Twenty-four filial pieties 246 - lying on the ice to ask for carp: the sky is cold and frozen, Wang Xiang naked clothes lying on the ice to ask for carp, is it really credible?

The story of Wang Xiang's "lying on the ice and asking for carp" is probably the most famous one in the "Twenty-Four Filial Pieties"! So, who is Wang Xiang? How did he "lie on the ice and ask for carp"? Let's decipher it together!

Wang Xiang was a native of Langya (present-day Linyi, Shandong) and was "filial piety". His mother died shortly after giving birth to him. His stepmother, Zhu Shi, did not like him and often said bad things about him in front of his father Wang Rong, so that Wang Rong also alienated him. Not only that, Zhu Shi often summoned him to clean the cowshed. At this time, Wang Xiang always did it respectfully and cautiously, without disobeying her.

Wang Xiang's parents are not in good health, especially his father Wang Rong, who is already very ill. Wang Xiang always took care of them in an incomprehensible way, and every time he served the soup medicine, he had to taste it first, and then let his parents drink it.

The earliest record of Wang Xiang's "lying on the ice and seeking carp" is the "Search for God Record, Volume XI" compiled by Gan Bao. Regarding the process of Wang Xiang's "lying on the ice and seeking carp", it is recorded as follows: "The mother often wants to give birth to fish, and when it is cold and frozen, Xiang will dissect the ice and ask for it, the ice will suddenly dissolve itself, and the double carp will jump out and hold on to it." ”

The Third Book of Jin also records this incident, but the Book of Search for God is copied, and not a single word has been changed. The main meaning is that Zhu shi wants to eat fresh fish, but because it is winter, the weather is very cold and frozen. In order to get the live fish, Wang Xiang "undressed and cut the ice to ask for it." Then "the ice suddenly dissolved itself, and the double carp jumped out", so Wang Xiang carried the carp home and made it for his stepmother to eat.

In the "Twenty-Four Filial Pieties" compiled by Guo Shoujing in the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Xiang's process of "lying on the ice and seeking carp" is as follows:

The mother often wants to eat raw fish, and when it is cold and frozen, Xiang undresses and lies on the ice to ask for it. The ice suddenly dissolved itself, and the double carp jumped out and held the donor mother.

If we look closely enough, we will find that compared with the "Book of Search for God" and the "Book of Jin", the record of the "Twenty-Four Filial Pieties" has an additional word for "food" in the front, and the "holding on to the mother" in the back has become "holding on to the mother". The changes in these two places are well understood, and it can be said that changing the soup does not change the medicine. The key is the middle part, from "undressing will cut the ice to seek it", to "Xiang untied the clothes lying on the ice to seek it." "The protagonist is Wang Xiang, and there is no problem." The problem is that the former is "undressed will cut the ice", and the latter is "undressed and lying on the ice".

The difference is clear at a glance. Although there is a link to undo the clothes, the purpose is different. The former untied clothes in order to make it easier to use tools such as shovels, axes or stones to smash an ice hole in order to make the carp jump out; the latter played a word game of stealing beams and changing pillars, and the purpose of undoing clothes became to melt the ice with his own body temperature.

One is "ice cutting" and the other is "lying on ice", and people with a little normal judgment know which is more reasonable. It is conceivable that if the ice layer is very thin and easy to crack, the water will not be so oxygen-starved, and the carp will not be so excited and sent to the door to find death; if the ice layer is so thick that it is difficult to smash it with stones, ask: "Even if you take off your clothes, can you melt the solid ice?" "The heat of the human body is limited, and when the heat is dissipated to a certain extent, the temperature on the surface of the body will drop rapidly. When it drops to a certain extent, the effect of heat transfer will become very weak. Besides, since it's so cold, even if the ice is partially melted by the heat of the body, it may soon become ice again.

Therefore, whether it is reasonable or feasible for operation, it is better to use hard objects to break the ice, rather than using the body to warm up so that the ice melts. Of course, if there is combustible material, it is not impossible to melt the ice by burning.

Since this is the case, we further asked: "Doesn't Guo Jujing know that 'lying on the ice and asking for carp' is contrary to common sense?" "It's safe to say that he must have known, of course he knew. Imagine if he really didn't know, would he change the most critical parts? If he knew, then why did he change it?

The reason is actually not difficult to understand, in order to highlight Wang Xiang's filial piety. That is to say, the way of smashing ice is far less shocking and touching than lying on ice. In order to honor and not to see his stepmother, he was willing to risk freezing his body in exchange for her appetite, which would be so earth-shattering!

Many people were touched by Wang Xiang's lying ice, and many people suspected or even ridiculed Wang Xiang's lying ice. Whether it was touching, doubting, or laughing, it is estimated that he had wronged him, because he probably did not think of "lying on the ice and begging for carp".

The "Filial Piety Sutra , The Opening Chapter of The MingYi Chapter" says: "The skin of the body, the fingers of the parents, do not dare to destroy, the beginning of filial piety." "Wang Xiang is a great filial piety, will he not understand this truth?"

But no matter which kind of record, the words "ice suddenly self-solution" are used, and they fall into false induction. It is okay to smash it open, and we assume that it is okay to use the body, but it is not ice that actively cracks and melts. That is to say, when Wang Xiang had the idea of smashing ice or lying on the ice, it is estimated that before he began to act, the ice was touched by Wang Xiang's filial piety, and he cracked a hole on his own, and then the two large carp seemed to be touched by Wang Xiang's filial piety, scrambling to jump out and sacrifice their lives.

Is this possible?

If Wang Xiang gets two carps, the ways he gets them are probably as follows: 1. Smash open the ice, and the carp jumps out in order to breathe air; 2. Somewhere, the ice is relatively thin, and the carp jumps out in order to breathe, just because Wang Xiang sees it, so he "takes the fish by the hand"; 3, the fishermen or neighbors around him, touched or pity him, gave him two carps; 4, bought.

Back to the reason why Wang Xiang asked for carp: Zhu Wanted to eat fish, was it the fish that Wang Xiang voluntarily caught? Or did she go through her hardships or persecution? If Wang Xiang took the initiative to go, it would be more in line with his filial piety; if it was forced by the Zhu family, then Wang Xiang's filial piety nature would probably be discounted. But in my opinion, it's more like a combination of the two. Because Zhu wanted to eat fish, intentionally or unintentionally, Wang Xiang learned the news. In order to cater to the taste of the stepmother, but also to perform filial piety, he gave himself pressure, so he went to the glacier to ask for carp.

Later, Zhu Shi was completely touched by Wang Xiang's filial piety, and since then, he has treated him like a parent. During the great turmoil at the end of the Han Dynasty, Wang Xiang took his stepmother Zhu Shi and his half-brother Wang Lan to live in seclusion in Lujiang (present-day Lujiang County, Hefei, Anhui) for more than 20 years. After Zhu's death, he was so grief-stricken and haggard that he could only get up on crutches. Later, he successively served as county commander, grand si nong, sikong, and taiwei. After the establishment of the Western Jin Dynasty, the officials worshiped the Taibao.

Among the grandsons of his younger brother Wang Lan was the famous Wang Dao; among his great-grandchildren, there was Wang Xizhi, the "Sage of Books".

"Twenty-four Filial Pieties" The Twentieth Filial Piety: Lying on the Ice and Asking for Carp