The real Cheng Yaojin in history actually did not live for 120 years like in the novel. Instead, after only living for seventy-seven years, he died.
In addition, many self-media have raised the question: Why did Wu Zetian kill many heroes during his reign, but did not kill Cheng and bite jin? This is actually a completely meaningless question. Because when Cheng Yaojin died, Wu Zetian was still just an empress. It was not until 25 years after Cheng Biting Jin that Wu Zetian ascended the throne as emperor, and naturally he did not have the opportunity to kill Cheng Biting Jin during his reign.
As one of the most legendary fierce generals in Chinese history, the real Cheng Yaojin in history is actually more legendary than the depiction in the yanyi novel. Although he had never been a Chaos Demon King, he had never been the king of Wagangzhai. But his life witnessed the whole process of the Tang Dynasty growing from a new regime to a 'giant Tang'.
In 589, Cheng was born in Jinan, Shandong. The year cheng yaojin was born coincided with the year when the Sui Dynasty attacked Southern Chen and unified the world, and it was also the year that Li Jiancheng, the prince of Yin, was born.
In the rendition novel, Cheng Yaojin is from a humble origin, which is a typical civilian origin. But in fact, in the main history, Cheng Yaojin is actually a typical scholar family. Great-grandfather Cheng Xing was once Sima of Northern Qi Yanzhou, grandfather Cheng Zhe was once Sima of Northern Qi Jinzhou, and father Cheng Lou was once the Dazhongzheng of Jeju, all of whom were not low-level people.
Cheng Yaojin's childhood coincided with the most prosperous period of the Sui Dynasty. It was not until Cheng Yaojin was 16 years old, after Yang Guang ascended the throne, that the Sui Dynasty began to decline. After Cheng bit jin became an adult, he did not marry Pei Yuanqing's sister Pei Cuiyun as said in the novel, but married the daughter of the local county order. In terms of the Cheng family's family lineage, the two sides can also be regarded as the right door.
If yang Guang had not been blind and the Sui Dynasty had always existed, Cheng Yaojin's life would have become a local tyrant. After getting older, with the help of his father-in-law and his own parents, he entered the dprk as an official. However, because the family lineage is not particularly high, it is not too big an official, and such a life is not bad. However, unfortunately, because Yang Guang's mess made the Sui Dynasty more and more chaotic, Cheng Yaojin finally embarked on another path.
In the sixth year of Daye, because Yang Guang's oppression of the Shandong region was too cruel, the people in Shandong province boiled over and thieves swarmed. In this year, the 22-year-old Cheng Yaojin, because of his personal bravery and martial prowess, coupled with the family's reputation in the local area, organized a local people's self-defense force to protect the border and the people. But what no one expected was that this villagers' self-defense force would become the beginning of Cheng Yaojin's legendary life.
In the years that followed, the Sui Dynasty became more and more chaotic, and peasant army uprisings began to break out everywhere. On the Jinan side, many small groups of peasant army uprisings also broke out. However, cheng Yaojin, with his personal bravery and wisdom, led this villagers' self-defense force to guard his hometown and protect the safety of his hometown.
However, a few years later, as the situation in various places became worse and worse, the Sui Dynasty basically lost control in Shandong, Hebei, Henan and other regions. Cheng Yaojin's hometown also fell into the peasant army's sphere of influence. By this time, the villagers' self-defense force under Cheng Yaojin alone could no longer protect the safety of their hometown. The only way is to join the peasant army as well and become one of them.
In the end, the peasant army chosen by Cheng Yaojin was the most powerful Wagang army among all the peasant armies at that time.
After joining the Wagang Army, it was Li Mi who was in power within the Wagang Army at that time. However, Li Mi was not the founder of the Wagang Army, so it was urgent to cultivate his own concubines at this time. Therefore, after Cheng Yaojin joined the Wagang Army, probably because he was too famous in his hometown before, he was also favored by Li Mi. At that time, Li Mi happened to organize an elite army of eight thousand people, so he let Cheng Yaojin enter this army and became a commander who led the charge.
In this army, Cheng Yaojin made many good friends. For example, Qin Qiong, Shan Xiongxin, Xu Shiji, Niu Jinda and others all met Cheng Yaojin at this time.
In the following year or so, the Wagang Army grew rapidly under the leadership of Li Mi. Cheng Yaojin also led this elite army to march south and north under Li Mi's command, and his fame grew, and he gradually became a famous fierce general on the side of the Wagang Army, alongside Qin Qiong and others. After that, Li Mi set his sights on Luoyang again.
At that time, it was Wang Shichong who was guarding Luoyang. In this great battle between the Wagang Army and the Luoyang defenders, Cheng Yaojin still took the lead and made great achievements. Moreover, during this period, Pei Xingyu, another member of the Wagang Army, once fell off his horse and was almost killed. This Pei Xingjian is the prototype of Pei Yuanqing in the yanyi novel. Cheng bit Jin desperately to save Pei Xingyu, but his own body was also pierced and seriously injured.
