Historical figures about the Yellow River ~!

Legends of Emperor Yanhuang and Yao Shunyu, the historical figures of the Yellow River

How did the Yellow River and her sons and daughters walk from the dawn of civilization to the threshold of civilization? To uncover this mystery, we should not only rely on archaeological materials, but also use many ancient myths and legends recorded in ancient books. The legends of Emperor Yanhuang and Yao Shunyu can help us to find out some tracks of the Yellow River and its children from the early dawn of civilization to the civilized era.

Huangdi and Yandi are actually not emperors, but two tribal leaders in ancient times in the Yellow River valley recorded in ancient books. Both Huangdi and Yandi were born in the Weihe River valley, a tributary of the Yellow River, which was already the patriarchal clan commune era. Legend has it that they are all descendants of Shaodian, a "bear monarch". "In the past, Shaodian married Youshi, gave birth to Emperor (Huang) and Emperor Yan. The Yellow Emperor is made of Ji Shui, and the Yan Emperor is made of Jiang Shui. Success is different from virtue, so the yellow emperor is Ji and Yan emperor is Jiang. " The "life" mentioned here does not mean that Huangdi and Yandi are the descendants of Shaodian, but that they are all descendants of Shaodian. "The Yellow Emperor took Ji Shui as his name" means that he grew up on the bank of Ji Shui, so he took Ji as his surname. Jishui immediately used ancient lacquer water, which originated in Dulin, north-west of linyou county, Shaanxi Province, and merged into Weihe River in Wugong County today. Jiang Shui is a downstream section of the Weihe River tributary, the Qingjiang River, which joins the Weihe River in Baoji, Shaanxi. That is to say, the initial activity areas of the two tribes of Yanhuang are in the upper reaches of Weihe River, a tributary of the Yellow River.

It is said that the original surname of the Yellow Emperor was Gongsun, but he changed his surname to Ji because he was longer than Ji Shui. Once lived in the hill of Xuanyuan,No. Xuanyuan; Because it is a descendant of Xiong Guojun, it is also called Xiong's family. He was "born as a god, weak but able to speak, young and loyal (clever), long and sensitive, and wise", and was later elected as a tribal leader, leading his troops to migrate to northern Shaanxi to settle down. With the development of agricultural production, in order to find more flat, open and fertile land, it went south along the Beiluo River and reached Dali and Chaoyi in Shaanxi today. The yellow land there gave them convenient conditions for developing agriculture, but the drought that appeared from time to time troubled them and forced them to continue to look for their ideal place. Therefore, the Yellow Emperor led his people to cross the Yellow River from Dali and Chaoyi to the east, along Zhongtiao Mountain and Taihang Mountain, into Fenhe Valley, and then moved to the northeast, reaching the vicinity of Zhuolu in Hebei Province today. There are broad valleys which are alluvial by Sanggan River and Yanghe River and suitable for farming, and there are hunting forests nearby. They feel that the environment is very superior and they settle down.

Just as the Yellow Emperor led his tribe to move eastward, Emperor Yan also led his people to start a long journey. Emperor Yan, also known as Chi Di, said that he was born in Li (Lie) Mountain, that is, lishan town, Suizhou City, Hubei Province, and that he was born in Changyang, that is, Chang yangshan, Shennong Township, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province. "He was born in Jiang Shui, and his surname is Jiang, and he is also known as Shanshi Lie." In order to find an ideal place to settle down, he also led the tribe to move eastward. But the route they took was different from that of the Yellow Emperor. They first went down the Weihe River to the southwest of Henan, then down the Yellow River to the east of Henan, where they settled down.

At that time, with the emergence of private property and the disintegration of clan system, tribal leaders gradually mastered certain privileges. Wars often occur between tribes in order to compete for living space and compete for each other's strengths. In order to satisfy their own selfish desires, some tribal leaders "use knives and saws and use armor soldiers" and also launch wars to plunder wealth and enslave other clans and tribes. This kind of war has intensified social division and brought great threat to normal agricultural production, but the customary law of clan system regulating social contradictions has lost its function at this time, which seems powerless. In the face of increasing wars, kinship tribes have United with each other, forming alliances, and then forming a larger consortium. At this time, the two tribes, Yan and Huang, also used force to conquer all directions and expand their power, thus triggering large-scale conflicts. The two sides fought three wars in Hanquan (now Huailai, Hebei Province). The six clans under the command of the Yellow Emperor, namely, the bear, the scorpion, the raccoon, and the tiger, were killed in darkness with the Yandi tribe, and the Yandi tribe suffered a fiasco and had to surrender. Because the two tribes are related by blood, the Yellow Emperor did not slaughter the Yandi tribe, but formed a tribal alliance with them, and the Yellow Emperor became the leader of the Yanhuang tribal alliance. After a long period of development, Yanhuang Tribal Alliance formed the embryonic form of Huaxia nationality in the future.

