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Recently, the TV series "The Legend of Ruyi" has sparked a wave of discussions, among which what is quite eye-catching is the "wall horse" that Ruyi has been talking about all her life in the play.
So, what exactly is "right on the wall"?
From "French coffee" to love stories
"On the Wall" is from the miscellaneous drama "Pei Shaojun on the Wall" created by Bai Pu, the fourth master of Yuanqu. It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, there was a Li Qianjin, a descendant of Li Guang, who was raised by his family in the boudoir since he was a child. On the day of the Shangsi Festival, Li Qianjin took advantage of her father's outing, laughed and played with her maids in the backyard, leaning on the low courtyard wall and looking at the outside world.
At this moment, Pei Shaojun, a young man, happened to be riding a horse outside the wall, and the two looked at each other from a distance across the wall, looking at each other for ten thousand years.
"I only suspect that I am swimming in Wuling, and I am ashamed of the flowing water and peach blossoms. Liu Lang's intestines have been broken, who is leaning against the wall with a smile. ”
Qing Yuan song "Wall Head Horse" gold lacquer wood carving components
This gold-lacquered wood carving shows a moment when the hero and heroine fall in love with each other. Source/Fujian Museum
In this way, Li Qianjin and Pei Shaojun made a private agreement for life. However, because the two did not have the words of the matchmaker and the order of their parents, Pei Shaojun failed to take Li Qianjin into the mansion, but let her live in hiding in the backyard of the Pei family (a say goodbye house) for seven years, and gave birth to a boy and a girl. Soon, this incident was discovered by Pei Shaojun's father, Pei Shangshu, who insulted Li Qianjin as a "prostitute" and drove him out of Pei's mansion. After many twists and turns, the two rebuilt the old friendship, and the story ushered in a happy ending.
In fact, the person who first wrote this love story was Bai Juyi, and he didn't want to praise how great and avant-garde the love between two people was, on the contrary, he wanted to criticize this tragedy that was destined for life, and used it to persuade the infatuated woman to "be careful not to let others be lightly compromised". According to the law of the Tang Dynasty, adult men and women made a private agreement for life, although the law can recognize their marriage relationship, but if the younger generation of the family quietly disobeys the order of the elder and marries a wife on their own, they still can't avoid the "100 rod punishment". From this point of view, Pei Shaojun and Li Qianjin may still be a pair of "legal coffees" in that era.
Bai Yi image
Source/Portraits of Chinese Celebrities in Past Dynasties, edited by the Conservation Department of the Chinese History Museum, Strait Literature and Art Publishing House, 2003
Of course, by the time of Bai Pu's miscellaneous version, "Horse on the Wall" has been rewritten as a "romantic" love story, which can be regarded as another ancient Chinese version of "Romeo and Juliet" - breaking the feudal shackles for love, singing and crying.
In "The Legend of Ruyi", when Ruyi entered the palace to meet her aunt for the first time, she met Hongli who was listening to the play together. The two became acquainted with each other because of the play, and "Immediately on the Wall" became a song of love between the two.
But in fact, even this romantic version was still too "avant-garde" for the Qing Dynasty, especially in the imperial palace...... As we all know, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Cheng Zhu Lixue reached its peak, and the requirements and disciplines for women's chastity, extermination of human desires, and three obedience and four virtues also reached an unprecedented degree of strictness. In the context of such an era, Ruyi watched "The Horse on the Wall" with Hongli in the palace, which is tantamount to Lin Daiyu watching "The Legend of the West Chamber" with Jia Baoyu in front of Jia's mother, and it is even more "crazy". Therefore, if you want to investigate the authenticity of this plot, it is actually theoretically impossible.
"To offend me is to offend the Mongolian Forty-Nine" still
"If you mess with me, you'll mess with cotton"?
Of course, the problem of "The Legend of Ruyi" is not limited to this, and the role of Concubine Ying is also a master who has problems when he opens his mouth.
Concubine Ying in "The Legend of Ruyi". Source/Screenshot of the TV series "The Legend of Ruyi".
