Life of Wu Chengen
Wu Chengen (1500-1582), courtesy name Ruzhong and nickname Sheyangshan, was a native of Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture (now Chuzhou District, Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province). Novelist of the Ming Dynasty.
Wu Chengen was born into a family of low-level officials who were reduced to small businessmen. His father Wu Rui had an optimistic and open-minded personality and pursued the philosophy of Changle. He named him Chengen, with the courtesy name Ruzhong, which means I hope he can study and become an official, inherit the emperor's favor, benefit the people, and become a loyal minister who will leave a name in history. Wu Chengen was diligent and studious when he was a child. He could read ten lines at a glance and recite what he saw. He is good at painting and calligraphy. He likes to write lyrics and music. He is also proficient in Go. He also likes to collect calligraphy and painting stickers of famous people. When he was a boy, he became famous in his hometown for his outstanding literary talent. He was appreciated by people, who thought that he passed the imperial examination, "like picking up a piece of mustard". "Huai'an Prefecture Chronicles" records that he is "sensitive and intelligent, and he is well-versed in books, and he is the author of poems and essays." In addition to being eager to learn, he especially likes to search for strange things and hunt monsters, and he likes to watch gods, ghosts, lemurs, monsters, and monkey spirits. books. Novels and unofficial histories such as "The Record of Hundreds of Strangers" and "Youyang Zazu", as well as these colorful mythological worlds, have subconsciously developed a hobby of searching for strange things. As we grow older, this hobby Unabated. This had a significant influence on his creation of "Journey to the West". After the age of 30, he had already "filled his chest" with the anecdotes he was searching for, and he had plans to create. When he was about 50 years old, he wrote the first dozen chapters of "Journey to the West", but then stopped for many years for some reasons. It was not until he resigned and returned to his hometown in his later years that he was able to finally complete the creation of "Journey to the West", which lasted 7 years.
Wu Chengen, who entered his youth, was a wild and uninhibited young man who was arrogant and arrogant. The low social status, poverty and hardship made this great talent unruly, which attracted a lot of laughter, and the days of being praised by others are gone forever.
When Wu Chengen was about 20 years old, he married a girl named Ye from his hometown, and they had a deep relationship after the marriage. Although Wu Chengen was wild and unruly, he was well behaved and loyal to his wife.
In the tenth year of Jiajing's reign, Wu Cheng'en obtained excellent results in the provincial school age examination and scientific examination, qualified as a member of the imperial examination, and went to Nanjing with his friends to take the provincial examination. However, his talents were not as good as those of his companions, and he, a talented man who was well-known in the countryside, unexpectedly lost his reputation.
The next spring, his father passed away with regret. Accepting the lesson of his first failure, Wu Chengen devoted himself to studying Shi Wen in the next three years, but still failed to pass the examination in the autumn of the 13th year of Jiajing. Wu Cheng'en was filled with shame and resentment. This winter, he actually fell ill. The failure of two provincial examinations, coupled with the death of his father, had a heavy impact on Wu Chengen. In his opinion, if you fail to pass the exam, you will not only have no reason to pay, but you will also be a disgrace to your parents and ancestors. But he didn't think that he didn't pass the exam because he had no ability, but just because of bad luck. He believed that "fame and wealth have their own destiny. If you have to get it, is it crazy?"
Wu Chengen was unconventional and upright throughout his life. The reason why he is so talented but fails to succeed in many trials is probably related to his unwillingness to make remarks against his will to please his superiors. He hates the corrupt officialdom, is unwilling to go against his heart, and holds a negative attitude towards the dark reality. He wrote in the poem "Erlang Searching the Mountains Picture Song": "The disasters of the people are found in the clothes, not for apes and cranes, but for sandworms. I sit and watch the five ghosts in the Song Dynasty, but I don't see Yu Ting punishing the four evil ones. The wild man is pregnant. I'm so grateful. I feel sorry for the evil in my chest. I want to save the moon but I can't help the sun. Is there no hero in the world? Who can protect me forever? "Qing Ning Gong." believes that the reason for the formation of "civilian disasters" and the ugliness of social reality is that the rulers use people poorly and let bad people like the "Five Ghosts" and "Four Evils" take charge. He wanted to "bring Linfeng", practice the "kingly way", and turn things around, but his talents were not recognized and his ambitions were not fulfilled. He could only be generous and sigh in the face of the wind.
