However, the story of Meng Jiangnu is just a folk legend, which has nothing to do with Qin Shihuang. If we go deep into the source, the content of the story is not whipping, but praising Qin Shihuang. That's how interesting history is.
The legend of Meng Jiangnu began 300 years before the birth of Qin Shihuang
The origin of the story of Meng Jiangnu crying for her husband comes from the event of Qi Liang's death in battle in Zuo Zhuan. At this time, the hero of the story is not called Meng Jiangnv, but Qi Liang's wife.
In 550 BC, wars continued among the vassals. In order to avenge the defeat of Pingyang city six years ago, Qi zhuanggong led his troops to attack the state of Jin in Hebei and Shanxi. General Qi Liang was the vanguard of the former army. Due to the leakage of information, the state of Jin had been on guard, so qizhuanggong had no choice but to withdraw.
On his way back to the army, the unwilling Duke of Qi Zhuang hoped to get some benefits from the state of Ju and save his face, so he ordered Qi Liang to lead the army to attack the state of Ju secretly. General Qi Liang was killed because he didn't want the war to go against him.
After the Qi army returned to China, Qi Zhuang Gong met Qi Liang's wife who came to meet her husband on the outskirts of Linzi, the capital of Qi state. In order not to stir up the army and publicize the defeat, Qi Zhuang Gong wanted to sacrifice Qi Liang on the spot, but didn't want Qi Liang's wife to object. If Qi Liang is guilty, he doesn't have to be hanged. If he is innocent, he has a family and can't accept hanging in the suburbs. Qi zhuanggong had no choice but to go to the Qiliang family to offer sacrifices.
This is the first historical record. In this story, there is neither Qi Liang's wife crying for her husband nor the Great Wall. If summed up in a few words, it should be called "Qi Liang's wife contending with Qi Jun for ceremony".
Two hundred years later, in the book of rites, Tangong in the middle period of the Warring States period, Zeng Zi also mentioned it, but the content has developed, adding the plot of Qi Liang's wife crying on the roadside when she saw Qi Liang's coffin.
At this time, "Qi Liang's wife and Qi Jun contend for ceremony" evolved into "Qi Liang's wife cries for her husband". At this time, Qin Shihuang was not born, and the place where the incident happened was more than 1000 kilometers away from the state of Qin.
Two hundred years after Qin Shihuang's death, kufu cried down the walls of Qi state
Qin Shihuang unified China in 221 BC. Another 200 years later, in the late Western Han Dynasty, the story first appeared the plot of falling wall. The protagonist is Qi Liang's wife. Crying is not only sadness, but also resentment. He resents the war at that time and the casualties caused by it, and cries out the result: the city wall collapsed.
The first one who mentioned the story of the falling of the wall was Liu Xiang, a Western Han philologist. In his Shuo yuan, Li Jie Pian, he wrote: after the death of Qi Liang in the war, his wife cried for the falling of the wall. Later, in the biography of the martyrs, he further explained that Qi zhuanggong attacked the state of Ju, Qi Liang died in the war, and his wife had no children, so he wept bitterly at the edge of the city with her husband's body on his pillow, which made passers-by feel sour. After ten days of crying, the wall collapsed. Qi Liang's wife died in Zishui because she had no relatives to vote for.
So far, the story has nothing to do with Qin Shihuang. If we give a proper name to "Qi Liang's wife crying husband", it should be called "Qi Liang's wife crying down Qi's wall". If we move this story intact and put it in the text related to Qin Shihuang, we will undoubtedly praise Qin Shihuang. Because the first emperor of Qin eliminated the princes and implemented the system of prefectures and counties, which eliminated the source of endless wars among the princes. Qi did not have to attack other countries, so many Qi Liang would not have died.
Another 800 years later, Qi Liang's wife changed to blame Qin Shihuang
About 800 years later, at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Guan Xiu, a poet monk, wrote a poem entitled "Qi Liang's wife". This story, which happened in the state of Qi 300 years earlier than the first emperor of Qin, was rigidly grafted onto the head of the first emperor of Qin and onto the Great Wall.
The general meaning of the poem is: the Qin Dynasty had no way, the four seas were exhausted, and the Great Wall was built to resist the Xiongnu. Qi Liang's wife, who died in the construction of the Great Wall, was so chaste that she cried bitterly. She has no father, no husband and no children. She cried bitterly for a while, which made the world outside the great wall change color. She cried bitterly again, and the bones of her husband Qiliang appeared from the soil of the collapsed wall.
The poem is very bad, but it brings together all the plots of Meng Jiangnu crying down the Great Wall. Qi Liang, the general who died in the war, became a migrant worker; Qi's city wall, which was crying down, became the great wall of Qin Shihuang; the noble lady of the official family became a helpless woman. The only difference is that Qi Liang's wife, not Meng Jiangnu, cried down the Great Wall. After several hundred years of deduction, Qi Liang's wife became Meng Jiangnu, but her true story is unknown.
Today, there are historical sites of Meng Jiangnu crying down the Great Wall in Zibo, Shandong, Qinhuangdao, Hebei, Suzhou, Jiangsu, Jinshi, Hunan and Tongchuan, Shaanxi. However, it is obvious that it has nothing to do with the first emperor of Qin. It is hundreds of kilometers away from the great wall of Qin built by the first emperor of Qin, and thousands of kilometers away from it. However, these relics virtually convey the wrong idea that Qin Shihuang is a tyrant generation after generation, and repeat the hatred to Qin Shihuang generation after generation.
Summing up the above historical facts, we can come to the conclusion that the folklore of Meng Jiangnu crying down the great wall can not be regarded as the evidence of the tyrant of Qin Shihuang, no matter from its historical records or the evolution of more than 1000 years later. The historical events 300 years earlier than the first emperor of Qin Dynasty are far fetched to be married to the first emperor of Qin Dynasty and the Great Wall. In this legend, the first emperor of Qin was wronged. It is suggested that the explanation board of Meng Jiangnu crying to the Great Wall should be added to the Jiangnu temples around the world, and the records of historical materials should be added to return the truth of history and the innocence of Qin Shihuang.
