Historical Records, Chronicles of the Five Emperors, Classic of Mountains and Seas, etc.
It is said that in ancient times, there were two tribes who fought in the Central Plains. Each tribe had a human face and an animal body, with a bronze head and an iron forehead, a ferocious face, holding a golden sword, a bronze axe, and a powerful bow. The other side was holding a wooden stick, a stone ax and a stone knife, looking a little shabby. As soon as the two armies came into contact, they started fighting hand to hand with loud shouts. The former spread poisonous fog and the miasma was heavy; the latter pushed through the fog and rushed to kill, but as soon as they broke out of the haze, they saw yellow sand rolling in from the sky, strong winds, and flying sand and rocks. After the yellow dust passed, the clouds gathered and the rain poured down. At this critical moment, the latter released all the tigers, leopards and bears carried by the army and rushed towards the enemy's formation. Those holding golden knives and bronze axes were frightened out of their wits by the sudden beast. Some had their necks bitten off by the beast's fangs, and their heads were missing. Some had their chests ripped open by the beast's sharp teeth, and blood flowed all over the ground. They were lucky enough to survive. He ran away desperately. This is the scene of the Zhuolu battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chi You in ancient legends.
The battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chi You at Zhuolu (now Zhuozhou, Hebei Province) was the earliest large-scale war in ancient Chinese legends. About 5,000 years ago, several tribal groups were formed in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins. Among them, there are mainly the Huaxia group living in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and its surrounding areas, the Yi group centered on Mount Tai, and the Limiao group living in the central and southern parts of present-day Henan Province as well as the Dongting and Poyang lakes. At that time, people's life was mainly based on hunting and nomadic life. However, the various ethnic groups that penetrated into the Central Plains gradually entered the age of shallow farming due to the loose geology of the loess layer in the Henan Plain, and their lives became increasingly affluent. As a result, they gradually settled down and developed into a clan society.
Conflicts inevitably arise between clans in order to seize pasture land, farmland, and hunt for food. In order to resolve and lead the struggles between various clans, the clan leader (the arbiter of the clan) was born. Emperor Yan's Shennong clan, Shao clan, and Chi You were the leaders of the Xia, Yi, and Li Miao clans respectively. Both the Xia and Li groups are located in the central part of today's Henan Province. The Xia people move from north to south, and the Li people move from south to north. It is inevitable that war will break out between them to compete for pasture and cultivated land in the Central Plains plains.
The Xia tribe, dominated by Emperor Yan, does not have strong internal unity, and tribes often invade each other. The unity of Chi You's clan seems to be relatively strong. In view of the internal strife of the Xia tribe, Chi You led 81 brother clans to launch an offensive war against Emperor Yan. He defeated Emperor Yan in Yugeng (now northern Shandong Province), and ruled some areas of the Xia tribe to become independent, known as Emperor Yan. At a time when the life and death of the Xia tribe was threatened, Huang Di, a tribal leader of the Xia tribe (Historical Records Volume 1 and the Five Emperors) recorded: "The Yellow Emperor, the son of Shaodian", his surname was Gongsun and his name was Xuanyuan. In the early days, the country was founded in Youxiong (now Xinzheng County, Henan Province). area), a clan leader within the Xia group resolutely rose up and called on the Xia tribes to unite to resist the invasion of Chi You of the Li tribe.
The Limiao Group's base was in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and this area was already producing copper and antimony, and used cinnabar to smelt iron, so Chi You could use metal to make weapons. The picture of "Justice Leading the Dragon and Fish River" in the Historical Records of the Five Emperors says: There were 81 Chiyou brothers, with animal bodies and human voices, bronze heads and iron foreheads, who ate sand to build five soldiers, wielded swords, halberds and crossbows, and were powerful in the world. The Yellow Emperor still used stone tools as weapons. Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor ordered people to wield bows, use barbarians as arrows, and peel off wood as soldiers. (Yixi Ci says: "Yellow Emperor, Yao and Shun...stringed wood is used as an arc, and broken wood is used as an arrow. The power of a single arrow is used to command the world.") This shows that the emperor's tribe did not use metal weapons at that time. However, while Huangdi was using stone weapons, he was also able to control oxen and horses and use them to drive battles. Judging from the weapons used by the two clan groups, each has its own advantages. The Li and Miao people use metal weapons, which is good for close combat; while the Xia people mainly rely on stone weapons and bows and swords, which is good for long-distance combat. But in terms of actual combat capabilities, the Xia tribe is far inferior to the Li and Miao tribe.
