"Mengman Women's Poetry Class: A Psychic Woman", written by Mengman, Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House , September 2022.
After the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms were the Three Kingdoms. Among the Three Kingdoms, is the most talented and literary. Cao Cao and Cao Pi and Cao Zhi father and son wrote poems with spears, creating the Jian'an style of Chinese literature, which is an amazing event on Chinese literature history . Under such an era, there was a woman who wandered between the father and son of the Cao family, and achieved a legend in one fell swoop. This woman is the queen of Cao Pi, the legendary Cao Zhi, the dream lover of Cao Zijian, Mrs. Zhen.
Speaking of Mrs. Zhen, many friends may not know who she is, but if I say "like a graceful geese, like a swaying dragon", or "the slight steps in the waves, the silk stockings are dusty", everyone will surely realize it suddenly. In recent years, many female friends have watched "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and know the Jinghongwu inside; while most male friends have watched "Hidden City 2" by Mr. Jin Yong , and know the unique light skills of the free and illusory school like Lingbo Weibu. In fact, whether it is "like a stunning geese, as gentle as a dragon" or "the swaying waves and the silk socks are dusty" are all from " Luo God Fu " written by Cao Zhi. This beautiful Luo God who Cao Zhi never forgets is believed by many people throughout history, namely Cao Zijian's sister-in-law and Cao Pi's queen Mrs. Zhen.
Is "The Goddess of Luo River" written about Mrs. Zhen?
This is probably not the real
Mrs. Zhen, a famous beauty in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, and was known as "Nan Qiao Bei Zhen" at that time. The so-called Qiao is the two daughters of Lujiang Bridge Gong. Da Qiao married Sun Ce , and Xiao Qiao married Zhou Yu . Back then, the sentence "I remember Gongjin back then, Xiao Qiao was married for the first time", which really made people think a lot. Zhen was born in Wuji County, Zhongshan County, which is Mrs. Zhen, who is today Wuji, Hebei.
This Mrs. Zhen first married Yuan Xi, the second son of Yuan Shao, . Later, Cao Cao attacked Yuan Shao, and his eldest son Cao Pi took the lead in attacking Yuan's mansion. A young woman was disheveled and her hair was covered with black and white on her face. She hid behind Yuan Shao's wife Liu, crying sadly. Cao Pi asked her who she was, and Mrs. Liu replied, "This is my second daughter-in-law and Yuan Xi's wife." Cao Pi had heard of Zhen's name for a long time, so she was shocked. She walked over and helped her tie her hair up, and wiped her face with towel . A stunning beauty appeared in front of him like a cicada. Liu looked at Cao Pi's series of operations and sighed and said, "Now we don't have to worry about being killed!" In this way, Zhen turned around gorgeously, turning from Mrs. Yuan to Mrs. Cao.
However, it was not her husband Cao Pi who really influenced Zhen’s image in the later generations, but her uncle Cao Zhi. It is said that Cao Pi was not the only one who admired Zhen's beauty at that time. The talented man Cao Zhi also longed for Zhen's, and "thinked day and night, and ate and ate" for her. Unfortunately, his elder brother took the lead. When he saw Zhen's again, Zhen had already become his sister-in-law. As for Zhen, she actually admires the talented Cao Zijian, but as a spoil, what choice can she have? Therefore, although the two are talented men and beautiful women, they can only bury their feelings in their hearts due to the status of kings, ministers, uncles and sisters-in-law. Later, Mrs. Zhen fell out of favor and was sentenced to death by Cao Pi, and the ending was very sad. After her death, Cao Zhi went to see his brother from his fief Juancheng to Luoyang . Cao Pi took out a jade-carved gold belt pillow for Cao Zhi to show it, and said that it was used by Mrs. Zhen back then. Cao Zhi saw things and thought of others, and tears flowed all over his body.
"Mengman Women's Poetry Class: Psychic Woman" illustration.
