History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 406 Seeing the dragon in the field
【Seeing the Dragon in the Field】

It is said that the night before Xu Wen received Xu Zhigao's title, he had a strange dream. He dreamed that there were dozens of yellow dragons swimming and playing in the water. Suddenly, a man who was ten feet tall and dressed like a sacrificial official in the Zhou Dynasty said to Xu Wen, "You can catch one at will." So Xu Wen took off his clothes, went into the water and caught a dragon.

After waking up from the dream, he wanted to ask someone to interpret the dream, but Yang Xingmi sent him "Peng Nu" and asked him to adopt him as his son. Xu Wen was very happy and thought that Xu Zhigao was the Huanglong in his dream.

Xu Zhigao was a man of great talent. It is said that he wrote a poem called “Ode to Lanterns” when he was 9 years old:
"A dot is worth a ton of gold, but when it opens it's afraid of the cold wind.

If the master is also diligent in stirring up trouble, I dare not be attentive in front of you."

Xu Wen was deeply moved by the expression of loyalty through candlelight.

Xu Zhigao, who had a miserable life and lived under the care of others, was very well-behaved and knew how to please Xu Wen. He was "very filial and respectful" to Xu Wen and "fulfilled his filial duties" and was more filial to him than his own son.

Once, Xu Wen got angry because he did something wrong. He beat him with a stick and kicked him out of the house, telling him to get out, cut off all ties with him, and never enter the Xu family again. Xu Zhigao obediently "got out", but when Xu Wen got home from get off work, he found Xu Zhigao respectfully waiting for him outside the gate.

Xu Wen asked, "Didn't I tell you to get out?"

Xu Zhigao replied: "As a child, if you abandon your parents, where else can you go? If you make your father angry, you should go away first, and then come back to show filial piety after your father calms down. This is human nature."

"Good boy." Xu Wen's anger disappeared and he accepted Xu Zhigao again.

Xu Zhigao served Xu Wen more attentively than the eunuchs served the emperor. It is said that Xu Wen was handling official business and went to bed very late. Just after he fell asleep, he found a figure standing beside the bed. He was startled and asked hurriedly, "Who is it?"

"Your son, Xu Zhigao."

"Oh, Zhigao, it's getting late. You should go back and rest early."

Xu Zhigao agreed, but did not move.

After half a night, Xu Wen got up to go to the bathroom. He looked up in a daze and almost peed himself. "Why are you still here? Go back quickly. You have to handle official business during the day. How can you stay up at night? I order you to go back and rest!"

Only then did Xu Zhigao take his leave respectfully.

After he finished his work, Xu Wen went back to sleep. When he was about to get up again in the middle of the night, he saw a woman standing by the bed respectfully with her hands down. Seeing a woman in the middle of the night was more terrifying than seeing a man.

"Who?"

The woman replied, "Xu Zhigao's wife." The wife took over her husband's shift, and the couple took turns serving by Xu Wen's bedside.

Xu Wen used kind words to persuade Xu Zhigao's wife to leave.

The next day, Xu Wen called his own sons together and said, "Look at Xu Zhigao, he is much better than you!" He scolded Xu Zhixun and others with a lot of words, including some foul language, which made them spit blood. As a result, "the sons were quite intolerant, and Zhixun was even worse."

When Xu Wen was ill, Xu Zhigao was even more busy and became one of the "Ten Filial Sons Who Moved Huainan". As the saying goes, there is no filial son by the bedside of a long-term patient. When Xu Wen was bedridden, "only the first lord (Xu Zhigao) served him personally, even taking care of his excrement and urination". Xu Wen lay there for several months. During this period, Xu Zhigao stood by the bedside, all night long, and was on call 24 hours a day. Xu Wen really couldn't bear it, so he ordered him to rest next door. No matter whether it was day or night, as long as Xu Wen coughed, Xu Zhigao would immediately appear in front of him with his wife.

Xu Wen was lying on the hospital bed. Whenever he heard the sound of someone walking outside the curtain, he would ask, "Who is it?" The answer he got was either "Zhi Gao is here" or "Zhi Gao's wife is here."

After Xu Wen recovered from his illness, he couldn't help but sigh, "Although you are not my biological son, I think you are closer to me than my own son!" After hearing this, Xu Zhigao became more cautious and respectful.

Xu Wen recovered from his illness, but Xu Zhigao's wife died of illness. This wife of Xu Zhigao was the daughter of Wang Rong, the former governor of Shengzhou. She was married with a maid named Song Fujin. Song Fujin was from Jiangxia and was displaced during the war. She was adopted by Wang Rong as a maid.

