There were originally 5 people kneeling in front of Yue Fei's tomb, why are there only 4 people left now? Why doesn't a person kneel?
Preface. Yue Fei is recognized"Serve the country with loyalty"Paragon. His tomb is located in Qixialing by the West Lake in Hangzhou, and there are four kneeling cast iron statues of Qin Hui, Wang, Zhang Jun and Wan Qiyun in front of the tomb, who slandered Yue Fei and will always be slandered and spurned by future generations.
However, you may not know that there were five people kneeling in front of Yue Fei's tomb, who was the fifth person, and why didn't they have to kneel later?
Yue Fei's death. In the second year of Jianyang (1128), the Jin soldiers marched south, captured Jiankang (now Nanjing), and captured Song Gaozong and Song Qinzong. Yue Fei and Zong Ze led Yue's army to fight fiercely with the Jin soldiers, and successively conquered six counties, including Jiankang, Xiangyang, Fancheng, Yingzhou, Yingcheng, and Suizhou, stabilizing the situation in the south of the Yangtze River and restoring the national prestige of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Two years later, the Jin soldiers marched south again, expropriating and looting, killing and looting, causing a large number of refugees and displaced people. Cao Cheng, Zhang He and some other bandits took the opportunity to revolt and wandered in the Huai River valley, threatening the security of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Yue Fei was ordered to pacify the Liukou. He quickly got rid of Cao Cheng, Zhang Yu and other leaders, pacified the Huai River Valley, restored the social order of the Southern Song Dynasty, and protected the safety of people's lives and property.
In the tenth year of Shaoxing (1140), the Jin soldiers broke the agreement and invaded the Southern Song Dynasty again, attempting to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty in one fell swoop. Yue Fei was ordered to go on a northern expedition and led the Yue family army to fight against the Jin soldiers.
He successively recaptured Zhengzhou and Luoyang, and defeated the Jin army in Yuncheng and Yingchang, beheaded the Jin generals and captured the Jin soldiers, breaking the prestige of the Jin army in one fell swoop and restoring the rule of the Southern Song Dynasty in the Central Plains.
In his 19-year career as a horseman, Yue Fei regained lost territory and won glory for the country with his spirit of wisdom and bravery, loyalty and unyielding, and courage to sacrifice.
However, his exploits were obstructed and undermined in the Southern Song court.
At that time, the traitorous ministers in the Southern Song Dynasty court were in power, and there were few loyal ministers. Yue Fei's existence was feared by Qin Hui and a group of traitorous ministers, who were jealous of Yue Fei's merits and glory, feared Yue Fei's prestige, and obstructed Yue Fei's Northern Expedition and prevented Yue Fei from surrendering and negotiating peace.
In order to remove the obstacles, Qin Hui, Zhang Jun and others colluded to find ways to assassinate Yue Fei and falsely accuse Yue Fei of rebellion, and finally Yue Fei was imprisoned in Dali Temple Prison, and at the same time sent someone to confiscate Yue Fei's family property, so that Yue Fei's family was ruined.
During this period, some of the people who stood up for Yue Fei were slandered, some were belittled, and some even sacrificed their own future, but all this was in vain.
In 1142, Yue Fei died of illness at the behest of Song Gaozong at the age of 39.
The statue in front of Yue Fei's tomb.
In the distant country of Jin, the ministers celebrated Yue Fei's death with fine wine, and the people were also deeply affected by the news of Yue Fei's death.
It was not until 1162 that Zhao Gou's adopted son Zhao Ji (Song Xiaozong) ascended the throne, and Song Gaozong continued to exonerate Yue Fei.
Song Xiaozong ordered the restoration of Yue Fei's Duke of Hubei and his burial in Qixialing, West Lake, Hangzhou, and held a title for Yue Fei"Loyalty, filial piety, righteousness, and martyrdom"of the sacrificial ceremony.
