"Water Margin", as one of the four famous works, has many well-known stories, and Wu Song poisoned his brother Wu Dalang because of Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian's adulterous affair, so he angrily killed the two, and the story of revenge and hatred is one of them, and Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian have become typical representatives in people's mouths.
Wu Dalang, who was brutally killed, not only did not get people's sympathy, but became an image of incompetence. So is real history the same as the novel describes? Excavated in 1992 in Hebei Province, archaeologists opened the coffin and unveiled more than 800 years of deception.
The tomb of Wu Dalang was found in Qinghe County, Hebei Province
In qinghe county of present-day Xingtai City, Hebei Province, there is a wujia village where more than 1,000 villagers with the surname Wu live, and their ancestors are said to be Wu Dalang. The ancestral hall in the village enshrines wu dalang's sculptures, inscriptions, etc., and there is a tomb of Wu Dalang in the ancestral tomb of Wu Dalang not far from the village.
Although he is not a prince or nobleman, as one of the historical celebrities, Wu Dalang's tomb has not always been preserved intact. In 1946, when people were extremely difficult to live because of wars and natural disasters, many villagers were too hungry to eat, so they started the idea of the ancestral tomb of the samurai family to see if they could dig some gold and silver treasures inside to survive the famine, including the tomb of Wu Dalang.
However, when people rushed to open Wu Dalang's tomb, they found nothing but a fine Nanmu coffin and two white bones, because people did not know that this was Wu Dalang's tomb at that time, so they buried it again.
Later, in 1992, archaeologists came to Wujia Village in Qinghe County to verify whether Wu Dalang was a real historical figure. With the consent of the villagers, the archaeologists opened Wu Dalang's tomb for the second time.
▲Network illustration
As last time, there was only one Nanmu coffin and two white bones, but this Nanmu coffin attracted the interest of archaeologists, because in the novel, Wu Dalang grew up poor, relying on walking the streets and alleys to sell burnt cakes for a living, how can not be considered a rich man, but why can he enjoy such an expensive Nanmu coffin after death, an inch of Nanmu and an inch of gold, which must be expensive even in the Song Dynasty.
What makes archaeologists even more puzzled is that this Nanmu coffin is 1.9 meters long, according to the description in "Water Margin", Wu Dalang is less than five feet tall, and the current measurement unit is a little more than 1.4 meters, how can he use such a large coffin?
And there are two white bones in the coffin, according to the research, this is a man and a woman, and it is still a husband and wife relationship, according to the speculation that the height of the man is about 1.78m. If this is really Wu Dalang's words, then it really subverts people's cognition.
The real Wu Dalang in history
But archaeologists certainly don't just rely on the literary "Water Margin" to determine whether this is really wu Dalang's tomb. Therefore, although the body of the man in the tomb is very different from the height of Wu Dalang described in the novel, archaeologists have finally determined that this is the tomb of Wu Dalang after many studies. Because both in the county records of Qinghe County and the genealogy of The Samurai Village are clearly recorded, there is indeed a person named Wu Dalang in history.
▲Takehiro's Grave
However, unlike the depiction in the Water Margin novel, the real Wu Dalang is not an ugly man with five short statures, but a handsome reader. The historical Wu Dalang's real name is Wu Zhi, because he is the eldest in the family, so he is called Wu Dalang.
He was tall and handsome, talented from reading poetry and books since childhood, and also learned a good martial art, and he was admitted to the meritorious title of jinshi at a young age, which could be said to be a standard young talent at that time, and his future was unlimited.
During the Yongle years of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Zhi was appointed by the imperial court as the county commander of Yanggu County, Shandong Province, by virtue of his meritorious name, that is, at this time he married his wife Pan Jinlian, but the real Pan Jinlian was not a slave of a rich family, but a Miss Qianjin and a lady. Her father was the Zhizhou of Handan at that time, and it was precisely because of Wu Zhi's talent and character that she married her daughter to him.
After getting married, Wu Zhi and Pan Jinlian were very affectionate, there was no incident of Pan Jinlian committing adultery with Ximen Qing and murdering her husband, and Wu Zhi was a clean and honest official, had very good political achievements, and was loved by the common people, Pan Jinlian was also kind and virtuous, and gave birth to four children for Wu Zhi, and was a well-known virtuous wife and mother.
▲Introduction of Mr. and Mrs. Wu Dalang
In his later years, Wu Zhi returned to his hometown to set up education, be charitable, and benefit one party, and did a lot of good things for the local people. Therefore, the local villagers were grateful for his merits and built sculptures and inscriptions of praise for him in the ancestral hall, if he really did as described in the novel, I believe that the martial family would not invite him into the ancestral hall in a dignified manner.
