The sound of Zhao Kuangyin shovelling snow
with a shovel-like weapon and the blurred shadows of Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao
Guangyi in the room(燭光斧影)
Song Guangyi's older brother was the
founding king of the Song Dynasty. After the death of Song Guangyi's elder
brother, his elder brother's son was supposed to inherit the position of king.
But why did Zhao Kuangyin let Song Guangyi
succeed him and become the second king of the Song Dynasty?
There was a saying among the people at that
time that Zhao Guangyi had gained the throne by unfair means.
On the night of the 13th of November in the
winter of that year, when Zhao Kuangyin was 49 years old, he and his brother
were drinking together in the palace.
The weather was fine during the day, but at
night the temperature dropped rapidly and it began to snow.
As Zhao Kuangyin and his brother wanted to
talk about some relatively private matters, Zhao Kuangyin ordered all the
servants and soldiers to stand guard about 30 metres away from them.
These servants and soldiers saw the light
of candles coming from the room where they were drinking and saw the shadows of
their two brothers. These servants and soldiers saw the two of them talking
animatedly, and their movements were noisy. They would stand up and sit down.
Zhao Kuangyin suddenly stood up and picked
up an ancient Chinese shovel-like weapon to shovel the snow in front of the
house where they were drinking.
Zhao Kuangyin seemed to be venting his
anger.
They drank until late at night, and Zhao
Kuangyin slept right in the room where they drank. Zhao Guangyi left the room
and went to sleep in another room in the palace.
According to the servants and soldiers
responsible for guarding Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Kuangyin's snoring could still be
heard in the room after Zhao Guangyi left, but the snoring stopped later.
In the early morning of 14 November, when
the servant who was in charge of serving Zhao Kuangyin entered the room where
Zhao Kuangyin was sleeping, the servant was horrified to find that Zhao
Kuangyin was dead.
The news of Zhao Kuangyin's death immediately
reached Zhao Guangyi. Zhao Guangyi immediately entered the palace and declared
himself the new king.
Because Zhao Kuangyin's death was too
sudden, and because Zhao Guangyi immediately took control of the entire royal
family and the country's army after Zhao Kuangyin's death, Zhao Kuangyin's
death aroused people's suspicions, and people thought it was possible that Zhao
Guangyi had murdered Zhao Kuangyin.
The direct translation of this idiom is the
sound of Zhao Kuangyin shovelling snow with a shovel-like weapon, and the
blurred shadows of Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi in the room.
This idiom is used to describe an unsolved
case.
Dear friend, how do you feel or what do you
think after listening to this story?
What do you think is the truth of the matter?
Have you ever heard of such unsolved cases?
I hope this story can give you some new
insights.
燭光斧影(The sound of Zhao Kuangyin shovelling
snow with a shovel-like weapon and the blurred shadows of Zhao Kuangyin and
Zhao Guangyi in the room)
宋光義的兄長是宋王朝的開國國王，宋光義的兄長死後，國王的位置應該由他的兄長的兒子繼承王位。
但為何趙匡胤讓宋光義繼任成了宋王朝的第二任的國王呢?
因此當時的民間傳出一種說法，這種說法就是趙光義用不正當的手段取得了王位。
在趙匡胤49歲那一年的冬天的11月13號的晚上，他與他的弟弟一起在皇宮中喝酒。
那一天的白天的天氣非常好，但到了晚上之後氣溫急速下降而且開始下雪。
由於趙匡胤與他的弟弟要談一些比較私密的話題，所以趙匡胤命令所有的僕人與士兵都只能站在距離他們大約30公尺之外的地方守衛。
這些僕人與士兵們看到他們喝酒的房間中透出蠟燭的光，並且看到他們兩個兄弟的影子，這些僕人與士兵們看到他們兩個人聊天聊得很熱烈，他們的動作很大，他們兩個人有時候站起來有時候又坐下。
趙匡胤突然站起來拿著一把中國古代的一種有點像鏟子一樣的兵器到他們喝酒的房屋外的雪地上剷雪。
趙匡胤好像在發洩生氣的情緒。
他們喝酒喝到深夜，趙匡胤就直接睡在他們喝酒的房間內。趙光義就離開這個房間到皇宮中的另一個房間睡覺。
根據那些負責守衛的僕人與士兵的說詞，在趙光義離開這個房間之後，房間中還傳來趙匡胤的打鼾聲，但是後來打鼾聲就停止了。
11月14號的清晨，負責服侍趙匡胤的僕人進入趙匡胤睡覺的房間內的時候，僕人驚恐的發現趙匡胤已經死了。
趙匡胤死亡的這個消息立刻傳到趙光義的耳中，趙光義立刻進入皇宮並且宣布自己成為新任的國王。
因為趙匡胤的死亡太過突然，而且趙光義在趙匡胤死亡之後就立刻控制了整個皇室與國家的軍隊，所以趙匡胤的死引起人們的懷疑，人們才認為有可能是趙光義謀殺了趙匡胤。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是趙匡胤拿著一把像鏟子的兵器剷雪的的聲音與趙匡胤和趙光義兩個人在房間中的模糊的影子。
這句成語被用來形容一樁沒有被破解的懸案。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的感受或有怎樣的想法呢。
你認為這件事情的真相為何嗎?你有聽過那些尚未破解的懸案嗎?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為續湘山野錄https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E7%BA%8C%E6%B9%98%E5%B1%B1%E9%87%8E%E9%8C%84
