"Orphans of Zhao" is a sensational and tear-jerking story: the Zhao family encountered adulterers and courtiers, the orphans escaped from death, the eight righteous soldiers followed the former servants, and the blood sea of deep hatred was finally revealed.
It is the touching emotions and loyalty worth thousands of dollars that make this story sought after by Chinese and foreign audiences in ancient and modern times.
In it, everyone found the long-lost "persistence" and "warmth", and the soul was soothed over and over again.
However, in the process of relaying and accepting again and again, the original face of history is gradually forgotten and ignored by everyone, and the repetition of stories becomes history, and then it becomes the history of faith.
However, will history really be so sentimental, so sensational, so pretentious?
Under what circumstances did the historical "Orphans of Zhao" become orphans?
Is the real "Orphan of Zhao" in history about justice and loyalty?
Since it is the story of the "Zhao orphans", the first question is, who does "Zhao" refer to? All this must start with jin Wengong.
The Duke of Jinwen was known as Chong'er (重耳), and was the son of Duke Xian of the Jin Dynasty during the Spring and Autumn Period.
Heavy ears are famous, and they have experienced ups and downs and are legendary.
His bumpy encounter is related to a woman, and this woman is Li Ji.
In a war, as a victor, Jin Xiangong got two girls, the Li sisters.
Jin Xiangong included them in the harem and pampered them incomparably.
After Li Ji gave birth to a boy, In order to express his love for Li Ji, Jin Xiangong decided to abolish the original prince and establish Li Ji's child instead.
Of course, the establishment of another prince was a big deal, and Jin Xiangong also knew the stakes.
In order to clear the obstacles, he decided to send the princes, including the original prince and the heavy ear, to the field.
Even so, Li Ji still did not let them go, and did everything in her power to fall into the well, and the prince and Zhong'er had to go into exile in other countries.
It was a long exile.
By the time Zhong'er set foot on the land of the Jin Dynasty again, it was 19 years later.
Happily, after returning from exile, Zhong'er was proclaimed the monarch of the Jin Dynasty.
During this long exile, Zhong'er always had a group of loyal fans around him.
One of the most important and meritorious people is Zhao Wan.
How important is Zhao Wan? An example might illustrate the problem.
When Zhong'er was exiled to the State of Qi, Duke Huan of Qi treated him with courtesy and gave Him a lot of face, not only marrying him to the daughter of the public office, but also giving him 80 horses.
Zhong'er had never been treated in this way, and in the gentle and rich township, he had lost all his fighting spirit, and he felt that it was also a good choice for the rest of his life in the country of Qi.
He could think so, but the people who followed him stopped doing it.
Yes, everyone follows you, is to think that you have a future and a head is a potential stock, once you have a heavy ear in the Country of Qi to stop moving forward, every day the alcoholic woman enjoys it, no longer want to kill back to the Jin Country, everyone has worked hard to follow you for so many years, is not the bamboo basket to hit the water empty?
At the critical time, Zhao Wan decisively took a shot, drunk his heavy ears with high wine, and when he was half dreaming and half awake, he directly loaded it into the car and pulled it out of the border of the State of Qi.
After waking up, they had already been pulled to another country by Zhao Wan.
Obviously, without Zhao Wan's firm support and without Zhao Wan's bitter heart, it would have been impossible to have the traces of heavy ears later.
To use the words of the "Records of History" to evaluate Zhao Decline is: "Wen Gong so returned to the country and hegemony, and more Zhao Wan's strategy." ”
Therefore, zhong'er became the monarch of the country, and Zhao Wan, who had the greatest merit, was named the grand master of the original Yi, and acted as the state of Jin above the court, and his identity suddenly became the secretary of state of Jin.
Zhao Wan's heir was his son Zhao Dun, and after the death of Duke Wen of Jin, Zhao Dun continued to act as the state of Jin, assisting Duke Wen of Jin's son Duke Xiang of Jin.
Two years after Zhao Dun presided over state affairs, Duke Xiang of Jin died.
The death of Jin Xianggong created a big problem for Zhao Dun, and this problem had a serious impact on Zhao Dun's future life.
This issue is directly related to the crown prince of Jin Xianggong.
