Who were the two ancient generals?

It varies with time and region, as follows:

1, the earliest period

The earliest gatekeepers were two "Ren Tao" carved in mahogany. It is said that they were sent by the ancient Yellow Emperor.

Two gods wandering in the world-the embodiment of Shen Tu and Lei Yu. In addition to the records in Shan Hai Jing, all the books in Han Dynasty have records. For example, it is said in Volume 6 of Rebuilding the Integration of Weft Books and Riverside Terrace that there is a big peach tree on Du Tao Mountain, with branches winding for three thousand miles, and there is a golden rooster on it, which will be called when the sun comes out. There are two immortals under the tree, one is tea, and the other is thunder. They all hold reed ropes to guard those ominous ghosts and kill them once they are caught. Ying Shao's "Custom Righteousness", Volume 8, says that tea and thunder are brothers, and they are born to catch ghosts. They often check all kinds of ghosts under the peach trees on Dushuo Mountain. If they find anything harmful to human beings, they will arrest them and feed them to tigers. Therefore, on the New Year's Eve in Ladong, the county owner often carved a peach man with a reed and hung it on the door, and painted a tiger on the door, all of which were imitations of the ancients. Taoism has absorbed this belief. For example, Jin's Book in the Pillow lists it as one of the eastern ghost emperors, and its true immortal record at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty also said: "Today, people face the DPRK, and there are two Taoist priests standing by the door, with rooster hair in their ropes, and they are brave." Since then, Er Shen has been believed by people. For example, The Story of Jingchu Times written by Liang Zonggu in the Southern Dynasties said: Make a door with red boards, which is called immortal wood, and draw two immortals on it. The door on the left is called Shen Tu, and the door on the right is called Lei Yu. Han people call it the door god. Du Taiqing's Collection of Jade Candles in Sui Dynasty quoted Guo Tu as saying that Shen Tu and Lei Yu were the door gods under Du Taotao's peach tree. Song, Chen, Liang and Yuan Dynasties' Guang Ji Years' Volume 5 also has a special article "The Debate of Reddy", saying that people often write Fu Tao in Zheng Dan and engrave Lei Yu and Shen Tu on it. Textual research on Beiping customs is also called: New Year's Day, which was hung by nobles, and the branches and leaves of cypress were inserted by the people. Folk New Year Picture Idols and Photo Exhibition: "The so-called gods are the characters in the myth of Shan Hai Jing. ..... The meaning of the oldest door god mentioned above has not been completely forgotten so far, and there are still books engraved with its name on the door to replace the more popular portrait of the general. " It can be seen that Er Shen belief is widely spread among the Han people, and the ways of offering sacrifices are roughly as follows: painting a portrait of Er Shen on the door, carving two gods on the door with mahogany, writing the names of the two gods on the mahogany board with vermilion pen, hanging them on the door, and drawing Taoist symbols. No matter which method is used, people think that ghosts can be exorcised. Regarding the image of Er Shen, there is a picture in the voice of the three religions, in which there is a portrait of Er Shen. Er Shen is located under a peach tree, topless, with a black moustache, flirting, two horns on his head, a peach wooden sword and a reed rope in his hand, and he looks fierce. No wonder ghosts are scared when they see it.

2. Tang Dynasty

In the Tang Dynasty, there appeared a keeper, Zhong Kui, who not only caught ghosts, but also ate them. Therefore, people often put images of Zhong Kui on their doors on New Year's Eve or Dragon Boat Festival to ward off evil spirits. The Chronicle of Yanjing written by Fu Cha Dunchong in the Qing Dynasty said: "Every time you visit Duanyang, you will put a foot of yellow paper on the shop, or draw a statue of Shi Tian and Zhong Kui, or draw a five-poison spell and put it on sale. People rushed to buy and put them on the middle door to avoid worshipping evil spirits. " Its image is leopard head, eyes like rings, nose like hooks, ears like bells, wearing a black hat, black shoes, wearing dahongpao, holding a sword in his right hand and catching ghosts in his left hand, glaring, looking dignified and straight. It is said that his ghost-catching skills and prestige are much higher than those of Shen Di and Lei Yu. As for its origin, according to the records in Volume III of Bu Bi Tan, Volume IV of Tian Zhong Ji and Volume XIV of Fairy Mirror of Past Dynasties, Zhong Kui was originally from Zhong Nanshan, Shaanxi Province, and he was outstanding when he was young. Tang Wude (6 18-627) went to Chang 'an to take a martial arts exam, but he was killed on the steps of the temple because he was ugly. Later, Emperor Xuanzong occasionally went to asplenia and invited many doctors to save him. The effect is not good, and the court is anxious. One night, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty fell asleep and suddenly dreamed that a child had stolen the property in the palace and escaped along the palace wall. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty hastily ordered the arrest, only to see a tall gentleman run to the temple, grabbed the little goat and ate it with his eyes closed. Xuanzong asked him who he was, and he replied, "There is a scholar Zhong Kui missing in martial arts." . Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty woke up and got well the next day, so he asked the painter Wu Daozi to paint a portrait of Zhong Kui, which was exactly the same as what he saw in Xuanzong's dream. Xuanzong was so happy that he hung it on the door of the palace as a guard. Later, Taoism absorbed this belief, and Zhong Kui was often regarded as a judge to exorcise evil spirits and chase ghosts, so Zhong Kui became a Taoist deity to exorcise ghosts and catch ghosts. In addition, Zhong Kui is also widely circulated among the Han people. There are stories about Zhong Kui marrying his sister, Zhong Kui catching ghosts and Zhong Kui hunting at night.