It has come to this point, and Cao Pi couldn't help but feel emotion and simply gave the pillow to Cao Zhi. This is what Li Shangyin said in the poem " Untitled " "Jia's family peeked at the curtain and Han Jun Shao, and Mi Fei has a pillow with a pillow, and Wang Cai of Wei". Think about it, such a story of a handsome man and a beautiful woman, who cannot love her but cannot be loved, is so erotic and romantic!
However, the story is not over here. When Cao Zhi finished his visit, he returned to Juancheng, passed Luoshui, and stayed in the boat at night, and then pillowed on the jade-carved gold-belt pillow.In a trance, it seemed as if he saw Mrs. Zhen coming from the wind and said to him: "I originally liked you, but unfortunately I didn't get what I wanted. This pillow was brought by me from my parents' home. Let it accompany you in the future." Cao Zhi woke up suddenly and it turned out to be Nan Ke Yimeng. Cao Zhi recalled the scene in his dream, and couldn't help but think about it and wrote the next article "Speaking to Zhen Fu". The poem says that he passed by Luoshui and met the beautiful God of Luoshui. Luoshui was in love with him, but the human and gods were separated. Cao Zhi and Luoshui could only say goodbye and leave endless melancholy.
Who would doubt Cao Zijian’s literary talent? As soon as this fu was released, Luoyang paper was soon expensive and everyone was chanted. After all, this matter is related to the royal tradition, so after Empress Zhen's son Emperor Ming of Wei Cao Rui ascended the throne, he ordered the name of this fu to be "The Goddess of Luo" to separate the relationship. But this change will make it impossible for three hundred taels of silver here? From then on, an unbreakable impression was formed in the hearts of the melon-eating people - "The Goddess of Luo River" is about Mrs. Zhen, who is Cao Zijian's dream lover. With such an impression, not only Mrs. Zhen’s legitimate husband Cao Pi stood aside, but even Mrs. Zhen’s own image became blurred and became the God of Luo who “lightly walks with light steps and silk stockings are dusty”. In ancient legends, the God of Luo was the daughter of Fuxi (Mi Xi), so the melon-eating crowd simply gave Mrs. Zhen a name, which was Zhen Mi .
The question is, is this story real? Most likely not. Just calculate the age of both parties and you will know. When Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, Zhen was twenty-two years old and Cao Zhi was just twelve years old. A twelve-year-old child falls in love with his sister-in-law, and may have some puberty fantasy factors. However, how likely is it to be a twenty-two-year-old adult woman fall in love with her twelve-year-old younger brother? To take a step back, even if Cao Zhi and Zhen really crossed their age and were in love, why did Cao Pi give Zhen’s pillow to Cao Zhi after Zhen’s death? Is this too incompatible with Confucian etiquette? Even if Cao Pi had ulterior motives and deliberately used Zhen’s pillow to stimulate Cao Zhi, how could Cao Zhi dare to take this trick? He even openly wrote "King Zhen Fu" to respond? Isn’t this a tumult on Tai Sui’s head? From this point of view, this story is too unreasonable and is likely not true.
