coobybook Chapter 584 What are the most bizarre historical rumors?
Chapter 584 What are the most bizarre historical rumors?
What are some of the most bizarre examples of brainwashing narratives in history that have been mistaken for fact?
Cao Zhi's Sister-in-Law Literature
Cao Zhi fell in love with his sister-in-law Zhen Mi, and thus wrote "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River".
The earliest rumor about Zhen Ji appears 400 years later in the story told by Li Shan, a Tang Dynasty scholar. He wrote that when the Cao family attacked the Yuan family, both Cao Pi and Cao Zhi sought to marry Lady Zhen, but Cao Pi won first. Later, after Lady Zhen passed away, Cao Pi took Cao Zhi to see her pillow. Later, Cao Zhi, carrying the pillow, passed by the Luo River and dreamed of Lady Zhen, thus writing the "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River."
Although the story is well-written, Cao Zhi had never seen Lady Zhen when he attacked Yuan's mansion. When Cao Pi married Lady Zhen at the age of 18, Cao Zhi was around 12 years old, which was neither physiologically nor in accordance with etiquette.
In later official historical records, Cao Zhi and Lady Zhen had no further interaction. Cao Zhi was always sent to other places, which was because Cao Pi sent his relatives to other places and sent people to monitor them in order to prevent them from being implicated.
The only time Cao Zhi was allowed to return to the capital, Cao Zhang, who also returned, died suddenly. Cao Zhi, along with his brothers, was ultimately not permitted to return to their fiefdoms. Thus, while passing the Luo River, he wrote the "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River."
Therefore, for Cao Zhi to still write about his love for his deceased sister-in-law under the watchful eye of the messenger, he either had a death wish or was mentally unstable.
Finally, the original title of "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River" was "Ode to Juancheng," and "Juancheng" was Cao Zhi's fiefdom. The goddess of the Luo River in his writing either metaphorically represents his own fate or the emperor, and has little to do with Lady Zhen.
Instead of speculating here about his unrequited love for Lady Zhen (a fictional sister-in-law), it would be better to focus on his brotherly incestuous relationship with Cao Pi, since they actually did "sell" each other in history.
"Everyone knows of the phoenix hairpin, but no one pities me, Zhao Shicheng."
The story revolves around the scumbag protagonist Lu You, who abandons his first wife, while the devoted second male lead Zhao Shicheng silently protects her. This is the epitome of melodramatic and satisfying romance novels: the entangled love and hate between the scumbag protagonist Lu You, the tragic first wife Tang Wan, and the devoted second male lead Zhao Shicheng.
Of all these claims, only Lu You's name is genuine; the rest are rather dubious.
The full poem written by Tang Wan's ex-wife was a later fabrication. Tang Wan died in sorrow. Zhao Shicheng never married, died in battle, and there are no records of his connection with Lu You. The name Tang Wan didn't appear until the Qing Dynasty.
There are some doubts about this poem, "The Phoenix Hairpin." There is no record of when, under what circumstances, or on what occasion Lu You wrote it, or to whom.
The earliest person to mention this story was Lu Hu of the Song Dynasty in his "Continued Anecdotes of Elders." He said he saw Lu You's poem on the wall of Shen Garden and recounted the earliest version of the tragic love story between Lu You and his ex-wife. He said that after seeing Lu You's poem, his ex-wife "saw it and composed a response." Although he did not "find the complete poem," he pointed out the line "the world is fickle, and human feelings are cruel," which is the same as the beginning of the complete version that has been passed down to later generations.
Then there's Liu Kezhuang's *Houcun Shihua* from the Southern Song Dynasty. He says he heard it from Zeng Ji's grandson, a student of Lu You. He also mentions Lu You's early marital troubles, but only records two quatrains from *Shen Garden*, making no mention of the poem *Chai Tou Feng*. He further states that Lu You's meeting with his first wife, a woman, at Shen Garden was merely a matter of "eye contact during the meal."
