In this movie, the powerful team of actors, superb acting skills, and the legendary story between Xiao Fengxian and Cai E moved millions of viewers.

In the 1980s, there was a movie called "Friends". In this movie, the powerful team of actors, superb acting skills, and the legendary story between Xiaofengxian and Cai E moved millions of viewers.

Everyone said that Xiao Fengxian was Cai E's confidante, and that Xiao Fengxian was a beautiful woman, a talented woman and a chivalrous woman. So, is the little fairy in history really such a legend? Is there love between her and Cai E? Today we will talk about this woman.

Xiao Fengxian is not a beauty

In the official history, there is no record of Xiaofengxian, and even her age is not recorded in detail. According to rumors, Xiao Fengxian is a relatively famous prostitute.

Her original name was Zhu Xiaofeng, and later she was renamed Zhang Fengyun, Zhang Xifei. His ancestral home is Qiantang, Zhejiang. Born in Hangzhou, his father was a declining Manchu Eight Banners military attache. In the lingering years before the complete collapse of the Qing Dynasty, this Eight Banners military attache was suddenly dismissed again.

Therefore, Xiao Fengxian lived in an increasingly poor family during her childhood, and her stepmother was very indifferent to her.

Today, we won’t talk much about Xiaofengxian’s life experience. We will mainly look at some specific descriptions of Xiaofengxian in historical materials under the background of that time.

The reason why Xiao Fengxian is not a beauty is because of a report by " Democracy Newspaper ". According to the convention of the Eight Great Alleys, they were going to hold a beauty contest based on their appearance. Among the rankings at that time, which were four "doctors" with good looks and 33 "bachelors" with good looks, there was no Xiaofeng at all. Fairy name.

In addition to the report of the "Democracy Daily", Li Hongxiang, the division commander of the Yunnan Army who followed Cai E to Beijing, also said:

"Xiao Fengxian was originally a young prostitute he summoned when he visited the Eight Great Alleys. She was only fourteen and fifteen years old. Cai E was also present at the time. He thought Xiao Fengxian sang well, so he asked Li Hongxiang for permission to reprint the song. "

Because there were rumors about Xiao Fengxian's appearance, many people expressed their disapproval. It is said that Cai E is obsessed with the beauty of Xiao Fengxian. In fact, this statement is also incorrect.

While working in Beijing, Cai E was very conscientious and achieved good results. According to historical records, when Cai E arrived in Beijing on October 4, 1913, his position was "Vice President of the Army Translation and Translation Office". By May 9, 1915, Cai E served as "Supervisor of the National Economic and Border Bureau".

In these short two years, Cai E not only participated in the formulation of dozens of economic laws and regulations, designated personnel to study China's land tax system, but also specially sent people to study abroad, collect domestic and foreign research results, and edited it into "China "Summary of the Meridian Boundaries" and "Summary of the Meridian Boundaries of Various Countries".

Such a large workload shows that Cai E is not obsessed with the beauty of Xiao Fengxian. Regarding the slander of Cai E in some articles at that time, some scholars refuted:

"When I was in the Songpa shogunate, I saw that he was very diligent in governing affairs. An You... only went to prostitutes and gambled for entertainment?"

Xiao Fengxian is not a talented woman

After Cai E's death, Xiao Fengxian lived in Bada Hutong for a period of time. Later, she married a brigade commander of the Northeastern Army, and some said she married a division commander. After the death of the military commander, Xiao Fengxian married a chef. Unexpectedly, the chef did not live long, and later Xiao Fengxian remarried.

said that Xiao Fengxian was not a talented woman, which can be seen from one thing. In the spring of 1951, Mei Lanfang went to Shenyang. Xiao Fengxian wanted to seek Mei Lanfang's help at this time, so she wrote a letter. The content of the letter was roughly as follows:

My father's surname is Zhu, and my mother is a side wife. The eldest wife didn't like us, so my mother took me away from the Zhu family to live alone.

My mother died and I was raised by a wet nurse named Zhang, so my surname is Zhang.

In the year of 1911, a wet nurse worked as a servant in the family of General Zengzigu in Futai, Zhejiang.

When the revolutionary army bombarded Zengfu, my nanny took me to Shanghai and escorted me to a man named Hu to learn opera and make a living as a singer in Nanjing.

