Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 15 The Era of the Yellow Emperor
No matter what the outside world said, Zhu Youjian conscientiously put on the Gongmian robe to perform the ritual of praying to heaven and went to the Fengxian Hall to pay homage to his ancestors. Prepare to determine a new era in the name of heaven after the ministers discuss the results.

The next day, Zhu Youjian went to the Huangji Hall again.

After hearing the progress of the ministers in dealing with Emperor Tianqi's funeral, Zhu Youjian saw them rushing to express their opinions on the chronology. Although there were some objections to the establishment of a new calendar year, they were lost in the public discussion.

Zhu Youjian listened carefully and found that although the opinions expressed by the officials were different, generally speaking, they were of three types: Confucius's year, Huangdi's year, and Ganzhi's year.

Those who support Confucius' chronology are naturally Confucian people, who want to imitate the Christian era and determine the Confucius era.

Those who support the Yellow Emperor's chronology are more complicated. Some are people who believe in Huang-Lao Taoism, some are from the noble sect, and some are trying to figure out the holy will and want to do the emperor's favor.

The idea of ​​​​supporting the chronology of the stems and branches is the simplest. They believe that the existing chronology of the stems and branches is already very good. They only need to select a first year and arrange it with numbers, and there is no need to make any big moves.

The three factions were noisy, and Zhu Youjian did not participate, leaving them to decide the outcome on their own.

In the end, the Confucius Annals was rejected by many literati because it was suspected of turning Confucianism into a religion. After the debate between the Yellow Emperor's chronology and the Ganzhi chronology, they gradually converged and even quoted the Confucian sage theory, so that those who supported Confucius' chronology could not object:

"Kong Yingda's "Shang Shu Zhengyi" says:"

""Shiben" says: 'Rongcheng is used as calendar. Da Nao is used as Jiazi.' Both of them were ministers of the Yellow Emperor. Since the Yellow Emperor came, Jiazi has been used to record dates. Every sixty days, Jiazi is one week."

""Historical Records" says: Gai Huangdi determined the celestial calendar, established the five elements, and started the news, which is the time of leap."

"Since the Yellow Emperor established the calendar using Jiazi to record the days, we can determine the year when the Yellow Emperor established the calendar as the first year, and use the Yellow Emperor to record the year, and use the stems and branches to record the year."

Many unanimous opinions seemed to end the debate. However, because the age of the Yellow Emperor has not been determined for a long time, this is only the beginning of a larger controversy.

There was a lot of discussion around when the Yellow Emperor established the calendar. Some people also suggested that the year when the Yellow Emperor ascended to the throne should be used as the first year, which led to more debates.

Some people calculate forward according to the era of Yao and Shun calculated in "Huangji Jingshi", and some people calculate forward according to "Emperor Century", but it is difficult to determine the year.

In the end, it was Zhu Youjian who had the final say:
""The Book of Rites of Great Dai" says:"

"Zaiwo asked Confucius: 'In the past I heard that Zhu Rongyi said that the Yellow Emperor had three hundred years. May I ask whether the Yellow Emperor was a human being? Or was he not a human being? Why did it last three hundred years?'"

"Confucius said: 'While alive, the people benefited from it for a hundred years; after death, the people feared its gods for a hundred years; after death, the people used its teachings for a hundred years, so it is called three hundred years.'"

"So there is no need to insist on the exact year of the Yellow Emperor's era, as long as it is in the Yellow Emperor's era."

Setting this tone, Zhu Youjian said:
"This year is 4324 years forward, which is the Jiazi year of Tang Yao three hundred years ago. This year is the first year of the Yellow Emperor's Era, and further forward is called the Yellow Emperor's Era."

"The Yellow Emperor's Era is not only marked by numbers, but also marked by stems and branches. This year is the fourth year of the seventy-third cycle of stems and branches, and it is the year of Dingmao."

"So the full name of this year is: Huangdi Era 4324, Apocalypse Seven Years, Ding Mao Year."

"The full name of today is: Jiyou month in the eighth month, Jiwei day on the 26th."

"The Ministry of Rites draws up a sacrificial text to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, the ancestral temple, and the country. If God approves, this will be used to mark the year from now on."

The ministers may have other opinions, but the emperor has spoken and wants to pay tribute to the ancestors of heaven and earth. No matter how many ideas they have, they can only suppress them by force.

In this way, Zhu Youjian used his power as the emperor to suppress other opinions. To prevent people from talking about it and making prophecies. Not only that, Zhu Youjian also officially named the commonly known imperial calendar as the Huangli to make it easier for the people to accept the Yellow Emperor's era. Later, in the process of spreading, people more and more referred to the Yellow Emperor's era as the Huangdi year, and the word "Huangli" became the abbreviation of the Yellow Emperor's era.

