Chapter 25 Eternal Mysteries: The Truth About Zhao's Orphan

In 1753 A.D., Voltaire, a great French writer and leader of the Enlightenment Movement, came across a Chinese script called "The Orphan of Zhao", and was immediately attracted by its vivid and tortuous plot. Fascinated by Confucian morality, he adapted it into a five-act stage play, which was officially staged in Paris two years later and achieved unprecedented success.Later, the British playwright Murphy adapted "The Orphan of Zhao" according to Voltaire's play, and it was performed in London, which caused a great sensation. On a par with Shakespeare's "Hamlet", it can be described as extremely popular.

The "Orphan of Zhao" that Voltaire saw was a French translation of the work of the same name by Chinese Yuan Dynasty playwright Ji Junxiang.Ji Junxiang's "Orphan of the Zhao Family" is based on Sima Qian's "Historical Records". In Sima Qian’s records, the story begins like this—— In the third year of Jin Jinggong's accession to the throne, Tu Anjia, a power minister, conspired to make trouble and wanted to eradicate the Zhao family.Tu Anjia was originally favored by Duke Ling of Jin, and he served as a chief justice (sikou) in the era of Duke Jing of Jin. He attributed the crime of Duke Ling's assassination to Zhao Dun, and publicized among the officials: "Zhao Dun He seems to be unaware, but he is actually the mastermind behind the scenes. He committed the crime of killing the king, but his descendants are still officials in the court and live freely. How can the crime be punished like this? The Zhao family must be wiped out!"

By the way, the ancestors of the Zhao family and the ancestors of the Qin family were originally a family, and they can be traced back to Zhuanxu among the five emperors in ancient times.At the end of the Shang Dynasty, Zhuan Xu had a descendant named Fei Lian, who was a famous long-distance runner (good at walking) at that time.Fei Lian had two sons: the eldest son was named Elai, who worked under King Zhou of Shang and was killed by King Wu of Zhou, and his descendants established the Qin State; the youngest son was named Ji Sheng. Among Ji Sheng's descendants, there were A man named Zaofu was favored by King Mu of Zhou because he was good at raising horses. He was granted the title of Zhao City, so he took Zhao as his family and established the Zhao family.

During the reign of King You of Zhou, the royal family was politically confused, and Shudai, a descendant of Zaofu, fled from Haojing to Jin State to serve Jin Wenhou, thus continuing the incense of the Zhao family in Jin State.In 661 BC, Duke Xian of Jin sent his eldest son Shen Sheng to crusade against Huo, Wei, and Geng. Zhao Su, a descendant of his uncle, served as the driver of Shen Sheng's military chariot, participated in the war, and was granted the title of Geng State after the war. At that time, the Zhao family began to become a famous family in the state of Jin. Zhao Sui's grandson, Zhao Shuan, further developed the family's prestige. He followed the son Chong'er all his life, not only helping him ascend the throne, but also assisting him in establishing the hegemony of Jin.As Zhao Shuai's officials became bigger and bigger, the power of the Zhao family also expanded rapidly, fighting against the Hu family (Hu Yan), and becoming one of the most powerful families in Jin.

Zhao Shuai had many sons, among whom Zhao Dun inherited the family business, and Zhao Tong, Zhao Kuo, Zhao Ying and other brothers also had fiefdoms.In the era of Jin Xianggong and Jin Linggong, the power of the Zhao family expanded again. Zhao Dun defeated his rival, Hu Shegu, and became the marshal of the Chinese army, monopolizing the military and political power of Jin.Jin Linggong was very dissatisfied with Zhao Dun's domineering, and tried every means to get rid of him, but Zhao Dun acted first and connived at his younger brother Zhao Chuan to assassinate Jin Linggong. Analyzing from historical data, Zhao Chuan's assassination of Jin Linggong was obviously not as simple as Zhao Dun's connivance, but was instigated or instigated by Zhao Dun.Tu Anjia attributed the crime of Jin Linggong's assassination to Zhao Dun, but he did not wrong him.However, many years have passed since the incident. According to Confucius, there is no need to overturn the verdict.Taking a ten thousand step back, even if the case is to be overturned, only Zhao Dun should be held accountable. At worst, his grave will be exhumed and his body whipped. Why should the entire Zhao family be wiped out?