The story of Zhong Kui catching ghosts is very famous among Han people in China. Han people in China have their own customs, hanging supernatural things in the portal to intimidate demons and drive away evil spirits. Shen Tu and Lei Yu are regarded as door gods because they can catch ghosts and feed tigers. This is an example. Another example is Meng Qian Bi Tan, Volume 25: "There are no crabs in Guanzhong. In Yuanfeng, when I heard about Qinchuan people in Shaanxi, I got 1000 crabs. Scholars decorate their shapes and think they are monsters. Abusers often make them suffer by hanging doors with them. Not only people don't know, but ghosts don't know. "

3. After Yuan Dynasty

Qin Qiong and Weichi Gong are five door gods. They were worshipped as door gods only after the Yuan Dynasty, but they were actually from the Tang Dynasty. According to the records in Searching for the Gods, The Complete Works of Searching for the Gods of Three Religions and The Fairy Mirror of Past Dynasties collected by the orthodox Taoist in the Ming Dynasty, the two goddesses were two generals in the Tang Dynasty (Qin) and Weichi Gong (Wei Chijingde) respectively. According to legend, Emperor Taizong was in poor health, and there were evil spirits howling outside the bedroom door. Six hospitals and three palaces, there is no peace at night. So Emperor Taizong told all the ministers about it, and Qin said, "I've killed people all my life and accumulated corpses like ants. Why should I be afraid of imps? " I am willing to wait with Jingde in uniform. "Taizong allowed them to stand on both sides of the door at night and have a safe night. After Emperor Taizong rewarded the two men, he felt that it was really hard to keep them at the palace gate for one night, so he ordered the painter to draw two portraits, both full of anger, holding Yu Fu in his hand and practicing bows and arrows with a belt whip. As usual, he hung them on two palace doors, and the wild ear was calm from then on. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that people followed this practice and regarded it as a door god. There have been similar records before, but none of them indicate that it is these two people. For example, the southern song dynasty's anonymous "Maple Window Raft" said: "Before Jingkang, there were many door gods in the side, wearing tiger helmets, and the princes' doors were decorated with mud gold. He Shi's "Biography of Soldiers" said: "On New Year's Eve, both generals wore armor in the town hall. "It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that it was recorded as Qin Qiong and Weichi Gong. For example, in Qing Guru's "The Door-keeper of Qing Karoku", he said: "Night is easy to be a door-keeper. Qin He's vulgar paintings are printed on paper and pasted by small households. "A New Theory of Searching for Gods by Li in Qing Dynasty": "In this life, I cherish each other, or draw a literary official, or a book god, or a military commander, thinking that Taizong was ill, and asked Weichi Gong to guard the door for illness. "According to the current Zhang Zhenhua Changhua's" China Times Customs ","Door-sticking gods have a long history and have different uses in different places and different times. White-faced Qin and black-faced Qin are commonly used in Beijing. So far, some residents still do this and pray for good luck in the coming year. "Explain that Er Shen has been worshipped by people since he was worshipped. There are Guan Yu, Guan Ping, Xu Zhaoyan and Bai Yang, Pei Yuanqing and Li Yuanba, Yue Fei and Wen Qiong (or Han Shizhong), Yue Yun and Reddy (or He Yuanqing and Lu Wenlong), Zhao Kuangyin and Yang Zhou, Hu Dahai and Chang Yuchun.

