Thousand Characters

Chapter 7

[Original text]

The sea is salty and the river is light, and the scales are hidden and the feathers are flying.Dragon Master Fire Emperor, Bird Official and Human Emperor.

【Note】

Scales: fish scales, used here to refer to fish.Feather: Feather, used here to refer to birds.Longshi: Refers to the Fuxi family who named officials with dragons.Fire Emperor: refers to the Suiren family who invented fire by drilling wood.Niaoguan: Refers to the Shaohao family who named all officials with birds.The first two of these four sentences talk about various animals that live between heaven and earth.Animals and plants have been mentioned, and all living things in the universe are included.This part of the text so far can be regarded as the first part of "Thousand Characters". before.Starting from the last two sentences, the history of mankind is told to people.In human history, the three emperors first appeared: Fuxi, Shennong, and Huangdi, followed by the five emperors: Huangdi, Zhuanxu, Diku, Tang Yao, and Yushun.

【Interpretation】

The water in the sea is salty, and the water in the river is fresh; fish with scales swim in the water, and birds with feathers fly in the sky.Longshi (Fuxi clan), Huodi (Suiren clan), Niaoguan (Shaohao clan), Renhuang (Renhuang clan), these people are the emperors and officials in the earliest period of mankind.

【allusion】

At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu had a general named Ji Bu, who was upright and helpful. He would do everything he promised and never break the contract.Therefore, he is highly respected and appreciated.When he led his troops to fight, Ji Bu also defeated Liu Bang many times, and his reputation spread far and wide.Later, Xiang Yu committed suicide in defeat, and Liu Bang became the emperor, so he put up notices everywhere offering rewards for Ji Bu's capture.After hearing about this incident, the righteous Zhu family persuaded Liu Bang's old friend Ruyin Hou Teng Gong (Xia Houying) to ask Liu Bang to withdraw the arrest of Ji Bu, and made Ji Bu an official doctor, and was later promoted to the guard of Hedong.Ji Bu had a fellow villager named Cao Qiusheng. When he heard that Ji Bu had become a high official, he asked Dou Changjun to introduce him to meet Ji Bu.But Ji Bu was very unhappy when he saw Cao Qiusheng, and even showed disgust.Cao Qiusheng is very alert and eloquent. Seeing that Ji Bu didn't welcome him very much, he made a deep bow and then said a lot of compliments. This is described in "Historical Records: Biography of Ji Bu"的: The meaning of this passage is: Chu people often say, "It is better to get Jibu Yinuo to get a hundred catties of gold."Why do you have such a great reputation in Liang and Chu?This is what I preached for you everywhere.But why do you want to reject me? After hearing Cao Qiusheng's words, Ji Bu was very happy, so he treated him as a guest of honor, and often chatted and played with him.Cao Qiusheng stayed with Ji Bu for several months before he left.When he left, Ji Bu gave him a generous gift.After Cao Qiusheng went back, he still publicized Ji Bu everywhere, and Ji Bu's reputation became bigger and bigger because of this.Since then, people have called the virtue of publicizing the strengths of others and being willing to recommend talents "the virtue of Caoqiu".

(End of this chapter)