"Mandarin Duck Knife" is a novella in the Jin Yong martial arts series, which was only serialized in Ming Pao for less than a month when it was created, and it was also due to its short length and not many adaptations, so many friends only know one of the fourteen parts of the Jin Yong martial arts series. The story of this novel is all caused by the competition for the "Mandarin Duck Knife" pair of weapons, but the cause of the dispute is all due to one person, he is the Yongzheng Emperor. Looking at this cause from the perspective of literary creation, it precisely reflects how poor the image of the Yongzheng Emperor, a historical figure, was in the old folk era, and everyone may wish to follow Yu Lingjun to discuss it slightly.
Yongzheng Emperor
The story routine of "Mandarin Duck Knife" is actually similar to Jin Yong's other work", "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon", and both novels were first created in 1961, of course, when "Mandarin Duck Knife" ended, "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon" was still serialized. Just as the story in "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon" takes place because of the competition for the Dragon Slaying Sword of Yitian Sword, "Mandarin Duck Knife" is also caused by the competition for the "Mandarin Duck Knife" pair of weapons (Mandarin Knife + Duck Knife). The reason for the competition, the dragon slaying knife is because it is known as the "supreme martial forest", and it is rumored that the power of the sword can command the world, while the Mandarin Duck knife is rumored to hide a secret of the martial forest in these two swords, and the winner will be invincible to the world.
In the pursuit of fame and profit in the martial forest, in order to become the overlord of the martial forest, invincibility in the world is undoubtedly the greatest desire for them to dream, so it can also cause the most tragic disputes. In fact, it is not only the jianghu martial forest, but also above the temple. Just as the imperial court forces represented by the Ruyang Palace intervened in the battle for divine soldiers in "Yi Tian", "Mandarin Duck Knife" was a dispute caused by the Yongzheng Emperor's intervention to seize the Mandarin Duck Sword. (Note: In the new version of the novel, the author modified it without explicitly stating which emperor of the Qing Dynasty, but the serial version of the novel is clearly the Yongzheng Emperor, and this article follows the serial version setting.) ）
Mandarin duck knife
According to the legend of the jianghu, there is a pair of "Mandarin Duck Treasure Swords" in the world, and those who have it are invincible to the world, and when Yongzheng was still in Belle, he had secretly sent his cronies to look for them everywhere. After taking over the throne, he even issued a secret decree and ordered the eighteen provincial governors of the world to visit with interest. The pair of knives were initially in the hands of a hero surnamed Yuan and a hero surnamed Yang, respectively, so after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he captured Yuan Yang and his family and forced them to hand over the swords. The two great heroes died unyieldingly, but the wives of the two heroes were arrested and imprisoned in heaven, and later, Xiao Banhe, an anti-Qing hero who entered the palace as a eunuch to assassinate the emperor, entered the heavenly prison, killed several jailers, and rescued the two wives.
At that time, Yuan Daxia's son Yuan Guannan was three years old, and Yang Daxia's daughter Yang Zhonghui was only two years old. The enemy was strong, and when Xiao Ban and Canghuang fled, Yuan Guannan was lost on the way. In order to hide from the eyes and ears of the Qing court, Xiao Banhe put on a large bush of beards and wronged Yuan Yang's two wives as his wife. Thirteen years later, Liu Yuyi, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, obtained this pair of Mandarin duck knives and ordered Zhou Weixin, the chief dart head of the Weixin Dart Bureau of Xi'an Province, to lead a dart team of more than seventy people to escort them into Beijing. On the way, all the people and horses who snatched the weapons appeared one by one, including Yuan Guannan and Yang Zhonghui( also known as Xiao Zhonghui because they recognized Xiao Banhe as their father), as well as Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan, who had learned the "husband and wife sword technique" but fought each other.
Lord Liu's few words have been repeated hundreds of times in his mind: "Zhou Dangtou, this pair of knives, called 'Mandarin Duck Knives', is really extraordinary, you take it well." When I was still in Baylor, I had already sent my cronies to look for them everywhere. After taking over the throne, he even issued a secret decree and ordered the eighteen provincial governors of the world to visit with interest. It was hard to catch the master of the 'Mandarin Duck Knife', but the pair of swords hid for the two thieves, no matter how to reconnoiter, it was always like a stone sinking into the sea, and Tianxing was the ancestor of bendu, who entrusted the emperor Hongfu and finally got it for me. "New Revised Mandarin Duck Knife"
The story of the novel is still relatively simple. When Zhou Weixin escorted the sword into Beijing, Yongzheng, who received the secret report, immediately ordered Zhuo Tianxiong, who was known for his martial arts master "Zhentian Thirty Palms and Huyan Eighteen Whips", and Zhuo Tianxiong, who was also Zhou Weixin's master, to come to the rescue. In a melee of sword grabbing on the way, Zhuo Tianxiong was highly skilled, pointing out Lin Yulong, Ren Feiyan, and Xiao Zhonghui cave dao, fortunately, Yuan Guannan, who pretended to be the nephew of the "Five Poisonous Saint Gu", used a trick to scare Zhuo Tianxiong away, seized the Mandarin Duck Knife, and rescued everyone. Zhuo Tianxiong, who had returned to the gods, turned around and chased after the four people in order to regain the sword, and Lin Yulong and his wife passed on their own "husband and wife sword technique" that they had not practiced well but were very powerful to Yuan and Xiao, and the two used the twelve-stroke knife method that they had not learned to completely defeat Zhuo Tianxiong, and also saved the Mandarin duck sword, and because of the side-by-side resistance, they had mutual affection for each other.
