preface:
Chinese to talk about civilization and understand politeness, that is because for five thousand years in China, China has been a country of etiquette. However, due to the outbreak of war, the change of dynasties, and the fact that the country was in an eventful autumn, the people had to be in dire straits. The people were born in a chaotic world, and it was common for them not to have enough to eat, clothe, or warmth. But in order to survive, the people had to find their own way out, otherwise, would they really have to wait for death? As a result, many people have to fall into the grass in order to survive.
It seems that it is not bad to be a bandit who robs a house, although the reputation is a little worse and the risk is higher, but at least there is still hope for survival. After all, you have to live first, in order to consider the factors of reputation and risk, you say right? There is a folk saying - "Shandong out of the horse, Henan out of the general", what is the "trampling general"? Could it be regional blackness?
How wars were fought in ancient times
Do you know what it was like for them to fight in ancient times? Maybe you will be misled by film and fiction, thinking that when the two armies are opposed, the two generals will choke each other, and then the two will immediately single out, and then the armies of the two sides will start fighting and fall into a scuffle. Such a war scene does not look blood-boiling, but also ornamental.
But in fact, the real ancient war is not like this at all. They have knives, no tactics only know how to cut each other, you take the knife to cut me? Very good, then I will also take the knife and cut it back. Maybe your martial arts are strong and you can fight with one enemy and ten, but for a large-scale war, the strength of one person cannot play a decisive role.
Therefore, like the "god of war" who lives in the author's pen, he may be very good at lining up troops, but he is not necessarily brave and good at war, because in a war, whether he can win victory or not, the most important thing is to rely on the strength of the army. Otherwise, no matter how powerful you are, no matter how you convey the spirit, it will be difficult to defeat four hands with two fists.
"Shandong out of the horse, Henan out of the general", this sentence comes from the last years of the Qing Dynasty, when this sentence was widely circulated in the folk. The meaning of this sentence is not difficult to understand, and the easy-to-understand explanation is that this sentence says that there are many "ringing horses" in Shandong, and there are many "mantis generals" in Henan. So what exactly do these two sentences mean?
Shandong out of the horse
Many people here don't know what it means, but it actually refers to the fact that horse owners become bandits. You know, the horse was a very important animal for the ancients, because it could be used as a means of travel.
It used to be no better than now, and now you can use real "tools" to travel, while before you could only use animals as travel tools, such as horses and donkeys. But because donkeys don't travel as fast as horses, in most cases, the ancients chose to ride horses or travel in horse-drawn carriages.
Horses need to be fed, and if they just want them to run and they don't eat grass, they will die quickly, so there will be people who specialize in keeping horses. If the horse breeder can't even feed himself, how can he keep the horse? In desperation, he had no choice but to become a bandit who robbed his family and house, in order to survive, and the people called him "Ringing Horse".
We know who "Xiangma" is, but we don't know why they are called "Xiangma", a word that should have been handed down from the Ming Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, all the horses of the imperial court were handed over to the people to raise, which led to a large number of horse breeders in Shandong. Every year these people had to pay some horses to the imperial court, just like paying taxes.
However, later, wars became more and more frequent, which led to more and more horses needed by the imperial court, and the imperial court could only find the people. If the number of horses handed over by the common people was not enough for the quota required by the imperial court, they were forced to hand over fines. As the saying goes, the people do not fight with the officials, and many people uphold this idea, hand over the horses to the imperial court, and finally ruin their own families.
Where there is oppression, there will be resistance, and in order to survive, the people have no choice but to fall into the grass. It is precisely because these people were previously horse breeders, they are superb in horsemanship, but also know horses in particular, so they are called "ringing horses".
"Xiangma" appeared from the Ming Dynasty to the Republic of China period. They generally do not appear alone, but in the form of teams, they fight houses, are fearless of officers and soldiers, and are not afraid of life and death. It is precisely because of this that everyone is very afraid of encountering "ringing horses".
Henan out of the general
In fact, there is no difference in essence between this "trampling general" and "ringing horse", both are bandit groups, but because of different regions, so the name is different. Why are the bandits in the Henan region called
What about "trampling"? It is because their original identity is a stonemason, a blacksmith, a carpenter, a businessman who does an honest job, and is also known as a "whirlwind".
They originally lived by craftsmanship, but as the war grew, the society was really turbulent, and they wanted to do business honestly, which became a luxury. They have no source of income, they cannot maintain their livelihood, and the government's oppression has also made the people miserable, so they have to become "squatters" in order to survive.
They usually appear in groups in more hidden places. Because they are ordinary people, have not been professionally trained, and some are unarmed, they must find a place where it is easy to escape and rob. At first they robbed caravans passing by, or large families, and later they also began to rob the rich people in the village.
In fact, in the final analysis, these people who have become "ringing horses" and "trampling generals" are some ordinary people living at the lowest level, and they do not want to do what this kind of "bandit" can do. If you can choose, who wants to fall into the grass? Isn't this because of the continuous war and social unrest, and there is no way to survive, which is the only way to do it?
epilogue:
This saying is certainly not regional black, and when I understand these backstory stories, I can't help but think of Zhang Yanghao's poem - Xing, the people suffer; death, the people suffer. Whether a country prospers or not, it is only the people who ultimately suffer. However, for a country, whether it rises or falls, is it not the people who are most innocent?
Living at the bottom, perhaps their wish is as simple as to be able to eat today and get a good night's sleep tonight, but even such a simple wish has become a luxury. What we see is that these people are overwhelmed and become bandits in order to survive, hoping to survive. But in the corners we can't see, how many people lose their lives because they can't stand the oppression and destruction?