In "The Legend of Ruyi", Concubine Ying was born in the Mongolian Bahrain Department and is the daughter of the King of Bahrain. With the support of this identity, Concubine Ying is always scared in the play, and she talks about "offending me, that is, offending the forty-nine Mongolian departments" every day, and even dares to point at the emperor's nose and scold without saying a word. Netizens even laughed and said that this is "the princess of Bahrain betrayed Emperor Qianlong".
However, there are several problems here.
First of all, the historical prototype of the character of Concubine Ying in "The Legend of Ruyi" is a combination of Concubine Ying Balin and Concubine Xin Dai Jia.
According to Wang Miansen's collation of Qing Dynasty archives:
"Concubine Ying, Bahrain Clan, the daughter of Bahrain Na, the commander of the capital and the commander of the light car, was named Concubine Ying in June of the sixteenth year of Qianlong, and was named Concubine Ying in December of the twenty-fourth year. ”
Concubine Ying's ancestor was a Khalkha Mongol, and after joining the Qing Dynasty, she entered the red flag in the lower five banners, which was the Mongolian Balin clan with the red flag, and was awarded the second-class light car captain, and the heir was knighted. Concubine Ying's father was called Naqin, and in the sixth year of Qianlong (1741), he inherited the position of second-class lieutenant of light car, and successively served as the commander of the printing house, the chief soldier of Taining Town, etc., and the official was the Mongolian capital with the red flag. The period from the time of the admission of relatives to the time before her death can be regarded as the relatively prosperous stage of the Ying concubine family.
The copper pillar button is "inlaid with the red flag Manzhou Sijia Lama Collar of the customs defense" seal. Source: The Palace Museum
In this way, Concubine Ying is not the daughter of the king of Bahrain, but just an ordinary concubine from the Outer Eight Banners. Although she was born in the Mongolian Eight Banners, has no children and no heirs, she has been a concubine in the harem for 40 years, which is enough to see that Qianlong attaches great importance to her, but in fact, she is not a member of the Mongolian domain, and she can't rely on the power of the Mongolian tribes to walk sideways in the palace, let alone rely on this to confront the emperor.
In addition, the six princesses and the eighth princesses raised by Concubine Ying in the play are the bloodlines of Xin Guifei Dai Jia's family in history.
Xin Guifei's family was originally inlaid with yellow flags, and later raised to the Yellow Flag Manchurian Dai Jia clan, living in Hangjia. Her father is Na Sutu, the governor of Zhili, and her aunt's great-grandmother is a concubine in Kangxi, and the family is more important to the Qing Dynasty royal family. According to the archives recorded by Shanpu, she entered the palace in the eighteenth year of Qianlong (1753), and was immediately enthroned as a concubine, and two years later, in July of the twentieth year of Qianlong, she gave birth to six princesses, and then eight princesses, and finally died shortly after becoming pregnant again in the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong (1763).
In the twenty-ninth year, Concubine Xin Dai Jia's family, Zhao Jia's grace was like a concubine's funeral. First of all, when the Jin seal of the golden book treasure has been engraved, not granted, to the front of the golden coffin, its silk book treasure increased the book of the concubine word burned.
——"Qing History Manuscript, Zhi 67, Rite 11"
Yellow flag armor. Source: The Palace Museum
It can be said that the status and experience of Concubine Ying in "The Legend of Ruyi" more or less carry the shadow of Concubine Xin.
From this point of view, the identity of Concubine Ying in the play is fictitious, so the question is, if Concubine Ying is really the daughter of the King of Mongolian Bahrain and has a prominent identity, is it really as she said in the play, "If you offend me, it is equivalent to offending the forty-nine Mongolian departments?—— this may really make Qianlong jealous?
The answer is, no.
During its more than 200-year reign, the Qing Dynasty adopted a system of alliance flags that ruled according to customs and divided and ruled by foreign vassals, and indeed gave Mongolia very loose autonomy. As early as the reign of Nurhachi, the Bahraini Ministry had already sent envoys to Nurhachi to "ask for an alliance", although Bahrain also vacillated between the Houjin and the Ming several times later, and finally surrendered to the Qing. In the fight against Li Zicheng, the rebellion of the three feudatories, the conquest of Galdan and other major historical events, the children of Bahrain did make great contributions, and were therefore courteous to the Qing court.
