Why does Lord Ye want to be a "dragon"?

Among the numerous Lingyin in Chu, if Sun Shuai is the first, then Ye Gongzi should be the second. But from the point of fame, Ye Gongzi is much bigger than Sun Shuai. Not to mention that the place names of Yexian County under Zeng Zhi's rule have not changed for more than two thousand years, which is the most powerful testimony of his selfless and diligent concept of serving the people and being an official. The story of China people's familiar idiom "Ye Gong Long Hao" made him famous and controversial.

Ye Gong, formerly known as Shen Zhuliang, was born about 550 BC. He was a famous politician, strategist and thinker in the Spring and Autumn Period. In 524 BC, Shen Zhuliang was called Lord Ye in history. He is the first official of Yedi since written records in the history of China.

"Formerly known as leaf. His real name is Shen Zhuliang, and he is an outstanding Chu royal family. Great-grandfather was one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period, and his father Shen made great contributions to the war neutrality.

The 24-year-old was named Yin. According to historical research, during Ye's administration, he adopted the policy of recuperating with the people, raising troops to help the people and developing agriculture, which greatly increased his national strength. Because of its outstanding performance, it was highly praised by the ruling and opposition parties and local governors of Chu State.

Ye Gong, as the first chief executive of China since written records. He vigorously built water conservancy projects and advised farmers to plant mulberry. Dongxipier, built by the people, can irrigate hundreds of thousands of mu of farmland, which is one of the earliest irrigation projects in China history and has played a great role in promoting the economic development of leafy land.

At that time, shortly after Ye Gong took office in Ye Yi, he learned that the floods there were serious and the people were suffering. Because bamboo slips are not suitable for drawing water conservancy construction drawings, he can only draw ditches with his own walls as drawings. In addition, considering that the Dragon King is a supernatural god in charge of clouds and rainfall, Ye Gong painted dragons on every outlet and called them "faucets" to ensure good weather.

Ye Gong's diligent deeds for the people were praised by the local people, and more and more guests came to visit him. One of the guests said to Ye Gong when he saw Ye Gong's water conservancy picture scroll "Like a Dragon": Clouds are born of dragons, and there are no clouds in the dragon you painted. Ye Gong told the guests: "I painted the dragon to draw water, and I didn't want it to fly."

However, when the man left the gate of Ye Gong's house, he said to everyone, "Everyone knows that dragons can walk on clouds, but Ye Gong painted dragons instead of clouds, which shows that he doesn't really like dragons." In the Han Dynasty, according to this incident, scholar Liu Xiang wrote a joke about "Ye Gong saw the dragon and left" in his new preface Miscellaneous Matters, which became the source of the saying that Ye Gong loved the dragon in later generations.

Author Liu Xiang's "New Preface": "Ye Gongzi is tall and good at dragons. He hooks to write dragons, chisels to write dragons, and engraves them in rooms to write dragons. In this way, when he was known by the dragon in the sky, he fell from the sky to Ye Gong's home. Someone visited him on the windowsill, and his dragon tail reached into the hall. When Ye Gong saw a dragon, he turned around and ran away, scaring him like a lost soul, terrified and unable to control himself. Ye Gong is not a good dragon, and a good husband is like a dragon rather than a dragon. "

This means that Ye Gong likes dragons very much. The hooks on his clothes are engraved with dragons, the hip flask and wine glass are engraved with dragons, and the eaves of the house are engraved with dragons. He was so fascinated by dragons that he was known by the real dragons in the sky, and then descended from the sky to Ye Gong's home. The dragon head is placed on the window sill to visit, and the dragon tail extends into the hall. When Ye Gong saw that it was a real dragon, he turned and ran away in fear, just like losing his soul. His face suddenly changed and he could hardly control himself. From this point of view, Ye Gong doesn't really like dragons! He only likes those things that look like dragons!

Liu Xiang (about 77-6 BC), formerly known as Gengsheng, was the fourth grandson of Liu Jiao, the younger brother of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang. Pei county (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu province) people. Confucian classics, bibliographers and writers in the Western Han Dynasty.

Apart from the idiom "Ye Gong loves dragons", I am afraid that Ye Gong's greatest contribution to traditional culture is a big talk he started. Another person in this conversation is the sage Confucius. Confucius traveled around the world and came to Chu, where he was warmly received by Ye Gong. It should be said that Ye Gong's warm hospitality ended Confucius' drift from place to place in other countries and basically let Confucius settle down.

On one occasion, Lord Ye told Confucius a story: There was a man in the State of Chu whose father stole a sheep from others, so this man reported his father to the government, and his father was arrested and sentenced by the government. This story is also recorded in Han Feizi. Ye Gong told Confucius this story in order to tell Confucius that the Chu people were "advanced" and that national law was supreme.

After listening to this story, Confucius told another story: in Confucius' hometown of Shandong, there was also a man whose father stole sheep, but this man did not report his father to the government, but hid the crime for his father. Then Confucius said a sentence that has influenced China society for thousands of years: "The father is the son, and the son is the father, straight in it." If a son or father commits a crime, it is justice for the father to hide it for his son, or for the son to hide it for his father, but it is not justice to expose the father or son.

The fundamental difference between Confucius and Ye Gong lies in which is more important, family relations or national laws. Ye Gong chose the national law and Confucius chose the family. In Confucius' view, consanguinity is a higher level of natural justice than national laws. Ancient Roman jurisprudence distinguished divine law, natural law and human law. If the national law is a "personal law" formulated by people, then family relations are a "natural law" endowed by nature (approximately equal to the "justice" of China people). When consanguinity conflicts with national law, human national law should also give way to natural justice. Because the blood relationship based on nature is higher than the social relationship based on compulsion. In case of conflict with the law, family relations should take precedence over the law. This is Confucius' theory of justice.

It is conceivable that Confucius was on a whim and returned disappointed. The historic meeting broke down because of their differences in political views. This conversation is not only a dialogue between two celebrities, but also a collision between Taoism and Confucianism. The controversy between Taoism and Legalism represented by Ye Gong and Confucianism represented by Confucius had a far-reaching impact on later generations.

This has much to do with the appearance of the fable "Ye Gong Long Hao". As we all know, for a long time after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, including Wen Wen and Han Jing, who initiated the "rule of culture and scenery", all adopted the thoughts of Taoism and Legalism to govern the country. It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty began to adopt Zhong Shu's suggestion, "oust a hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone". Since then, Confucianism has become the only ruling ideology in China's feudal society. It is a great turning point in China's history to "oust a hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone". Since then, people's minds have been stuck at the bottom.

The idiom "Ye Gong Hao Long" came into being under such a social background, which obviously has the factors of slandering Ye Gong and suppressing Taoist thought.

In Confucius' remarks, we can easily find that in his eyes, family ties are always above the law. In Gao's eyes, the law is supreme, everyone is equal before the law, and no one is allowed to distort the law. At that time, Chu was indeed such a status quo. This also reflects from one side that Chu was completely different from the northern vassal States in the judicial field.

This issue has been controversial since ancient times. We don't care who is right or wrong. Grassroots believe that both views have their own reasons for existence. However, the grassroots have raised a question whether the corruption of officials, which has been repeatedly banned since ancient times, is directly or indirectly related to the so-called concept of "hiding relatives" advocated by Confucius.

what do you think?