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| Erlitou culture |
At that time, China was in the period of Yao, Shun and Yu. Many ancient books recorded the great floods, and also mentioned the migration of ancestors to avoid floods
Mencius Teng Wengong I: when Yao was in power, the world was still not even, and the flood was raging.
"Huainanzi · Ben Jing Xun": in Shun's time, Gonggong Zhentao flood, with thin air mulberry, Longmen did not open, Luliang did not open, the river and Huaihe River flow, the four seas are clear, the people all go to the hills and trees.
"Huainanzi Qi folk precepts": when Yu was in the middle of the day, it rained heavily. Yu ordered his people to gather land and accumulate salary, and chose hills to live in. "
In order to avoid the flood, Yao, Shun and Yu established their capitals in Pingyang (today's Taiyuan, Shanxi), Puban (today's Yongji, Shanxi) and Anyi (today's Yuncheng, Shanxi). But in fact, most of the three emperors and five emperors before them lived in the east of the lower reaches of the river. Wang Guowei once said that "before Yao and Shun, Shennong, Huangdi, Taihao and Diku lived in the East.".
It can be seen that the outbreak of the flood affected the foothold of the Chinese civilization and made the Xia Dynasty open the country in the middle. Otherwise, with the development and integration of Shandong Longshan culture and Jiangsu Zhejiang Liangzhu culture, China's initial Dynasty is likely to appear in the eastern coastal areas.
At the beginning, he was responsible for flood control. In fact, he is very good at flood control. His "blocking method" of building dams to block floods is not useless. The main reason for the failure of flood control is the severe climate and backward material conditions. After he was blamed, his son Dayu took over the task of flood control.
Shanhaijing · haineijing: the flood is so terrible that it steals the land of the emperor to contain the flood without waiting for the emperor's orders. The emperor ordered Zhu Rong to kill Yu Jiao. When he was born back to Yu, the emperor ordered him to settle down in Jiuzhou.
After Dayu took office, he changed "blocking" to "Dredging", but the effect was still slow, because it took him a long 13 years to "succeed". Qu Yuan didn't believe in such a success. In Tian Wen, he questioned "why is Hong Quan so deep? Why are there nine places? Why are there Tombs? Why do rivers and seas meet dragons? Where do you live? Where do you camp? Where did Yu become?"
Qu Yuan probably felt that the things he couldn't think of with his superb thinking of understanding the world were probably false.
If Dayu had a chance to answer Qu Yuan's question personally, he would have at least two reasons to prove that it took 13 years to control the flood!
The first reason is that it takes such a long time to win the tribal war and unify the country. Dayu was a key figure in the transition from the abdication system to the hereditary system. The 13 years was a critical period in which he helped to create conditions for a dynasty.
In fact, after Yao and Shun's westward migration to high altitude areas, the threat of flood to the ancestors was not so urgent, otherwise it would not have given Dayu 13 years to control. In other words, there is another reason why Dayu was able to stay in the position of commander-in-chief for 13 years.
The reason is tribal conflict and war. Only by eliminating the hostile tribes and effectively controlling different tribes can a state characterized by centralization be established. Three emperors and five emperors are doing such things, but they have not achieved ultimate success. There are many records of conflicts and wars between tribes in ancient times
Shanhaijing dahuangbei Jing: Chiyou fought against the Yellow Emperor, who ordered Yinglong to attack Jizhou.
Historical records of the Five Emperors: Xuanyuan used to fight, but he did not enjoy it. The princes followed him.
Xunzi Yibing: Yao felled Chendou, Shun felled Miao, and Yu felled Gonggong.
Xunzi Chengxiang: Yu made great contributions, suppressed Hongxia, eliminated people's evils and expelled Gonggong.
So Dayu didn't just want to manage the water like his father. His success is not the success of water control methods, but the continuous expansion of his strength in the name of water control. At that time, the main contradiction in the land of China was the contradiction between the threat of flood and the desire of ancestors to live in peace.
Dayu was appointed as Sikong by Shun, and was also the "hundred premier" in charge of the affairs of the alliance. He had the power to command the human and material resources of various tribes to control the water. Under the great power of water control, Dayu was able to punish the disobedient tribes in the name of hindering water control, exemplified by "Yu's expedition and Gonggong".
Gonggong clan was a tribe with a history of thousands of years in ancient China. Nu Wa, Zhuan Xu, di he, Yao and shun all had wars with Gonggong clan. When referring to the Gonggong clan in ancient books, the most common saying is "Zhentao flood". Whenever there is a flood, it is said that the Gonggong clan is responsible for it.
Therefore, Dayu could say that the three emperors and five emperors did not deal with the Gonggong clan. Naturally, he needed more time to deal with the Gonggong clan in order to get rid of the flood disaster.
In this way, during the 13 years of flood control, Dayu, who had great power and could command all sides, divided the people of various tribes according to their regions and established early social management organizations. On this basis, management organizations with national significance gradually formed, which became the cornerstone of the formal establishment of the country.
The second reason that Dayu wanted to say was absolutely heavyweight. Flood is a natural disaster. If there is no disaster in the sky, there will be no disaster in the world. Dayu can be said that after 13 years of hard work, God was deeply inspired and decided not to let disaster happen again, so the flood was naturally eradicated.
Is this the truth? According to the inference of modern science, it may be so.
The rainy period on earth generally occurs in the transition from warm climate to cold climate, which is relatively slow, so the rainy period often lasts for a long time. Dayu just caught up with the opposite period of climate change, the cold climate began to change to the warm climate, which was a rapid mutation process, with the effect of clear weather after rain. Therefore, with the rapid improvement of the climate, the climate belt moved northward away from China, the monsoon and rainfall became normal, the vegetation was gradually restored, and the flood disaster was naturally eliminated.
Therefore, Dayu's success did not come casually. In the process of waiting to listen to the destiny, we must do our best to seize and consolidate the position and power in order to be invincible. This is the reason he made clear to him at the cost of his life.
