Night Lang is arrogant, a misunderstood history

Yelang arrogance is a derogatory term and one of the most recognized idioms in the Chinese language circle. Almost all Chinese reference books interpret "Yelang arrogance" as a satire on arrogant people, such as the seventh edition of the Modern Chinese Dictionary as "arrogance and arrogance", the interpretation of the sixth edition of Cihai is: figurative arrogance and arrogance, and the interpretation of the ancient Chinese Dictionary is: "Vain female yellow, but it is not beneficial to oneself, and later extended to arrogance." "Our Chinese teacher also taught us not to be an arrogant person according to the interpretation of the Chinese reference book. It is also through the idiom of "Night Lang arrogance" that many people know the southwest of ancient China, and the existence of a night lang country.

So, is the historical Night Lang Kingdom really arrogant? The answer is no.

The story of Yelang is first found in Sima Qian's "Records of History", the original text is "And in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty (122 BC), Zhang Qian, the Marquis of Bowang, made Bactria come, and when he lived in Bactria, he saw Shubu and Qiongzhu, and asked the question, saying: 'From the southeast to the poisonous country, you can get thousands of miles, and you can get the city of Shujia people'. Or smell the poisonous country in qiongxi two thousand miles. Qian yin said that Bactria was in the southwest of Han, Mu China, suffering from the Xiongnu across its way, sincerely through Shu, poisoning the country, the road is close, beneficial and harmless. Therefore, Tianzi ordered Wang Ranyu, Bai Shichang, Lü Yue, and others to go out of the southwest and ask for the poison of the country. To Dian, the King of Dian tasted Qiang Nailiu, in order to seek more than ten generations of Daoxi. For the rest of the year, they all closed kunming, and they could not be poisoned in the country.

The King of Dian and the emissaries of Han said, "Which han is greater than me? "And the same is true of Ye Lang Hou. For the sake of not understanding the Tao, each thought that he was the lord of a state, but he did not know handa. ”

This passage tells us that when Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions, he made two major discoveries in the Bactrian (present-day Afghanistan) market. One is the discovery of Shu cloth in Shu County, and the other is the discovery of Qiong Bamboo Stick. At that time, these two goods were very popular in the local market. Zhang Qian asked the merchant, "Where do these two commodities come from?" "The merchant told him to poison himself (present-day India). Zhang Qian speculated that from the poison to the Shu land, there must be a secret trade channel. Otherwise, it would be impossible for goods from Shudi to be transferred to Bactria through poisoning. Zhang Qian reported his conjecture to the imperial court, and Emperor Wu of Han sent Wang Ranyu, Bai Shichang, Lü Yue, and others as envoys to Southwest Yi to find a trade route to the poison. After the Han envoys arrived in the Kingdom of Dian, the King of Dian, Qiang, entertained the Han envoys. Next, the Envoys began to look for a way west to India. However, after searching for more than ten years, they could not find the way to the west because Kunming did not let the Han emissaries pass. Kunming here does not refer to Kunming, the current capital of Yunnan Province, but to kunming, a neighbor of the ancient Dian state. Kunming is the first country in Yunnan to produce and use bronzes, and has a place that can be "thousands of miles", which can be described as rich and powerful. It is precisely because of this that "kunming's genus has no ruler, good thieves, and kills and plunders, and finally does not get through."

Returning to the topic of "Han and I are big", during the Han envoy's stay in the Dian Kingdom, the King of Dian asked the Han envoy a question: "Han is big with me?" When the Han emissary left Dian to return to Beijing and passed through Yelang, the Night Lang King also asked the same question to the Han envoy: "Who is Han and I?" ”

See? In the "Records of History", Sima Qian said very clearly that due to the lack of communication between the Han and the princely states in the southwest region due to the lack of roads. When the Han envoys came to the southwest, the King of Dian and the Marquis of Yelang successively raised the question of "Han and I are greater" to the Han envoys. People don't know who is bigger and who is smaller than their country compared to the Han Dynasty, and it is arrogant to ask the envoys of the Han Dynasty? Besides, the person who first raised the question of "Han and I am great" to the Envoy was the King of Dian, and then the Night King raised the same question. If you trace back to the source, the patent of "Han And I" should belong to the King of Dian, and the Night King cannot be beautiful. Also, if the Night King's mere question became arrogant, how could the King of Kunming directly "kill and plunder the Han envoys" be explained?

The Night King did not first raise the question of "Han is greater than me", nor did he kill and plunder the Han envoy, so how could he be put on the big hat of Night Lang's arrogance? In fact, the reason why the Night King has become a representative of "arrogance and self-esteem" is due to the two writers in the Qing Dynasty. The first is the well-known Liuquan resident Pu Songling, Who played a pen and ink game in "Liaozhai Zhiyi", interpreting the problem of "Han And I am big" between the King of Dian and the Night King into such a scene: "... There were wise and heroic people in ancient times, and those who took advantage of and broke thousands of miles; there was no high priest in the world, and how many people were royal practitioners? The wild clouds of driving the cannon truck are arrogant to Yelang; the rebelliousness of the greedy wolf is honored by The Riverbo..." And with the spread of the story of Liaozhai, "Yelang is arrogant" does not go away. Next, Zeng Pu during the Qing Guangxu period made Yelang "arrogant" again in "Evil Sea Flower". Zeng Pu wrote in the twenty-fourth episode of "The Flower of the Iniquity of the Sea": "Hungry tigers think of fighting, night lang is arrogant, if our country is not too arrogant, a struggle, relying on the empty words of various countries to dissuade, where is he willing to obey?" Due to the wider circulation of vernacular novels, "night lang arrogance" has finally evolved into an idiom. Subsequently, various dictionaries such as "Ci Hai" also gave the hat of "arrogance and self-esteem" to the Night King. Ye Langzi was also forced to carry the arrogant black cauldron, and until now he had not been able to drop the black cauldron.

Regarding the question of "Han And I are big", Emperor Wu of Han quickly came up with a standard answer. In 122 BC, the King of Dian proposed to the Han envoys, "Han is greater than me?" " question. In 111 BC, the Han Dynasty sent troops to conquer South Vietnam and pacified the "Nanyi", and crowned the submissive Marquis of Yelang as the King of Yelang. In 109 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty approached the State of Dian, and the State of Dian surrendered and asked officials to enter the Dynasty. As for the Kunming people who dared to plunder and kill han envoys, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty conquered them by force and prepared for war in advance. In 120 BC, "who sent officials through Kunming Pond" (southwest of present-day Chang'an, Shaanxi, 40 miles around) was used to train sailors to "learn water warfare" and prepare to attack Kunming. In 109 BC, "So the three auxiliary sinners of HanFa, because of tens of thousands of Bashu soldiers, sent two generals Guo Chang and Wei Guang to attack the Envoys of the Han Dynasty in Kunming, beheading tens of thousands of prisoners." (The Chronicle of the Great Wanlie). Although the people of Kunming did not give in, their homes were destroyed. Due to the "restoration of Kunming to Kou", in 105 BC, Emperor Wu of han again "sent the Hu general Guo Chang to attack him".

See? This is Emperor Wudi of Han's reply to "Han and I are greater." It's just that the Night King is a bit wronged, just because he asked a word, he became the image spokesperson of "arrogance and self-esteem". Behind Ye Lang's arrogance is a misread history. (Liu Fumin)