In the 1980s, there was a movie called "Zhiyin". In this movie, the strong cast team, superb acting skills, coupled with the legendary story between Xiao Fengxian and Cai Yi, made thousands of audiences moved.
Everyone said that Xiao Fengxian was Cai Yi's confidant with a red face, and also said that Xiao Fengxian was a beautiful woman, a talented woman and a chivalrous woman. So, is the little phoenix immortal in history really such a legend? Is there a love affair between her and Cai Yi? Today we will talk about this woman.
The little phoenix fairy is not a beautiful woman
In the main history, there is no record of Xiao Fengxian, even her age, there is no detailed record. According to rumors, Xiao Fengxian was a well-known prostitute.
Her original name was Zhu Xiaofeng, and later changed her name to Zhang Fengyun and Zhang Xianfei. His ancestral home is Qiantang, Zhejiang. Born in Hangzhou, his father was a military attaché of the fallen Manchu Eight Banners. In the years before the complete collapse of the Qing Dynasty, this Eight Banners military attaché was suddenly dismissed.
Therefore, Xiao Fengxian's childhood lived in a family that was becoming increasingly poor and her stepmother was very indifferent to her.
Today, we will not talk much about Xiao Fengxian's life, but mainly look at Xiao Fengxian's specific description of her in the context of that time and in the historical materials.
The reason why Xiao Fengxian is not a beautiful woman is because of a report in the Democracy Daily. According to the custom of the eight hutongs, they had to hold a beauty contest, according to the level of appearance, in the ranking at that time, that is, among the four yan value "doctors" and thirty-three yan value "bachelors", there was no name of Xiao Fengxian at all.
In addition to the report of the "Democracy Daily", Li Hongxiang, the commander of the Dian Army division who followed Cai Yi to Beijing, also said:
"Xiao Fengxian was originally a prostitute he summoned at the same time as the Eight Great Hus, he was fourteen or fifteen years old, his appearance was not very beautiful, and his singing voice was gentle. Cai Yi was also present at the time, and felt that Xiao Fengxian sang well, so he asked Li Hongxiang's consent to turn the note. ”
Because there are rumors about The appearance of Xiao Fengxian, many people say that Cai Yi is addicted to the beauty of Xiao Fengxian. In fact, this statement is also incorrect.
During his work in Beijing, Cai Yi was very conscientious and conscientious, and also achieved good results. According to historical records, when Cai E arrived in Beijing on October 4, 1913, his position was "Vice President of the Army Compilation Department", and by May 9, 1915, Cai E was appointed "Inspector of the National Economic and Boundary Bureau".
In this short period of two years, Cai Yi not only participated in the formulation of dozens of economic boundaries laws and regulations, designated personnel to study China's field endowment system, but also specially sent people to study abroad, collected Chinese and foreign research results, and edited them into two books, "Outline of China's Economic Boundaries" and "Outline of Economic Boundaries of Various Countries".
With such a large amount of work, it can be seen that Cai Yi is not addicted to the beauty of Xiao Fengxian. Regarding the denigration of Cai Yi in some articles at that time, some scholars refuted:
"When Yu Shi was in the shogunate of Mr. Matsuba, he saw that he was very diligent in his administration, and anyou ... But prostitutes and gambles for fun? ”
Xiao Fengxian is not a talented woman
After Cai Yi's death, Xiao Fengxian lived in Bada Hutong for a while. Later, she married a brigade commander of the Northeast Army, and some people say that she married a division commander. After the military commander's death, Xiao Fengxian married another cook. Unexpectedly, the chef did not live long, and later Xiao Fengxian remarried.
Saying that Xiao Fengxian is not a talented woman can be seen from one thing. In the spring of 1951, Mei Lanfang went to Shenyang, and Xiao Fengxian wanted to seek Mei Lanfang's help at this time, so he wrote a letter, the content of which was roughly as follows:
My father's surname is Zhu and my mother is partial. The eldest wife looked at us unfavorably, and my mother took me out of the Zhu family.
My mother died, and my grandmother, surnamed Zhang, raised me, so my surname was Zhang.
In the year of Xinhai, her mother was a domestic servant in the family of General Zengzigu in Futai, Zhejiang.
The revolutionary army shelled Zengfu, and my wet nurse took me to shanghai, and sent me to learn opera with the surname Hu, and went to Nanjing to sell singing for a living.
When I was thirteen years old, when Zhang Xun attacked Nanjing, I fled back to Shanghai with Boss Hu.