If that's the case, where did this story come from? This story was first seen in Tang Dynasty scholar Li Shan to "Selected Works of Zhaoming", which was written under the title of "The Goddess of Luo River". The problem is that Li Shan is not a novelist who speaks nonsense. On the contrary, he is a gentleman with good knowledge, known as the "Shuguan", or the book basket. For no reason, why did he make up such a story? The problem with
is likely to lie in the title of this article. What was this fu called the earliest name? Nowadays, people say it is called "Ganzhen Fu". However, some scholars pointed out that the word "Zhen" in "Gan Zhen Fu" is probably a false statement of the word "Zun" in Juancheng. Didn’t Cao Zhi be enfeoffed in Juancheng at the beginning? It is now , Juancheng County, , in Heze, Shandong. The so-called "六" is actually the feeling of being enfeoffed by Juancheng and doing nothing. But, since you feel the truth, why do you need to write about the God of Luo River hundreds of miles away? Because Cao Zhi had just visited Luoyang to pay homage to his elder brother, Emperor Wen of Wei, Cao Pi, and then crossed the Luoshui River and returned to Juancheng. His brother's suspicion about him made him worried and angry. When he returned to the fiefdom, he was lonely. The gurgling Luoshui reminded him that life was fleeting, and the clouds in the sky made him think a lot. In such a complex state of mind, a beautiful and ethereal Luoshen appeared in the poet's pen. Although the God of Luo River is beautiful, he cannot be linked to a gentleman. Isn’t it a symbol of Cao Zhi’s talent, but he is suspicious of his brother Cao Pi and his ambitions cannot be displayed? This is the deepest feeling of Cao Zhi, who was enfeoffed by Juancheng and trapped by Juancheng.
In other words, the beautiful Luo Shen in the fu is nothing else, but in fact it is Cao Zhi himself. He is a talented literati who used the Qu Yuan vanilla beauty writing style to hide his true self. However, the character Juan in Juancheng is similar in shape to the character Zhen surnamed Zhen, so during the copying process, it was passed down into "Ganzhen Fu".It doesn't matter when this mistake comes out. People immediately associate the beautiful Goddess with the beautiful Zhen from the beautiful Goddess, and then they imagine a touching legend of a talented man and beautiful woman. When it was passed down to the Tang Dynasty, even the great master Li Shan believed it and simply wrote it into the book. In other words, although this story is interesting, it does not conform to historical facts.
What kind of woman is Mrs. Zhen in history?
So, if we put aside the romantic stories and look back at Mrs. Zhen in history, what kind of woman is she? She is actually not romantic. On the contrary, she was the standard good daughter, good wife and good daughter-in-law of that era. Unfortunately, she did not get a good ending.
Let’s talk about your good daughter first. According to " Wei Shu ", Mrs. Zhen has liked reading since she was a child, and she never forgets it. She often writes and draws with her brother's pen and pen. The brothers laughed at her and said, "You are a woman, so you should learn from a female worker. What's the use of reading and writing all day long? Do you still want to be a female doctorate in the future?" Now there are boring people who use the title of female doctorate to mock knowledgeable women, but they actually come from here. So, how did Zhen answer? She said: "Since ancient times, all virtuous women have to learn from their predecessors and use their success or failure to warn themselves. If I don't study, how can I learn from their predecessors?" Is it the "children of other people's families" that we often talk about today?
When Mrs. Zhen was in her teenage years, she was in a state of chaos in the late Han Dynasty. In order to survive, ordinary people sold their property at a low price. Isn’t the Zhen family a big family? I took the opportunity to acquire a large number of treasures. Seeing this situation, Zhen said to her mother: "Seeking treasures in troubled times is not a good strategy. The ancients said, "A man is innocent, but holding a jade is a sin." This is what is called losing his body due to wealth. Now there is a famine. It is better to open a warehouse and release grain to help the neighbors. This is not only a way to benefit others, but also a way to protect themselves." When her mother heard that she was right, she really opened a warehouse and released grain. Not only did she save many neighbors, but she also used this to enhance the status of the Zhen family in the local area. Think about it, isn’t this a blessing for the family to be able to be so far-sighted and judge the situation?
Stills from the TV series " The Secret of the Three Kingdoms: The Hidden Dragon in the Abyss" (2018).
Let’s talk about good wife again. What exactly is a good wife? The standards in ancient and modern times are not the same. A good wife today must be loyal to each other and support each other, which is also the basic requirement of contemporary marriage. However, in ancient times, the so-called good wife must be generous and must not dominate her husband. Back then, before Cao Pi married Mrs. Zhen, there was already a Mrs. Ren. The Ren family was born into a big family and was originally a match with Cao Pi. However, in front of the beautiful Mrs. Zhen, she naturally pales in comparison. Mrs. Ren could not tolerate possession of the magpie's nest, so she relied on her original wife's identity to Cao Pi to use her personality. But in this way, Cao Pi disliked her even more and simply wanted to destroy her.
