Preamble:
Art comes from life, and many famous works also have character prototypes, such as "Water Margin", one of the four famous novels, most of the characters in it are also traceable, and the author Shi Nai'an also synthesized his own investigation and modified and polished his imagination, and finally became this masterpiece.
Among them, the impressive story of Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian is even more widespread, it can be said that "up to ninety-nine, down to just walking", basically everyone knows this story, Wu Dalang's five short figure is also ridiculed.
As everyone knows, the real Wu Dalang in history is actually a tall and handsome straight man, the village where he lives, there is still his tomb, today, let's take a look, what is the image of Wu Dalang?
Dig up ancient tombs for mystery
In the autumn of 1992, an archaeological team set out to go to Wujiana Village, Qinghe County, Hebei Province, to excavate an ancient tomb.
In fact, before the arrival of the experts, this ancient tomb had been excavated by the local villagers, but after it was dug up, there was no follow-up, and this ancient tomb seemed to be related to a famous literary figure Wu Dalang, so at the request of the descendants of the martial arts, this group of experts came here.
Because the story of Wu Dalang in the Water Margin is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the ancestor of the Wu family is compatible with the characters in the Water Margin in all aspects, so he has also suffered a lot of infamy, so the descendants of the Wu family have been deeply affected by it, which is also the reason why they asked experts to come.
According to their genealogical records, the ancestor buried in this ancient tomb was named Wu Zhi, who was not only tall and handsome, but also a good local official.
Sure enough, after some intensive excavation work, a coffin made of fine golden silk nan wood appeared in front of the archaeologists.
The experts made preparations and opened the coffin, revealing that there were no valuable burial goods other than two bones. And these two corpses are obviously Wu Zhi and his wife, but what is strange is that Wu Dalang, who is short in the novel, does not seem to match the owner of this tomb, because this person has long leg bones, and according to inference, the height should be around 180.
Although experts also know that literary works are all apocryphal, but because the information verification between this Wu Zhi and Wu Dalang in the Water Margin is too consistent, they have to continue to study what is going on.
He was a good person, but he was slandered
In fact, not only archaeological experts are puzzled, but Wu Dalang's descendants have also been deeply troubled by the characters created in the novel, and his ancestors are such an image in the mouth of future generations, and no one is willing to do so.
It is precisely for this reason that after the tomb of Wu Dalang was unearthed, they built a tombstone of Wu Dalang at their own expense, and the descendants of the Wu family strongly engraved the data research on Wu Zhi over the years.
Through this tombstone, we will also learn about Wu Dalang's real people. Wu Dalang, whose real name is Wu Zhi, is the only child in the family, so his mother likes to call him Dalang.
Wu Zhi's family is very poor, and the family has been living in Wujiana Village in Qinghe County, but Wu Dalang is a smart child, not only profound in literature, but also quite accomplished in martial arts, and can be said to be a good man who can write and martial arts.
Because he experienced the hardships of being poor, after Wu Zhi successfully obtained the Jinshi examination and was appointed as the county magistrate of Yanggu County, Shandong, he did not take credit for himself, but was very considerate of the local poor people.
In Water Margin, Wu Dalang's wife Pan Jinlian was created into a typical image of a wicked woman. But in fact, Pan Jinlian is not only a famous daughter, but also beautiful and kind, which is completely different from the characters in the novel.
Pan Jinlian's father took a fancy to Wu Zhi's bold and promising future, so he married his daughter to him, and Wu Zhi did not live up to his father-in-law's entrustment, and has always been very good to Pan Jinlian, after the two went to Yanggu to live together, they gave birth to 4 children together, and the couple has always loved each other.
Wu Zhi was very honest and honest during his time as a county magistrate, and he never became corrupt, and he offended many dignitaries and dignitaries because of his efforts to eliminate harm for the people.
This also explains why Wu Zhi, as the county commander of Qipin, is empty in his tomb, which also verifies Wu Zhi's integrity as an official from the side.
So, why did Wu Zhi, who had done so much harm to the people, have such a bad reputation behind him? The cause of the incident was his brother Huang.
After learning that Wu Zhi was developed, this person came to join him, but Wu Zhi not only did not open the back door for him, but persuaded him to be down-to-earth in order to live a good life.
Under the frustration of face, this Huang brother held a grudge against Wu Zhi, so he made up all the way, not only posting notices all the way but also creating rumors everywhere, completely ruining the image of Wu Zhi and his wife.
Poor Wu Zhi was originally a Qing official, but because his brother didn't understand him, he was saddled with such an infamy. He was tall and could never have imagined that in the eyes of future generations, he would be a short and incompetent person selling cooking cakes, and his wife was even more wronged, and was actually described as an adulteress, which made Wu Zhi's descendants embarrassed.
This Wuzhi is not Biwu Dalang
In order to prove to his ancestors, today's Wujia Village has specially established a Wuzhi Temple. Whenever someone came to visit, the descendants of the samurai family would take the trouble to explain to them over and over again about their ancestors.
In this ancestral hall, there is also a portrait of Pan Jinlian, the woman in it is kind and kind-eyed, looks brilliant, and is deeply loved by future generations.
In fact, although there are many similarities, the facts can prove that this Wu Zhi is not Wu Dalang in the Water Margin, and the character image of Wu Dalang should be purely apocryphal. The author Shi Nai'an has a rich imagination, and the characters formed by compiling some information he heard, just to reflect the ugly social reality.
The era in which Shi Nai'an lived was not the same era as Wu Zhi at all. Many years after Shi Nai'an's death, there was a character called Wu Zhi, that is, because the era is completely different, so it can be proved that this Wu Zhi is not Wu Dalang himself in the novel.
"Water Margin" is a novel, not a history book, everyone should learn history, read history books, novels as a literary form, can be imagined and expanded, read novels as history, then you are very wrong.