4. Ming and Qing Dynasties to the Republic of China

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China, the door gods of military commanders all over the country were different, and they were different from those of Beijing. For example, the door gods worshipped by Henan people are Zhao Yun and Ma Chao of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period. The door gods worshipped by Hebei people are Ma Chao and Ma Dai, while Xue and Gai in Tang Dynasty are worshipped in northwest Hebei. Shaanxi people worship Sun Bin and Pang Juan, Taihe Yang. Chongqing people pay homage to Qin Liangyu, the famous female coach of the White Pole Army in the late Ming Dynasty. And stationed in Hanzhong area are mostly two idiots, Meng Liang and Jiao Zan.

5. Modern

After liberation, people's scientific consciousness was enhanced and their superstitious consciousness was weak. In some places, portraits of Liu Hulan and Zhao Yiman, Dong Cunrui and Huang Jiguang, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, fighting heroes and national heroes during the War of Liberation and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea are posted on the gates on holidays. In this way, the door god is not a door god, but has evolved into a door painting.

Now the content of door painting is more extensive. For example, draw a picture of longevity, a picture of Harvest figure, a picture of the prosperity of six animals, a picture of workers and peasants, a picture of children's joy, a picture of rockets flying, a picture of ten horses prancing, a picture of supporting the government and loving the people, a picture of military and civilian parties, etc.

During the Spring Festival, there are still many statues of Shen Tu, Lei Yu, Qin Qiong and Weichi Gong Gate and portraits of military commanders of past dynasties posted at Hu Min's door, but compared with ancient times, their meanings are completely different. The purpose of posting images of ancient gates is to worship God, Buddha, happiness and peace. Today's portrait of the door expresses the yearning and pursuit of peace and happiness.

6. Beijing area

Idols of Qin Qiong and Weichi Gong have the most styles in Beijing residence, sitting, standing, wearing robes, piercing armor, stepping, riding, dancing with single whip and double mace, holding golden claws, but never like holding bows and arrows. Only Wang Bodang, the descendant of Xie He, a friend of the founding father of the Tang Dynasty, can hold bows and arrows. At the end of the Zong Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the hero Xiaohe Sai Guo Sheng appeared again.

Besides Qin Qiong and Weichi Gong, there are also Jie Zhen, Anta, Lv Fang and Guo Sheng in Water Margin. Because the quadrangles in Beijing are very big, the area often extends to the hutongs behind. Therefore, in Beijing's houses, there is also a kind of gatekeeper who sticks to the back door. There is only one keeper at the back door of Beijing residential building. Why? Because the back door is usually a single door. Who are you posting to? Most of them were Zhong Kui, the ghost catcher, and Wei Zhi, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. As we all know, Zhong Kui catches ghosts and gods, and it is also recorded in writing that Kevin·Z became the back door guard. In the novel The Journey to the West, it is said that after Wei Zhi, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, beheaded the old dragon king in Jinghe, the ghost of the old dragon king felt very wronged and went into the inner palace every night to beg for the life of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin. Said outside the palace gate, Weichi Gong led the soldiers to guard. The ghost of the old dragon king dared not walk under Shuang Bian's double mace. He turned to the back door of the palace and smashed bricks and tiles. As Weichi Gong and I were already at the front door, the Prime Minister had to personally hold the Dragon Sword to kill the door at night. Over time, the ghost of the old dragon king gradually declined, and Wei Zhi's dragon sword was no longer held high and stood aside. Wei Zhi is a literary official in The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties. He was the first Taoist of Sanqing Temple in Erxian Village, Lucheng County, and was later regarded as a guard by the Han people. His image is also full of heroism.

Because Beijing is an ancient city, it is the political, cultural and commercial center of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Scholars, businessmen, bureaucrats and tourists from all over the country have come to Beijing, and the door gods in their hometown have followed suit to protect their peace. So there are all kinds of door gods on the doors of houses in Beijing. Such as: Zhao Gongming, Yao Qi and Ma Wu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, heroes who resisted gold. The loveliest thing is that the door gods worshipped in Miyun area in the north of Beijing are actually husband and wife-Yang Zongbao and Mu. In short, the door gods posted in Beijing residential buildings are mostly taken from the heroes in China's classic works. These heroes, who are superb in martial arts, charitable and loyal to the country, are well known to women and children, have a wide influence and are deeply worshipped by the Han people.