The pressure brought by the difficult life on Wu Chengen was no less than the failure of the scientific examination. After his father passed away, he needed to take care of all the family's expenses, but he did not have the ability to support the family, let alone the means to support the family. The family's source of income, apart from receiving six buckets of rice from the school every month, they can only live on the inheritance left by their father.
After experiencing the ups and downs of social life, Wu Chengen began to think more clearly and deeply about the problems of social life, and used his own poems to fight against the unreasonable society.
Wu Chengen's Journey to the West
Wu Chengen once wrote a novel about strange things, "Yu Ding Zhi". He said in the preface of this book that although his novels about ambitions and myths were about gods and ghosts, they were actually focused on the "human world", in order to entrust his political ideals, lash out evil forces, and make readers "Terrifying and easy to worry about" does not mean doing nothing, or searching for strange things to make people laugh. He created "Journey to the West" for the same purpose. In the forty-fifth chapter of "Journey to the West", it is written that when Sun Wukong arranged for the God of Nature to spread clouds, thunder, and rain, he specially ordered Deng Tianjun, the Lord of Thunder, to say: "Old Deng carefully watched for me those officials who were corrupt and broke the law, and those who were disobedient and unfilial. , kill a few more and show them to the public!" What Sun Wukong hates most is "corrupt officials", which is completely consistent with Wu Chengen's special hatred of corrupt officials in many poems.
In the mythical world of "Journey to the West", there are shadows of the human world everywhere: the sacred heaven is magnificent on the surface, but the supreme Jade Emperor is indistinguishable from wise to foolish and very mediocre. The heaven and the human dynasty are similar; the underworld is strict, the officials protect each other, and they are corrupt. Violating the law, innocent people have a hard time redressing their grievances, just like the yamen on earth; demons and demons are willing to kill and eat people, greedy for money and lust, rely on magic and magic to dominate a party, and do all kinds of evil. They are simply the embodiment of bullies and bureaucrats in the world. "Journey to the West" also writes about some human countries, where most of the rulers are "not virtuous in literature, bad in martial arts, and the monarchs are not moral." This is also a portrayal of the crimes of the Ming Dynasty's emperors and ministers who brought harm to the country and the people. Sun Wukong, portrayed by Wu Cheng'en, hates evil as much as he wants and has vast supernatural powers. All demons and demons who are aggressive and crazy are driven away by his golden cudgel and lose their former majesty. They either die or are captured without help. This all reflects Wu Cheng'en's efforts to clean up the ugly phenomena and evil forces in society. The strong desire is also the essence of democracy in "Journey to the West".
Wu Chengen, who lived in poverty all his life, worked hard to complete the famous "Journey to the West" at home and abroad, and passed away in about the tenth year of Wanli with a mixture of sadness and joy.
The emergence of "Journey to the West" opened up a new category of long chapter novels about gods and demons. The book's clever combination of good-natured ridicule, bitter satire and serious criticism directly influenced satirical novels. development. "Journey to the West" is the peak of romanticism in ancient novels. In the history of world literature, it is also a masterpiece of romanticism. The "American Encyclopedia" considers it "a mythical novel with rich content and brilliant ideas", and the "French Encyclopedia" says: "The descriptions of the stories in the book are full of humor and fun, giving readers strong interest." From Since the 19th century, it has been translated into more than ten languages ??including Japanese, English, French, German, Russian, and became popular in the world.
Suspense of Journey to the West
Is the author of "Journey to the West" Wu Chengen? It has been a historical mystery for hundreds of years. In the 1920s, Hu Shi and Lu Xun argued from Qing Dynasty scholars that the author of "Journey to the West" was Wu Cheng'en, a middle-aged Gongsheng student from Jiajing, Huai'an. However, from the various versions of "Journey to the West" that can be seen so far, none of them is signed by Wu Cheng'en. Recently, the Beijing Library Press released the book "Talking about Wu Cheng'en - Revealing the Author of Journey to the West", which proposed that the author of "Journey to the West" was not Wu Cheng'en, but Li Chunfang, the "Qingci Prime Minister" of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty.
