China knows everything for 5000 years

Chapter 21

One day, Wang Chong passed by the street and saw a Taoist sitting cross-legged, with a golden Buddha in front of him, and the four seal characters "Tathagata fortune-telling" written on the yellow silk.The Taoist said in his mouth: "Everyone is good and bad, and the Buddha knows all about it. The Buddha who is auspicious nods, and the Buddha who is evil does not move." Wang Chong asked, "I want to do business, but I don't know if I can make money?" I saw the old Taoist He bowed deeply to the Buddha statue, opened his eyes slightly, and muttered something in his mouth. Then he picked up the golden ruler and circled around the Buddha statue a few times. The Buddha statue immediately nodded frequently.The old Taoist clasped his hands together and said flatteringly: "Congratulations, congratulations, you will definitely make a fortune in the future!" He also asked for three taels of silver from Wang Chong.The next day, Wang Chong took a clay sculpture of the golden Buddha to the street again, and said to the old Taoist, "Please try whether this Tathagata Bodhisattva is alive or not."In this way, Wang Chong broke the trick of the Taoist in front of everyone: the Buddha statue is made of iron, and the head of the Buddha statue can move.The golden ruler is made of iron at one end and a magnet at the other.If the Taoist wanted the Buddha statue to nod, he would hold the iron end and move the magnet end around the head of the Buddha statue.

Wang Chong was a great materialist thinker and atheist in the Eastern Han Dynasty.While criticizing the theological superstition at that time, he defended and developed the materialist ideological tradition since the pre-Qin period, and established the materialist philosophical system of vitality and naturalism.His ideological achievements have an important historical position in the history of ancient Chinese thought, and he himself is also known as the earliest "bright and broad-minded" atheist in China.

●Inventor Cai Lun Paper
Cai Lun, courtesy name Jingzhong, was sent to the palace as a young eunuch because of his poor family since he was a child, and became the attendant of the crown prince Liu Zhao.After the death of Emperor Zhang Liu Ju, Liu Zhao became emperor for Hedi.Cai Lun was promoted to be a regular attendant, and concurrently served as Shang Fangling of the Shaofu, responsible for supervising the production of ordnance, utensils and utensils for the imperial palace.Cai Lun always likes to invent and create, and now he is in charge of making utensils and utensils, which is exactly what he wants.He saw that the silk for writing was too expensive, the silk paper was not cheap, the bamboo slips were too heavy, and the hemp paper was not suitable for writing, so he wanted to make a kind of paper that was both cheap and suitable for writing.

Cai Lun first studied the folk technology of making hemp paper.He found that it is very simple to make hemp paper, just smash the hemp and press it into thin sheets, but the paper made in this way is too rough.Therefore, Cai Lun made the craft finer and smashed the hemp until it was finer. However, there were still some rough fibers in the hemp that could not be pounded, and the paper was still unsuitable for writing.Cai Lun thought that hemp can make paper because it has fibers. Then, rags, fishnets, and bark also have fibers, so can they also make paper?He collected these things, soaked them in water, boiled them, mashed them into a pulp, and then rinsed them with clean water. Then he brushed the mashed pulp on the thin curtains, and waited until a thin layer formed on the thin curtains. After making a fine and uniform pulp, let it dry, and peel it off to become a porridge of white and delicate paper.In this way, Cai Lun's experiment of improving papermaking technology was successful. The paper produced is not only cheap, but also light, thin and durable, which is an ideal writing material.

In 105 AD, Cai Lun reported the results of his experiments to Liu Zhao.Liu Zhao praised him and asked him to continue to improve and make more and better paper.Cai Lun's papermaking technique quickly spread throughout the country. People continued to improve and perfect Cai Lun's papermaking process, and the paper produced became more and more exquisite.People no longer need bundles of bamboo slips to read and write.Later, in order to commend Cai Lun's achievements, Emperor Han'an named him "Longtinghou". The world called the paper made according to Cai Lun's improved method "Caihou paper".

The invention of paper is a major event in human history.Cai Lun's improved papermaking technique first spread to Korea and Japan.Around the time of the Tang Dynasty, papermaking was spread to Europe through the Western Regions.By the 19th century, paper began to cover the whole world, making great contributions to the exchange and development of world culture.

