According to the best wishes of ordinary people, we always hope that the idols in our hearts will not only be talented and beautiful, but also ideally have both virtues and skills. Therefore, we also have such beautiful and noble hopes for Li Qingzhao.

The most important of the four virtues is "women's virtue". The core idea of ??"women's virtue" is still two words - obedience. "Shuowen Jiezi" explains it this way: "Women are submissive to others." Every move, word and deed of a woman must obey the teachings of men. That is a woman with "virtue". Just when Li Qingzhao was born, there was still a famous figure active in the Northern Song Dynasty court - Sima Guang. Although he became a shining child star in one fell swoop with his "smashing vats" since he was a child, he was a lively and clever young man. He became a Neo-Confucian who was full of benevolence, justice and morality. He has a famous saying, which is aimed at us women: "Women regard gentleness as virtue and do not regard forceful argument as beauty." For women, the highest moral standard is to be submissive. Anyone who is sharp-tongued, unreasonable, and even dares to compete with men in a ring to compete with each other is not a real woman and will be scolded.

No, Li Qingzhao has been scolded a lot since the day he became famous. The scoldings came and went, but the most scolding thing was her "unruly behavior as a woman". There was a famous scholar named Wang Zhuo in the Song Dynasty. He once commented on almost all the famous poets in the dynasty. But Wang Zhuo, who recognized Li Qingzhao as the most talented woman in the dynasty, was the first to scold him, saying that no lady in the world since ancient times had ever seen such a shameless, dissolute and wanton woman like Li Qingzhao! Could it be that Li Qingzhao really did something shameful or wrote something shameful to deserve to be reviled like this? Let's take a look. In the eyes of these sanctimonious old masters, what is it about Li Qingzhao that makes them dislike him? Why should they beat their chests and shout that the world is declining and people's hearts are not as old as they used to be?

To be honest, according to the requirements of people at the time, Li Qingzhao was really not a model of "three obediences and four virtues". First of all, this one does not meet the requirements. Which one? ——Female appearance! You may not understand, isn't it said that Li Qingzhao is a great beauty? Even great beauty cannot meet the requirements of "female appearance", so what kind of stunning beauty is needed to win over the country? Note that this "feminine appearance" does not mean that a woman should have an angelic face, a devilish figure, heavy makeup, winking, and dress up like a blue enchantress to seduce men; it does require women to be clean and tidy, and in one fell swoop When you act elegantly and generously, you should not look at someone who shouldn't look at you, say a word that you shouldn't say, or take a step that you shouldn't take.

We often say that there are five poisons: cheating, gambling, ganging, smoking, and prostitution. These are all things that even men will not get good results from, but Li Qingzhao happened to be infected with the same powerful one - -bet. And she doesn't like gambling very much, to the point of being obsessed with it and not regretting it. We see those people who are obsessed with gambling, who are often trapped in it and unable to extricate themselves. Some even gamble and lose their families. There are very few people who do not regret it. But Li Qingzhao has been gambling all his life, and he really has never regretted it. Why? One word - win. Those who lose money will cry and regret it, but who will regret it if they win money?

Have you ever seen a person who gambles all his life and never loses? Never seen it. As far as I know, apart from Li Qingzhao, there is no other such person. How could a person who never loses in gambling and always wins money regret it? Of course not. Don't you believe it? You have to believe it even if you don’t believe it! These were all written down by Li Qingzhao herself in black and white and passed down to this day. The evidence is conclusive. Li Qingzhao wrote an article "Preface to the Picture of Horse Fighting". "Horse Fighting" is a method of gambling. In this article, Li Qingzhao started with a lesson:

Why can't you be as proficient in gambling as me? In fact, there are no tricks to gambling. Just find a way to get ahead. Therefore, only by gambling with concentration can you be invincible. As the saying goes, "There is no one else who knows better than others, and they strive to be the first to master it, so those who are experts can do it."

There is nothing special about this lesson. Who doesn’t know that gambling requires concentration? You will lose money if you don’t pay attention! Some people don’t necessarily concentrate on anything else. When they get to the gambling table, they forget all about food and sleep, and are selfless and devoted. Those who win want to take advantage of their luck to win more, and those who lose want to get it back! This is somewhat similar to Li Qingzhao. No, Li Qingzhao then proudly declared: I like to be rich by nature, and all the so-called rich people indulge in it, forgetting to sleep and eat day and night. But who can live by following the crowd all his life without making progress? Just fine.

In fact, gambling in the Song Dynasty was not too far from today. For example, rich people can play gambling. There was a sports game called Cuju in the Song Dynasty, and the rules were roughly similar to today's football. If you have watched "Water Margin", you must still remember the villain Gao Taiwei in it. Because he was good at football, he fell in love with the then emperor Song Huizong, and quickly became a hot power.

