Author: Our special guest author Yan Ziling
One: Someone pretending to be Yue Fei?
As a national hero admired by later generations, Yue Fei also had a "trivial matter" that had been debated: was he the well-known "ManJiang Hong, Fury Rushing Crown" written by him?
Compared with the glory of the battlefield where "the prestige of the battle is violent in the north and the south", Yue Fei's literary style is not inferior. Condensed his full of enthusiasm, "ManJiang Hong, Fury Rushing Crown", has been sung for a long time. The sad indignation of "rushing to the crown with anger" and the ambition of "driving a long car to break through the lack of Helan Mountain" have inspired many heroes to stand up and promise the country with their bodies in every national crisis. However, in the 1930s, scholars represented by Yu Jiaxi put forward a surprising point of view: this generation of shocking "Manjiang Hong" was not Original by Yue Fei at all, but was written by someone in the Ming Dynasty pretending to be Yue Fei's name.
By the middle of the last century, the "author question" of "Man Jiang Hong" was more lively. Xia Chengtao, the "Master of Lexicology", repeatedly posted articles targeting the "Ming Dynasty suspect" who "pretended to be Yue Fei". Then a number of well-known scholars also participated in the discussion, listing detailed evidence to refute this theory. Mr. Deng Guangming's article "Re-discussing Yue Fei's <manjiang Hong> is not a forgery" proves Yue Fei's authorship with conclusive arguments. According to the commentary of the "Wen Shi Zhe" publication, "The doubts about whether the word "ManJiang Hong" is Yue Fei can basically be dispelled. ”
Therefore, although there has been controversy, the mainstream academic circles still believe that the author of "Man Jiang Hong" is Yue Fei. However, since it can be identified by Xia Chengtao and other poets as "impersonating Yue Fei", that "Ming Dynasty suspect" is naturally not an ordinary person. In the words of Mr. Xia Chengtao, why suspect him of "impersonating Yue Fei"? Because this person "is a literary general, his identity is very similar to Yue Fei.".
Such a beautiful figure who is "very similar to Yue Fei" is the legendary military figure of the middle of the Ming Dynasty: Wang Yue.
Two: Daming legendary God of War
Wang Yue (王越), courtesy name Shichang, was born in The First Year (1426) of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty in Xun County, Henan. The scholar of the same era, Huang Wei, once called Wang Yue "heavenly rich and noble", if you look at the appearance alone, it is also rich and noble: born with a large and handsome appearance, he is a famous beautiful man in the ming dynasty officialdom. When he first appeared in front of Ming Yingzong, he looked at Ming Yingzong on the spot and directly promoted him to inspector of Datong, causing the courtiers to complain that "the imperial court employs people, take more appearances" - that is, to look at the face.
But in terms of his life, Wang Yue is neither "rich" nor "expensive", he is from a peasant family, relying on the cold window to study hard. When the temple style was difficult to answer the paper, the examination paper was blown away by a gust of wind, but it was not in a hurry, so I had to find a blank piece of paper to reopen the answer, and in the only time left, I finished the paper wonderfully, and won the name of jinshi in one fell swoop. Then, with this full of literary talent and strong psychological quality, after several hard work in the Ming Dynasty officialdom, he jumped to the high position of a feudal official - like Yue Fei, they were all Henan peasant children who counterattacked with their true ability.
But what is most like Yue Fei is Wang Yue's other true skill: fighting!
Wang Yue, who was born poor, was a hot-blooded young man when he was young. According to Wang Yue's own anthology, when he was a teenager, he read the history of the Song-Jin War, and every time he angrily gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, he practiced martial arts hard when he was angry. Therefore, although in his early years, he was a civilian official such as "Imperial History" and "Envoy according to Inspection", he also practiced a hard kung fu of riding and shooting, and he was already a fierce character of both culture and martial arts. This was only discovered by Ming Yingzong's surprise and sent to a messy Datong town to "fight the fire".
From the beginning of Ming Yingzong's late years as the "Inspector of Datong", Wang Yue's full of military talent finally broke out one after another, and he shared the happiness and hardships with the soldiers, and successfully trained many of the soldiers who had been scattered and ran away when they saw the Tatars, and successfully trained them into screaming good soldiers. In addition, in addition to leading soldiers, he will also come to do things. Cabinet leaders like Li Xian and even "power castrations" like Wang Zhi are mixed up with iron brothers who pat their shoulders. At this time, there were people in the DPRK and China who were good at doing things, and finally after painstaking management, they created a northwest iron army.
In terms of military strategy, Wang Yue even gave full play to Yue Fei's wisdom of "using the magic of the use of one heart", and during the Chenghua years of the Ming Dynasty, when he showed his fists and feet, the battle never played according to the routine: in the ninth year of Chenghua, the Tatar Khan Mandulu invaded Tianshui Dingxi, Wang Yue immediately made a decision, led 5,000 elite horses to directly insert into the red salt pond of his base camp, and carried the Tatar Khan out of the Hetao grassland in one battle. In the sixteenth year of Chenghua, the Tatar army came to Hetao again, and Wang Yuewei took the initiative and led the elite troops to brave the heavy snow to penetrate deep into the Weining Sea and give the Tatar army a blizzard assault. The Tatar army, which suffered heavy casualties, was once again defeated. The glorious scene of the Han Dynasty Wei Qing's "Dragon City Flying Will" is visible in hunting.
