Why does Di Qing wear a mask when fighting?

Di Qing, a famous general in the Northern Song Dynasty, was a legendary general. He first became a privy envoy in the Northern Song Dynasty from a prisoner, equivalent to the Minister of Defense. However, the most impressive thing is his quirk in fighting, which often scares his enemies away. He is already timid before fighting. What is this?

When Di Qingqing was young, his elder brother violated the criminal law for injuring a villager. Considering that his family was poor, his parents were young and needed support, and his elder brother was the mainstay of the family, 16-year-old Di Qing decided to take the blame for his elder brother. In this way, Di Qing was exiled as a prisoner and began his career in the army.

Di Qing was assigned to the cavalry team and exiled as a prisoner. If he wanted to stand up, he could only establish a reputation in the army. Therefore, he practiced horse riding and archery hard, became very brave in battle, and charged at the front in every battle. After several battles, Di Qing was selected and became a middle- and lower-level officer.

Li Yuanhao proclaimed himself emperor in Xixia, led an army to invade the territory, and peace broke out between Song and Xia. Di Qing was sent to the southeastern border to stop the Xixia invasion. Every time he fought, Di Qing looked disheveled, and then put on a ghost-headed mask made of bronze. He looked very attractive with a green face and fangs, so he was nicknamed "General Nirvana".

In the Song Dynasty, prisoners were tattooed on their faces as a mark, and Di Qing was no exception. If you think he wears a mask because he is afraid of being ugly, you are wrong. On the contrary, Di Qing was the most handsome general in the Northern Song Dynasty. He was handsome and graceful. I heard that women often turned around to look at him when he walked on the street. So why do we need to wear masks when fighting?

It would be great for a handsome man to have romantic relationships, but on the battlefield, he easily gives off a sense of weak humanity and lacks the aura of a military commander. In order to create a sufficient sense of oppression and fear for his friends, and to outdo each other in terms of courage, Di Qing had to put on his mask before going into battle.

It is not enough for a general to have courage, Di Qing is also good at changing the fighting spirit of his soldiers. Once, Di Qing led an army to attack a Xixia cavalry force that was several times larger than his own. His officers and soldiers generally felt that there was no chance of winning, so their morale was low. When visiting a monastery, Di Qing paid homage to the gods, then took out a hundred copper coins and said to all the soldiers: The outcome of this expedition is unpredictable. If the gods bless them, all the copper coins will be face up.

Di Qing threw the copper coins in his hand into the air. When it fell, he saw that all one hundred copper coins were facing up. Immediately the army cheered and their morale was low. After repelling the enemy soldiers, Di Qing asked his superiors to put away the copper coins. The superiors discovered that both sides of the copper coins were positive, so they suddenly understood and admired Di Qing.

Di Qing went through 25 battles in four years and made immortal contributions to the stability of Xixia. He was admired by Fan Zhongyan and recommended to Song Renzong, who was promoted to privy envoy. Song Renzong ordered the imperial doctor to use potion to wash off the tattoos on Di Qing's face, but Di Qing disagreed and said: I was born in the army, but because of my meager military merits, I lost the emperor's trust and became an official. Keeping this tattoo will just give encouragement and encouragement to other soldiers who fought bravely.

However, Di Qing was soon ostracized and framed by the civil servants. This was also the fate of the Song Dynasty. Most generals with outstanding military achievements did not end well. In the Song Dynasty, civil servants had always had a higher position than military generals, but now Di Qing, who was born in the army, ranked higher than all the civil servants with the position of privy councillor. This made the civil servants jealous and often slandered Di Qing in front of Song Renzong.

Especially Ouyang Xiu, who wrote to Song Renzong several times to remove Di Qing from his post and reduce his military power. The purpose was to guard against Di Qing's intention to rebel. Later, Song Renzong still trusted Di Qing very much and got rid of him because Di Qing was a traitor. Ouyang Xiu asked: Wasn't Taizu a treacherous minister of Zhou Shizong back then? Unable to resist repeated persuasion, Song Renzong also began to worry that Di Qing's great achievements would shock the emperor, so he dismissed Di Qing and exiled him to other places.

Di Qing, a famous general of a generation, was initially filled with sadness and anger, but ended in sadness, and was given the posthumous name Wu Xiang. It is a pity that Di Qing was born at the wrong time. If he had been born in the Han and Tang Dynasties, it would have been a different story. The destruction of the Song Dynasty was not unrelated to its policy of emphasizing culture and restraining military force.

If you are tired of watching, let me post a joke to make you happy and relax

You must have the courage to resist

A bus was hijacked, and the gangsters came to pick it A few women got out of the car, but everyone in the car was indifferent! At this time, a woman suddenly jumped out of the car and started fighting with the gangster, so a group of people in the car swarmed up and finally subdued the gangster! The reporter interviewed her and asked her what courage gave her the courage to fight the gangsters? She said angrily, "All the women in the car were picked out, and I was the only one left. Who am I to blame?"