Wu Dalang's tomb was discovered in Hebei, and the truth came out. Why did Shi Naian's descendants immediately write to apologize?

1996, archaeologists excavated an ancient tomb in Hebei province. The owner of this tomb is Wu Zhi. It seems that few people know this name, but when it comes to his nickname, Wu Dalang, everyone knows it. Wu Dalang is a character in The Water Margin of Shi Naian. Although he is not one of the Liangshan heroes, his experience has always left a deep impression on people's hearts. But after the tomb was excavated, Shi Naian's descendants often came here to apologize. Why?

Speaking of Wu Dalang, the most involved in the book are him and his wife Pan Jinlian. In the book, Wu Dalang is Song Wu's brother, and his wife is an immoral woman who poisons her husband. This book has been circulated for nearly a hundred years. Perhaps 108 Liangshan heroes' names have been forgotten, but their stories have always been talked about. The discovery of this mausoleum made the world know that these two people did exist in history. What are they like? Why should Shi Naian's descendants apologize?

In fact, according to the research of historians, this couple does exist in historical reality, but they are quite different from those described in Water Margin. According to textual research, Wu Dalang's real name is a word "Zhi Zi", and his ancestral home is indeed from Qinghe County as written in the book, and it is also very similar to Shi Naian's life, both of whom are from the Ming Dynasty.

When he was a child, his family was poor, but he worked hard in poetry and martial arts. Through his own efforts, he passed the imperial examination and became a scholar. He was assigned to yanggu county as a magistrate. Some bones were unearthed in Wu Zhi's tomb. Through the measurement of these bones, historians have calculated that his height should be above 180 cm, which is definitely not the short stature written in Water Margin.

In addition to Wu Dalang, the description of Pan Jinlian in the book is also very inconsistent with historical facts. In the book, she is a maid of a rich family. Because the master asked her to be his concubine, she was refused, so she sold a penny to Wu Dalang. But in history, she is a lovely girl of a large family, but her beauty is the same as that described in the book. Her ancestral home, like Wu Zhi, is from Qinghe County.

Since she was a child, she admired Wu Zhi's brilliant literary talent and outstanding temperament, and Wu Zhi was also moved by her gentleness and moving. But at that time, Wu Zhi's family was poor and had no money to marry a wife, let alone a good family. He also wanted to give his beloved a beautiful wedding and a good living environment. So he concentrated on his studies, finally admitted to the Jinshi and became a county magistrate.

During his tenure, he worked for the welfare of the people of yanggu county and was deeply loved by the local people. Now he also has an ancestral temple built for him by the people. He has a successful career and fruitful love. He married Pan Jinlian. After marriage, they lived a sweet life and had four children together. Wu Zhi can be said to be successful in his career and family, but things didn't end there. Wu Zhi once had a benefactor who helped him when he was in trouble, but this benefactor later came to his house, hoping that he could be a small official for himself.

However, Wu Zhi is very honest. I only treat him with good wine and food, but I don't arrange work for him, which is selfish. So this benefactor fabricated a rumor that he was ungrateful and spread all kinds of bad images among the people. However, when he got home, he found that his house had been repaired by Wu Zhi, and he was very sorry.

This rumor won't be believed by many local people, because the couple are well known locally, but after it arrived in Shi Naian, he wrote this rumor in his book. In reality, Wu Dalang and Pan Jinlian are quite different from those described in Shi Naian's book. Their reputation has been seriously damaged in the past century, and their descendants are despised by people who don't know the truth. It is said that the Wu family and Pan Shi family in Qinghe County have never been married for hundreds of years.

It was not until the tomb was excavated in the last century that people saw the life of the couple recorded in the tomb and realized that they had been wronged. Shi Naian's descendants felt very guilty when they learned about it. After the tomb was excavated, they wrote on behalf of Shi Naian to apologize to the descendants of the two families. They also took out their own money to build a stone statue for them and wrote a poem to apologize instead of their ancestors. Although later generations have apologized and made compensation, the influence of famous works is far-reaching. Now talking about the couple, everyone is talking about the image written in the water margin.