The research idea is to start from the word "school" in "Huayangdong Tianzhu School" in the front volume of Shidetang's "Newly Engraved Official Banner Journey to the West", and compare it with Yang Zhihe's "Journey to the West" and Zhu Dingchen’s "The Legend of Shi E". The plot changes and developments in additions, deletions, and modifications between the two versions, demonstrate the writing process of the novel, straighten out the publishing order of the three versions, and combine the Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism embodied in it. The three schools of thought traced the source of the experience and identity of the author of "Journey to the West" and found that the book "Journey to the West" has nothing to do with Wu Cheng'en. The real author should be Li Chunfang, the "Qingci Prime Minister" in the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty.
Wu Chengen wrote a poem "Gift to Li Shilu Taishi", and Shilu was Li Chunfang's nickname. Li Ji was affiliated with Xinghua County, Jiangsu Province. During the Jiajing period, he passed the first place in the imperial examination and was promoted to prime minister because he was good at writing "Qing Ci". When he was young, he studied in Huayang Cave, Jiangsu Province, so he was also known as the "Master of Huayang Cave". He was once appointed to the "Yongle Dadian" of the main school. There is a poem in the 95th chapter of "Journey to the West": "The sky is full of colorful auspicious mist and fragrance, and a barren mountain is suddenly auspicious; the rainbow flows for thousands of years, clearing the rivers and seas, and electricity surrounds Saiyu Tang in Changchun. The grace of the grass and trees adds beauty, and the wild flowers bloom. There is lingering fragrance. The elders have left traces in ancient times, and now I am happy for Mingjun to descend into the treasure hall." Mr. Shen found that the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh sentences of this poem imply "the traces left by the old man Li Chunfang" and the title "Huayang". Dongtianzhuxiao" refers to "the compilation of "Journey to the West".
The basis for Hu Shi and Lu Xun's assertion that Wu Chengen was the author of "Journey to the West" is the "Huai'an Prefecture Chronicle" written by Tomorrow Qijian, which records that Wu Chengen wrote "Journey to the West", but does not explain what kind of book it is. In the Qing Dynasty, Xianfeng reprinted the "Huai'an Prefecture Chronicle" and deleted this article.
At the end of 1983, Mr. Zhang Peiheng pointed out in "Whether the Hundred Chapters of "Journey to the West" Was Written by Wu Chengen" that in the more than 300 years from the publication of "Journey to the West" to the 1920s, various The publication may be signed as edited by Zhu Dingchen, or only signed as Huayang Dongtianzhu without the author's name, or written by Qiu Chuji. None of the publications acknowledges Wu Chengen's copyright. Hu Shi's 1921 "Preface to Journey to the West" also said that this work "was written by an unknown novelist after the middle of the Ming Dynasty." Later, Mr. Lu Xun strongly advocated that Wu Chengen said that Hu Shi had obtained the materials copied by Lu Xun to him, and he also held this opinion in "A Textual Research on Journey to the West". However, a closer look at their research shows that there are two indirect materials and only one direct material.
Indirect material 1: Wu Yuqi (1698-1773) "Shanyang Zhiyi" Volume 4:
Tianqi's old "Zhi" (referring to Tianqi's "Huai'an Prefecture") Mr. Lie ( Referring to Wu Cheng'en) as the head of the modern literary field, he said: "Sensitive and intelligent, he has a wide range of books, he is the author of poems and essays, he is also good at humor, and he has written several kinds of miscellaneous notes, which made him famous for a while." I didn't know why the miscellaneous notes were such a book at first. I also read "Huaixian Wenmu", which recorded "Journey to the West" as written by Mr. According to the examination of "Journey to the West", it was originally called the Book of Zhengdao, which is said to be in line with the main purpose of Jindan, and the Taoist Garden of Yuan Dynasty was in order. It is said that this book was written by Qiu Changchun, a real person in the early period of his country; and the county annals said that it was written by Mr. Chu. When the apocalypse comes, the teacher is not far away, and his words must have a basis. It means that this record was written in the early spring of Changchun, and Mr. Zhi wrote a popular romance about it, such as Chen Shou in the "Three Kingdoms" version, and Luo Guanzhong in "The Romance".
