Historical martial arts contest to recruit a bride: the story of Li Yuan’s martial arts contest to recruit a bride for Queen Taimu’s Dou family!

Martial arts competitions to recruit brides are extremely common in the history of Chinese novels, such as Mu Guiying, Fan Lihua, and Jin Daxia's novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" all have such plots. Martial arts contests to recruit wives are just like fighting in the arena, but there are also many arenas in classical novels, such as Yan Qing's fighting in "Water Margin". "The Romance of the Generals of the Yang Family" shows that the historical competition for marriage did exist.

Li Shimin’s father, Li Yuan, was very skilled in martial arts when he was young. Romantic and suave. At that time, the daughter of Prime Minister Dou, a powerful official, wanted to choose a wife. Miss Dou was different from ordinary people. Not only was she beautiful, but she was also familiar with sages' books such as "The Legend of the Martyred Girl". Dear readers, please remember that Ms. Dou did not know Li Yuan at that time. The selection of a son-in-law was based on the criterion of high martial arts and was specially recruited for the carrots who recruited Li Yuan, even though Li Yuan was not yet the emperor.

Prime Minister Dou, there is no arena designed for recruitment. In ancient times, there was no friendly communication with you in the arena. You would have to sign the "Document of Life and Death" as long as you signed it, and you would blossom and die. The law also protects you. For example, in "Water Margin" Yan Qing was a hero just because he was a rebel. If he had a legal identity, he would be a hero. Even in modern times, Huo Yuanjia was not arrested when he beat someone to death in the ring? However, such a competition was too bloody and violent. The Dou family thought that they had a good family tradition, but it was not the Dou family's style to kill several people in order to recruit relatives.

The Dou family designed it in an ingenious way and found a skilled artist to draw a peacock. Embroidered on one meter high cloth. Just teach people archery. Archery is also a competition of martial arts, which can not only compete with each other, but also not harm the harmony. There are many experts participating, and most of them have superb shooting skills. But Li Yuan was full of confidence in himself. I saw his front legs arched and retreating. The left hand shoots the bow and the right hand shoots the arrow. His arms screamed with strength. Arrows fly like shuttles. Flying straight to the bull's-eye----bull's-eye peacock eyes. Everyone cheered when they saw it. Li Yuan not only became a legendary emperor, but also became the emperor who had a documented contest in history to recruit a bride. Li Yuan competed in martial arts to recruit relatives for the Dou family

To understand the history of the Changsun family entering Li Shimin's harem, we first need to start with the mother-in-law of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, Empress Dou, the mother-in-law of Empress Changsun.

Queen Dou, also known as Queen Taimu, is generally said to be the queen of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan. But strictly speaking, she never really served as the queen. She died three years before Li Yuan launched an army to rebel against the Sui Dynasty. The place of his death is recorded in the history books as Zhuozhou. The specific place is Doudian in Fangshan District, Beijing, which was under the jurisdiction of Zhuojun at that time. The two places were very close to each other.

She was born in Shiping, Jingzhao (now Xingping County, Shaanxi Province). Her father, Dou Yi, was a great Sima of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. After entering the Sui Dynasty, he held the official position of Shangzhu Kingdom, the general manager of Dingzhou, and the title of Shenwu Gong.

The Dou family is a Xianbei aristocrat. Many people think that the Dou family is after Dou Wu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In fact, this is not the case. It should be the Xianbei He Douling style who changed their surname. Dou's mother is Yuwen, the sister of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, who was named the eldest princess of Xiangyang. The Dou family is truly a royal relative.

On the anniversary of the Northern Weekend, Dou Yi publicly recruited a son-in-law for his daughter, Miss Dou, in Chang'an, the capital. This meant that whoever could get into this high family relationship would become a relative of the emperor. As soon as the news spread, the nobles, princes, grandsons and children of wealthy families in and outside the city all hoped to find Miss Dou Mansion as their wife.

