The story of Qi Liang's wife was first recorded in Zuo Zhuan's Twenty-three Years of Xianggong: Qi Hou (Zhuanggong) was still in the Jin Dynasty, but did not enter. Then I attacked Ju, and the door was at the same time, and I hurt my stock and retreated. Tomorrow, there will be a resumption of war, which will be held in Shoushu. Tomorrow, I will meet Hou Shi, the son of Ju. Juzi paid heavy tribute to it, so that there was no death, saying,' Please have an alliance'. Hua Zhou said to him,' If you are greedy for goods and abandon your life, you will also be hated by the monarch. If you are stunned and ordered, you will abandon it before the day is over. Why should you serve the monarch?' Juzi kissed the drum, thus cutting it and getting the Qi Liang. Ju people are successful. When Qi Hou returned, he met Qi Liang's wife in the suburbs and hanged her, saying, "What's the shame of colonization?" If you are free from sin, you will have the ancestors' seclusion, and you will not be allowed to hang with the suburbs, and the princes will hang in their rooms. " It means that in the autumn of the twenty-second year of Zhou Lingwang (in the fourth year of Qi Zhuanggong, 55 BC), Qi Zhuanggong cut Wei and Jin, and once captured the Chaoge (now Qixian County, Henan Province), the capital of Weiguo. In 549 BC, Duke Zhuang of Qi returned to the capital of Qi without returning to Linzi, and then raided the country of Ju (now Juxian County, Shandong Province). In the battle against Ju, Qi generals Qi Liang and Hua Zhou died heroically and died for their country. Later, Qi and Ju made peace and went on strike, and Qi people carried Qi Liang's corpse back to Linzi. Qi Liang's wife cried to welcome her husband's coffin on the suburban road. Qi Zhuang sent condolences. Qi Liang's wife thought that her husband had made meritorious service to the country, and Qi Zhuang sent people to mourn in the suburbs. She was insincere, hasty and disrespectful to the martyrs, so she refused to mourn in the suburbs of Qi Zhuanggong. Later, Qi Zhuanggong personally visited Qi Liang's home and buried Qi Liang in the suburbs of Qidu.
Zuo Zhuan is said to be written by Zuo Qiuming, which is one of the important Confucian classics. We have no reason to deny the incident in Zuo Zhuan that Qi Liang's wife asked Qi Hou to mourn Qi Liang according to the standard etiquette. It's just that there is no mention of crying in Zuo Zhuan, let alone crying at the Great Wall. The fact that Qi Liang's wife did not cry for her husband in Zuo Zhuan does not mean that Qi Liang's wife did not cry for her husband after his death. In fact, in the Book of Rites Tan Gong, Ceng Zi said, "Qi Liang died, and his wife greeted him on the road, crying." In this way, the historical fact "Qi Liang's wife refused to pay her respects outside Qi Zhuanggong" in Zuo Zhuan has been enriched. Qi Liang's wife not only asked Qi Hou to mourn Qi Liang, but also described the image of "Qi Liang's wife crying her husband", which is reasonable and convincing.
From Zuo Zhuan to The Book of Rites, we have made it clear that Qi Liang really existed, and he died in the Battle of Ju-Guo, which was in the fifth year of Qi Zhuanggong (549 BC).
after qi Liang died in battle, his wife loved her husband very much and was extremely sad. But there is still no record of crying at the Great Wall. Later, there was a record of crying in the city. First of all, Liu Xiang's "Shuo Yuan Shan Shuo pian" in the Western Han Dynasty said: "In the past, Zhou and Qi Liang died in battle, and their wives were sad, crying at the city, and the corner collapsed, and the city was in distress." In Lun Heng written by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the story of Qi Liang's wife crying about Qi Cheng was mentioned many times. In China's masterpiece Cao Ebei in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it is also said that Qi Liang's wife cried and collapsed in Qi Cheng.
