Now let’s take a look at the story of Yang Jian brought by China story network.
Looking through the history books, we are surprised to find that Erlang God is not just a figure in myths and legends, but actually exists in the history of China — there is more than one!
So what historical figures have evolved from the mythical figure of Erlang God Yang Jian?
Statement 1: the prototype of Erlang God is Li Erlang, the second son of Li Bing, the governor of Shu Prefecture in the Warring States period. Now Dujiangyan in Chengdu, Sichuan Province was built by Li Bing and his son. If you take a bus to Dujiangyan today, you will get off at a place called Lidui park. During the construction of Dujiangyan, Li Erlang was praised by the people for his contribution to the excavation of piles. At that time, the productivity was low, the people’s cultural level was not high, and he liked to mythologize everything. Therefore, Li Erlang was gradually sacrificed as a God in the oral tradition of the working people.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court came forward to authenticate this, and made it clear that Erlang God, the second son of Li Bing, was granted the title of Hou Huiling. Later, many famous scholars and scholars also went to Erlang temple in Guankou, Sichuan Province to pay homage and record it in their notes. By the Yuan Dynasty, Li Erlang was promoted again, and was granted by the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty to show the Holy Spirit to protect the king. He has been enjoying incense offerings, and his miracles are widely spread among the people. During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, because Li Bing was granted the title of King Xingji Tongyou, Guankou Erlang temple was renamed Erwang temple. Because it has been certified by the imperial court, this statement has become the mainstream and has been widely recognized by everyone.
Statement 2: during the reign of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, Jiulong won the throne, and every prince hoped to be recognized by the old man Kangxi, so the eight immortals crossed the sea to show their magic powers. Among them, the emperor three sons gathered a group of literati to compile the ancient and Modern Book Integration. According to the records in it, Guankou Erlang should be Zhao Yu, the prefect of Jiazhou, Sichuan Province in the Sui Dynasty. It is said that this brother once practiced Taoism in Qingcheng Mountain, and met experts to teach quite magical skills. Moreover, his martial arts are high, and he is at least a great Xia level figure, and his water nature is very good. It is said that a fierce son can not breathe for seven days and nights, of course, he also said that he would avoid water. According to the legend, he personally killed the Jiaolong in the Jialing River. At that time, the river was at its end, and Zhao Taishou hung out of the gate with the dragon’s head (did he see the black dragon mm in the full Warcraft), so he was very loved by the local people. After his resignation and seclusion, whenever there was a flood on the Jialing River, Zhao Taishou would show his holiness for disaster relief. The people along the river remembered his kindness and worshipped him as a God and spread praise everywhere. In the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, heard of this incident and followed the public opinion to establish a temple to worship him at guanjiangkou. Maweipo, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, tearfully bid farewell to the imperial concubine and became king of Chicheng after she took refuge in Sichuan. The Erlang God in the romance of gods has many shadows of this Erlang God.
Statement 3: the second prince Yang Nan, the hero of the di nationality, is the prototype of the hunting God in the myth and legend of the di nationality. In the legend of the di nationality, this Yang Erlang has three eyes, rides a white horse and takes a white haired dog. Yes, this is the later image of Erlang God! However, historical circles have verified the custom of using a knife to cut open the forehead and apply ink. The trace left after the wound healed is very close to the third eye of Erlang God, which is called the open eye of the di nationality. Scientific research has shown that the middle position of the forehead is likely to have an organ like a beast that can make people predict danger in the primitive period, which gradually degenerated with the improvement of living standards in the process of evolution, Maybe this custom of Di nationality wants to restore this ability? Finally, with the gradual integration of the Di people into the Han nation, Yang Erlang, the former Di herding and hunting God, has proudly joined the fairy world of the Chinese nation.
The above three statements represent the mainstream of the origin of Erlang God, and the rest are “Yang Erlang” theory, “Zoroastrian Wind God” theory, “Shi Erlang” theory, “ancient Shu king” theory, and so on. In particular, the last statement of “ancient Shu king” is supported by the bronze Zongmu man unearthed in Sanxingdui. The image of three eyed Erlang God is highly similar to the bronze statues and masks unearthed in Sanxingdui site.
Then, why is the name of Erlang God identified as Yang Jian?
Looking up the historical materials, we were surprised to find that there was really Yang Jian in history!
In the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court was corrupt. At that time, four treacherous ministers stood side by side and were called “four thieves”. Three of them we are very familiar with are Tong Guan, Gao Qiu and Cai Jing. The last one is a eunuch like Tong Guan, and his name is Yang Jian.
Is it magical? Surprised or not?
So how did a eunuch in the late Northern Song Dynasty become the familiar God of war? It has to be mentioned that song Huizong, the emperor of Taoism, is known to all that song Huizong believes in Taoism, and the greatest pleasure in his life is to find immortals. Since leaders like it, there must be a lot of flatterers below. At this time, Lin lingsu, the leader of Taoist Shenxiao sect, appeared. This Taoist priest Lin deserves to be a top flatterer. Under his deception, song Huizong believed that he was the eldest son of the Jade Emperor, who came down to earth and reincarnated, so the friends around him can’t be ordinary people, right? Yes, these people are all immortals who came to earth, and celestial officials came to earth to assist emperor Daojun.
Yang Jian was thus linked to the gods. In the final analysis, Yang Jian needed the identity of a fairy. Unfortunately, Erlang God was honored to be selected!
It is said that the concubine of Huizong of Song Dynasty got seriously ill and was accompanied by Yang Jian to the Erlang temple to pray for blessings. The temple Zhu Dan in the temple was full of courage, and the sky made Zhi faint. He even fell in love with the imperial concubine, let alone a knife on the prefix of color. Of course, the emperor’s wife, even the second wife, is not what he wants to seduce. What should he do? Come down to earth! The Miao Zhu genius thought of the idea of Erlang God coming to earth in order to achieve the evil purpose, but was seen through by the witty father-in-law Yang Jian, but the gods must be gods to deal with. Father-in-law Yang Jian attacked poison with poison, exposed the conspiracy of the fake Erlang God as a decent Erlang God, and safeguarded the honor of the royal family and the color of the hat of song Huizong.
According to the records of literati on the Northern Song Dynasty, although there was a custom of sacrificing Erlang God among the people throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, it was by no means Yang Erlang but Li Erlang (Zhao Erlang had no choice but to be wronged, because the emperor’s surname was Zhao.) However, in the late Northern Song Dynasty, song Huizong period, Erlang god suddenly became Yang Erlang, which is a very unreasonable thing.
This story of Yang Jian was later recorded in Feng Menglong’s “awaken the world to the truth”. With the wide spread of “three words and two shots”, the romance of gods and journey to the west, written in the Ming Dynasty, also drew on the saying that the Erlang God is Yang Jian, especially in the description of the appearance of the Erlang God in journey to the west, there is no need to wear the verses of the Sanshan hat, which are the standard configuration of a qualified Eunuch in the Ming Dynasty.
On this basis, the romance of gods and journey to the West are heavily integrated into the folk literary processing of various legends of Erlang gods, which are derived from life and higher than life, and finally create the mythical characters that are now familiar to everyone — guanjiangkou Erlang Xiansheng Zhenjun, Qingyuan Miaodao Zhenjun, Chicheng King Yang Jian. Disclaimer: the above content originates from the network, and the copyright belongs to the original author. Please inform us if your original copyright is infringed, and we will delete the relevant content as soon as possible.