Talk about the troublesome things about status

Waging a war in ancient times required a well-known teacher. Marriage between a man and a woman requires a matchmaker. In the ancient Chinese system of monogamy and multiple concubines, no matter how favored the concubines were, they would not have the title and status of wives. Just like what we have seen in film and television works, a group of concubines in the harem must do their homework every day to pay greetings to the queen. It seems that the queen's status is still very important.

It seems that the perspective of saying whether status is important or not is a bit narrow. Let’s take a wider angle. Let’s talk about the troublesome things about status in ancient times.

In the era of Yao, Shun and Yu, status was obtained through abdication, and the basis of abdication was the support of the abdicater himself as a virtuous person. During this period, it is easy to obtain status. It is like passing flowers by beating a drum. The next worthy person takes over and then passes it on to the next worthy person. During this period, there were not many fights due to status issues. It seems that the status is there, those who are not worthy enough do not care about it, and those who are worthy enough are working hard.

In the subsequent era, it was said that King Zhou of the Yin and Shang Dynasties was stupid and immoral, and King Wen of Zhou raised a banner to uphold justice for heaven and overthrew his rule. At the moment of success and fame, Jiang Taigong spoke for heaven, rewarded people based on their merits, and conferred various titles on the gods. He became the distributor of titles and had the right to name them. Jiang Taigong was still very grand, and he also made his archrival and junior brother Shen Gongbao a god. However, he did not leave a name for himself, but he left behind an eternal legend, "When Jiang Taigong fishes, those who wish to take the bait will take the bait."

It turns out that gods also care about their status, so they should return to the secular world. Nowadays, we are all sensitive to one word, that is, "first". This should also be a matter of status. First Emperor, okay, this hat is not small. In order to fight for this first place, King Yingzheng of Qin destroyed the six countries and achieved the first great unification in the history of the Chinese nation. The cars tracked the same track and the books wrote the same text. Unfortunately, status can sometimes be harmful. Before becoming the first emperor, he had experienced the assassination of King Qin by Jing Ke who had seen Tuqiongdong. After becoming the first emperor, he had faced the attack of Zhang Liang from Bolangsha. For the sake of status, the grudges were too deep. After the temporary suppression, Qin II died.

Later, status became a powerful weapon of destruction. "It is better to use the remaining brave men to chase the poor bandits, and not to use fame as a learned overlord." Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, pursued status and fame, which offended the benevolence of women. Liu Bang was let go, and finally had to end with the touching Farewell My Concubine, Wu Jiang committed suicide. Fame is really killing people invisible. We can also talk about status as reputation. In fact, we can still learn from Liu Bang's utilitarianism and not be burdened by fame.

Having said that, Liu Bang also cares about his status. When Liu Bang was still the head of the pavilion, he got drunk and killed a big snake. The passers-by who accompanied Liu Bang encountered an old woman crying. The old woman said that the big snake he killed was her son, the son of the White Emperor. He transformed into a snake and blocked the road. In the middle, now he was killed by the son of the Red Emperor, so he cried. After everyone listened, they were in awe of Liu Bang. Perhaps this is a story that Liu Bang's later imperial literati deliberately fabricated or sublimated in order to mythologise Liu Bang and give Liu Bang the legal cloak of rule. As we later learned, many ancient emperors and generals had visions when they were born. These visions were probably brewed for the sake of status.

It seems that status is becoming more and more important. So much so that Cao Mengde "took the emperor to order the princes". This title is really troublesome. If you can just become the emperor yourself, why do you have to find Emperor Xian of Han, the signature spokesperson, to give orders? Liu Bei was even more burdened by his reputation. Uncle Liu, the emperor's uncle was called very dear, but in fact, in the early days, there were too many royal family members, and there were countless royal cousins. There was really no big deal that he didn't come to visit, and he always wanted to save him when he came. The family helps the Han Dynasty. In the land of Jingchu, Sun Quan did not have the conditions to coerce the emperor to order the princes, and he did not have Uncle Liu's family ties, so he had to play both sides in the three-part world. It's so troublesome, but no matter how troublesome it is, you still have to care about this status. Name sharing has become an essential procedure. Liu, Guan, and Zhang Taoyuan were sworn brothers, giving the uprising the title of friendship; Mr. Zhuge Kongming, who was only invited out after visiting the thatched cottage three times, earned the title of military advisor because of the cumbersome process, and also earned the title of loyal minister who would devote himself to death.

When distributing status, disputes often arise because the cake is cut unevenly and unfairly, and the abilities and virtues are not matched.

During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin gained his status but also lost his brotherhood. Thinking about it, it was not easy to be born into an emperor's family. There was only one chair and it was impossible to take turns to sit on it. But I never expected that it would be Empress Wu Zetian's turn to make history. The empress had her title, and the Tang Dynasty prospered, but in the end she might still not be able to confirm her title in her heart, so she left the wordless monument there and let future generations comment.

Fame can also be virtual or real. The Yuan Dynasty, the dynasty with the largest territory in China, was strange. It only knew how to bend the bow and shoot the big eagle. It blindly emphasized offense and paid no attention to actual governance. This business is easy to do. We send troops there, give it a few blows, and ask if you are convinced. If you are convinced, okay, if you put on our flag, it will belong to our territory. Then he speeds up and continues to the next place to compete for land, which is really in vain.

Fame later became a bondage. Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, also known as Emperor Zhengde, was fed up with the various restrictions imposed on the emperor by the literati bureaucracy. He moved out of the Forbidden City, built another courtyard, and proclaimed himself "Mighty General Zhu Shou", which was shocking to the world. It seems that the title of emperor and the etiquette behind this title do not have any patience and endurance. Most people really can't bear it.

Unable to bear this restriction, some people are still looking forward to entering this realm. The Qing Dynasty came as soon as it was announced, and the world, which was conquered by ethnic minorities on horseback, had to follow Confucian culture to rule. By the series of reforms at the end of the dynasty, the constitutional monarchy was still in place, but it was no longer possible to give up the title of monarch.

After talking so much about some things about status in ancient times, I realized that the small issue of status turned out to be a grand historical issue. But then I thought about it, after all, status is something that people only think of pursuing or recognizing after material prosperity. If one still pursues status despite material scarcity, it should be worthy of admiration. It should be called integrity and be respected by others. Of course, there are also those who pursue status unrealistically, which would make people laugh.

After I figured it out and saw through it, I realized that I was going to solve the problem of food and clothing. In the past, I would have eaten as long as I was full, but it is different today. After studying the question of status, if anyone asks me what I eat tonight, I will say, I am not short of money, and I can eat a full banquet by myself. In fact, it is just a bowl of famous Malatang.

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