The dark line of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is thousands of miles, and Chen Gong calculates what is hidden behind Lü Bu's back?

Author: Xian Qing

After reading the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", I found that there is a character that is more difficult to figure out. He once rebuked Cao Cao and defected to others, as if he were a loyal soldier. That is to let Cao Cao leave a famous saying: "I would rather bear the people of the world, and teach the people of the world to bear me!" "Chen Gong.

After Chen Gong left Cao Cao, he served as an aide under Lü Bu' account, and Lü Bu did not accept his advice several times, but there was no complaint in the text. Even if Cao Cao finally defeated Lü Bu and Chen Gong was captured by Cao Cao, when he died, his evaluation of Lü Bu was still "brave but unscrupulous", not sinister and despicable, and certainly not like he scolded Cao Cao as a "wolf-hearted dog". It seems that Chen Gong is a good minister and loyal to Lü Bu, but there is a small plot in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that is very contradictory, and even makes people think that Chen Gong is calculating Lü Bu.

At that time, Lü Bu asked Yuan Shu for help, hoping that he would send troops to jointly confront the enemy Cao Cao, and Yuan Shu's advisers came up with the idea of having Yuan Shu's son marry Lü Bu's daughter, and the two families were reconciled. This is not a good thing, if Lü Bu's daughter marries in the past, she will inevitably become a hostage of Yuan Shu, and if she does not send troops to help, she can use Lü Bu as a gun to fight against other forces. Chen Gong obviously knew that it was such a conspiracy, but he took the initiative to persuade Lü Bu to marry Yuan Shu as soon as possible.

Lü Bu felt that this marriage should be prepared, extremely hasty, Chen Gong took the initiative to say that there was a stake, asking Lü Bu not to follow the courtesy of the princes and scholars, but immediately asked Lü Bu to send his daughter to Yuan Shu's place as soon as possible, in case of accidents. This is clearly to harm Lü Bu in the invisible, this is obviously out of the direction of the whole character's heart, Chen Gong is a loyal person, and loyal to Lü Bu, why would he suddenly calculate Lü Bu?

The historical Chen Palace did not surrender to the Ming Lord because Cao Cao killed Lü Bohao's family, and the matter of "capturing and releasing Cao Cao" had nothing to do with the Chen Palace. In fact, Chen Gong's attachment to Lü Bu was not completely loyal, but a helpless move with interests in consideration. He was a member of the Yanzhou Shi clan, and cao Cao took Yanzhou for the benefit of the shi clan, but also because of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and it was necessary for someone like Cao Cao to take charge of state affairs. He had the power of appeal, so he was able to get Cao Cao to take Yanzhou by diplomatic means.

However, cao Cao's killing of the Bian Rang family shocked Chen Gong very much. Bian Rang was also a Yanzhou person, although this number of times despised Cao Cao, but Cao Cao was able to kill people, which shows that Cao Cao did not remember the merits of support, and did not attach great importance to famous people. So Chen Gong helped Lü Bu to take Yanzhou. Who knew that Cao Cao used his troops to defeat Lü Bu.

Chen Gong knew that Lü Bu was not a figure who could command one side, and he had to leave room for cao cao, and cao cao's side was already his sworn enemy at that time, and Yuan Shao was allied with cao cao. Although Lü Bu and Yuan Shu were not at odds, Yuan Shu and Cao Cao were defeated in consecutive battles, so he had to find an opportunity to unite with Yuan Shu.

According to historical records, in June of the first year of Jian'an, Lü Bu's general Hao Meng counterattacked hao meng and attacked him at night, and was killed by Gao Shun and Cao Sex. Afterwards, Cao Sex revealed to Lü Bu that Hao Meng was instigated by Yuan Shu and that "Chen Gong was complicit". At that time, "the palace was sitting on the seat, the face was red, and the people were aware of it." Although Lü Bu did not punish Chen Gong severely, he no longer trusted him.

Therefore, although Luo Guanzhong, the author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, stood on the position of promoting "loyalty and righteousness" and wanted to elevate the image of Chen Gong, in terms of plot handling, the contradiction between Chen Gong and Lü Bu was hidden by means of a dark line. Moreover, "estranged from each other", Lü Bu would no longer use Chen Gong's plot, and Fang would die. The novel hides the inside story, and the interest relationship between Cao Cao and Chen Gong is omitted.

Those who follow the trend win, and those who go against the trend lose, so Chen Gong may not be so righteous, Lü Bu is not selfish and judgmental, and Cao Cao is not suspicious and cautious, and it is common for emotions to get out of control. In this way, they are more real and more interesting.