Chapter 489: Enemy Worshipped as God
Li Shimin held Wei Zheng's arm, looking like a king and his subject.
Wei Zheng was a little uncomfortable. After all, if he really had a relationship with His Majesty, how could he start scolding him?
However, he struggled for a while and nothing changed. In terms of strength, he was much worse than the emperor on horseback, so he could only say:
"I am very frightened."
If he couldn't resist, he could only submit for the time being. After all, the younger generation said that there were people who were not door gods, and it might be him and His Majesty.
Therefore, Wei Zheng hoped that the younger generation would speak faster for the first time.
[Before revealing the answer, let's go off the topic a little and talk about the history of door gods.
From the current research, as early as before the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, the ancients had the tradition of hanging something to pray for blessings during festivals.
Tea was originally a herbal medicine. Because it has the effect of clearing heat and relieving phlegm, and its pungent smell can repel insects, the Xia people hung tea grass on the door to avoid plague. This tea grass evolved into the door god Shentu in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Yulei is most likely derived from snails. In the Shang Dynasty, there was still a practice of worshipping animal gods. Therefore, snails were worshipped by the ancestors of the Shang Dynasty for their symbolic meaning of "closed doors". A large number of snails were found buried near the tomb gate of the Shang Dynasty tomb palace. Some scholars speculate that this may be a kind of witchcraft to protect the tomb based on its symbolic meaning. Lei is based on pictographic texts and is the appearance of three snail shells stacked together. In the end, it was also personified and evolved into the door god Yulei.
After the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties opened a century of national history of displacement. During this process, Shentu Yulei, who had the image of immortals with fluttering sleeves, was quickly abandoned by the people. The image of military door gods wearing helmets and armor became popular, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei also stepped onto the door of the people for the first time.
On the one hand, the Tang Dynasty was a country with outstanding martial arts, so the people did not worship the door gods strongly; on the other hand, it was also because the Tang Dynasty had very strict regulations on door etiquette. The emperors and nobles could use red doors, the prime ministers could use yellow doors, and the common people had to paint their doors black. There were also strict hierarchical regulations on the decorative painting styles on the doors, and one careless mistake could lead to death.
Since the middle of the Tang Dynasty, treacherous officials have been rampant in the court, and the people have been living in poverty and have been depressed. Zhong Kui, who "sweeps out the evil spirits and monsters in the world", was created and hung on the back door.
The Song Dynasty was more interesting. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, the Wu Temple was set up in imitation of the previous dynasty. Some idle scholars and officials took a look at the statues in the Wu Temple:
Wu Zixu whipped the corpse of the King of Chu, and Zhao Yun scolded Mrs. Sun when he intercepted the river to save Adou. They were all acts of treason and rebellion, and they should not be set up in the Wu Temple for sacrifice.
Song Zhenzong may have felt that it was too outrageous, but he did not dare to ignore the opinions of the literati. In the end, he proposed a compromise, moving the two statues out of the Wu Temple and worshipping them at the door.
This action was quickly interpreted by the merchants in Bianliang as the emperor's canonization of new door gods. In that year, door god New Year paintings were made according to the images of the two people, and thus the most unrelated pair of door gods in history was born.
However, the combination of Wu Zixu and Zhao Yun is not the most outrageous.
In the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, there were frequent peace talks in the Song-Xia war, and the uprising of Song Jiang and Fang La and the great riot in the north of Xuanhe. It can be said that the situation was precarious.
After the two wars between Song and Liao were both disastrous, Song and Jin Dinghai Alliance worked together to destroy Liao. As a result, this move made the border between Song and Jin lose strategic buffer.
After destroying Liao, Jin Taizong launched a war to destroy Song in the same year. Two years later, Jin soldiers marched straight in and captured Emperor Hui and Emperor Qin, the royal family of Zhao and Song, and 100,000 men and women alive, and the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed.
