Do you still have Guan Yunchang's protective knife?

Anyone who has read Romance of the Three Kingdoms knows Guan Yunchang's Dragon Crescent Moon Knife. Guan Yu took this knife and beheaded Yan Liang and Wen Chou. After five passes and six generals, he became famous all over the world. However, Guan Yu did not have a dragon crescent moon blade in history.

Although there are many historical records about swords and other weapons, there is not a word about swords in Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Guan Yu's Biography, and the full text of Romance of the Three Kingdoms does not mention the fact that Guan Yunchang made the dragon crescent moon blade. Except for Pei Songzhi's notes and official history, there is no such record in other miscellaneous history notes. It was not until the Sui and Tang Dynasties that this kind of thing appeared.

Knife has a long history in China, but it was only used as a short weapon in Han Dynasty. Generally, the length is about 1 m, and the weight is only a few kilograms. According to the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Records of the Sword and related materials, the long-handled broadsword did not appear until the Three Kingdoms period. Long Dao with two hands didn't appear until Sui and Tang Dynasties, and there were ceremonial ceremonies, while Qinglong Crescent Moon Knife with long handle and wide blade similar to that used by Guan Yunchang didn't appear until Song Dynasty. Therefore, it is completely false that Guan Yu used an 82-pound dragon crescent moon blade as a weapon in the Three Kingdoms.

So what weapon did Guan Yu use? According to Tao Hongjing's Records of Ancient and Modern Knives and Swords in Nanliang, "Guan Yu was valued by his former owner and sacrificed his own life. It is said that Wudushan Iron is the second sword among ten thousand people. And the feathers are defeated, and I cherish the knife and throw it into the water. " This is more credible. Because at this time, the use of short knives as weapons has become very common and has become the main weapon in the army, and the three countries have cast a large number.

The saying that Guan Yu made the dragon swallow the moon broadsword began in the Song Dynasty. Yue Fei once painted Guan Yu wearing armor, with a knife across his horse. Looking back, his beard fluttered, as if he had won a battle on the battlefield and slowly returned to camp. Someone carved this painting on a stone and now it is stored in Longmen Institute of Cultural Relics. In the History of the Three Kingdoms of the Yuan Dynasty, Guan Yu charged with a broadsword on the battlefield. In the Ming Dynasty, after the artistic processing of the writer Luo Guanzhong, Guan Yunchang in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms became a handsome, dignified and arrogant hero riding a red hare with two legs and holding a crescent knife in his hand. Luo Guanzhong also invented Guan Yunchang's touching deeds such as "going to the meeting with a single knife" and "choosing a brocade robe with a knife" based on this bean broadsword, which further highlighted Guan Yu's fame and bravery.

1. Does Guan Yu use a knife?

This is the most talked about for hundreds of years. It is estimated that many people can recite it: the weapon used by Guan Yu in history is not a knife, and naturally it will not be the so-called Qinglong crescent moon blade. Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms does not mention what weapons Guan Yu used. Reflection? There is only one paragraph in Guan Yu Biography: "Shao sent a general (army) Yan Liang to attack the prefect of Dongjun, and Cao Gong ordered Zhang Liao to be the pioneer. Cover it when you see it, get on the horse and stab it in the crowd. He beheaded it and returned it. He showed the generals what they couldn't do, so he solved the problem of white ponytail. " Through the word "stab", many people think that Guan Yu's weapons belong to spear, halberd and other straight stab weapons. Some experts have verified that in the Han Dynasty, "halberd system was the most prosperous, followed by spear". During the Three Kingdoms period, there was no long-handled broadsword like Qinglong Crescent Moon Blade. This crescent knife appeared in the Tang and Song Dynasties and was mainly used for training to show its military strength, not for actual combat. Through the explanation of experts, the myth of closing the knife can finally be confirmed. Moreover, comprehensive experts' textual research on the origin, development and use of weapons in various periods, including Huang Zhong and Wei Yan's broadsword, Huang Xu's axe, Huang Gai's iron whip, Wu Anguo's hammer and Lu Bu's Tian Fang's painted halberd, are all fictitious. This kind of textual research is conducive to returning to the historical origin, and can also let fans know more about ancient weapons. It happened that some authors did something unconventional recently, trying to work hard on the 82-catty dragon crescent moon blade described in the novel. In fact, they studied how hard it took to hit the 82-catty dragon crescent moon blade immediately, trying to prove the myth of the dragon crescent moon blade, and the result was a big joke. Some authors simply don't understand that the scales in the Eastern Han Dynasty are different from those in modern times. At that time, a kilo was only equivalent to 222.72 grams today. Based on this calculation, the Qinglong crescent moon blade is now 36 kilograms. These people have a good direction, but they made two mistakes: first, they didn't have enough knowledge and made wild guesses; Second, even if there is a result, it will have no effect on the study of the history, historical figures, novel art, novel characters and authors of the Three Kingdoms. This unconventional practice is time-consuming and futile, and it is better not to do it. But this kind of mistake doesn't just happen to ordinary people. In the 1980s, my father came back with a true joke after attending a classical literature conference: at the meeting, an expert produced his own paper, the main content of which was to prove that Cao Xueqin, the author of A Dream of Red Mansions, was a fat man! Twenty years later, I still remember my father's expression when he said this. This meaning, might as well ask readers to think about it.

