As one of the masterpieces of classical masterpieces, the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" can be described as a household name.
The reason why this work has reached thousands of households is not only because it portrays many "facial" characters and war wonders that can be called "ancient military encyclopedias", but also because of its fascinating and amazing plot.
And if you want to do this, in addition to the exquisite design, there is also an important factor, that is, all kinds of "gods and ghosts" and the "Qimen Daoshu" with a big brain hole.
For example, Dong Zhuo did many evil deeds and was punished by heaven; Guan Yu's spirit was immortal, killing his enemies; the pear tree became a spirit and dreamed of asking Cao Cao for his life; as for a generation of "god-man" Zhuge Liang, he was even more a divination face and a Qimen Dunjia.
Above_ Add image to the full picture - Romance of the Three Kingdoms
It is these fantastic things that not only make the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" full of fun and readability, but also satisfy the "hunting" psychology of the majority of readers. It can be said that the fantasy color in the novel is one of the main factors that it can "explode" in the folk.
Interestingly, the first to inject fantasy into the "big IP" of the Three Kingdoms was not Luo Guanzhong, but a historian of the Eight Classics - Pei Songzhi.
Above_ Pei Song's Note The Sixty-five Volumes of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
First, the origin of fantasy color
The Qing Dynasty's "Compendium of the General Catalogue of the Four Libraries" pointed out a prominent feature of Pei's Annotations to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms: that is, "Qiqi Aibo".
The so-called "Aibo" refers to the large variety and number of books introduced by Pei Song. Mr. Shen Jiaben summed it up in the Bibliography Cited in the Notes on the Three Kingdoms: "Twenty (twenty) two families of the Jijing Department, one hundred and forty-two families of the History Department, twenty-three families of the Sub-Department, twenty-three families of the Jibu, and two hundred and ten families. It can be seen that the ancient books cited by Pei Zhu are as high as 210 species.
Speaking of Pei's "curiosity", where is it strange?
Above_ On the inner page of the Qing Dynasty edition of the Book of Search for God, the Book of Search for God is a collection of novels that record the strange and magical stories of ancient folklore, written by the historian Gan Bao of the Eastern Jin Dynasty
First of all, Pei Songzhi has a clear preference for zhiwei and immortal books such as "Search for God", "Naturalist Chronicle", "Biography of immortals", "Baopuzi", "Strange Forest" and other zhiwei and immortal books, and introduces many ghost stories with fantasy colors from them.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Jiang Ji, "The King of Qi ascended the throne, and (Ji) Migrated as the leading general. ”
In Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Jiang Jiqian was only a few words as the leading general; however, Pei Songzhi quoted four or five hundred words of small stories from the "Biography of Lieyi": Jiang Ji's deceased son repeatedly gave his mother dreams, and told Jiang Ji how to use power in the human world for personal gain, and then helped his son to seek an official position in the underworld.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of the Twenty-Four Histories, was written by the Western Jin Dynasty historian Chen Shou
There are many such ghost stories. For example, Mi Zhu encountered an angel and thus saved him from fire; Fang Shi Li Yi painted and predicted the defeat of Liu Bei's Pavilion; Shi Xie was seriously ill, dong Feng used medicine to save him, and so on.
Secondly, Pei Song's "curiosity" is also reflected in his preference for "strange people and strange things" that are foretold in advance. There are high-ranking people in the folk who can make predictions through divination, physiognomy, rumors, dreams, etc.; or, before important events or people appear, they are often born different.
For example, Guan Yu consulted Xiangfan and dreamed of "the pig gnawing on its feet", and the sense of foreboding suddenly surged into his heart; for example, there was a strange tree in front of Liu Bei's house, "Looking at the children from afar like a small car cover", so some people said "This family will be a noble person", and sure enough, a word became a proverb.
Above_ Guan Yu (160-220), the original character Changsheng, later changed to the word Yunchang
Interestingly, in addition to the "gods and ghosts", Pei Songzhi's preferred "foreshadowing" anecdotes were also carried forward in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and were blue.
For example, when Zhuge Liang saw Wei Yanshi, he called him "a backbone behind his head" and wanted to make him cut off left and right; for example, every time the Shu army blew the "demon wind" or broke the flag, Zhuge Liang said bitterly: "Fold me a big general!" ”
It can be seen that the various fantasy colors in the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are in the same line with Pei Songzhi's "curiosity". Pei Songzhi's "strange" performance when he annotated the Romance of the Three Kingdoms had a profound influence on the composition of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
So, what factors have been affected by Pei Song's "curiosity" hobby?