Later, Chiyou, the leader of Jiuli who settled in Qufu, Shandong Province, expanded his sphere of influence and triggered a war with Yandi tribe. Jiuli, or Jiuyi, belongs to Dongyi nationality. Legend has it that Chiyou has 9 tribes and 81 clans. He speaks like a monster, and eats sand and stones. This may be due to the deliberate uglification of other tribal leaders by the descendants of the Yellow Emperor. "Making metallurgy with human-god" and "using gold as a soldier", we make staff, knives, halberds and crossbows, and are brave and good at fighting, which is a great shock to the world. He led a tribal alliance composed of nine tribes to the west of Yudong and attacked Yandi tribe. The Yandi tribe could not resist, losing ground one after another and losing their residence. Chiyou followed, and Emperor Yan sought help from the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor then led his troops to meet him and fought fiercely with Chiyou in Zhuolu. The war was extremely fierce. It is said that the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou were invincible in nine battles. Chiyou released fog for three days and three nights, and the tribe of the Yellow Emperor could not see the direction clearly. After the wind, the "minister" of the Yellow Emperor was inspired by the Beidou constellation to invent the south guide car, and they were able to rush out of the fog. With the help of Xuan Nv, the Yellow Emperor made 8 drums, which were covered with the skin of the East China Sea god beast Kui, and used Lei Shou's bones as drumsticks. They were drummed in battle and heard for 5 miles. The battle lasted for a long time, and finally a decisive battle was held in Jizhou. The Yellow Emperor sent Ying Long to attack Chiyou, and Ying Long stored water and put it into the water array. Chiyou invited the rain master from Fengbo, and it was stormy for a while, which washed away the water array and put the Yellow Emperor in trouble again. The Yellow Emperor invited Hiderigami, the heavenly daughter, to stop the wind and rain, so that the weather suddenly cleared up. Chiyou was at a loss, and his men were terrified. The Yellow Emperor commanded an army to cover and kill the past and won the final victory. Chiyou and the Fengbo Rain Master he invited surrendered to the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor entered the area where Dongyi was active. He "drove an elephant car and six dragons, and Biyan (a trillion firebird) was in charge, with Chiyou in the front, Fengbo in the sweep, the rain teacher sprinkling, the tiger and the wolf in the front, the ghosts and gods in the back, and the phoenix emperor (phoenix) covered it". He went to the top of Mount Tai to meet the ghosts and gods, and played a stirring and sad ". Chiyou was later killed, and some Jiuli people joined the Yanhuang tribal alliance and integrated into the Huaxia people; Part of it went south and merged into the Miao people in the south.

The victory of Zhuolu War further expanded the power of Yanhuang Tribal Alliance and developed into a larger tribal consortium. The authority of the Yellow Emperor has been greatly improved, integrating judicial power, sacrificial power, military command and production command. All tribes must obey his orders, and if they don't, they will send troops for conquest. He also opened mountains and built roads, trying to break through the isolation of tribal areas and promote exchanges between tribes. Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor never lived in peace all his life. He died in Jingshan when he was on a tour of Henan at the age of 118. People escorted him back to northern Shaanxi and buried him on the bridge hill in huangling county, Shaanxi Province. This is the tomb of the Yellow Emperor mentioned earlier.

