The farmer repaired the well to dig out a thing, Guan Yu's true life was revealed, expert: we have been deceived for two thousand years
During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, there was an ancient well in The Xiezhou region of Shanxi, and many people in the village relied on this ancient well river, but at that time, the northwest region was also plagued by wars, resulting in serious damage to the ancient well. After Kangxi ascended the throne, society became stable, and a farmer in the village began to want to repair the ancient well.
But when he was digging, he dug up a hard object, and after making it out, he found that it was actually a stele. He couldn't read big characters, so he invited some famous local literati, which he didn't know, but it frightened the literati at a glance - this stele actually recorded the life of Guan Yu Guanyunchang, the "Martial Saint"!
Wu Sheng Guan Yu
Guan Yu's name can be said to be known to everyone in the whole of China. Stories such as "Taoyuan Three Knots of Righteousness", "Wenjiu Chopping Huaxiong", "Cutting Six Generals Through Five Levels", and "Flooding the Seven Armies" are all familiar and popular among the population.
However, the first three plots mentioned above are actually from the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which is a fictional plot in the novel, not a real story in history. It is precisely because one of the four famous works, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", is too famous, and even overwhelms the limelight of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so most people in the world know Guan Yu but do not know Guan Yu, and Guan Yu has known about Guan Yu since ancient times from word of mouth.
In order to attract people's attention, the storyteller will naturally add oil and vinegar in many ways and deify Guan Yu, so that Guan Yu, who is not a top martial artist in terms of force or even the use of soldiers, has the name of "Martial Saint". I don't know that even in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the record of Guan Yu is not exhaustive, until now, the birth year of Guan Yu of the official on Baidu Encyclopedia is still a big "question mark".
Three big misconceptions
But this stele discovered by this farmer shows us a more complete Guan Yu. Guan Yu was a native of Xie County, Hedong County, which was later the land of Xiezhou in Shanxi, and the stele unearthed in Guan Yu's hometown still has a certain degree of credibility. And this stele also clarifies at least three misunderstandings for us.
1. Taoyuan Three Knots
In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei were quite speculative after they met, so they ranked themselves under Taoyuan by age, Liu Bei was older, he became the eldest brother, Guan Yu was second, and became the second brother, while Zhang Fei was the youngest and became the third brother.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has confirmed to us that the so-called Taoyuan Jieyi is also a fiction of the novel, and the records in the history books only show that the three people are brothers, and do not talk about any Taoyuan. And this stele directly records that Guan Yu's birth year is 160 AD, and Liu Bei was born in 161 AD, that is to say, Guan Yu is one year older than Liu Bei, if it is really ordered by the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", then Guan Yu is the eldest brother of the three.
2. "Righteous Son" Guan Ping
In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Guan Ping was not born to Guan Yu, but was only appreciated by Guan Yu because of his high martial arts, so he was accepted by Guan Ping as a righteous son, and from then on he began to follow Guan Yu to fight the world. However, in this stele, it is recorded that Guan Yu was born in 160, and guan Yu grew up to marry Hu Shi and gave birth to Guan Ping in 178 AD.
That is to say, Guan Ping is Guan Yu's own son, not a righteous son. The birth year of Guan Ping recorded in the stele is consistent with the record in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which further enhances the credibility of this stele.
3. Guan Yu's birthday
In folklore, Guan Yu was born on May 13, so every time at this time, many people will bring tribute incense to the Guan Gong Temple to worship Guan Gong, and some places even hold temple fairs to show their reverence and memory for the "martial saint" Guan Yu.
However, the birthday of Guan Yu recorded in this stele is actually on June 24, and May 13 is actually the birthday of Guan Yu's son Guan Ping. That is to say, for thousands of years, countless people have worshipped Guan Ping, the son of wusheng, rather than Guan Yu himself, and they don't know what kind of expression Guan Yu would have made if he knew that his human blessings were actually occupied by his own son.
epilogue
Unfortunately, some of the other deeds of Guan Yu recorded in this stele have not been corroborated in the main history of various families, so in the end, the written records in this stele can only be regarded as wild history. But in any case, Guan Yu, as the most holy warrior, will naturally not stop his archaeological research, and I look forward to the day when Guan Yu, whom we admire, can appear in our eyes with a more complete face and become a true "martial saint" who is fully understood.