The axis of "Ten Thousand Trees Garden Banquet Map" depicts the scene of Emperor Qianlong hosting a banquet to entertain Mongolian leaders. Source: The Palace Museum
However, after all, the Qing Dynasty was an era when the centralized power of absolute monarchy was at its peak, and of course the imperial power could not be easily constrained by foreign vassals. This can be seen from an example:
Twenty-one years of Qianlong,...... Message: The Lord of Bahrain. Succession should be chosen. Ejudeluck is the eldest son of Linqin, the king of the county. The material is usual. Ignorant of Mongolian affairs. Second son Batu. Although in childhood. It can still be cultivated. And Zhgarn was the successor of Battu. Delek is currently a public title. and was conferred the title of duke.
——"Records of the Qing Dynasty"
That is to say, Qianlong thought that Delek, who should have inherited the title of Bahrain, had mediocre qualifications and could not manage Mongolian affairs well, so he removed his hereditary title and arranged for his second son Batu to inherit the title instead - Qianlong could interfere with the lineage and title inheritance of the Bahrain Ministry so easily, which shows that he would not be too jealous of the Bahrain Ministry.
In fact, after the conquest of Dzungaria in the 23rd year of Qianlong (1758), Mongolia also gradually declined. Due to the political "rule by custom" and economic closed control, Mongolia has few opportunities for trade and exchange with the outside world, and the traditional economic production mode of inefficiency is still maintained internally, which has led to the continued sluggishness and even regression of its economic state. At the same time, under frequent internal rebellions and foreign wars, all wealth and population were treated as "military reserves", serving and consuming in war. Day after day, year after year, eventually, the Mongols fell into a vicious cycle of debt-repayment, and their influence on the Qing court was greatly reduced. It is said that the Bahrain Ministry was once so poor that it had to "borrow money" from Qianlong to build roads.
Therefore, even if Concubine Ying really can get the forty-nine Mongolian departments to support her at every turn, it is impossible for her to live so "rampant" in the palace. Although it is not enough to say, "If you provoke me, you will provoke cotton", but offending Concubine Ying will definitely not be "an enemy of the whole Mongolia".
In addition to "The Horse on the Wall" and "The Forty-Nine Parts of Mongolia", there are many places in "The Biography of Ruyi" that are different from historical facts.
For example, Wei Yanwan in the play is the villain, but in fact, in the official history, Wei Jia's image is still relatively positive.
Wei Yanwan in "The Legend of Ruyi". Source/Screenshot of the TV series "The Legend of Ruyi".
Similarly, in "The Legend of Ruyi", Queen Fucha seems to be just a "passer-by" in Qianlong's heart, but this is not the case. When Qianlong was a teenager and was still in the palace, the Fucha clan was already his grandson, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he and Qianlong were childhood sweethearts. The relationship between Qianlong and Fucha can also be described as "very affectionate". Qianlong attaches great importance to this queen, after the death of Fucha, the emperor was very sad, not only served Su Su 12 days, to the queen's favorite word "filial piety" as his nickname, and even personally wrote "Shu Sorrow Fu", mourning his deceased wife, sighing "The spring breeze and autumn moon are all here, and the summer and winter nights know when to return", which shows Qianlong's deep affection for Fucha.
Bright yellow satin embroidered gold dragon skin robe, this robe is the imperial dress of the Qing Qianlong Emperor Xiaoxianchun Empress. Source: The Palace Museum
However, appropriate adaptations of film and television works are also reasonable. The reason why these controversial issues appear in "The Legend of Ruyi" may be because the screenwriter deliberately outlines the emotional entanglement between Ruyi and Qianlong more movingly.
Bibliography:
《Manuscript of Qing History》
General Examination of Qing Dynasty Literature
"Qing Shilu"
"Eight Banners Manchurian Clan General Pedigree"
"Tang Lv Shu Discussion Notes"
Wang Miansen "Miscellaneous Knowledge of the Queens of the Qing Dynasty"
Idrik "The Shackles of Debt: The Death of the Mengqi - A Case Study of the Hangjin Banner of the Qing Dynasty"
Xia Wenchao, "Research on the Financial Problems of the Mengqi of the Zhelimu League in the Late Qing Dynasty"
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Author | Yamaji
Edit | Hu Xinya, Zheng Meiling (Intern)
Proofreading | Ancient Moon