Why is it said that "the emperor comes from the north and the prime minister comes from the south"

I only know that "emperors come from the north, and talents come from the south."

Since Qu Yuan, poets, writers, and painters have mostly appeared in Jiangnan, and the talents from Jiangnan are famous all over the world. In fact, this is not only true in ancient times, but also in modern times, most great writers are from the south. In the history of modern literature, Lu (Lu Xun), Guo (Guo Moruo), Mao (Mao Dun), Ba (Ba Jin), Lao (Lao She), and Cao (Cao Yu) Most of the six large families and several small families are also located in the south.

As for the feudal emperors, they are even more interesting. They all seem to be in the north. Starting from the first emperor of Qin, Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, was a native of Fengyi, Peixian County, which is now Pei County, Jiangsu Province; Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was a native of Caiyang, Nanyang, which is now part of Zaoyang County, Hubei Province. Although it is located at the junction of north and south, In people's minds, it should be counted as the north; Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin was born in a military officer family in Luoyang, Henan; there is no need to go into details about Genghis Khan and Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty; Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was a native of Zhongli County, Haozhou, which is now part of Anhui Province Fengyang County should also be counted as northerners; as for the Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty in China's feudal era, like the Yuan Dynasty, its rulers all came from the far north.

The above-mentioned emperors were the founding emperors of major dynasties in China. As for the other revolving emperors who emerged during the war period, they either came directly from the north, or their ancestors were also from the north for several generations. In short, the vast majority were from the north. People, and their ancestral homes are relatively concentrated, mostly distributed along both sides of the canal.

Is it true that the feng shui is different and the place is different? Actually, it depends on how you say it. If you view Feng Shui as a feudal superstitious thing, of course it has nothing to do with Feng Shui; but if you understand Feng Shui in a broad sense and regard Feng Shui as a human geography thing, and even have some geopolitical overtones, then it has something to do with Feng Shui. In ancient Chinese society, the north was developed earlier and had a precocious culture. The social system and patriarchal concepts were more rigorous, developed and mature than those in the south. For most of the time, the north was not only the political and cultural center, but also the economic center. In the center, the northerners were brave and good at fighting. Therefore, changes in dynasties usually occurred in the north, which led to more emperors in the north. On the contrary, social rule, patriarchal rule, and ideological rule in the South are relatively weaker than in the North. Therefore, people's ideas are more liberated and active. In today's terms, the relatively loose political environment makes it easy to create great writers. It is easy to promote great works. There is another aspect that cannot be ignored. Confucius said: "The benevolent are happy in the mountains, and the wise are happy in the water." Although there are only these eight words, the profound truth contained in them is eternal. On the surface, Confucius's words mean that kind people like mountains and mountains, and wise people like rivers and streams. But in fact, they describe two types of wisdom. One is a benevolent person, and the other is a wise person. The wisdom of a benevolent man is as solid as mountains and mountains, but the wisdom of a wise man is as changeable as rivers and streams. From this, it can be seen that places with many rivers and lakes are the geographical environment that create wise men, while the mountains and plains and grasslands are the geographical environment that creates wise men. Deserted places are the geographical environment that creates benevolent people. Even modern science does not deny the influence of geographical environment on people's character and intelligence.

Benevolent people tend to engage in politics, while wise people tend to engage in literature and art. It seems that the emergence of scholars from the south and emperors from the north is not only a social necessity, but also a geographical necessity.

The benevolent and the wise are just two types of wisdom, and there is absolutely no distinction between them. Scholars and emperors are also two different social roles. In terms of their functions, there is actually no distinction between superior and inferior. , it’s just that it’s easy for people to see that emperors enjoy glory and wealth and wield the power of life and death, but they fail to see that scholars and literati are uncrowned kings and the masters of the social spirit. However, it must be noted that scholars, scholars or literati are incompatible with emperors, and literati and scholars will never be the founding emperor of the country. The reasons are as follows: First, the way of sages and sages learned by literati and scholars is for the purpose of governing the country, not for governing the country. In order to build a country, the sages teach people to cultivate their moral character and cultivate their character, but never teach people to rebel.

Second, the moral ideals represented by literati and scholars are always ahead of social reality. They can only always stand in front of reality to summon, lament, and lament the social reality behind them, instead of advocating rebellion or building on heaps of bones. Build a new dynasty palace. Third, scholars and literati grew up in studies, and their ears were filled with the teachings of sages and sages. They lacked social training, so they lacked the ambition, snobbery, deceit, cunning, sophistication, scoundrels, shamelessness, viciousness, and even consciencelessness that were necessary for the founding emperors. .

