Chapter 26 postscript those women

In the first year of Yongjia (AD 145), that is, the year that Emperor Chong died, the Eastern Han court received a letter of report jointly signed by many people, reporting that the current Taiwei Li Gumu had no father.The evidence is: when rushing to the emperor's funeral, all the subjects on both sides of the road were crying bitterly, but Li Gu wore heavy makeup, scratched his head, looked around, and walked on a catwalk to flirt. what!Is Li Gu a woman? no man. But it seems that she is more feminine than a woman. I don’t know if this is the first case of self-pity, but the feminization of men should have begun at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and later celebrities in the Wei and Jin Dynasties only reached the pinnacle, although Li Gu may have been wronged.

He Yan and the others are indeed neither male nor female. This is not necessarily a good sign.For there are only two possible reasons for the feminization of a man, either the refinement of civilization or the vulgarity of civilization.To be refined is to pursue delicacy, and it is inevitable that heroes will be short of breath; to be vulgar and to pretend to be elegant, can only be affectionate.But whatever the reason, the result is likely to be the same. Yes, the androgen decreases and becomes sissy. The sissy prevailed in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, in addition to the refinement of civilization, it was also related to the gentry class.The Wei and Jin gentry differed from European knights and Japanese samurai in that the latter favored martial arts while the former respected literature.Wen is elegant, and elegant is soft, and elegance is often feminine at the same time.Therefore, the new culture of the Sui and Tang Dynasties was mainly created by the Sinicized Hu people in the north. This is exactly what the next volume "Southern Dynasties, Northern Dynasties" will talk about.

However, although the men of the Wei and Jin Dynasties were feminine, the women of the Wei and Jin Dynasties were quite outstanding and capable.This may be thanks to Li Benglebai, or the men at that time were really sluggish.In short, after reading "Book of Jin·Biography of Women" and "Shishuoxinyu·Xianyuan", you will find that the women there are not inferior to men at all. For example Xu Yun's wife. Xu Yun's wife is the daughter of Wei Wei (the commander of the capital's garrison) Ruan Gong, who is extremely ugly, so Xu Yun refused to enter the bridal chamber on the wedding night.Later, persuaded by friends, he reluctantly walked into the room, turned around and ran away.Yun's wife knew that he would never come back after this trip, so she grabbed Xu Yun's skirt and refused to let go.

So Xu Yun said: "Four virtues for women, how many do you have?" The four virtues are moral character, speech, appearance, and femininity. Mrs. Yun replied: There is only one difference. Then she asked: How many virtues are there in a gentleman? Xu Yun replied: One is not a lot. Yun's wife said: Are there some who are virtuous but not lustful? It was only then that Xu Yun discovered that this woman was extraordinary, and the relationship between the husband and wife grew closer. In fact, Xu Yun's wife is quite a general.When Xu Yun was the Minister of Libu (equivalent to the deputy head of the Central Organization Department), he was reported for using power for personal gain, and all the people who were promoted and appointed were his fellow villagers.After receiving the report, Emperor Wei Ming immediately ordered the imperial guards to arrest Xu Yun and bring him to justice. Xu Yun had no choice but to go to see the emperor.

The whole family howled and cried. Yun's wife was calm and composed.She said to her family: Don't cry, the master will be back in a while.He also confessed to her husband: When seeing the emperor, he can only reason and not intercede. Xu Yun listened to his wife.He said to Wei Mingdi: "Knowing people and doing their jobs well is the principle of employing people."The choice of the minister is the person whom the minister understands.Your Majesty, please check their competence.If someone is incompetent, the minister is willing to accept the crime and bring justice to justice.

As a result of the inspection, Xu Yun was acquitted. When he got home, his wife had cooked millet porridge and was waiting for him. However, Xu Yun was involved in the case of Li Feng and Xia Houxuan after all, was arrested by Sima Shi, and finally died on the road to exile.When the news came, Yun's wife was weaving.Her expression remained the same as last time, but she just said to the disciple who reported the letter: I knew it would be like this.She also declined the kindness of her disciples to help her hide her son.Yun's wife said: The children will be fine, there is no need to hide them.

In fact, her son was not without danger, and Master Sima sent Zhong Hui to check on him.Master Sima's instructions were very clear: If Xu Yun's son's virtue and ability were similar to his father's, he must be eradicated. Under the overturned nest, how can there be any eggs! Xu Yun's wife responded calmly.She explained to her two sons: there is no need to be frightened, and there is no need to be clever, just ask questions and answer them honestly.Crying is necessary, but don't be too sad, and you can ask more about the court. The son was safe and sound. This is great wisdom.This kind of great wisdom, many women have.It's just that in a patriarchal society, they have no place to use their talents. They can only help their families stand firm and tide over the difficulties during times of turmoil.

