Why is "Gusu" called Gusu? Origin of the name

The origin of Gusu

After all, the era of Dayu was too long ago, and there are not many records left in ancient documents about his deeds of water control in the Taihu Lake area. I only know that he had two main assistants at that time. One was called "Xu", the son of Shun's Minister of Agriculture, Qi, and the other was called "Ming", the son of Shun's Minister of Civil Affairs, Qi. Jin Youli's "Taihu Preparatory Examination" said that Ming "died due to flooding due to his diligence in his official duties", that is, he unfortunately died in the flood control project, while Xu Ze was revered as the "King of Levels" after the flood was quelled. In the old days, there was his ancestral temple at the watershed between Xiaoxiawan and Majishan. Several tables in the Xiaoxiawan temple were made of stone, which shows its antiquity. "Taihu Preparatory Examination" quotes "Piling Chronicles" to explain the reason for enshrining him:

King Shui, the concubine of Houji, Zuo Yu controlled the floods, went to Kuaiji, taught people to dredge, and worshiped him after his death.

Han Wangfu's "Qianfu Lun" also mentioned him:

The person who covers Xu is named after Shun's minister. Zuo Yu has made great contributions in controlling floods, and he is also the one who is granted the title of Wu.

Xu was sealed off locally, presumably because after the floods receded, capable cadres were needed to lead the victims to rebuild their homes. Xu is a son of a high-ranking cadre, and after experiencing this flood-fighting test, he was appointed as the leader of the local tribe. From then on, this area was named after Xu and was called "Gu Xu". "Gu" is pronounced with the consonant G, which is a sound word in the local dialect. It is meaningless and is often used as a prefix of a proper noun. Gusu Mountain is also known as Guxu Mountain, and Dongshan Moli Peak was formerly called Xuguan Mountain (see Wang Guo's "Gusu Zhi"). Their names are all related to him. "Qianfu Lun" says that "Fan Li collected debts from Gu (gu) Xu", which also refers to this place.

Gu Xu, "Guoyu" and "Historical Records" are both written as "Gusu". Some people think that it is a "transliteration of later generations" (see Volume 1 of "Honglan Yicheng"), and some people think that "Su" The original word contains "fish" and "禾", indicating that this place is a land of plenty, but this is not true. Gu Xu is also called Gu Su because "Xu" and "Su" in ancient Wu and Chu have the same pronunciation. For example, the minister of Chu State Shen Baoxu is called "Zuo Zhuan" and "Bosu" is called "Bo Su" in "Warring States Policy". Nowadays, people in Suzhou still call "mustache" "zusu", which is also a legacy of the ancient saying. This is the origin of Gusu.

After Yu succeeded Shun as the leader of the tribal alliance, he divided the world into nine states, and Gusu belonged to Yangzhou, one of the nine states. This Yangzhou is not today's Yangzhou City. "Erya·Shidi" says: "The south of the Yangtze River is called Yangzhou". The area is very large, including today's areas south of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu and Anhui, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, and most of Jiangxi.

The situation in ancient Yangzhou is introduced in "Yu Gong", saying that bamboos grow everywhere, the grass is luxuriant, and the trees are tall. However, the soil is moist and is the worst for cultivated land. It belongs to the "Xiaxia" category, which is the lowest grade. Therefore, the tax is also low, and it is the "Xiaxiashangshang" category, which is the seventh grade. "Yu Gong" also describes the tax payment situation:

The tributes include brass, bronze, red copper, beautiful jade, beautiful stones, small bamboo, large bamboo, ivory, animal skins, bird feathers and wood, which are distributed along the coast. People wear straw-woven clothes, hats and shoes, put brocade fabrics in baskets, and pack oranges and grapefruits, ready to pay tribute. Tribute ships went directly from the Yangtze River and the Yellow Sea to the Huaihe River and Sishui (translated by Li Min and Wang Jianyu).

Although I am talking about Quanzhou, we can also see the water and soil environment, products and transportation conditions in Suzhou at that time. The original text of the coastal barbarians mentioned is "dao barbarians", including the ancestors of Gusu.

Yu died around the beginning of the 21st century BC. During his reign, Justice Gao Tao was elected as his successor. Gao Tao died before Yu, so Gao Tao's son Boyi was elected as his successor. But after Yu's death, Boyi did not take over his job and ran away because of Yu's son Qi. Qi established himself as the leader of the tribal alliance. Since then, the primitive commune system has disintegrated and our country has entered a slave society. The same is true in the Gusu area. This can be seen from the tombs excavated at the Zhanglingshan and Caoxieshan sites. Several tombs contain a large number of jade congs, jade bis and other ritual vessels, and some also contain the skulls of multiple victims. It shows that the tomb owner was a slave owner with power and wealth during his lifetime. At the same time, it also shows that the people of Suzhou have bid farewell to the primitive communes with low productivity and had to form a group to survive, and have entered a class society with private property.

Xia Qisi passed on to Shaokang, who granted the title of bastard to Kuaiji and established the Yue Kingdom.

At that time, Kuaiji was crossing at Maojin in present-day Shanxi Province (see He Tianxing's "The Kingdom of Zhongyong"). After extensive military expansion, it penetrated deep into the south of present-day Qiantang River, turning ancient Yangzhou into the territory of Yue. Since then, the Gusu area has been under the jurisdiction of the lords of the Yue royal family.

About the 16th century BC, Shang Tang destroyed Xia. After the establishment of the Shang Dynasty, the Yin culture spread to the south, which can also be proved by the Shang Dynasty divination bones and divination armors unearthed from Beiyinyangying in Nanjing. Divination was a high-level culture at that time, but it was not unique to the Central Plains. It was also studied by people in the Suzhou area, and the skills were better than the skills. The researcher's name was "Xian" and he was from Haiyushan (now Yushan, Changshu). He pioneered the divination method using yarrow, which was more convenient than tortoise shell divination, so he was valued by the authorities. The highest political officer at that time was Yi Zhi, the son of Yi Yin. He recommended Xian to be the "Witch", so he was called Wu Xian. "Witch" is the official in charge of sacrifices and divination. "The Rites of Zhou" says: "For major events in a country, divination is done first and then divination." It can be seen that Wu Xian is one of the central decision-makers. At that time, Emperor Taiwu of Shang was in power, and Wang Gang was in a weak state. The princes all went their own way and did not buy into Emperor Taiwu's fault. After Yi Zhi and Wu Xian's rectification, the authority of the central government was restored.

But when the third pass came to Zhujia, the royal power declined again. After Zuyi, the son of Zhujia, succeeded to the throne, he appointed Xian, the son of Wuxian, as the highest political officer. Wu Xian was probably taught by his father, and through his efforts to strengthen the central power, the Shang Dynasty was revitalized. Both politicians were buried in their hometowns after their deaths. "Historical Records of Justice" written by Zhang Shoujie of the Tang Dynasty said:

Wuxian and Zixian Tombs are both built on Yushan Mountain in the West Sea of ??Changshu, Suzhou, and were built by Erziben Wu people.

This is basically consistent with what is recorded in "Wu Di Ji", which states that Wu Xian's tomb is "three miles northeast" outside Pingmen, Suzhou. Pingmen was first called "Wumen", which is where it comes from.