画外音：易中天先生认为魏晋南北朝是历史的大插曲，而三国更是似汉非汉，似魏非魏，是大插曲中的小插曲，那么我们只有回答魏晋南北朝这个大插曲是怎么来的，这个特殊的时代是怎样产生的，然后才能客观评价三国这段历史，这就是跳出三国看三国，而要弄清楚这两个插曲，我们就必须弄明白邦国与帝国的区别。那么邦国与帝国究竟有什么区别呢？
从国家制度的角度讲，邦国实行的是封建制，帝国实行的是郡县制，封建制是什么意思，建就是封土也就是划定国界，它的具体做法呢是在国与国之间，那个国境线上犁一条深沟，把这个沟里面的土翻在两边，然后在两边土上面种树，这个动作就叫做“封”，什么叫做“建”呢？“建”就是把这个国境划定好以后指定一个国君，建立一个国家，所以封建的意思是什么呢？封土建国。那么我们就要问了这个封土建国是怎么回事呢？这就牵涉到西周初年，我们中国人的国家观念，我们中国人是一个什么样的观念呢？我们认为我们头顶上这个叫做天，天是圆的。我们脚下的这个叫地，地是方的，叫天圆地方。因为当时我们没有地球的这个概念，我们认为地是平的，这个方方正正的地呢，五个方位，东西南北中，最当中的这个地方就是天下之中叫做中国，最当中的国，这个最当中的国住的什么民族呢？华夏民族。那么华夏民族为什么住在正当中呢？因为天最爱它，因此我们的古人就想像天它就是所有生命的创造者，所有的生命都是天孕育的，天要把它下面的这块地方交给一个人去管理，天下面的这块地方叫什么呢？天下，天的下面，当时我们的古人不知道地球是圆的，不知道地球的另一面还有别的民族，我们认为就这块地方了，所以天下这个概念在我们古人的心目中就是全世界，叫做普天之下，那么天要把这个天下交给谁去管理呢？交给自己的嫡长子，因为中国古代的婚姻制度是一夫一妻多妾制，按照这个制度正妻所生的第一个儿子就叫嫡长子也叫元子，就是最重要的儿子，最大的一个儿子，天的这个元子，天的这个嫡长子就叫做天子，然后天就把天下给了天子，但是天子不能一个人来管啊，天子要把天下分出去，分给他的叔叔，他的弟弟，这个分出去的地方就叫做国，这个国的元首就叫国君也叫诸侯，那么诸侯就从天子那里领到了自己一块地方就封建了，把这个诸侯的国，国境给划分出来，又指定了一个国君这就封建了，但是国呢或者说诸侯呢，他也不能够独得这个国，他必须把自己分到的这个领地再分出去，分给谁呢，分给他的叔叔，他的兄弟，这些人就叫做大夫，分给大夫的这块地方叫什么呢？叫家。天子、诸侯、大夫都是世袭的，他们的爵位都由他们的嫡长子去继承，天子是天的嫡长子，那么下一任天子是天子的嫡长子，下一任的诸侯是诸侯的嫡长子，下一任的大夫是大夫的嫡长子，那么不是嫡长子的呢？那些庶子们怎么办呢？天子的庶子就做诸侯，诸侯的庶子就做大夫，大夫的庶子就做士，士就没有地盘了，但是有地位，他是贵族，因此当时就有四个等级，天子、诸侯、大夫、士，这都是贵族。那么到了士以下那就不是贵族了，叫庶民。天子分给诸侯的这块地方，这个领地或者领土，这个叫做国。在这个时候国和家是两个概念，家是大夫的，国是诸侯的，天下是天子的，处于当中这个环节的国，它是有着独立主权的，虽然是天子分封的，但是它有独立的主权，它有独立的财权，它自己收赋税，它有自己独立的军权，它自己组织军队，它有自己独立的政权，它自己管理这个国家，这个天子不管的，它还有外交权，国与国之间可以进行外交活动，可以联盟，可以媾和，可以交战，可以通商，所以在西周这个时候诸侯国是独立主权国家，这些独立主权国家组成了一个联盟共同地尊奉全世界的世界王就是天子，周天子，周天子实际上应该解释为世界王。所以封建制的特点是什么呢？一个天下，许多国家，独立主权，共奉天子。
Voice over: Mr. Yi Zhongtian believes that the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties are major episodes in history, while the Three Kingdoms are more like Han than Han, like Wei than Wei, and they are minor episodes in the major episode. Therefore, we can only objectively evaluate the history of the Three Kingdoms by answering how the major episode came about in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and how this special era came into being. This is to jump out of the Three Kingdoms and look at the Three Kingdoms, and we need to clarify these two episodes, We must understand the difference between a state and an empire. So what is the difference between a state and an empire?