From here, we can also see that the real Cheng Yaojin in history is also a rather moralistic person. Giving up one's life on the battlefield to save one's friends is not something anyone can do. Compared with the plot in the novel, the real war in history is actually more bloody and more thrilling.
After this great battle, the Wagang army finally defeated Wang Shichong with difficulty, and only half a step away from taking Luoyang. However, at this time, there was a mutiny on the Jiangdu side, Yang Guang was killed by the forbidden army under his command, and all the large armies under his command were returned to Yu Wenhua and . In order to avoid the situation of being attacked by the enemy in the abdomen, Li Mi could only temporarily abandon Wang Shichong and turn his head to deal with Yu Wenhua. Because of his previous injuries, Cheng Yaojin did not participate in this big battle, but the Wagang Army finally won the battle against Yu Wenhua and became the final winner.
However, shortly after the victory of the Wagang army, Wang Shichong of Luoyang attacked again. Because the Wagang army had just experienced a big war, it was the time when people were trapped and lacking, and in the end, the Wagang army was defeated by Wang Shichong in the first battle, and Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong and others were also captured by Wang Shichong. As for Li Mi, he fled to Guanzhong in an attempt to rely on Li Yuan to make a comeback, but was eventually killed by Li Yuan.
After being captured by Wang Shichong, Cheng Yaojin and the others did not suffer any hardships. On the contrary, during the great battle between Wang Shichong and the Wagang Army, he was deeply impressed by these fierce generals, so he wanted to recruit them. Instead of embarrassing them, he made them generals. However, for Wang Shichong, Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong and others did not like it very much. On the one hand, Wang Shichong's own character is very poor, which is difficult to convince. On the other hand, the Wagang army had fought with Wang Shichong before, and many of Cheng's old friends who had bitten Jin had died at the hands of Wang Shichong, so these fierce generals of the Wagang army were unwilling to submit to Wang Shichong.
Later, just when Li Shimin came to recruit Wang Shichong, Wang Shichong sent Cheng Yaojin and several other generals of the Wagang Army to meet the enemy. Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, and others took advantage of this opportunity to turn against li shimin and surrender. Since then, Cheng Has been a courtier of the Tang Dynasty.
In the following years, Cheng Yaojin followed Li Shimin all the way to the south and the northern war, and made great achievements. Under Li Shimin, Cheng Yaojin still played the role of a fierce general who charged into the battlefield. Under Li Shimin's command, there was a well-known Xuanjia army, which was an elite army organized by the Li Tang regime at that time to smash pots and sell iron, and the equipment was extremely well-equipped, and the total number was only more than three thousand. Cheng Yaojin was one of the four commanders of this Xuanjia army, and the famous Qin Qiong and Wei Chigong were also among them.
In the process of conquest under Li Shimin, there is not much to say, although there are exaggerated elements in the novel, but many of them are based on real history. In this process, Cheng Yaojin not only made great achievements in battle, but also became Li Shimin's confidant. However, as the Tang Dynasty gradually unified the world, the contradictions between the brothers Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng began to grow larger and larger. In order to suppress the Qin King's Party, Cheng Yaojin was once framed by Li Jiancheng and sent kangzhou to serve as an assassin. But later, when Li Shimin made up his mind to launch the Xuanwumen Incident, he still tried to find a way to transfer Cheng Yaojin, a fierce general, back to the capital.
In the ninth year of Wude, the Xuanwumen Incident broke out, and Cheng Yaojin personally participated in the most famous coup in history. Subsequently, Li Shimin ascended the throne as emperor, and Cheng Yaojin was made a general of the Right Wu Wei.
After Li Shimin ascended the throne, Cheng Yaojin's resume was relatively flat. After all, by this time, there were not many wars within the Tang Dynasty. And Cheng Yaojin is a typical fierce talent, and the role will naturally be relatively reduced. In the following ten years, Cheng Yaojin was either sent to a foreign place to take charge of local military affairs, or stayed in the capital as an idle military attaché, and his life was also quite good.
In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin evaluated the list of heroes of Lingyange, and Cheng Yaojin ranked nineteenth.
It is worth saying that in the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin personally conquered Goguryeo. In the novel, Cheng Yaojin also participates in this battle, and also discovers Xue Rengui, a fierce general. But in fact, in the main history, Cheng Yaojin did not actually goguryeo with Li Shimin, but was left by Li Shimin in Chang'an to assist the crown prince Li Zhi.