The crown prince of Jin Xianggong was called Yi Gao, and originally his father died and his son succeeded him, which was deserved, but because Yi Gao was too young at that time, Zhao Dun felt that this child's life was still unable to take care of himself, how to be a monarch?
Therefore, Zhao Dun made up his mind not to let the crown prince take over, and to replace him with the younger brother of The Duke of Jinxiang, the uncle of the prince, and the prince Yong, who was stranded in the Qin state as a hostage at that time.
The idea was established, and Zhao Dun immediately put it into action, sending envoys to the Qin Kingdom at the first time to greet Gongzi Yong.
From this action, it can be seen that in the political arena of the Jin Dynasty, Zhao Dun has reached the point where he can cover the sky with his hands and do whatever he wants.
However, Zhao Dun also has Zhao Dun's shortcomings and weaknesses.
He relied on his father to follow the heavy ear in exchange for today's status, to some extent, Zhao Dun can only be regarded as "the second generation of power", "power" and not "expensive".
Although Zhao Dun held a high position of power, he was not related to the rulers of the Jin Dynasty.
In the patriarchal society, Zhao Dun was really not an aristocrat.
The Zhao family did not have enough connections in the political arena of the Jin Dynasty, and without connections, it was equal to not having enough strength.
Prince Yigao's mother was right about this and began to talk to Zhao Dun, ostensibly the weapon she used was tears, but in fact her real weapon was the clan behind her.
Since the prince can be made a prince, there must be a group of vested interests behind him.
Zhao Dun may have changed this situation precisely to use the fact that the prince was too young as an excuse to establish another monarch.
Once this was accomplished, Zhao Dun had the merit of establishing the country and establishing the lord, which not only effectively changed the political ecology of the Jin state, but also highlighted his image of high power and power.
The power behind the prince refused to give up, and the prince's mother was even more unforgiving.
The first thing she did every day was to stop Zhao Dun and cry non-stop, and she even disregarded her identity and knelt down when she saw Zhao Dun, making Zhao Dun helpless.
She only asked Zhao Dun one question: "Please tell me what is wrong with the recently deceased Xianggong, why did you abandon his crown prince and establish another monarch?"
Zhao Dun was dumbfounded when asked.
Zhao Dun was worried about this matter, the more he thought about it, the more empty his heart became, the forces behind the prince and the power behind the prince's mother did not know how many times stronger than Zhao Dun, if another person was set up to replace the prince, there might be unexpected things happening.
Zhao Dun had difficulty riding the tiger, so he had to change his course and promised to do it according to the established policy, and the monarch's seat was also allowed to sit by the prince.
The crown prince who succeeded him was the later Duke of Jinling.
This incident also showed that although Zhao Dun only covered the sky with his hands, he still had some scruples and could not do whatever he wanted.
The crown prince was on the throne, and those who could be officially sent by Zhao Dun to the Qin state to meet Yong were already on their way back.
In desperation, Zhao Dun had no choice but to send another detachment to intercept and kill the group of people who had been sent to the Qin State earlier to invite Gongzi Yong.
Zhao Dun had to wipe this ass clean.
If you want to cover the sky with your hands, but you can't be careless, and at the same time your thinking is not meticulous, it seems that it will not be so easy for such a person to occupy a high position in peace and security.
When he was satisfied, the crisis had crept toward him--in the mind of the prince's mother, in the mind of the prince's supporters, and in the mind of the prince, who later jin Linggong himself, Zhao Dun was an unpredictable treacherous villain, his own enemy.
Under such circumstances, how should the slowly growing Jin Linggong handle the relationship with Zhao Dun?
The historical record is intriguing.
When he grew up, Jin Linggong gave up on himself, arrogant and impermanent, and his behavior reached a jaw-dropping degree.
For example, he usually likes to climb to the tallest building of the palace and shoot down the passing pedestrians with a slingshot.
Pedestrians will dodge around in order not to be shot.
Whenever Jin Linggong saw the pedestrians below panicked and fled like headless flies, he would be particularly happy.
Jin Linggong loves food, but his appetite is very sharp, once he ate bear paws, he felt that the chef did not do enough, so he ordered the cook to be killed, unloaded eight pieces, and put them in a basket for the palace ladies to carry outside on their heads.