However, Dou Yi's method of choosing his son-in-law was very strange. He didn't care about family background and property, because the Dou family had gold, silver and jewelry. As a royal relative and an old noble minister, you could have whatever you wanted without any shortage of money. Second, don’t be picky about appearance and bearing. The method of attracting brides is also very special, which is to place a door screen in the garden with two peacocks painted on it. Anyone who comes to propose marriage, young or old, beautiful or ugly, must draw a bow and shoot an arrow from a hundred steps away. Whoever can hit the peacock will become Miss Dou's hope of becoming a quick son-in-law. The shooters read dozens of them, but they all didn't match. Gaozu finally shot, hitting one eye each, and then returned to the emperor. ("Book of the Old Tang Dynasty")

It is said that as soon as the Dou family's method of recruiting brides was announced, heroes from all over came to try out their arrows and compete. In the past, it was said that if the family had a good girl, the matchmaker would be able to cross the threshold. During this period, The men who came to Dou's house to ask for marriage were about to break through the threshold. Some of them shot peacocks, but Dou Yi looked at them and shook his head. As a result, one by one, the princes and nobles were disillusioned and left. After a few days, the door of Dou Mansion gradually became deserted.

This matter seems a bit strange, because Dou Yi only gave each contestant two arrows. He only said that he was going to shoot a peacock, but he did not say where on the peacock's body it was considered appropriate to shoot. requested. I think there were dozens of people coming to compete, and among them there were probably some sharpshooters who aimed for peacock feathers and crowns.

There were many sharpshooters during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Li Yuan's later children and in-laws, Empress Changsun's father Changsun Sheng (Yin Sheng), was a hero who could shoot two eagles with one arrow. The Northern Zhou Dynasty was a martial artist and there were many shooters. Therefore, this matter makes people suspicious. I am afraid that Miss Dou has taken a fancy to Li Yuan, so even if Li Yuan is actually second or third, he will be promoted to first. In other words, those ten or so people are all qualified to become quick sons-in-law. However, Dou took a fancy to Li Yuan and secretly communicated with him behind his back, indicating that he needed to catch his eye.

Miss Dou’s competition to recruit a bride must have been planned and organized and mobilized in advance. At least there was an announcement. Otherwise, where would the shooters have gathered dozens of people? It means that the others are just accompanying the bidder.

In a male-centered society, contests create an easily acceptable occasion for women to actively choose men, and give parents on both sides a chance to step down. A compromise was reached between the two parties, using the ritual of martial arts competition to rationalize the woman's limited free choice under certain risks. The martial arts competition also shows the strong personality of women and the challenge to mainstream culture. It is also a unique aesthetic expression of the chivalrous and courageous female character. In a certain sense, it breaks the shackles of traditional women. This form of marriage was only seen in martial dynasties or nations.

But as time went on and no one was hit, the wife, the eldest princess of Xiangyang, began to complain about her husband. Why did he resort to such a trick? Not only could he not choose a son-in-law, but he was laughed at by others. At this time, Dou Yi felt unsure, but he still pretended to be calm, stroking three locks of his long beard with his hands, and comforted the princess with a smile: Madam, why should you worry too much? Our daughter was born with a strange appearance and extraordinary wisdom. There will be a strange match. Has Madam forgotten what the late emperor said back then?

It turns out that Miss Dou had long hair hanging down her shoulders when she was born. When she was three years old, her hair was so long that it touched the floor, which everyone marveled at. When he was four or five years old, he was good at calligraphy and prose, knew books and principles, and had extraordinary intelligence. This little girl is not only smart and beautiful, but also has a very strong memory. She has a photographic memory when reading biographies such as "The Commandments of Women" and "The Women". After her uncle Yu Wenyong, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, heard about it, he took her into the palace to raise her and often accompanied her around. At a young age, she was very concerned about politics and had her own unique opinions.

At that time, there were ***, Northern Qi, Northern Zhou and Turks in the north of China.