●Yu Xu plotted against the Qiang soldiers
From 114 to 119 AD, the Qiang people in the southwest launched an armed uprising and attacked the cities of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Han'an Liu Ku sent Ren Shang as Zhonglang General to garrison at the border with the Qiang people.Chao Ge Chang Yu Xu suggested to Ren Shang to set up cavalry.Ren Shang wrote Yu Xu's plan into a memorial and asked Liu Ku for instructions, and Liu Ku immediately approved the implementation.According to Yu Xu's method, Ren Shang selected 1 cavalry and led more than 400 people to attack Dingxi City (in the south of Lingwu, Ningxia), and won the first battle.Du Jigong, the leader of the rebel army in the city, escaped from the city and was killed by the Han army. More than [-] people were killed and a large amount of cattle and horses were seized.Ren Shang then reported the victory to the emperor in detail, describing Yu Xu's contribution.Liu Ku made Yu Xu the prefect of Wudu (in today's Gansu), and ordered Yu Xu to take office immediately.

After receiving the appointment, Yu Xu immediately led his subordinates to Wudu to take up the post. When he arrived at Chencang, he received a report that thousands of Qiang soldiers were stationed in front and could not pass through.Yu Xu asked the entourage to stop, saying that he was going to mobilize a large force to protect him, and forged a letter saying that the reinforcements would arrive soon, but deliberately let the Qiang soldiers know.The Qiang soldiers had already suffered a loss in Dingxi City, so they quickly withdrew to other places, and Yu Xu passed through Chencang Road smoothly.

After passing through Chencang, Yu Xu told his soldiers to hurry up.When Yu Xu arrived in Wudu, he checked the number of soldiers and found that there were less than 3000 soldiers. He was very anxious and had to step up training.Not long after, a report was received that tens of thousands of Qiang soldiers were attacking Chiting (in present-day Gansu), and the situation was urgent.Yu Xu was not in a hurry to rescue, but sent a weak force to Chiting to attack the Qiang soldiers.As soon as the two armies came into contact, the Han soldiers immediately retreated and fled back to the city of Wudu. The Qiang soldiers chased after them and surrounded Wudu again.After the Qiang soldiers surrounded Wudu, they began to attack the city.Yu Xu ordered the soldiers to shoot arrows, but the Qiang soldiers failed to get in after several attacks. Instead, many soldiers were killed and injured, so they had to retreat temporarily and wait for the opportunity to attack the city again.

Seeing the Qiang soldiers retreating, Yu Xu knew that they would come again, so he resorted to another suspicious strategy.Early the next morning, Yu Xu opened the gate of the city wide, took all three thousand soldiers out of the city, and ordered the soldiers to go out of the east gate and enter the north gate, and then go out of the north gate and enter the east gate. Just one change of clothes and flags.The Qiang soldiers saw the Han troops coming in and out from a distance, wearing different clothes and banners, thinking that the Han soldiers were setting up an attack, and they didn't know how many Han soldiers were in the city, so they dared not continue to attack and retreated quickly.

When the Qiang soldiers retreated to a shallow river bank, the Han soldiers took advantage of the momentum to give chase, and the Qiang soldiers were defeated and fled.Yu Xu became famous all over the world in the battle of Chiting and Wudu.

"Shuowen Jiezi" by Xu Shen

"Shuowen Jiezi" edited by Xu Shen is the first comprehensive calligraphy book compiled by an individual in China, with 9353 characters and 1163 heavy texts (variant characters).This book completely changed the method of exhorting dictionaries in the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, created a new style of comprehensively and systematically explaining the shape, sound, and meaning of characters, and constituted a strict dictionary compilation structure.The whole book takes Xiaozhuan as the main body to analyze the character structure, and is divided into 514 parts, from the beginning to the end.

Xu Shen scientifically and systematically analyzed and explained the emergence and development of Chinese characters, the functions of characters, and the structure of Chinese characters, etc., reaching unprecedented heights in practice and theory.The characters collected in the book include the common characters in the scriptures (especially the ancient scriptures), including seal script, ancient script, 籀文, vulgar script, etc. There are not only pre-Qin characters, but also newly-created characters in the Han Dynasty. History furnishes invaluable material.The identification of oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions in modern times mostly relies on this reference book.

