The origin of the janitor

There is such a myth about the origin of door gods in a book in the Warring States period. In Dushuo Mountain in the East China Sea, there is a huge peach tree with a bend of 3,000 miles. Its branches extend all the way to the death gate in the northeast, and all ghosts come and go from here. There are Er Shen, Shen Tu and Mao Yu under the tree. They specialize in monitoring the behavior of ghosts. When they found out which ghost was running amok, they tied it up with straw rope and fed it to the tiger. Therefore, people painted portraits of Shen Tu and Mao Yu on two mahogany boards. Put it by the door to protect it from ghosts. This is the earliest goalkeeper image in legend. After the evolution of the past dynasties, the content of the door god is constantly changing. The gatekeepers in the Tang Dynasty were not Shen Tu and Mao Yu, but Qin Qiong and Wei Chijingde.

It is said that during the reign of Emperor Taizong, there was a fortune teller who was very accurate in divination. A fisherman never catches fish because he is poor. So he went to the fortune teller for divination and promised a fish as the money for divination. Every time he goes to sea, he always catches a lot of fish. The fortune teller told the fisherman that he could only catch a net of fish every day, but the fisherman didn't keep the treaty. Later, when the Dragon King learned about this, he personally went to the fortune teller for divination.

The dragon king turned into a scholar in white and came to the divination pavilion to ask for divination. The fortune teller already knows who is coming. The Dragon King asked the fortune teller when it would rain tomorrow. How deep is the rain? Kaizhi's fortune-telling answers are more accurate, when the clouds float, when it rains, how deep it is and when it stops. The old dragon king was furious and said that your divination was not allowed. I will come to lift your stall tomorrow. Turning around and returning to the Dragon Palace, the emperor ordered it to rain tomorrow, just as the fortune teller said. In order to get rid of the fortune teller, the Dragon King postponed the rain the next day and deducted the rainfall.

After the clouds stopped raining, the Dragon King turned into a scholar in white and came to the Liuyi stall. He pulled up the stall without saying a word. Instead of being angry, the fortune teller said with a smile, you old dragon, disobeying the imperial edict is a capital crime, and now you are bothering me. Hearing this, the Dragon King fell to his knees and asked the fortune teller to give him a chance to live. The fortune teller told the Dragon King that Wei Zhi, the prime minister of the dynasty, would be beheaded tomorrow. You should go to the present emperor and let him haunt Wei Zhi. As long as it's three minutes past noon, you can live, and I can't help you. With that, I rolled up my divination and left. Never appeared again.

It is said that the prime minister of that dynasty was a purple star. When the Dragon King found the emperor, he told the story. Taizong said no problem, simple. So, the day after leaving the DPRK, Wei Zhi was called to the Imperial Garden to play chess. Towards noon, Wei Zhi suddenly climbed onto the chess table and fell asleep. Emperor Taizong didn't care at that time. But at this time, there was a sudden thunder and I saw a faucet falling from the sky. In the evening, the old dragon king came to beg Taizong for mercy. Taizong languishes every day, neglecting state affairs. After Wei Zhi found Emperor Taizong, he arranged two valiant soldiers at that time. Qin Qiong and Wei Chijingde stood outside the emperor's bedroom every night. Lao Long was afraid of these two men, so he didn't want to disturb them.

Since then, people have put portraits of these two generals on their doors to drive away those evil brakes.