The Xia Dynasty perished. Who did the Shang Dynasty frequently move the capital to avoid? Archaeology shows that the Shang Dynasty did not avoid floods.

The capital is a symbol of state power. Before the Qin Dynasty, the capital usually gathered most of a country's economic, political and military resources. Therefore, the invasion of the capital by hostile forces means the demise of the country.

Therefore, the choice of capital is often the top priority of emerging dynasties, which will affect the whole body. Unless there are major changes, there is no reason to move the capital at will. The capital of Shang Dynasty was almost "casual".

According to the bamboo chronicles, the capital of Xia Dynasty fell from the third monarch Taikang to the last monarch Xia Jie. However, the capital view of Shang Dynasty has the saying of "the first eight and the last five".

The so-called "first eight" refers to the eight migrations from the ancestor contract to Shang Tang's summer extinction before the establishment of Shang Dynasty, and the "last five" refers to the five migrations from Shang Tang's founding to 19 monarch Pan Geng.

Of course, I'm afraid there is still the possibility of missing records in these five times, because in the past 100 years, only the Oracle bones and related remains from Wuding period were found, and there were no unearthed objects from Pan Geng, Xiao Xin and Xiaoyi periods.

Shang tribes originated in the northeast of China until the capital Anyang (Yin Ruins), and the tombs of Yin Shang nobles still maintained the custom of burying their heads in the northeast. Before the establishment of Shang Dynasty, there were no tiger-shaped bronzes in the Central Plains, and the northeast tiger found in Yin Ruins also proved that the birthplace of merchants was the northeast.

Therefore, the eight times of moving the capital from Qi to Qi can be regarded as the strategy of the Shang tribe to move south of the Central Plains for the purpose of development and growth. This is also in line with the basic law of national migration since the Neolithic Age.

At present, archaeology has confirmed that around 1750 BC, the ruling core of the Central Plains was in the Erluo Plain, where Erlitou site, the central area of Xia culture, was discovered.

Cultural archaeological remains of Shang Dynasty are composed of Xiaqiyuan culture in Zhanghe Valley, Hebei Province (pre-Shang Dynasty), Erligang culture in Zhengzhou and Yanshi (early Shang Dynasty) and Yinxu culture in Anyang (late Shang Dynasty), which clearly depicts the evolution process of Shang Dynasty from Fangguo to Kingdom and from Northeast to Hebei.

In the fourth period of Erlitou culture (1560- 1520), Erlitou site has degenerated from the capital to an ordinary settlement, while Zhengzhou Mall and Yanshi Mall, which are close at hand, have sprung up. Complex palace buildings and bronze ritual vessels witnessed the germination of new forces.

Erlitou culture and Erligang culture, represented by Zhengzhou Mall, are cultural relics created by two different nationalities, and this chronological order confirms the Dingge incident recorded in the history books of Xia and Shang Dynasties.

In other words, at this time, the Shang tribe represented by Shang Tang had captured the core area of the Central Plains and established a brand-new ruling order with Shang as the core.

The archaeological excavation report shows that the circumference of the wall of Zhengzhou Mall is nearly seven kilometers, the excavation amount is1700,000 cubic meters, and the rammed soil amount is 870,000 cubic meters. According to the calculation of building a city with 65438+100000 people every day, it will take at least 8 years for a city wall of this scale.

Whether Zhengzhou Mall is the original capital of Shang Tang is still controversial. But the huge scale of Zhengzhou Mall shows at least one thing, that is, the Shang Dynasty did intend to build its capital in the hinterland of the Central Plains for a long time in the early days.

But strangely, since the tenth monarch of the Shang dynasty, the Shang dynasty began to migrate like a nomadic people.

According to Records of Historical Records, "Zhong Ding ascended the throne, from Bo to Tao, and from Tao to Xiang, his ancestors lived in asylum, Nangeng moved from asylum to election, and Pan Geng moved from election to North Mongolia, which was called Yin".

The geographical features of Tao, Xiang and Xuan are not beyond the scope of Shandong and Henan provinces, but the overall orientation is from south to north, from the hinterland of the Central Plains to Anyang in northern Henan, until King Wu of Zhou fell and the Shang Dynasty perished.

In this regard, Guo Jingyun, a famous expert in pre-Qin history, once questioned: "Geographically, the route from Yan Zheng to Yin Ruins does not conform to the trend of civilization change and development. Yan Zheng's geographical location, soil quality, climate and other environmental conditions are more suitable for farming than Yin Ruins. "

More than one hundred years have passed since Shang Tang's time, and the Xia Dynasty has perished, so there is no possibility of restoration. So why did Shang Dynasty, as a farming regime, give up the vast Ilo Plain and move to Anyang, where the land was relatively barren?

