At the same time, Yue Lin also "examined what he heard and saw, and interviewed the surviving soldiers", widely collecting the observations and records of Yue Fei by people of his time, and visited some of the former soldiers of Yue Fei's army who were still alive. Through their recollections and stories, he learned about some of Yue Fei's deeds and recorded them.
Gu Qi, a doctor of the Imperial College of the Southern Song Dynasty, sympathized with Yue Fei's unjust case, so he helped Yue Lin collect a lot of information related to Yue Fei and compiled a draft of Yue Fei's biography. The draft of Yue Fei's biography compiled by Gu Qi was actually the manuscript of the "Annals of the Prince of E" that was passed down to later generations.
Yue Lin's work was not yet complete when he passed away in October of the third year of Shaoxi reign (1192) during the reign of Emperor Guangzong of the Song Dynasty. This old man, who had endured much hardship in the first half of his life, entrusted the draft of Yue Fei's biography compiled by Gu Qi and some other materials he had collected about Yue Fei to his third son, Yue Ke, on his deathbed. He instructed him: "Your father's loyalty has not been revealed, his injustice has not been redressed, and the facts that are known to the public are gradually being lost. I suffered a great disaster at the beginning, drifting and imprisoned. When I entered officialdom, I was unable to report the facts to the emperor through my own experience and interviews with his descendants. This is my fault. If you can fulfill your father's aspirations and redress the injustice done to your grandfather, I will die with peace of mind!"
Yue Ke (1183-1243) was a Southern Song Dynasty writer. His courtesy name was Suzhi, and his pseudonyms were Yizhai and Juanweng. He was the grandson of Yue Fei and the son of Yue Lin. In August of the second year of the Qingyuan reign of the Southern Song Dynasty (1196), Yue Ke passed the imperial examination in Hongzhou (present-day Nanchang). In the first year of the Kaixi reign (1205), he was awarded the title of Jinshi. His exceptional talent led him to associate with renowned scholars such as Xin Qiji in Jingkou.
During the reign of Emperor Ningzong of the Song Dynasty, Yue Ke, with the power of a Fengyilang, was sent to the Jiaxing Military Headquarters to oversee agricultural promotion. He implemented beneficial policies and settled in Jiaxing, his residence in Jintuofang. In the late Jiatai period, Yue Ke served as a Chengwulang (official in charge of the military granary of the Ministry of Revenue in Zhenjiang Prefecture). He subsequently held various positions, including Guanglu Cheng (official in charge of imperial ceremonies), Chief Clerk of the Sinong Temple, Secretary of the Military Equipment Supervisor, and Secretary of the Sinong Temple. In 1217, he was appointed Magistrate of Jiaxing Prefecture. In 1218, he was appointed Chengyilang (official in charge of imperial ceremonies) and Magistrate of the Jiangnan East Route. In 1227, he was appointed Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Secretary of the Huaidong District, and concurrently a Zhizhishi (official in charge of military affairs). He died after the first year of the Chunyou reign of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Yue Ke inherited his father's career. "Since he was twelve or thirteen years old, as soon as the mourning period ended, he began to organize the old records." Later, "he tied his hair and traveled to the capital, and went in and out of the former prime minister's palace. Only then did he have the opportunity to search for ancient anecdotes and read widely about events since Jianyan and Shaoxing. He also read the stories told by old people in the countryside and the records of former officials. If he heard a word about the event, he would write it down in the book." He further collected a lot of documentary materials related to Yue Fei.
At the same time, based on the draft of Yue Fei's biography compiled by Gu Qi, a doctor of the Imperial College of the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Ke "took advantage of its completion and added to its incompleteness", that is, he followed the existing records in Gu Qi's draft and added some materials that had not yet been included, and sorted and processed it. "It took him five years to write" and he wrote six volumes of "Annals of Acts" and five volumes of "Records of Falsehoods against Heaven", which were "completed and published" in the third year of Jiatai (1203) during the reign of Emperor Ningzong of the Song Dynasty.
