Those who hold positive opinions believe that many official histories, unofficial history, notes and novels unanimously affirm that the original name was Xin Li, a juren from Qixian County, Henan Province, and he was the son of Li, a close confidant of Wei Zhongxian and a minister of war in the Ming Dynasty. During the Chongzhen period, Li Yin Wei Zhongxian was sentenced to prison, and he was called Li Gongzi. When there was a drought in Henan, the victims panicked and called for help. Li Yanli advised the Song magistrate in Qixian County to stop collecting relief, was sent to provide relief, and was falsely imprisoned. Later, the victims attacked the county town, robbed the prison, killed the magistrate of a county, drove Liangshan, and defected to the peasant uprising army in Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng took this as a counselor, named Yan Li.
There is a legendary record about Yan Li's defection to the Li Zicheng Rebel Army in the anonymous Wandering Records nearby. It might as well be recorded here: "In the last years of Chongzhen, bandits were rampant everywhere, and prostitutes in Yuzhou were in chaos. Luqi County sent people to make a strong commitment to Li Xin. If you don't believe me, run away. If you have doubts, you will be imprisoned. When the matchmaker came to rescue, the people in the city should answer, and the letter still belongs to the matchmaker. So he met Li Zicheng as brothers and decided to rebel. Li Xin's wife, Tang Shi, didn't listen, lying on the ground, like life, and didn't know when she would die. " After Yan Li joined the Li Zicheng army, he recommended Niu Jinxing as a Henan Lushi juren and Song Xiance as a gentleman of yin and yang. Yan Li advised Li Zicheng to "respect the virtuous and be polite, and help the people with violence"; After capturing Beijing, he sent troops to protect the nunnery and Henan Jinshi Liu Shunzhi, so as to stabilize social order and buy off people's hearts. His final murder was the result of Niu Jinxing's slander.
Historians believe that the authors of the above historical records are mostly rigorous and influential scholars, such as Gu, who also affirmed Li Yan's life in Ming Bei lue, and his records should be said to be credible; Another example is The History of Ming Dynasty, which should be regarded as a history of faithfulness, and records in detail the process of Li Xin's participation in the Li Zicheng Uprising. This is one; Secondly, most of the above historical records were written in Shunzhi and Kangxi years of Qing Dynasty, not far from the failure time of Dashun Army. The author is fully qualified to have extensive contact with the parties who witnessed the incident at that time, so Yan Li is a real person and should be credible. Close friends Guo Moruo and Fan Wenlan hold this view.
Zheng Lian, a beginner in the Qing dynasty, held different opinions and first proposed this case. He said in Bian Yu lue: "There is no Yan Li in Qixian County. It's only a hundred miles from home, and you know each other well. Don't you know anything? Even those unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of thieves have never heard of a general Li in Qixian County. I wonder what the legacy of the Ming Dynasty is based on. Moreover, all the books in "The Legend of the Ranger" are included. I don't know if it is nothing. " Since then, critics have investigated Yan Li's native place, family background and his deeds in Qixian County, and concluded that it does not exist. One of the evidences is that in addition to Zheng Lian, the author of Bian Yulue, who is only a hundred miles away from Qi, the editors of Qi County Records and Kaifeng Mansion Records in Henan in the early Qing Dynasty also denied the existence of Li Yan in Qi County. Second, Li is not from Qixian, but from Yingzhou (now Fuyang, Anhui). No matter after he became an official or cut his post, he did not move to Qixian. Third, it is not Li's son. This is recorded in the Records of Qixian County and Yingzhou Prefecture. Fourthly, the story of Yan Li persuading Qixian to provide disaster relief is also fictional. Due to historical investigation, there was no Song surname in Qixian County during the four to thirteen years of Chongzhen. In the meantime, no one died in Qixian county, and Qixian county was never breached by insurgents. Then, why do so many unofficial history, notes, novels and even the compilers of Ming history all say that they are Qixian people and sons of Li? The commentator further believes that this was first fabricated by the rulers in the late Ming Dynasty out of the need to hate and vilify the peasant rebels. Because he is a "schemer", and Li Yan is Li's son, a man who opposes the case. He was bitten by people in the sea. When he heard that Li was a thief, everyone said, "This must be Li's son." Since then, "misinformed the truth, and then went to Shi Ce". Secondly, the development of Yan Li actually belittles Li Zicheng, which is the epitome of the history of repression initiated by the lazy Taoist in Western Wu. In essence, the early legendary "Li Gongzi" was Li Zicheng himself. After Yan Li's deeds were created in Miniature History, they were recognized by the rulers, that is, they infiltrated into historical records through various channels. When the History of Ming Dynasty was compiled, it was the climax of the literary inquisition movement in the early Qing Dynasty. Naturally, no one corrected it, and "Yan Li" became a real person from the beginning.
In the history of the late Ming Dynasty, the deeds of two women are particularly eye-catching and still attract researchers' interest. One is Wu Sangui's beloved Ji Chen Yuanyuan, and the other is the wife of Li Yan, a senior general of the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty.
