Compared with other good men in Liangshan, Yan Qing is not only extremely well-known in Water Margin, but also quite pleasing in front of readers.
Even in the eyes of the author, he is also a cared for figure, Yan Qing has been praised by the narrator more than once for his cleverness, of course, Yan Qing is indeed a rare smart person in the Water Margin.
As a figure with a very high IQ in the Water Margin, Yan Qing did indeed retire in the end, avoiding being liquidated by the imperial court and falling into tragedy.
However, shortly after Yan Qing's appearance, he was the biggest confidant of Lu Junyi, a local tycoon of the Daimyo Province:
Why would Yan Qing not have any power to fight back after Lu Junyi was captured in Liangshan, in the face of the false accusations of the housekeeper Li Gu?
How could the clever and clever Yan Qing just tie his hands and grab it?
1. Yan Qing is nothing more than a domestic slave of Lu Province
If you follow the public's image of Yan Qing and Lu Junyi, it seems that the two of them are good brothers who are as close as father and son, it can be said that it is the most worthy CP.
Yan Qing is loyal to his master Lu Junyi, and Lu Junyi cares for Yan Qing with courtesy, and there is even a saying that Yan Qing was raised by Lu Junyi.
In short, the relationship between the two is particularly iron.
But in fact, this is a misunderstanding, because there is no evidence to show that Yan Qing was raised by Lu Junyi.
On the contrary, in the original work, Yan Qing's life is clearly stated:
"This man is a native of Beijing, his parents have died since he was a child, and he was raised by Lu Yuanwai's family."
Yan Qing's family has no background to speak of, that is, the native residents of the Daming Mansion, but it is the unfortunate death of both parents in the family in childhood.
It is said that Yan Qing's life will naturally not be better, but it may be because the young Yan Qing is too intelligent, so she was fed by the big Lu Junyi family.
Note that it was Lu Junyi's family who raised Yan Qing, not Lu Junyi who raised him; also note that this raising is not necessarily raised as a son, it may just be for food.
After all, Yan Qing and Lu Junyi's family are not related by blood, so why would the old Lu family take special care of an orphan, and to be able to give him food is to do good deeds and accumulate virtue.
Since then, as Yan Qing has grown up, due to Yan Qing's own intelligence and handsomeness, she has stood out and is valued by the new owner Lu Junyi.
So Yan Qing became Lu Junyi's confidant.
"It turns out that this Yan Qing is a confidant of Lu Junyi's family."
Yan Qing can become Lu Junyi's confidant, which can only show that Yan Qing has the trust of Lu Junyi, but it does not show that he attaches great importance to Yan Qing.
Because Yan Qing did not have any position in Lu Junyi's family, from Yan Qing's appearance to the final Liangshan, do you know what he was doing in Lu Junyi's family?
Don't know? Because Yan Qing just has no position.
He is not responsible for the business of Lu Junyi's family, nor is he responsible for Lu Junyi's housework, that is, he goes to the hook bar every day to fool around, so he mixes up the nickname of a prodigal son.
"Sure enough, it is the specialty of the art garden, the first place in the wind and moon bush."
Yan Qing's status in Lu Junyi's mansion was naturally higher than that of ordinary slaves, but in fact, Yan Qing was also a member of the many small houses in Lu Province.
He was nothing more than a high-ranking man who was deeply trusted.
Just like the highly valued Tortoise An in Ximen Qing Province, Tortoise An is also Ximen Qing's close confidant, but In the end, Tortoise An is still a small squatter who is not in the flow.
His status was even inferior to that of Wen Binggu, an aide hired by the Ximen Qing family.
Therefore, no matter whether Yan Qing was raised by Lu Junyi, no matter how much he was valued by Lu Junyi, and no matter how much ability Yan Qing had, in the eyes of his master Lu Junyi:
In fact, he was just a slave kept in captivity by his own family.
If you don't believe it, you can see that after Lu Junyi was released from Liangshan, because Yan Qing exposed the affairs of the housekeeper Li Gu and Jia Shi, Lu Junyi went up and kicked him down.