Tu Anjia was in power for a while, and among the courtiers, there were many who had long been displeased with the behavior of the Zhao family's children, so basically no one expressed any objection to Tu Anjia's proposal.Only Marshal Han Jue of the New Chinese Army retorted: "When Duke Ling was assassinated, Zhao Dun had already fled. Regarding this matter, even the first emperor (referring to Duke Cheng of Jin) did not hold Zhao Dun accountable. Wanting to kill his descendants is going against the will of the late king!" Han Jue was a cadre single-handedly picked up by Zhao Dun. He was raised by the Zhao family when he was a child. He had an unusual affection for the Zhao family, so he stood up against Tu Anjia's proposal.However, this kind of objection was very weak. Que Ke and Luan Shu, who had higher status at the time, both acquiesced in this matter, and even secretly supported Tu Anjia, so Han Jue's objection was invalid.He could only run to the current patriarch of the Zhao family—Zhao Shuo, the son of Zhao Dun, analyze the danger before him, and then persuade Zhao Shuo to flee abroad as soon as possible.Zhao Shuo refused to run away. He hugged Han Jue's arm and said, "Promise me that the Zhao family will not have a descendant. Even if I die, I will have no regrets."

Han Jue nodded firmly.Not long after, Tu Anjia really launched an attack and led a group of ministers to launch a military attack on the Zhao family. He killed Zhao Shuo, Zhao Tong, Zhao Kuo, Zhao Ying and others in the lower palace (place name), and killed all their families. . Zhao Shuo married Jin Chenggong's sister as his wife.Because Zhao Shuo's posthumous title was "Zhuang", this woman was called Zhuang Ji in history.When the Zhao family was purged, Zhuang Ji was already pregnant, so she hid in Jin Jinggong's palace and escaped by luck. Zhao Shuo had a retainer named Gongsun Chujiu, and a close friend named Cheng Ying.The Chinese in that era were probably somewhat heroic and valued friendship very much.Gongsun Chujiu deliberately asked Cheng Ying a question: "Why didn't you follow Zhao Shuo to die?" The implication is that you, Cheng Ying, are deeply favored by the Zhao family, and now that the Zhao family is in trouble, how dare you live alone in this world?

Cheng Ying said slowly, "Zhao Shuo's wife is pregnant. If I am lucky enough to give birth to a boy, I will serve him; if I give birth to a daughter, I will die sooner." A few months later, Zhuang Ji gave birth to a boy. According to Zhao Shuo's will, the child was named Zhao Wu.When Tu Anjia heard the news, he led people into the palace to search, and threatened that Zhuang Ji could not be killed, but the orphan of the Zhao family must be eradicated.Fortunately, Zhuang Ji hid Zhao Wu in advance, so Tu Anjia didn't succeed. Cheng Ying hurriedly consulted with Gongsun Chujiu about the countermeasures: "Tu Anjia will never let it go, and will come to look for the child in the future, what should we do?"

Gongsun Chujiu didn't answer, but instead asked Cheng Ying a question: "Protecting orphans or dying, which one is difficult?" "Natural death is easy, but protecting orphans is difficult." "In this case," Gongsun Chujiu said, stroking his belly with both hands, "the Zhao family has always treated you kindly, so I ask you to take responsibility and do the difficult thing; I am old and have no energy, so I have to do the easy thing , please let me die!" According to Gongsun Chujiu's plan, Cheng Ying sent someone to find a baby from a poor family (whether it was stolen, robbed, or bought, there is no record in history), put him in gorgeous swaddling clothes, and was taken by Gongsun Chujiu to hide in the mountains. stand up.

