Let's not talk about the Three Kingdoms today, but take you to understand together what happened after Guan Gong's death to make him such a god with such a huge influence today.
There was a very popular Internet meme called Moguan Yu before, because there was such a character in the online game.
And the origin of this role is that it is said that Emperor Guan Sheng was once sent to the capital for 500 years and became the marshal of Langling in the capital, what is going on? Let's look next.
We pull the timeline to the Three Kingdoms period, when Guan Gong was attacked by the joint forces of Wu and Wei in Jingzhou, and finally defeated Maicheng.
He has always been very brave and good at fighting while he was alive, and he also has the title of "enemy of all people". When he was defending Jingzhou, he fought a series of victories and threatened Huaxia.
However, at the last moment, he was attacked by Lümeng of Eastern Wu, and his soldiers were defeated and killed.
As soon as Guan Gong left like this, the hearts of the villagers in Jingzhou were not calm at that time, and such a brave general was defeated on this side and died of hatred, presumably this resentment was absolutely amazing.
Then there is no guarantee that this resentment will not turn into a disaster and harm the villagers. Therefore, in order to calm their inner unease and avoid invisible evils, some villagers began to worship General Guan with awe, which is also a corollary to the origin of Guan Gong's belief.
Since ancient times, China has had a tradition of sacrificing the so-called "defeated army and dead generals" among the people, which is not so much awe as fear.
In fact, it is afraid of evil gods and ghosts, hoping not to endanger one of their own behaviors.
With the passage of time, Guan Gong's deeds during his lifetime slowly spread, replaced by the brave and loyal General Guan, although so, his status was not high in the early days, and only belonged to ancient local beliefs.
The time went all the way to the Tang Dynasty, about 500 years after Guan Gong's death, when the then emperor Tang Suzong highly respected Jiang Taigong, the founding hero of the Zhou Dynasty, and named Jiang Taigong as the King of Wucheng, and the Jiang Taigong temples everywhere were also renamed Wucheng Wang Temple, also known as Wumiao.
When it comes to martial arts, believers in Taiwan Province must be familiar with it, such as the Four Spirits Martial Temple of Tanan Temple, the Salt Water Martial Temple, etc., all of which are very famous temples dedicated to Emperor Guan Sheng.
But in the current story, the main god in the Wucheng King Temple during the Tang Dynasty was Jiang Taigong, not Guan Gong, so what kind of development will be the case today?
Let's start with the Wucheng King Temple, which originally chose ten heroes of the past to worship in addition to Jiang Taigong, but soon after, it expanded from the original ten to sixty or seventy famous generals.
It was also at this time that Guan Gong, with his loyal and brave image, and his righteous brother Zhang Fei were selected as one of the famous generals of the Wucheng King Temple, and officially became a righteous god certified by the imperial court.
However, the good times did not last long, and four years later, a minister played the emperor, saying that the famous generals sacrificed at the temple of King Wucheng were different in era and achievements, and his sacrifices together were too chaotic.
Therefore, he asked the emperor to remove the sacrifice to the famous generals, and the emperor agreed. At that time, Guan Gong was removed from the list after only four years of official worship.
We can also learn from this that at that time, Guan Gong's status was still very unstable, and before he was removed, he was only one of the sixty or seventy generals who were worthy of Jiang Taigong, and he was not enshrined alone.
In later history, because of the preferences of those in power or political considerations, Guan Gong was invited in and out of the Wumiao many times.
Time came to the Song Taizu period, when the dynasty changed, the new emperor Zhao Kuangyin issued an edict to build the Wucheng King Temple, when the new temple was completed, the emperor Zhao Kuangyin went to the Wucheng King Temple, he wandered around, looking at the murals and statues in the temple.
While walking, he came to the statue of Bai Qi, a famous general of the Warring States, at this time the emperor's face sank, and he was unhappy, he pointed to the statue of Bai Qi and said, this person he slaughtered the captives who had surrendered himself, why could he stay in the temple of martial arts and be sacrificed?
The emperor immediately ordered Bai Qi to be removed from the list and his ministers to test all the famous generals in the temple of King Wucheng.
The meritorious achievements of these famous generals must reach the standard of flawlessness in order to continue to stay in the Wu Temple and enjoy the sacrifice, that is, at this time, 22 famous generals, including Bai Qi, Guan Gong, etc., were also invited out of the Wu Temple.