Guo Moruo was the first to do some research on matchmaker and decided that matchmaker really existed. 1944 wrote "Three Hundred Sacrifices in Shen Jia", quoting the record in "Biography of Li Zicheng" in Ming Dynasty: "Mrs. Prostitute Red will rebel, win the trust and force her to bear it." It is said that matchmaker, an acrobat in Jianghu, has taken a fancy to Li Xin (Yan) in Qixian County and must marry him. Yan Li began to put down the airs of Juren Childe and refused to give in. After being forced to be the groom, he ran away and was put in prison by the government. Matchmaker led the hungry people in Qixian, attacked Qixian, rescued Yan Li, married her, and persuaded Yan Li to go to Li Zicheng. This story is quite dramatic, so Guo Moruo has been obsessed with it and wants to change it into a historical drama. Three years later, in his article about Yan Li, he also mentioned that his account of the anecdote about Shen Jia's three-hundredth sacrifice to Yan Li and the matchmaker "caught the reader's attention". Later, he found some records about Yan Li and the matchmaker in the anonymous Roaming Tale and Wu Meicun's Land Bridge Moon Hee, and their contents were similar to those in Ming History. Therefore, he thinks that the record of Ming History may be based on the works of Wu Meicun and others.
The research after liberation proves that the story of the rope prostitute matchmaker who broke Qixian City to save Yan Li, as Guo Moruo said, was first seen in Wu Meicun's "Year of the Mouth, Luqiao Moon Hee". Wu Meicun was a great poet during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and enjoyed a high reputation. His "A Brief Introduction to the Year of the Mouth" was written earlier, so this story has a great influence. Later, this story was adopted by Dai Li's A Tale of Huailing, Su Feng's Essays and Records, and Mao Qiling's later Lessons. Some people think that Biography of Rogue in Ming Dynasty is Mao Qiling's main manuscript, and he wrote this story into Biography of Li Zicheng in Ming Dynasty based on books such as Suikou. The history of the Ming Dynasty is highly respected in the official history books, and this story is widely circulated.
Xie guozhen, an expert in Ming history, also claimed that the Red Lady really existed, and wrote the article "The Red Lady and the Melon Chen Si", citing the relevant records of the Red Lady in Dai Li's "The General Record of Huailing Liukou". In his Selected Historical Materials of Peasant Uprising in Ming Dynasty, Mao Qiling's Post-establishment Record was included. The book calls the matchmaker a "rope-stepping prostitute". All the above historical materials were not seen by Guo Moruo at that time, but their contents are no different from those recorded in Ming History. All these records have one thing in common: the story of the Red Lady is closely related to the story of the Red Lady's rescue in Qixian County.
A few years ago, historians had a heated discussion about whether there was Li Yan. In Questioning Yan Li (Historical Research No.5, 1987), Gu Cheng thinks that he is just a fictional Mr. Wu. Li Yan does not exist in the local historical materials in his hometown of Henan and the word of mouth of his elders. At that time, Zheng Lian denied that there was Li Yan in Qixian County in Henan Province. In addition, Kangxi's Records of Qixian County was accompanied by an article on Li Gongzi's Discrimination, denying that he was the son of Li, a great scholar in the Ming Dynasty, and denying the existence of this man. Accordingly, Yao, the author of the long historical novel Li Zicheng, thinks that the story of the matchmaker's rescue from prison in Qixian County is "something that didn't happen" and "this story is a fictional legend".
Some researchers believe that although he is not the son of Li or a juren in Qixian County, Henan Province, this does not mean that there is no such person. Because according to the records of Tang Bao and some witnesses in Beijing, there was a peasant army in Li Zicheng named "Li Gongzi" who served as commander in chief. However, people think that even if Yan Li is a real person, it is still unbelievable that Lady Hong broke the city to save her. Because of Chaganlong's "Records of Qixian County", during the Chongzhen period, there was no record of hungry people breaking through the county seat and killing the county magistrate. In addition, many historical records of Yan Li's deeds do not mention matchmaker.
In Sui Koulue and other books, the story and the whole story of the matchmaker are vague. We don't even know her last name. I only know that she is a "rope tramp" and an acrobat on the tramp. The so-called "matchmaker" is marked by wearing red clothes. This is not without clues in the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty. Therefore, some researchers think that the Red Lady is probably led by a rebel army in An Baili. She is called the Red Lady because she is dressed in red.
The final outcome of The Red Lady, like Yan Li, is also a mystery. According to "The Romance of Yongchang", the matchmaker later became the leader of Bailian Sect. After Yan Li's death, she also met a monk, Li Zicheng. Of course, this is just a novelist's statement, not history.
The debate about the existence of Yan Li and the Red Lady continues. In 1984, the book History of Peasant Wars in the Late Ming Dynasty, Gu Cheng reiterated the view that there was no Li Yan. Xie Chengren thinks that Yan Li does exist in his book A New Biography of Li Zicheng (1986 Shanghai People's Publishing House Edition). These two books are representative works of studying the peasant army in Li Zicheng. Right and wrong have to be left to experts to make further answers.