There are many dialects of my hometown in the book, and there is no doubt that they were written by Huai people. Or it is said: There is "Journey to the West" written by Mr. Sheyang.
It has been nearly two hundred years since the publication of "Journey to the West" by Wu Yuyi, and the only basis for his judgment is "Huai'an Prefecture Chronicles" by Ming Qi. His right to speak is actually about the same as ours.
Indirect material 2: Ruan Kuisheng (1727-1789) "Cha Yu Ke Hua" Volume 21:
According to the old "Zhi", it is said that Sheyang is sensitive and intelligent, which is a poem The writing is complete and full of humor, and there are several kinds of miscellaneous notes. Unfortunately, the title of the miscellaneous notes is not noted, but the "Huaixian Wenmu" contains the popular romance "Journey to the West" written by Sheyang. This book became popular at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and people in the alleys loved to talk about it, but it had never been heard of before. ...According to Ming County Chronicles, it is said to have been written by Sheyang. Sheyang went to cultivate his ambitions not far away. How can he be listed in the Yuan Dynasty's novels that are popular in the world? Perhaps there was this record at the beginning of Changchun, and the story of Sheyang was based on the story, which is a very bizarre and miraculous view of the world; just like the "Zuo Shi" has the "Zhi of the Nations", and the "Three Kingdoms" has the "Yanyi". Judging from the dialects and slangs in them, they are all spoken in the streets of Huaishang, and women and children in the alleys and markets can all understand them. However, people from other places do not always read them the same way, so there is no doubt that they were written by the Huai people.
The only basis for judgment here is Tianqi's "Huai'an Prefecture Chronicles". According to Mr. Lu Xun's analysis, Ruan Kuisheng actually wrote it based on the fourth volume of Wu Yu's "Shanyang Chronicles" because it followed the book's "Fushan Comedy" in "Huai'an Prefecture" is mistakenly written as "Fushan Comedy". Both Wu and Ruan mentioned the Huaishang dialect in the book, but they both confirmed that Wu Chengen's work was circumstantial evidence after the novel "Journey to the West". However, there has been a big debate in the academic circles about the dialect issue in the novel. In the early Qing Dynasty, Huang Taihong's "Journey to the West Zhengdao Book Postscript" already stated: "There are many Jinling dialects in the chapter." In the Qing Dynasty, others who claimed Wu Chengen as the author include Ding Yan's "The Continuation of Shiting Chronicles" and Jiao Xun's "The Story of Drama". However, they either relied on "Huai'an Prefecture Chronicles" or "Cha Yu Ke Hua", which means that they will There is actually only one basis for awarding the copyright to Wu Chengen.
Direct materials: Tianqi's "Huai'an Prefecture Chronicles" Volume 19 "Art and Literature Chronicles" 1 "Huai Xian Wenmu":
Wu Cheng'en: "Sheyang Collection" four oral volumes; "Preface to the Spring and Autumn Biographies"; "Journey to the West".
Based on this piece of material, Mr. Zhang Peiheng made arguments from both positive and negative aspects.
Front:
"Huaian Fu Zhi" does not indicate the number of volumes or chapters of Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West", nor does it indicate the nature of the chapter. In history, there are often two works with the same name. For example, in the early Qing Dynasty, Shen Qian and Tang Sunhua each had a "Dongjiang Collection", and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was a novel called "The Story of Ruyijun". Anguo, who is about twenty years older than Wu Chengen, also wrote "Journey to the West", but it was a travelogue. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West" is the 100-chapter version of "Journey to the West".
Reverse side:
The geography category of Volume 8 of the "Qianqingtang Bibliography" of Huang Yuji, a famous bibliophile in the early Qing Dynasty, has the following description:
Tang Hezheng's "Southern China" Three volumes of "Journey to the West" by Wu Cheng'en and one volume of "Journey to the Siming Mountains" by Shen Mingchen
It was more than half a century since "Journey to the West" was first published in the 20th year of Wanli (1592). It is already a well-known book, but Huang Yuji clearly classified Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West" into the geography category, which shows that the book is only a travel note in a general sense, just like Wu Chengen's contemporaries wrote "Journey to the East" and "Journey to the East". It's the same as travel notes like "Journey to the South".
