Who is the mysterious woman in Cao Zhi’s love sister-in-law’s Ode to the Lord of Luo?

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Who is the mysterious woman in Cao Zhi's love sister-in-law's Ode to the Lord of Luo?

Zhen Shi

Caozhi, Zijian. He is Cao Cao

The third son of Bian’s wife, Cao Pi is the same mother and brother. Cao Zhi has been brilliant since he was young. At the age of 10, he can recite poems and write poems. He is very loved by Cao Cao. Among his three sons, Cao Cao once thought that Cao Zhi was the “most important person” and wanted to make him the crown prince several times. But Cao Zhi finally lost the fight with his elder brother. Cao Pi became a pawn  emperor

Later, fearing that his power would grow in the future and threaten his throne, Cao Zhi was sent to Luoyang for an excuse to kill him. Cao Pi limited Cao Zhi’s seven steps to recite a poem entitled “brother”, in which the word “brother” could not appear; If you fail to do so, you will be executed. Cao Zhi knew that Cao Pi wanted to take the opportunity to kill himself. My heart is very sad. Suddenly I saw the bean straw in the fire. Then he casually wrote a seven step poem: “boil beans and burn beans in a dustpan. Beans cry in the kettle. They are born from the same root. Why is it too urgent to fry each other!” To avoid death.

Among Cao Zhi’s works, apart from the “seven step poem”, the most famous one is Luoshen Fu, In the article, Cao Zhi described the beauty of the goddess of Luo in this way: “it is as graceful as a startling goose, as gentle as a dragon, as bright as a chrysanthemum, as luxuriant as a spring pine, as light as a cloud to cover the moon, like a flowing neck and a beautiful neck, with bright quality exposed, no added fragrance, and as elegant as a flower. Cloud looks at e’e, with beautiful eyebrows, bright red lips, bright teeth, good gaze, face supporting power, beautiful posture, quiet and relaxed, gentle, and charming in language.” From the abstract to the concrete, from the verve, charm, mood, appearance, to the bright eyes, red lips, thin waist and smooth skin, the painting is incisively and vividly described, making people feel like hearing its voice and seeing its shape. In addition, Cao Zhi also described the dynamic beauty of the goddess of Luo: “the body is fast, the birds are flitting like gods, the waves are moving slightly, and the silk socks are sitting. I look forward to flowing essence, the face is bright and jade, the words are not vomited, the air is like orchids, and the graceful appearance makes me forget my meal.” Cao Zhi vividly transformed his dream lover into an immortal literary work by virtue of his wandering dreams. A little bit of infatuation and a thousand strands of Acacia.

Later, the famous painter Gukaizhi drew the famous painting “the painting of Luoshen Fu”, which has been handed down for thousands of years, based on the “Luoshen Fu”. One of the most touching passages depicts the scene that Cao Zhi met with Luoshen, but Luoshen was helpless to leave. In the painting, Cao Zhi, standing on the bank, has a stagnant expression. A pair of autumn water are looking at the Luoshen on the distant water waves and yearning for it. The God of Luo in the painting is wearing a high cloud bun and a clothes belt raised by the wind, which gives the God of Luo on the water waves a sense of being in heaven. She wanted to go and stay. Looking around, she showed her admiration. But in the end, Cao Zhi gradually disappeared in the clouds, leaving Cao Zhi on the bank, thinking about it all day, and finally reluctantly left.

So who is the “God of Luo” described by Cao Zhi and the “God of Luo” in Gukaizhi’s paintings? Is it his sister-in-law Zhen?

According to wenzhaozhen  queen

Biography: Zhen is a Wuji man in Zhongshan. She was the daughter of Zhen Yi ordered by Tsai. During the Jian’an period, she married Yuanxi, the son of Yuan Shao. In the seventh year of Emperor Xian’s reign in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao was defeated and died in the battle of Guandu. Cao Cao took the opportunity to send troops. Zhen became a prisoner of Cao Jun. Cao Pi was amazed at Zhen’s beauty when he saw her. He said to Cao Cao, “my son has nothing else to ask for in his life. Only this person is on my side. This life is enough! I hope my father will fulfill his wish that my son is young and has no companion.” At this point, Cao Cao could not refuse, so he made people matchmaking and made Cao Pi Zhen’s wife. Zhen saw that Cao Pisheng was handsome, and because he was a prisoner of Cao Jun, he had to obey, so he had no objection.