Xu Wen pointed at Song Fujin and said, "I think this girl has the potential to bring good luck to her husband. You should marry her."

Xu Wen was suspicious by nature and had doubts about his generals, so he always took Xu Zhigao with him when he went to war. He only trusted Xu Zhigao. So Xu Zhigao was able to learn about military tactics and war.

Under Xu Wen's guidance, Xu Zhigao became both civil and military, mature and experienced.

In terms of military affairs, he was "familiar with military affairs, and because of his ability to ride and shoot, he rose to be a lieutenant general", and was a qualified general;
In the thesis, he was able to manage the accounts clearly and implement good policies, and even Xu Wen, the governor of Shengzhou, coveted him.

When attacking Li Yu of Xuanzhou, Xu Zhigao served as Chai Zaiyong's deputy and led the army. In the battle to pacify Xuanzhou, Xu Zhigao ranked first and delivered an answer that satisfied Xu Wen.

There is no such thing as a grandson dressed in vain. Generally speaking, behind infinite forbearance is infinitely expanding desire.

Xu Zhigao's cautious and filial behavior in his childhood might have been an instinct of living under someone else's roof, in order to preserve or repay his godfather's upbringing. However, his respectful behavior as an adult might have had other intentions.

It is said that Xu Wen liked to wear a white robe. Whenever Xu Wen celebrated his birthday, Xu Zhigao would present him with a white robe as a birthday gift. Once, on Xu Wen's birthday, Xu Zhigao presented him with a white robe as usual. At that time, there was a guest at the table. He took the opportunity to please Xu Wen and tactfully persuaded him, saying that "a white robe is not as good as a yellow robe." While Xu Wen was still pondering, Xu Zhigao shouted, "Bullshit! My father's loyalty and filial piety are admired by the government and the public. But you are messing up the rhythm with your flattering and treacherous words! If someone with ulterior motives uses it, wouldn't it make my father unfaithful and unjust? You are Cao Cao, and your whole family is Cao Cao!"

Xu Wen suddenly realized, "Yes, I am a loyal minister, not a thief who stole the country or a villain in troubled times!"

However, "The Story of the Five Kingdoms" clearly points out that the reason why Xu Zhigao said this was because he was not yet fully grown at the time. Once Xu Wen usurped the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, it would be difficult for him, as an "adopted son", to be designated as the "Crown Prince". Therefore, he could not let Xu Wen usurp the throne, but had to delay time to allow himself to grow stronger, so that after Xu Wen's death, he could usurp the throne.

The "Five Kingdoms Story" bluntly criticized: "(Xu Zhigao) schemed for his family at home and for his country abroad, and his hard work and worries were several times more than Cao Cao and Ma."

This means that Xu Zhigao excluded Xu Wen's own son internally and fought for power, and externally he usurped the Yang family's foundation. His deliberate face was several times worse than that of Cao Cao and Sima Yi!
However, the "Jiang Biao Zhi" said that Xu Zhigao "assisted the young emperor internally and helped his adoptive father externally, extending the reign of the Yang family for more than ten years." This simply praised Xu Zhigao to the sky, and he also extended the life of the Yang family's regime for more than ten years... Who usurped the Yang family's regime?
The compiler of Jiang Biao Zhi was Zheng Wenbao, a proofreader of the Southern Tang Dynasty. It suddenly became clear that Jiang Biao Zhi was a history of the Southern Tang Dynasty described by the people of the Southern Tang Dynasty, so it was full of praises and commendations for Xu Zhigao, and full of disparagement for the Qian Liu group; while Wu Yue Bei Shi was written by the descendants of the Qian family, glorifying the Qian family and vilifying the Huainan group.

Both books were written during the Northern Song Dynasty, when Huainan and Liangzhe had been unified by the Song Dynasty. Historians on both sides used paper and pen as weapons to fight for the thousand-year-old position of historical public opinion. They hated each other and fought endlessly.

When we read history, we must not be blind. It is better to have no books than to believe in them blindly. Before reading history books, we must first look at the position of the compilers. For example, there are always some imperialist remnants who claim that the Opium War, the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China and other series of colonial aggression were civilized and developed nations to civilize barbaric and backward nations. In their words, the Chinese should thank the Western colonizers; for example, some Japanese people talk about the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Belt and the integration of Asian resources. All of Asia and even the world should thank Japan for its selfless dedication; for example, the beacon country invades other countries under the guise of anti-terrorism and humanitarianism... full of bandit logic.

Look at Li Juchuan's "Record of Serving the King" from a distance, and look at the BBC and other Western media from a close distance. They play with words lightly, create heresy, reverse black and white, confuse right and wrong, have no shame, and are shameless!

(End of this chapter)