Flipping through Jin Yong's martial arts novels, I always feel like I am watching one epic masterpiece after another. This is because Jin Yong can perfectly integrate the rivers and lakes with history, so that the martial arts masters and real historical figures collide fiercely, and then there are one after another ups and downs of the rivers and lakes stories. It is precisely under this mutual reflection of both the false and the true that Jin Yong's martial arts works will inevitably make people believe in it.
However, throughout Jin Yong's complete works, many of his novels follow real history, but why didn't Jin Yong write a martial arts novel about the Tang Dynasty?
1. Jin Yong's martial arts worldview
But if you have carefully read Jin Yong's martial arts novels, you will find the characteristics of Jin Yong's writing.
The plot of Jin Yong's martial arts works is ups and downs and exciting, and most of the works can be linked to history.
For example, "Yue Nu Sword" is based on the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period; "Dragon Babu" is based on the late Northern Song Dynasty as a blueprint; "The Condor Trilogy" was written from the end of the Southern Song Dynasty to the end of the Yuan Dynasty; Although "Chivalrous Travel" and "Smiling Proud Jianghu" do not have a clear historical time, they reveal the breath of the Ming Dynasty between the lines; "The Legend of Deer and Ding" is based on the late Ming and early Qing dynasties as the background of the story; "Book of Swords and Enmity" tells the story of the grievances and grievances between Qianlong and Chen Jialuo......
It is not difficult to see that Jin Yong is good at using turbulent and unrestful eras as a blueprint, such as the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and so on. In these war-torn eras, martial arts masters not only have grievances and vendettas, but also devote themselves to the battle to protect their families and defend the country.
At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, this condition was also met, and strange men such as Li Yuanba, Yuwen Chengdu, Pei Yuanqing, Xiong Kuohai, Wu Tianxi, Wu Yunzhao, Luo Cheng, Yang Lin, and Wei Wentong emerged. Why didn't Jin Yong take advantage of these conditions and write a martial arts novel about the Tang Dynasty?
Let's listen to what Jin Yong said through Xiao Feng first?
Second, Xiao Feng's statement
At that time, Xiao Feng's secret as a Khitan was revealed to the world by Mrs. Ma, and Xiao Feng immediately betrayed his relatives and was embattled, and even fought with the Han people in Juxianzhuang and Shaomu Mountain.
Master Xuan Lin persuaded him, but was scolded back by Xiao Feng, it was written in the book, Xiao Feng said: "At the time of the Tang Dynasty, your Han people's martial arts were extremely prosperous, I don't know how many warriors killed my Khitan, how many Khitan women were kidnapped, and now your Han people's martial arts are not good, and my Khitan will attack and kill you in turn." ”
We know that Xiao Feng was endowed with the special attributes of being strong when he is strong, and becoming more and more courageous in the face of war. Just because Xiao Feng has the blood of the Khitans in his body, he, like Xiao Yuanshan, can turn the tide in adversity, and then turn the tide and defeat strong enemies.
But Xiao Feng said, "The Han people in the Tang Dynasty don't know how many warriors killed me in the Khitan", which shows that the Han people in the Tang Dynasty were more talented, and even the Khitan warriors were dwarfed. It's just that due to the continuous wars in the Central Plains, many divine skills have either been broken or become incomplete, so that the rivers and lakes in later generations have "martial arts degradation", and were finally killed by the Khitans in the Northern Song Dynasty.
In addition, Jin Yong also used Li Jing and Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty to do an earth-shattering thing.
3. What did Li Jing and Li Bai do?
Jin Yong wrote in the original text that the second ancestor met a young man who was proficient in martial arts on Chang'an Road, and talked about it for three days and three nights, before he comprehended all the secrets of martial arts in the "Yijin Sutra...... That young man was the great hero of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and later assisted Taizong, pacified the Turks, entered the prime minister, and was knighted as the Duke of Wei.
You see, it only took Li Jing three days to comprehend all the difficult and difficult "Yijin Sutra". Note that Li Jing is "fully comprehended".
What you must know is that this "Yijin Sutra" is broad and profound, even if it is a very talented Ling Hu Chong, it took him three and a half years, and he can only understand a little about "Yijin Sutra". But Li Jing was able to solve the doubts of the second ancestor, and he could also become a great hero of the founding of the country with the help of "Yijin Jing", and he had amazing feats such as pacifying the Turks and entering and exiting the generals.
Look at Li Bai again, he was also martial arts under Jin Yong's pen, and he left a poem on the stone wall of Xia Ke Island. This poem hides an extremely powerful internal skill called the Taixuan Sutra.
Over the years, countless masters in the Central Plains have gone to Xia Ke Island to comprehend the Taixuan Sutra, but these masters have not been able to understand the mystery of the poems. Only Shi Potian hit by mistake, and finally practiced the Taixuan Sutra and became a super master in the world.
Shi Potian, who practiced the Taixuan Sutra, seemed to have broken free from the shackles of flesh and blood, and his feat of bravely saving Ah Xiu at sea had surpassed the reed crossing of the river by the Bodhidharma Patriarch.
Shi Potian is still so terrifying, as the author of the Taixuan Sutra, Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty is not even more incredible, and can only be defined by the word "immortal".
Seeing this, you can understand why Jin Yong didn't dare to write martial arts novels in the Tang Dynasty.
IV. Conclusions
It turns out that in Jin Yong's writings, there has always been a "theory of the degradation of martial arts", that is, the more the end of the world, the more the way of martial arts declines. In the Tianlong era with the end of the Northern Song Dynasty as the background of the story, many fantasy and magical martial arts have emerged, such as the six-vein divine sword, flame knife and so on.
In the Tang Dynasty in the earlier period, wouldn't everyone soar through the clouds and call for wind and rain? Indeed, just looking at Li Jing and Li Bai, two Tang Dynasty characters, we will find that their cultivation was set too high by Jin Yong.
In addition, Jin Yong's good friend Liang Yusheng wrote a "Legend of the Tang Rangers" with the Tang Dynasty as the background as early as 1963. Later, Liang Yusheng wrote the follow-up works of "The Legend of the Tang Rangers" in one breath, "Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Hairpin" and "Hui Jian Heart Demon".
With Liang Yusheng's pearl and jade in front, how dare Jin Yong pick up people's teeth and wisdom?
But then again, if Jin Yong really wrote a martial arts novel set in the Tang Dynasty, would you read it?