HISTORY
As the saying goes: "Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes."
Su Shi's "one dream of the jianghu costs five years"; Jin Yong's "smiling proud of the jianghu" makes contemporary readers full of yearning for the "jianghu", and the "hermit dream" and the "chivalrous dream" are born.
However, the so-called true "jianghu" is not a leisure place for literati to retire and sail, nor is it an ideal world for martial artists to drift and fight righteousness. The rivers and lakes that truly exist in the living world are the living space of the pawns of the peddlers at the bottom of society, the breeding places of black or gray industries, and the extralegal places where the government is difficult to manage - "jianghu warlocks" and "charlatans" are the original meaning of "jianghu" in traditional society.
For the characters of the "road", the "jianghu" is naturally the stage for them to show their skills; but for the ordinary people who abide by discipline and law, it is really "the rivers and lakes are full of storms, and the boat is afraid of falling", and the endless pits and abductions are invincible. In ancient societies, where there was no mass media and no easy transportation, many deceptions could "deceive everyone at almost all times" and became a tumor that was difficult to cut.
In this context, many popular novels mostly use deception as the object of description, not only to promote the development of the storyline by depicting the objective facts of society, but also to contain the meaning of warning and indoctrination, so that readers can take precautions. The "New Book of Du Deception", written by Zhang Yingyu in the Ming Dynasty, is a collection of short stories that debunk deception techniques in various categories, and is accompanied by vivid pictures, which can also be called a rare "anti-deception encyclopedia" in ancient China.
The "New Book of Du Deception" contains eighty-eight stories, with "deception" as the core, and also writing tricks such as stealing and robbing, which can be described as "pit and abduction". The classification is also very detailed, and there are as many as twenty-four categories, which is dazzling, which shows its richness:
Stripping deception, bag loss deception, silver exchange deception, deception, false deception, tooth deception, gambling deception, revealing wealth deception, wealth deception, robbery deception, robbery deception, poetry deception, fake silver deception, servant deception, marriage deception, adultery deception, woman deception, abduction deception, buying and learning deception, monk deception, alchemy deception, spell deception, and prostitution deception.
The description of the "New Book of Du Deception" is quite realistic, revealing the details of the whole deception in a short space, especially the "life gate", in addition to reflecting the author's depiction skills, it can also be seen that these stories or many are "documentary literature", the author is only truthfully written, so it is easy to cut to the point.
For example, at the end of the story of "Magic Deception and Monk Deception", the author specially omitted a small note that has nothing to do with the plot: "There are many hidden words in this biography, and it cannot be explicitly stated", which is likely to imply that it is directly taken from the facts, but because of the prohibited content, it is pretended to be a hidden language. Another example is "Fake Silver Deception and Then Bleaching Hammer" to quote his book, which describes in detail the production and identification methods of various real and false silver, which is quite practical for business travelers. Contemporary scholars have also found that the officials and gentry involved in the New Book of Du Deception often have their own people, and the names, terms of office, and resumes can be mutually verified with relevant historical materials. Whether it is "true" is not clear, but at least the author does intend to write these stories as convincing real cases.
Just like today's "legal system in progress", these fraud stories show the customs and world conditions of the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and also tell us that the storms of the ancient "rivers and lakes" are sinister - if contemporary people "cross" back to this period, I am afraid it is inevitable that "artificial knives trick me into fish meat"; and if the ancient swindlers "cross" to the contemporary era, those hundreds of years ago deception can still be like a fish in the water, running rampant.
We say that the ming dynasty's fraudsters were able to run rampant in the modern era because many of them are still quite "marketable" today:
Take one of the "Bag Loss Deception : Road Bag Loss Trip Trip Change" to say: Linchuan man Jiang Xian picked up a bag on the road, which contained silver three or two, very happy. The swindler came up to him and said that this silver seer had a share and was not allowed to swallow it alone. Then I saw a man weeping and weeping, looking for lost silver. The crook told him that the money had been collected by the shoemaker and that a gratuity would be required to return it. Although Jiang Xian received the honorarium, at this time his wallet had been changed by the fraudsters, and he found out after returning home, so he had to cry and think that he was unlucky. - The trick of dropping the bag in the form of picking up things is becoming more and more "clever" today, and the scammers often demand equal division of fake valuables, directly in exchange for the money in the hands of the victim, without first using real money and silver as bait, and then arranging for stealing the bag. But when it comes to the principle of fraud, it doesn't seem to make much difference.
There is also "Silver Exchange Fraud into Ingots of Fake Silver for Real Silver" said: Quanzhou guest Sun Tao took more than a hundred silver to Nanjing to buy cloth, and when he encountered a swindler Wang Tinglan in the boat, he falsely claimed to buy goods, and he had to exchange a piece of silver for some broken silver. The first exchanger was real silver, Sun took out the broken silver to exchange, the swindler wrapped the silver ingot and the broken silver paper separately, deliberately mistakenly put the silver ingot into the sleeve, and then exchanged it for a fake silver paper bag. After Sun arrived in Nanjing, he found that he had been transferred, and he had no regrets. ----------------------------------------------------------- Since paper money is easier to adjust than ancient silver ingots, this technique is overwhelming.
"Stripping and Cheating: Chen Qing, a horse dealer in Jiangxi, was selling horses in Nanjing, and met a swindler who fraudulently claimed to buy a horse without bringing money and wanted to go home to get silver to buy a horse. The two passed by a satin village, the crooks entered, and the horse dealer waited at the door. The crooks falsely claimed to have taken a satin horse as collateral for the horse and groom at the door. After waiting for a long time, the horse dealer wanted to leave on horseback, and the silk satin village was not allowed, and the lawsuit went to the official palace, and Fang knew that it was a liar who set up the situation, and the silk satin village thought that it was unlucky. ——This kind of technique was most popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the Qing Dynasty even derived the "meteor catching the moon" trick of deceiving both parties.
