Mr. Xiangyu once said: People who think they are smart often do not have a good ending, and the smartest people in the world are honest people.
There are two kinds of honest people in this world, one is that people are honest and have no means; the other is that people are honest and have means.
Don't underestimate the matter of means, how big a honest person can do has a lot to do with means. A person with great good intentions, if he has a thunderbolt means, can also be invincible and become the winner who laughs to the end. For example, the protagonist we're going to talk about today,
Let's first appreciate a poem he wrote:
White bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no chicken chirping for thousands of miles.
The people of life are left behind, and the thoughts are broken.
- "Artemisia Line"
Artemisia refers to the place where the dead live. Artemisia Lixing, originally an elegy sung by people in ancient times for funerals, the author depicts the tragic situation of the chaotic world like the hell of Shuluo, especially the final "broken intestines" is an expression of the call for the liver and intestines to be broken. A poet who can write such a tragic and compassionate poem must be a great benevolent person in the eyes of the world.
Therefore, in the face of the chaotic world, an honest person can only go through the pain of the heart and borrow poetry lyricism?
Not to mention that this poet especially loved to cry, and when his loved ones died, he cried. The colleague died, and he cried. Even when the enemy died, he cried, and even read an article that could be moved to cry, this product is a natural crying ghost.
You say, how can such a person make any great achievement? Typical sentimental, sad and compassionate waste snacks.
But the answer is not. In history, he is the great tyrant in the eyes of the world, and he is the most sinister and cunning villain, his name is Cao Jili, but he also has a name that we are extremely familiar with:
Cao Cao.
One
Mr. Runzhi made an evaluation of the ancient emperors in "Qinyuan Spring and Snow": The Qin Emperor Han Wu, slightly lost the literary style; Tang Zong Song Zu, slightly inferior. A generation of heavenly pride, Genghis Khan, only knows how to bend the bow to shoot large eagles.
Perhaps in terms of literary style and martial arts, the one who can meet the requirements is Cao Cao.
Of course, he did not claim the title of emperor, naturally he could not be regarded as an emperor. But it is not that he cannot be called, but that he does not want to be called emperor. On the one hand, the reason is that he is willing to be a behind-the-scenes player, as Oniguzi said, a good hermit, who can do his thing without trouble; on the other hand, it may be the obsession with the "Kuang Fu Han Room".
In other words, he has actually been a Hanchen all his life.
In this regard, Mr. Lu Xun commented that Cao Cao was a very capable person, at least a hero. Although I am not a party of Cao Cao, in any case, I always admire him very much.
In the eyes of the world, Lu Xun called him a hero. What about the symbols of justice in the eyes of the world, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang? Lu Xun said:
Liu Bei's virtue is almost pseudo, and Kong Ming's wisdom is almost a demon. What do you mean?
Liu Bei's virtue is like hypocrisy, and Zhuge Liang's wisdom is like a demon.
Mr. Lu Xun was indeed true in temperament.
Come, let's talk about an allusion, do you know how Lu Xun evaluates the ghost valley that the world smells and the righteous gentlemen spit on?
Lu Xun said: Ghost Guzi is by no means a villain, but an honest person, with a pure temperament, so Ghost Guzi is not a conspirator in the end.
The reason why Lu Xun said this was because he found that Ghost Guzi had told a lot of big truths, sincere words, and only honest people would say it one hundred and fifty. And the "upright gentlemen" who are extremely deep in the city government will only spit on it, and they will never say it.
A good person, sometimes who seems to be a good person, is actually a bad person.
Bad people, sometimes they look like bad people, are actually good people.
Who can say clearly that the human heart is sinister and the world is impermanent?
Two
Mr. Guo Moruo's article "Overturning the Case for Cao Cao" written in 1959 has more than 2,000 words, and the viewpoint and attitude are very clear, but the force is too strong, and it is a little interesting, but it has become less interesting. But the two points mentioned in the article are worth mentioning:
The first point is about the truth about Cao Cao's crushing defeat at the Battle of Chibi. The text quotes historical sources: Cao Cao's widow Sun Quan Shuyun "The Battle of Chibi, when there was an illness, the lonely ship retreated, and Zhou Yu was falsely given this name."