It can be seen that before the Han Dynasty, the saying that "Qi's wife cries Qi's city" has been widely passed down. It should be noted that Qi Liang, recorded in Zuo Zhuan, was a general of the State of Qi. After his death, Qi Liang's wife cried in Linzi, the capital of Qi, regardless of whether her wife cried in Linzi or in the Book of Rites. Since the most famous historiography in ancient times believed that Qi Liang's wife also cried over Qi Cheng, then we can only think that Qi Liang's wife cried over Qi Cheng and returned to Linzi, the capital of Qi, for condolence and burial.
the question now is, where is the bottom of the city? Did Qi Liang's body pass through Qi Cheng when it was transported from Ju State to Linzi, the capital of Qi?
qicheng is naturally the capital of qi state. The state of Qi was sealed in Qixian County, Henan Province at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, which is rarely recorded in historical records. Although the Historical Records contains the history of Chen Guo and Qi Guo, the description of Qi Guo is only over 27 words, and it is especially said: "Qi Guo is small, and its deeds are not worth recording." This has caused great obstacles for future generations to study the history of Qi State. Li Daoyuan, a geographer in the Northern Wei Dynasty, also believed that Qi Liang's wife was crying about Qi Cheng, but he didn't understand the migration of Qi at that time and mistakenly thought that Qi Cheng was in Henan. If Qicheng is in Henan, it is absolutely impossible for Qi Liang's wife to go to Henan to cry. Therefore, he actually put the place where Qi Liang died in the war, Jucheng, in the "Notes on Water Classics", indicating that Qi Liang was crying for Qi Cheng. This kind of annotation was a helpless way in the absence of historical information at that time. We modern people should understand Li Daoyuan's wrong annotation.
By the end of Kangxi period in Qing Dynasty, Mr. Zhang Zhen, a famous scholar, had lived in the village of Qicheng in Anqiu in his later years. He spent a great deal of effort to write 22 volumes of Qi Ji, which was included in Sikuquanshu. Since then, we have a new understanding of the history of Qi. After liberation, with the progress of archaeological work and the constant efforts of historians, the history of Qi State is becoming clearer and clearer. According to public information, in 647 BC, due to the invasion of Huai Yi and Song State, Qi State was forced to move eastward. During the reign of Qi Chenggong, Qi moved to Yuanling. In 544 BC, Duke Wen of Qi moved Qi to Chunyu (now Qicheng Village, Huangqibao Street, Fangzi District, Weifang City).
Next, I will make Zuo Zhuan a public servant for twenty-three years. In the autumn of the twenty-second year of Zhou Lingwang, in the fourth year of Qi Zhuanggong (55 BC), Jiang Guang defeated Wei and Jin, and seized the Chaoge. In 549 BC, Duke Zhuang of Qi returned to Li from Chaoge, but did not return to Linzi, the capital of Qi, and raided the country of Ju. In the battle to attack Ju, the screenshots of Qi monarch, reigning time and years during the period when Qi generals Qi Liang and Hua Zhou died heroically are as follows:
From the chart, it can be seen that Qi moved to Yuanling from Qi Chenggong (654 BC), after Qi Huan Gong and Qi Xiao Gong, Qi Wengong moved Qi City to Chunyu in 544 BC (now Qi in Huangqibao Street, Fangzi District, Weifang City) Qi Liang was killed in the Battle of Ju in 549 BC. When Qi Liang's wife cried about Qi Cheng, it was the year of Qi Wen AD, that is, 549 BC. At that time, the capital of Qi was the fifth year before the capital of Qi moved from Yuanling to Chunyu. That is to say, the city where Qi Liang's wife cried is the Yuanling.
So where is Yuanling? The Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Place Names in China contains: "Yuanling is Yingling, and the ancient city is fifty miles southeast of Changle County, Shandong Province." This place is near the ruins of the ancient city of Qi in Yingqiu Town, Changle County. It is between Juguo and Linzi, and Qiguo may be the ancestral home of Qi Liang. Whether Qi Liang, as a general of Qi State, took his family members with him or his wife to visit Qi Cheng after Qi Liang died in battle, we don't know, but it is convincing that Qi Qi's wife cried for Ling Qi Cheng. In addition, Wang Chong, who has materialistic thoughts, recognized that Qi Liang's wife cried in Qi Cheng in Lun Heng, but he did not think that Qi Cheng collapsed because of Qi Liang's wife crying. The cause of the collapse may be disrepair and other reasons, and Wang Chong's view is correct. When Qi Wengong ascended the throne, the state of Qi had been in Yuanling for more than 1 years. Due to the limitation of building conditions at that time and the constant war, the city wall must be in a precarious state. Otherwise, why did Duke Wen of Qi move the capital to Chunyu soon? Therefore, when Qi Liang's wife cried in the city, the collapse of Qi City Wall was also reasonable.