Jin Linggong's absurdity and insolence shows an attitude: Aren't you Zhao Dun in charge of state affairs? I don't cooperate with you, I don't cooperate with you. You even had the heart to abolish me back then, so why do I have to sing with you today?
Faced with this situation, Zhao Dun, who presided over state affairs, only had to give advice from time to time, while Linggong let the wind and waves fight and sit firmly on the Diaoyutai, ignoring Zhao Dun's opinions.
As soon as they came and went, the relationship between the two developed to an irreconcilable degree.
This appears in the plot described in "The Orphan of Zhao": Jin Linggong sent assassins to kill Zhao Dun, and as a result, the assassins who were sent picked up halfway through and went to seek short-sightedness, and Zhao Dun was lucky to survive.
One count does not work, one counts again.
In the name of banqueting, Jin Linggong wanted to take the opportunity to ambush the soldiers to get rid of Zhao Dun, but someone in the middle gave Zhao Dun a message, and Zhao Dun escaped again.
These later became the crimes of Jin Linggong, but if we think about it from another angle, we will find the inconceivable thing:
Generally speaking, the people who use assassins to kill people are often vulnerable groups, such as Prince Dan of Yan asking Jing Ke to kill Qin Shi Huang and so on.
As the monarch of the state, the Jin Linggong actually used such means to solve the problem, which shows that in the Jin Linggong, Zhao Dun has reached the point where the tail is too big to fall.
Jin Linggong failed to succeed in two consecutive attacks, so how should Zhao Dun deal with it?
Thirty-six counts, go up.
As a result, Zhao Dun fled in a hurry. Zhao Dun escaped unexpectedly.
As soon as Zhao Dun's front foot left, there was a big problem on the back foot of the Jin Kingdom: Zhao Dun's half-brother was named Zhao Pu, and he openly killed the Jin Linggong above the imperial court, at this time, Zhao Dun had not even come out of the border of the Jin State.
Zhao Dun heard the news and immediately turned around and returned.
At the first time, he rushed to the capital of the Jin Dynasty and took care of the chaos.
He decisively asked Zhao Tou to welcome from the capital of the Zhou Dynasty the son of Duke Wen of Jin, the younger brother of Duke Xiang of Jin, and the uncle of Duke Ling of Jin, and let him take the throne, which was the Duke of Jincheng.
The history books do not record what kind of role Zhao Dun played in the incident in which Jin Linggong was killed, but one thing is clear, Zhao Dun was involved in the killing of Jin Linggong.
Sure enough, soon after, the Jin Dynasty and the public had a rumor about this.
The Chinese people talked about Zhao Dun like this: "As Zhengqing, you said that you were fleeing, but you did not even go out of the border. When you come back and continue to preside over the government, you will not track down the killing of the monarch, let alone rebuke the rebels, really have yours!"
Therefore, the historian of the Jin Dynasty recorded in the history books: "Zhao Dun killed qijun!" This means that Zhao Dun is guilty of killing the king.
This historian's name was Dong Hu, and Dong Hu was famous in history for adhering to principles in this matter.
Confucius praised this greatly. Later, Wen Tianxiang also wrote in the "Song of Righteous Qi": "In Qi TaishiJian, in Jin Dong Fox Pen." ”
Through these, we may be able to see that the world and history did not side with Zhao Dun.
At the same time, this also allows us to see that the real Zhao Dun in history is far from the image of Zhao Dun in "The Orphan of Zhao".
Duke Jin Cheng died after seven years on the throne, and with the help of Zhao Dun, the son of Duke Jin Cheng's black buttocks took the throne, and he was the Duke of Jinjing.
During the reign of Duke Jing of Jin, Zhao Dun died, and his son Zhao Shuo inherited his title, and his wife was the sister of Duke Cheng of Jin.
At this time, the Zhao family had become a hot force in the political arena of the Jin Dynasty.
However, things must be reversed. After the Duke of Jin jing ascended the throne, he was going to attack the Zhao family.
The stakes were high, and Jin Jinggong had obviously made careful arrangements before making up his mind.