And these can also explain why Wu Zhi can afford to use Nanmu coffin, as for there is no other funerary products, according to historical records, it is because Wu Zhi is usually charitable and charitable, often taking out money to help the villagers in difficulty, and even in the disaster year, he went to the south to buy grain for disaster relief, so he did not have too much wealth when he died.
Since the real Wu Zhi in history is such a good official who is honest and incorruptible, and his wife is also a good wife with a good birth, how did he become Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian in "Water Margin"? What is the truth of this 800-year-old scam?
A scam that has been circulating for more than 800 years
There is a saying that a lie is said a thousand times and becomes the truth, and in history there are many things that are rumored by false rumors, and the same is true of the stories of Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian. This incident was first caused by rumors from Takeshi's early friends.
When Wu Zhi was young, although he was intelligent and studious, he lost his father at an early age and was dependent on his mother, and his family was very poor. This friend's family had a rich businessman who often helped him, and even wu zhi's travel expenses to beijing to catch the exam were paid by him.
Later, Wu Zhi took the meritorious name and went to Yanggu County in Shandong province as a county order, becoming a parent official of one party, while his friend ran to Yanggu County to defect after learning the news that Wu Zhi was an official because of poor management, his business was getting worse and worse, and his economy was getting more and more difficult. His friend is Takeshi's benefactor, and out of gratitude, Takeshi naturally entertains him with good food and drink.
However, Wu Zhi was an upright and honest official, and did not have too much money to give him, nor was he willing to use his power for personal gain to provide abnormal help to his friends, and he categorically refused his friend's request to go through the back door to become an official.
Therefore, after a long time, his friend became resentful and felt that Wu Zhi was ungrateful. In a fit of anger, he did not say goodbye and returned to Qinghe County. After returning to his hometown, his friend became more and more depressed the more he thought about it, so he made up unbearable rumors to slander Wu Zhi.
These rumors that smeared Wu Zhi soon spread in the neighborhood, but his friend later felt that he was not addicted, and even Wu Zhi's wife Pan Jinlian did not let go, he heard that Wu Zhi had run a villainous villain called Ximen Qing when he was the county commander of Yanggu County, so he made up a story of Pan Jinlian and Ximen Qing committing adultery and poisoning Wu Dalang.
This kind of story is very easy to arouse people's interest and discussion, plus some malicious people add oil and vinegar, one pass ten, ten pass a hundred, and soon the nearby ten miles and eight townships will know.
With the fame of "Water Margin", the story of Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian and Ximen Qing became a household name, which further deepened people's misunderstanding of Wu Zhi.
The truth was revealed, and Wu Dalang was wronged
Nowadays, when Wu Dalang is mentioned, people's impression is that of a man who is honest and incompetent, and when Pan Jinlian is mentioned, what comes to mind is that he does not keep the way of women. This can be said to be really unjust for the Wu Zhi couple who have been honest and just for the officials in history, and who are happy and charitable.
But what is real is true, what is false is false, even if the story written in the novel is wonderful, it cannot really turn the real Wu Zhi couple in history upside down.
In fact, Shi Shengchen, a descendant of Shi Nai'an, the author of "Water Margin", apologized for this matter, and Shi Shengchen, as a painter, also painted more than a dozen portraits, and gave a poem on each portrait to justify Wu Zhi's name.
▲Shi Shengchen
Among them, on the portrait of Wu Zhi, Shi Shengchen writes:
"Fabricating the Water Margin Shi Nai'an, Wu Pan was unjustly wronged." Shi Jia article Shi Jia painting, derogatory to this hundreds of years. The karma of the past generations is now the end of the day, and the face is reshaping the human world. The Martial Family Ancestral Hall adjudicated the case, and the Shi family owed the shi family back. ”
The Wu family forgave him when they saw Shi Nai'an's descendants apologizing so sincerely, but the influence of "Water Margin" was too great, and in order to let people know the real history of Wu Zhi, the Wu family specially erected a monument on which he recorded in detail his life of honesty and honesty and benefiting the township.
The inscription reads:
"Gong (Wu Zhi) died of his father at an early age, and he was dependent on his mother, and it was difficult to continue to eat and clothe... Middle-aged people raise up soldiers, officials worship the seven products, promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages, be honest and public, and the villagers hold up umbrellas of the people to respect them. ”
With the proof of the portrait and inscription, although it is impossible to clear people's deep-rooted misunderstanding of Wu Zhi and his wife for hundreds of years, it is always a comfort and explanation to the Wu family.
With the more and more full understanding of history in modern society, I believe that everyone can also have a clear understanding when mentioning Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian, that is, this is just a story fabricated in the novel, not the real history. There are many historical figures and stories like this that have been misunderstood and even distorted, and I hope that everyone can have a clear identification.