The past and present lives of the Cheng family, the Chen family, and the Sima family

I believe that many clan members have a certain understanding of the Cheng family genealogy, but when it comes to the life of the fifth ancestor Cheng Xiufu (Xiu father or Xiu Fu), there will be questions.

Cheng Xiufu (Xiu Fu or Xiu Fu) came to the court during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou Dynasty to take charge of the national army. Because of his great achievements in defeating Xu Fang, he was given an official position as his surname, which later became the Cheng and Sima surnames. Divorce your husband (divorce your father or divorce your husband) after the marriage.

Someone has to ask here, you obviously have a Chen family, where did this Chen family come from?

Don’t worry, let me talk about the Three Kingdoms first.

There were several interesting families during the Three Kingdoms period, including the Xun family, Cui family in Yingchuan, the Zhuge family in Langya, and of course, the Cheng family in Dong'a at that time.

Xun Yu and Xun You (assist Cao Cao) - Xun Chen (assist Yuan Shao, persuade Han Fu to give up Jizhou)

Cui Yan (assist Cao Cao) - Cui Jun (assist Yuan Shao)

Zhuge Liang (assist Liu Bei) - Zhuge Jin (assist Sun Quan) - Zhuge Dan (loyal to Wei)

Cheng Yu (assist Cao Cao) - Cheng Pu (assist Sun Quan)

After all, the times are long ago, and these are all figures whose names have been recorded in history. We will not go into the details of the relationship between these people, but they must have relatively close relationships such as brothers, uncles and nephews, such as two sides. Why bet?

This has to be said about the aristocratic family. Troubled times are the end of the aristocratic family's handover. It is a time for the aristocratic family to compete and regain their status. At this time, branch families, concubines, etc. will all give it a try, and some people will always be forced to take the wrong side. This is how the blood exchange of aristocratic families is completed, and those who survive are the direct descendants of the family and the clan. What these ancient families are best at is hedging.

What is hedging? In other words, one cannot be too strong while the other is too weak. At least the strengths of both sides are relatively balanced, so that eggs are not put in one basket. Here are the four generations and five princes (not the "four generations and three princes" mentioned in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but Yuan An, Yuan Chang, Yuan Tang, Yuan Feng, and Yuan Wei) of the Yuan family in Runan. Yuan Shu is the legitimate son of the Yuan family, carrying The fate of the family included the financial resources of the Yuan family, and they started to separatize Yangzhou; while Yuan Shao relied on his family's education and years of support to defeat Gongsun Zan, the first prince in the north at that time. As the last general of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he expelled Yuan Shu and became the head of the Yuan family.

The author's previous article mentioned the "Five Surnames and Seven Hopes" family. Today we will not talk about this. Let's talk about the essence of the family - a family based on blood, power, influence, A wealthy family that has been passed down from generation to generation focusing on fame and financial resources. It evolved from the nobility, so its goal is to return to the aristocratic class, share the world with the emperor, and divide the territory. Yes, history tells us that they basically succeeded. The "Nine Grades of Zhongzheng" proposed by Chen Qun of the Three Kingdoms completely laid the foundation for aristocratic families and noble families.

Chen Qun was from Xuchang, Yingchuan (Xuchang, Henan). Historically, he and Sima Yi were very good friends, but Sima Yi was from Wenxian, Hanoi (now Wenxian, Jiaozuo, Henan), so what was the difference between these two people? Come to meet?

Let us zoom out and look back in time, back to the Spring and Autumn Period.

As one of the two landmark events in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the silent Tian family came to Qi. Everything seemed to be a matter of course. The people of Qi State did not take it seriously, and so did the princes and nobles. It was as if it didn't matter and he didn't make a sound of protest. It all starts with Chen Wan, the founder of the Qi Kingdom of the Tian family.

After King Wu of Zhou destroyed King Zhou of Shang Dynasty, he established the Zhou Dynasty. He found Guiman, the thirty-third generation descendant of Shun, and made Guiman a prince. He also married his eldest daughter Daji to him and granted him the title of prince. The country was in Chen (now in Huaiyang County, Henan Province).

In the late Spring and Autumn Period, a palace coup occurred in the State of Chen. Chen Wan's father, Duke Chen Li, Gui Yue, was murdered. Chen Wan was demoted to a doctor. Soon after, the prince Yu was murdered. Chen Wan was worried about being implicated, so he simply defected to Qi. Duke Huan sought refuge, which is known in history as "the Duke of Huan fled to Qi".

Worried that his high position would cause dissatisfaction among the Qi nobles, Chen Wan declined Duke Huan of Qi’s idea of ??making him a minister, so Duke Huan of Qi named him Gong Zheng and gave him a lot of land. In order to be grateful, Chen Wan changed his surname to "Tian", so Tian's generation of Qi was also called "Tian Chen usurped Qi".

As a foreigner with little family background in Qi State, Chen Wan followed the mentality of "I don't have to be successful" and grew up in a humble way. By the generation of Sun Tianhuanzi, the fourth generation of Chen Wan, after more than a hundred years of With the development, the Lao Tian family not only established a firm foothold in Qi State, but also participated in group games.

Tian Rangzhi, the military god, was born. He led the Qi army to repel the invading armies of Jin and Yan and regained the lost territory. He was one of the ten philosophers of the martial arts temple and one of the seventy-two famous generals in ancient times. He wrote the military book "Sima Fa" 》. It was precisely because of Tian Rangzhi that he was worshiped as Sima, and later generations also called him Sima Rangzhi. Feeling the great virtue of their ancestors, descendants inherited his official position as their surname, namely Sima.

Qi Jinggong was corrupt and extravagant, and was unwilling to open warehouses to provide relief even if there were natural disasters. Qi's official Tian Qi showed kindness to the people through big fights and small fights. Four generations in a row enjoyed this and won the favor of the people of Qi. With support and love, the people's hearts turned to the Tian family and returned to the Tian family. In 386 BC, King Zhou An conferred Tian He as the Marquis of Qi.

In the previous life, the Cheng family and the Chen family were both the mother clan of the Sima family.

In this life, we are brothers from generation to generation, family members from generation to generation.

PS: The real start of clamping down on merchants and various laws restricting merchants began during the Warring States Period, because the ancestors of the Chen family (or Tian family) had played too much and bought them through legal and reasonable transactions. In Qi State, all the merchants of later generations were targeted.