Yuè Fēi’s loyalty and prowess were proven when the Jin Dynasty of northern China led a successful
offensive attack on the Song Dynasty’s capital, Kaifeng. He stayed behind during the
siege to hold out the enemy when all the other generals were evacuating, but he ultimately lost. Despite this loss and the death of his mother, he rallied thousands of soldiers to take Jin owned land. He secured areas all the way back to Kaifeng in 1134, where he was preparing to lead a final attack on the
severely weakened Jin in order to properly reunify China under Song rule.
But, before leading the attack, Yuè Fēi was summoned to the southern Song Dynasty’s capital, and he
was arrested for “treason”. Song emperor Qín Huì secured a pact with the Jin, and in order to
eliminate any threats to the deal and his grip on the throne, he demanded Yuè Fēi’s execution.
This event has been documented by historians in one of Dynastic China’s most famous historical episodes.
“飛裂裳以背示鑄,有盡忠報國四大字,深入膚理。既而閱實無左驗,鑄明其無辜。
"Fēi liè shang yǐ bèi shì zhù, yǒu jìnzhōng bàoguó sì dàzì, shēnrù fū lǐ. Jì'ér yuè shí wú zuǒ yàn, zhù míng qí wúgū.”
“Yue ripped his jacket to reveal the four tattooed characters of ‘serve the country with the utmost
loyalty’ on his back. This proved that he was clearly innocent of the charges.”
After torturing him for two months to get a confession, Yuè Fēi was ultimately executed along with his closest subordinates and his son in 1142 at age 38. When emperor Qín Huì was questioned by
government figures about the act of treason Yuè Fēi committed, he responded,
“Though it isn’t sure whether there is something that he did to betray the dynasty, maybe there
is.”
It’s not all gloomy though, as Yuè Fēi’s grandson published a biography on his grandfather; this biography inspired a movement of restoration and retaliation against emperor Qín Huì’s legacy.
This movement culminated in Yuè Fēi being ingrained as a cultural hero in the Chinese mythos; he was
officially canonized in 1179 with the name Zhōngwǔ (忠武, Loyal and Martial). His
honorable actions were commemorated by statues of emperor Qín Huì kneeling down to an
imposing metal statue of Yuè Fēi. Over the years these statues have been vandalized, to say the least, through some not-so-sanitary methods, which in turn caused Qín Huì’s statue to discolor and lose definition.
Yuè Fēi’s story shows you that even in death, being loyal will always come back to reward you. In China’s most famous literary work, Journey to the West, Yuè Fēi is featured as the mentor of the Monkey King; The Monkey King offers Yuè Fēi the blood of Qín Huì at his trial in hell. As one would guess, Yuè Fēi politely declines.
Sources:
https://supchina.com/2021/01/27/the-evolving-hero-status-of-the-executed-general-yue-fei/
http://en.chinaculture.org/created/2005-07/21/content_70831.htm