The Story of the Yang family being full of heroes and martyrs, the generations of bloody battlefields, and sacrificing oneself to serve the country has been widely circulated for thousands of years, and what is even more admirable is that the Yang family is not only a good boy, but also a female general who does not let her eyebrows be shaved. Is the real Yang Family really that powerful? Why didn't they appear at the time of the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty?
First, three generations of grandchildren are famous generals
When it comes to the Yang family, it is natural to start from the old LingGong Yang Ye. Yang Ye Rongma's life, his experience can be attributed to the Song Dynasty in 979 AD as a time node, the first half of his life in the Northern Han Dynasty to serve against the Song, the second half of his life in the Northern Song Dynasty to serve as an anti-Liao. Yang Ye's original name was Yang Guizhong, because he was highly valued under the Northern Han Emperor Liu Chong, so he was given the name "Liu Jiye", which was changed back to Yang after returning to the Song Dynasty.
Since Yang Ye defected to Liu Chong in Hedong at the age of 20, he has served the Liu family for three generations in the Northern Han Dynasty. During this period, Yang Ye was promoted several times, and the officer was sent to the command of the Jianxiong Army, and performed battle merits. He tried to protect Taiyuan for nearly 30 years, so such a feat can be said to be rare, so Yang Ye was given the title of "invincible" by the people of the Northern Han Dynasty. However, because the historical record of Yang Ye's resistance to the Song dynasty is not comprehensive and not very credible, Yang Ye's military achievements in the first half of his life in the Northern Han Dynasty against the Song Dynasty are not well understood, even in the "History of Song", Yang Ye was sentenced to two people when he resisted the Song and the Liao.
Yang Ye in film and television dramas
Yang Ye's status after returning to the Song Dynasty was actually not very high, and when Emperor Taizong of Song rewarded the surrender, Yang Ye was not recorded with Ma Feng, Guo Wanchao and others. And Yang Ye's "Left Leading Wei Da" who was appointed in the Song Dynasty was only a sanitation official and did not have an actual position. In fact, this is related to Yang Ye's family origin. At that time, the Yang family was just a small force, and at that time, the various forces were fighting each other, and the Yang family could only survive in the cracks. The Yang family adopted a strategy of not putting eggs in the same basket, so there was a situation in which Yang Ye served the Northern Han Dynasty, while his father and brother served later. Yang Ye's younger brother Yang Chongxun repeatedly oscillated between the Northern Han Dynasty and the Later Zhou Dynasty, causing Yang Ye to inevitably be suspected after returning to the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty paid great attention to the restrictions on military generals, and it was normal that Yang Ye did not have much power. As for his title of "Ling gong", it was only because he was posthumously given the Zhongshu Ling, and Linggong was only the abbreviation of the Zhongshu Ling.
There are also doubts about the deeds of the old Ling Gong Yangye. The first suspicious point is the issue of Yang Ye's place of origin. Regarding his place of origin, there are two theories: Linzhou (present-day Shenmu, Shaanxi) and Taiyuan. As we all know, Yang Ye's father, Yang Xin, was a Linzhou Assassin, and under the pen of Zeng Gong and Ouyang Xiu, Yang Ye was classified as a Linzhou native. Zeng Gong and Ouyang Xiu lived decades after Yang Yezhan's death, so their records have some credibility. Supporting Yang Ye as a Taiyuan person is mainly based on the judgment of the Southern Song Dynasty remnant Yu Dazhuo's "Ember Records" and the "History of the Song" revised by the Yuan Dynasty. Both claims have their own basis, so the question remains inconclusive.
The second suspicious point concerns Ling Gong's death. In order to alleviate the charges, the Lord described Yang Ye's death very vaguely. Some people believe that Yang Linggong was captured and died of hunger strike, but they found relevant records in the Song Dynasty Fact Class Garden, the Liao Shi Ye Lu Xie Chuan Biography, and the Song Shi Yang Ye Biography. According to the Records of embers and the Chronicle of the Eastern Capital, some people believe that Yang Linggong was killed in battle. This view is shared by the majority.
Yang Ye died at Border Pass less than 8 years after entering the Song Dynasty, and his seven sons, except for Yang Yanyu, who died in battle with him, were all hired by the imperial court. One of the most famous is Yang Yanzhao, who is known as "Yang Liulang", but yang Yanzhao is actually the largest of the seven sons. According to the "Song Shi Yang Ye Biography", "Since there was no karma, the imperial court recorded his son Yan Lang as the deputy envoy of Chongyi, the second son Ofe Dian DirectLy Yanpu and Yan Xun as the worship official, and Yan Li, Yangui, and Yan Bin as the Temple Straight." This clearly mentions the ranking order of the six sons, and Yang Yanyu's seventh rank can be determined, and in the following text, it is also mentioned that "Yan Zhao's real name is Yan Lang, later changed to Yan".