Song Xiaozong also ordered the search for Yue Fei's descendants and specially recruited them as officials to show his love for Yue Fei and preferential treatment of the Yue family.
At the same time, the people's strong hatred for the ** who killed Yue Fei was also spreading.
Why did five people kneel in front of Yue Fei at first, but later they became four?
The answer to this question is actually related to the origin of the kneeling statue in front of Yue Fei's tomb. The kneeling statue in front of Yue Fei's tomb did not exist at the beginning, but was gradually formed with the change of dynasties.
Later, in order to express their admiration for Yue Fei and their dissatisfaction with Qin Hui, they set up statues of Qin Hui and Wang in front of Yue Fei's tomb, and let them cut off their hands from behind their backs, kneel naked in front of Yue Fei's tomb, and forever suffer from the world's scolding and spitting.
This is the origin of the two iron statues.
There is also a theory that during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Mu, the political envoy of Zhejiang, cast the kneeling statues of Qin Hui and Wang with pig iron, and placed them in front of Yue Fei's tomb for the population to be punished.
Whether these statues were made by the people or by King Mu of Zhou, they all expressed the rejection of Qin Hui and others by later generations.
Later, two kneeling statues of Wan Qiwei and Zhang Jun slandering Yue Fei were added. These four kneeling statues have been reshaped several times and have been handed down to this day, becoming a special background in front of Yue Fei's tomb.
Later, during the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, Shi Lilong, the governor of Zhejiang, carved a kneeling statue for Wan Qiao.
Wan Qiaowei was Qin Hui's confidant in his early years, and participated in the conspiracy of ** Yue Fei, Wan Qiaowei played an important role in Yue Fei's ascension to the throne, presided over Yue Fei's trial, fabricated various criminal evidence, tortured Yue Fei, and finally led to Yue Fei's death.
Later, Wan Yanliang had a conflict with Qin Hui and no longer obeyed Qin Hui's orders. He advocated peace with Jin, abandoned the Northern Expedition, and implemented a series of surrender policies.
Therefore, whether it is for revenge against Yue Fei or for the sake of national righteousness, it is not an exaggeration to say that Wan Qiaowei has been subjected to more serious verbal and written criticism.
Later, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Fan Lai, the deputy envoy of the Zhejiang Judicial Division, made a kneeling statue for Zhang Junzeng, a famous general of the Song Dynasty who fought side by side with Yue Fei and later defected to Qin Hui and falsely accused Yue Fei of rebellion.
Therefore, there are four statues kneeling in front of Yue Fei's tomb, which are the four statues we see now.
Who is the fifth kneeling?
Luo Ruji is Qin Hui's confidant and participated in Yue Fei's conspiracy, Qin Hui instructed him to write a complaint against Yue Fei, accusing Yue Fei of falsely reporting the military situation, staying in Huaixi, and not obeying the orders of the imperial court.
As such, he was one of Yue Fei's assassins.
In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, some people were influenced by "The Biography of Yue Quan" and paid out of their own pockets to make a kneeling statue for Luo Ruyi. However, this kneeling statue was not replaced for a long time, and it was not until the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty that Li Wei, the governor of Zhejiang, removed it.
Li Wei believes that Luo Ruji is just a slave, and his identity is not enough to kneel in front of Yue Fei's tomb. Therefore, Li Wei ordered the removal of Luo Ruji's kneeling statue, and since then there are only four kneeling statues left in front of Yue Fei's tomb.
One-hit wonder. These kneeling statues have existed for hundreds of years and bear witness to people's admiration for Yue Fei and hatred for Qin Hui and others.
No matter how the times change, people's anger and hatred for belittling the national hero Yue Fei will not decrease, but will only deepen and intensify over time.
During this period, criminals who defamed Yue Fei were harassed, beaten, and brutalized on a daily basis, and even Yue Fei's statue was destroyed.
Such acts, while somewhat extreme and violent, also reflect the public's disgust and contempt for them. The encounter with the statue shows how disgusted people are with them!