Naturally, these changes are not something Zhu Youjian can know today. After confirming the era of the Yellow Emperor, Zhu Youjian immediately ordered the Hanlin Academy to compile "A Brief History of Chinese Chronicles" and "A Brief History of World Chronicles" to record the world from a Chinese perspective. history.

When the officials of the Hanlin Academy heard this, they were immediately excited. Isn't the reason why they support the new chronological system just to leave a name in history? Now Zhu Youjian asked them to compile history books. This is a good opportunity to leave a name in history.

Even several bachelors in the cabinet could not resist this temptation and took the initiative to ask for help.

Although he knew that the four of them were not ideal candidates, in order to repay their contribution in assisting him in ascending to the throne, Zhu Youjian ordered Huang Liji and Zhang Ruitu to preside over the compilation of "A Brief History of Chinese Chronicles", and Shi Fenglai and Li Guopu to preside over the compilation of "A Brief History of World Chronicles" . Let them compile the first version of the brief history as soon as possible and strive to finalize it within the year.

The four of them found it difficult and found it difficult to complete. Zhu Youjian said:
“I don’t want to cover everything, just big things.”

"All deeds must be derived from historical records. If you have any doubts, you can temporarily discard them and leave them to be added and compiled later."

The four of them were even more happy to hear that there was also a complete history. Because they have heard that as long as the brief history is compiled well, they will probably compile the full history in the future. This is a lifelong career for them.

It took Sima Guang nineteen years to compile "Zizhi Tongjian". Although they and we had reference to these historical books when we compiled it, it may have taken longer because there were more historical materials.

The two complete chronicles will definitely allow them to cultivate until they die of old age!

No wonder His Majesty asked them to compile the first version of the brief history and continue to improve it later.

Understanding the emperor's thoughts, the four of them bowed to accept the order, and the emperor and his ministers were in harmony for a while. No matter what happens in the future, as long as these two sets of books are compiled, the five monarchs and ministers can leave their names in history. It left a strong mark in the history books compiled by future generations.

In this way, the tacit understanding between the monarch and his ministers will naturally improve a lot. The rest of the courtiers also praised the emperor greatly. After all, compiling history books demonstrated civility, and they were honored to be participants.

Therefore, as soon as the book repair activity started, Zhu Youjian felt that the courtiers looked at him with a lot of respect, and his position as emperor was naturally more stable. This made him even more enthusiastic about compiling books, and he planned to find more projects when the finances were better in the future, so as to find things for the courtiers to do so that they would not always stare at him.

Zhu Youjian's throne was secure, but those who were eunuchs were even more uneasy. In particular, Li Yongzhen, the eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch who participated in the rebellion and looted the palace during the construction of Prince Xin's palace, filed for illness the next day and wanted to leave the palace to live leisurely.

Suspicious about this, Zhu Youjian summoned Xu Yingyuan and Wang Guotai to discuss how to deal with it.

　The Yellow Emperor's calendar is also called the Taoist calendar and is widely used in Taoism. The conversion method to the Christian era is +2697 AD and +2698 BC.

　　Be careful when you see information about Chinese history using the AD chronology followed by January and December. Some years, months and days are converted to the Western Yuan calendar, and some directly use the zodiac calendar to convert the year, but the month and day are not converted. You need to carefully identify which one it is, and whether it is the year before or the year after.

　　AD 1626: Huangdi Era 4323, the Bingyin year, the sixth year of the Great Ming Dynasty, and the eleventh year of the Later Jin Dynasty (Nurhachi died of illness in August, Huang Taiji/Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne in September).

　　AD 1627: Huangdi Era 4324, the year of Ding Mao, the seventh year of Ming Dynasty (Emperor Tianqi died of illness in August, and Chongzhen succeeded to the throne), and the first year of Houjin Tiancong.

　　AD 1628: Huangdi era 4325, the Wuchen year, the first year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, and the second year of Jin Tiancong.

　　1629 AD: 4326 AD of the Yellow Emperor, the Jisi year, the second year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, and the third year of Hou Jin Tiancong. (The Jisi Incident occurred in October of that year)

　　1636 AD: 4333 years of the Yellow Emperor's era, the year of Bingzi, the ninth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the tenth year of Tiancong of the Later Jin Dynasty, and the first year of Chongde in the Qing Dynasty. Huang Taiji/Huang Taiji ascended the throne of the Qing Dynasty from the Great Khan of Houjin.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)