When I was thirteen, Zhang Xun was attacking Nanjing, so Boss Hu and I fled back to Shanghai.

Later, he went to Beijing to sing and do business at Yunji Ban in Shaanxi Lane, Beijing, where he met General Cai.

The above sentences are the original words of Xiao Fengxian’s self-introduction recorded by Mei Lanfang’s secretary Xu Huizhuan. Judging from these sentences describing Xiao Fengxian’s experience, she can only be proficient in writing and ink, and it is impossible to be proficient in poetry and songs. . Moreover, there are some typos in the original text.

In addition to this matter, there are two couplets that are also very subtle.

Thousands of miles south of the sky, flying straight up, how can I worry about the rest of my life, a chance marriage becomes a dream;

In the 20th year, Yanzhi in the north gradually fell into decline, won a heroic confidant, and the peach blossom color lasted forever.

Another couplet is:

A plain chariot and a white horse came, but Zhou Lang was short-lived;

There are countless celebrities and beauties, I had known Li Jing was a hero.

Appreciating these two couplets carefully, we can see that these two couplets are very good in terms of conception, allusion, level and elegance.

Unfortunately, Xiao Fengxian’s two couplets were questioned by the world, and the couplets were ghostwritten by others. Why is there such a conclusion? Because a man named Yi Zongkui included that relatively long couplet in his book "New World Theory".

As for the relatively short couplet, Jiangsu people also recorded it in a book. Therefore, the two couplets Xiaofengxian gave to Cai E were not written by herself, but by others.

The identity of the chivalrous woman is also questioned.

The reason why Xiao Fengxian is a chivalrous woman is because there is a saying that before Yuan Shikai came to the throne, in order to prevent Cai E from rebelling, he sent military police to Cotton Alley Cai's house to search. E realized that the Beiyang government still could not tolerate him, so he went to Tianjin. Yuan Shikai's spies were monitoring him at all levels. He thought hard about how to escape, and finally thought of Xiao Fengxian.

At this time, Cai E said to Xiao Fengxian: "I am determined to escape from prison regardless of life or death." Xiao Fengxian decided to accompany Cai E in life and death. Cai E said: "There are many inconveniences when we travel together, but we will never forget each other when we succeed in the future!" Xiao Fengxian paid a farewell party to Cai E that night, sang for him, shed tears for him, and warned him carefully.

Because Xiao Fengxian helped General Cai E escape from Yuan Shikai’s house arrest, many people said that Xiao Fengxian was a talented woman. However, is this really the case?

According to historical records, it was actually Cai E's teachers, subordinates and classmates who helped Cai E escape from prison.

On November 10, 1915, Hahan Zhang's grandmother had her 80th birthday, and a banquet was held at Qianliang Hutong "Jushou Hall". Cai E invited several friends to attend the banquet.

Early the next morning, Cai E arrived at the Generalissimo's command office located inside Xinhua Gate. It made people think that Cai E was going to meet Yuan Zhikai, so he arrived early.

Immediately afterwards, Cai E called Xiao Fengxian in front of everyone and asked her to come out for dinner at noon. Therefore, those who were supervising Cai E relaxed their vigilance. Taking advantage of the opportunity for the supervisors to relax their vigilance, Cai E's good friends Li Hongxiang and others followed Cai E to the train station and left Beijing.

After Cai E successfully escaped from Beijing, Yuan Shikai sent someone to interrogate Xiao Fengxian. You know, Cai E just asked Xiao Fengxian to have dinner. Xiao Fengxian had no idea that Cai E was leaving Beijing, so the statement that "Xiao Fengxian took a mule cart and went straight to Fengtai Railway Station , and Songpo was hidden in the car" is not true. The attack collapsed.

said that Xiaofengxian is a chivalrous woman, but it is just the beautification of Xiaofengxian in movies and literary works. In fact, Xiao Fengxian is just an ordinary person who has gone through ups and downs, and is just a prostitute who sings well.

article reference: "Why did Cai E die prematurely in Japan?" "Establish and then break: Cai E's change of attitude towards Yuan Shikai's administration" "Cai E talks about friendship" "Cai E's thought and practice of postal sovereignty" "Cai E and Xiao Fengxian in the "current affairs novels" of the early Republic of China" "Cai E E and Xiaofengxian——Also talking about the identification of historical materials and the verification of historical events"

(picture source network)