First, he selected the striker for action as Tu'an Jia, and then promoted Tu'an Jia to Sikou.
Sikou has a higher status, slightly equivalent to a secretary, and his main responsibility is to be in charge of prison, picketing and other affairs.
Why was Tu Anjia chosen?
First of all, because Tu Anjia was a close subordinate of the Jin Linggong at that time, he won the trust of the Jin Linggong.
The Duke of Jin was killed by Zhao Dun's brother Zhao Pu, so Tu Anjia had a long history of dissatisfaction with the Zhao family.
Second, he wanted to let Tu Anjia create political public opinion.
Because Tu Anjia was in charge of prison and picketing, he was qualified to re-mention the historical events of the Jin Dynasty, such as re-examining the murder of the Jin Linggong.
Tu Anjia really took the murder of Jin Linggong as a breakthrough point, grasped the matter and did not let go, threatening to punish the culprit who killed Jin Linggong that year.
In this way, Zhao Pu is in a doomed situation, Zhao Pu is Zhao Dun's brother, and this matter will inevitably implicate Zhao Dun, who has died in the end.
Once Zhao Dun was implicated, Zhao Dun's son Zhao Shuo was in danger.
Because Tu Anjia publicly declared: "Although Zhao Dun is unaware, he is still the head of the rebels." The murder of the monarch by a courtier, but his descendants are still serving as officials, obviously this is not in line with morality and the law, and must be corrected. ”
This is a natural rebound of the Zhao Dun family's long-term control of state and government affairs, and it is also an effort made by Jin Jinggong to end the situation of power being sidelined.
Obviously, this move to re-mention history is aimed at Zhao Shuo, and the fundamental purpose is to change the contrast of the current political pattern of the Jin Dynasty.
However, after the efforts of three generations of Zhao Wan, Zhao Dun, and Zhao Shuo, the Zhao family had developed a relatively stable force in the political arena of the Jin Dynasty, and in order to reduce the risk of action, Tu Anjia adopted the tactic of surprise attack.
He led his generals to raid the Zhao clan in the lower palace, killing Zhao Shuo, Zhao Tong, Zhao Kuo, and Zhao Baoqi, and exterminating their families.
In this great purge, Jin Jinggong had not yet lost his heart to the point where the six relatives did not recognize him.
When the Zhao clan was exterminated, Jin Jinggong left a way for his aunt to live, and let the pregnant aunt hide in his palace, so that the poor woman saved her life.
The famous orphan of the Zhao family
Zhao Shuo's wife later gave birth to a baby boy, who was the famous Zhao orphan in the future.
His name was Zhao Wu.
This historical fact, which is the reason why the Zhao orphans became orphans, can be seen as a prequel to the Zhao orphans.
What kind of fate will this orphan of the Zhao clan usher in?
After four generations of accumulation and development, by the time of Zhao Xiangzi, the Zhao family once again became an important political force in the political arena of the Jin Dynasty, and the Zhao and Zhi clans, the Fan clan, the Zhongxing clan, the Han clan, and the Wei clan were known as the six secretaries of the Jin Dynasty.
The six secretaries fought with each other and fired at each other, and the final result was that the three families of Han Zhao and Wei destroyed the Jin state, divided the land, and established the Korea, Zhao, and Wei states.
The Zhao family finally outperformed the Jin Dynasty and carved up the Jin Kingdom with others.
Here, we can't see the "loyalty" promoted in the drama "The Orphan of Zhao".
The "Three Houses dividing the Jin Dynasty" is a landmark event and is generally regarded as the dividing line between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
The Jin dynasty was divided into three, and since then it has been destroyed, and three countries have been replaced by three countries.
The Zhao clan, who established the country, carried out a large-scale beauty of history, so that in their own recorded history, they saw that they represented justice and morality, and the story of the Orphans of Zhao was rewritten, adding elements of loyalty and treachery to the struggle between you and me in the political arena of the Jin Dynasty, and always stood on the side of justice.
But where is history so pretentious?
History can only be bloodier, more cruel, more deadly.
The story of the Zhao orphans who touched the East and the West is, in the final analysis, only a literary story, just a story on the stage, and there have been relevant shadows in history, but it is another direction.