introduction
In the Warring States Strategy, Pang Gong said to the King of Wei: "The tiger without the city of Fu is also clear, but the three of them become tigers by word." There would have been no tigers in the bazaar, but after two or three people spread, many people would start to be suspicious. It can be seen that sometimes rumors can cover up the facts themselves. From ancient times to the present, such things are not in the minority.
Regarding the origin of Qin Shubao, the founding general of the Tang Dynasty, there are many rumors in the rivers and lakes. In the "Speaking of Tang" and "Sui and Tang Dynasties", Qin Shubao is portrayed as the "Tiger Son of the Gate", and his grandfather and father are the Northern Qi general Qin Xu and the Wuwei general Qin Yi; but there is also a saying that Qin Shubao's ancestors were iron smelters, and his family is considered to be a "iron smelting family". But what is the truth of the matter? If it were not for a later archaeological discovery, it is estimated that these truths would have been covered up under people's rumors.
▲Qin Shubao stills
01
"Sui and Tang Dynasties" has created a lot of heroic images, but there are virtual and real. Names such as Cheng Yaojin, Qin Shubao, Shan Xiongxin, Li Junxian, Du Fuwei, Su Dingfang, and Yang Xuangan can be found in the main history; while Yuwen Chengdu, Xiong Kuohai, and Pei Yuanqing are purely fictionalized by novelists and are not mentioned in the main history. There is also the invincible Li Yuanba, although his name is mentioned in the main history, but he said that he died very early. Before he died before Li Yuan ascended the throne, there was no heroic record of "carrying an eight-hundred-pound sledgehammer" against Qin Shubao and a group of people.
▲ Li Yuanba stills
Back to the point, Uncle Qin is really a hero. His deeds are recorded in both the New Book of Tang and the Old Book of Tang: Qin Shubao followed the King of Qin on his crusade, but whenever there were Xiao generals in the enemy formation, the sharp pawns were in and out, in order to show his ability, the King of Qin would order Qin Shubao to go and take his life. Qin Shubao answered the order, the Prancing Horse marched with a gun, and it will stab it among the multitudes, and the people and horses will be easy to overcome, and it is better to be willing. No matter whether it was a big or small war, Qin Shubao was leading the way. A horse and a gun come and go freely among thousands of troops and horses, taking the enemy's head as if they were probing for things, and their image is like a divine soldier descending from heaven.
▲Qin Hou's image
Qin Shubao is a well-deserved founding hero of the Tang Dynasty, and later Li Shimin made one battle achievement after another, basically without the shadow of Qin Shubao. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he should have received numerous rewards. However, in that year, Li Shimin launched the Xuanwumen Rebellion, and he instructed Qin Shubao to go to support. Qin Shubao, who had always been principled, felt very embarrassed, on the one hand, he did not want to betray Li Yuan, on the other hand, he did not want to disappoint the King of Qin. After thinking about it, I really couldn't think of a way to have both worlds, and finally I had to give up and choose to stay out of the matter.
02
Afterwards, although Li Shimin did not punish him, he no longer used him as much as before. In his old age, Qin Shubao often fell ill and was in pain, and he himself often sat on the hospital bed and sighed: "Since I went out to the battlefield as a teenager, I have experienced more than two hundred battles, and I have been seriously injured many times, and the blood that has flowed from my body has been gundam. Counting the number of bleeding before and after me, resulting in old age and illness." He lamented that when he was young, he fought too many battles, was injured many times, and damaged the foundation of his body, resulting in old age and illness.
▲Portrait of the door god
After Qin Shubao's death, Li Shimin posthumously made him the governor of Xuzhou and was specially allowed to bury him in Zhaoling. Thirteen years after Zhenguan, Qin Shubao was posthumously honored as the Duke of Hu. In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin ordered people to paint a portrait of the twenty-four heroes of the founding of the Tang Dynasty and hang them in the Ling Yan Pavilion. Later, the portraits of Qin Shubao and others were passed down to the people and were worshipped as door gods. Every New Year's Day, their portraits are pasted on the door by old age paintings to ward off evil spirits.
03
Although the history tells the life of Qin Shubao, there is no clear record of Qin Shubao's background. In 1995, when a bank dormitory building in Jinan City was building a foundation, a stone tomb was dug up. The construction personnel immediately contacted the local archaeological office, and the archaeologists quickly arrived after hearing the news. They found that the tombstone of the stone tomb was engraved with the life of Qin Ai, Qin Shubao's father.
▲Qin Ai epitaph photo
It was not until this stone tomb was discovered that the mystery of Qin Shubao's life was solved. It turned out that Qin Shubao's great-grandfather was Qin Xiaoda, his grandfather was Qin Fangtai, and his father was Qin Ai. These three people are not great generals, of course, their family is not a family of iron smelting, this Qin family is actually a family of scholars through and through. This Qin Shubao's great-grandfather, grandfather, and father served as civil officials in the Wei and Qi dynasties, respectively. At this point, the previous rumors were suddenly self-defeating.
epilogue
Such an ending is really ironic. A generation of famous generals Qin Shubao, the ancestors were all civilian officials, and this Qin Shubao, it turned out that he also abandoned Wen congwu before he became the first fierce general of the Tang Dynasty. It seems that the rumors are indeed not entirely credible. Therefore, the opinion of the majority of the people is not necessarily correct. And the truth may be buried under the rumors. We must not follow the crowd, but learn to use our wisdom to distinguish the true from the false and discover the truth.
Resources:
Warring States Policy Wei Ce
"Speaking of Tang"
Sui and Tang Dynasties
New Book of Tang
Old Book of Tang