Who is the unknown blade master? How much has he achieved?
"There are seven swords at the waist and hundreds of bows on the arms." Only when I heard that there were prisoners in the clouds did I know that there were generals in the world. "This is a poem by Wang Wei, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. The general he sang was Pei Min, a sage in the Tang Dynasty, who was called the blade master.
Yes, the blade master is Pei Min. I guess many people will feel strange when they hear this name, right? Such a famous figure is far less catchy than Confucius, Laozi and Zhuangzi. Is it because fencing has no place in our country?
That's not true. As we all know, fencing is an extremely important skill in Chinese history. Look at countless martial arts novels, martial arts film and television dramas. Usually, the people with the highest martial arts, the most attractive and attractive figures often use swords.
Just how many martial arts Mr. Jin Yong wrote, it is enough to imagine the influence of fencing on our people.
Or is this general Pei too low-key? There is a certain reason, because many people have heard of the three wonders of the Tang Dynasty, one of which is Pei Min's swordsmanship. It is said that his swordsmanship has reached a superb level, but there is not so much information about him in the history books.
Among them, there is such a record in the Record of Warriors: throw a sword into the cloud, which is dozens of feet high. If lightning strikes, the sword will be carried by the hand holding the sheath, which will surprise thousands of people. This is a direct picture of Pei Minzhi's superb fencing and amazing fencing.
Wu Daozi, a great painter, also had a story with the great swordsman: Pei Min's mother died that year, and he wanted to ask Wu Daozi to paint a mural of the Temple of Heaven for her mother. However, Wu Daozi made a request: If you want me to paint, give me a "sword dance" first to help me find inspiration.
So, Pei Min took off his mourning clothes at this moment and performed a sword dance for Wu Daozi, "Go Ma Rufei, turn left and turn right". The best part is in the back. Pei Min's dance, "Holding the scabbard, the sword enters the room".
Although it is the same as the previous record, this kind of throwing is more than ten feet high, just like another martial arts master who has the grace and momentum to let the sword retract directly from the scabbard as soon as he reaches out!
Because of this, in the Tang Dynasty, people regarded Pei Min's swordsmanship, Li Bai's poems and Zhang Xu's cursive skills as the "Three Wonders of the Tang Dynasty" given by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty.
How many legends will such a legendary figure leave to future generations if he does not keep a low profile?
But it is such a powerful person who ranks among the ancient saints, but few people know it. This is really unscientific and unfair, isn't it? But it is precisely because of this that we are curious about this general Pei today. What kind of person is he and what does he do?
Pei Min's file is said to be Li Bai's master.
Pei Min's records can be found in some historical materials of the Tang Dynasty, and even in note novels. He was a famous figure in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, and his ancestral home was Wenxi, Shanxi.
At that time, Shanxi was called Hedong, so there were many discrepancies in the information. Some information says that he is from Hebei, which is wrong, but Pei Minzhi did work as an official in Hebei.
Pei Min is a real military commander. He participated in many wars in his life, such as the wars between the Tang Dynasty and Qidan, and between Tubo and Xi, in which Pei Min was found. At that time, his achievements were also very high, and he was once a general of Sargingo. It is said that he is not only good at fencing, but also hits every shot. One day, he shot 3 1 tiger.
As for Pei Min's performance in the war, later generations also recorded it, though not much. There is a saying that at that time, Westerners rebelled with the Khitan, and Pei Minzhi went out with Sun Bin, a general of the Tang Dynasty. As a result, the motorcade went to a dangerous place and was ambushed by Xi people. In the face of the sudden arrow, the ranks of the Tang Dynasty were in chaos, and everyone wanted to retreat and could not get in.
Just when everyone panicked, suddenly a man flew out and saw him kowtowing and waving his sword, leading the team all the way forward. The speed with which Pei Min wielded his sword made everyone stupid: he just waved his hand and cut off four sharp arrows. Such a brave and approachable general frightened the people of Xi at that time. The team of the Tang Dynasty advanced and defeated the Xi people.
Although there is no official record of this war, it is enough to show that people actually worshipped Pei Min at that time. Therefore, people's reverence for Pei Min's swordsmanship can be seen in all kinds of note novels and famous paintings of past dynasties. It is said that people like Wu Daozi have actually "made great progress" after seeing Pei Min's swordsmanship.
There is even such a legend that Pei Min's swordsmanship not only makes the people admire, but also makes the emperor appreciate it. Even the poet Master Li, who was called by the emperor, yearned for it, so he finally worshipped Pei Min as his teacher and learned fencing from him.
However, this legend has no real evidence. Whether Li Bai learns sword or worships Pei Min as a teacher is a guess. But it gives us a channel to know the great swordsman: Pei Min, as a military commander, his sword is used to kill people, not to dance. So those records that describe his swordsmanship as "skill" are not really praising Pei Min's martial arts, but that his swordsmanship is more performance than martial arts.
In this way, we can guess why Pei Minzhi is not well-known as a great swordsman, and the historical records of later generations are not detailed. One possibility is that Pei Min keeps a low profile, and then people stiffly describe a real swordsman as an "artist". Over time, people naturally listened to him as a story, not as a historical fact.
Today, however, we have more ways to restore history step by step. In this way, we can gradually know more and more unknown history. Just like Pei Min, one of the Eight Saints, I think he will become a household name like Confucius and Guan Yu one day.