At this time, Lu You's ex-wife's surname and given name were unknown.
Later, in the late Song and early Yuan dynasties, Zhou Mi's "Qi Dong Ye Yu" embellished the story of "the meeting at Shen Garden" again, saying that Lu You's ex-wife's surname was Tang, that she was someone's cousin, and that she remarried Zhao Shicheng after the divorce.
But this is absolutely false. Why? Lu You's ex-wife was Tang Hong's daughter.
This person did exist in history, but he doesn't match this ex-wife at all. Tang Hong was from Shanyin and was the son of Tang Yi, the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, while Lu You's mother was the granddaughter of Tang Jie and was from Jiangling. Their family backgrounds don't match up.
There is corroborating evidence: the epitaph of Lu You's maternal great-grandfather, Tang Jie, mentions that his grandchildren were named according to the character "心" (xin, meaning heart). In other words, there was no one named Tang Hong on Lu You's mother's side of the family.
Therefore, Tang Wan was definitely not someone's cousin, and the dates recorded by these people were all different. Chen Hu wrote it as the Xinwei year of Shaoxing, while Zhou Mi wrote it as the spring of the Yihai year of Shaoxing, a difference of four years. According to research, Chen Hu's account is more convincing, while Zhou Mi's account is purely fabricated. Moreover, the earliest version of this tragic love story originated from this book.
The poem "The Phoenix Hairpin" in the Song Dynasty only contained the line "The world is fickle, and human relationships are cruel." The earliest complete version can be traced back to the later "Anthology of Ancient and Modern Ci Poetry." As for the name "Tang Wan," it only appeared in Zhou Yi's "Random Notes from Xiangdong" at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Apart from the accounts written by Chen Hu and Liu Kezhuang, which are somewhat credible, the rest of this story is completely unreliable.
If this is true, then it means that Lu You and his ex-wife met by chance. Whether he wrote lyrics to sing about it is recorded differently by various parties, but it is definitely not possible that Lu You caused public opinion to drive his ex-wife to her death.
Zhao Shicheng did exist, and he did have a concubine surnamed Tang, but this concubine had absolutely no connection to Tang Wan.
So basically, it's a relay of stories from different dynasties, each contributing to create a fan fiction that becomes a source of emotional catharsis for modern readers.
"Lu You's wife, Wang, was the daughter of Wang Shi, the prefect of Lizhou. She was only one year younger than Lu You. If Lu You was remarried, would Wang be an old maid? Even if there really was a woman named so-called 'so-so,' she should have been one of Lu You's confidantes, not his ex-wife. The wicked mother-in-law breaking up the young couple is clearly a case of following the template of 'The Peacock Flies Southeast.'"
"When Li Shimin personally led an expedition against Goguryeo, he was blinded in one eye by the valiant ancestors of the Han Kingdom... He fled back to Chang'an, knelt down, begged for mercy, and ceded half of the country."
"Ahhh, it's really not true that all Qin kings were Qin Shi Huang. The one who implemented Shang Yang's reforms was Ying Quliang, the one who sent Zhang Yi to form alliances was Ying Si, the one who lifted the tripod was Ying Dang, the one with the longest reign was Ying Ji, the one with the shortest reign who only deserved to be a background figure was Ying Zhu, the one who was invested in by Lü Buwei was Ying Yiren, and the one who unified the six kingdoms was Ying Zheng [smile]. Please distinguish between each Qin king! [crying][crying][frustrated][frustrated]"
"Zhou Yu wasn't angered to death by Zhuge Liang. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is just a novel; he actually died of illness."
"Su Shi didn't have a sister!!! Nor did he exchange a concubine for a horse!!! He just had a fanfiction writer who was both pink and black [crying emoji]"
"Feng Menglong isn't just good at writing fan fiction; he's also written things like 'Notice Against Infant Drowning.' He's such a wonderful writer!!! [crying emoji]"
Zhao Kuangyin did not treat Li Yu as a male concubine, Zhao Guangyi was not lusting after Xiao Zhouhou's beauty, and he certainly did not poison Li Yu.
