"Have you grown up reading stories about Guan Yu?" This may sound normal to others, but it makes the smiling Liu Xu's expression look a little weird.
So, Liu Xu asked in the next second, "King Li Tian, may I ask what your lay name is?"
"My Excellency, Li Jing, I should have told the Immortal Lord just now!" King Li Tianwang of Tota replied with some confusion.
"Of course I know your name is Li Jing, King of Heaven. I just want to know, are you the Li Jing of Chentangguan, or the Duke of Wei, Li Jing!" Liu Xu asked.
"I don't dare to be the Duke of Dai. I am a layman with a small name, pharmacist. I am from Sanyuan County, Yongzhou. My ancestral home is Didao, Longxi. I have nothing to do with Chentangguan!" Li Jing said, "At the same time, I dare to ask the immortal. When I was in the world, I was familiar with it. I have read military books and am familiar with the geography of China, but I don’t know where the pass is. It’s called Chentangguan. Could it be that there is a place that I don’t know about yet? I hope the immortal can help me clear up my doubts!”
"Haha, Chentangguan is the name of a place in the Shang Dynasty. It is no longer called this name. It is understandable that the king of heaven does not know!" Liu Xu said with a smile, Li Jing nodded and stopped talking.
"It seems that my previous guess was wrong. Journey to the West seems not to be connected with The Romance of the Gods!" Liu Xu muttered in his heart.
Through previous chats with clairvoyant eyes and hearing the title of saint, Liu Xu took it for granted that the world of Journey to the West and the world of Fengshen Yanyi were connected together, thus forming the prototype of a prehistoric world view.
But now after communicating with Li Jing, Liu Xu was surprised to find that this should still be a simple world view of Journey to the West.
In the eyes of many people now, the human identity of King Li Tianwang of Tota is Li Jing, the commander-in-chief of Chentangguan. After giving birth to Nezha, he became a general of the Western Zhou Dynasty and a hero in the battle to destroy the Shang Dynasty. In the subsequent conferment of gods, Jiang Ziya was conferred the title of King Li Tianwang of Tota, and has since become the commander-in-chief of the three armies of heaven.
This is a story that all Chinese people know. Although the reputation of King Tota Li is far less famous than that of his son Nezha, wherever Nezha appears, there will be King Tota Li. Thanks to his son, Tota Li Tianwang can also be said to be a household name.
But it is worth mentioning that this kind of understanding was actually formed in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and the consensus was only reached after the book Fengshen Yanyi became popular. Before that, there had never been any Chentangguan.
Liu Xu has read many relevant historical materials, so the concept of the god Tota Li Tianwang has been reflected as early as the Eastern Jin Dynasty, but it was Journey to the West itself that really made the name of Tota Li Tianwang loud and clear. .
Therefore, if you want to determine the identity of King Tota Li in Journey to the West, you still have to combine the character context of King Tota Li, the time when Journey to the West was written, and the various cultural cognitions Wu Chengen himself came into contact with, and finally shape the character of King Tota Li. The character of the King of Heaven.
In fact, the original image of King Tota Li was a Buddhist king named Bishamon King.
Why is it said that this guy with the weird name belongs to the same person as King Tota Li? Because in Buddhist scriptures, King Bishamon has a famous son named Nezha. You see, this is right.
This is why Li Jing, who has such a standard Chinese name, named his son Nezha so weirdly, because it is just an ancient Indian accent.
I won’t go into details about the evolution of Buddhism, and I believe no one is interested. I just talked about the Song Dynasty, because Li Jing, the god of war of the Tang Dynasty, once swept the entire Western Region, so the Song people began to elaborate and write. There are many stories about Li Jing's cultivation of immortality, and most of these stories took place in the Western Regions, and Li Jing gradually became an immortal.
At the same time, the Song Dynasty admired Li Jing very much, so he named Li Jing a king, so Li Jing had the title of Heavenly King.
During the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan dramas began to become popular, and then a large number of plays with the theme of Journey to the West were adapted based on "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" written by the monk Xuanzang. Later, in order to attract more viewers, a large number of stories about gods, monsters, and Buddha were added to this theme.
According to the timeline, when Monk Xuanzang began his journey to the west, Li Jing had already swept across the Western Regions and had great prestige in the Western Regions. Many countries in the Western Regions called Li Jing the King of Heaven. In addition, by this time Li Jing had become immortal.
So gradually, Li Tianwang and Li Jing became the main immortal characters who would appear in the dramas related to Journey to the West during the Yuan Dynasty period.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Chengen synthesized all the plays related to Journey to the West in the Yuan Dynasty and created the pinnacle of classical mythology, "Journey to the West". A large number of materials in it came from various Yuan dramas, including Li Tianwang Li Jing, He was naturally absorbed into Journey to the West and became the commander-in-chief of the three armies of Zhongtian Court.
And Li Jing's military exploits and achievements in the human world are enough to support his seat in heaven and convince everyone.
Therefore, Liu Xu can say without a doubt that the Tota King Li Tian in Journey to the West refers to Li Jing, the military god of the Tang Dynasty, and has nothing to do with anyone else.
At that time, all Chinese people did not know that there was a place called Chentangguan in the Shang Dynasty.
However, there is still a BUG in Journey to the West, that is, King Li Tianwang of Tota appeared as early as 500 years before the start of Journey to the West, that is, when Sun Wukong caused havoc in the Heavenly Palace. Li Jing was not even born at that time, so it does not match the time. .
This is also the reason why Li Jing of the Shang Dynasty will be created in the subsequent Fengshen Romance. The purpose is to match the concept of King Li Tianwang of Tota in time.
But when it comes to the concept of time, there are actually a lot of bugs in Journey to the West. Two of the four great heavenly masters do not match up in time. Many of the gods and Buddhas in the sky were born during these 500 years. .
But this is normal. After all, what author would not have readers find a lot of logical problems in his writing, and then criticize him as poisonous?
It is worth mentioning that Guan Yu is indeed mentioned in Journey to the West.
When I was writing about the plot of Guanyin Temple, there was this paragraph:
[A good traveler can jump up to the Nantianmen with a somersault and scare Pang, Liu, Gou and Bi bow. Ma, Zhao, Wen and Guan all said with their backs: "No! No! The master who caused trouble in the Heavenly Palace is here again!" The traveler waved his hands and said: "Everyone is excused, don't be surprised. I'm here to find Guang." It belongs to the king of heaven."]
Ma, Zhao, Wen and Guan refer to the four marshals under Zhenwu Tianwang, among whom Guan is Guan Yu.
By the way, the Zhao in it refers to Zhao Gongming.
So you see, Zhao Gongming, who was originally just a marshal in Journey to the West, became the Great Immortal of Jiejiao in The Romance of the Gods, and was later named the God of Wealth.
But then again, since then, people have also said that Guan Yu, the God of Wealth and Wealth, and Zhao Gongming, the God of Wealth and Wealth.
This is also the reason why Li Jing recognized Guan Yu immediately, because the two people are indeed colleagues in the world of Journey to the West.
It’s a bit far. Through Li Jing’s identity, Liu Xu can infer that the worldview of Journey to the West has nothing to do with the later worldview of Fengshen. But why does the concept of saint appear here again?
Liu Xu felt a headache at this.
(End of chapter)