In addition to gambling on qiu, there is also gambling on chess. Anyone can play chess regardless of their status, whether they have money or not. It can be played by anyone from high school to low-income people. It is the most elegant and most appreciative form of gambling. When the last two emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, Song Huizong and Song Qinzong, were captured by the Jin soldiers and went to the north, they were so panicked that they didn't forget to bring chess with them. Li Qingzhao also said that "Xiangxi and Yiqi" are gambling games. Unfortunately, chess can only be played by two people, which is not exciting enough, so Li Qingzhao doesn't like it very much.

Of course, in addition to the common ones, there are many other ways to gamble, such as cockfighting, cricket fighting, and so on. Li Qingzhao listed more than twenty types of gambling games in her article. However, among these twenty kinds of gambling, some she thought were too vulgar; some thought they relied only on luck and did not show wisdom; some thought they were too vulgar. It's too difficult, there are too few people who know how to play, and she simply can't find an opponent - the "Eastern Invincible" in the entire gambling world. So what kind of gambling does Li Qingzhao like? According to her own words, it was "beating a horse". What exactly horse-playing is, has been lost now, and we have no way of knowing. However, it is said that someone has verified that horse racing is the predecessor of today's mahjong. It seems that playing mahjong all night is one of Li Qingzhao's hobbies.

The most amazing thing is not this. After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, in order to avoid the siege of the Jin soldiers, Li Qingzhao fled with the emperor and dignitaries of the Song Dynasty. During this time of war and chaos, the two emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty were captured, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, her husband died, and some of the family property accumulated through hard work in the first half of her life was almost lost in the escape. She still couldn't forget about gambling. Son. People say that if you don't practice handcrafting for three days, she will have itchy hands for three days. So after getting off the escape ship, I had just rented a temporary house and settled in. The first thing that came to my mind was to quickly find the gambling treasure and take a gamble! This kind of gambling addiction is nothing more than smoking a crow, right?

Some people say that Li Qingzhao is a gambler, but they are not wronging her. If you think the word "gambler" is not elegant, you can change the word, just like what "Ancient and Modern Women's History" said, call her "Gambler" "The ancestor of the family" - the ancestor of gambling. This tall hat can't be worn by just anyone. Gamblers are not in good taste, so give her a well-deserved nickname - God of Gamblers! Didn't she say something like this: "It was Yi'an, the layman, who knew the destiny and said to beat the horse after thousands of generations." It turns out that Li Qingzhao wrote this "Preface to the Picture of Beating the Horse" out of complacency and fear that others would not know about him. Being proficient in gambling, her main purpose is to let future generations know that the gambling game "Fate and Horse Racing" was invented by me, Li Qingzhao. The "ancestor of the Bo family" must belong to me, no one can snatch it from me!

In fact, such a hobby is not unusual at all. We often say "drinking, sex, wealth and energy" together - "color", we have already proved Li Qingzhao's "romantic lust"; "wealth", whether Li Qingzhao was greedy for money, we will leave it to discuss later; "qi", originally It means fighting spirit and gambling. Isn't Li Qingzhao's experience as a "gambler" the best proof of fighting spirit and gambling? In fact, there is no gambling without alcohol, not to mention that Li Qingzhao claimed that for a period of time after getting married, the couple lived in poverty. They had to go to pawn shops frequently. They probably didn’t have much cash and savings, but they definitely didn’t lack wine and dice. Li Qingzhao is not short of gambling, see the "God of Gamblers" we talked about, and not short of wine is what we are going to discuss today.

At this point, everyone may have another question: Didn’t you say that Li Qingzhao was born in a famous family and was a lady? How could he be so broke and so poor that he still had to frequent pawnshops? Could it be that the husband she married, Zhao Mingcheng, was a pauper and a down-and-out scholar? Could it be that the two of them are privately engaged in a lifelong backyard, without the orders of their parents or the words of a matchmaker? It stands to reason that marriages in ancient times were arranged by parents and that people should be well-matched. Unless they elope like Zhuo Wenjun, how could a rich girl marry a pauper? So what happened to Li Qingzhao's marriage? To clarify this matter, we have to start with Li Qingzhao’s father, Li Gefei.

Li Qingzhao’s marriage was indeed arranged by his parents.

Li Qingzhao was just eighteen years old when she married Zhao Mingcheng. At that time, her father, Li Gefei, was working as a minister of etiquette in Tokyo (Kaifeng, Henan), the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the Ministry of Rites was in charge of national sacrificial ceremonies, diplomatic etiquette, scientific examinations at all levels, and overall management of culture and education. Its scope of authority was wider than that of the Ministry of Education today. Li Gefei's position as a member of the Ministry of Etiquette is roughly equivalent to today's director of a department in the Ministry of Education. Ordinarily, this official position is not small, and it is also in the oil and water department, but Li Gefei is born with a stubborn temper and often walks by the river without getting his feet wet. He can really be regarded as a good official with a clear mind.