The Yan Emperor and the Yellow Emperor are in a continuous relationship. The relationship between the Yan Emperor Shennong clan and the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan clan is that of the same ancestors and successive generations. They each represent an era. They are neither father and son, nor brothers, nor are they from different races. The war between Yan and Huang was a battle between annexation and counter-annexation, control and counter-control within the tribal alliance. It was a battle for leadership, that is, the status of alliance leader. It was a civil war, not a national war. Their gradual integration and unification formed the great Chinese nation.
"Book of Han" and "White Tiger Tongyi" almost copy the original text: "After the death of Fuxi, it was written by Shennong. After the death of Shennong, it was written by Huangdi, Yao and Shun." "Yue Jue" The book "Ji Ni Neijing" says: "The Emperor Yan ruled the world and passed it on to the Yellow Emperor." "Doctrine" written by Cai Yong of the Eastern Han Dynasty recorded: "The Book of Changes says: The emperor was born from earthquakes. The earthquake was caused by wood. The beginning of the Mixi clan. The virtue of wood leads to the king of the world. The virtue of wood creates fire, so the Mixi family is gone, and the Shennong family is succeeded by the virtue of fire. The virtue of metal is followed by water, so Shaohao's family is gone, and the virtue of water is followed by wood, so Zhuanxu's family is succeeded by wood, so Emperor Ku's family is succeeded by wood. Emperor Yao succeeded it with the virtue of fire. Fire produced earth, so Emperor Shun succeeded it with earth virtue. Earth produced gold, so Xia Yu succeeded it with gold virtue. Metal produced water, so Yin Tang followed it with water virtue. Water produces wood, so Zhou Wu followed it with the virtue of wood; wood produced fire, so Gaozu followed it with the virtue of fire." Cai Yong used the theory of five elements to explain the change of dynasties, from Fuxi to Han Dynasty. Here, we can also see that in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the inheritance relationship between Yan and Huang was not in dispute and was relatively consistent.
There are other sayings in historical records.
The first is "brother theory". This is mainly caused by a record in "Guoyu". "Guoyu·Jinyu" said: "In the past, Shaodian married the Youyu family and gave birth to Huangdi and Yandi. The Yellow Emperor was born from Ji water, and the Yandi was born from Jiang water. The virtues vary, so the Yellow Emperor was Ji and the Yandi was Jiang. The two emperors used them as teachers. The reason for mutual aid is due to different virtues." At first glance, Huangdi and Yandi are two brothers born from Shaodian and Youyu. Not really. "Emperor Century" records this in the text about the Yellow Emperor: "The Yellow Emperor had a Xiong family, the son of Shaodian, and his surname was also Ji. His mother was named Fu Bao, and his ancestor was Emperor Yan's mother. There was a daughter of the Xiong family, who was born with Shaodian. The family name was married, so "Guoyu" also called it "Yan". At the end of Shennong's family, Shaodian's family also took Fubao,... Huangdi was born in Shouxiu and grew up in Jishui, so he took it as his surname. "This is why "Guoyu" narrates that. I understand the place clearly.
The second is the "same generation theory". This is mainly due to the ambiguity caused by the record in "Historical Records": "At the time of Xuanyuan, the Shennong family declined", "Xuanyuan... fought with Emperor Yan in the wilderness of Banquan, fought three times, and then achieved his ambition", " The princes Xianxian respected Xuanyuan as the Son of Heaven, and replaced the Shennong clan as the Yellow Emperor," and so on. Many subsequent historical records have corrected the inaccuracies stated in "Historical Records". "Hanshu Lulizhi" records: Huangdi "battled with Emperor Yan at Banquan, and then became king of the world." This means that the battle between Yan and Huangbanquan was not a battle between Huangdi and Yandi, but a battle between Huangdi and Yandi. "Three Emperors" says: "Eight generations after Emperor Yan, the Xuanyuan family took his place for more than five hundred years." It should be said that Emperor Yan and Emperor Huang were not contemporaries, which should be said to be very clear.