Wuqi, a water monster in China mythology, was a monster in the Yao, Shun and Yu dynasties according to historical records such as The Classic of Mountains and Seas, and once made an insurrection in Dayu's water control. In ancient books and folklore, on the one hand, he is demon fairy, a strange man who often suffers from Jianghuai and harms the people; On the other hand, he was praised and worshipped as a dutiful son and a god of justice. According to the research and analysis of many scholars, the unsupported Qi State is the prototype of the Monkey King, the Great Sage of Qitian.

The Ancient Classic records the story of Wu rebelling against Dayu, who went to Tongbai Mountain three times to control water. However, Tongbai Mountain is always stormy, with lightning and thunder, rocks howling, trees screaming, natives drowning, and the days are getting old. There is an invisible tyrannical force that prevents the beginning of water control. Yu was very angry. He called a meeting of the gods and tribal leaders and demanded that the evil spirits be driven away. At this time, the tribal leaders in Tongbai Mountain and nearby mountains, fearing that both sides would be unfavorable to themselves, all looked scared and begged to withdraw the exorcism order. Yu Jian, Shang, Dou, Zhou and other tribal leaders got cold feet and refused to contribute, so they were locked up. I didn't know that the monster they were hiding was the Huai Vortex-Wu Zhiqi. Wu is eloquent and knows the depth of rivers and Huaihe River and the height of terrain. He looks like an ape, with a narrow nose and a high head, a green body and white hair, golden eyes and snow teeth. When the neck is stretched out, it seems to be a hundred feet long, and its strength is greater than that of nine elephants. Whether fighting, jumping or running, he is fast, often out of sight in the blink of an eye. The two sides launched a fierce battle at the foot of Tongbai Mountain. Yu sent Tong Lu and Wu Muyou to battle successively, but they were all unbeaten and had no support. Finally, Chen Geng was sent to the battlefield and Wu Zhi was captured. Thousands of monsters, such as seven wolves, brave and brave, Kiichigo, watery, Shan Yao, stone monsters, etc. When they saw Wu being arrested, they screamed and rushed up and tried to take Wu away. Chen Geng waved to Fang Tianji and, together with the gods, formed a mob with no effort. Yu ordered people to lock Wuqi's neck with a big chain, put two bronze bells on his nostrils, and then pressed him at the foot of Guishan Mountain south of Huaihe River. After the defeat, Yu's water control work in Tongbai Mountain went smoothly, and the Huaihe River entered the sea safely.

There are many records about Wu Zhi being the water god of Huai River:

1, "Chu Ci Jiu Huai Si Zhong" says: "Xuanwu Buxi is the mother of water, and I am proud of it." It says here that jellyfish are gods. The Ming Dynasty pottery "Textual Research" says: jellyfish is a kind of unsupported qi.

2. Mr. Yuan Ke, a master of modern mythology in China, said in the water god section of the Dictionary of Myths and Legends in China: "The Dragon King, the worker, all belong to the water god".

3. In the authoritative reference book Ci Yuan, Wu Ba's words are called "Huai Shui Shen Ye".

4. Mr. Yuan Ke's textual research in The Journey to the West: "The Dragon Daughter in Liu Yi and Wu in the Ancient Classics, these mythical figures, because of their successful shaping, have great influence on the people. People believe in it, respect it and even make statues for them. Before liberation, a cast sitting statue without supporting iron was unearthed near the Yellow River in Henan Province, with a bent neck and a twisted back. The head has double horns and is about one meter high. The back is engraved with the date of March of the first year of Jianzhong in Song Dynasty. The year number of "Zhong Jian Guo Jing" was built in Evonne, Song Huizong, with the first year of11year, which has been nearly a thousand years. This shows that in the Huanghuai Valley, at least from the beginning of Wu, it has been regarded as the Huai God.

5. Before Dayu introduced Huai River, the Wu family claimed to be the water god of Huai River. "The Romance of Ancient Myths" said: "Wu dominated the Huaihe River Basin for decades and claimed to be the King of Huai, so all his sons were called princes." Wu also built a palace at the foot of Guishan (now Hongze Lake), commonly known as Dragon Palace. Three palaces were built in the north of Guangshan County, Henan Province, the west of Huoqiu County, and the east of Huaiyuan County, Anhui Province, so that the three sons could keep their own water. He tried his best to expand his power, set off floods and merged the lower reaches of Huaihe River with the lower reaches of Yangtze River. "From Tongbai mountain south to Yunmeng osawa, reaching the source of Hunan water, his henchmen are everywhere. Therefore, within a thousand miles of Fiona Fang, Mufu, Shuiling, Shan Yao and Stone Monsters all obey his orders and are under his control. "

6. Folk inheritance. In the myth of supporting Wu Qi in the middle and upper reaches of Huaihe River, many people call it filial piety and dragon-turning, such as the origin of Huaihe River in Tongbai County and the visit to mother by dragons. Or "Good jiaozi Good Dragon", such as Xinyang's Oolong and Oolong Set and Dragon Egg. In the middle and lower reaches of Huaihe River, it is often called the Great Sage of Water Ape, Jellyfish or Jellyfish Goddess (see Legend of Ming Zuling collected by Xu Shengsheng in Huaiyin City, etc.). ). During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Wu even called the Monkey King and Lishan's mother brother and sister (see Jing Xian's zaju The Journey to the West, etc. ). In short, in the legend of witchcraft being evil and dealing with evil first, the latter prevailed. Therefore, it is reasonable for quite a few people to regard Wu as the water god of Huaihe River.

The earliest ancestor of Wu Cheng'en's mythical novel The Journey to the West should be the stories recorded in Tang Xuanzang's Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, Uighur, The biography of Master Sanzang and I Ching's translation of The Biography of the Great Monk Seeking Dharma in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty. There were Buddhist poems in the Song Dynasty and Buddhist poems in the Tang Dynasty. Between the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, there were Wu Changling's zaju "Learning from the Western Heaven in Tang Sanzang", Yang Donglai's zaju The Journey to the West, and the zaju "Erlang Shensuo Qitian Sheng Da". The Monkey King's image and name have appeared in these plays. Wu Changling's "Journey to the West in Tang Sanzang" has the saying that "Wu is his sister"; In addition, there is such a line in Yuan Zaju: "Sun Walker goes to the cloud: ... Little Saint and Five Brothers and Sisters, Big Sister Lishan's Mother, Second Sister Witch, Big Brother Qitian Sheng Da, Little Saint Tian Tong Shengda, and Three Brothers Play Saburo." The Monkey King's prototype has been made very clear, so later generations don't have to bother to research it. All these are enough to prove that the Monkey King's image was not created by Wu Cheng'en. He wrote novels only to inherit the predecessors and continue to improve the characters. He is a master of the story of Journey to the West. As Lu Xun said: "In the Ming Dynasty, Wu Cheng'en performed the Journey to the West and moved his spirit of witchcraft to the Monkey King."