Who did Qin Shihuang send to find the elixir of life?

Xu Fu

Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu to Japan to find the elixir of immortality. After Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, he only wanted to live forever and have everything spread, so he was very interested in seeking immortality and medical treatment. It is said that there is Penglai fairy bird in Donghai County, and there is Ganoderma lucidum grass that can prolong life after taking it. , he sent Xu Fu to lead 500 boys and girls and 3,000 craftsmen to sail east across the ocean. However, until his death, the First Emperor did not wait for news from Xu Fu. Xu Fu is Mr. Guiguzi, a student of Bugu, Qigong master, cultivation, and also has knowledge of traditional martial arts. When he came down from the mountain, it was around the time when the First Emperor ascended the throne. During the Zhang Yi period, the First Emperor only wanted immortality, so Xi Yingzhen, as his minister, searched for him on his behalf. However, what the First Emperor did not expect was that after the monk Jianzhen was discovered, there was no trace of him since.

There are two views on why Xu Fu never returned. One is that Xu Fu really understood the violence and cruelty of the First Emperor and had not found the elixir himself. He would definitely blame him when he returned, so he lived in Japan. The second view is that this is also a deliberate water migration investment. Xu Fu and others were not satisfied with the Qin Dynasty. They brought boys and girls to survive and reproduce, and craftsmen, seeds and tools were used to quickly establish the order of the future. , thus creating new social development in Japan.

Xu Fu

Xu Fu's deeds were first seen in "The Chronicles of Qin Shihuang" and "The Biographies of Hengshan, Huainan" (called "Xu_" in the Chronicles of Qinshihuang, and in "The Biographies of Hengshan, Huainan"). (known as "Xu Fu"). According to the "Historical Records" and "The Chronicles of Qin Shi Huang", Qin Shi Huang hoped to live forever.

In the twenty-eighth year of Qin Shihuang (219 BC), Xu _ wrote a letter saying that there were three fairy mountains in the sea, Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou, where gods lived. So Qin Shihuang sent Xu _ to lead thousands of boys and girls, as well as three years of food, clothing, medicine and farming tools that had been prepared, into the sea to seek immortality, which cost a lot of money. But Xu _ led his people to go to sea for several years, but did not find the sacred mountain. In the thirty-seventh year of Qin Shi Huang (210 BC), Qin Shi Huang patrolled east to Langyao. Xu _ excused himself by saying that he encountered a giant mackerel after going to sea and was unable to sail far, so he asked for more archers to deal with the mackerel. Qin Shihuang agreed and sent archers to kill a big fish. Later, Xu Fu led his troops to sea again.

The most detailed record of Xu Fu's eastward journey in "Historical Records" is "Huainan Hengshan Biography", which includes Xu Fu's journey from the southeast to Penglai, his dialogue with the Poseidon, and Poseidon's request for boys and girls as gifts. , is generally considered to be Xu Fu's excuse for Qin Shihuang. It also records that Xu Fu went to sea again to carry grain seeds and was accompanied by hundreds of workers. After going to sea this time, Xu Fu came to "Pingyuan Guangze" (probably Kyushu Island, Japan). He felt that the local climate was warm, the scenery was beautiful, and the people were friendly, so he "stopped the king from coming", stopped to become a king on his own, and taught the locals The methods of farming, fishing, whaling, and paper-leaching are not coming back. "Huainan Hengshan Biography" is slightly different from "The Chronicles of Qin Shihuang", saying that Xu Fu did not take thousands of boys and girls into the sea at the beginning, but after searching for the immortal family for many years without success, he took thousands of boys and girls out to sea again. Regarding the three fairy mountains that Xu Fu wanted to visit, namely Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou, the "Book of Fengchan" in "Historical Records" only said that they were in the Bohai Sea and could not determine their specific locations. The location of Pingyuan Guangze cannot be verified.

Records in "Three Kingdoms"

"Three Kingdoms" "Wu Shu·Biography of Wu Zhuge" and "Book of Later Han" "Biography of Dongyi" also mention Xu Fu's eastward journey. "Three Kingdoms" mentioned that Xu Fu arrived at _zhou (one name is Chanzhou) and stayed there without returning. According to the records of "Three Kingdoms", Yuzhou and Yizhou are located in the southeast of China's outer sea and are not far apart. Some people think that Yizhou is Taiwan, and _zhou is Japan. They are two names of the same place as Japan. "Book of Wei·Biography of the Japanese" in "Three Kingdoms" records that the Japanese state "planned its way to the east of Kuaiji and Dongye", indicating that at that time the Chinese believed that the Japanese state was in the southeast of China's outer sea. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" also has the same record.

"Yichu Liutie" records

In the late Zhou Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, Yichu, a monk from Kaiyuan Temple in Jeju, recorded in "Yichu Liutie" (also known as "Shishi Liutie") ) in Volume 21 of "Chengzhou City Department" "Fortress Japan", it is clearly mentioned for the first time that Xu Fu finally arrived in Japan (also called the country of Japan), and today's Qin family (a wealthy family who came to Japan in ancient times) was Later generations still call themselves Qin people. It is also said that after Xu Fu arrived, he called Mount Fuji Penglai. This is the earliest known Chinese document that clearly points out that the place where Xu Fu stayed and did not return was Japan. However, some people believe that Yichu's records may be related to Japanese legends. Because Yichu had a friend named Kansuke (Master Hongshun, who arrived in China in 927) who was a monk in the era of Emperor Daigo of Japan. Yichu had never been to Japan, and the record about Mount Fuji obviously came from the words of his Japanese friend.

"Japanese Sword Song"

The "Japanese Sword Song" written by Ouyang Xiu of the Song Dynasty clearly stated that the place where Xu Fu stayed was Japan, and believed that Xu Fu brought a large number of classics with him when he crossed east. This allowed the classics in China that were burned by Qin Shihuang to enslave Confucian scholars to be preserved in Japan. However, the authenticity of this statement is difficult to verify. In 1339, "The Legend of the Divine Emperor" written by the Minister of the Southern Dynasties of Japan, Kitakusa Kamabusa, recorded this incident as a historical record, saying that "the complete scriptures of Confucius only exist in Japan."