This means that Cao Cao's letter to Sun Quan said that the Battle of Chibi was due to the outbreak of plague in the army, and had to burn ships to retreat, allowing Zhou Yu to take advantage of the military merits.
What Ah Xin wants to say here is that, you see, although Cao Cao denied the reason for the failure, he admitted that he was defeated by Zhou Yu. It really has nothing to do with Zhuge Liang.
In history, many "upright gentlemen" like to cheat and take credit. For example, Cao San, pretending to take a lot of military merit from Han Xin, and then bragging about various renderings. The history we know is often very different from the real one.
The second point is that the pot about Wuhu Chaohua was buckled on Cao Cao's head. Guo Moruo felt that this was a bit too far-fetched, and the fuse of wuhu chaohua was the infighting in the Western Jin Dynasty. Cao Cao was truly wronged. For example, the Cao family was seized of the throne by the Sima family because the Cao family inherited the policies of the Han Dynasty, and the imperial court bureaucrats held real power, while the local princes did not have real power.
Therefore, you will find that after the Sima family launched civil unrest and eliminated the ruling faction Cao Shuang, the princes of the Cao family had almost no power to fight back. It is precisely because they have no soldiers and no horses, and they can only do it in a hurry. Therefore, after the Sima family established the Western Jin Dynasty, they immediately gave the Sima family real power, and then the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" broke out, which led to the result of the Wuhu Chaos. There is really no best system, only the most appropriate.
Therefore, Wuhu Chaohua has nothing to do with Cao Cao.
Originally, if Mr. Guo had spent more time, energy and ink, he would have been able to help Cao Cao turn the case over. But Mr. Guo is a shrewd man, he never talks too thoroughly, and even leaves some strange ideas, such as he said:
Cao Cao's actions really inherited the unfinished business of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and he pulled Cao Cao and the Yellow Turban Army together, eager to "turn" Cao Cao into the leader of the peasant rebel army.
In this way, it is too far-fetched and has attracted criticism from historians.
Three
Speaking of Mr. Guo, who rehabilitated Cao Cao, he is a latecomer, and Lu Simian, the god of cats, can be regarded as the number one person. As a historian, Lü Simian used his extensive knowledge to interpret for us the helplessness behind the adulterous hero Cao Cao, saying: Cao Cao is an honest man.
"The need for intrigue and trickery in political struggle is an indispensable skill for politicians. We do not have to judge Cao Cao's merits and demerits in this way. ”
After all, out of the mix, there are a few really clean bottoms, you know.
Is Cao Cao really an honest man? Why Mr. Lü made such a statement, we may wish to look at the helplessness that Cao Cao expressed in the "Shu Zhi Ling". Ashin helped everyone make a simple translation.
"My name is Cao Cao, when I was young, I was a little person with no fame, because I was afraid of being ridiculed and stupid, so I wanted to be a county guard and work in a down-to-earth manner. So I am conscientious and conscientious about my work, but I don't want to offend the powerful. Worried about being calculated, he simply resigned. In the years when I resigned, I wanted to build myself a study and live a life of "facing the sea and blossoming in spring" every day. ”
Finding that no, Cao Cao retreated because he was afraid of being calculated, and he wanted to read and write alone, away from the red dust, and live quietly. Like us honest people.
But the times create heroes, and fate does not arrange it this way. Let's move on.
"I thought again, I'm still young, and it would be boring if I lived my life like this." But I really don't have any interest in official struggles. Fortunately, soon after, I was drafted into the army as a lieutenant and later promoted to lieutenant of the military academy. I thought it would be nice to be able to build up my military achievements, and I even thought that it would be better if I was lucky enough to be enfeoffed one day. If I die in battle, my tombstone will say 'Tomb of Cao Hou, the general of the Han Dynasty'.
However, I am a person with no ambition, in the battle against Dong Zhuo, I played a heart eye, in fact, I can recruit more soldiers, but I don't want to, I think I can only take three thousand people, yes, I really don't have much confidence in myself.