This battle made the Wolf Smoke-filled Daming Border Defense after the fiasco of Tumu Fort once look peaceful. Wang Yue, who had won many battles and victories, also received great glory during the Chenghua years, and he served as the trilateral general for a long time, holding the strongest border army in Daming. The part-time Duchayuan Zuo Du Yushi and Bingbu Shangshu were called the "most cattle feudal officials" of the Ming Dynasty in the fifteenth century. After the great victory of "Weining Haizi" in the sixteenth year of Chenghua, Wang Yue was awarded the title of "Weining Bo", becoming the third Civil Servant of the Ming Dynasty to be knighted for his military merits after zhu Yuanzhang's era.
Of course, behind the glory, criticism has always surrounded him. In order to reduce the resistance of leading the troops, Wang Yue befriended Quan Wang Zhi, and was therefore put on the hat of the castrated party, fed up with Qingliu's scolding. After the fall of Wang Zhi, Wang Yue was also blamed for the crime and almost committed suicide. However, a few years later, in the ten years of Hongzhi, under the tragic situation that the northwestern border defenses of Daming were tight and the later frontier generals were useless, Wang Yue, who was over seventy years old, once again served as the trilateral general, and went out on a campaign for the country, fighting with the Tatar Dayan Khan at Helan Mountain, fighting this "little prince" who later fought the Ming Wuzong, this time the whole line collapsed, and the emperor fled north in a hasty defeat.
This real battle achievement of "driving a long car to break through the Helan Mountain Deficiency" is also the reason why he was suspected of "impersonating Yue Fei".
This great war has also become the last song of his life. In the eleventh year of Hongzhi, Wang Yue closed his tired eyes during his tenure in Gansu and died at the age of seventy-two. Emperor Xiaozong of Ming was extremely sad, and specially for him to strike the dynasty for one day, was ordered to carry a coffin for him, escorted his coffin back to his hometown, and was even more a future "saint" of the Ming Dynasty: Wang Yangming.
Compared with the criticism he received before his death, Wang Yue, who died of illness, was praised by the praise behind him. From the Hongzhi period to the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty people continued to add various honors to him. A comment from the "Ming Shilu" proves his status even more: If you ask for more than you can compare, gai is also difficult to be a person - Wang Yue is such a hero who can meet and cannot be sought!
Compared with these battlefield feats, this "suspected Yue Fei" Wang Yue has another major impact: culture!
Three: Giving Ming Dynasty Poetry "Hanging Life"
Wang Yue is similar to Yue Fei, not only has remarkable achievements, but also has achieved literary achievements. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Qian Qianyi praised him for "drinking and dying, sweeping away a thousand words, making people have the idea of grinding shields and lamenting songs", which is simply burning when reading. It is said that Qian Qianyi also used Wang Yue's poems to strengthen himself when the Qing army broke the city and planned to be martyred.
During the Ming Dynasty's Yongle to Chenghua years, a popular "Taige style" poem, headed by Sanyang, is characterized by "grace and elegance", which is actually a song of merit and praise, whitewashing Taiping. Because Sanyang was a heavy minister of the Taiwan Cabinet, there were many imitators for a while, and a pompous wind blew up in the literary world.
However, most of Wang Yue's poetry is Biansai poems and nostalgic poems, which are due to his half-life, ups and downs, and rich experience. Wang Yue composed poems, advocating nature, especially pursuing what Mencius called "the aura of grandeur", the weather is majestic, unrestrained, and his experience is mutually corroborated and blended. Like what:
Desert wind and smoke and late autumn, occasionally come to the city to climb the stairs.
Qingshan does not care about ancient and modern hatred, and the sky hangs in the sky.
Whoever has the male to break the prisoner, I have no strange bones to seal.
Sprinkle the tears of fifteen years ago to the dry water.
Most of Wang Yue's poems were improvised and left no manuscripts, so that at that time, only a few dozen of his poems were printed and circulated, and most of the hundreds of extant poems were compiled by later generations.
Interestingly, when he returned home from his 27-year-old resignation, he had nothing to do, writing and writing poems all day long, most of which showed his boredom with the officialdom, and people who did not know at first glance thought that it was written by an old man. "The sunset is green and the mountains are twilight, and the west wind is new." This "sunset", "twilight" and "western mountains" all give people a sense of old age. However, the poetic style that expresses the true feeling of truth began from this point and was awakened by Wang Yue. Looking at the contemporary Ming Dynasty poetry circles, various "Tai Ge style" routines, we know how important this is.
Whether it is Bian Sai, Nostalgia, or expressing personal interests, Wang Yue's poems are very different from the Tai Ge body, with a strong personal style, which influenced the later first seven sons, the last seven sons, the Chaling school, and the Public Security school, which can be described as an important turning point from "Tai Ge" to "Chongya Retro", which changed the trend of Ming Dynasty literature. The Ming Dynasty poetry, which was once rigid in the "TaiGe body" and even looked like it was about to decline, was so rejuvenated, and from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, under the concept of "poetry must flourish in the Tang Dynasty", a number of brilliant fine works emerged. It was Wang Yue's creation that gave the lifeless Ming Dynasty poetry a critical moment of "hanging his life".
Did he write "Man Jiang Hong"? This may be a different point of view, but what is important is that from his life, whether he wrote poetry or led soldiers, he could see the spirit of blood and loyalty that was in line with "Man Jiang Hong". I believe that this is the inheritance of Chinese civilization, which has endured hardships but has not perished!
References: History of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Shilu, Ming Shan Zang
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