Idioms and allusions about state officials setting fires
During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a state governor named Tian Deng who was narrow-minded, autocratic and overbearing. Because his name is "Deng", the people in the state are not allowed to say any word with the same sound as "Deng". Speaking of his taboo, there really is some origin...
Kamata Village is a village surrounded by mountains and rivers, with a radius of thousands of miles, mountains, ponds, fields, fields... lush trees, clear water and fertile fields . Most of these places are owned by Murakami's rich man "Tian Wanwan". This old landowner, Tian Wanwan, has a lot of fertile land in his family, but he has no children around him. So he spent a lot of money on feng shui and asked experts to tell fortunes. At the age of 40, I finally got a son and regarded him as the apple of my eye. The fortune teller said: "If you have a son in your later years, you will definitely be promoted to a high official, and gold and silver treasures will come rolling in." So he named his son "Tian Deng" in order to prepare his son to become an official and become an official as soon as possible.
Tian Deng was born prematurely, with a big head, two extremely small rat eyes that pointed upward, unclear eyebrows, poor eyesight, and a short and fat body. He has been naughty since he was a child and came from a wealthy family, so he always bullied the children, and the children often teased him with the "stool". He couldn't stand this anger, so he said to his father Tian Wanwan: "They all make fun of me with the word 'stool'. When I grow up and become an official, I must stop everyone from saying this word."
After Tian Deng became an official, he ordered the people in the state not to say words with the same pronunciation as "Deng", but to use a certain word instead - the rushes in the garden are called happy grass, and the lampstands, lampshades, and lanterns are called "liangtou", "shade", "deng". According to Lu Zhao, when a prefect goes out to board a car, he has to say "driving". Even when he praises the prefect for "reaching the peak", he has to say "climbing to the top"...
If anyone offends this taboo, he must add "insult" The crime of "local governor" can range from a slap in the face to a serious sentence.
One day, the prefect Tian Deng was sitting in the hall, and a servant was taken to court by the government officials. The servant fell to his knees with a plop and begged loudly: "I'm wronged! Lord Prefect, I didn't do anything today! It's just that at dawn, I went to the hall to turn off the light. I don't know what crime I committed, but I was kicked by the government servant. His feet were almost kicked off the stool." When the prefect Tian Deng heard this, he was furious and ordered his servants to be tied up. He shouted: "You are so bold and unruly. You dare to violate my taboos and don't know the crime. Pull him down and reward him. "Fifty big boards"...
From then on, no one in the prefecture's mansion dared to call him by his "name"...
The annual Lantern Festival is about to begin It's coming, and according to previous custom, the state lights up lanterns for three days to celebrate. The government officials in the state put up notices asking people to come and watch the lanterns on time.
This time, the official who issued the notice felt embarrassed. Using the word "lamp" would offend the prefect's taboo, while not using the word "lamp" meant that the meaning was unclear. After thinking for a long time, the official who wrote the notice had an idea and changed the word "lamp" to the word "fire". In this way, the notice read "This state will set fires for three days according to regulations."
After the notice was posted, the people were very panicked, especially some guests from out of town. Monk Zhang Er was even more confused. He really thought that the government was going to set a fire in the city for three days! They all packed their luggage and rushed to leave the place of right and wrong. The local people were already very dissatisfied with Tian Deng's arrogance and unreasonableness. This time they saw the notice posted by the government and were even more angry.
As a result, the allusion "Only state officials are allowed to set fires, and common people are not allowed to light lamps" has been circulated to this day...