The characters of Tang Fan in the Fourteenth Year of Chenghua should refer to a Jinshi named Sun Bo in the Ming Dynasty. Tang Fan's character is a scholar who has read poems and books. He is thoughtful and has a high IQ, so he has played an important role in solving many cases. But there was no one named Tang Fan in history, so according to historical research, Tang Fan's character prototype matched with a Jinshi named Sun Bo.
Sun Bo was a Jinshi in the 14th year of Chenghua in the Tang Dynasty. He once achieved the position of military officer. Later, he also had a great relationship with Wang Zhi, the eunuch in the West Hall. The play "The 14th year of Chenghua" set the acquaintance of Tang Fan and Wang Zhi the same as that of Sun Bo and Wang Zhi in history. In history, Sun Bo wrote to the Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty that he wanted to cancel the West Hall, which naturally angered Wang Zhi, so Wang Zhi designed to let him go to war with him. Originally, he wanted to defeat Sun Bo's morale, so he made him a small merit officer.
But I didn't expect that although this position was small, Wang Zhi was impressed by Sun Bo's cleverness and intelligence. There was some rift between the two people at first, but later because Sun Bo was really excellent, Wang Zhi still had some admiration for him later. They broke the old grudge and became good friends.
Therefore, some people think that the character setting of the play "Fourteen Years of Chenghua" in Tang Dynasty draws on the character relationship between Sun Bo and Wang Zhi in history. That's why Tang Fan has Sun Bo's shadow on his body.