Today's Three Kingdoms idiom story can be found in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms? The Biography of Zhuge Liang quotes the Spring and Autumn of the Han Dynasty, which was in the seventh year of Jianxing of the Shu Han Dynasty (229 AD), and the protagonist was Zhuge Liang. The original text is as follows:
At the age of the same age, Sun Quan was called the honorific title, and his subjects were sued by the Second Emperor. The deliberators think that it is useless to make friends, but the name is smooth, and it is advisable to show justice and make no alliance. Liang Yue: "The power has a long-standing rebellious heart, so the state has slightly provoked those who have provoked it, and asked for the help of the horns." If we are to be extinct now, we will be deep, and we shall move our troops to the east, wrestle with them, and merge their soil, which is the Central Plains. There are still many talents in The sages, and they will be arrested, and they will not be able to settle down. The soldiers hold each other, and they sit and grow old, so that the northern thief can be counted, not the one who is above the count. Xi Xiaowen resigned from the Xiongnu, and the former emperors you and Wu Meng, all of whom should be able to change their powers, hongsi yuanyi, and non-pifu as angry people.
The present deliberators are full of power, unable to work together, and full of ambition, and have no feelings of going ashore, and it is plausible to push this. Who? His intellect is not inferior, so he limits the river to protect himself; the power cannot cross the river, the Wei thief cannot cross the Han, and the non-strength is more than enough and the profit is not taken. If the army is to beg, Pi Gao should divide its land as a post-rule, and then slightly the people's vast territory, show martial arts inside, and not sit upright. If they are not moving and are at peace with me, my Northern Expedition will have no worries about the east, and the people of Henan will not be able to go to the west, and this will be beneficial and deep. The sin of power and misappropriation should not be made clear. "It is the wei wei lieutenant Chen Zhenqingquan zheng number."
The gist of this passage is that in this year, Sun Quan ascended the throne as emperor. His ministers came to Shu Han to report, hoping that Shu Han would be officially recognized. When discussing this matter, most of the Shu Han courtiers believed that friendship with Eastern Wu was not of much benefit, and once Sun Quan's throne was recognized, it would become improper and improper. Many people suggested that we should affirm our righteousness and sever ties with Eastern Wu.
At this time, Zhuge Liang said: "Sun Quan already had the intention of usurping the title of emperor, and the reason why the imperial court did not pay too much attention to this aspect was to contain Cao Wei and seek the assistance of Eastern Wu." Now, if we explicitly sever ties with Eastern Wu, Eastern Wu will surely form a vendetta against us, and we must send troops to carry out a crusade, and only by defeating Eastern Wu can we march into the Central Plains. Nowadays, there are many talented people in Eastern Wu, who will be harmonious with each other, and it will be difficult to eliminate them in a short period of time. If a long-term confrontation with them is launched, it will make Cao Wei take advantage of it, which is definitely not the best policy. At first, Emperor Xiaowen made peace with the Xiongnu in a humble tone, and the former emperor magnanimously allied with Eastern Wu. It is all a practice that conforms to the times, is good at being flexible, and thinks deeply, not a temporary anger.
Now everyone thinks that Sun Quan only wants to stand on three legs and does not want to join us in the crusade against Cao Wei, which seems reasonable but is actually wrong. Why? Because his intelligence and strength were not as good as Cao Wei's, he relied on the Yangtze River to protect himself. Sun Quan could not cross the Yangtze River and go north, just as Cao Wei could not cross the Han River to attack us, not because he had more than enough strength, but because he was unwilling to bear a heavy price.
If we sent troops to conquer Cao Wei, Eastern Wu could either send troops to engage in a large-scale war with Cao Wei at the same time, or launch a small-scale war to capture the people of Cao Wei and expand its territory. Even if they did not move and got along with us, we would not have any worries during the Northern Expedition, and Cao Wei did not dare to mobilize the army south of the Yellow River to the northwest to deal with our army. This has already greatly benefited Sun Quan for using himself to claim the title of emperor, and it is more appropriate for us not to publicly accuse it. Therefore, Shu Han sent the wei wei chen zhen to Eastern Wu to congratulate him.
The idiom to be introduced in this article is the "paradoxical" in Zhuge Liang's mouth, which means that it seems to be right, but it is actually wrong. The earliest source of this idiom is the "on balance" in the "world is more paradoxical, hypocrisy is true, so the words of Du Bo and Zhuangzi Yi often exist." ”
Insisting on an alliance with Eastern Wu was the core of Zhuge Liang's diplomatic thinking. His purpose in doing so was very obvious, that is, to use the power of Eastern Wu to contain Cao Wei, further disperse Cao Wei's military strength, and create conditions for the victory of the Northern Expedition. Therefore, he would advise the courtiers not to take a confrontational or even anti-eye attitude toward Sun Quan's claim to the throne. However, from Zhuge Liang's words, it can also be seen that Zhuge Liang's heart is very resistant to Sun Quan's claim to the throne, and it is only because of the needs of Shu Han's interests that he had to make. We can imagine that if this happened after Cao Wei was eliminated, Zhuge Liang would definitely use this as an excuse to launch an all-out war against Eastern Wu.
Reference book: Romance of the Three Kingdoms