Experts believe that there have been various opinions about the author of "Journey to the West", and most of them deny that it was written by Wu Cheng'en. Some people also believe that Li Chunfang was the author of "Journey to the West" in the past. It is not convincing enough to imply that Li Chunfang is based on a poem in "Journey to the West". This can only be the opinion of one family. To truly unravel the historical mystery of the author of "Journey to the West", we need to further unearth more first-hand information.
Wu Chengen is good at painting and calligraphy and has many talents. However, he failed in the imperial examination and became a Gongsheng student in his middle age. At the age of 60, he was appointed as Changxing County Magistrate, but due to disharmony with his superiors, he resigned. Later, Ji Shan was appointed to Prince Jing's Mansion.
★An examination of Wu Chengen’s family history
Wu Chengen (1506-1582), the author of "Journey to the West", also known as Ruzhong, also known as Yizhong, was a native of Huai'an in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Huai'an was called Sheyang County in the Han Dynasty, and there was a lake in the southeast of the county called Sheyang Lake, so Wu Cheng'en took "Sheyang" as his nickname and often identified himself as "Sheyang layman". Later generations also called him "Sheyang Mountain Man", which was probably not his self-title at that time. Huai'an is located south of the Huai River and was Huaiyin County during the Qin and Han Dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, it was called Chuzhou, and for a time it was also renamed Huaiyin County. Therefore, when he signed his name, he was often preceded by the word "Huaiyin". This was a common custom among literati in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
People still know very little about Wu Chengen’s family background. Because there are too few data, so far, the main data available for research is "Xianfu Bin's Epitaph". Now, based on this epitaph and other materials, I will make the following speculations.
Wu Chengsi was originally from Lianshui and later moved to Huai'an. When did you move to Huai'an? He didn't say it himself, but I guess it should be no later than the early Ming Dynasty. There are two reasons for this:
First, judging from the time, it should be before the early Ming Dynasty. "The Epitaph of Xianfu Bin" says:
The ancestors were from Lianshui, but they did not move to Shanyang at that time. His family was poor and orphaned, and he lost his genealogy, so no details about his three lifetimes or more are known. The ancestors tabooed the tripod; the ancestors tabooed the inscriptions, Yu Yao taught them; the emperor tested the taboos for chastity, and taught benevolence and harmony.
The great ancestor, ancestor, and emperor kao mentioned here are all mentioned in terms of the identity of Wu Chengen's father, Wu Rui. The so-called "more than three generations" refers to these three generations, not including Wu Chengen and his son. If they are counted together, they should be counted as five generations. Wu Chengen is clear about these five generations. From his father's great-grandfather Wu Ding upwards, "nothing is clear". Wu Chengen was born in the early 16th century, more than 130 years after the founding of the Ming Dynasty. According to the usual calculation of 30 years as one life, Wu Chengen's fourth generation lasted for 120 years, which happened to be the early Ming Dynasty. The meaning of "no one can know for sure for more than three generations" obviously means that Wu Ding was not the ancestor of the Huaihe River. The move to the Huaihe River was a matter of one, two or even several lives before him. It was just because there was no genealogy that Wu Chengen could not tell clearly. Therefore, the Wu family moved to Huaihe not later than the early Ming Dynasty.
Secondly, there were frequent wars in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, and Huai'an suffered particularly serious war disasters. The indigenous residents were scattered to death and the population dropped sharply. According to Huang Lizhou's biography of Yang Shijie in Huai'an, as well as Cao Biao's "Huaicheng Xinjinlu" and Yang Qingzhi's "Spring Night Talking Leftovers", "there were only seven families who survived in the early Ming Dynasty". "Huai people" probably refers to the residents of the city, and "Qijia" may refer to the seven surnames. It is said that these seven surnames are "Jie Xiaoxu (Ji), Sophora japonica Li, Meihua Liu, Qiemian Zhang, Mianhe Wang, Mounting Bei Wang, Nanmen Pan (Xun)" and so on. In addition, some people say that one of the seven surnames is Wu, but that refers to Wu Jie and the Wu family who later became Jinshi and served as censors. They have nothing to do with Wu Chengen. Wu Chengen's ancestors were not survivors of the Yuan Dynasty in Huai'an, but immigrants from Lianshui in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. In the early Ming Dynasty, Ming Taizu implemented an immigration policy in response to the sparse residents in Jiangbei. Most of the immigrants came from Jiangnan, and most of them were wealthy households or military officers. To this day, many people in Huai'an still say from generation to generation that their hometown is Suzhou or other places in Jiangnan. Wu Chengen's family moved from north to south, which naturally did not belong to this trend. It should be the migration of bankrupt farmers in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.