Some people think that at that time, because Guan Gong was defeated by the enemy's subordinates after all, he did not meet the standards that the emperor wanted at that time, and the result was that Guan Gong once again disappeared from the imperial court's certification list.
Zhao Kuangyin
The story progresses So far, Guan Gong's journey to become a god has been very tortuous, and if General Guan wants to become the emperor of Guan Sheng, the story must first tell about a child born in the Northern Song Dynasty.
One day, a baby was born in Longhuan, in the Dragon Tiger Mountain, but strangely, the child has been silent since birth, and has never said a word. The relatives and friends around me are very worried.
A few more years passed, until he was five years old, one morning, the chicken in the mountains announced, and the child heard the chicken croaking, suddenly laughed to himself, and began to chant a poem.
Early the next morning, I meditated cross-legged on the lotus flowers in the lotus pond, and everyone who saw them was very surprised, and they all felt that this five-year-old child was already a living immortal.
It turned out that this child's background was not ordinary, he was the great-grandson of Zhang Tianshi of the 27th generation of Dragon Tiger Mountain, named Jixian, and later he succeeded as the latest generation of Zhang Tianshi at the age of only nine years.
Speaking of this, some people may have a question, is this Zhang Tianshi still divided into several generations? What's going on here?
Zhang Jixian
Here is a popular science with everyone Zhang Tianshi, he is the leader of the Taoist sect Tianshi Dao, Tianshi Dao originated from the Bashu region in the Eastern Han Dynasty, with Zhang Daoling Tianshi as the first generation of Tianshi.
Later, the position of Zhang Tianshi was passed down from generation to generation within the Zhang family, and when it was passed down to the era in the story, it was already the 30th generation of Heavenly Master, and this 30th generation Heavenly Master who was appointed at a young age became the most legendary Heavenly Master in the future, known as the False Jing Heavenly Master.
A few years later, there was a salt pond in this place of Xiezhou, and a large amount of pool water often flooded for unknown reasons, which lasted for eight years, seriously affecting the income of salt tax.
After hearing about the situation in the place, the emperor at that time, Song Huizong, felt that this salt pond was strange, so he sought the opinion of a Taoist priest.
Song Huizong
This Taoist priest and the emperor said that this Xiezhou salt pond must have a dragon as a disaster, and in order to calm this calamity, it was necessary to find Zhang Tianshi of Dragon Tiger Mountain.
So the next year, the 13-year-old boy Zhang Tianshi went to the capital Kaifeng to meet the emperor, and I don't know if it was because the emperor saw his young age and deliberately wanted to make things difficult for him.
As soon as they met, I told Zhang Tianshi that Ai Qing lived on Dragon Tiger Mountain all year round, I don't know if I have seen Dragon Tiger? The Heavenly Master said that tigers were common when the emperor's ministers lived in the mountains, but they had only seen the dragon to this day.
This witty answer pleased the emperor, and the emperor was also relieved to give this task of solving the state to Zhang Tianshi, and a few days later, Zhang Tianshi led his disciples to set off.
On the way to carry out the mission, they passed a Dongyue temple, where the Heavenly Master saw a golden-armored statue holding a large knife, which he had never seen before, so he asked the entourage next to him, and the follower replied, this god was the fierce general Guan Yu, a god of loyalty and righteousness.
The Heavenly Master looked at this divine general, and already had an idea in his heart, the reason why the statue of Guan Gong was in the Dongyue Temple was because the Dongyue Emperor was in charge of all the heroic gods who died because of the national war, such as Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan, who were dead in Suiyang City in the Anshi Rebellion.
Later, the Heavenly Master and his party finally arrived at the salt pond in Xiezhou, and the Heavenly Master drew a talisman on the spot, which was a Guanji plus six dings.
Then the Heavenly Master threw the talisman into it, and suddenly there was a thunder and lightning, and sure enough, a dragon burst out of the water, and it was beheaded by an invisible force in an instant.
After completing the task, the Heavenly Master returned to the imperial court and reported to the emperor, and the emperor was very curious when he heard it, and asked him, how did this dragon cut down? The Heavenly Master said that the minister used God to kill Guan Yu and kill the dragon.
Now the emperor was more interested, and asked the Heavenly Master, can you call him out for me to see?
