"Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?"
What inspiring and powerful words! They're so cool they could almost be ranked among the "Top Ten Classic Quotes of Ancient China"! How could such a resounding slogan possibly have come from illiterate peasants like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang? Anyway, as far as Duanmu Ci knows, the original author of this phrase was a great sage from the Mohist school, supposedly a direct descendant of Mozi… In fact, in that feudal era, only the Mohists possessed such a simple concept of "equality," since they also advocated selecting rulers through "elections."
After having a guiding outline, some additional preparatory work was needed, such as stirring up public sentiment. The ancients were very superstitious and believed strongly in so-called divine will. When Chen Sheng and Wu Guang decided to rise up, someone found a piece of silk inside a fish with the words "Chen Sheng is King" written on it!
Then, when I was sleeping that night, I heard a fox howling in the grass, saying, "The Great Chu will rise, and Chen Sheng will be king!"
The next day, Chen Sheng went to a "diviner," a fortune teller, to have his fortune told. Since everyone was an actor, the result was naturally very auspicious!
That's what Sima Qian wrote, but in reality... he was too naive.
First of all, the story of finding silk cloth inside a fish's belly is quite intriguing. Silk cloth... are you kidding me! What a precious material silk cloth was! In ancient times, it could be used directly as currency! Only extremely wealthy families would use silk cloth to write on very occasionally! Could a few poor people doing hard labor afford it? And even know how to write on it? It's truly absurd...
And then there's that "diviner," whose origins are also very unclear. Like the white-bearded old man in all myths and legends, he appears out of nowhere, mutters some mystical predictions about the future, and then disappears. I don't know how he became so powerful; he's like an NPC in a game...
All of the above, whether it was the silk cloth inside the fish's belly, the fox's cry in the grass, or the so-called "diviner," were actually the work of the Yin-Yang School. The Yin-Yang School was most skilled at playing these kinds of tricks, and the people believed in them the most, so it was most appropriate to let the Yin-Yang School do this!
The subsequent conquest and expansion of territory naturally fell under the purview of military strategists, as that was their primary function. Without the assistance of great military sages, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, like small ripples, would have been swept away by the overwhelming tide of the Qin Empire long ago; they would have had no room for arrogance whatsoever.
In the Dazexiang uprising, people across the country responded one after another, and in a short time, the flames of war spread throughout the land... But in reality, it wasn't that fast. If it weren't for the strategists who colluded and mediated among them, the nobles of the six states wouldn't have reacted so quickly. After all, the Qin Empire was at its zenith, and without the strong instigation of the strategists, they wouldn't have made the decision to restore their kingdoms so quickly.
As for why Chen Sheng and Wu Guang died later?
Of course they had to die. These two peasants were merely cannon fodder pushed out by the princes; victory was good, but defeat wouldn't implicate anyone else. However, since they had already won, the position of leader of the rebel army naturally wouldn't be given to these two lowly people. Otherwise, how would the noble royal families of the six kingdoms present themselves? So, their deaths were inevitable…
Duanmu Ci only learned later that the assassin was apparently a strongman from a farming family, and the murder weapon was a hoe...
The various schools of thought cooperated and worked together to defeat the powerful Qin state...
And now, these terrifying and ancient schools of thought still circulate on this land, as evidenced by the letter Duanmu Ci holds in his hand! (To be continued...)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
