History has long passed, today's people to understand that period of the past, there are not many things that can be used, documents and historical sites are the most common, and works of art based on historical stories also appear more in front of people, but in the rolling river of history, there are too many things, every thing is like a drop of water in the long river, it is difficult to leave traces in the grand river, and the content that has been handed down is only part of it, not to mention that the writing of literary works has a certain subjective color!
This has led to misunderstandings or deviations in the understanding of history by future generations, and the famous Song Dynasty general Pan Mei was actually not a person who committed great adultery and great evil, but many people in later generations thought that he was a traitor, what is going on? Let's talk about that today.
Pan Meiqi
Pan Mei (潘美), courtesy name Zhongqing, was the founding general of the Song Dynasty. When Pan Mei was young, he looked like a talented and charming, but he was not a paper tiger with empty appearance, and Pan Mei had long ago expressed his majestic ambition to make a contribution to his hometownman Wang Mi, and he did have such an ability. According to historical records, Pan Mei, while following Emperor Chai Rong of Zhou Shizong against the joint attack of the Northern Han and Liao states, used the strategy of jianbi qingye to defend the city, and later garrisoned Yongxing to manage the western war. After the Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne, Pan Mei showed greater ability in many conquests.
The history books mention that Pan Mei's relationship with Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, has always been close, and after Zhao Kuangyin ascended the throne, he trusted Pan Mei very much and entrusted him with heavy responsibilities in the process of many pro-conquests. Once, the lord of Shaanzhou, Yuan Yan, built weapons, which was not a good thing for an emperor, and it was inevitable that there would be a desire for rebellion, and Song Taizu was very suspicious of this, so he sent Pan Mei to supervise and deal with this matter. Pan Mei, who was well versed in Taizu's true intentions, did not kill Yuan Yan, but exhorted him to submit to the imperial court, which was also in line with Song Taizu's original intentions. It can be seen that the relationship between Song Taizu and Pan Mei is very close, and he knows each other's true thoughts.
The Song Dynasty has just been established, the people's hearts are floating, the political situation is unstable, Song Taizu will often give the work of pacifying people's hearts to Pan Mei after the peace is over, after the end of the war, to calm the people's emotions, to win the hearts of the people's aftermath is very important, if not handled properly, the people are likely to be dissatisfied with the imperial court, the region said that there will not necessarily be another war, and Song Taizu gave this important work to Pan Mei, which shows his importance and trust in Pan Mei. Pan Mei, as an important assistant of Zhao Kuangyin, the grandfather of the Song Dynasty, established immortal feats, attacked the Southern Han Dynasty, pacified Lingnan, pacified the Southern Tang, and captured Taiyuan... In every war, there is a brave and brave figure of Pan Meixiao, who is brave and brave, so why would such a heroic figure be ugly and turned into a traitor by later generations?
Death of Yang Ye
The turning point in it all came from a war. In the third year of Yongxi, Song Taizong prepared for the Northern Expedition, sent Pan Mei and others to lead an army to attack the Liao state, Pan Mei killed the enemy all the way, invincible, led the army to capture four of the sixteen states of Yanyun, but another group of men and horses led by Cao Bin was not as smooth as Pan Mei, cao Bin's army was unfavorable and defeated by the Liao state, and the emperor ordered everyone to retreat and protect the people of the four prefectures to migrate to the interior.
In the process of protecting the people of Huan, Shuo, Yun, and Ying prefectures, the Liao army led more than 100,000 people to attack the Northern Song army and captured Huanzhou, and for a while, the situation became extremely urgent. The Liao army had just attacked Xiahuan Prefecture, and morale was booming, and Yang Ye also took this into account, proposing that the army should mainly escort the people to retreat, temporarily avoid the battle, and find the right time to fight back against the Liao state. However, Wang Nong and others refuted Yang Ye's suggestion, believing that the army should not be so cowardly, but should move forward to meet the battle, and in the face of refutation, Yang Ye argued on the basis of reason;
He knew that the timing at this time was very unfavorable to them, and that confronting the enemy head-on would only be a waste of the soldier's life, but his suggestion was still not adopted, and not only that, Wang Nong also suspected that Yang Ye had two hearts. Yang Ye knew in his heart that this war was going nowhere to go, and in order to prove his innocence, he resolutely decided to fight with a fiery heart of serving the country. In the end, Yang Ye fought hard and died on the battlefield.