●The two emperors prospered the party and imprisoned the disaster
From the death of Liang Ji in 159 to the death of Emperor Huan of Han in 167, the power of eunuchs almost reached the status of monopolizing the political power in a few years.Most of the important official positions at home and abroad are controlled by eunuchs and gangsters, and the road of the bureaucratic group is narrower than before Liang Ji's death.The bureaucrats, famous scholars, imperial students of the Honest School, the students of local officials, and private students formed a broad group of scholars, and launched a struggle between scholars and eunuchs.

Most of the upright faction bureaucrats are celebrities.Some people have become high-ranking officials, but still maintain the status of celebrities, such as Li Ying, who was Henan Yin, made friends with celebrities such as Guo Tai, and was promoted by scholars as the leader of celebrities.In addition, there are more than 3 Tai students, led by Guo Tai and Jia Biao.Guo Tai and others combined Chen Fan, Li Ying and other upright bureaucrats to comment on the government and praise and criticize people. The ministers tried their best to receive scholars, hoping to avoid bad reviews. In 166, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty designated more than 200 famous scholars, including Li Ying and Fan Pang, as party members, and were imprisoned and punished. In 167, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty pardoned the party members to go home, imprisoned them for life, and were not allowed to be officials again.This is the first disaster of party imprisonment.

After the death of Chen Fan and others, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty established the party prison, killed more than 700 people including Li Ying and Fan Pang, imprisoned 1000 people, and arrested more than [-] Tai students.The relatives and disciples of the party members and former officials who have official positions are all exempted from official imprisonment.This is the second disaster of party imprisonment, which dealt a severe blow to the gentry, and almost all internal and external official positions were occupied by the eunuch group.

●Yellow Turban uprising everywhere
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, eunuchs and relatives competed for power and profit, which made the society extremely unstable. Coupled with the continuous floods, droughts and locust plagues in various places, the powerful landlords took the opportunity to annex the land, and countless victims had no way of life.In 184 AD, during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty Liu Hong, a magnificent Yellow Turban Uprising finally broke out.

The Yellow Turban Uprising was led by Zhang Jiao.Zhang Jiao is a native of Julu (in present-day Hebei) and the leader of Taiping Road.Taiping Taoism is a sect of Taoism. They use "Taiping Qinglingshu" as their classic to promote the idea of ​​"Huangtian Taiping", believing that only in the era of peace can people live a carefree life without worrying about food and clothing.Zhang Jiao himself knows a little bit about medicine, and he often treats farmers for free. When the disease is cured, he persuades them to join the Taiping Road.In order to get rid of the difficult life in front of them, the poor farmers regard Zhang Jiao as their savior, and they all believe in the way of peace.In about ten years, the number of Taipingdao believers has grown to several 10.

According to the military organization, Zhang Jiao organized believers into 36 parties, with more than 1 people in the large party and 7000 people in the small party. Each party assigned a leader to lead, called Qu Shuai. The 36 Qu commanders all listened to Zhang Jiao's unified command.Zhang Jiao also formulated the [-]-character uprising slogan "The sky is dead, the yellow sky should be established, the year is Jiazi, and the world is auspicious".Zhang Jiao's most capable disciple is Ma Yuanyi, one of the Dafang Qushuai.He often went to the capital Luoyang to communicate and convey Zhang Jiao's orders.Zhang Jiao asked him to transfer tens of thousands of believers from Jingzhou and Yangzhou to Yecheng (now north of Anyang City, Henan Province) to concentrate as the main force of the rebel army, so as to cooperate with the rebel army from the prefectures and counties near the capital to attack Luoyang.

A month before the scheduled date of the uprising, a traitor named Tang Zhou appeared among the rebel army in Jinan, and he wrote to inform the government.News of the uprising leaked out, and the Eastern Han government arrested Ma Yuanyi and killed him in public in Luoyang.More than 1000 people were implicated and killed in Luoyang, and the blood of the insurgents stained the streets of Luoyang.

The Eastern Han government also ordered the arrest of Zhang Jiao.After Zhang Jiao heard the news, he sent people to inform the believers all over the night, telling them to start an uprising immediately.Although the traitor's informant disrupted the schedule of the uprising and caused the uprising army to sacrifice an important leader and more than 1000 soldiers, it could not extinguish the flames of the uprising. Taipingdao believers in various places had already been organized and fully prepared.