Cheng Ying ran to Tu Anjia and said, "I'm an incompetent person, unable to take care of Zhao's orphan, but I do know where Zhao's orphan is..." He glanced at Tu Anjia, "It may cost you A bounty." Tu Anjia was very happy, agreed to a generous reward on the spot, took his men and horses to follow Cheng Ying to the mountain, and found Gongsun Chujiu and the baby. When Gongsun Chujiu saw Cheng Ying, he yelled loudly: "You villain, you villain! That day when you were in the palace, you just lived on it and lied to me that you would protect the orphans of the Zhao family together. It turned out that you betrayed us today. Even if you can't protect Descendant of the Zhao family, how can you have the heart to betray this child?" Holding the child tightly, he kowtowed to Tu Anjia and said, "Please do your best to let this child live, and I will die without regret."

Seeing Gongsun Chujiu's excited look, Tu Anjia was sure that the child was Zhao Wu.He gave Cheng Ying a meaningful look, made a "kill" gesture, and the warriors under him rushed forward, hacking Gongsun Chujiu and the child to death.Cheng Ying stared blankly at all this, his face turned pale, as if his soul had gone out of his body, and he didn't even bother to pick up the bag of gold that Tu Anjia threw in front of him.It wasn't until Tu Anjia and others walked away that he "plopped" and knelt down in front of Gongsun Chujiu's body, crying like a child. The above stories are basically from the original text described by Sima Qian, plus a little literary processing and background introduction by the author of this book."The Orphan of the Zhao Family" written by Ji Junxiang in the Yuan Dynasty generally adopts Sima Qian's description, but in order to enhance the drama, Ji Junxiang made a small adjustment to the relationship between the characters in the story - the baby who was killed was not someone else's, but Cheng Cheng. Infant's own son.In order to repay the favor of the Zhao family, Cheng Ying not only bears the notoriety of selling friends and seeking glory, but also sacrifices his own flesh and blood. Zhao Wu grew up under the care of Cheng Ying.Fifteen years later, Duke Jing of Jin got sick, and there was no medicine or stone to cure him. He suspected that there was a ghost in the palace, so he ordered someone to do a fortune-telling.Jin Jinggong asked Han Jue. Han Jue knew that Zhao Wu was still alive, so he said to Jin Jinggong, "Isn't the descendant of Zhuanxu in Jin State the Zhao family? When my uncle left Zhou Dynasty, he came to Jin State to serve me. The first king, Marquis Jin Wen, has made contributions from generation to generation, and there is no success. Only under your rule, the Zhao clan was wiped out, and even the people of the country feel sad, so there are ghosts." Jin Jinggong lamented: "That's not my wish either! Are there any descendants of the Zhao family?" "Yes." Knowing that the time had come, Han Jue told the story of Cheng Ying and Zhao Wu.Jin Jinggong was very moved when he heard this, and told Han Jue to find Zhao Wu quickly and secretly bring him into the palace. Jin Jinggong ordered Han Jue and his warriors to lie in ambush in the palace. When the courtiers went to the palace to see their illnesses, they were all put under house arrest, and Zhao Wu was asked to come out to meet everyone.All the ministers knew what was going on at a glance, and they all shirked their responsibilities and said: "The disaster in the palace was caused by the envoy of Tu Anjia, who falsely passed on the emperor's order and blackmailed the ministers. After hearing the news, we thought of setting things right for the Zhao family, and now as long as you speak, we will do so!" So Zhao Wu formed an alliance with the courtiers to attack Tu'anjia together, exterminate his family, avenge the Zhao family's blood, and restore the family's honor and status.This is the ending of the story, which is in line with the traditional Chinese thinking - treacherous ministers cause chaos, loyal ministers suffer, but the monarch has no responsibility, at most he is confused and deceived by treacherous ministers.After ordering the chaos, the loyal ministers are punished, the treacherous ministers are punished, the monarch is still the same monarch, and the monarchs and ministers rebuild a harmonious society until the next treacherous minister appears. "The Orphan of Zhao" is widely spread in China, and it is also the most adapted story in the history of Chinese drama. It not only touched the Chinese people, but also crossed cultural barriers, and touched the