As the heroes of the last years of the Ming Dynasty, Yuan Chonghuan and Mao Wenlong, who is loyal and who is adulterous, like a Rashomon, has been arguing endlessly for hundreds of years, and there is no definite answer. However, although the loyalty and adultery of these two people are difficult to distinguish, the sons of the two have different endings, which can be described as the judgment of loyalty and adultery, which may reflect the loyalty and adultery of Yuan Chonghuan and Mao Wenlong.
Regarding the descendants of Yuan Chonghuan and Mao Wenlong, there are roughly two versions: one is Jin Yong's artistic portrayal of it, because Jin Yong's novels are widely disseminated and well-known among Chinese people around the world, so this version is widely known; second, the real history recorded in the historical records of the Ming and Qing dynasties, because the descendants of the two are not celebrities and have not done anything major, so their deeds are little known.
Jin Yong's son of Yuan Mao
Among Jin Yong's novels, there are two novels describing the Ming and Qing dynasties, namely "The Green Blood Sword" and "Deer DingJi". In these two novels, Yuan Chonghuan, Mao Wenlong, and their sons are involved.
First, let's take a look at Yuan Chonghuan and his son Yuan Chengzhi (pictured below, stills). In "The Green Blood Sword", Jin Yong artistically processed Yuan Chonghuan, from a scholar to a border general, and made great achievements in the great war against Jin after the confrontation, but finally ended up with an innocent killing, creating the image of a tragic hero. After Yuan Chonghuan was killed, his subordinates rescued his seven-year-old son, taught him to read and write, laid a good foundation in martial arts, so that he could avenge his father, and in order to let him inherit his father's legacy, named "Yuan Chengzhi". "Green Blood Sword" is based on Yuan Chengzhi as the protagonist, in the historical background of the Ming and Qing dynasties, Yuan Chengzhi performed heroic deeds, helped Li Zicheng to attack Beijing, and went north to assassinate Emperor Taiji, etc., creating an image of a hero who served the country and the people. Later, Li Zicheng entered Beijing, the invading army quickly degenerated, his righteous brother Li Yan died tragically, and Yuan Chengzhi went to live in seclusion overseas in discouragement.
Second, take a look at Mao Wenlong and his daughter Mao Dongzhu (below, stills). "Green Blood Sword" affirms Yuan Chonghuan, then it must deny Yuan Chonghuan's sword soul Mao Wenlong, so he is described by Jin Yong as a complete villain, which makes people hate it to the bone. In the "Deer Ding", in order to find the Forty-two Chapters Of the Scriptures, the cult Dragon Sect sent the cultist Mao Dongzhu to the Qing Palace to secretly imprison the empress, and disguised herself as an empress in the magpie's nest, which was later destroyed by Wei Xiaobao, and finally killed by Gui Xinshu and his wife, and became Kangxi's substitute ghost. When Mao Dongzhu was disguised as an empress, he had a daughter, Princess Jianning, but whether her biological father was Shunzhi or not, Jin Yong did not explain, and Jin Yong's Princess Jianning was a somewhat psychopathic sadist and masochist.
It can be said that the image of Yuan Mao's second door in Jin Yong's pen is diametrically opposite, Yuan Chonghuan shows the true color of a hero, and Mao Wenlong shows the essence of a villain. However, although Jin Yong's novel has a magnificent historical background, he is only a businessman and novelist after all, and it is unlikely that he can interpret history in a serious way, in fact, the son of Yuan Mao in history is diametrically opposite to the image in Jin Yong's novel.
Yuan Chonghuan's son Yuan Wenbi
Yuan Chonghuan has no biological son, there is also a pen and ink lawsuit, Guangdong related materials say that there are no children, but the "Qing History Manuscript" records that there was a son in the northeast.