After receiving Zhang Jiao's order, the 36 parties immediately launched an uprising at the same time.The rebel army wrapped their heads in yellow scarves as a symbol of "Yellow Sky", so they were called the Yellow Turban Army.Zhang Jiao himself was called General Tiangong, and his two younger brothers, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, were called General Digong and General Rengong.The three of them jointly commanded the battle of the rebel army.

Every time the rebel army hit a place, they burned the local government offices, attacked the Wubao of powerful landlords, and hunted down officials and landlords who committed crimes.The governors and big landowners of the local states and counties fled in fright.In more than ten days, the order of feudal rule was disrupted.

In the end, the Yellow Turban Uprising was suppressed by the Eastern Han government, but it dealt a heavy blow to the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

##No.13
●Liu Guan and Zhang Taoyuan became sworn brothers
Liu Bei was a native of Zhuojun (now Zhuozhou City, Hebei Province), and his style name was Xuande. It is said that he was a descendant of Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan, the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty.But when it was passed down to his generation, the family was already very poor, and could only live by weaving and selling straw mats and hemp shoes with his mother.

In the last years of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, social turmoil broke out. With the help of rich merchants Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang in Zhongshan (now Ding County, Hebei Province), Liu Bei recruited volunteers and organized landlord self-defense forces. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei came to apply.

Zhang Fei, whose name is Yide, is Liu Bei's fellow villager.He has a violent temper, but he is straightforward, he can say whatever he has, he has martial arts, and he is brave in doing justice.

Guan Yu, courtesy name Yunchang, was born in Jieliang, Hedong (now Xieyu County, Shanxi Province). It is said that his surname was not Guan at first, because when he was young, he was fond of fighting against injustice and often provoked disputes.In order to keep him from causing trouble, his parents locked him in an empty room in the back garden.One day, Guan Yu was so bored that he secretly opened the window and ran out.Suddenly Guan Yu heard crying, so he looked for it and found that it was an old man crying.After inquiring, I found out that it was the county magistrate's brother-in-law who bullied her and married her daughter by force.Guan Yu was so angry that he took his sword and went to the county government office to kill the county magistrate and his brother-in-law: Guan Yu had to flee his hometown because of the murder.When he fled to Tongguan, he saw a head portrait offering a reward for his arrest hanging on the gate of Tongguan.Anyone who enters and exits the checkpoint must be checked.He adjusted his clothes, boldly walked to the checkpoint, and said to the soldiers who were interrogating him: "My surname is Guan..." From then on, he took the falsehood as the truth and changed his surname to Guan.

Guan Yu passed Yuguan, traveled east to Zhuo County, and met Zhang Fei.It happened that Liu Bei was recruiting troops, so they went to sign up.Liu Bei saw their high martial arts skills and talents, so he sworn brothers with them in the peach garden with red flowers and green leaves.Liu Bei is the eldest, Guan Yu is the second, and Zhang Fei is the youngest.They swear to God that they will work together to make a career out of it.This is the story of the famous "Taoyuan Jieyi" in history.

●The Kwantung Heroes Discuss Dong Zhuo
Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, abolished the emperor and reestablished himself in the court, proclaimed himself prime minister, and monopolized the power, resulting in the weakness of the central government and the emptiness of the Han Dynasty.

In 190 A.D., various powerful landlord groups in the Kanto region gathered 12 armies (referred to as the "Kwantung Army" in history), elected Yuan Shao as the leader, and divided their routes to attack Luoyang and crusade against Dong Zhuo.The Hebei army included Liu Dai, the governor of Gunzhou who stationed troops in Suanzao (north of Yanze, Henan), Zhang Yao, the prefect of Chenliu, Zhang Chao, the prefect of Guangling, Qiao Mao, the prefect of Dongjun, Yuan Yi, the prefect of Sanyang, and Yuan Shao, the prefect of Bohai stationed in Hanoi. , Hanoi prefect Wang Kuang.Jizhou Mu Hanfu provided military supplies in Yecheng (now north of Anyang, Henan).The Henan army included Kongxian, the governor of Yuzhou who stationed troops in Yingchuan, and Yuan Shu, the later general who stationed troops in Nanyang.In addition, Fenwu General Cao Cao and Cavalry Captain Bao Xin also brought recruits to Suanzao.