Yan Qing wept bitterly, fell to the ground, and dragged his master's clothes. Lu Junyi kicked Down Yan Qing and strode into the city. ”
Turning his face ruthlessly, Lu Junyi never lifted Yan Qing too much, that is, when he was a slave to see, Yan Qing always regarded Lu Junyi as a "master".
Although Yan Qing's status was high in Lu Province, his height was also quite limited, and he was by no means the second in command of Lu Province.
2. Yan Qing, who remained behind, did not have any real power
Yan Qing's identity is the small house of Lu Province, so who is the second in command of Lu Province? Of course, Lu Junyi's family is in charge of Li Gu.
Li Gu's performance in Lu Junyi's home can profoundly reflect what is reused, and in five years, he has changed from a wanderer to a metropolitan manager.
"Because I saw that he was diligent and calculated, I taught him to take care of the affairs of the family. Within five years, straight uplifted him to do all the pipes. All the furniture inside and outside is on him. ”
Li Gu spent five years to become the second in command of Lu Fu, and he spoke with the same intensity as Lu Junyi, and the key Lu Fu's finances were pinched by him.
On the contrary, Yan Qing entered Lu Mansion definitely earlier than Li Gu, but Yan Qing was still a "confidant" when he mixed up, but Li Gu was already a real power faction in Lu Province.
So you really can't say whether Lu Junyi is lifting Yan Qing in the end.
After Lu Junyi was convinced of Wu Yong's "disaster of blood and light", he immediately decided to hear about Wu Yong's "kind persuasion" and go to the southeast to take refuge a thousand miles away.
As for the question of Lu Junyi's need to avoid disasters, the whole Lu government opposed Lu Junyi's rashness, because it was obvious that this was a fortune teller's nonsense, and there was no need to pay attention to it at all.
Not only did the housekeeper Li Gu advise Lu Junyi, but Lu Junyi's wife Jia Shi also came forward to block it, and his confidant Yan Qing was also bitterly persuaded.
But who would dare to oppose Lu Junyi's insistence on going?
However, before leaving, Lu Junyi made new personnel arrangements for the members of the government, the housekeeper Li Gu followed him out to "avoid disasters", and his confidant Yan Qing stayed at home.
"So leave you at home to watch." Someone else manages the account, and only teaches you to be a dealer. ”
Although Lu Junyi assigned Yan Qing the duties of staying behind, he still did not give Yan Qing any relevant powers, especially the important financial problems of Lu Province.
Lu Junyi handed over the accounting problem to the others, and Yan Qing was responsible for guarding the portal without incident, just giving Yan Qing part of the "military power".
Although Lu Junyi said that he would let Yan Qing be the "pile master", that is, to act as the temporary chief of the Lu Mansion, Yan Qing was just an empty shell butler.
Because he can't actually be responsible for and dominate people's financial problems, and the most important thing for Lu Fu is financial problems, whoever controls Lu Fu's finances can speak with confidence.
But Lu Junyiming said to let others take care of the accounts, Yan Qing just looked at it on the side, so Yan Qing was an empty left-behind housekeeper, in fact, he was still used by Lu Junyi as a watchdog.
This is naturally related to Yan Qing's inability to manage accounts, but if Lu Junyi really trusts Yan Qing, he will naturally let him interfere in Lu Fu's finances, after all, Yan Qing is really smart.
But Lu Junyi finally arranged Yan Qing into a flower rack.
I have to say that Lu Junyi's arrangement is also very good, which is very in line with the ancient political principle of separation of powers and checks and balances:
Yan Qing, who has the name of the general manager, does not have any real power, and the person who has the real power to manage finances does not have the name of the housekeeper, and the two sides can check and balance each other.
In this way, Lu Junyi, who went out to avoid disasters, could rest assured.
If Lu Junyi returned smoothly, Yan Qing could naturally guard the portal as a nominal housekeeper; but if something happened to Lu Junyi, Yan Qing, who had no real power, could only sit back and wait.
3, Yan Qing was easily pinched by the housekeeper Li Gu
As a result, Lu Junyi really had an accident when he was avoiding disasters, he was captured by Zhang Shun when he passed through Liangshan, and then he was detained by Song Jiang on Liangshan, and had to give him the top seat.