This "husband and wife knife method" was originally created by a loving couple in ancient times. The two of them are inseparable, their hearts are sealed, and when the two swords are used, they also protect each other. Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan were grumpy, and soon after their new marriage, they were already unhappy. Later, the two met a senior monk, and the senior monk taught them this sword technique, hoping that the two would respect each other after learning. After Lin and Ren learned this sword technique, although they had both learned their own way of sword technique, because the two of them were difficult to understand, the sword method cultivation was incompatible, and they only practiced three or four moves, not only refusing to protect each other, but also fighting each other for a long time, so they could not exert the power of this set of Qi Men sword methods.
Finally, on Xiao Banhe's birthday, Zhuo Tianxiong led the officers and soldiers to surround Xiao Mansion to ask for a knife, a scuffle, the heroes who came to Heshou defeated the officers and soldiers, Yuan Guannan rescued Xiao Zhonghui, the two joined forces again, the two of them were secretly communicative, sympathetic, and cooperated with the Mandarin Duck Knife to exert the original power of the "Husband and Wife Knife Method", and finally injured Zhuo Tianxiong. Finally, after Xiao Banhe explained the lives of Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui, Lady Yuan put the Mandarin Duck Knife together, only to see that the Mandarin Duck Knife was engraved with the word "Benevolent", and the duck knife was engraved with the word "Invincible", which together the four words "Benevolent Invincible", which is the big secret of the Mandarin Duck Knife being invincible in the world, and the story ends here.
To sum up simply, "Mandarin Duck Knife" tells the story of the Yongzheng Emperor who destroyed the two families of Yuan Yang in order to obtain the Mandarin Duck Knife, and later the descendants of the two families of Yuan Yang returned home to pass on the sword after resistance. It can be seen that if it were not for the Yongzheng Emperor in order to get the Mandarin Duck Sword, he would not have been able to give birth to this change, although he did not really appear in the novel, but it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the first major villain in the book. In fact, not only "Mandarin Duck Knife", this historical figure of the Yongzheng Emperor, in many literary works in the old times, its image is not very good, often synonymous with the villain emperor tyrant.
Teacher Yi Zhongtian once said that historical figures generally have three kinds of images, one is a literary image, one is a folk image, and the other is a real historical image. For example, Cao Cao, many literary creations have written him as a traitor, and most people in the folk have a bad impression of him, but in real history, he is a powerful and powerful ruler. Folk images, generally evolved from literary images, are disseminated to the public through literary works such as operas, novels and wild histories, coupled with the guidance of political factors, forming an impression consciousness. For example, In the literary image, Guan Yu, who is a righteous and invincible enemy, was worshipped as a martial saint by the representative of the ruling class as a loyal subject, and then he was worshipped as a god by the people, worshipped by both black and white, and finally evolved into the god of wealth, and the faith spread throughout the Chinese. The continuous evolution of folk images will eventually affect the continued creation of literature and the transformation of literary images, which is a typical example.
The character of the Yongzheng Emperor has always had three kinds of images, but his image in the literature and folk in the old times was not very good, basically a character setting such as a tyrant and a villain. In the old days, when people mentioned Yongzheng, the first impression among many people was that he killed his father and forced his mother, tampered with the will, slaughtered his brothers, was greedy for alcohol and lust, formed a blood drop team to implement high-pressure rule, etc., and finally was assassinated by Lu Shiniang, and was cut off by her head and successfully escaped, and finally could only be buried with a golden head.