From the perspective of the national system, the state implements a feudal system, while the empire implements a prefecture and county system. What does feudalism mean? To build is to seal land, which is to delimit national boundaries. Its specific method is to plow a deep trench between countries on the border line, turn the soil in the trench on both sides, and then plant trees on the soil on both sides. This action is called “sealing”, and what is called “building”? “Building” means designating a monarch and establishing a country after delimiting its territory, so what does feudalism mean? The land was sealed and the country established. So we have to ask what is the matter with this feudalism and nation-building? This involves the concept of our Chinese nation in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. What kind of concept are we Chinese? We think this one above us is called the sky, which is round. The place under our feet is called the earth, which is square and is called the heaven and the earth. Because we didn’t have the concept of the earth at that time, we believed that the earth was flat, and this square and square land had five directions, in the east, west, north, and south. The most central place in the world was called China, the most central country, and what nationality lived in the most central country? The Chinese nation. So why do the Chinese people live in the middle? “Because heaven loves it the most, our ancients imagined that heaven is the creator of all life, and all life is conceived by heaven. Heaven wants to entrust the place below it to a person to manage it. What is the name of this place on the surface of the world?”? “The world is below the sky. At that time, our ancients did not know that the earth was round, or that there were other peoples on the other side of the earth. We thought it was just this place. Therefore, in our ancients’ minds, the concept of the world was the whole world, called the world under the sky. So who would the heaven entrust to manage this world?”? “Give it to your own eldest son, because in ancient China, the marriage system was a system of monogamy and multiple concubines. According to this system, the first son born to a legitimate wife was called the eldest son, also known as the Yuan son, which was the most important son and the largest son. The Yuan son of Heaven and the eldest son of Heaven were called the Son of Heaven, and then Heaven gave the world to the Son of Heaven, but the Son of Heaven cannot manage it alone. The Son of Heaven wants to divide the world and give it to his uncle,”, “His younger brother, the place to be divided out is called the state, and the head of the state is called the monarch, also known as the vassals. Then the vassals receive their own piece of land from the Son of Heaven and become feudal. Dividing the territory of the vassals and designating a monarch is feudal, but the state, or vassals, cannot be alone in this country. He must divide the territory he has allocated out to whom,”, “His uncle, his brother, and these people are called doctors. What is the name of this place that is allocated to doctors?”? Call home. “The Son of Heaven, the Marquises, and the Doctor are all hereditary, and their titles are inherited by their eldest sons. The Son of Heaven is the eldest son of Heaven, so the next Son of Heaven is the eldest son of the Son of Heaven, the next Marquis is the eldest son of the Marquises, and the next Doctor is the eldest son of the Doctor, so isn’t it the eldest son?”? What should those concubines do? “The concubines of the Son of Heaven became vassals, the concubines of vassals became doctors, and the concubines of doctors became scholars. Scholars had no territory, but had status. They were nobles. Therefore, there were four levels at that time: the Son of Heaven, vassals, doctors, and scholars, all of which were nobles.”. “Then, those who are below the rank of scholars are not nobles, they are called commoners.”. The place, territory, or territory allotted by the Emperor to the vassals is called the state. At this time, state and family are two concepts. The family is a doctor’s, the state is a vassal, and the world is the Son of Heaven. The state in the middle of this link has independent sovereignty. Although it is enfeoffed by the Son of Heaven, it has independent sovereignty. It has independent financial power, collects taxes, and has its own independent military power. It organizes its own army, has its own independent political power, and manages the country itself, regardless of the Son of Heaven, It also has diplomatic power. Countries can engage in diplomatic activities, alliance, peace, war, and trade. Therefore, at this time in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the vassal states were independent and sovereign states. These independent and sovereign states formed an alliance to jointly honor the world’s King of the World, which is the Son of Heaven. In fact, the Son of Heaven of Zhou should be interpreted as the King of the World. So what are the characteristics of feudalism? One world, many countries, independent sovereignty, common worship of the Son of Heaven.
