I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

"What about the female lead? Who are they planning to cast?"

Upon hearing Cheng Sheng ask about the female lead, Jiangsu Ying couldn't help but laugh and said, "Boss, you'll never guess who will play the female lead in this drama."

"Oh!"

Seeing how mysterious Jiangsu Ying was talking about it, Cheng Sheng also became curious about the female lead in "The Legend of Zhao Yun".

"The Legend of Zhao Yun" – judging from the title, it's a biography of Zhao Yun, so the female lead in this TV series must also be related to Zhao Yun.

When Cheng Sheng thought of women related to Zhao Yun in history, the first one that came to mind was Lady Mi.

The story of "single-handedly rescuing his lord" is so famous. He single-handedly charged into Cao Cao's million-strong army seven times, and finally returned in triumph, carrying the young lord A Dou, his battle robe stained with blood.

The story includes scenes featuring Zhao Yun and Lady Mi.

However, there is controversy in history as to whether Zhao Yun rescued Lady Mi or Lady Gan.

Many historians believe that Zhao Yun rescued Lady Gan, based on historical records.

A Dou had two mothers at the time—his birth mother, Lady Gan, and his legal mother, Lady Mi.

To understand this matter, we must go back to the source of all the stories—Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms.

The Biography of Zhao Yun in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu: "When the First Lord was pursued by Cao Cao at Changban in Dangyang, he abandoned his wife and children and fled south. Zhao Yun carried the infant son, who was later the First Lord, and protected Lady Gan, who was the mother of the First Lord. They were both able to escape the disaster."

This means that when Liu Bei, the first emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty, was pursued by Cao Cao at Changban Slope in Dangyang, he abandoned his wife and children and fled south. Zhao Yun personally carried the young child (who later became Liu Shan, the second emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty) and protected Lady Gan (Liu Shan's mother), thus saving them from disaster.

Here's the key point! It's written in black and white, crystal clear: Zhao Yun saved two people at the same time—the "weak" Liu Shan and the "Lady Gan," the "Lady's wife."

So, where is Lady Mi?

Not a single word about Zhao Yun is mentioned in the biography.

This is interesting.

In the "Biography of Mi Zhu" in the "Records of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu", there is a sentence that reads: "Mi Zhu then presented his younger sister to Liu Bei as his wife... Later, Liu Bei suffered many defeats, and his wife was once captured by Lü Bu."

In the first year of Jian'an, when Liu Bei was in Guangling Haixi, Mi Zhu not only married his sister to him, but also provided him with a large amount of gold, silver and servants.

This record explains the existence and identity of Lady Mi, but it also makes no mention of her final fate at Changbanpo.

The silence of history is often more thought-provoking than its clamor.

Based on the records in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, we can draw the most logical conclusion: on that chaotic morning at Changban Slope, when Zhao Yun found Liu Bei's family, Lady Gan was with Liu Shan, while Lady Mi had likely already perished or been separated from them at that time.

The renowned historian Lu Bi also discussed this in his "Collected Annotations on the Records of the Three Kingdoms". He believed that according to the clear record in "The Biography of Zhao Yun", only Lady Gan and Liu Shan were rescued, and the fate of Lady Mi is a blank in the official history.

So why did everyone come to believe that Zhao Yun rescued Lady Mi?

This is thanks to the "artistic embellishment" of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

In order to enhance the dramatic conflict, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" puts Zhao Yun in a more extreme moral dilemma (his wife refuses to mount his horse) and a crisis situation (pursuers are approaching, and his wife throws herself into a well) during the process of rescuing A Dou, which makes Zhao Yun's "loyalty" and "bravery" stand out even more.

To give Lady Mi, whose whereabouts are unknown in official history, a reasonable and tragic ending, and to maintain her image as Liu Bei's principal wife of integrity.

If both ladies had been rescued, the story would have been rather bland and uninteresting. Having Lady Mi sacrifice herself to protect A Dou not only makes the plot more moving but also allows Zhao Yun to focus on carrying A Dou and breaking through the encirclement, making the main storyline clearer.

Therefore, the story of "Zhao Yun rescuing his lord single-handedly" is a perfect fusion of historical fact and literary art.

Luo Guanzhong cleverly wove together the historical fact of Zhao Yun rescuing Lady Gan and A Dou, along with the blank space of Lady Mi's whereabouts, into a new and more moving story.

Although Cheng Sheng drew on most of the historical facts when filming "The Legend of Zhao Yun", in order to make the plot more dramatic, the company's screenwriters borrowed this story and changed Lady Gan into Lady Mi.

Now here's the problem: Lady Mi and Zhao Yun have a master-servant relationship, so Lady Mi can't be the female lead. Besides, Lady Mi's screen time is too short; she'd be more suitable as a supporting female character.

This means that the female lead for "The Legend of Zhao Yun" will have to be chosen from among others.

One of the editors initially suggested Sun Shangxiang, but the other screenwriters rejected it because Sun Shangxiang's relationship with Liu Bei made it impossible for her to be paired with Zhao Yun.

After much deliberation, the screenwriter ultimately decided to position the female lead in "The Legend of Zhao Yun" as Zhao Yun's wife.

Zhao Yun, one of the Five Tiger Generals of Shu, can be considered the most perfect military general of the Three Kingdoms period and a famous general in history. However, the identity of his wife has always been a question mark.

There is no record of it in official history, but there are four different accounts in unofficial history.

First version: Ma Yunlu.

Ma Yunlu was once considered the most suitable wife for Zhao Yun, because she was the younger sister of Ma Chao, one of the Five Tiger Generals. She was not only highly skilled in martial arts but also beautiful, which was a perfect match for Zhao Yun, who was skilled in martial arts and handsome.

However, Ma Yunlu is a fictional character created by Zhou Dahuang in "Anti-Romance of the Three Kingdoms". There was no such person in history, so he does not count.

Second version: Xiahou Qingyi.

Xiahou Qingyi was the younger sister of Xiahou Lan, a friend of Zhao Yun, and later became Zhao Yun's wife.

However, this Miss Xiahou is only a character added to the TV series "God of War Zhao Zilong". There is no such person in history, so she cannot be considered Zhao Yun's wife.

The third version: Li Cuilian.

Li Cuilian is a character in the novel "The Green Steel Sword". She later married Zhao Yun, but she is also a historical figure who did not exist, so she cannot be considered Zhao Yun's wife at all.

The fourth version: Fan's version.

Fan Shi is recorded in both "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Records of the Three Kingdoms" and was a real historical figure.

When Zhao Yun captured Guiyang, Zhao Fan immediately surrendered upon seeing that the visitor was Zhao Yun.

Zhao Fan and Zhao Yun became sworn brothers, and Zhao Fan even planned to marry his sister-in-law, Lady Fan, to Zhao Yun.

Although Lady Fan was incredibly beautiful, Zhao Yun worried that Zhao Fan might have ulterior motives, and also felt that becoming sworn brothers with him and marrying his sister-in-law would damage his reputation, so he refused.

Although Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang later advocated that Zhao Yun marry Lady Fan, he still did not agree, so Lady Fan is not considered his wife.

So who exactly was Zhao Yun's wife?

According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Zhao Yun was still single when he captured Guiyang, but after his death, he had two sons who inherited his will.

There is no accurate record of Zhao Yun's age at death. *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* states he was seventy, some sources say sixty-one, and others say sixty-six. (End of Chapter)