One view is that “Luoshen” in Cao Zhi’s “Luoshen Fu” refers to his sister-in-law Zhen.

Because Cao Zhi was gifted and knowledgeable, he was able to write poems when he was about ten years old, so he was highly praised by Cao Cao and his staff. As early as during the war of Guandu, Caozhi met Zhen, Yuan Shao’s daughter-in-law, who was hiding here in the Luohe shrine. Because of her pity for fragrance and jade, Caozhi gave Zhen his white horse to help her escape back to Yecheng. Zhen also gave Cao Zhi his jade pendant as a token of gratitude. When they met again, they both felt fated. At that time, Cao Cao was infatuated with his hegemony. Cao Pi also had an official position, while Cao Zhi was still young and did not like war by nature, so he was able to get along with Zhen day and night. When his father and brother were busy with world affairs, Cao Zhi’s feelings with Zhen developed rapidly, reaching a point where they could not be separated.

Seven or eight years later, Cao Cao has steadily mastered the situation in the north. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty designated the ten prefectures of Jizhou as the state of Wei, made Cao Cao the Duke of Wei, and set his capital in Ye. On the question of who will succeed to the throne, Cao Cao was very contradictory before he died, because his eldest son Cao ang died early and four sons were born to Bian; The eldest son Cao Pi, the second son Cao Zhang, the third son Cao Zhi, and the fourth son Cao Xiong. Among the four sons, Cao Cao preferred Cao Zhi the most, preferring to make Cao Zhi the heir. However, Cao Zhi did not control his authority, he was reckless, and repeatedly delayed major events. He opened simamen without authorization, which made Cao Cao extremely disappointed in him. In this case, Cao Pi successfully became a son of the world. After Cao, Cao Pi ascended the throne of God in the 26th year of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty (229 A.D.) and made Luoyang the capital, which was Emperor Wen of Wei.

After the establishment of the state of Wei, Cao Pi could not let go of the complicated relationship between Zhen and Caozhi, so she was only granted the title of imperial concubine. Therefore, Zhen never got the empress status of her mother. At this time, Princess Zhen was over forty years old, and Cao Pi was at the peak of thirty-four years old. There were many beauties in the harem. Princess Zhen gradually declined in color and fell out of favor. In the second year after Cao Pi became emperor, she died of depression.

The year Zhen died, Cao Zhi went to Luoyang to meet his brother. Cao Rui, the prince born by Zhen, accompanies uncle Huang to dinner. Caozhi looks at his nephew and remembers empress Zhen’s death. His heart is bitter. After dinner, for some unknown reason, Cao Pi gave empress Zhen’s jade inlaid gold belt pillow to Cao Zhi.

Cao Zhi saw things and missed people. When he returned to the fief, he slept in the boat at night. In a trance, he saw imperial concubine Zhen Lingbo coming against the wind. Cao Zhi was shocked and woke up. It turned out that it was Nanke’s dream. Back in juancheng, Cao Zhi was still tossing the scene of meeting Zhen Hou in Luoshui in his mind, so his literary thoughts stirred up and he wrote a “Gan Zhen Fu”. This is an excellent literary work. Most people appreciate the beauty of its writing and copy it everywhere. It is almost a household name. Cao Pi did not seem to have investigated, but four years later (AD 234), Emperor Cao Rui of the Ming Dynasty succeeded to the throne. Because the name of the original Fu was not elegant, it was changed to Luoshen Fu. After Cao Pi’s death, the officials wanted to welcome Cao Zhi, who was then the king of yongqiu, as emperor. Therefore, after Cao Rui ascended the throne, he became very wary of his brilliant and popular uncle. Therefore, he moved to other places again and again. Cao Zhi was like a floating Ping, unable to bear the hardships of being bumpy, so he died in silence. Later generations have a poem that says, “the king should not be the son of heaven, but half of it was bestowed on Luoshen in that year.”