In fact, the rumors about Yongzheng, such as usurpation and tyranny, already existed since he took the throne. The reason why the Yongzheng Emperor recruited black is, in the final analysis, the work of his political enemies. First, his brothers and brothers who failed to compete for the throne naturally gave birth to many rumors that challenged the legitimacy of his succession because of their dissatisfaction with Yongzheng's succession; second, because Yongzheng implemented the New Deal after he succeeded to the throne, the officials and gentry of the landlord class who offended him gave birth to many lies attacking him because of the damage to their interests. These rumors and lies were spread, especially the Eight Ye Party gangs exiled by Yongzheng to Yungui, which were spread all the way south, which made Emperor Shangaoyuan deeply believe in the forbidden affairs of the palace and was full of curiosity, and also processed and polished many new wild history rumors. Zeng Jing of Hunan in the TV series "Yongzheng Dynasty" is so credulous that he believes rumors and slanders Yongzheng with written records.
Wild history rumors, with a wide audience, have always been the most favored materials for literary creators, and those wild histories that smear Yongzheng are no exception. At least until the mid-1990s, it can be said that Yongzheng's image in literary works such as novels, film and television, and in folk works was almost like this. Many martial arts novels that evolved from the legends and stories of Lü Shiniang are even more unswervingly positioned in this way, even the new school of martial arts novels that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s still continue the setting of Hei Yongzheng, and jin Yong and Liang Yusheng, the masters of the new school of martial arts novels, have a bad image of Yongzheng.
The basic routine of Yongzheng in martial arts works is that when Yongzheng was still a prince, he gathered the martial arts masters in order to seize the throne, and then turned his back on Xinyi, and after succeeding to the throne, he either slaughtered heroes or counterattacked the encirclement and suppression of anti-Qing forces, such as burning Shaolin, and finally was assassinated by Lü Shiniang. Like the label of Burning Shaolin, after the rise of movies, from the 1930s to the 1970s, there were four movies named "Burning Shaolin", which were adapted and remade again and again about Yongzheng. In the golden age of Hong Kong cinema in the 1970s and 1980s, martial arts films about the history of Yongzheng Ye were not uncommon, such as "The Emperor of Kung Fu", "Yongzheng and Nian Tangyao" in Shaw's films, "The Great Assassination of the Qing Palace" and so on.
63rd edition of "Burning Shaolin Temple"
In the 1980s and 1990s, during the golden age of Hong Kong and Taiwan TV dramas, there were also many TV dramas adapted from the history of Yongzheng Ye, among which the more famous ones were "Great Inner Qunying", "Qing Palace Sword Video", "Wuzun Shaolin", "King's Landing", etc. The image of Yongzheng in these works is still brutal, like in "King's Landing" starring Jiang Hua, all the negative wild histories of Yongzheng are completely put on the screen, including the plot of killing the father's will, killing heroes, and finally being killed by women. It can be seen that in the old days, Yong yong was a folk image, and it was as bad as it was.
It can be said that in the entire Hong Kong and Taiwan martial arts television works in the 1980s and 1990s, only in the "Legend of the Strange Heroes of the Jianghu" starring Zheng Shaoqiu in the late 1990s, a good image of Yongzheng began to appear. First of all, the Yong of the play is the successor of Guangming Zhengda, and although there is a misunderstanding and conflict with Lu Shiniang later, in the end, the two of them retreat to the mountain forest. By 2003, in the TV series "95 Supreme", which was also starring Jiang Hua, Yongzheng's image was completely different from that year's "King's Landing", and the later "Food as a Slave" setting, not only succeeded to the throne brightly, but also a generation of Ming Jun. Influenced by these TV series, the old image of Yongzheng in the folk has been reversed, and the new image has begun to form and become popular.
"The Legend of the Strange Hero of the Jianghu" Zheng Shaoqiu Yongzheng stills
Yu Lingjun personally believes that regarding the change of The literary image of Yongzheng and the folk image, the late writer Eryuehe Teacher is indispensable, and his novel "Yongzheng Emperor" has changed the perception of Yongzheng by many readers, especially the "Yongzheng Dynasty" that was later adapted to the CCTV hit, which directly overturned the old image of Yongzheng in many people's impressions, and the new image of diligent government and love for the people was also formed in the folk. Hong Kong and Taiwan dramas such as "The Legend of jianghu heroes" and "95 Supreme" are obviously influenced by the novels and TV series of "Yongzheng Dynasty". Based on the transformation of the folk image, there were more and more novels and film and television dramas about The good image of Yongzheng, and many "Four Masters Party" were continuously cultivated, and the Yongzheng Emperor was also considered to have been enlightened after nearly three hundred years of injustice.
Therefore, from the story of the novel "Mandarin Duck Knife", it can be seen how bad the folk image of the Yongzheng Emperor, a historical figure, was in the era created by the author, which is also a reflection of the public perception in a period. From the process of changing the folk image of Yongzheng, it can be seen that the formation of the folk image is generally influenced by literary works, and the new transformation of the folk image will continue to affect the literary creation, and finally make the new folk image more consolidated.
"Yongzheng Dynasty"
(Image from the Internet)
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