At present, the most direct record about the reason why the Shang Dynasty moved the capital frequently comes from Shangshu Pan Geng: "Today, my people have left their homes, and there is no fixed pole." Yimei in the Eastern Jin Dynasty explained in the Ancient History of Confucius that "water springs are addicted to it, so wandering away from home is unstable". Since then, "flood theory" has become the most influential statement.

However, there is an unexplained contradiction in this view: since the capital of Shang Dynasty was seriously flooded, why did Pan Geng meet with the resistance of the nobles when he proposed to move the capital? If the capital was moved because of the flood, why did it go up to five times? Is the flood chasing the capital of Shang Dynasty?

Archaeology shows that during the transition from Erlitou culture to Erligang culture, no signs of flood were found in Luo Yi Plain. Before Pan Geng, the only monarch who suffered from the flood was Zu Ti, which was recorded as "Zu Ti was buried in Geng (destroyed by the river)", but this flood did not lead to the Shang Dynasty moving its capital, until Zu Ti's grandson Nangeng moved, only three generations and five kings separated.

There were also floods during the Wuding period. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's "Qi Huan Zhazi City Disaster" unearthed in the Yin Ruins clearly mentioned that the flooding of Huan water was a disaster in the Yin capital. But as we all know, the capital of Shang Dynasty in Wuding period has been in Yinxu, Anyang, and has not migrated.

This just shows that the Shang Dynasty did not move the capital to avoid the flood.

So why did the Shang Dynasty keep moving? What are they afraid of?

Let's take a look at the clue given in Historical Records: "When Yin Dao declines, the princes may not ... too much martial arts revives Yin, and the princes return to it ... When the river is in Jia, Yin declines ... When the ancestors are in Jia, Yin declines ...".

It can be seen that the Shang Dynasty after Shang Tang did not experience a parabolic development from birth to prosperity and then to decline, like most later dynasties, but a curve that changed repeatedly between ups and downs.

Sima Qian summed it up as "since Zhong Ding, he abandoned his post to become an apprentice and the disciples fought for it", which was called "Nine Chaos", that is, the chaos of succession to the throne in Shang Dynasty led to its ups and downs.

But I'm afraid this is the conclusion that the model of "father died and son succeeded" was imposed on Shang Dynasty by later generations. In fact, the succession to the throne in Shang Dynasty was originally a combination of "brothers" and "father and son handed down from generation to generation".

According to the unearthed Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Zhong Ding passed it on to his younger brother Wairen after his death, and then passed it on to his younger brother He Jiajia after his death. After He Jia's death, the throne returned to Zu Yi, the son of Zhong Ding (recorded in history books, corrected by Oracle Bone Inscriptions), Zu Xin, Zu Xin and Zu Ding, the son of Zu Xin.

It can be seen that during the so-called "nine-day rebellion", the throne of the Shang Dynasty was passed down from generation to generation in a very orderly manner, and no "chaos" was found. It's always the younger brother who passes on the younger brother, but the younger brother doesn't.

According to the research of Peking University Sinian Ancient Civilization Research Center, among the bronzes unearthed in Zhengzhou Mall and Yanshi Mall, the proportion of weapons is 15%, and the proportion of ritual vessels is 80%, while the proportion of weapons in Yin Ruins is just the opposite, which is several times that of Yan Zheng Ruins.

In addition, the number of human martyrs found in the ruins of the early Shang Dynasty is usually single digits, while the number of human martyrs found in the Yin ruins of the late Shang Dynasty is not only huge, but also includes Mongolian, Pacific black, Caucasian white and Eskimo.

This shows that every time the Shang Dynasty moved its capital, it was accompanied by the prosperity of military wars and the expansion of internal areas. In other words, the Shang dynasty moved its capital for a military purpose, that is, to expand its territory.

After moving to Zhengzhou, Henan Province, the wars that followed were "Levying Lanyi" (now southeast of Shaanxi Province), "Levying Ban" (now county of Shandong Province) and "Levying Danyang Rong" (now west of Qufu City, Shandong Province). After moving to Yin, there was Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

After the accumulation of manpower and material resources to a certain extent, the Shang Dynasty developed and expanded outward, and this expansion was not an expedition, but a direct move to the surrounding conquered areas, which was quite similar to the intention of Ming Chengzu to cut Mobei in five or five years after he moved his capital to Beijing.

However, after the Shang Dynasty moved its capital to Yin, it didn't move it again, because the problem of "Dongyi" has never been solved. Until the rule of the last monarch, Zhou Wang, the main direction of Shang Dynasty was Dongyi and Huaiyi.

Therefore, moving the capital is precisely the unique embodiment of the Shang Dynasty military empire.