What occupation did Wu Chengen’s ancestors engage in after they moved to Huaihe? It is not mentioned in "The Epitaph of Xianfu Bin". At that time, some of the people who moved to Huaihe had military status and were serving in the Huai'an Guard, Dahe Guard, Kuanhe Guard and other guards; some had business status and were engaged in commercial activities; there were also some people who settled down because their ancestors were officials in Huaihe; some families Those who are engaged in medicine, such as the Pan family and the Lu family; there are also many families who are engaged in Confucianism and rely on studying to become officials to make a living, etc. Wu Chengen's family is not a member of the military, nor is it a descendant of a high-ranking official family, nor does it appear that he was a Confucian scholar from the beginning. According to the "Epitaph of Xianfu Bin", Wu Chengen's family has produced two generations of academic officials: his great-grandfather Wu Ming served as a lecturer in Yuyao County, Zhejiang, and his grandfather Wu Zhen served as a lecturer (Tongzhi) in Renhe County (now Hangzhou City), Zhejiang Province. The records in Volume 9 of Shanyang County Chronicles and Volume 102 of Guangxu's Hangzhou Prefecture Chronicles are all exhortations). He was a cold official with a meager official salary. He was far away from his hometown and wandered around. His wife and children were often unable to reunite. When Wu Cheng'en's father, Wu Rui, was four years old, his mother, Liang, took him to Renhe, where the husband, wife, and son reunited to enjoy family happiness. A few months before the reunion, something unfortunate happened: Wu Rui's father, Wu Chengen's grandfather, Wu Zhenjing, died of illness. Liang had no choice but to return to Huaihe with her four-year-old orphan Wu Rui. Since the two generations of his family were "poor scholars" with "nine scholars and ten beggars" running the business, they had little savings and no other income, so the family became increasingly poor. Because he was poor and had no relatives or friends to support him, Wu Rui could not go to school when he reached school age. He started studying in social studies several years later than other children. Because he had no money to give gifts to his social studies teacher, he did not teach Wu Rui much. However, Wu Rui was very smart and listened attentively to his teacher's lectures. He actually learned all the lessons and studied very well. Wu Rui's intelligence impressed his social studies teacher, who praised him and recommended him to continue studying in a rural school. But in the end, the Wu family was unable to go due to financial difficulties. Mrs. Liang said sadly: "Wu is the second generation of Xiu Wen. If you have this kind of ear, what can you do if you are lonely and weak!" First Mrs. Liang cried, then Wu Rui also cried, and the mother and son hugged each other and cried together. We don't know what Wu Rui did after he dropped out of school, but when he was twenty years old, he married the daughter of the Xu family, a small businessman, and started a family. The Buddhist family has been selling small commodities such as lace and thread for generations. Wu Shuo inherited his family's business and became a small businessman sitting in the shop. From this record, we can see some of the background of Wu Chengsi's family. The so-called "Xiuwen II" probably refers to Chengen's great-grandfather Wu Ming and grandfather Wu Zhen. If we think about this sentence further, it seems that only two generations of the Wu family have practiced Confucianism, and their ancestors were not scholars. The ancestors of the Wu family were neither Confucian scholars, nor military officials, nor officials. In addition, they were either engaged in agriculture or business. Comparing the two, I think it may be more similar to the fact that his family was running a small business when they first moved to Huaihe. There are two reasons here.
First, Wu Chengen’s family has no real estate income. Some people say that after the Wu family moved to Huaihe, they originally lived in Erpu Guangou and were engaged in agriculture. Their basis is that Wu Chengen was buried there after his death and called it "Xianlong". This evidence is not sufficient. "Long" means the cemetery, and "Xianlong" means the cemetery of the ancestors. It does not indicate how much land his family owns there. When city dwellers die, they cannot be buried in the city. Burials in the countryside are inevitable. It is normal to buy a piece of land in the countryside as a cemetery. Of course, the Wu family had purchased this piece of real estate from the beginning, so there was no need to buy it again. But I think that's unlikely. The Wu family moved from Lianshui. If he was a wealthy landlord, he would not give up his original land and abandon his home to resettle his property. If he was a bankrupt farmer, he would not be rich. Go to the countryside of Huai'an to buy land.