Serial: Reading History is Knowledgeable Author: Leng Chengjin Publisher: Nanhai Publishing Company Fourth, China has always been a country where scholars and emperors are separated, and literati and officials are separated. Scholars and literati, not to mention becoming emperors, even if they become officials, they often lose the character of scholars and only have official character. The ideal morality represented by scholars and literati has given way, and the way of being an official often trumps everything else. Fifth, literati scholars often had a high status in ancient social life, so it was often not literati scholars who initiated rebellion. Therefore, such a strange phenomenon occurred in ancient Chinese society. A truly benevolent and intelligent person could not become the founding emperor. Most of the people who became the founding emperor belonged to these two types of people: one was a gangster, and the other was a powerful man. Because gangsters had no scruples, There is power in being powerful. However, in such a large historical environment, a scholar-emperor happened to appear. He combined the two different personalities of scholar and emperor to create a kind of monster. From the success and failure process of this scholar-emperor, we can see many interesting things.

There was a short dynasty between the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was the Wang Mang New Dynasty that lasted for eighteen years. General historical works do not mention this dynasty much, considering it as a transitional stage between the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, and a temporary interruption of the Han Dynasty. In fact, this should still be regarded as an independent dynasty, not only because Wang Mang officially proclaimed himself emperor, but also because he took control of the actual political power and promulgated and implemented many important policies and decrees. Wang Mang of the new dynasty was a unique scholar-emperor in Chinese history who came to the throne from a scholar through a peaceful way of becoming an official. In the first year of Emperor Yongshi of the Han Dynasty, that is, 16 BC, Wang Mang was granted the title of Marquis of the New Capital because he was the nephew of the Queen Mother. At this time, Wang Mang was thirty years old. Another seven or eight years later, Wang Mang saw the opportunity and exposed a series of conspiracies by the deposed Empress Xu, together with Wang Chang and Wang Rong, who hoped to become queen again. Wang Gen, the former Chief Sima, recommended him and became the Chief Sima. From then on, Wang Mang began to This led to his life of fame and glory.

Xinmang "Dabu Huangqian" Copper Coin Wang Mang became the Great Sima and was determined to surpass his superiors in reputation. Therefore, he treated the virtuous corporal, recruited celebrities as his staff, and acted as an extremely clean and honest man. Whenever he received a reward from the court, he would give it all to the guests and staff without taking any of it himself. In life, he was also extremely frugal, wearing shabby clothes and eating plain meals, almost like ordinary people. No different. Once, Wang Mang's mother was ill, and the princes and marquises from the imperial court sent their wives to visit them. They were all dressed in silk and satin, with jewelry on their heads. Wang Mang's wife hurried out to greet her, wearing coarse clothes and not much clothes. Mopping the floor, her skirt barely reached her knees. The guests thought she was a servant girl of the Wang family. After quietly asking others, they found out that she was Wang Mang's wife. Wang Mang's family entertained guests with very thoughtful etiquette, but it was only a cup of tea. Since then, Wang Mang began to have a reputation for being honest and frugal.

Not only that, Wang Mang also won the reputation of a straight minister. Once, the Empress Dowager Wang held a banquet and invited Empress Dowager Fu, Empress Dowager Zhao, Empress Ding and others to gather together. The official in charge placed a chair in the middle of the seat for Empress Dowager Gui to sit on, and placed another chair next to it. Empress Dowager Fu sat down, while the others lined up on both sides. At this time Wang Mang walked in and asked loudly: "Why do you assume that Wang Mang is a scholar after all? If he gave up his persistent pursuit of Confucianism, he might be a successful emperor. Two seats?" The official in charge replied: "One One belongs to the Empress Dowager, and the other belongs to the Empress Dowager Fu. "Wang Mang said: "The Empress Dowager Fu is a concubine, how can she sit with the Supreme Being? Get down quickly!" When the Empress Dowager Fu heard that her seat was removed, she did not come. Attend a banquet.

Later, Empress Dowager Fu coerced Emperor Ai to remove Wang Mang. Wang Mang heard the news and immediately asked for removal. Emperor Ai did not try to persuade him to stay. In this way, Wang Mang returned to his new capital. However, although this incident caused him to be dismissed from office, it won him more reputation. The public believed that Wang Mang had the style of an ancient minister. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, everything seemed to be very corrupt. If nothing else, just one incident of Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty doting on men was enough to illustrate. Dong Xian's father was a censor, so Dong Xian was able to sacrifice his life for the crown prince. He was only fifteen or sixteen years old at the time. Later, Emperor Ai accidentally saw him in the palace and thought he was a woman disguised as a man. At the first sight, he fell in love with him. Falling in love, coupled with Dong Xian's habit of speaking softly and flirting, made Emperor Ai favor him even more, so that the two of them ate and slept in the same bed, becoming inseparable. Later, even Dong Xian's sister and wife took turns sleeping with Emperor Ai. Dong Xian's family is also rising rapidly. It is really the only one who invites favors, and the family is full of princes and princes. Emperor Ai's love for Dong Xian reached the point of obsession. One day, Emperor Ai and Dong Xian were taking a nap together. Emperor Ai woke up first. Seeing that Dong Xian was still sleeping, he wanted to get up quietly. Unexpectedly, his sleeves were held down by Dong Xian. In order not to wake Dong Xian, Emperor Ai actually cut off his sleeves and stood up. From this incident, we can know that the government cannot help but be corrupted and the country cannot help but weaken. It was under this circumstance that Wang Mang usurped the throne step by step through bureaucrats.