According to Lian Kuoru's "Jianghu Cong Tan", one day a swindler, dressed in a generous dress, came to the store to buy saddles and asked the guy to carry the saddles and follow him to try them immediately. The two men went to a mule and horse shop, and the swindler asked the shopkeeper to bring out a horse, and ordered the guy to put on a saddle and ride the horse away. The mule and horse shop thought that the guy was the servant of the liar, and the master took him as collateral; and the man in the saddle thought that the liar was the old patron of the mule and horse shop, and did not think that he would run away from the account. The liar did not return for a long time, and the two parties knew that they had been deceived, but it was too late to regret it. This technique can be said to be one level higher than the record in the New Book of Du Deception.
However, this kind of story is not unusual, such as "Deception and Deception of The Taoist Book to Report Good Dreams" writes that the fraudster pretends to be the examiner in the name of the examiner, secretly repays the success of the examination, so as to defraud the reward of silver; "The Servant Deceives the Official's Words and Deceives" writes that the servant overheard the inside story of the official's judgment, and then defrauded the owner of money in the name of "making some connections", all of which are similar to this. The story of Li Yu's "Twelfth Floor" in which Pei went to the false deception of officials, in order to make a big fuss and deceive the four sides, is more "legendary".
In addition, for example, "Seeking Wealth and Deception: Carrying Children into a Remote Road" writes that the car driver carries passengers to a remote place to carry out robbery; "Abduction and Deception : Blinding Foot Trap Disability" writes that traffickers abduct children, make them disabled, and force them to beg; such stories also occur occasionally today, and it is really "nothing new under the sun".
In addition to these "practical" deceptions, many of the scams written in the New Book of Du Deception have no market today, but they can help us better understand the sinister degree of the "jianghu" where the ancients lived, which is rarely introduced in ordinary serious history.
For general readers, especially travelers, "Du Deception New Book" is a protective treasure for them to walk the rivers and lakes; but in the eyes of novelists, "Du Deception New Book" provides many life materials that can be used, and the plots of many famous works have similarities.
For example, in "Monks Deceive and Monks Recognize Yaks as Mothers", it is written that a monk knows that cows love to eat salt, so he takes thick brine and coats his whole body with salt water, and goes to a cattle breeder's house, saying that his mother has reincarnated as a cow. When he reached the cattle pen, he saw that the cow really licked his face with his tongue, and his whole body resembled the feeling of licking the calves, and the owner believed it to be true, so he gave the cow to the monk. When the monks got the cattle, they slaughtered and sold them for money. This story was later borrowed by Wu Jingzi for the twenty-fourth time in the "History of Ru LinWai", and there was no big difference in content except for changing the cow to a bull.
Another example is "Monks Deceive and Singh Like Garan FraudulentIzation", which says that Tianyuan Temple has fallen into disrepair for a long time, but it has no wealth. One day, a wandering monk came to stay, and the abbot saw that his image resembled Garan, and entrusted him to make friends with rich merchants on his behalf. The rich merchant came to the temple, saw the statue of Garan Buddha, doubted that Garan had manifested the sanctification, and then gave out five hundred taels of silver, and the abbot and the monk of the wandering side were divided in half. This story also has a similar story in the fourth time of Li Yu's "Twelfth Floor" "Guizheng Lou", the same monk and Buddha statue have the same appearance, and deceive the rich merchants to donate, but Li Yu added a lot of apparitions, so that the rich merchants are more convinced; at the same time, more clearly tell the reader that the monks and the Dharma body are similar to the pre-arranged scam, at the beginning is deliberately shaped according to the same appearance, in order to sit and wait for the rich merchants to be hooked. This is more of a scam than a wandering monk with a similar appearance by chance.
The purpose of the book "Du Deception New Book" is that there is a sinister storm in the rivers and lakes, so it is hoped that this book will be used to "du deception". At the end of each story, Zhang Yingyu attaches a passage of instructions for the purpose of educating and exhorting. Its content is mainly to warn the victim or potential victim that special care should be taken in order to protect themselves.
In the face of scams, although he criticizes the cunning and treachery of the scammers, the focus often falls on blaming the victims. For example, in "Peeling Off the Deception , Encountering the Long Anti-Peeling Teapot", he said that although the scammers are cunning, the victims are also "under-checked". In addition, in the story, he repeatedly warns readers that they should be particularly vigilant, not to be greedy and cheap; not to show off their wealth and cause "thieves to remember"; and not to easily offend people so as not to suffer disasters. From today's point of view, this may have some "victim guilt theory" implications.
But if you put yourself in the shoes of others, the author's comments are helpless. In the story written in the "New Book of Du Deception", not only the cautious traveling merchants are inevitably deceived, but even the well-known and selfless Bao Zheng is not exempt from being deceived by the servants; after being deceived, except for a few occasional exceptions, the crooks and villains are at large, and the victims can only consider themselves unlucky for ruining their families. In such a social environment, the "just world" is nowhere to be found, and ordinary people can only strengthen their vigilance to avoid harm.
Moreover, since the target readers of the New Book of Deception are these potential victims, the moral condemnation of the deceivers has little practical effect. Alerting potential victims in advance and providing them with some anti-deception measures is undoubtedly of practical significance for "du deception".