For example, Xin Xianying. Xianying is the daughter of Simpi (read Rupi), an important minister of Cao Wei.When Sima Yi launched the coup, her younger brother Xin Chang joined the army with General Cao Shuang.At that time, Sima Yi closed the gate of Luoyang, and Cao Shuang and the emperor were outside the city.Cao Shuang's subordinates decided to go out of the city to rescue Cao Shuang and asked Xin Chang to go with them. Xin Chang couldn't make up his mind, so he went to ask his sister. Xianying said: Cao Shuang will surely die. Xin Chang said: Then I shouldn't go out of the city, right?

Xianying said, "Why not go?"Responsibility is the righteousness of human beings, and compassion is human nature.Entrusted by others, it is a matter of loyalty.You are a subordinate of the general, so of course you have to go to the rescue, this is just doing your duty and following the crowd. So Xin Chang left the city, and Cao Shuang was killed as expected.Afterwards, Xin Chang said with emotion: Fortunately, I asked my sister for advice, and I almost became a villain. How can such a woman lose to a man? And Yan Xian. Yan Xian is Du Youdao's wife. She was a widow at the age of eighteen and raised her eldest son and daughter with one hand.Later, she married her daughter to a man named Fu Xuan.This matter puzzled the clansmen, and there was a lot of discussion.Because Cao Shuang was in full swing at that time, Sima Yi was pretending to be sick at home, and He Yan, Cao Shuang's henchman, was Fu Xuan's deadly enemy.Fu Xuan was oppressed by He Yan, and almost no one dared to intermarry with him.

The clansmen said: He Yan wanted to destroy Fu Xuan, he was pushing mountains to pour eggs with soup to pour snow. Yan Xian said: You all know one thing but not the other.He Yan will kill himself if he does many injustices, but Sima Taifu (Sima Yi) is just a "beast sleeping".Of course there was someone who broke the egg and melted the snow, but it definitely couldn't be Fu Xuan. As expected, He Yan was killed by Sima Yi, and Fu Xuan died at the age of sixty-two.By the way, Fu Xuan is unusual.He was a philosopher and writer in the Western Jin Dynasty. He wrote "Fu Zi" and other books, and "Book of Jin" has a biography.

Isn't Yan Xian's insight above all others? At least, far more than Cao Shuang and his ilk.Those people all thought that Sima Yi was dying, but she was the only one who saw that it was a beast pretending to be asleep. This is simply called a female politician. However, Cao Cao's second wife, Mrs. Bian, may be the one with the most qualities and demeanor of a statesman.Mrs. Bian was originally from a Chong family (a family of artists), and her status was very humble.However, her bearing and insight are far above that of ordinary ladies.Cao Cao fled Luoyang alone because he opposed Dong Zhuo, but was arrested in Zhongmou County.When the news came, the family was in chaos, and the subordinates were also preparing to disperse. Mrs. Bian stepped forward. Mrs. Bian, who was still a concubine at the time, said to everyone: Mr. Cao's situation is unknown, why panic?Running away now, when Mr. Cao returns home in the future, do you have the face to see him?Besides, when adversity is imminent, shouldn't we share joys and sorrows together? Cao Cao was greatly moved and respected by this incident.Therefore, after he divorced his original wife, Mrs. Ding, he made Mrs. Bian his official wife.Mrs. Bian still respected Mrs. Ding as the eldest house, and sent people to deliver things to Mrs. Ding throughout the year. Mother and child are very different. Mrs. Ding was also greatly moved. No wonder Cao Cao thought Mrs. Bian could be the mother of the world.Mrs. Bian herself is very low-key and simple, and she never uses delicacies from mountains and seas to entertain her family.She even explicitly warned Bian's family: Don't expect me to seek personal gain for you, and don't expect me to intercede for you if you commit a crime. This made Cao Cao look at him differently. In fact, Mrs. Bian is very reasonable and good at being a person.When Cao Cao seized trophies such as jewelry, he always let Mrs. Bian pick them first, and Mrs. Bian picked the middle ones every time.Cao Cao asked her why, and she said: Picking the best is greed, picking the worst is hypocrisy, so pick the middle. What is it called?This is called decent. The greatest advantage of Mrs. Bian is also her decency.After her son Cao Pi was canonized as the prince, everyone around him came to congratulate him and beg for reward.Mrs. Bian said: Pi'er can become the crown prince, but because of his age.As for myself, it is a blessing not to be criticized as being inconvenient to teach my children. What is there to celebrate? Cao Cao was very appreciative when he heard about it.He said: Angry without changing expression, joyful but restrained, this is the most difficult thing to do! That's right.This style in the Wei and Jin Dynasties is called elegance. Xie An's wife, Madam Liu, is also generous.Although she was very strict against Xie An's lust, she was able to keep her face and make a difference.Xie An wanted to take concubines and let the juniors do Madam Liu's job.So everyone said it loudly, saying that this is the virtue of not being jealous taught by the sages. Mrs. Liu is the younger sister of famous scholar Liu Tin, so of course she knows what's going on.So I deliberately asked: Whose saints are these teachings? Everyone answered: Duke Zhou. Mrs. Liu said: No wonder!Why don't you also ask Mrs. Zhou? Hehe, those women in the Wei and Jin Dynasties!