For Li Shimin in his later years, Cheng Yaojin is undoubtedly one of his most trusted veterans. Because Qin Qiong had died of illness at this time, Wei Chigong was guilty and returned home. Among the fierce generals of the older generation, very few can fight. There are even fewer people who can make Li Shimin trust. Letting Cheng Yaojin stay in Chang'an, in addition to worrying that Cheng Yaojin was too old to adapt to the long-distance conquest, did not have the meaning of being alone.
Twenty-three years after Zhenguan, Li Shimin died of illness at Cuiwei Palace outside Chang'an City. It was Cheng Yaojin who personally led the army to escort the crown prince Li Zhi back to Chang'an and ascended the throne as emperor. After Li Zhi ascended the throne, Cheng Yaojin personally led his troops outside the palace and guarded the gate for Li Zhi for three months. It wasn't until Li Zhi completely secured the throne that Cheng Yaojin went home to rest.
The real Cheng Biting Jin in history, although not as long as the novel says, lived that long. But compared with many fierce generals of the same era, Cheng Yaojin is indeed a long life. After Li Shimin's death, only six of the twenty-four heroes of the former Ling Yan Pavilion were still alive. Therefore, by the time of Li Zhi, although Cheng Yaojin was already old, whether it was seniority or prestige, he was already one of the few people in the Tang Dynasty military.
In 656, because the Western Turks invaded the Tang border, the 68-year-old Cheng Yaojin was once again entrusted by Li Zhi with the heavy responsibility of leading the Tang army to conquer the Western Turks. During this expedition, Cheng Biting Jin's deputy Wang Wendu, because he was jealous of the battle exploits of another deputy general, Su Dingfang, and was also afraid that Cheng Biting Jin would rush forward, so he lied that he had Li Zhi's secret edict, resulting in the Tang army finally repelling the Western Turks, but also suffering great losses. After his return, Wang Wendu himself was completely dismissed from all official positions for falsely preaching the Holy Will, and Cheng Yaojin was also implicated and received certain punishments.
Moreover, during this expedition, Cheng Yaojin also did something to discredit his life, that is, slaughtering the city! On the way of the Tang army's march, there were Hu people who surrendered to the Tang army, but in order to ensure the safety of the supply line in the rear of the Tang army, Cheng Yaojin finally adopted Wang Wendu's suggestion and directly slaughtered the city. This incident has also become an indelible stain in Cheng Yaojin's life.
However, for Cheng Yaojin, whether it is a stain or a punishment, in fact, he has not paid attention to it. At this time, Cheng Biting Jin was nearly seventy years old. In his lifetime, he has been accustomed to seeing big winds and waves, witnessing the entire process of the Tang Dynasty from the founding of the country to becoming a 'giant Tang'. Cheng Yaojin witnessed how the Tang Dynasty subdued the powerful enemies around it one by one, and also witnessed the struggle for power and profit at the top of the Tang Dynasty. For this veteran who has experienced the world, the so-called right and wrong honor and disgrace have actually been completely looked down upon by him.
After returning from the Western Regions, Cheng was temporarily dismissed from office because of Wang Wendu's involvement, but was revived again soon after. However, in this regard, Cheng Yaojin politely declined and asked to retire and return home for the elderly. For Cheng Biting Jin's request, Li Zhi did not refuse, and directly approved Cheng Biting Jin to go home for the elderly.
In the following years, Cheng Yaojin stayed in Chang'an City for the elderly and never asked about the government. Among all the founding heroes of the early Tang Dynasty, Cheng Yaojin should be regarded as the one with the best ending. I have a long life, and I am dying. The descendants were also very careful, never mixed with those party struggles in the court, and did not cause disasters to their own families like Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng's descendants. This also allowed Cheng Toijin to enjoy the last few years of his life and stay in Chang'an to enjoy the joy of heaven.
In 665, Cheng died in his private residence in Chang'an City at the age of 77. Among the twenty-four heroes of Ling Yan Pavilion, Cheng Yaojin was the penultimate one to die, and only Li Ji lived longer than him. Later, Li Ji rebelled against Wu Zetian because of his grandson Xu Jingye, resulting in the almost extermination of the entire clan. In this way, Cheng Yaojin should be regarded as the founding hero with the best ending.
From the story of Cheng Biting Jin, it is not difficult for us to see that it is really beneficial to live a long life. Among the founding heroes of the Tang Dynasty, Cheng Yaojin can only be regarded as a general, and his merits are actually not as good as those in the front. But compared with others, Cheng Yaojin lived the longest and took more care of his descendants. In the era of Li Zhi, with the death of those veteran generals of the same era, Cheng Yaojin also became the most prestigious general in the Tang military.
So the phrase 'whoever lives long is an artist' is actually very reasonable. Put on Cheng Yaojin's body, I am afraid it should be 'whoever lives long, who is the commander of the Tang Dynasty'.