Presumably everyone knows something about the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there are many characters in the speech that the author only uses a small amount of pen and ink to describe slightly, but in fact, their background is also very strong, and today I want to discuss such a character with you, he is Cao Cao's third son Cao Zhang. In the rendition, the author Mr. Luo Guanzhong spent a lot of ink to describe the "dispute between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi", why was he not valued by the author as Cao Cao's son?
Cao Zhang, also spelled Ziwen, was the third son of Cao Cao and Empress Wuxuanbian, the younger brother of Cao Pi, and the brother of Cao Zhi, who was known as "Yellow Beard" by Cao Cao. He was a first-class general in the Three Kingdoms period, Xiao Yong was good at war, high in martial arts, from an early age, he was extremely powerful, good at riding and shooting, he also often fought with his hands against beasts, made great military achievements for Cao Cao, and made outstanding contributions to the establishment of Cao Wei's regime. In April of the 23rd year of Jian'an (218), when Northern Wuhuan wuchen rebelled, Cao Cao appointed Cao Zhang as the general of Northern Zhonglang and performed the duties of a general of Xiao Qi.
Before leaving, Cao Cao warned Cao Zhang, saying, "At home we are father and son, and when we accept the order, we are kings and subjects, and every move must be done according to the king's law. Cao Zhang's northern expedition into zhuo county, the rebellious Karasuma tribe thousands of cavalry attacked, at that time Cao Zhang's soldiers and horses had not yet assembled, only a thousand infantry, hundreds of war horses. Cao Zhang used Tian Yu's strategy to hold the key to the position.
The enemy routed and fled, Cao Zhang pursued, personally fought with the enemy, arrows shot at the enemy on horseback, and fell back and forth in a series in response. After fighting for half a day, Cao Zhang's armor was hit by several arrows, and the momentum was even more majestic, taking advantage of the victory to pursue, until the Sangan River, more than two hundred miles away from Dai County. When the enemy saw this, he knew that Cao Zhang was invincible, so he surrendered to him. So the question is, why is such a good person not valued?
In the face of such a series of questions, as far as my personal point of view is concerned, I think the most important thing is that Cao Zhang's excellence is mainly reflected in the use of force, and his father Cao Cao once criticized him: "You don't yearn to study and learn the way of the sages, but you are good at riding and fencing, this can only deal with one person, which is worth precious?" ”
He once said: "The eldest husband should serve Wei Qing, a great general like Huo Qi, lead a hundred thousand people to gallop through the desert, expel Rong Di, and make meritorious achievements. From his words, it is not difficult to see that he has a contempt for this aspect of literary knowledge, which seems to imply that he does not care about the monarchy.
Friends who have read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" should also feel that Cao Cao does not seem to have the idea of passing the throne to Cao Zhang, which excludes him from the struggle for concubines, and naturally excludes him from the ranks of protagonists. One of the reasons why he was not taken seriously was that he was preoccupied with fighting by force, and although he made outstanding contributions to the establishment of the Cao Wei regime, he did not have a gripping point, and the reader's eyes basically stayed on Cao Zhi and Cao Pi.
The author believes that the second reason why Cao Zhang is not valued is that it is replaceable. Among Cao Cao's sons, Cao Pi was the one who was the most like him, fierce in heart, not only martial arts, but also able to make articles, and was a famous literary scholar during the Three Kingdoms period. Cao Zhi was a talented man, a rare talent of the time, and Cao Cao admired him very much. Cao Chong has been clever since childhood. And Cao Zhang? Cao Cao once asked his sons about their ideals,
Cao Zhang replied, "I would like to be a general." Cao Cao asked again, "What kind of general will you be?" Cao Zhang replied: "Cloaked in strong armor, holding sharp weapons, facing danger and ignoring oneself, being a pioneer and a soldier, those who have merit will be rewarded, and those who commit crimes will be punished." It can be seen from this that he is only a brave and unscrupulous general, and he does not seem to be able to become a general, because the general can not only focus on desperate efforts, but also know how to control the three armies, as a general, to know how to protect himself, how can he go into battle and kill the enemy at every turn? Because he does not like to read, his ability in this area is very lacking, he does not have his own thinking, he has a lonely courage, and he will only go on the field to kill the enemy. Moreover, there are countless generals under Cao Cao who can recruit good warriors, so his substitution is obvious.
Finally, I would like to analyze this problem from the perspective of the author, just imagine if you were Mr. Luo Guanzhong, would you use a lot of pen and ink to describe Cao Zhang? Needless to say, everyone's answer must not be, perhaps because Cao Zhang had nothing else to write about except to suppress the wuhuan wuchen rebellion and confront Liu Feng, Liu Feng's adopted son, and he died young, at the age of thirty-five, and his deeds were indeed few and not vigorous. It may even be said that if he was not Cao Cao's son, this character might not appear in the rendition, and indeed, although he was invincible to the beast, he did not have his own special brilliance, and it was not worth the author's extensive introduction.
Synthesizing the above three points, the author believes that Cao Zhang's lack of attention in the interpretation is due to his fate and is also a historical necessity.
What do you think about this issue?
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