According to the principle, if Mrs. Ren is abolished, Mrs. Zhen can go to a higher level, and she should be happy. However, Mrs. Zhen did not agree with Cao Pi, but instead said: "The Ren family is a famous family, and both morality and beauty are the best. Why did you send her away? Everyone in the world knows that I am favored by you. Now if you drive away Ren family, no matter what the reason is, others will definitely say it is because of me. In this way, not only will the parents-in-law scold me for being selfish, but other wives will blame me for being favored, and people in the world will also think that I am domineering. Even if you think about it for me, don't drive her away!" Of course, Cao Pi did not accept Mrs. Zhen's advice in the end, and drove Mrs. Ren away. However, no matter what, Mrs. Zhen's performance in this matter still gave her a lot of points. Being elegant and not jealous isn’t this the standard good wife of the imperial family?
Let’s talk about a good wife. The so-called good daughter-in-law naturally refers to serving her mother-in-law with thoughtful care. Mrs. Zhen’s mother-in-law Mrs. Bian is very famous in history. She is brave and knowledgeable. She often fights with Cao Cao and is considered an iron lady. Mrs. Zhen basically stayed at the base camp of Cao Wei , Yecheng , and took on the traditional role of a good wife and mother. It is obvious that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have different ambitions and may not be speculative when speaking.In this case, how did Mrs. Zhen practice filial piety? In the 216th year of Jian'an (216), Cao Cao led a large army to fight eastward. Mrs. Zhen's husband Cao Pi, son Cao Rui, and daughter Dongxiang Princess all went out with the army, and only Mrs. Zhen stayed in Yecheng. This time we went on the expedition for almost a year, and it was not until September of the following year that the army returned to Yecheng.
The army returned to the army. After meeting each other, Mrs. Bian found that Mrs. Zhen was more plump and beautiful, and couldn't help but say, "Your pair of children are in the army. You have been separated from your children for so long. Don't you think about them? Why do you look fat and fat?" This greeting is quite meaningless to be dissatisfied with your daughter-in-law. Moreover, no matter how you answer, you are wrong. Say you are actually thinking about it? Then others will be haggard when they have something to do, why are you still fat? Say you don’t care about it? Then do you still have the heart? If you don’t even care about your children, you will naturally not take others seriously! So, how did Mrs. Zhen answer? She said, "Cao Rui and the others are following you. With your careful discipline and care, what else can I worry about!" See? This is the art of speaking. She did not bother herself to worry about her children or not, but turned the topic to Mrs. Bian. The child followed her grandmother, so I was not worried at all. Isn’t this a way to compliment Mrs. Bian as a good grandmother? One sentence allowed Mrs. Bian to see her wife's cleverness and authority. Since she met a chess opponent and was about to meet a good talent, Mrs. Bian naturally no longer made things difficult for Mrs. Zhen.
"Mengman Women's Poetry Class: Psychic Woman" illustration.
This is Mrs. Zhen in official history. She is not only beautiful, but also wise and virtuous. She is well-mannered. Does this mean that she will be favored for life and will be blessed and lively? But it's not. As the saying goes, there is a strong player. Mrs. Zhen met a heavyweight opponent named Queen Guo. After seeing this, readers may be confused. Is Queen Guo a queen named Guo? The word "Queen" is not a title, it is Mrs. Guo's name. It is said that Mrs. Guo has been beautiful and intelligent since childhood. Her father said, "My daughter is the king of girls." So she gave her such a domineering name, Queen Guo.
