Since the fall of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu's name has resounded throughout the land of China, and people are full of admiration for this famous general, and they all want to know more about his life and deeds. Regrettably, in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms written by the Historian Chen Shou of the Western Jin Dynasty, the record of this biography is only more than a thousand words. When Pei Songzhi of the Southern and Northern Dynasties annotated the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the deeds about Guan Yu were only added by a few hundred words, and the language was unknown. Therefore, there are still many mysteries to be solved in the life of this famous general of the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty. What this article wants to talk about is the mystery of Guan Yu's life.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Guan Yu, Guan Yu was a Member of the Hedong Liberation Army. Hedong (河東) was a county under the division of lieutenants during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty. There are twenty counties under the jurisdiction of the county, and Xie County is one of them. According to historical records, xie county in the Han Dynasty had four main cities, Sangquan City, Usucheng, Xiecheng and Flawed City, which were basically located in the area of Yuncheng City in present-day Shanxi Province, with a vast area. Exactly where Guan Yu was born has always been controversial and remains a mystery.
After talking about the first mystery, let's talk about the second, Guan Yu's family background. Was Guan Yu born into the Warrior Clan, the Magnate, or the Cold Gate? This question is not answered in Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Pei Songzhi of the Southern and Northern Dynasties gave a hint to posterity when he made annotations to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Pei Songzhi's citation of the "Biography of Jiang Biao" mentions: "(Guan) Yu Hao Zuo's biography, satire is catchy. The "Zuo Shi Zhuan" mentioned here refers to one of China's earliest chronicles, "Zuo Shi Chunqiu", also known as "Zuo Zhuan". Judging from this record, many people tend to believe that Guan Yu was born into a scholar family, but it is still difficult to determine whether this is the case.
What did Guan Yu have in his early years? Regarding this mystery, Chen Shou summed it up in one sentence in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: "Desperate to run zhuo county." This means that Guan Yu killed people in his hometown and had to flee his hometown and travel thousands of miles to Zhuo County, Youzhou. So, why did Guan Yu kill people? There is no record in the historical records, and this doubt did not appear until the Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty's "Guansheng Emperor Jun's Sacred Traces", it is mentioned that when Guan Yu went to the county seat of Xiexian county in his youth, he met Han Shouyi at the guest house. Han Shouyi's daughter was forcibly occupied by the local bully Lü Xiong, and there was nowhere to seek justice. Guan Yu was furious and immediately killed Lü Xiong and his henchmen, and then fled from Xie County.
Is this statement historically true? The answer is no, because with the continuous improvement of Guan Yu's status, many legends related to Guan Yu have appeared in the folk. But this is just a legend, obviously a story made up to add luster to Guan Yu's image.
Among folklore, there is a story that is widely circulated and was once mistaken for historical truth. This story appears in the Qing Dynasty Liang Zhangju's "Guitian Trivia", and its important content is similar to the "Guan Sheng Emperor Jun's Sacred Traces". In the story, It is mentioned that Guan Yu was not originally surnamed Guan, but surnamed Chang. In order to avenge the innocent people, he killed the local bullies and then fled his hometown. In order to escape the pursuit of the government, he deliberately changed his surname to "Guan". This story not only confuses the general lovers of the Three Kingdoms, but some scholars even regard it as a historical truth, in fact, this is only a fabrication of Guan Yu fans in later generations. As for the real reason why Guan Yu fled his hometown, it is still a mystery.
The last mystery of Guan Yu's early years was whether he married and had children during his hometown. According to folklore, Guan Yu had a wife in Xie County. This person is the daughter of the local teacher Hu Bin, and her name is Hu Jinchan (or Hu Jinding, Hu Yue). Not only that, the Hu clan also gave birth to a son named Guan Ping for Guan Yu.
So, is this really the case with history? It can only be said that it is a mystery to be solved. Although Chen Shou's Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms does not mention whether Guan Yu married and had children in his early years, such a thing was mentioned in the Huayang Guozhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the third year of Emperor Jian'an (198 AD), Cao Cao led his troops to besiege Lü Bu, and Guan Yu joined the army in the war. The book records: "(Guan) Yu Qigong (Cao Cao), wifeless, went down to the city to beg Qin Yilu's wife. ”
This historical record shows that during the siege of Xia Pi, Guan Yu had a wife, but the wife did not have children. Therefore, Guan Yu's request to Cao Cao to take Qin Yilu's wife as a concubine after the city was destroyed shows that Guan Yu still had no sons until the third year of Emperor Jian'an (198 AD), which at least shows that the claim that Guan Yu already had sons in his early years is wrong. Therefore, among Guan Yu's four mysteries, only this one has been solved.
Reference books: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Guitian Trivia", "Huayang Guozhi", "Guan Sheng Emperor Jun's Sacred Traces"