Although Yang Ye's death was not directly related to Pan Mei, as a superior, he did not recognize the situation, the command was wrong, and naturally it was difficult to blame him, and after Yang Ye was martyred, Pan Mei was cut to the third rank. In the case of Yang Ye, Pan Mei was duly punished, but looking at the development process of the whole thing, Pan Mei is not a big traitor, he does have the fault of improper command, but it is really inappropriate to blame all the responsibility for Yang Ye's death on Pan Mei, and many people in the later generations think that Yang Ye's death was caused by Pan Mei's hand, what is going on?
Historical commentary
Yang Ye, a successor, has courage and strategy, when he was young, he rushed to the battlefield to fight, because of his bravery and bravery, he gradually had a nickname of "Yang Invincible". Yang Ye originally followed Liu Chong, the ancestor of the Northern Han Dynasty, and later submitted to the Northern Song court. Emperor Taizong of Song greatly appreciated Yang Ye and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility, and Yang Ye also lived up to his trust, and fought with Pan Mei back and forth in the Battle of Yanmen Pass, defeating the Liao army. Yang Ye's prestige in the Liao army was very large, and many Liaozhong sergeants saw Yang Ye's banner and fled away from the battle.
In the hearts of the people, the Liao army burned and plundered, did nothing evil, seized their homeland, and made their lives impossible to be peaceful, while Yang Ye, who made the Liao army feel frightened, became a great hero in the hearts of the people. When the people heard that such a brave and good warrior hero unfortunately died on the battlefield, their hearts were sad and indignant, in the hearts of the people, Yang Ye died to protect the peace of his homeland, and a general who defended his family and defended the country should be commemorated by the people. As a result, there are many works of art based on Yang Ye, such as "Yang Jia Jiang" and "Yang Jia Fu Yanyi" and so on. And these works are also the beginning of the scandalization of Pan Mei's image.
The image of Xiao Yong's loyal general is created in "Yang Family General", and the Yang family in the drama will leave a deep impression, while the villain Pan Renmei colludes with foreign enemies and is full of traitors, which is spurned. Pan Renmei is based on Pan Mei. Looking at history objectively, we know that Pan Mei was not directly responsible for Yang Ye's death, Cao Bin did not understand the overall situation, was short-sighted, Wang Nong was stupid and ignorant, and could not see the situation clearly, and the guilt of the two of them was much greater than that of Pan Mei, of course, the punishment received at that time was also more serious than Pan Mei, and Wang Nong was directly assigned to the army. However, in the later life, Pan Mei suffered the most anger and misunderstanding.
In order to enhance the dramatic conflict, the creator will always exaggerate some plots and carry out artistic processing to make the whole story more vivid and moving. As a positive character in Yang Ye's work, there must always be a negative character to set him off, and Pan Mei, who is related to Yang Ye's death, has become the prototype of this negative character. And the simple facts can not be restored to the drama, the drama needs conflicts and twists, the reality is always too bland, so the creators will portray Pan Mei as a person of great treachery and evil, and oppose the Yang family everywhere to enhance the complexity of the drama. Drama and acting are art forms that the people like to hear, and their influence on the people is very large. Stories such as "Yang Jia Jiang" were accepted by the people and circulated in the world, and under the influence of the content of the drama, many people thought that Pan Mei was a great traitor, and the image of Pan Mei's traitor was misunderstood, and some people still think that he is a big bad person who does nothing evil and frames loyal subjects!
Conclusion: Objectively speaking, Pan Mei, as a famous founding general of the Northern Song Dynasty, has made great achievements in battle and made many contributions to the country, but she has been influenced by the literary works of later generations, misunderstood and insulted by people to this day, when we judge historical figures, we must collect more comprehensive information, cannot be led by the nose, and have our own views on historical figures.