2. How did the dragon crescent moon blade evolve?

Since it has been mentioned above that Guan Dao is fictional, how did it appear in the novel treading on thin ice? The author checked the relevant information, which is not complete. From the reflection? Guan Yu Chuan: Did Guan Yu use a spear or a halberd? In the Tang and Song Dynasties, this guard knife seemed to be a sword (I don't have enough information on this, I'm afraid I've missed it. If any netizen has detailed information, please advise. Thank you very much )。 There is a saying in Lang Junyi's poem "Don't be friends in Zhuang Temple" in the Tang Dynasty: "The general holds a natural posture and bravely crowns the present and the future. A hundred battles are victorious, and one sword is ten thousand enemies. " Huang Maocai, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote in Wu Zan: "I am brave and strong. Among the people, I stabbed Yan Liang. " Ming's "Ode to the Temple of Wu Wang" said: "Lingyun's firm but gentle attitude is actually a tiger minister. Bravely add a country and the number of enemies is 10,000. " In the Yuan Dynasty, the saying that Guan Yu used a knife began to appear in different works. Hao Jing, a native of the Yuan Dynasty, said when he rebuilt the temple, "You jumped on the horse and were among the people, and Yin will give you money. Going to Cao Gong with a horizontal knife to worship books is a national style. " Later, in Yuan Zaju, Guan Yu also used a knife. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the most important reference work, The History of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu also took a knife to participate in the "Three British Wars against Lu Bu": "On the third day, Lu Bu fought again, and the ministers went out to meet him. Zhang Fei went out with a gun. Zhang Fei and Lu Bu fought twenty times, regardless of victory or defeat. Guan Yu was furious, rode his horse and turned the knife, and the two generals fought with Lu Bu. My late Lord couldn't bear it, so he rode three times with Lu Bu's double swords and went to northwest Hulao Pass. " From the analysis of these data, the weapons used by Guan Yu ranged from spear (halberd) to sword, and finally they were formally fixed on the knife. It is not clear whether the dragon crescent moon blade is the first creation in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but through the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the dragon crescent moon blade and Guan Yu have been integrated and inseparable.

What is the function of this calculation? As we all know, there has been a lot of debate about the date of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and there have been four views: the Song Dynasty was even earlier; Meta-theory; Ming Chu said; Theory in the middle of Ming dynasty. If the above calculation about Guan Dao is correct, it may be helpful to solve the dispute over the date of completion of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Why? Please see the next section.

3. How did the dragon crescent moon blade in Guanmiao come from?

As mentioned above, from the existing data, it takes quite a long time for the theory of Qinglong crescent moon blade to come into being and be finalized. Seeing this, we may have another guess: if the theory of Qinglong crescent moon blade is inconclusive, what will be the most affected? Romance of the Three Kingdoms? No, it's Guandi Temple. As we all know, in the thousands of years after Guan Yu's death, with people's memory of Guan Yu as a "thousand-year loyal minister" and the political needs of rulers of past dynasties, it became a trend to build temples for Guan Yu, and Guandi temples were basically spread all over the country. Imagine: if the dragon crescent moon blade is not finalized, it is impossible for the dragon crescent moon blade to appear next to the Guan Yu statue in Guandi Temple. It is impossible for the craftsmen who built Guandi Temple to add a knife to Guan Sheng for no reason because of their own whim. They must also get the response from all Guandi temples and make them spread all over the country and become the specialty of Guan Yu. In order to get the response of all Guandi temples, we might as well make three assumptions: one is the designation of rulers, the other is folklore and the third is literary works. The first possibility does not exist; The second possibility is very small. China's folktales are numerous and chaotic, and they are not widely circulated and lack unity, so they are unlikely to have such great influence. The third kind of literary works is the most likely. From the above analysis, poetry, Sanqu and Yuan Zaju are not so influential, and there is no unified description of the weapons used by Guan Yu in these works, so the only possibility left is the emergence of a great literary work. This great literary work can only be The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and only this literary masterpiece can do this. With the popularity of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the dragon crescent moon blade was finalized and accepted by people, and the dragon crescent moon blade appeared in Guandi Temple. This will be easier to handle. We can make a general survey of Guandi Temple nationwide, look at the approximate time when the Dragon Crescent Moon Blade appeared there through local chronicles and related poems, sacrifices and memorial records, and then make a general judgment according to the time when the Romance of the Three Kingdoms became famous, and perhaps we can get the approximate time when the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written. At the same time, by determining the time when The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written, it is easy to determine the author's question. (Of course, it's easier said than done. First of all, it is difficult to determine the time when The Romance of the Three Kingdoms became famous. There are many inaccurate factors, but at least the possibility of the novel coming out after the knife is closed is definitely not established, which can reduce some disputes. )

4. Why is it a knife instead of other weapons?

Since the dragon crescent moon blade is fictional, it will bring another kind of association: why is it the dragon crescent moon blade and not other weapons? From the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, we can roughly analyze it: First of all, the author has designed many wonderful plots around this dragon crescent moon blade: choosing a robe with a knife, going to the meeting with a single knife, throwing a knife and grabbing a knife, and this dragon crescent moon blade has appeared in the novel for longer than Guan Yu; Secondly, as Mr Qiu Zhensheng said, "In China's classical literature and art, people pay great attention to what they have in hand. Although they are a knife and a gun, they often become the distinctive symbols of characters. This traditional method of harmony and unity between people and things was gradually explored by artists of outstanding writers in ancient China in their long-term artistic practice, and it still has reference significance today. " The reason why I want to talk about this small topic is that I am afraid that one day someone will write such a strange article as "Why Guan Yu doesn't use a mace", which is even more horrible than demonstrating that Cao Xueqin is fat. )