Before the war, Huangdi knew that the Chiyou tribe used copper weapons and was powerful and difficult to resist. However, it also had a big weakness, that is, it developed from the south and was not familiar with the weather and terrain of the north. In view of the weakness of the Chiyou tribe, Huangdi decided to adopt a strategy of leading the enemy to retreat, that is, not to engage in a decisive battle when contacting the Chiyou tribe at the beginning, but to guide them into an unfamiliar environment and make use of the favorable weather and geographical conditions to increase the life and actions of the Chiyou tribe. Difficult to weaken its strength, and then take advantage of its passiveness and declining combat effectiveness to seize the opportunity and then annihilate it.
According to this idea, after the Yellow Emperor’s tribe came into contact with the Chiyou tribe (possibly in the central part of today’s Henan Province), the Yellow Emperor took the initiative to retreat northward, and the Chiyou tribe immediately followed and pursued them. At that time, the North China Plain was covered by forests, and it was impossible to determine which route the two sides would take to advance or retreat. After the Chiyou tribe entered the Hebei Plain, they encountered a strange environment, uncomfortable climate, language barrier, unknown enemy situation, and lack of food and drinking water. It became increasingly difficult for them to move. The deeper they went, the stranger the environment became, and the casualties and losses could not be replenished, so they felt more mentally threatened. big. After arriving in the northern part of Hebei Province, the Chiyou tribe was extremely tired from the long journey and fell into complete passivity, with their strategic will greatly weakened. On the contrary, the Huangdi tribe was in a very active position because of the favorable time and place. Finally, the Yellow Emperor captured a particularly favorable weather situation in the Zhuolu area, that is, when strong winds were blowing and the yellow sand covered the sky, and the Chiyou tribe was in a coma, he used a compass to indicate the direction and led the tribes whose totems were bears, wolves, leopards, etc. They attacked Chiyou's tribe and defeated them in one fell swoop. Chiyou was captured and killed. At the same time, the tribes dispersed and the war ended.
After the Zhuolu War, China entered a new historical period, which is of even greater significance for today's Han people. The Han people today account for 94% of the country's population and about 1/5 of the world's population. This cannot but be said to have a certain relationship with the achievements of China's first emperor. It has a relationship with the emperor, and it is very important that it originated from this war. The Han ethnic group originally developed from the Chinese ethnic group, and the Chinese ethnic group gradually developed from the Xia ethnic group's assimilation of other ethnic groups over thousands of years. After the Zhuolu War, the Yellow Emperor was supported by all the tribes of the Xia tribe, and his prestige was greatly increased. Some other small tribes around him also surrendered to the Yellow Emperor and respected him as the emperor. Huang Di took advantage of the remaining power of the victory and continued to conquer major events in all directions. "Historical Records" said: "If there are disobedient people in the world, Huangdi will conquer them, and those who are peaceful will be removed." At that time, the Yellow Emperor once "went to Yuhai in the east, climbed Wanshan (now Shandong Province) and Daizong (Mount Tai), faced Kongtong and climbed Jitou in the west (both Kongtong and Jitou are in the west of today's Pingliang County, Gansu), went to Yujiang in the south, and climbed Xiong Xiang (Xiong Mountain is now Xiong'er Mountain in the west of Yiyang County, Hunan; Xiangshan is in the southwest of Yueyang County), and the north is in line with Pushan (now northwest of Zhuolu County, Hebei). It can be seen that the military power of the Yellow Emperor at that time was far beyond that of the Xia people. Some areas reached the scope of activities of the Yi and Li Miao tribes. However, at this time, all tribes were mainly nomadic and migrated from time to time. It cannot be said that fixed national boundaries have been established, but it only reflects the spread of the Yellow Emperor's reputation. As the Yellow Emperor's influence on the surrounding tribes expanded, the Xia clan's influence on other clans also increased. Over time, many surrounding clans either submitted to the Xia clan or were assimilated by the Xia clan. Its population has also continued to increase, which is an important reason for the large Han population today.
After the Zhuolu War, the various clans within hundreds of thousands of miles were intimidated by the emperor's majesty and stayed within their own boundaries and did not dare to start a war easily. In this way, the Central Plains and its surrounding areas became relatively stable, and the activities of each clan became relatively fixed, which caused the clan members to gradually switch from hunting to farming, and people began to make a living from farming. Gradually understand the meaning of labor creation and realize the benefits and happiness of labor creation, which has led to unprecedented development of productivity.