Li Gu, the butler who followed him to avoid disasters, was also released down the mountain by Wu with ulterior motives, but informed him that Lu Junyi had already gone up the mountain and fallen into the grass.
"Your master, having agreed with us, is now sitting in the second chair."
Li Gu, who was lucky to escape, was released and returned to the mountains, and the first thing Li Gu did when he returned home was to seize power and expel the nominal butler Yan Qing.
In the entire struggle to seize power, Yan Qing did not cause any harm to Li Gu, but on the contrary, he was completely defeated, and he did not have any strength to fight back at all.
How could the clever and clever Yan Qing be pinched by Li Gu?
This has to talk about Lu Junyi's responsibilities before leaving, Yan Qing is nominally the general manager but can not manage the accounts, it is Lu Junyi who arranges other people to manage the accounts.
And these people who manage accounts are naturally also their own people in Lu Province, and all the accounting personnel in Lu Province are still subordinates of Li Gu.
"His subordinates are in charge of forty or fifty financial management cadres, and everyone in the family calls him Li Duguan."
Since the finances of Lu Fu had always been in the hands of Li Gu, and the other financial officials of Lu Fu were also Under Li Gu's subordinates, Li Gu also overshadowed Lu Junyi to some extent.
If Lu Junyi does not have an accident, it is okay, once Lu Junyi has an accident outside, Li Gu will inevitably take over the family property of Lu Fu and become the biggest beneficiary.
In fact, after Lu Junyi was detained in Liangshan, Li Gu did so after he returned home.
Because the person who was assigned to manage the accounts was a subordinate of Li Gu, Li Gu easily gained financial power, which was equivalent to actually controlling the Lu Government.
And the one who is most capable of resisting this sudden situation is not Yan Qing, who has been given the responsibility of staying behind, but Lu Junyi's wife, Jia Shi.
After all, Jia Shi is the head of the family, after Lu Junyi's accident, she can justifiably take over the family affairs, and Li Gu is not the Lu family in charge of real power.
However, according to Yan Qing, the two originally had a private affair, so after Li Gu controlled the finances of lu province, he effortlessly merged with the master mother Jia.
At this point, lu fu's finances and household chores were taken over by Li Gu.
After finishing the matter, Li Gu also ran to the Daimyo Mansion to file a complaint against Lu Junyi for going up the mountain and sitting on the grass, so that he could enjoy the property of the Lu Mansion in name only.
Cai Qing, the festival of the Daimyo Province, sarcastically said:
"Your secretive deeds, I'm afraid I don't know!" You took possession of his furniture and murdered his wife. ”
Note that the word "occupancy" is used.
So what was Yan Qing doing during the whole process? The answer was to sit back and watch Li Gu carry out various seizures of power, but Yan Qing did not have any ability to stop it.
"He has done all the way with his mother-in-law, and he blames Yan Qing for violating it and kicks me out of the house."
When Lu Junyi was there, the people of Lu Province obeyed Lu Junyi's orders, but now that Lu Junyi had an accident, he could only listen to Li Gu.
Yan Qing herself did not have any authority, nor had she cultivated her own forces in Lu Province, nor did she have the support of her main mother, the Jia Clan.
What ability can he have to confront Li Gu when he is alone?
Therefore, not only was Li Gu expelled from the palace, but he also threatened outsiders not to allow Yan Qing to be a festival, and he wanted to let Yan Qing fend for himself; who dared to go to Yan Qing, Li Gu would take Lu Junyi's family property to file a lawsuit against him, who could stand it?
"Even more, he should pay a relative to know each other: but if someone rested at home with Yan Qing, he gave up half of his furniture and fought a lawsuit with him, so no one dared to take Xiao B."
Therefore, Yan Qing's encounter was particularly tragic, directly from the high-ranking small house in Lu Province to a beggar, in the end, he still blamed Lu Junyi for not treating him as a "person".
Yan Qing's tragedy was caused by Lu Junyi.
(A word of family, seek common ground while reserving differences, thank you for reading)