In the early Ming Dynasty, people immigrated from Jiangnan to Jiangbei because the land in Jiangbei was sparsely populated. The purpose of mobilizing wealthy households from Jiangnan to reclaim wasteland in Jiangbei was to develop Jiangbei. At that time, they were "driven out" by administrative means. There is still a saying among farmers in Huai'an that "Hongwu drove them away". In the early Ming Dynasty, the economic situation in Lianshui was not better than that in Huai'an. The Wu family was not "driven" to move to Huai because they were wealthy families.
From another perspective, if the Wu family owns a certain amount of real estate, the Wu family will not be so poor after the death of Wu Zhen, the eunuch. Wu Chengen's father even went to a sociology school. I couldn't afford it, so I went to school a few years late. I went to social studies but had no money to give gifts to my husband, so I was discriminated against. In the end, I dropped out of school. According to my speculation, his family has almost no real estate, and his ancestors were not farmers at all after they moved to Huaihe.
Second, I think the Wu family lived under the river after coming to Huaihe. At that time, the lower part of the river was the Huaihe River (it was also called the Yellow River at that time. After the Yellow River captured the Huaihe River, the lower reaches of the Huaihe River were also the lower reaches of the Yellow River.), and to the west was the canal. The lower part of the river was between the two rivers and was a commercial port. At that time, there were many businessmen and people from various professions from all over the country, and most of them lived here. These people gradually became Shanyang citizens. After his family moved to Huaihe, they settled down under the river. They were in a market where everyone was doing business, so it was natural to be influenced by it and engage in some kind of small business to make a living. Judging from the current surroundings of his home in Hexia, this is exactly the situation: Datong Lane, Nailie Lane, Fanzhang Lane, and Guayi Street surround his home. The residents in these alleys basically operate the businesses listed in the alley names. When businessmen made a profit and their living conditions improved, they started to study and become officials, and achieved some results. Two generations of schools appeared. This just proves that his family has both scholars and a small financial surplus). At this time, his family abandoned the business they were running that was not commensurate with their current official status (albeit a low-level official), and their source of livelihood relied on the meager salary of a school official. Once there is a problem with this road there will be trouble. Sure enough, Wu Zhen died and there was no official salary. The family's life immediately fell into crisis. Even Wu Shuo found it difficult to go to social school. If you are a bureaucrat-landowner family, this problem will not arise. It is conceivable that the Wu family has no real estate and life is difficult. At this time, forced by life, the scholarly son of "Xiuwen II" dropped out of school and started a small business in a shop, but suddenly he returned to the status of a small businessman. For the Wu family, it is generally natural and unobtrusive for descendants to pick up the profession once again and become familiar with it.
Wu Chengen said that his family's situation was "poor and lonely". "Poor and lonely" is the main characteristic of his family background. The so-called "poor" mainly refers to economic difficulties. As mentioned before, his family is indeed not wealthy and sometimes has a difficult time. In addition, it may also mean that the fate is not very good. For several generations, there has been twists and turns and underdevelopment, and there is no good luck in becoming a high official or making a fortune. I have been a minor official for two generations, but instead of rising, I have returned to my original position and fallen into a difficult situation. The so-called "isolated" probably means that the population is not prosperous, it has been passed down for several generations, the power is weak, and the population is not large. The Wu family was in trouble, had no one to support him, was bullied, and had no one to support him; Wu Chengen's father was extorted by the government's subordinates, and no one could say a word of justice to him. These clearly show how "poor and lonely" his family is. There is no one in the family who is a high-ranking official and makes a lot of money who can serve as his family's political or economic backer. I am afraid that there are very few brothers and uncles in his family. There is no record of other members of his family. There are various indications that his family may have been passed down for several generations.