In the recital "Three Beggars give false neglect", Yuan Chonghuan said that his family was originally extremely poor, his father and brother were poor and poor, and they all depended on themselves to support themselves. The subject's father did not have a rich property, but he was poor all the time. The father is gone. The younger brother of The Younger Brother is reverent, and he is not familiar with things, and all those who are born and raised and who die and are to be buried depend on their subjects. Since his wife did not have children and did not have money to take concubines, Yuan Chonghuan had to adopt his nephew Yuan Zhaoji as his heir, and the Records of Emperor Xizong recorded that "Yuan Chonghuan's male original yin Jinyi Wei Qianhu Yuan Zhaoji". During the Qianlong period, the Inspector of Guangdong pointed out that there were no direct blood descendants of Yuan Chonghuan, only yuan shan, a descendant of his stepson Yuan Zhaoji.
Of course, before the promotion, Yuan Chonghuan's family may have been very poor, but after serving as the governor of Liaodong, Yuan Chonghuan's family should be very rich. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Bi Ziyan, a heavy minister of the household department, recorded in the "Discussion on The Du Zhi", after Yuan Chonghuan served as the governor of Liaodong Province, he bought land in his hometown, and was later confiscated more than 5,000 taels of land. With the urine nature of the family at that time, the property copied out could only be under-reported, so that it could go up and down, and the old home alone copied out five thousand taels, so it was absolutely unobjective to say that Yuan Chonghuan was not greedy.
However, the "Qing History Manuscript Fuming'a Biography" records: "Fuming'a, zi zhi'an, Yuan Shi, Han Junzheng White Banner people, Ming Bingbu Shangshu Chonghuan descendants of Sun. Chonghuan died, his family lived in Runing, he had a son Wenbi, served in the army, and was incorporated into the Ningguta Han Army. Five passes to Fuminga. At the same time, the "Monument of The General of Jiangning Fuming A gosi", which is still in Heilongjiang Province, as well as the "Remaining Collection of Poems and Sayings of Xueqiao" by the scholar Yang Zhongxi at that time, and Wei Yulan's "Old News of Longcheng", all record that Yuan Chonghuan had a widowed son Yuan Wenbi. Modern Dongguan scholar Zhang Cixi synthesized many literature and pointed out that Yuan Chonghuan took a new concubine during the Chongzhen period and gave birth to his widowed son Yuan Wenbi.
The truth came out, it turned out that Yuan Chonghuan did not have direct blood relatives in Guangdong, so he adopted his nephew Yuan Zhaoji as an heir, but later in Liaodong, a concubine gave birth to a son. Judging from the fact that Yuan Chonghuan's concubines and his hometown were copied out of the five thousand taels, the economic situation did improve by leaps and bounds after serving as the governor of Liaodong.
More importantly, Jin Yong said that Yuan Chonghuan's son was named Yuan Chengzhi, indicating that he inherited his father's legacy, but in fact it was nonsense, Yuan Chonghuan's son not only did not call Yuan Chengzhi, but also defected to the Qing army, "meritorious service in the army, incorporated into the Ningguta Han army", and even his descendants changed their surname to "Fuming'a". The ancients said that "if you don't change your name, you don't change your surname", even your surname has changed, how loyal should Yuan Chonghuan's descendants be to the Qing Dynasty?
It can also be seen from the change of surnames by Yuan Chonghuan's descendants that the Qing Dynasty is not all Sinicization as we understand it, and there is also a reverse "Manchuization", in order to show loyalty and for certain interests, many Han people have changed their faith to Manchu customs and changed to Manchu surnames, and there are still remnants. (Below, Yuan Shoushan, a descendant of Yuan Chonghuan's Zhengbai Banner)
Mao Chengdou, son of Mao Wenlong
Mao Wenlong was originally from Shanxi, and his grandfather Mao Yushan originally operated guanyan in Shanxi, but later moved his family to Hangzhou due to business needs. His father, Mao Wei, abandoned shang and became a prisoner, marrying Shen Shi, the daughter of the Hao clan in Hangzhou, and the two had three sons. But when Mao Wenlong was 9 years old, his father died, and Mao Wenlong moved with his two younger brothers and his mother to live in his uncle's house.
