In the accumulation of thousands of years of history, "national hero" has become a familiar word. Among the national heroes who have been famous for thousands of years, Yue Fei is probably the most well-known one. People pay attention to his achievements, to his bumpy career, and to the four words on his back. However, the "fine loyalty to the country" that we are familiar with is actually a kind of misinformation.
Whether it is in the Qin Cavity Repertoire or Hebei Zizi, Yu Opera or Gezai Opera, Yue Fei is a classic image. As for the thorn on his back, it is said in "Jingzhong Baoguo" or "Mother-in-law's Thorn Character" that Yue Fei's mother stabbed him on his back in order to motivate her son - Jingzhong baoguo.
In the "History of Song", both the "Biography of He Zhu" and the "Biography of Yue Fei" mention that the four words on Yue Fei's back are "loyal to the country". The Biography of He Zhu records this situation in more detail, "Arresting Fei is Dali Prison, and the first order is cast." Cast lead to fly to the court, cross-examine its reverse, fly and show its back, carry the old Nirvana 'faithful to the country' four big words, deep into the skin. Even if you read the facts, you will not be able to examine them. White Juniper. Hinoki was displeased: 'This is also the meaning of this.' "Cast a fool," said, "The casting area is a yue fei, a strong enemy has not been destroyed, a great general has been killed for no reason, the heart of a soldier has been lost, and it is not a long plan of the society." '"
To link the mother with "serving the country with all loyalty", there is such a comment by a historian in the Song Shi Liechuan No. 14: "The two men except for the official, they all enter the white mother, and the mother is reluctant to serve the country with all her loyalty, and there is no concern for the future troubles." The two people here refer to Liu Anshi and Zou Hao. Therefore, from the "History of Song" to explore, the words on Yue Fei's back should be "loyal to the country". As for who carved this word, we cannot know from it.
And why was "loyal to the country" rumored to be "jing loyal to the country", and why was it rumored that Yue Fei's mother carved it? These two things can be found in some later works of literature.
As for where the words on Yue Fei's back came from, the Ming dynasty Xiong Damu first wrote in the "Popular Interpretation of the Great Song Dynasty": There was a group of good people from the countryside who invited Yue Fei to enter the mountains as a Kou. Yue Fei did not want to be with them, that is, "not to follow the evil", so he let people tattoo him on the back to "be loyal to the country" to show his determination.
This spirit of "not following evil" was inherited by subsequent writers. In the "Complete Biography of Yue Yue", "not from evil" has even become an important clue in the whole text, and with the tattoo of "loyalty to the country" appearing over and over again, it conveys Yue Fei's ambition. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were even novels in the folk that directly used the title of "Loyalty to the Country".
And how did so many "loyal to the country" become "loyal to the country"? In fact, the record of the word "Jingzhong" comes from Yue Fei's grandson Yue Ke. He recorded in the Chronicle of the Emperor Xingshi of Ewang that because Yue Fei had meritorious service in suppressing bandits, Emperor Gaozong of Song in the third year of Shaoxing (1133) "gave Chenhan on the banner, known as 'JingzhongYue Fei', and ordered the first master to build it.". This record was later absorbed in the History of the Song Dynasty.
And Yue Ke also wrote that the following year Yue Fei fought against the Jin Army, "Gao ... and display the 'Yue' character and the 'Jingzhong' banner to show it, and the captives will collapse without a fight." It can be seen that "Jingzhong" itself has a very heavy weight in the eyes of the ancients. And this is the emperor's evaluation and commendation of Yue Fei. Therefore, as legends such as "The Tale of the East Window" and "Jingzhong" changed the historical facts about "Jingzhong" to Yue Fei who was rewarded for resisting the Jin Army, the "binding" of Yue Fei and "Jingzhong" gradually became a "stereotype".
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a more obvious distinction between "dedication" and "fine loyalty" in the eyes of people. Although these two words are related to Yue Fei, the former is to embody Yue Fei's will to "not follow evil" and is people's affirmation of Yue Fei himself. The latter shows the recognition of Yue Fei's merits by society. The two are "one inside and one outside", parallel, and only a few works integrate the two.
However, in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the confluence of "loyalty" and "jingzhong" became a major trend, and eventually "jingzhong" won a "total victory". Therefore, people's understanding of the inscription on Yue Fei's back has also changed to "jing loyal to the country".
It was also in the Qing Dynasty that the story of the mother-in-law's inscription appeared on a large scale. In dramas or novels such as "Seize the Autumn Victory", "Ru Shi Guan", and "The Complete Biography of Yue Yue", although there are some differences in the plot of yue fei's back tattoo, the people who give Yue Fei the tattoo are invariably written as Yue Fei's mother. And if this plot is not conveying the ideas of "godson has a good way" and "filial piety", it is to highlight Yue Fei's perseverance in loyally serving the country.
As for who stabbed the words on Yue Fei's back, the historical data actually does not record it. Considering that Yue Fei's mother was a traditional peasant woman, the possibility that she mastered the art of tattooing and personally stabbed Yue Fei to "serve the country loyally", so it is likely that the future generations will only stem from the needs of artistic creation.
However, whether it is "loyal to the country" or "fine loyalty to the country", whether it is the mother-in-law's embroidery or Yue Fei's own search for someone to stab the word, people's praise for Yue Fei is the same, and the concept of loyalty and courage conveyed by Yue Fei as a national hero is also consistent. At this point, whether he has "exhaustion" or "essence" on his back may not be so important.