So why is Yang Yanzhao, the Great Lang of the Yang Family, called Yang Liulang? In fact, the historical term "Rokuro" does not just mean the sixth. In the Old Book of Tang and the Biography of Zhang Changzong, it is recorded: "Zhang Changzong was fortunate in his posture, and Yang Zaisi said that 'Liu Lang' was like a lotus, but it was said that the lotus was like a 'Liu Lang' ear. "Here it is said that a man with a handsome face is called "Rokuro". However, Yang Yanzhao's "Liu Lang" has nothing to do with his appearance, and this title comes from the Evaluation of Him by the Liao. In the "Biography of Yang Ye in the History of Song", it is said that "(Yan Zhao) was in the border defense for more than twenty years, and the Khitan was afraid of it, and the purpose was Yang Liulang", which shows that Yang Yanzhao ranked sixth only because later generations did not distinguish and misrepresent the story of the Yang family general.
"Liu Lang" Yang Yanzhao in the film and television drama
Rumor has it that Yang Yanzhao had a son named Yang Zongbao and a grandson named Yang Wenguang, but this is not the case. The Biography of Yang Ye of song only records that Yang Wenguang was Yang Yanzhao's son, and Yang Zongbao did not exist. And Yang Wenguang's resume is also very rich, with the achievements of envoys to Guangxi, from Di Qing to the south, and finally to Zuozang ku.
However, after Yang Wenguang, the descendants of the Yang family are not as good as their predecessors, they mainly live in the Shanxi generation, and it is also said that there are also descendants of the Yang family in Jiangnan. But they were no longer brilliant, so when the Northern Song Dynasty fell, no one in the Yang family could stand up.
Yang Jiajian in film and television dramas
Second, does the Yangmen female general exist?
In fact, there are not many records in the history books of the Yangmen women who are popular in dramas and novels, so some people think that they never existed, but this argument is actually unreasonable, because historians mostly look at problems from a feudal standpoint, which leads to many heroic women being buried in the long river of history.
Some people believe that the first female general of Yangmen, She Taijun, is the daughter of the Folding (reading she) family. Like the Yang family, the Folding Family was also a relatively large military family in the early Song Dynasty and northern Jin Dynasty, and there are also stories of the Folding Family Generals in history.
For the claim that She Taijun is the daughter of The Folding Virtue, most of them come from some Yang genealogies, but in fact, those genealogies are all written in the Qing Dynasty, so the credibility of this theory is not very high. Moreover, the circulation of She Taijun in the folk also began from the Yuan Qu, and the understanding of She Taijun in later generations came from this.
Logically speaking, the assertion that She Taijun is the daughter of a folded de is also very problematic. The Folding Family and the Yang Family were first subordinate to different forces. As a dangxiang clan, the Folding family has been a prominent figure in the Later Zhou Dynasty for generations, and has always been an important force in the Later Zhou Dynasty against the Liao and the Northern Han Dynasty. In 952, the Northern Han Dynasty attacked the area controlled by the Folding Family on a large scale, but under the heroic counterattack of the Folding Family, the Northern Han Lost Troops, and the Later Zhou and the Northern Han Dynasty have been at war ever since. Even after Chen Qiao mutinied the Northern Song Dynasty, after the Fallen Dynasty, Folding Virtue annexed the Northern Song Dynasty, and always advocated attacking the Northern Han Dynasty. Even in the War of the Northern Song Dynasty to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty, the Folding Family was extremely active, and Folding Yuqing, the son of Folding De, made great contributions to the pacification of the Northern Han Dynasty.
And Yang Ye's father and son, the earliest is the Northern Han Dynasty generals. How could two such families belonging to the rival imperial court marry in private? Therefore, the claim that She Taijun is the daughter of Folding Virtue is actually very difficult to establish.
She Taijun film and television drama image
As for other Female Generals of Yangmen, such as Cheshire Lord and Mu Guiying, they also exist in local chronicles, and whether these historical materials are credible has yet to be studied.
Stills of "Mu Guiying Hanging Commander"
Wen Shijun said
Although not as powerful as the widely circulated version, several generations of southern conquests and northern warfare made a significant contribution to the social stability of the Song Dynasty. Unfortunately, after Yang Wenguang, the Yang family had few capable people like Yang Ye, so when the Northern Song Dynasty fell, they had more than enough heart and insufficient strength, and the Yang family did not stand up.
bibliography
Zhang Yongting: The Historical Truth of Yang Jiajiang, Central Compilation Publishing House, 2012.
Yang Zhihua: "The Historical Truth of Yang Jiajiang", Journal of Shanxi University, No. 2, 1978.
Zhao Jiemin, "The Yang Family Will Be Examined", Tianjin Social Sciences, No. 2, 1987.
Yang Jianhong, "A Brief Discussion on the Cultural Implications of the Evolution of Yangmen Male Generals into Yangmen Female Generals", Journal of Changsha University, No. 1, 2004.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Taoyuan)
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