When Queen Guo grew up, she was indeed as her name. After she was elected to Cao Pi's Eastern Palace, she happened to catch up with the battle between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi for the throne. During that battle, Queen Guo contributed a lot to Cao Pi because she was good at planning. With such great achievements, being gentle and virtuous as a young talent is nothing. The balance in Cao Pi's heart was increasingly tilted to Queen Guo's side, and Mrs. Zhen also stood aside like Mrs. Ren back then. At this time, Mrs. Zhen realized that the so-called magnanimity and no jealousy were just a gesture that could only be made when she was particularly down-to-earth in her heart. At this moment, facing the powerful challenge from Queen Guo, she could no longer be as calm as water.
Mrs. Zhen is a woman who has read books. It is said that she wrote a poem called "Tong Shangxing". "The whole mouth melts gold, so that you can be separated. When I miss you, I will be sad and sad." Others slander me with words, and let you leave me. When I think that you have left me, I feel sad and sad and can't help myself. She also said, "Don't give up the love of the plain because of the noble and virtuous. Don't give up the fish and meat, don't give up the onions and scallions." Please don't have a status and status, and abandon what you used to love. Please don’t abandon scallions and scallions just because there is too much fish. She begged her husband not to believe in slander and hoped that he would not be fond of the old and the new. Even if such a poem is not as brilliant as a brilliant poem, it can at least be called sad and moving, right?
However, as Yi Shu said in "Death of Love": "When a man no longer loves his woman, it is wrong to cry, it is wrong to silence, it is wrong to breathe alive, and it is wrong to die." Mrs. Zhen's song "Traveling on the Tang" did not touch Cao Pi's heart, but instead became evidence of her resentment. In June of the second year of Huangchu (221), Cao Pi sentenced Mrs. Zhen to death for venting complaints. Mrs. Zhen was 39 years old at the time. It is said that when she died, Queen Guo ordered people to stuff her mouth with rice bran and cover her with her hair.A smartest woman can no longer speak, and a most beautiful woman can no longer show her face. Isn’t this the biggest pain in life!
However, the pace of history has not stopped. Just like Erqiao always lives in the beautiful poem "The east wind does not go with Zhou Lang, and the bronze bird locks the second Qiao in the deep spring", Mrs. Zhen also always lives in the gorgeous words of "The Goddess of Luo River". Today, when people see "The Goddess of Luo River", they always instinctively think of Mrs. Zhen. Why do people want to believe this story that is not true? It's very simple, because "everyone has compassion."
The beautiful and unlucky Mrs. Zhen won people's sympathy, just like Cao Zijian, who is talented but unable to perform, also won people's sympathy. People are willing to use the articles of talented men to reminisce about the beauty's charm over and over again. What kind of charm is that? She is not as "hands are like tender veins, skin is like condensed fat. Her collar is like veins, and her teeth are like gourds." It is pure static beauty.
"Mengman Women's Poetry Class: Psychic Woman" illustration.
"The Goddess of Luo River" vividly describes the agility of a beauty, let's take the two sentences we are most familiar with. What does it mean to be "like a stunning geese, like a swaying dragon"? This means that her body is graceful, like a frightened geese; her body is gentle, like a swimming dragon. What a noble and flexible figure! No wonder the novelist named the most beautiful dance "Jinghongwu". What does "Lingbo Micro-Bo, Luoshu Dust" mean? It means that she came slowly on Luoshui, her steps were as light as if she was floating on the water. The slightly rolled up water waves on the water seemed to be dust rolled up by her silk stockings. What a light figure, no wonder the novelist named the most brilliant light skills "Lingbo Weibu". This shocking glimpse of Luoshen eventually became a beautiful classic in people's hearts, allowing Mrs. Zhen to wash away the humiliation of reality and gain literary eternity.
This article is excerpted from "Mengman Women's Poetry Class: The Woman", the subtitle was added by the editor and is not owned by the original text. It has been authorized by the publisher to publish.
Original author/Mengman
excerpt/An Ye
edit/Qingqingzi
introduction proofreading/Zhao Lin