There is nothing worth showing off among Wu Chengen’s relatives. Wu Chengen has never talked about his ancestral relatives, so he probably doesn't deserve much praise. The location of my grandmother Liang’s natal family is unknown, but most likely she is from Huai’an. At that time, the Liang family in Huai'an was not prominent, and the situation of his great-uncle was unknown. There is no record of my great-aunt, so there is no way to talk about it. The aunt's mother, Mrs. Xu, is the daughter of a businessman, and the identity of her biological mother, Mrs. Zhang, is even more unknown. There is not even a word about the uncle's family and the aunt's family, or there is no aunt at all. The situation of Wu Chengen's relatives from his father's generation and above is simply a mystery.
Some people are happy to praise Wu Chengen’s two relatives in his own generation: one is his brother-in-law Shen’s family, and the other is his wife’s uncle’s Ye’s family. They are the descendants of Shen Yi and Ye Qi respectively. Shen Yi and Ye Qi served as Shangshu of the Southern and Northern Household Departments in the Jingtai and Hongzhi years respectively. Both families had great status in Huai'an. However, Wu Chengen's brother-in-law and wife were probably only members of the two families, not the direct descendants of these two ministers. However, they are finally related and have some kind of kinship. Now let's take a look at the situation of these two relatives.
Let’s talk about brother-in-law Shen’s family first. "The Epitaph of Xianfu Bin" says: "Mrs. Xu gave birth to a daughter, Chengjia, who was suitable for the same county as Shenshan." From this we can know that Wu Chengen's brother-in-law was named Shenshan. How do you know that Shen Shan and Shen Yi are from the same family? This is reflected in the epitaph written by Qiu Du, the son and grandson of Chen Shan's daughter, Wu Chengen's cousin, for his parents. The epitaph reads. "Those who have great surnames in Huai County are from the clan of Shen Gong, the first minister of the book. My mother is from the clan of Gong, and is the granddaughter of Tongzhi Gong." The epitaph also says that his maternal grandmother is "Mrs. Wu", "Sheyang Wu Gong, mother "Uncle also". It can be seen from this that Qiu Du's mother Shen is Wu Chengen's niece, the daughter of "Mrs. Wu" Wu Chengjia. Then, Wu Chengen's brother-in-law Shen Shan immediately became "the clan of the former Minister Shen Gong". At that time, there was only one Shangshu named Shen in Huai'an, Shen Yi, so Shen Shan was a member of Shen Yi's tribe.
In addition, Qiu Du's middle cousins ??are clearly recorded in Shen Yi's genealogy, and Qiu Du is also recorded as an important relative in the Shen family genealogy. These are all confirmations.
According to Qiu Du's "Pingya Cemetery Epitaph", the Shen family "ancestrally lived in Donglu. The first ancestor of the country, Qiyi Gong, fled the army and moved to Shanyang, so his family was Yan. The descendants are distinguished by their subjects, and they occupy the first Those who have a taboo wing will be the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing, and those who have a taboo role in the orthodox society will be promoted to Shaoqing in Taipusi Temple. The right governor of Sichuan has made great contributions to the livelihood of the people...Lun Yin is outstanding, and the name of the family has been repeated. There are many Huan clans in Huaihe, and the most important ones are Qu Ze and Shen. "This is indeed a prominent family. However, there is no record of Shen Shan's name in this genealogy of the Shen family, let alone marrying the Wu family. According to the relationship between Qiu Du and the Shen family, Shen Shan should be Shen. Shen may be the musical name of Shen Shan, which was later renamed. This is based on the following reasons: 1. The "Pingya Cemetery Epitaph" written by Qiu Du says: "The Fuchen clan is an old home of Qiao Mu in Huai. My mother gave the gate to Yuxiu, a Gongren, and Pingya Gong and Yu have cousins. "Pingya's public name is Shen Pu, his courtesy name is Zhifu, his nickname is Pingya, and he is three years old.
Second, Shen Qian's "Shanglinyuan Supervisory Office Cheng Pi Xianfu Jun's Strategy" says: "Qiu Gong Zhengang (Qiu Du's word Zhengang) is also the cousin of his ancestors." Shen Qian's ancestor is that Shen Pu.
Third, Shen Peikuan's "Fujun Xingshu" says: "When the father of the great prince turned against him, the prince was 12 years old, and he was entrusted to his cousin Zhen Gangqiu Gong." Shen Peikuan's great-grandfather was also Shen Pu.