At the age of thirty, Mao Wenlong succeeded his uncle Mao Dechun in Anshan, Liaodong Province, as his heir, and at the same time was recommended by his maternal uncle Shen Guang to Ningyuan Bo Li Chengliang's account and began his military career in Liaodong. When he was an official in Liaodong, Mao Wenlong married a Shanxi Shi woman, Zhang Shi, but Zhang Shi could not have children, so Mao Wenlong had a concubine wen shi in Liaoyang and gave birth to a son, Mao Chengdou. When the city of Liaoyang was destroyed, Wen died in the war, and Mao Chengdou was rescued and sent to Hangzhou to be raised by Zhang. It is worth mentioning that when Anshan City was destroyed, more than a hundred members of Mao Wenlong's uncle Mao Dechun were killed by the HouJin Army.
After the destruction of the city and the death of his family, Mao Wenlong began a journey against jin, recruiting a large number of Liao people who suffered the same situation in Dongjiang Town, including Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, Zhang Pan and others. The Three Shun Kings of the Qing Dynasty all worshiped Mao Wenlong as their righteous father at this time, and their names were Mao Youde, Mao Kexi, and Mao Zhongming. When Mao Wenlong set off an anti-gold storm in Dongjiang Town, Mao Chengdou had been living in his hometown in Hangzhou, and at the age of nineteen (Chongzhen's later years) "supplemented the student Hangzhou, and later entered the Taixue". After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, Mao Wenlong's attitude towards Mao Chengdou was very respectful.
Mao Qiling's "Mao Zongrong Epitaph" (Dongjiang Shujietang BaojieJiejie - Dongjiang Testament) records: When Mao Wenlong went to Lingnan, after knowing where Mao Chengdou was, he found and gave Chengdou generously. As for whether Mao Chengdou accepted it, it is not recorded in the inscription.
"Table Zhonglu", "Biography of Mao General Wenlong", "Shuhou" and other records: After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, Mao Chengdou "put his hair into the mountains and did not eat Qing millet", Mao Chengdou, "changed his name to Jue, and lived in seclusion in Qiantang." In the early Qing Dynasty, the great general (i.e., Mao Wenlong) was mostly a yuanxun and a prince, and when he was sent, he greeted Jue, and the courtesy was very respectful, and he wanted to recommend Jue as a high official. Jue Gu said: "Foolishness does not serve as an official, and is afraid of violating the first general Zhiye'." Since most of Mao Wenlong's old departments were princes and nobles, they sent emissaries to invite Mao Chengdou with a very respectful attitude and wanted to recommend him to the Qing court as a high official, but Mao Chengdou resolutely refused to leave the Qing Dynasty.
Liu Jian of the Qing Dynasty recorded in the "Records of the Court": In the early Qing Dynasty, Mao Chengdou's old mansion was forcibly occupied by Qing Shuai Li Mou, and there was an old servant in the family who had always been close to Wu Sangui and went to Yunnan to tell Wu Sangui, the king of The Western Qingping Dynasty, about this matter, and Wu Sangui ordered Li to return the house, apologize, and pay compensation.
Regarding Mao Chengdou's life in the early Qing Dynasty, the history books have relatively little explanation, but through these sporadic records, two points can be affirmed: First, Mao Chengdou has many relationships and a deep background, and no matter what mood Mao Wenlong's old generals such as King Sanshun are in, they will probably give help as long as Mao Chengdou makes reasonable requests; second, Mao Chengdou does not know what his attitude toward the Qing Dynasty is, but he really did not leave the Qing Dynasty and inherited half of his father Mao Wenlong's legacy.
In summary, it can be seen that Yuan Chonghuan's son not only did not inherit his aspirations, but rebelled against the enemy and made many military achievements, and even later became a Manchurian servant army, and Mao Wenlong, who has been criticized, although his descendants did not rise up against the Qing, at least did not serve the Qing Dynasty for life. Yuan Chonghuan and Mao Wenlong were loyal and adulterous, but their sons were clearly convicted of loyalty and adultery.
As a leader in the martial arts novel industry, Jin Yong is looking back at the past from the height of history, the historical data clearly records the behavior of Yuan Mao's descendants, it is reasonable to say that he should not be so upside down black and white, but in the novel full of family and country feelings, there is a suspicion of praise and loyalty, which makes people wonder and wonder, and the four words of simple artistic fiction may not be explained.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Epitaph of Mao Zongrong, Green Blood Sword, Deer DingJi, etc