There is a saying in the "Deer Ding" that makes people's blood boil, "If people don't know Chen Jinnan, they will call heroes in vain." ”
In just a few words, Mr. Jin Yong portrayed Chen Jinnan as a flesh-and-blood hero, which made countless people scream for it.
So, is Mr. Jin Yong's Chen Jinnan fictional? Is it really as powerful as seen in the novel?
In fact, the character of Chen Jinnanshang is not fictional, it does exist in history, but the portrayal of the character of Chen Jinnan in Jin Yong's novel is somewhat exaggerated. After all, it is a novel, and it is also very normal that it does not conform to historical facts.
So what is the historical Chen Jinnan?
Speaking of this, we have to mention the relationship between Chen Jinnan and the Organization of the Heaven and Earth Society.
In the novel, we all know that the Heaven and Earth Society is an organization that rebelled against the imperial court, but the origin of the Heaven and Earth Society is not mentioned, so let's briefly talk about it now.
In fact, the origin of the Heaven and Earth Society can be traced back to the early years of the Kangxi Dynasty, according to a series of materials of the British Museum in London (numbered Oriental8207D, Oriental8207E, Oriental239).
In the early days of Kangxi's reign, the mainland was invaded by ethnic minorities in western China, and the imperial court sent troops to fight them in order to expel the ethnic minorities, but unfortunately, because the imperial court was weak, it was repeatedly defeated.
In order to drive away the invaders, the warrior monks of the Putian Shaolin Temple in Fujian province spontaneously came to join the army, and they used their superb martial arts to help the imperial court repel the enemy.
When it came time to discuss the reward for meritorious deeds, they refused the reward of the imperial court and returned to Shaolin.
Unexpectedly, this matter was greatly disturbed by people with hearts, and a minister said to the ruler: These monks have made great contributions and have not returned. They must have different purposes. Their fighting power was so strong that if the soldiers revolted, it would be difficult for the imperial court to drive them out. It is better to kill them by surprise.
The ruler listened to the rumors of the ministers, and for the sake of the long-term peace and stability of the imperial court, he sent an army to surround the Putian Shaolin Temple and set fire to the Shaolin Temple.
The fire burned for several days, the temple was burned to rubble, most of the monks were burned to death, and only five warrior monks managed to escape.
The names of the five monks were Ma Chaoxing, Fang Dahong, Hu Dedi, Cai Dezhong and Li Shikai.
None of the five of them expected that the imperial court would cross the river and tear down the bridge and kill them all.
In retaliation, they decided to visit experts and organize rebels to resist the Qing government.
They heard that there was a monk named Wan Yunlong in a temple in Huizhou, Guangdong. His martial arts skills were much higher than theirs, so they rushed to Huizhou and invited Wan Yunlong as the leader of the regiment.
At that time, there happened to be a monk named Chen Jinnan.
His martial arts skills are not high, but he is resourceful and literary.
So they invited him to be a military master. Unfortunately, under the leadership of Wan Yunlong and Chen Jinnan, they fought several battles with the government army, all of which were repeatedly defeated.
Soon after, Wan Yunlong died of illness, and Chen Jinnan became the main heart.
Chen Jinnan summed up the experience based on the experience of past failures, believing that relying on the strength of only a few people is not enough. In order to oppose the Qing court, they established the Heaven and Earth Society, which had five "houses" each. The five monks served as the masters of the five houses, and Chen Jinnan served as the main masters and military masters of the houses.
Subsequently, Chen Jinnan sent five homeowners to Guangdong, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Hubei and other places to develop members.
It can be seen that history has some similarities with Mr. Jin Yong's description, as well as obvious differences.
First of all, Jin Yong's Chen Jinnan was a personable scholar, complete in both literature and martial arts, while the literature of the British Museum showed that Chen Jinnan was a monk, who was not high in martial arts and was only good at strategizing.