However, after defeating the Yellow Turban Army and accidentally absorbing more than 300,000 people, this allowed me to really have some capital. Then there is Ke Yuan Shu, defeat Yuan Shao, and Ping Liu Biao. I wanted to sacrifice my life for the country, but with good luck, I survived and became the prime minister and a very popular minister.
I say this, as if I am very arrogant, but in fact, I want to say something from the heart, eliminate the criticism of others against me, and the world's misunderstanding of me is too great.
People say I'm a bad person, but where do these people know, what if I don't? There will be countless people who will claim the title of emperor and hegemony. If there is no old Cao in the world, he will fall into the hell of Shuluo.
These people also said, I will be called emperor. This is nonsense. My Cao family is deeply favored by the emperor, and when we die, we must abide by the way of the king and the courtier, and dare not forget the kindness of the previous king. These are my heartfelt words, even if I say that some people will not believe them.
In fact, I also thought about retiring, handing over military power, and trying to be a person who is praised by the world. However, if I retire, abandon my army, and return to the fiefdom of Marquis Wuping, do you know what will happen?
Immediately someone will begin to murder me, and my children and grandchildren will suffer, and the world will continue to be in chaos. I really can't do that for the sake of vanity.
In the past, the imperial court made my three sons marquis, but I resolutely refused to accept it, but now I have changed my mind and intend to accept it. This is not to be proud of them anymore, but to use them as foreign aid, from the perspective of ensuring the absolute safety of the imperial court and themselves.
The imperial court needs me, and the Cao family also needs me, so I must bear the infamy of eternity. Although in this world, no one will be able to understand me.
I often reflect on myself, and even feel that I am not worthy. But if it is not stable today, I cannot give way. As for the fiefdoms, some can be dismissed. I returned the taxes of 20,000 households in Yangxia, Zhe, and Ku counties to the imperial court, and only enjoyed the 10,000 households in Wuping County. Let's use this to quell slander and discussion, and to reduce the accusations that others have made of me a little! ”
At that time, Cao Cao's mood, a line in the TV series "Three Kingdoms" described it quite appropriately: the world misread me yesterday, and today they misread me, and maybe tomorrow they will see me wrong, but I am still me. I have never been afraid that the world will see me wrong, I am still me.
Four
Guess why Cao Cao wrote the Shu Zhi Ling? This article was written in the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), when Cao Cao was fifty-six years old and had just unified the north. However, Sun Quan and Liu Bei joined forces to resist Cao Cao militarily, and jointly attacked Cao Cao for "entrusting himself with the name of Han Xiang, but he was actually a Han thief" and "wanting to abolish Han and stand on his own." Under this voice, Cao Cao issued this edict, stating his original intention.
After reading this, Lu Simian said: Those who have a bright heart in the world can speak frankly. The heroes of the past have "hidden and embellished themselves without any ills", who can confess as Cao Cao? His regard as a traitor was influenced by the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the storyteller.
Scheming and deceit are really a necessary means of survival.
Mr. Yi Zhongtian commented that Cao Cao was a "lovely adulterous male". If you get closer, you may find that Cao Cao is more like a "treacherous honest man", and it is this treacherous honest man who ended the chaotic world of the Three Kingdoms.
As Cao Cao himself said: Being born in a chaotic world is for misfortune, but if you can turn chaos into a rule, it is not a great blessing in misfortune. Is it difficult? Hard. Oniguzi also found it difficult, just as he said, "To cure chaos with righteousness, to decide success or failure, the difficult one." Calming down the turmoil and predicting success or failure is a difficult thing to do.
This difficult matter was achieved by Cao Cao with countless conspiracies and tricks, laying the foundation for the unity of the three families. He can do what is naturally superior. Ordinary honest people always have the weakness of "no means" and "good face". What makes Cao Cao unusual is that he has good intentions and bad faces, and even if he bears the name of the ages, he must use power and deception to achieve the purpose of unifying the world.
With great good in mind, the means are used to the extreme!
This article is originally produced by Onigu Road and Oniguzi Think Tank Founder Onigu Shin, all rights reserved, violators will be investigated!