Some people say that there is no single challenge in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" of the zhengshi, which I think is not in line with the facts. Leaving aside the controversy in the quotation notes, there is a head-to-head record in the main text of the Zhengshi "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", that is, the "Divine Pavilion Competition" that occurred between Tai Shi Ci and Sun Ce. If I remember correctly, this is the only head-to-head in the main text of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, vol. 49--- Book of Wu, --- the fourth biography of Liu ShutaiShi Cishi Xie has this description:
◇ Shi Du and a pawn encountered the strategy. Ce cong riding thirteen, all Han Dang, Song Qian, Huang Gai generation also. Ci Ben fought forward and was facing ce. If you stab the horse, and if you get the mercy, you will also get the sword. The two families rode and rode separately, and disbanded.
Some people have always thought that the text does not explicitly say that one-on-one should not be considered a single challenge, even so, we can still count "a pawn" on 7 of them, and Tai Shi Ci alone can be counted as 1 person single 7 people, which is even fiercer than the so-called strict single challenge.
Back to the point. Why is there such a record of Tai Shi Ci's martial courage in the main text of the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms? I don't know if everyone noticed it, generally we all look at Tai Shi Ci as a military general of Eastern Wu, but in the Zhengshi "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" his position is Qunxiong. I don't believe you read the title: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Volume 49--- Wu Shu 4--- Liu Shu Tai Shi Ci Shi Xie biography, yes, he and Liu Sui were listed together, I believe there will be no life to say that Liu Sui does not belong to the crowd. Is it because he is the hero of the crowd that there must be such a description? No, simply to put it, highlighting Tai Shi Ci is actually a foil for Sun Ce. Why? You can think about why Liu Xuan was included in the canonical history. To put it bluntly, the main reason for listing Liu Xuan here is to highlight the legitimacy of the Sun family's possession of Eastern Wu. Didn't you see that the Book of Shu in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms also had a biography of Liu Ermu before writing Liu Bei? But Tai Shi Ci was only a fellow villager of Liu Sui, and "or advised Shu Ci to be a great general, and Xu Zi would not laugh at me for my evil deeds?" "But let Ci detective be serious", it can be seen that Xu Shao, who was famous for commenting on the world's figures at that time, must not have a high evaluation of Tai Shi Ci. Moreover, compared with Zhou Yu, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu and other old qualifications, Tai Shi Ci's military merits in the establishment of the Sun family's country can be the light of fireworks. Moreover, he died before the Chibi War, which determined the fate of the Wu Kingdom, arrived. In such a situation, why is Tai Shi Ci also listed together as a group of heroes? I think his biggest advantage was that he was famous for his martial courage at that time, and the last time he said that he saved Kong Rong, I won't talk about it here. In short, in the main history, Tai Shi Ci's martial courage and Guan Zhang did not let go of more. In the rendition, it is easy to see that the single challenge is because of Sun Cemeng and the reaction to Shi Cimeng, and I think it should be reversed. Because Tai Shi Ci was known for his bravery earlier than Sun Ce.
Tai Shi Ci once called himself Danyang Taishou after Liu Sui's defeat and fled to Yuzhang, but in fact he regarded himself as Liu Sui's successor. He did not flee back to his hometown, nor did he continue to follow Liu Xuan. What does this mean? Yes, he has political ambitions. Sun Ce was also just an outsider, and the invasion of Eastern Wu itself was not justified. I have seen that there are Japanese people who have verified that there was no official Danyang Taishou at that time. I reckon this statement is made from the perspective of the orthodox Han court. "Ce has pacified the east of Xuancheng, but the six counties west of Jing have not been served." Ciyin entered Jing County, Litun Province, and was greatly attached to Shanyue." It turned out that at that time, he was taking advantage of Sun Ce's eastern crusade to establish a base area. This means that Tai Shi Ci himself still has a certain political literacy and strategic vision, and if he can defeat Sun Ce, it is possible for him to justify his actions after success in that era. It was just that he did not expect that Sun Ce would be able to clean up Xu Gong and Wang Lang of Wu County and Huiji within a year, and he did not have a wise man like Zhou Yulusu under him, but only gathered a group of Mountain Yue thieves. Even so, he almost caught Sun Quan, the "Water Country Mountain Lion"? Zhou Tai was also seriously injured.
Above, we can see that Tai Shi Ci's listing as a group of heroes in addition to his own background, through him to set off Sun Ce is also an important factor. You see" the strategy is to untie, catch its hand: "Rather know the evil of the divine pavilion? If I get my cloud when I am qing'er? Ci Yue: "Not measurable also." Ce laughed and said, "Today's affairs should be shared with Qing." It can be seen that Sun Ce attaches great importance to him, which in turn proves that Sun Ce uses human skills. Liu Suiwen's use of Xu Shao was beyond reproach, but just because Xu Shao did not have a high evaluation of Tai Shi Ci, he did not use him, which was really a lack of instruments for chasing deer in the world. There is another thing that can also be seen as a reflection of Sun Ce. It turned out that after Tai Shi Ci surrendered, everyone except Sun Ce did not trust him. Left and right know: "Ci will go north and will not return." "The Son of Righteousness gives up on me, and to whom should he return?" Rao sent Changmen and said, "When will I be able to pay it back?" Answered, "Sixty days." "The result is the opposite as expected". Here, rather than praising Tai Shi Ci's honesty, it is rather praising Sun Ce's heart and political skills. After all, Tai Shi Ci, a big figure who has long been famous in the world, joined the Sun Ce Group, which was a huge victory for Sun Ce.