Zhong Lichun was a very special existence in ancient China, and almost found a second one. Legend has it that Zhuge Liang's wife was a person like Zhong Lichun, but this is only a legend, not true. Therefore, Zhong Lichun is particularly special.
Ancient women, who want to play some role in society, can almost only rely on the same skill, that is, her beauty. If a woman is not beautiful, she can hardly play any role in society.
Some people may say that you are not right, the ancient evaluation of women is virtue, and virtue is what women live in. In ancient times, if a woman died of her husband, society demanded that she could not remarry, calling this a festival, which also shows that morality is the most important thing for a woman.
Although the character of women was considered very important in ancient times, a very strange logical reasoning was proposed, and this logical reasoning was that "a woman's talentlessness is virtue." Talentless nature is inaction, that is, the ancients wanted women to do nothing. Thinking that doing nothing is a morality.
However, this was not the case for men in ancient times. Morality needs to be tempered, and the so-called "self-cultivation and family governance of the country and the world" is not only a process of moral tempering, but also a process of improving talents. It is only at the same time that morality is tempered while talents are enhanced. In other words, while pursuing moral perfection, one's talents have increased, and one person deserves to be praised.
However, the ancient requirements for women were to make her talentless and not allow her to improve her talents. Originally, a talentless person is a virtuous person, so how can it be said that a talentless person is a virtuous person? Therefore, the so-called ancient statement that attaches great importance to women's morality is actually wrong. In ancient times, the place where women were really valued was really her appearance.
Women of all dynasties and dynasties have really been able to play a role in society, basically first of all, by virtue of beauty. If a woman is not beautiful, she can hardly enter high society, let alone play any role in politics and other things.
If Xi Shi did not have beauty, could he be sent to the Wu Palace to subvert the regime of the Wu state? Wang Zhaojun is not beautiful, can he be sent to be sent to be kissed? Yang Yuhuan did not have beauty, can Tang Xuanzong "never be a king from now on"?
Even strong women who have played an important role in history are beautiful in the first place. If Wu Zetian is not beautiful, will Li Zhi risk incest accusations and have a relationship with her? Many people in history who had sex with their father's concubines ended badly. For example, Princess Pingyang's second husband, Xiahou Po, committed suicide because of incest with her father's concubine. Therefore, When Li Zhi did this, he took a great risk. And even if he took a big risk, he dared to do so, it must be that Wu Zetian was very beautiful, and he was attracted to Wu Zetian and couldn't stop wanting it.
Cixi also played a very important role in politics. Cixi was also chosen as a showgirl because of her beauty, and then was vigorously promoted by the Xianfeng Emperor. Otherwise, she would not have had a son with the Xianfeng Emperor, let alone play a pivotal role in subsequent political life.
We say that Zhong Lichun is an exception, because she did not gain the approval of the king through beauty, she was not beautiful at all. Not only is it not beautiful, but it is quite ugly. The "Biography of the Daughters of Lie" once recorded: "He is also a man, extremely ugly, with a deep head, a long and strong knot, a nose and throat, a fat neck and less hair, a bent waist out of Hungary, and a skin like paint." "It's ugly enough!"
So ugly, not to mention the king can't look up, even a very ordinary man can't look up, she is 40 years old, she has not yet married. In the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, 40 years old was an old woman. They have all become an old woman, and they can't get married, which shows that she is really ugly to the extreme.
However, King Xuan of Qi chose her as his queen and made her play a role in politics.
Obviously, King Xuan of Qi's use of Zhong Lichun was contrary to the beauty of women to be reused. So, why is Zhong Lichun an exception?
In fact, Zhong Lichun can become an accident, and does not violate the rule that women play a role in appearance, which just proves that the ancient woman's appearance to play a role is an unbreakable truth.
Why did King Xuan of Qi attach importance to Zhong Lichun? Is it because Zhong Lichun is very talented?
When Zhong Lichun saw King Xuan of Qi, he once said something to King Xuan of Qi: "In the country of the present king, there is the plague of Heng Qin in the west, the strong Chu in the south, and the difficulties of the two kingdoms outside. Gradually the five-fold stage, ten thousand people to the pole, this two also. The sages lurk in the mountains, and the slanderers are stronger than the left and right, and these three are also destroyed. Drinking alcohol and indulging, night and day, not practicing the courtesy of the princes on the outside, and not adhering to the government of the country on the inside, these four are also destroyed. ”
These words show that Zhong Lichun seems to be very talented, but in fact, it is not. In fact, he did not say anything about these words, but only said that King Xuan of Qi liked to drink and have fun, ignoring the government and not using sages. In this way, an ordinary citizen can also say it, and there is no particularly profound place, and there is no operability.
In fact, the reason why King Xuan of Qi chose Zhong Lichun was precisely because Zhong Lichun looked extremely ugly.
This practice of King Qi Xuan is to show a political purpose, ordinary people like beautiful women, do not like ugly women, and I Qi Xuan King actually made an ugly woman queen, which shows how different I am Qi Xuan King.
Why should I make an ugly woman queen? It is to show that I, King Xuan of Qi, want to change the past, change his heart, and from then on, he will strive to govern with great efforts and do things that enrich the country and strengthen the army.
Moreover, King Xuan of Qi made this extremely exaggerated. He dismissed all the women in the harem, and even killed his former queen. What was wrong with his original queen? He was killed. It can be seen that King Xuan of Qi just wanted to use this act to show those who read in the world that I really wanted to change my past and recruit talents. Hurry up, come to me!"
In fact, this practice was extremely common at the time. King Qi Xuan's rival, King Yan Zhao, had done the same thing. King Yan Zhao listened to the story of Guo Kui's thousands of gold to buy horse bones, built exquisite houses for Guo Kui to live in, and attracted a number of heroes from all over the world. Guo Kui himself also said very clearly, not how big his talent is, but he hopes that King Yan Zhaowang will take himself as a symbol, so that people in the world will feel that King Yanzhao even Guo Kui people attach importance to it, and the hero Haojie under the sky must be very important.
It can be said that King Qi Xuan's approach is the same as this practice of King Yan Zhao.
In fact, when Zhong Lichun arrived at King Xuan of Qi, he did not play a big role. King Xuan of Qi really attached great importance to talents, so he also built the Minoru Academy Palace and recruited a large group of talents. But after King Xuan of Qi recruited these talents, did he really give play to the role of these talents?
Not really.
At that time, he attached great importance to Mencius, chose Mencius, and explained a great truth to him. But in the end he did not reuse Mencius. Regardless of the truths that Mencius taught him at that time, were they useful to him? But he looked up to Mencius, in fact, Mencius's fame was very large, and he did not want to really reform the country.
There is also a story in history that is indiscriminate, and this story fully shows that King Xuan of Qi has to face only face, and does not pay attention to practical role. It is a great irony that a person who cannot blow a whistle can actually mix with King Xuan of Qi and act as a court music official. From this irony, it can be seen that when King Qi Xuanwang did things, he was actually flashy and unrealistic, only talking about pomp and face, and did not want to play any practical role at all
Later, King Yan Zhao counterattacked the State of Qi, beating the State of Qi to only two cities, and almost destroying the State of Qi, which was the bitter fruit of King Xuan of Qi's flashy work.
Therefore, when King Xuan of Qi chose Zhong Lichun as his empress, he was using Zhong Lichun's ugliness to gain fame for himself, rather than really reusing Zhong Lichun's talents.
In short, Zhong Lichun's encounter once again proves that the ancient woman, if she wants to play a role in society, can only rely on beauty.