During the two years of the Song-Jin War, the image of the door gods in Bianliang also changed quietly. They were neither Shentu and Yulei, nor Buddhist guardians, nor Zhao Yun and Wu Zixu.
"The door gods were raised many times, wearing tiger helmets, and the gates of the royal palace were decorated with pure gold." This is a record left in the first year of the Jingkang period of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The enemies of the war became the door gods who protected their homes. It can only be said that the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty was too natural.
Yuan Wuzong of the Yuan Dynasty was addicted to alcohol, which led to the establishment of many wine shops in Yuan Dadu. The four princes of the Warring States Period who were hospitable and fond of drinking took office as door gods.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, vernacular operas became the main form of entertainment for the people, and the celebrity stories performed in them were easily chosen as door gods during the New Year.
"The Romance of Sun and Pang" fictionalized the battle between Sun Bin and Pang Juan. The fictional plot of Sun Bin turning into a door bolt and locking the door allowed the two old enemies to successfully become door gods.
The Romance of the Western Han Dynasty made Xiao He chasing Han Xin under the moon widely known, and in connection with the respected status of the two, they were also successfully painted on the door.
The Romance of the Investiture of the Gods created the strange door gods Zhao Gongming and the Taoist Master Ran Deng.
The plot of Wei Zheng dreaming of killing the Dragon King of Jinghe River in Journey to the West is well known, so in the Qing Dynasty, some areas also posted Li Shimin and Wei Zheng on the back door as door gods to eliminate sneakiness.
In addition, the door gods in different places are similar. For example, in Nanyang, Central Plains, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao are posted as a set of door gods; in Changshan, Hebei, Ma Chao and Ma Dai brothers are posted, and Zilong's hometown is successfully stolen; in Sichuan and Shu, Zhuge Liang and Deng Ai are posted, etc.
In short, posting door gods in ancient times was not so complicated later. It highlighted that you could post whatever you believe in and buy. As long as you want, you can post Liu Bei and Cao Cao as door gods.
And the ones listed in the question just now are all door gods. 】
In the Bianliang Palace.
Whether it was the affairs of Emperor Zhenzong of Song or the eventual demise of the Northern Song Dynasty at the hands of the Xia, Liao and Jin Dynasties, they were relatively distant events for Zhao Pu and Zhao Guangyi, but they sounded like they were closely related to them.
But they knew too little. For example, it was roughly guessed that Xixia was founded by the Tanguts. The Liao Kingdom was not unfamiliar. The Khitan founded the Liao Kingdom, which was known to everyone. But what about the Jin Kingdom?
So Zhao Pu and Zhao Guangyi subconsciously turned their eyes to the emperor, because they didn't know when the emperor had the secret of the light curtain, and they thought he should know a lot more than them.
Zhao Kuangyin wanted to put on a calm smile, but failed in the end. The muscles on his cheeks had completely stiffened. After twitching twice, the smile he squeezed out was not much better than crying.
In the end, he could only say in a deep voice: "I don't know about the Jin Dynasty."
Whether the two believed it or not, Zhao Kuangyin was telling the truth, but when he glanced at the Northern Song Dynasty's achievements listed in later generations again, he felt a faint stomachache.
Song Yanzhou system, and Zhao Kuangyin himself was born as a general inspector in front of the palace, a standard military man, and he always claimed to be a man who knew about military affairs, and he knew the situation of the imperial guards very well.
Just like the Liao Kingdom's loudly boasted southern and northern two prefectures, the seven Khitan tribes, the southern court kings and the six courts, in his eyes, they were all like chickens and pottery dogs, and they were far inferior to the imperial guards in terms of organizational structure and soldier quality.
It can be said that after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial guards were not worried about not being able to fight, but only whether they could be loyal and keep themselves, after all, after all, they... cough cough.
Zhao Kuangyin coughed loudly, attracting the attention of Zhao Pu and Zhao Guangyi.
Waving his hand, Zhao Kuangyin fell into the decision of whether to abolish the heavy taxes and live with the people.