French and British in the Age of Enlightenment.In the view of the great writer Voltaire, the protagonists of "The Orphan of Zhao" are not Zhao Wu, but Gongsun Chujiu and Cheng Ying.They stood up in times of crisis, one at the cost of their lives, the other endured the misunderstanding and abuse of the world, protected the blood of the Zhao family, and fulfilled the promise of the "scholar" to be loyal to the master.Another person worthy of admiration is Zhao Shuo's wife, Zhuang Ji. She is beautiful, gentle and virtuous, adhering to women's morals, chaste and nine-strength. Overshadowed by aristocratic women and socialites. However, the irony is that the real historical fact is very different from the drama.Even Sima Qian's records are only processed according to folklore in the Warring States period, and its authenticity is very doubtful. First of all, the character Tu Anjia was unknown in the history before the Qin and Han Dynasties.Since Jin Wengong, the military and political power of Jin has been in the hands of the chief and deputy commanders of each army—the so-called "Qing".During Jin Jinggong’s reign, the state of Jin used to have six ministers and twelve ministers, but Tu Anjia was not among them. On the contrary, Zhao Shuo, Zhao Kuo, and Zhao Zhan from the Zhao family were among the twelve ministers. , Accounting for a quarter of Qing's quota, it can be said that the roots are deep and leafy, and the power is overwhelming.So who is this Tu'anjia who calls the wind and rain?The answer can only be: he is a fictional character. Secondly, Zhao Shuo's wife, Zhuang Ji, is not a virtuous person, on the contrary, she is a very unruly woman. "Zuo Zhuan" clearly records: Zhuang Ji had an affair with Zhao Ying.Zhao Ying is Zhao Dun's brother and Zhao Shuo's uncle.Even in the Spring and Autumn period when the relationship between men and women was relatively open, this incestuous and adulterous affair was unacceptable.What's more, although Zhao Shuo is Zhao Ying's nephew, he is also the patriarch of the Zhao family. This green hat is worn on Zhao Shuo's head, as if it is worn on the head of the entire Zhao family, making the Zhao family feel ashamed .In order to restore the influence, Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo came out to uphold justice and decided to exile Zhao Ying to Qi State. Zhao Ying pleaded with his two elder brothers: "With me here, Luan Shu and his like will not dare to take advantage of the Zhao family; if I leave, the two elder brothers will be very dangerous. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. , although I can't abide by the etiquette, I can protect the Zhao family. Even if you let me go, what harm will it do?" Judging from the historical records, Luan Shu had no special feud with the Zhao family, at most he could not understand the Zhao family's arrogance and the Zhao brothers' arrogance and ignorance.The real enemy of the Zhao family is not the outside world, but themselves.When Zhao Dun was in charge of the state of Jin, the Zhao family was united in cutting down dissidents, eradicating dissidents, and acting recklessly, even daring to assassinate the king; , all of them were rebellious and disobedient to command, and were responsible for the failure of the Battle of Bi in 597 BC, which aroused the resentment of Jin Jinggong and many ministers.Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo are not unaware of this danger.However, what Zhao Ying did was really absurd. If the necessary measures were not taken and outsiders were not required to do anything, the Zhao family would probably have civil strife. In the spring of 586 B.C., Zhao Ying had a dream in which an angel said to himself: "Sacrifice to me, and I will bless you!" Dodging and saying: "How do I know these things!" But later he secretly told the visitor that the gods bless the benevolent and bring disaster to the immoral.It is a blessing to not be punished for committing adultery.If you go to sacrifice to the gods again, I'm afraid you will cause trouble instead. Zhao Ying did not hear what the Shihui said, and held a sacrifice for the gods, but was expelled by his two brothers the next day.In a feudal society with extremely heavy patriarchal clan concepts, it is not too much for him to be punished like this. It can even be said that Zhao Kuo and Zhao Tong took into account the friendship of their compatriots and made an exception.Neither Zhao Kuo nor Zhao Tong realized that their seemingly safe approach was a heavy blow to Zhuang Ji—from then on, she never saw her beloved Zhao Ying