In the battle of Zhuxian Town, Yue Fei defeated the Jin army, and his troops were prosperous, intending to smash the Huanglong Mansion and welcome back the two saints.
Under such favorable circumstances, Song Gaozong and Qin Hui were inclined to make peace, and recalled Yue Fei with twelve golden plates. After Yue Fei returned to the court, he was removed from the army, and was framed by Qin Hui, Zhang Jun and others, and took him to Dali Temple for treason.
On the court of Dali Temple, He Zhu interrogated Yue Fei in the imperial history and asked him about rebellion. Yue Fei's heart can be expressed every day, he faced the interrogation with righteous and strict words, refused to rebel, and revealed the "loyalty to the country" tattooed on his back.
The four big characters on Yue Fei's back went deep into his skin, representing his loyalty. How could such a person rebel? After He Zhu saw it, he was also moved, knowing that Yue Fei must have been wronged, and truthfully reported it to Qin Hui. However, Qin Hui only said four words, "This (Zhao Gou) meaning also!" ”
The story of Yue Fei's loyalty to the country and his mother-in-law's tattooing can be said to be well known. However, what are the four words on Yue Fei's back? And who stabbed it?
Mother-in-law tattoo
Yue Fei's mother is Mrs. Yao, and is known as the Four Great Virtuous Mothers along with Meng Mu (Mencius's mother), Tao Mu (Tao Kan's mother), and Ou Mu (Ouyang Xiu's mother).
Mrs. Yao's most well-known story is her mother-in-law's tattoo, which was first written by Qian Cai in the Qing Dynasty.
When Yue Fei was twenty-three years old, Song Gaozong officially ascended the throne as emperor in Jinling. At this time, Yue Fei was still buried at home, just practicing martial arts with Niu Gao, Wang Gui, Tang Huai, Zhang Xian, Shi Quan, Ji Qing, Liang Xing, Zhao Yun, and Zhou Qing.
Due to the bad years at that time, food prices rose sharply under the drought. Niu Gao and others are all people who are used to eating and drinking, so they often do some unfunded transactions and take some ill-gotten gains. Yue Fei persuaded his brothers to take the right path several times, but they didn't listen, and Yue Fei broke off his friendship with them in a fit of anger.
The brothers were separated suddenly, and Yue Fei's heart was also extremely sad. At this moment, Wang Zuo, the Marquis of Dongsheng under the command of Yang Qi of Dongting Lake, came to Yue Fei's house. Wang Zuo first reported a pseudonym to work, saying that he admired Yue Fei's reputation and wanted to learn some martial arts from him, and became brothers with Yue Fei.
Then, Wang Zuocai explained his true intention, he was ordered by Yang Qi to come to hire Yue Fei as an official. Although Yue Fei was not happy at this time, he resolutely refused to throw himself into a thief, so he refused Wang Zuozhi's invitation and sent him away.
In these two matters, Yue Fei is willing to suffer poverty, neither greedy for wealth, nor a traitorous official. When Mrs. Yao found out, she was very relieved, but she was worried that after her death, someone would come to seduce Yue Fei, and he would not be able to keep his ambition and lose his reputation. Therefore, Mrs. Yao put down the incense candle to pray for heaven and earth, and wanted to tattoo the words "loyal to the country" on Yue Fei's back, so that he could be a loyal minister forever, and also let her godson's deeds of serving the country loyally for centuries.
Although Yue Fei resisted the tattoo a little, his mother's order was difficult to disobey, so he had to kneel down and let his mother tattoo. In this way, Mrs. Yao took out an embroidery needle and tattooed the words "Loyal to the Country" on Yue Fei's back, and painted it with vinegar ink, which will never fade.
In the follow-up, Yue Fei has always adhered to the heart of serving the country with loyalty, and he only wants to be loyal all his life.
This is the mother-in-law's tattoo in "Speaking of Yue", and it is also the most well-known story of Yue Fei's tattoo on his back.
However, it is still more doubtful whether the four words tattooed on Yue Fei's back are "loyal to the country" and whether they were tattooed by his mother-in-law.