Due to the influence of this Fu and people’s feeling for the love tragedy between Cao Zhi and Zhen, it is said that Zhen was identified as the God of Luo. Chapter 331 of Taiping Guangji, Xiao Kuang, and Chapter 32 of Lei Shu, legends, both record the love affair between Xiao Kuang and the goddess of Luo. Luo shennv said, “my concubine, i.e. empress Zhen… I admired Chen and thought about the talent of the king. Emperor Wen died in anger. Later, my soul met the Luoshui River and described its crown. I gave it because of my feelings.” In his poems, Li Shangyin has quoted Cao zhiganzhen’s plot for many times, and even said: “the king should not do anything for the world, but half for the God of Luo at that time.”

But another view is that the so-called “Luoshen” is not Zhen, and even Cao Zhi and Zhen have never had a relationship.

Their reasons are: first, Cao Zhi cannot fall in love with his sister-in-law. The feelings between Cao Zhi and his sister-in-law are only those between relatives. Cao Zhi had a kinship with his sister-in-law when he was young. When he grew up, there was tension between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi’s brothers. Cao Zhi would not have many opportunities to approach Zhen. If ganzhen Fu were really written for Zhen, Cao Zhi would be so brazen that Cao Pi would not let such articles spread everywhere.

Second, in ancient Chinese society, people attached great importance to various ethics. Plotting against his brother’s wife is “an evil act of animals”, “if he defiles his brother’s wife and his brother Yan Ran, if he defiles the mother of his brother’s son (specify the emperor) and his brother and son Yan Ran, how about being an emperor?” “Ode to the God of Luo” is just because Cao Zhi is so suspicious of his brother and nephew that his ideal of making contributions to the country has never been realized. Therefore, he uses the “difference between man and God” in “Ode to the God of Luo” to show his grief and indignation that his ambition is difficult to raise and there is no way to serve the country.

Third, Li Shan cited Cao Pi, the literary emperor, as mentioned in the book of records, to show Cao Zhi the pillow of empress Zhen, and gave it to Cao Zhi. “Li Lao doesn’t do it,” let alone the emperor? It’s totally unreasonable and nonsense. Since Cao Pi did not give the jade pillow to Cao Zhi, Cao Zhi would not have seen the things and felt the emotion. Instead, Cao Pi wrote Gan Zhen Fu for the Zhen family.

Fourth, “Gan Zhen Fu” does have its own text, but “Zhen” is not the “Zhen” after the “Zhen”, but the “juan” of juancheng. “Juan” is connected with “Zhen”, so it should be “Gan Zhen”. Cao Zhi was king of juancheng a year before writing this Fu. In the textual research on literary selections, the hukejia family believed that this was a confusion between the legendary novel Gan Zhen Ji and Cao Zhi’s life experience. The work was actually made by Cao Zhi “under the pretext of Mi Fei, who moved his heart to the literary emperor.” it is also the ambition of Qu Zi “and” a pure word of loving the emperor and the que “, that is to say, in the Fu, he said” always put his heart on the emperor “. In Yuefu justice, Zhu Gan pointed out that the theory of “ganzhen” is true. But it was not princess Zhen who felt this, but Cao Zhi’s demotion to juancheng in the third year of Huang Chu’s reign.

Later generations denied that Cao Zhi’s love relationship with his sister-in-law was just a repetition of these views. If there is an increase, it just means that 14-year-old Cao Zhi is unlikely to fall in love with a married woman who is already 24 years old. But from the actual situation, Cao Zhi, who behaves casually, is likely to fall in love with a sister-in-law who not only has beauty, but also has more of the same hobbies as himself. It seems that the “God of Luo” described by Cao Zhi in “Ode to the God of Luo” is probably the embodiment of his sister-in-law.

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