again. It is difficult for future generations to guess what kind of relationship exists between Zhuang Ji and Zhao Ying, is it physical pleasure, or so-called love?After Zhao Ying left, Zhuang Ji and Zhao Shuo's marriage had ceased to exist in name only. She simply separated from Zhao Shuo and took her son Zhao Wu to live in Jin Jinggong Palace.She not only resented the Zhao brothers for being too heartless, but also missed the joy Zhao Ying had brought her. As time went on, this resentment and longing turned into a demon.In the summer of 583 BC, Zhuang Ji filed a complaint to Jin Jinggong, saying that Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo brothers conspired to rebel. Duke Jing of Jin asked Luan Shu and Que Qi (the son of Que Ke) about this matter.Perhaps out of disgust for the Zhao family, both Luan Shu and Que Qi nodded and said that Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo had been dissatisfied with the monarch for a long time, and I am afraid that there is indeed the possibility of rebellion. Jin Jinggong has long been dissatisfied with the Zhao brothers. Now that Zhuang Ji is the master of suffering, and Luan and the two families approve, he boldly declares war on the Zhao family.In June of the same year, the state of Jin announced that Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo had conspired to rebel.Only Zhao Wu lived in the palace with Zhuang Ji and was not implicated. This is the original material of the so-called Orphan of Zhao.When Sima Qian wrote this period of history, he naturally also read the records of "Zuo Zhuan", but obviously, he believed that folk legends were more exciting and attractive to readers than the records of "Zuo Zhuan", so he adopted it without hesitation. The content of folklore left a poignant story about loyalty, benevolence and revenge to the Chinese.It is not the fictitious Cheng Ying and Gongsun Chujiu who have remained loyal to the Zhao family, but the good cadre Han Jue who was single-handedly promoted by Zhao Dun. According to "Zuo Zhuan", after the Zhao family was wiped out, Jin Jinggong planned to reward the doctor Qi Xi with all their land.Han Jue remonstrated: "With Zhao Shuai's meritorious deeds and Zhao Dun's loyalty, if they are no better than Jin, those who are dedicated to good will be terrified." "This is to remind Jin Jinggong not to do things too extreme. Han Jue's remarks should be viewed in two ways: Zhao Shuai did make great contributions to Jin, while Zhao Dun's loyalty is hard to agree with.However, considering that if Zhao Dun had not instigated Zhao Chuan to kill Jin Linggong, it would not have been Jin Chenggong's turn to become king, and it would be even more impossible for Jin Jinggong to sit on this throne——Zhao Dun's respect for Jin Chenggong, Jin Jinggong The loyalty of Duke Jing and his son is not groundless. Thinking of this relationship, Jin Jinggong softened his heart.He withdrew his order and ordered Zhao Wu to inherit Zhao Shuo's family business.At that time, Zhao Wu was only a boy of fifteen or sixteen years old. Maybe it was the family accident that made this young man mature very early.A few years later, he held a coming-of-age ceremony according to the custom at the time, and he wore a hat representing an adult to visit several respected seniors and listen to their teachings, including Marshal Luan Shu, who once made trouble for the Zhao family.Luan Shu spoke very politely, "You are so handsome! When I was lucky enough to work under your father, you were already very handsome, but you just don't know what your talents are. Try to improve your self-cultivation, young man." He went to see Shi Xie, and Shi Xie taught him: "From now on, you must always warn yourself. Since ancient times, sages will be more cautious when they are favored, and ignorant people will be more proud when they are favored." He went to visit Han Jue again. Han Jue felt very relieved, but he warned him seriously: "Put on this hat, which means you have become an adult. Adults should associate with good people more. In that case, bad people will have no way to influence you." You. A person wearing a hat is like a house with walls and a roof. It is for regular cleaning and removal of dirt, otherwise what is the use of wearing it?" The orphans of the Zhao family grew up under such teachings.More than a hundred years later, the descendants of the Zhao family participated in the division of Jin among the three families and established the State of Zhao among the seven heroes of the Warring States Period. Of course, this is something.