The tattoo on Yue Fei's back
Tattoos are an ancient mark that has a long history.
In the Tang and Song dynasties, tattoos were used as a beauty ornament. In "Water Margin" with the Northern Song Dynasty as the background, the prodigal son Yanqing, the nine-patterned dragon Shi Jin, the flower monk Lu Zhishen and others all have tattoos. This is not a lie, tattoos were very common at that time, and it was said in the Song Dynasty's "The Origin of Things": Today's worldly people are tattooed, as fish dragons, flying immortals, ghosts and gods, or flowers, words.
From the Five Dynasties to the Northern Song Dynasty, there were many generals with tattoos in the military. For example, Guo Wei, the Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty, has a flying bird tattoo on his neck; At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Hu Yanzan was tattooed with "Killing Thieves with a Red Heart", and he also had his wife and slaves tattooed these four words, and asked several sons to tattoo "Go out and forget your home for the country, and forget your death in battle"; At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Yan, a famous anti-gold general, led an eight-character army, because their faces were engraved with "Serve the country with a naked heart, swear to kill the gold thief" and so on.
In this context, it is normal for Yue Fei to have a tattoo on his back.
The strange thing is that Yue Fei has a tattoo on his back, which is not recorded in the relevant historical materials of the Song Dynasty, that is, there is no record in the notes and miscellaneous conversations and wild histories.
Let's take a look at "Jin Tuocui Edition", which was written by Yue Lin collecting Yue Fei's relevant information and Yue Ke's editor-in-chief. There are many accounts of Yue Fei's life here, there are records of his birth when he was born, such as big birds flying and singing in the room, and there are also words of his mother-in-law encouraging Yue Fei to serve the country in the army. If there is really such a reality as a mother-in-law's tattoo, there will definitely be a record in the book, but there is no mention of Yue Fei's tattoo on his back, and the only relevant record is that Song Gaozong once wrote the imperial book "Jingzhong Yue Fei" pennant, so that he was used as a big hanger in the army.
The earliest mention of the tattoo on Yue Fei's back was the "Biography of He Zhu" in the "History of the Song Dynasty" edited by the Yuan Dynasty's Prime Minister Totuo and Arutu. When He Zhu interrogated Yue Fei, Yue Fei once showed his back, with the four big words "Serve the country with loyalty" on it. Therefore, if you use historical data, Yue Fei's tattoo on his back is to serve the country loyally, not to serve the country loyally.
By the time of the Ming Dynasty, Yue Fei's various stories had been widely circulated, and the theory of tattooing was also very popular. However, what is the word tattooed on Yue Fei's back and who stabbed it, but it is different, the word tattooed on Yue Fei's back in "Jingzhong Ji" is "Save the country with a naked heart"; In "The Biography of Wu Mu Jingzhong", it is said that Yue Fei asked the craftsman to tattoo the words "Jingzhong to serve the country"; In "The Legend of Jingzhong Banner", it is said that Yue Fei asked his subordinate Zhang Xian to tattoo the words "Jingzhong Serving the Country" on his back.
Judging from here, in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the saying that Yue Fei had a tattoo on his back was already very popular. However, the tattoo here is not associated with the mother-in-law.
It wasn't until the Qing Dynasty that there was a saying that the mother-in-law was loyal to the country. Here is a reference to the relevant stories of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the "Jingzhong Yue Fei" banner that Song Gaozong once sent Yue Fei, because there is also a pair of dragon and phoenix flags embroidered into "Jingzhong Serving the Country" in "Saying Yue".
It's just that although the mother-in-law's tattoo is a well-known story, it is unlikely that the words on Yue Fei's back were tattooed by his mother-in-law.
In "Water Margin", the tattoos on Shi Jin and Yan Qing were all tattooed by master craftsmen. Obviously, writing is a professional job with a dedicated writer. Although the four big characters on Yue Fei's back are relatively simple, it is impossible to simply prick the characters with an embroidery needle and then apply vinegar ink.
Therefore, the mother-in-law's tattoo is just a fictional story. However, this allusion has been praised and inspired generations of Chinese sons and daughters to defend their families and defend the country against foreign insults, which is also commendable.