As the Yellow Emperor was later revered as the ancestor of China, later generations attributed many inventions in ancient times to him and his "ministers", such as building houses, digging wells, sewing clothes, making crossbows for boats and cars, smelting stones into copper, and creating music, his wife Lei Zu invented sericulture, his "minister" Cang Xie created words, Ling Lun created music and music, and so on. For the same reason, Emperor Yan was revered as the ancestor of China, and later generations also credited him with some credit for his inventions and called him Shennong. In the pre-Qin legend, Shennong and Yandi were originally two characters with different times, and Shennong lived before Yandi. In the Warring States period, people put two people together and called them Emperor Shennong. They said, "Shennong made wood, rubbed wood, and lei lei, so as to teach the world", "You can taste herbs before you have medicine" and "You can also be a five-stringed instrument to teach people to become a market in China". Of course, these inventions are also the collective creations of people in primitive times.

Although Emperor Yanhuang is only a legendary figure, their inventions and creations are also the crystallization of the wisdom of the sons and daughters of the Yellow River in ancient times, as the symbol of the ancestors of the Chinese nation and the embodiment of the founder of Chinese civilization, they are still infinitely respected and missed by future generations. Therefore, in the Yellow River basin and the land outside the Yellow River basin, there have been many legends about the Emperor Yan and Huang, leaving many places of interest related to them. In addition to the Huangdi Mausoleum in huangling county, Shaanxi, Yandi Temple and Yandi Mausoleum in Baoji, the famous ones are Jingling Palace in Qufu, Shandong, Huangdi's hometown in Xinzheng, Henan, Wangwu Mountain Temple of Heaven in Jiyuan, Huangdi City and Huangdi Spring in Lingbao Jingshan, Zhuolu, Hebei, Huangdi Temple and Xuanhuangtai in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, Yuanxuan Palace and Lei Zu Tomb in Yanting, and Xuanyuanfeng in Huangshan, Anhui. Wenwen Palace in Pingliang, Gansu, Xiling Mountain and Lei Zu Temple in Yichang, Hubei, Shennong Temple in Suizhou, Shennong City and Shennong Well in Gaoping, Shanxi, Shennong Wugutai in Huaiyang, Henan, the statue of Emperor Yanhuang in Zhengzhou, Yandi Mausoleum in Yanling County, Hunan, and so on. These long-standing legends and places of interest have played an inestimable role in enhancing the sense of identity of the Chinese nation, inspiring the national pride of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor and enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation.

After the Yellow Emperor, several outstanding tribal leaders appeared in the Yellow River Basin, namely Yao, Shun and Yu. At this time, it was the late period of Longshan culture, and the clan system was about to collapse. Legend has it that Yao, also known as Tao Tangshi, was born in the Fenhe River valley in Shanxi today. Now there is a tablet of "Emperor Yao Maoci Terrace" in Yi Village in the south of Linfen, Shanxi Province, Yao Temple in Yao Temple Village, and Yaoling and Shenju Cave in Linfen County. His life is very simple, and ancient books say that he "does not cut it, but picks the food from the rough, the soup from the quinoa, the fur in winter and the clothes in summer", that is to say, he lives in a simple house built with uncut thatched reeds and shaven rafters, and eats. However, he is very concerned about the people. Some people in the tribe are hungry and cold. He said that he made them hungry and cold, and some people were punished for committing crimes. He said that this was because he didn't discipline well at ordinary times, and he came out to take responsibility himself. Shun, also known as You Yu, was born in Yao Ruins (now northeast of Yuanqu, Shanxi). Legend has it that when he was inspected by Yao before replacing Yao as the leader of the tribal association, he worked in Lishan (another name for Zhongtiaoshan), fished in Leize (now north of Ruicheng, Shanxi Province), made pottery in Taocheng (now north of Puzhou Town, Yongji, Shanxi Province) by the river, and later Yao sealed him in a dangerous place (now southwest of Pinglu, Shanxi Province). After he became the leader of the tribal association, he became Puban (now Puzhou Town). Shun is strict with self-discipline and generous with others. He was framed several times by his stepmother and half-brother, but fortunately, his virtuous wife cleverly devised a plan to save him from danger. However, after he was elected as the leader, he ignored his former enmity and treated his stepmother and brother leniently, so that some of his enemies were moved and bent on doing good. Yu's ancestor is said to have lived in Hetao area, and moved to the western part of Henan Province when Yu lived. He took the world as his responsibility, led the people to control floods and develop production, and was highly praised. Because Yao, Shun and Yu were well managed, the society at that time achieved great development, showing a peaceful and peaceful scene. "The world is at peace, and the people have nothing to do." Therefore, they were respected as sages by future generations.