Later, when I went to Beijing's Shaanxi Lane Yunjiban to sell singing and do business, I met General Cai.
The above few sentences are the original words of Xiao Fengxian's self-introduction recorded by Mei Lanfang's secretary Xu Jichuan, and judging from these few sentences describing Xiao Fengxian's experience, she can only be rough in literature and ink, and it is impossible to be proficient in poetry and song. Moreover, there are some typos in the original text.
In addition to this incident, there are two couplets that are also very subtle.
Wanli South Heavenly Peng Wing, straight up to help shake, which can worry about the rest of life, Pingshui marriage into a dream;
Twenty years of northern Yanzhi, gradually fell, won the hero's confidant, peach blossom color is also a thousand autumns.
Another couplet is:
Su Cha came on a white horse, who expected Zhou Lang to have a short life;
There are countless celebrities and beauties, and I know that Li Jing is a hero.
Carefully appreciate these two couplets, we can see that whether it is the intention, the use of codes or the flat and elegant rhymes, these two couplets are very good.
Unfortunately, these two couplets of Xiao Fengxian have been questioned by the world, and the couplets are ghostwritten for others. Why is there such a conclusion? Because a man named Yi Zongkui included the relatively long couplet in the book "The New World Theory".
And that relatively short couplet was also recorded by jiangsu people in a book. Therefore, the two couplets that Xiao Fengxian gave to Cai Yi were not written by herself, but by others.
The identity of the chivalrous woman is also questioned
It is said that Xiao Fengxian is a chivalrous woman because there is such a saying that before Yuan Shikai ascended the throne, in order to prevent Cai Yi from defecting, he sent military police to search the Cai mansion in Cotton Hutong, and Cai Yi realized that the Beiyang government still could not tolerate him, he went to Tianjin for a trip, Yuan Shikai's secret agents monitored him layer by layer, he thought hard about the plan to escape, and finally thought of Xiao Fengxian.
At this time, Cai Yi said to Xiao Fengxian: "The decision is to disregard life and death, and it is necessary to escape from bondage." Xiao Fengxian decided to walk with Cai Yi for life and death. Cai Yi said: "There are many inconveniences among peers, and the day of success in the future will not be forgotten!" Xiao Fengxian walked for Cai Yi that night, singing for him, shedding tears for him, and carefully dinging.
That is to say, because Xiao Fengxian helped General Cai Yi escape Yuan Shikai's house arrest, many people said that Xiao Fengxian was a talented woman, but is this the real situation?
According to the history books, it was actually Cai E's teachers, subordinates, and classmates who helped Cai Ye escape from prison.
On November 10, 1915, ha hanzhang's grandmother's eightieth birthday, and in qianliang hutong "Jushoutang" feast guests, Cai Yi asked a few friends to go to the banquet together.
Early the next morning, Cai Yi came to the Grand Marshal's Command Office located inside the Xinhua Gate early, making people think that Cai Ye was going to meet Yuan Zhikai, and he arrived early.
Immediately afterward, Cai Yi called Xiao Fengxian in front of everyone and asked her to come out for dinner at noon. Therefore, those who supervised Cai Yi let down their vigilance, that is, taking advantage of the opportunity of the supervisor to relax their vigilance, Cai E's good friend Li Hongxiang and others went to the railway station in a crowd and left Beijing.
After Cai Yi successfully fled Beijing, Yuan Shikai sent someone to interrogate Xiao Fengxian. You know, Cai Yi is about to eat with Xiao Fengxian, and Xiao Fengxian does not know that Cai Yi is leaving Beijing, so the saying that "Xiao Fengxian took a mule car straight to Fengtai Railway Station, and the car hid Songpo" was self-defeating.
To say that Xiao Fengxian is a chivalrous woman is nothing more than the beautification of Xiao Fengxian in movies and literary works. In fact, Xiao Fengxian is an ordinary person who has experienced ups and downs, a wind and dust woman who sings well.
Article reference: "Why did Cai Yi die prematurely in Japan?" "Standing and Then Breaking: Cai Yi's Attitude Toward Yuan Shikai's Ruling Power" "Cai E's Lectures on Sentiments" "Cai E's Discussion on the Thought and Practice of Postal Sovereignty" "Cai E and Xiao Fengxian in the "Current Affairs Novel" of the Early Minchu Dynasty" "Cai E and Xiao Fengxian - On the Issue of Historical Material Falsification and Historical Examination"
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