Meng Tian's theory of brush originated from the records in Taiping Yu Lan, while Cui Bao's Notes on Ancient and Modern recorded that Meng Tian created the brush, and described Meng Tian's brush in detail. According to legend, Meng Tian led flies to fight in the distance. At that time, he needed to report to the king of Qin, but long-distance communication was inconvenient. Even writing can only rely on bamboo sticks. In the rapidly changing military battlefield, it is a waste of time to write with a bamboo stick dipped in ink, which is likely to delay the military aircraft. Meng Tian was greatly distressed by this matter.
By chance, Meng Tian was eager to report the military situation to Qin Shihuang, but the speed of writing with bamboo sticks was very slow, which made Meng Tian very angry. In desperation, he tore a red tassel from the sergeant's weapon, tied it to a bamboo stick, and then dipped it in ink to write. Unexpectedly, this writing is very fast. Meng Tian was overjoyed and made many such writing tools with red tassels. After using this writing tool to improve the writing speed, Meng Tian began to think about a problem. The red tassels on soldiers' weapons are limited, which is related to the morale of the army. They cannot always be used as writing tools. So what should be used to replace these red tassels?
Meng Tian thought about it and thought that there were many wolves in the local area. The hair of these wolves was similar to that of the red tassel. So, can these wolf hairs be used instead of red tassels? Meng Tian made a bold experiment. After an attempt, he found that he could write fluently with wolf hair. Since then, these wolf hairs have become tools for making pens. Besides wolf hair, Meng Tian also found that local shepherds can also provide raw materials for pen making. Wool is soft, very ink-absorbing, and suitable for pen making. In this way, wool was also used to make writing tools, and wolf hair and sheep hair were born. This is the legend of Montaigne's pen making.
Although the legend of Meng Tian's pen-making has been recorded in historical materials, the authenticity of these legends is not certain now, and the discovery of an ancient tomb of Warring States in Changsha also makes Meng Tian's pen-making statement very doubtful. An ancient tomb of the Warring States Period was unearthed in Zuojiagong Mountain, Changsha. The funerary objects in this tomb are well preserved. Among many funerary objects, one discovery shocked archaeologists, that is, a bamboo basket with a brush. This brush is complete. After expert appraisal, the brush is made of fine rabbit hair. The discovery of this brush greatly promoted the history of using brushes in China. Therefore, the legend of Meng Tian's writing brush is even more suspicious.
So, did Meng Tian create the writing brush, or did China produce the writing brush as early as the Warring States Period?
According to experts' research, as early as the Yangshao culture period, many painted pottery with exquisite patterns appeared in China. When making painted pottery patterns, you need to draw patterns on the soft pottery embryo first, and then bake them to shape them.
Experts believe that the process of drawing patterns on soft pottery embryos should be completed by an instrument similar to a brush, but with practical evidence, this can only be regarded as a speculation. As for the authenticity of the legend of Montaigne's pen-making recorded in historical materials, experts think it is probably a wrong record. Meng Tian may not have invented the writing brush, or he may have just improved it, but in the process of recording, this improvement was mistaken for an invention, which is why Meng Tian made a pen.
Whether Meng Tian's brush theory is true or not still needs constant textual research by historians, but what is certain is that China has a very long history of using brush, which may even appear in the Warring States period. The writing brush is an important invention in China, which has a very important influence on the historical and cultural development of our country. Without the invention of the brush, there would be no prosperity of calligraphy and painting, and there would be no splendid culture of 500 years. Although Meng Tian only reformed the writing brush, his contribution to the history and culture of China is very significant. It is probably through his reform that the final form of the brush was formed and the manufacturing method of the brush was established.