Yin and Shang Dynasties were no exception. In the Shang Dynasty, he fought foreign wars again and again, and beat the barbarians to surrender."

"At this time, if he stops in time, then he will be a wise king. It's a pity that he doesn't have it. He is obsessed with the feeling of defeating the enemy, and he wants to expand the territory."

"So he began to recklessly enlist the people to fight everywhere, causing the people in the country to live in poverty. Other vassal states also suffered from it, and complained to him."

"The land of the Yin Shang has reached its peak in his hands, but the country has been dilapidated, and the strength of the entire country has actually declined."

"Correspondingly, although other vassal states have also been exploited by him, the damage suffered is far less serious than the land directly controlled by the imperial court."

"Under the ebb and flow, the strength of Yin and Shang can no longer suppress the vassal states, and some people are short of raising the flag of rebellion."

"You will know the following things. King Zhou of Shang killed the eldest son of King Wen of Zhou. King Wen of Zhou used this as an excuse to rebel, and finally the Zhou Dynasty replaced Shang."

"Therefore, it can be said that the Shang Dynasty died because of King Shang Zhou's belligerence, and it can also be said that it died because of the lack of productivity."

"If the Shang Dynasty had plows and one person could cultivate a hundred acres of land, if he could produce hundreds of thousands of tons of steel and countless cloths a year, if he had a population of millions..."

"Then he is a promising king of a generation, not a subjugated king."

"Another reason for the demise of the Yin and Shang Dynasties was the enfeoffment system. The feudal states only accepted the jurisdiction of the suzerain state in name, but they were actually independent small kingdoms."

"Once the suzerain's strength weakens, the vassal states will in turn ride on the suzerain's head, and even change dynasties."

"King Zhou You was attacked by dogs after he played with the princes, and the strength of the Zhou royal family was mostly reduced and could not suppress the princes. This was the reason for the subsequent Spring and Autumn and Warring States Rebellions."

"The strengths of several powerful vassal states in the Spring and Autumn Period were almost the same. No one could subdue the other with his own strength, and no one was convinced by the other. In the end, everyone ended up in a stalemate like this."

"Under such circumstances, the Zhou royal family was able to continue. It was not directly wiped out, but it only lingered and lost the majesty of the emperor."

"Let's talk about productivity again. During the nearly thousand years from the establishment of Yin Shang to the Spring and Autumn Period, productivity has been greatly improved."

"First of all, the population has increased, which is several times or even ten times higher than that of the Xia Dynasty. A larger population means an increase in labor force, and more food and various materials are produced. More land has been developed."

"The land area is also increasing, much larger than before. An increase in the land area means an increase in management costs, and the country's administrative system has become bloated and inefficient.

"Metal smelting technology has also become more mature, various agricultural tools have been invented and popularized, and human work efficiency has been improved again."

"In particular, the invention of Leisi and the plow allowed humans to use the power of livestock (cattle, horses, mules, donkeys, etc.) to cultivate, and the efficiency became higher."

"There is also a further division of labor in society. In the past, everyone was a farmer. During the slack season, they made other things for their own use or sold for money."

"Slowly, people who specialize in different occupations have evolved. There are those who specialize in grazing, those who specialize in planting hemp and picking mulberry, and various other craftsmen. These people do not plow the fields, but rely on craftsmanship Survive."

"There is still a huge problem in the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, that is, the class is solidified and the channels for advancement are cut off. Only the blood of the nobles can become nobles, and the common people can only be the common people forever."

"Knowledge and learning, as well as rites and music, are exclusive to nobles. Commoners are not qualified to enjoy them all. If you dare to go beyond your status and learn to read, read and listen to music, it is a capital offense."

"In this turbulent era, all kinds of rules have been broken, and the writing that was originally only in the hands of the nobles has gradually been mastered by the common people."

"Later, Confucius put forward the idea that there is no distinction between education and created private schools. It officially broke the restriction of birth, allowing ordinary people and even slaves to be able to read and write."

"The situation at that time was not only brought about by the increase in productivity, but also the old social system collapsed in a very short period of time, and the whole world became a mess."

"...The old old ways can no longer keep up with the development of productivity. It is time for a new social structure that is more in line with the times."

"But no one knows what the correct answer is, so they can only keep trying. Whoever reforms more quickly and has the real answer will become stronger."

"The protracted disputes began among the vassal states. In order to defeat each other, they tried every means to strengthen their own national strength, and there were several reforms in history."

"In fact, the so-called reform is to find a social structure that is more in line with the productivity of the time, and the ideas of various schools of thought were born out of this."

"As the ancestors explored and tried again and again, the way forward gradually became clear. The well field system began to disintegrate, and the land was completely privatized, and those who owned the land paid taxes to the court."

"Status restrictions have been disintegrated initially, and people with ordinary backgrounds but great talents have been given the opportunity to become an official. Although this opportunity is very slim, it is a huge improvement compared to having no opportunity at all before."

"Someone realized the disadvantages of the enfeoffment system and began to adopt the county system to centralize power. Concentrate more power in the hands of the monarch and weaken local power."

"The State of Qin further proposed the system of farming and warfare, and established a [-]-level military merit title system. No matter what your background is, as long as you achieve military merit, you can upgrade your class."

"This move completely broke the restrictions of birth and blood. Qin's soldiers and civilians wanted to change their status through war. Therefore, the people of Qin supported the war, and the army was brave and powerful."

"Coupled with the implementation of the county system and the construction of a new social system, Qin's productivity can be maximized... The production speed of grain production and other various materials can meet the needs of the army."

"In the end, Qin State unified the world and established the first unified dynasty in history."

"After the founding of the country, the first emperor reviewed the previous hundreds of years of conquests and summed up the experience, completely abolished the enfeoffment system and implemented the county system, the same track and the same text, unified weights and measures, etc..."

"It can be said that Qin Guo found the most correct answer and successfully implemented it."

At this time, Li Shimin suddenly said: "But the first emperor made the same mistake as King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty. He was eager for success. In the end, the Qin Dynasty was destroyed because the productivity could not keep up with the ambition of the king, right?"

Yue Shan was very surprised, his ability to draw inferences from one instance is too strong.But then I thought, this is Tang Taizong, it is normal to think of these things.

"Yes, it was precisely because the first emperor was eager for success and exceeded the limit of productivity that led to the collapse of the country."

Li Shimin was not complacent about this, but asked: "What about the Han Dynasty, why did it perish?"

　Eight thousand words, including the day before yesterday's owed to make up.

　　By the way, please vote...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)