- Liu Yilong, Emperor Wen of Song (407 – March 16, 453), courtesy name Che'er
Second, Pei notes the tendency of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms to literature
According to the "Book of Song And Lei Cizong Biography", "Shang (referring to Emperor Wen of Song) paid attention to art, so that Danyang Yin He Shangzhi established metaphysics, the prince led He Chengtian to establish historiography, and Situ joined the army Xie Yuanli literature." ”
During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Liu Song Dynasty, he split "historiography" and "literature" into two separate subjects, which marked the formal independence of "literature" from "historiography" and became a separate discipline.
This is not only a pioneering move, but also reflects the subjective tendency of society for "literary self-consciousness" at that time: Confucian classics are no longer dominant, and social ideological tendencies have also shown diversified development.
As a result, literature gradually developed into a separate mainstream discipline and received more and more attention. What is even more coincidental is that Pei Songzhi was ordered by Emperor Wen of Song to annotate the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The "Records of History" is a chronicle written by the Historian Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty, and is the first general history of the Jichuan style in Chinese history
Obviously, whether from the perspective of social ideological trends or the tendencies of the ruling class, Pei Songzhi must take into account its "literary factor" when he annotates the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
To combine history and literature, it is natural to look at Sima Qian's "Records of History". Lu Xun once praised in the "Outline of the History of Chinese Literature": "But it is not limited to history and law, not limited to words and sentences, out of affection, and reckless in the heart." ”
This kind of writing attitude is precisely in line with the Wei and Jin Dynasties' propositions of "advocating individuality and development" and "pursuing spiritual emancipation". Of course, it also had a great impact on Pei Songzhi's creation.
Under such circumstances, if Pei Songzhi examines Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms from a "literary perspective," he will naturally feel that although this history book is "concise in meaning" and concise in writing, it is inevitable that there will be "more than enough tailoring and insufficient literary style."
Therefore, when Pei Songzhi supplemented the historical materials, he would naturally favor some passages with literary colors. The so-called "multicolor writing" and "simultaneous collection of taste", although these anecdotes have a fantasy color, they also make up for the literary nature in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
Above_ Ming engraving Mr. Li Zhuowu criticized the illustrations of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Third, the influence of the doctrine of latitude, induction, and the five elements
It is worth noting that Pei Songzhi also added a lot of rather bizarre and absurd anecdotes.
Among them, there are Xianbei slaves who have lived for three hundred and fifty years but are still in good shape (the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Ming Emperor is quoted in the "Shiyu"),there are also kingdoms like the "Journey of Gulliver", the magical "Ma Shin Kingdom" ("Three Kingdoms Chronicles of Dongyi" notes "Wei Luo"), in addition, there are absurd things such as "men becoming women" ("Romance of the Three Kingdoms • Zhou Qun Biography" notes "Book of Continuation").
Judging from these "anti-science" examples, Pei Songzhi himself not only always has a curiosity and inquiry for some fantastic things, but also has a bit of faith. This is the expression of his subjective will, which is also constrained by the background of the times.
Above_ Yin and Yang Five Elements Diagram
At that time, the doctrine of latitude, induction, and the five elements was widely practiced in the world, and it had a great impact on the world.
Wang Chong pointed out in the "On Balance and Blessing Of FalseHood": "Those who do good in the world are blessed, and those who do evil will come to misfortune. Blessings and misfortunes should be done by heaven, and man should be done by heaven. Yang grace, the king rewards his deeds; yin favors, heaven and earth repay his virtue. ”
Pei Songzhi's statement in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Mi Zhu Biography" that "the angel repays the favor to keep Mi Zhu from fire" is in line with this kind of "good and evil have retribution" cause and effect (or induction).
Coupled with the fact that the "bud of science" has not yet blossomed, Pei Songzhi, as an ancient, is influenced by the superstitious colors of the times, and it is inevitable that he will have the psychology of curiosity, exploration and even belief in some fantastic things.
From this point of view, it is not difficult to understand that he had a tendency to be "curious" when he annotated the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Author: Yingzhou Haike Correction/Editor: Lilith
References: "On Balance", "Book of Song", "Notes on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Bibliography Cited in the Notes on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Outline of the History of Chinese Literature", "Compendium of the General Bibliography of the Four Libraries"
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author