So the Heavenly Master was ordered by the emperor to give three orders, and a golden-armored god general appeared under the main hall, wearing a green scarf and a red claw face, holding a large knife in one hand, and holding the head of a dragon in the other, it was the god general Guan Yu.
The emperor was shocked when he saw this scene for the first time, but the golden-armored god general did not retreat. Seeing this, the emperor hurriedly threw a coin from that time, and I said that I would reward Guan Yu and make him the true prince of Chongning.
Zhang Tianshi, who was standing on the side and saw this scene, severely rebuked Guan Yu, thinking that Guan Yu was asking the emperor for a reward if he did not retreat, which was really disrespectful.
So the Heavenly Master sentenced a punishment, and Guan Yu spent 500 years under the capital.
In the Dao Calligraphy Festival Yun, there is a secret method of Marshal Guan of Yudulang, the master of this method is called Marshal Guan, the general of Yudulang Ling, with a single name and a feather character, this is Guan Gong.
The main mage, Void Jing Heavenly Master, is the young Heavenly Master in the previous story, and this magic book also records a talisman containing six dings in the Guan character, that is, the six ding ginger ghost thunder talisman that the god who was thrown into the salt pond at that time to kill the dragon.
His method also echoed the legend that Guan Gong was sent to the capital above, and he later went down to the capital and became the general of the capital Langling, and together with a group of ghost-faced officials, he served the emperor of the capital city.
Although it is said that Guan Gong was removed from the capital, the very favored emperor Song Huizong did not forget this loyal and brave god of chopping jiao, and during his reign, he posthumously sealed Guan Yu many times, and finally added him as the righteous and brave King Wu'an, and re-invited Guan Gong back to Wuchenghuang Temple as the god of Jiang Taigong.
After that, Guan Gong's faith continued to develop throughout the dynasties, until the Ming and Qing dynasties, reaching a peak.
There may be two main factors in this, the first Guan Gong's belief, not only limited to the Han ethnic group, even after the Mongols, as well as the Manchu regime, Guan Gong's belief did not disappear.
Even in the early days of the Yuan Dynasty, when the Mongols were founded, the national teacher at that time was the Tibetan Buddhist king Basipa, who used Guan Gong as the protector of the altar.
Later, Tibetan Buddhism also believed that Guan Gong was one of their protector deities, so we can see Guan Gong in some legends.
When the Manchus entered the customs, the Emperor Taiji father and son liked the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" very much, and respected Guan Gong very much, they built a Guan Emperor Temple in the capital, and when the army went out or triumphed, they had to hold a visit, and they regarded Guan Gong as the god of war.
Another factor is that since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial family has gradually become slightly chaotic, and the situation of killing kings has occurred during the Five Dynasties period.
Contemporary Confucians hope to arouse the morality of the world, so Guan Gong's loyalty, martial bravery, and his image of loving reading are very much in line with the perfect image of a Confucian general who is both civilized and martial and loyal and patriotic.
This spirit was also revered by many emperors, after all, no king wanted those below to be unfaithful to him.
For example, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, in order to appease the people of the Central Plains, also advocated obeying the Guan Gong, who originally had a high reputation among the people.
On the other hand, it is also hoped that the people can learn the spirit of Guan Gong and loyalty, be loyal to the current king, and not think about reversing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming all day.
There is a very wonderful coincidence, that is, Guan Gong was canonized as the emperor of Guan Sheng, this holy name that we are very familiar with, was in the 42nd year of the Wanli Ming Dynasty, that is, in 1614, and it was also in this year that it was officially canonized, and became the main god in the Wumiao.
We mentioned above that the legend of Guan Gong being sent to the capital for 500 years occurred in the fourth year of Chongzhen in the Song Dynasty, that is, almost 1105 AD, and the time between the two is about 500 years.
Maybe it was just a coincidence, or maybe Marshal Guan at that time spent 500 years of cultivation before finally earning the position of emperor.
And Guan Sheng Emperor Jun, there is another holy name, called Wen Heng Saint Emperor, as we said before, Guan Gong likes to read very much.
Therefore, the emperor is also considered to be a Confucian general who can write and martial arts, wisdom and courage, and he is also listed as one of the Wuwenchang in the people, and now we also believe that Emperor Guan Sheng can bless his studies and fame.
For Guan Gong, what else do you want to know, welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss.
(Stories and pictures are from the Internet)