Mother-in-law’s tattooing "serving the country faithfully" is a pseudo-history, and it was only in the Qing Dynasty that it entered the novel.
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Mother-in-law’s tattooing is a long-standing and educational story among the people. According to a gentleman on the phone, it is acceptable for Yue Fei’s descendants to remarry his ex-wife Liu, and they can’t accept it without her mother-in-law’s tattoo. In fact, purely emotionally, why am I willing to deny this story that still inspires China people’s patriotism? But unfortunately, there is no account of this matter in the Chronicle of the King of Hubei written by Yue Fei and Sun Yue Ke. The following is the only note in Volume 9 of the Nazi Compilation of the Kingdom of Hubei:
The first minister was filial by nature, and he was troubled by the northern territory. His mother ordered him to join the army to serve the country, and he could not bear it. After repeated interest, I had to stay with my wife and foster mother and cross the river from Emperor Gaozong alone. Hebei is trapped, lost and stolen, and the voice is completely separated. I have been asking for a visit day and night, but I haven’t got it for several years. Russia has a visitor from my mother, saying, "And my mother sent a message: Speak for me, encourage the holy son of heaven, and don’t think of my sister." I secretly sent people to meet him, but I was blocked by the hustle and bustle. Eight out of ten people went back and forth, and then returned. My first minister was grateful and wept, and thanked me for being unfilial.
It can be seen that although my mother-in-law is an ordinary peasant woman, she is deeply aware of the righteousness, and it is enough to be revered only in terms of this record. The original record of Yue Fei backstab’s four words "Dedicated to Serving the Country" can be found in The History of Song Dynasty, Volume 380, Biography of He Zhu, but during the interrogation of Yue Fei:
Flying naked and showing the back, the back has the four words of "serving the country faithfully" of the old Nie, which goes deep into the skin.
This shows that the tattoo on Yue Fei’s back is years old. Of course, the two most original records quoted above cannot provide proof of mother-in-law’s tattooing. Reasonably, my mother-in-law, as an ordinary peasant woman, was generally afraid of not being able to read, and tattooing at that time was a special skill. In the eighth chapter of The Water Margin, it is said that Lin Chong was "stabbed far away from the military state" and "called a writer and stabbed his cheek". The twelfth time that Yang Zhi was sentenced, he also "called a literary craftsman and stabbed two lines of gold seals, overlapping with the left-behind department of Beijing Daming Mansion to serve as an army", indicating that not everyone in the Song Dynasty had the skill of tattooing people casually.
Even in terms of ancient romance novels or operas, Yue Fei’s Breaking the East Window, which was compiled in Volume 11 of Quanyuan Opera, was analyzed by the editor, and there were traces of modification by the Ming Dynasty. His 18th poem describes that Yue Fei was interrogated on Wednesday and replied: "If Yue Fei had this matter, would he be willing to stab people in the skin with the words’ serving the country faithfully’ since childhood?" It is difficult to judge whether this passage is the original words and phrases of Yuan opera or the reviser of Ming opera, but it also shows that Yuan opera may still follow historical records. Since then, it may have been written by Yao Maoliang when Chenghua was in the Ming Dynasty. (The sixteenth legendary story of "Loyalty" describes the same plot. Yue Fei replied: "Your honor is on the top, and Yue Fei has been engraved on his body with the words’ serving the country faithfully’ since he was a child. Please examine it carefully."
There is still no story of mother-in-law tattooing in the Romance of the Great Song Dynasty published by Ming Jiajing. Volume 1 of the novel only says that Yue Fei was in Jingkang, and when he saw Hu Ma, Song Bing cowered, and all the heroes in the countryside came, he went into the mountains to be the enemy. Fei said,’ A gentleman is not famous in the history books, but a thief who steals from the dog and lives in the world, is it ok?’ It is the four words of’ loyalty to the country’ that are tattooed on the back to show the meaning of not being evil. " Volume 7 of the novel says, "Yue Fei takes a confession, then splits his clothes and turns his back. Compared with Wednesday, there are four big black words, which are deeply rooted in people’s skin."
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Feng Menglong wrote the legend of Jingzhong Banner, and his second fold, Yue Hou Nie Bei, compiled the story of Yue Fei asking Zhang Xian to stab him in the back. The excerpt is as follows. Sheng (Yue Fei) said, "Zhang Xian, you brought a knife and impressed on my back the words’ serve the country faithfully’." At last (Zhang Xian) said, "I’m afraid of your master’s pain." "I was furious," he said, "Alas, I am not afraid of Yue Fei’s death, so I am afraid of pain!" At the end, he said, "In that case, the villain is bold!" At the end, he said, "It’s finished." The student said, "Let me forget it." "At the end, I should be introduced by Nie, and the outside (pale head) and the students should be dressed." At the end, I said, "Sir is determined to serve the country, so why bother to endure this pain?" The student said, "Zhang Xian, all courtiers now flatter the Lord and forget the monarch behind his back. I’ll engrave these four words on my back today to wake up those who forget the Lord and betray the monarch and ask him to look back." It seems that the author deeply felt that "civil officials love money, military officials cherish death" in the late Ming Dynasty, and made this remark.
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