What crime the iron committed?

Yue Fei (岳飛, 1103-1141), was my hero. He is the epitome of poignancy in China history. So, so sad. So, so maddening. I blogged about a poem he wrote earlier.

Around 1200 A.D., Han people under Song dynasty (宋) was invaded by Mongolians. Song was among the worse dynasty in China history. Most emperors were weak and corrupted. No wonder Mongolians thought great opportunity to grab the fertile middle kingdom.

YueFeiTomb
Yue was a great general. His troops won battles again and again. It looks as if the dynasty had a chance to fight back and send those barbarians home. Alas Mongolians are not stupid. If they cannot win by force, they go the alternative method that has proven to work everytime — find an insider. They don't even need to try bribe this time. The prime minister, 秦檜 (QinKuai), believed in negotiating with the enemy. Mongolians' position was clear, no negotiation if Yue is in power.

But Yue was winning. That's very inconvenient for Qin.

He sent 12 “Emergency Executive Order” from the emperor to summon Yue back from the battlefield. Yue wanted to stay and command the troops, but felt he must obey the orders from the emperor. He came back and got arrested immediately. When challenged which crime he committed, Qin's answer became the most famous one, “There needs not be a reason” (莫須有, MoXuYou). Soon, Yue was tortured, sentenced, and killed.

One of the guard stole his body and buried him in a secret location. 21 years later, the new emperor realized how horrendous the mistake was. He gave a large reward to the guard and re-buried Yue, properly this time, next to West Lake, in the city of HanZhou. He also bestowed honorific title for Yue. Too bad that Yue's son was long dead from the battle. The tomb was first built in 1221 and maintained few times later. The last major maintenance was in 1979.

QinKuai
The tomb featured, very interestingly, the iron statues of Qin and his wife kneeling in front of Yue's tomb. It was the punishment for what they did. Over the thousands of year, the statues were destroyed and rebuilt many, many times by people kicking, bashing, spitting, and urinating on them. Finally, the government fenced them off and put up a sign to plead people not to.

Gate
There are two lines of rhythms on the gate of the tomb.

青山有幸埋忠骨,白铁无辜铸奸臣

Roughly, “The hills are lucky to harbor loyal bones. What crime the iron committed to be formed in the shapes of traitors?”


epilogue:

Song dynasty went steady downhill after Yue's death. They moved the capital south to near HanZhou, from near Xi'An. Lasted few more decades and was conquered by Mongolians who started the Yuan dynasty.

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