The Great Eunuch of the Song Dynasty, Yang Jian and the Erlang God, are not traces of the character archetype, and this Yang Jian is not The Yang Jian also!
Song Dynasty Yang Jian
"Give less to the court, the lord is in charge of the back garden, and is good at measuring and serving people's ideas." Since Chongning, Ri has been favored, and knows to enter the inner province. --History of the Song Dynasty
According to the records of the History of Song, Yang Jian entered the palace early because of his family's poverty as a eunuch, after entering the palace, he mainly worked in the harem, and after his promotion and coordinated management of the back garden, the back garden is a place for royal flower viewing and leisure, Yang Jian also seized the opportunity here, whenever the emperor took a walk in the back garden, he would always guess the emperor's joy and sorrow through the emperor's words and deeds, so the service was very thoughtful, so since Chongning, he was favored by the emperor and promoted to the inner province. Later, several major projects of the imperial court, such as Liming Hall, casting jiuding, repairing Dasheng Mansion and Longde Palace, he served as a lifting official.
In the fourth year of Zhenghe (1114), Yang Jian was promoted by Emperor Huizong of Song to be the emissary of the Changhua Army because of his outstanding personal ability, and Yang Jian, who had just entered into military politics, immediately proposed to Emperor Huizong of Song to set up a "guard army" to protect the emperor's daily travels, ostensibly for the sake of the emperor's safety, but in fact, the ambition of power was inflated, and he wanted to lead the guard army with the first merit to consolidate his power and position. Later, Yang Jian successively served as the envoy of Zhen'an, Qinghai, and Zhendong Jiedushi, and became popular in the local area, and his official position was also promoted from inspector to taifu, and then he wanted to interfere with the state capital and plot to pull the prince into the water.
Yang Jian's ambitions were based on his unscrupulous efforts to solve problems for the emperor, and Yang Jian's minions Du Gongcai had dedicated him to formulating a land deed decree to collect the people's fat and people's ointment, and in disguise increased the rent from the hands of the common people. Ordering the people to rent abandoned embankments, abandoned weirs, barren mountains, retreating beaches and silted up large rivers as fields for farming is obviously land with no farming value, but regardless of whether these lands can grow grain or not, whether there is soil erosion causing damage to the fields, the people have to pay the land endowment according to the actual measured land area. After the success of the pilot project in Ruzhou, this policy began to be gradually implemented to Jingdong, Jingxi, Huaixi, Huaibei and other places, which was then known as "Xicheng Institute".
For fishermen who make a living from fishing, Yang Jian formulated the method of setting taxes according to boats, whether the fishermen went out to the river to fish, whether there was a harvest transaction, they had to pay the rent tax according to the number of ships recorded, so that a county town in addition to the regular endowment and increased the rent of more than 100,000 taels, which brought huge financial income to the state (of course, many fell into the hands of officials at all levels), Yang Jian once again brought surprises to the emperor.
"The disciples of Cai Jing, Cai You, and Tong Guan indulge in the superiors; the party of Gao Qi, Yang Jian, and Zhu Xun is evil at the bottom." - "The Great Song Xuan and the Testament"
In the third year of Xuanhe (1121), after The death of Yang Jian, he was posthumously awarded the title of Taishi and Duke of Wu, and a eunuch could have the posthumous gift of the Duke of Guo, which is rare in history, so it can be seen that Yang Jian was quite favored by the emperor, and after Emperor Qinzong of Song ascended the throne, he punished this eunuch who had brought calamity to the country and the people, and issued an edict to posthumously seize the official title given to Yang Jian, and Yang Jian's henchman Li Yan was also punished.
Historical evaluations of Yang Jian are mostly negative, but commenting on it together with Gao Li, Cai Jing, and Tong Guan shows that his ability is still relatively outstanding, after all, these "evil people" were indeed the pillar humerus of the Northern Song Court at that time. The folk novel "Water Margin" lists Yang Jian and Tong Guan as the two disasters of wen and wu that controlled the Northern Song Dynasty, which was also caused by its harsh means for the people, but yang Jian here really has nothing to do with the Erlang God.
Jirogami
Erlang God is not necessarily equated with the name Yang Jian, and the characterization of Yang Jian as Erlang God is the "Fengshen Yanyi", but in ancient Chinese myths and legends, Erlang God has different titles in different periods, and it is also common among ancient emperors to be the example of Erlang Shen's title, such as the Linghui Marquis of Song Renzong Jiayou in the eighth year (1063), the Linghui Yinggong of the second year of Song Zhezong Yuanyou (1087), and the title of Zhaohui Lingxian in the second year of Song Huizong Chongning (1103), at this time, the Erlang God was not called Yang Jian. Therefore, this Erlang god and the eunuch Yang Jian of the Song Huizong period were inseparable from the eight rods.