However, although the Kwantung Army is mighty and powerful, it is called to eradicate troubles for the country and revitalize the Han Dynasty, but in fact it supports the self-respect of the troops and takes the opportunity to develop personal power.In order to preserve their strength, they set up high drinking parties, singing and dancing every day, and stood still. They didn't want to fight the Huang Army first.Cao Cao was very angry about this, and called on the generals of the Kwantung Army to work together and fight in unity to defeat the national traitors.However, the generals of the various armies had their own scheming plans and ignored Cao Cao's words at all.Cao Cao angrily led his army to act alone, and Cao Jun marched westward from Suanzao.Dong Zhuo sent general Xu Rong to lead his troops to meet them, and the two sides fought in Rongyang (now northeast of Rongyang, Henan).Because most of Cao's troops were recruits, lacked training, and were small in number, they returned in a big defeat.Cao Cao himself was shot by the arrows and nearly died.Cao Cao was defeated and returned to the army, and once again suggested to join forces to attack Dong Zhuo, but it still didn't work.

In 191 A.D., Sun Jian, the prefect of Changsha, marched into Luoyang. Dong Zhuo personally led his troops to fight, was defeated by Sun Jian and withdrew from Luoyang, and went west to Chang'an.Dong Zhuo moved to the west, and the Central Plains had no master, and all the tyrants wanted to rule the roost.At that time, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu brothers, the most powerful among the powerful, wanted to take the opportunity to proclaim themselves emperor, but they were unanimously opposed by the big powers.The Kwantung Allied Forces disintegrated, and the great powers openly engaged in a melee of separatism and annexation.

Cao Mengde took advantage of the trend to rise

Cao Cao, courtesy name Mengde, nicknamed Aman, was born in Qiao County (in present-day Anhui).His original surname was Xiahou, and his father's name was Xiahousong. He changed his surname to Cao and called Cao Song because he adopted Cao Teng, an eunuch and Zhongchang servant, as the adopted son.Cao Song once served as the captain of Sili (the picket of the hundred officials of the capital and the nearby counties under its jurisdiction) and Da Si Nong (one of the nine ministers, in charge of national taxation, salt and iron, and financial revenue and expenditure) in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Lieutenant officer.

Cao Cao has read a lot of books since he was a child, and he especially loves reading military works.Cao Cao was promoted as Xiaolian at the age of 20 and served as the emperor's attendant.Soon, he was transferred to Luoyang North Captain to manage the security of Luoyang North.When the Yellow Turban Army revolted, Cao Cao was a riding captain. Because of his meritorious service in suppressing the Yellow Turban Army, he was named the Prime Minister of Jinan (the prime minister of the feudal country is called a prime minister, which is equivalent to the county guard of Jinan).

When Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, Cao Cao served as a lieutenant of Dianjun.Dong Zhuo wanted to win him over and promote him to Xiaoqi Xiaowei.Cao Cao, who has political foresight, has long seen through Dong Zhuo's true face. Don't look at Dong Zhuo's current power, and all officials are obedient to him, but his perverse actions will inevitably ruin his reputation.Not only was Cao Cao unwilling to join Dong Zhuo, but he was determined to get rid of Dong Zhuo. Therefore, after Cao Cao's assassination attempt failed, he changed his name and ran out from Luoyang alone.

On the way to escape, Cao Cao did a chilling thing.He knew that Dong Zhuo would not let him go easily, so he was cautious along the way, walking night and day.When I walked through Chenggao, I remembered that my father's good friend Lu Boshe lived here.He went to the Lu family's manor, first to take a rest, and second to inquire about his father's situation.Unfortunately, when he arrived, Lu Boshe was not at home just in time. Lu Boshe's five sons received him warmly and asked Cao Cao to stay at home.Cao Cao stayed, but he couldn't help being suspicious: "Why are they so enthusiastic about me? Are they trying to stabilize me so that they can report to the government?" The more he wanted to be afraid, he couldn't sleep.

(End of this chapter)