In the fourth year of Jiatai (1204), in order to defend his grandfather, Yue Ke collected all the memorials, battle reports, poems and essays, and materials about the whole story of Yue Fei's false accusation, as well as the imperial edicts and handwritten orders from Song Gaozong to Yue Fei, the provincial edicts sent to Yue Fei by the Southern Song court, and old news, writings and some records about Yue Fei by people of the Southern Song Dynasty. Together with Yue Ke's research to defend Yue Fei and the biography of Yue Fei based on Gu Qi's draft, he "submitted them all to the officials" and submitted them all to the Southern Song court for review.
The materials and manuscripts that Yue Ke presented to the Southern Song court included: "Seventy-six Scrolls of Emperor Gaozong's Imperial Edicts", six volumes of his great-grandfather Xian Chen Fei's "Chronicle of the Deeds" (i.e. "Chronicle of the Deeds of Prince E"), five volumes of "A Call to Heaven to Biannianwulu", one volume of "General Preface", and ten volumes of "Family Collection", which are exactly the first twenty-five volumes of the "Jintuo Cuibian" that exists today.
Volume 365 of "History of the Song Dynasty" "Biography of Yue Fei" is roughly copied from the "Biography of Yue Fei" in "History of the Four Dynasties of Restoration", an official history of the Southern Song Dynasty. The "Biography of Yue Fei" in "History of the Four Dynasties of Restoration" is roughly the "Biography of Yue Fei" by Zhang Ying, which is an abbreviation of the above-quoted "Biography of Prince of E".
The Yuan Dynasty historian's account of Yue Fei's deeds in the "History of the Song Dynasty" adds a section about Yue Fei's tattooing of the four characters "Jing Zhong Zhong Bao Guo" ("Serve the Country with Loyalty") on his back during interrogation by He Zhu, compared to the "Biography of the Prince of E" (also known as "Biography of Yue Fei") written by the Southern Song historian Zhang Ying. This likely refers to the Southern Song historian's addition of the "Biography of Yue Fei" in the "History of the Four Dynasties of the Restoration" based on reports of his descendants and epitaphs. However, the "Biography of Yue Fei" in Volume 365 of the "History of the Song Dynasty" contains no record of Yue Fei's mother tattooing him. This indirectly confirms that Zhang Ying's "Biography of Yue Fei" does not contain the scene of Yue Fei's mother tattooing him.
In the 11th year of the Jiading reign of Emperor Ningzong of the Song Dynasty (1218), Yue Ke compiled a copy of the manuscript, which had been reviewed by the Southern Song court, and three volumes of Tiandinglu into a book titled "Eguo Jintuo Cuibian". It was printed and officially published in Jiaxing Prefecture, within the Southern Song Dynasty. The name "Eguo" was chosen because Yue Fei was posthumously named King of E during the reign of Emperor Ningzong of the Song Dynasty. Furthermore, the editor, Yue Ke, owned a Jintuofang workshop in Jiaxing, which produced the work.
In the first year of Shaoding reign of Emperor Lizong of Song Dynasty (1228), Yue Ke compiled some other documents related to his grandfather Yue Fei and records of his time into a book, named "Continuation of the Golden Tuo of E State", which was printed and published in Zhenjiang Prefecture under the jurisdiction of Southern Song Dynasty.
The two books, "Eguo Jintuo Cuibian" and "Eguo Jintuo Xubian" (abbreviated as "Jintuo Cuibian" and "Jintuo Xubian"), have preserved a lot of original historical materials about Yue Fei, have important historical value, and are one of the important materials for studying Yue Fei.
"Eguo Jintuo Cuibian" (hereinafter referred to as "Jintuo Cuibian") Volumes 1 to 3 "Emperor Gaozong's Imperial Letters" and "Continuation" Volume 1 "Emperor Gaozong's Imperial Letters", totaling four volumes, collected 86 handwritten imperial edicts from Song Gaozong to Yue Fei, plus "Edict on Three Matters Concerning Military Farms" and "Imperial Bestowed Ode on Sword Dance", totaling 88 imperial edicts.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