"Liu Bei wasn't a useless coward who could only cry [disappointed][disappointed][disappointed]. He was incredibly skilled in martial arts!!! He created the Gu Ying Sword Technique! He wasn't the soft-hearted, weakling portrayed in TV dramas either. In historical records, Liu Bei's personality leaned more towards that of a chivalrous knight [embarrassed][embarrassed][embarrassed]. Finally, there was no Oath of the Peach Garden in historical records!!!"
"The key point is that many people actually believe Xun Yu's theory about the death food box [facepalm]"
There are two theories: one is that he died of illness, and the other is that he died from a food box.
However, the food box argument doesn't hold water because Xun Yu wasn't working alone in Cao Cao's company; his son and relatives also worked for Cao Wei.
If these two were truly so bad that sending a food box would reveal that he wanted Xun Yu dead, then even if Xun Yu died, his son and the Yingchuan faction would definitely seek revenge or no longer want to work for Cao Wei. Everyone in the camp knew that Xun Yu's relationship with Cao Cao was bad in the later years.
However, after Xun Yu died in Shouchun, Cao Cao not only contradicted his previous decree against lavish funerals, but also gave Xun Yu a grand burial. The "Grape King" even wrote a eulogy praising Xun Yu's character as pure as ice and jade. Later, when the Grape King became emperor, he continued to employ Xun Yu's children and even promoted the deceased Xun Yu.
If it's truly a case of hidden punishment, then none of this makes sense [facepalm]. Why would they give such good treatment to an employee who's already fed up?
Southern Song Dynasty.
Lu You stared blankly at the discussion on the sky about his love story with a girl named Tang Wan. If his memory served him correctly, he seemed to recall never having married a woman surnamed Tang.
He felt a little strange and distressed. He wasn't a big celebrity here, so why did later generations fabricate a love story that had nothing to do with him based on just one line of poetry he wrote, and even make him take the blame for being a "scumbag"?
No, although he admits that he sometimes has disagreements with his wife, what couple is always respectful to each other and has never quarreled in all these years? Don't they all quarrel in bed and make up in bed? Besides, this seems to be just a private matter.
They ignore so many celebrities and so many treacherous officials, but they suddenly start interfering with him? It's ridiculous.
Why is it that even a poem you wrote on a whim can be interpreted and exaggerated by later generations? Don't they have anything better to do?
If you have nothing important to do, study more books, make achievements, and do something practical for the people (if you can't concentrate on studying, go to the battlefield to kill enemies, cut off more enemy heads, and serve the country and the court).
Three Kingdoms period.
Cao Zhi, who only had a vague impression of his sister-in-law and never paid any specific attention to what she looked like: Did I have a crush on her?
I didn't even realize that I was so precocious at only 12 years old. I fell in love at first sight with the woman my brother was asking me to marry. That was a bit too mature for my first love.
If that were really the case, I would be given the title of "love saint" like later generations, and those who have a grudge against me would probably make up all sorts of stories about me!
Am I really supposed to live peacefully until the end in front of those messengers? Then my brother really couldn't be more merciful (??? ?? ???)
When the deposed emperor Li Yu saw the rumors circulating in the sky that he had become Zhao Kuangyin's male concubine, he was so enraged that he vomited blood before he could even drink the poisoned wine.
The destruction of his country and his becoming a deposed ruler was already tragic enough. He spent his days in a daze, drowning his sorrows in alcohol, feeling utterly miserable and desolate. He never expected to be portrayed so negatively by later generations, who didn't even leave him with a shred of integrity and dignity.
At this moment, all I want is to turn the pen I use to write poems and lyrics into a sharp sword and stab all those who spread rumors about me to death, so as to vent the hatred in my heart.