"Emperor Huizong Chongning crowned Zhaohui Lingxian In the second year" - "Song Hui want. Langjun Shrine
The reason why it is believed that Yang Jian was related to the eunuchs of the Song Huizong period is because the title of the Erlang God in the Journey to the West is "Emperor Zhaohui Lingxian" of the Song Hui Emperor. According to the records of the "Three Sects of Origin and Flow Search for Gods", it is unanimously believed that the earliest retrospective Erlang Temple, the Erlang God enshrined is the "Qingyuan Miaodao Zhenjun" during the Song Zhenzong period, his name is Zhao Yu, that is, Zhao Erlang. This Zhao Yu was a Taoist priest of Mount Qingcheng during the Sui Dynasty, who was enshrined for slaying the dragon to eliminate harm for the people, and entered the Xianban, and Tang Taizong built a temple in Guankou to pray for the flooding of the Jialing River and avoid disasters.
"Shuzhong Irrigation Mouth Erlang Temple, at that time it was Li Bing who had a meritorious temple because of the opening of the pile. Many of the spirits of the present are his second son. ——" Quotations of Zhu Zi
There are also many theories about the traceability of the Erlang God, and the most widespread rumor is really not Yang Jian, but Li Erlang, the son of Li Bing, the former Qin Shu Commandery. When Li Bing's father and son built Dujiangyan in Shu, Li Bing's second son "Erlang" chiseled away from the pile and opened the Erjiang River, making great contributions, so he was worshipped as a god in the folk. According to the Records of the Song Huijiao, Emperor Renzong of Song enfeoffed the Yongkang Army Guangji Wangmiao Langjun as the "Marquis of Huiling" and said that "the god is Li Bing's second son", which was still recognized by the Yongzheng Emperor in the Qing Dynasty, and continued to be crowned Erlang, and together with Erlang and his father Li Bing, he also gave the title of "King of Shize Xingji Tongyou".
"At that time, the Jade Emperor's sister Si Fan went to the netherworld, cooperated with Yang Jun, and gave birth to a man." - Journey to the West
And the sixth time in the "Journey to the West" writes that "the true king of the Manifest Saint Erlang, see the Guanzhou Guanjiangkou", this irrigation place is not disputed, that is, the Guankou Erlang Temple, here also mentions the Jade Emperor's sister and the mortal Yang Junde a man, so there is Yang Erlang's saying, but there is no Yang Jian's name here. During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was also a saying of Yang Erlang, mainly from the Taiping Guangji, but it also did not directly call Yang Jiao. It's just that the character of "Fengshen Yanyi" is based on the Erlang God as the name Yang Jian.
"The blue-faced deity of the ancient temple in ShuZhong, with a longitudinal eye on the forehead" - "Qionglai County Chronicle"
Regarding Yang Erlang's claim, more views are traced back to the Northern and Southern Dynasties period of the heroic figure of the Yu clan, Yang Nandang, that is, the second son of Yang Sheng, the king of The Qi, who became the legendary Erlang god. Because the historical Yang Nandang took Qiuchi in Wudu, Gansu province as his base, and also held the land of Tangchang, that is, Songpan near guankou today, he once sent troops deep into Sichuan, because Sichuan was originally the old land of the Qiang and Therefore it was easy to attach, and the Guankou Temple was also regarded as the work of the local Qi people to pay tribute to Yang Erlang. And there is a historical record that the ancestors of the Xian people first lived in northwest China, and there is a custom of "shaving the forehead for the heavens", that is, using a knife to carve marks on the forehead and paint ink, growing into a fixed black scar, similar to the open eye of the heavens passed down in later generations, and the heavenly eye of the Erlang god may be of this origin.
And because the Shu people often sacrifice the gods with "blood food", the sacrifice of the Erlang god is a sheep, and after a long time, the erlang god is surnamed Yang, and the word 戬 is "to get blessed with go", and the sheep is the meaning of killing the blood of the sheep to eat for blessings. Therefore, the origin of the name of the god Erlang may also be due to this ritual practice.
In summary, in ancient myths and legends, the prototype of the "Erlang God" also has the "Erlang God" in the Bai legend, the "Luohe Erwang" in the Qiang legend, the "Zhige Along" in the Yi legend, etc., these folklore have their own words, there is no significance of controversy, and Yang Jianzhi's theory is the "conclusion" after the household name of "Fengshen Yanyi", and the Yang Jian here has nothing to do with the great eunuch of the Song Huizong period!