If you sum up the Erlang God in one sentence, it is: the personal ability is outstanding, the superficial status is noble, but in fact the status is awkward.
Let's analyze them one by one.
In terms of personal ability, Erlang God may be one of the few Heavenly Gods among the many Heavenly Soldier Heavenly Generals who can fight with Sun Wukong alone and have a slight upper hand. Not to mention his great deed of splitting mountains and saving his mother, nor does he say that he still has a battle group like the "Six Brothers of Meishan", and his battle record with Sun Wukong alone is enough to be proud of the heavenly court. So his personal ability is beyond words!
As for the apparent status of the Erlang God, from the perspective of his relationship with the Jade Emperor, he can be regarded as a "relative of the Emperor", and because his own ability has been recognized by everyone, the Erlang God is also ranked in the "Holy" position (Manifestation), in my personal comparison, I think this is at least ranked as the Third Duke! In this way, will the apparent status of the Erlang God be low?
However, it is a bit embarrassing to talk about the actual status of the Erlang God. This can be seen from two aspects: First, where do you see the place where the god Erlang resides? Second, when Sun Wukong was making a big fuss in the Heavenly Palace, the Jade Emperor's attitude towards the Erlang God could be glimpsed.
Do you see the erlang god living in the Heavenly Palace? Definitely not! He lives in Guanjiangkou. Where is the mouth of the Guanjiang River? Logically, it should be in Today's Dujiangyan. Because the prototype of the Erlang God is Li Bing's father and son who built Dujiangyan - let's not make the argument process here. First of all, it doesn't matter whether the Guanjiangkou is Dujiangyan or not, at least not in the Heavenly Palace! In the Heavenly Palace, even "Bow Ma Wen" still had two houses, but Erlang Shengui,who was the nephew of the Jade Emperor, wanted to "live in peace" in the human world.
86 edition of "Journey to the West" Erlang God stills
When he looked at Sun Wukong's haunting of the Heavenly Palace, Sun Wukong was almost invincible, but did the Jade Emperor think of the Erlang God for the first time? It was still through the "friendly reminder" of Guanyin Bodhisattva that the Jade Emperor let the Erlang God go to war. After Erlang Shen grabbed Sun Wukong, he also returned directly to the mouth of the River after restoring his life with the Jade Emperor, and there was no second word. Later, when Sun Wukong jumped out of the Laojun furnace, why did the Jade Emperor prefer to lose face and ask the Buddha rather than use the Erlang God?
If something goes wrong, there will be a demon! The root cause of all this is that the god Erlang is a relative of the emperor. The abnormal plot of "Journey to the West" is that the author wrote the Ming Dynasty feudal king system into the novel more cryptically.
86 edition of "Journey to the West" Erlang God vs. Sun Wukong stills
Erlang God vs. Sun Wukong
Judging from the fact that "Journey to the West" was born in Jiajing and Longqing Dynasties, turning over the history of the Ming Dynasty, wasn't the Yongle Emperor's "Battle of Jingnan" in the early Ming Dynasty not the royal family's own infighting and the calamity of Xiao Wall? The ensuing struggle between Zhu Zhanji and his uncle Zhu Gaoxu was not almost a recurrence of the "Battle of Jing"? There are also two "brothers staring at the wall" of Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Qiyu!
Therefore, the emperors in the middle and late Ming Dynasty were really "strictly guarded" against the kings of various domains. According to the feudal system of the Ming Dynasty, the crown prince inherited the throne, and the other brothers also became kings, and when they got married in about ten years old, they had to go to their own fiefdoms to live, spending days and drinking, acting recklessly, absurdity, and doing anything, that is, they could not interfere in politics! So you see, does the Erlang God take the "Six Brothers of Meishan" to hunt and drink all day every day? Isn't this like those idle kings?!
Therefore, Wu Cheng'en's relationship between the Erlang God and the Jade Emperor is a portrayal of the Ming Dynasty feudal system, and the Jade Emperor has almost no contact and no use policy for his own nephew, if it is not Guanyin who opens his mouth, Sun Wukong will poke a hole in the heavenly court, and it is estimated that the Jade Emperor will not let the Erlang God go on the expedition.
Stills of the Jade Emperor
Therefore, the Erlang God looks extremely honorable on the surface, but in fact it is the object of the Jade Emperor's key attention, especially the Erlang God's strong personal ability, as well as a huge and combative legion, the more bright the Erlang God is, the stronger the defensive heart in the Jade Emperor's heart!
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