In the series of stories of Biography of Yue Fei, what is particularly touching is the tattoo of mother-in-law. It is said that Yue Fei was wanted by the court for robbing the king with a gun and hid at home. Niu Hao, Yue Fei's sworn brother, and others simply became outlaws. Yue Fei was so embarrassed that he didn't accept the invitation of Wang Zuo, the messenger sent by Yang Yao, a water thief in Dongting Lake Uprising, and returned the gift. Yue Fei's mother is afraid that there will be malicious people to seduce Yue Fei in the future. Yue Fei was confused for a moment, betrayed the court and lost his reputation. Therefore, the mother-in-law prayed to the ancestors of the gods and personally tattooed the words "loyal to serve the country" on Yue Fei's back.
It is said that when tattooing, her mother-in-law first wrote the words "loyal to the country" on Yue Fei's back with a brush, then pricked the blood with a thick needle with a sole, and then painted the blood with ink, so that the four words will never fade. Since then, Yue Fei was framed by Qin Gui, imprisoned in Dali Temple and tortured by Dali Temple officials. Yue Fei opened his clothes directly, revealing the words "loyal to serve the country" on his back. The judge was speechless. His conscience found that he resigned from Qin Gui and stopped interrogating Yue Fei.
The result is exactly what Qin Gui wants. Qin Gui ordered a villain who had been enemies with Yue Fei to torture him indiscriminately, and finally persecuted Yue Fei to death. So, is the "mother-in-law tattoo" true? According to historians' research, The Tattoo of Mother-in-law has a certain historical prototype, but the whole is added, exaggerated and imagined bit by bit in later romance novels.
In the History of Song Dynasty compiled by Yuan Dynasty, it was recorded that when Yue Fei was punished, Yue Fei tore off his clothes and revealed the words "faithfully serving the country", but it did not explain what it had to do with his mother-in-law. In addition, according to records, Zhao Gou, Song Gaozong, gave Yue Fei a flag with four characters inscribed by Song Gaozong, which became one of the symbols of Yue Fei. Therefore, my mother-in-law's "loyalty to the country" tattoo should be imagined according to these two historical facts.
Some experts have verified that the Zhongjing Ji in Chenghua period of Ming Dynasty mentioned that Yue Fei had the words "saving the country with pure heart" on his back. In the biography of Wu Zhong during Jiajing period, it was written that when Yue Fei saw someone fall into the grass in his hometown of Tangyin, Henan Province, Yue Fei paid a craftsman to tattoo the words "faithfully serve the country" on his back to show his encouragement.
The Biography of Zhongjing Banner in the late Ming Dynasty said that there were four words on Yue Fei's back, which were stabbed to death by Zhang Xian. The story of "mother-in-law's tattooing" first appeared in the thirty-second chapter of "Zhong Jing Shuo Yue" during the reign of Qing Qianlong. At this point, "mother-in-law tattoo" was included in Yue Fei's romance novels and became a household name.