Art comes from life, but is higher than life.
In particular, the movies and TV series that the general public often watches use artistic means to show the conflict of the characters in the play, so that the audience can have more attention.
However, many historical dramas today, in order to increase ratings and attract more audiences, are completely deviated from the real historical record.
Every time I watch a historical drama, people always habitually "line up" the heroes in the play.
For example, in the "Biography of Sui and Tang Heroes", Li Yuanba, Wei Chigong, Qin Qiong and others are called "Sui and Tang fierce generals".
But who is the real "first fierce general of the Tang Dynasty"? In 1974, the moment Qin Qiong's son's tomb was excavated, he learned the truth.
Tang Dynasty general
The most well-known Tang Dynasty generals are none other than Li Yuanba, Wei Chigong, Qin Qiong and others, and in the description of the novel, most of them portray Li Yuanba as the "world's first master".
Although he was emaciated, he braved the world without scruples with a "golden hammer" and a mount "Ten Thousand Miles Cloud".
As the saying goes, "the father of the tiger has no dog", as the third son of Li Yuan, Li Yuanba is also quite "arrogant".
He once killed Yuwen Chengdu effortlessly in the Battle of Purple Mountain, and finally forced Li Mi to obediently offer the jade seal, and all the people and horses who were originally ready to rebel handed over surrender forms.
But this is only the description in the novel, in fact, the real history of Li Yuanba, born in 603, the year of his death is 618.
That is to say, Li Yuanba was only 15 years old when he died, and there are very few records about him in history.
Such a character, it is difficult for people to connect him with the title of "the world's first master".
It can be seen that Li Yuanba became a Sui and Tang Dynasty general, which is completely described in the novel, and he is not so powerful in real history.
The second is Wei Chigong, who was brave and good at war in his life, made countless merits, and as a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, he also helped Li Shimin during the change of Xuanwumen and successfully seized the throne.
However, as powerful as Wei Chigong, in front of Qin Qiong, he can only be called "the defeated general of his subordinates", which is the point that when the future generations saw the tombstone of Qin Qiong's son, a sentence on the tombstone made everyone instantly understand who was the "first fierce general of the Tang Dynasty".
Tombstones of descendants
Qin Qiong was originally a famous general of the Sui Dynasty, and during the sui dynasty, he was known for his bravery and martial arts.
Later, when the Sui Dynasty gradually declined, he turned to Li Shimin, and followed Li Shimin all the way to the south and the north, and the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Qin Qiong's contribution was indispensable.
There are many records about Qin Qiong in the historical materials, most of which praise his bravery and strategy, and his strong combat ability.
However, the people did not identify Qin Qiong as the "first fierce general of the Tang Dynasty" because there were many records of Qin Qiong in history.
What really made him sit firmly on this title was a sentence found on his son's tombstone by posterity.
In 1974, when archaeologists unearthed the tombstone of Qin Qiong's son, they accidentally found that there was a real historical record of Qin Qiong on the tombstone, and a simple sentence also made everyone realize that the real first fierce general of the Tang Dynasty was Qin Qiong.
The tombstone reads, "Zu Shubao, General Sui Longjun, Lieutenant Chi Meritorious Yu Mi liang chuan."
Although this sentence seems simple, there is a profound truth hidden in it, especially a "capture" word, which shows that Qin Qiong effortlessly captured Wei Chigong when he faced him.
In the eyes of everyone, Wei Chigong fought bravely on the battlefield to kill the enemy and made many military achievements, and it is reasonable to say that such a person with outstanding achievements should have a very outstanding ability.
But when facing Qin Qiong, he actually had no strength to bind the chicken, so he let Qin Qiong "catch" so easily, perhaps this is exactly what he said, not that he is not strong, but that the enemy is too strong.
The powerful Qin Qiong, when facing the same powerful Wei Chigong, was able to easily capture the other party, which was enough to prove his ability.
This also allowed everyone to unveil the true face of the "first fierce general of the Tang Dynasty", who turned out to be a low-key Qin Qiong.
Historical records
However, some people also questioned that these were found on the tombstones of Qin Qiong's descendants, perhaps his later generations, in order to praise Qin Qiong's ability, and deliberately exaggerated his ability, so they wrote such a sentence on the tombstone?
In fact, such a question is meaningless, because there are indeed records in the history books about Qin Qiong's capture of Wei Chigong.
At that time, Wei Chigong had not yet defected to Li Shimin, but followed Song Jingang around to fight, and in the face of Li Shimin's strong attack, Song Jingang had almost no ability to fight back, and at that time, the only general he could rely on was Wei Chigong.
And Qin Qiong, as the most effective cadre under Li Shimin, naturally shouldered the heavy burden of opposing Wei Chigong.
In the Battle of Meiliangchuan, Qin Qiong personally captured Wei Chigong with his own strength, which is completely consistent with the sentence recorded on the tombstone of Qin Qiong's son.
In the ancient battlefield, in order to destroy the opponent's army, it was not only based on outstanding combat ability, but also on the use of courageous and strategic strategies.
The word "capture" shows that Qin Qiong was a one-on-one personal battle when he captured Wei Chigong.
In such a battle situation, if you want to defeat the enemy, you really can only rely on real skills to decide a victory or defeat.
At that time, Wei Chigong's name was outside, and no one in the world knew that his skills on the battlefield were superb.
But in the face of such a powerful enemy, Qin Qiong did not flinch, but relied on his own strength to successfully surrender the other party.
This is not only based on outstanding personal ability, but also on a good psychological quality, so that the enemy can be completely surrendered.
Since ancient times, it has been emphasized that the winner is the king and the loser is the Kou, and this history also truly reflects who can be called the title of "the first fierce general of the Tang Dynasty" by Qin Qiong and Wei Chigong.
It is believed that Wei Chigong must also be convinced of the loss, and is willing to call himself a defeated general of Qin Qiong.
epilogue
Real history, and unreal fiction, are always at odds with each other.
Therefore, if you want to understand the real history, or the real historical characters, you can't just understand it through novels or TV series.
Those are all artistic means, greatly rendered, only to be presented to the audience, and sometimes have nothing to do with real history.
The title of "the first fierce general of the Tang Dynasty" is none other than Qin Qiong, which cannot be known to everyone in novels or movies and television series.
In the history of the Tang Dynasty, which was full of heroes, it was not easy for Qin Qiong to sit on this title.
But this also just proves his ability, the era of masters like clouds, the ability is far beyond everyone, which can show that Qin Qiong's strength is outstanding.