In fact, for history, people in different eras have different interpretations of it. And because people have not experienced that era, all the knowledge and understanding of history comes from the history books, which will also make people's understanding of history have a certain degree of deviation, combined with the background of the times, many times people will break away from the original historical system, so that historical facts are constantly distorted and misunderstood. One of the most misunderstood is the history of the Three Kingdoms period.
For this period of history, there are also great differences in different periods, which is also related to the background of each dynasty. The special era background of the Song Dynasty also made a 180-degree change in the interpretation of the characters of the Three Kingdoms period, which not only reflected the worship of heroes by the ancient people, but also reflected the people's tendency to "heavy force", so what kind of cognition did the people in the Northern Song Dynasty have for the characters of the Three Kingdoms?
First, history is the past and the present, and the cognition of ancient historical figures by successive dynasties is actually a reflection of the current social reality
1. The Two Jin Dynasties: Drawing on History and Being Close to Reality
As mentioned above, with the passage of time and dynasties, people's interpretations of history have become diverse, and many of them have actually begun to deviate from the facts of history, and the history books that everyone sees must be true? The answer is also no.
Among the many history books that record the Three Kingdoms period, the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" should be regarded as relatively neutral, and the time of its compilation is also closer to the Three Kingdoms period, so for the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it can only be said to be infinitely close to historical reality, but it cannot be said that it records all the historical appearances of the Three Kingdoms period.
Mainly because the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" belonged to the Jin Dynasty period, the Jin Dynasty as a continuation of the State of Wei, although it is no longer the Cao family in power, but cao Cao and others still have to be beautified to a certain extent, so in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", It has always been the Cao Cao faction as orthodox, while Liu Bei, Sun Quan and others are two hostile forces in the chaotic world.
Of course, in addition to adding oil and vinegar to the historical appearance of the State of Wei, the history of the Shu Kingdom and the State of Wu is still relatively pertinent, and it has not blindly smeared it. However, in later generations, there are still a few people who understand history through the history of the Three Kingdoms, and most people understand the history of the Three Kingdoms through small stories circulated in the folk, but the stories are generally based on history but higher than history, so in this way, people's cognition of some of these characters has also deviated.
2. Sui and Tang Dynasties: Ideological Changes, Character Deviations
Such a situation is good between the Sui Dynasty, after all, the Jin Dynasty period is relatively close to the Three Kingdoms period, people's understanding of history is also relatively clear, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, wars were frequent, and people did not have time to understand history, so before the Sui Dynasty, people's cognition of the characters of the Three Kingdoms period was relatively unified. However, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the domestic cultural field developed rapidly, the literati continued to increase, the imagination of the people was constantly enriched, and some small stories about the Three Kingdoms period began to circulate, not only people's cognition of the characters of the Three Kingdoms period was biased, but even the fact that Cao Cao was orthodox in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was also questioned.
Coupled with the continuous southward movement of people's living areas during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the economic center was concentrated in the Yellow River area of the Yangtze River, which was once the territory of Sun Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, of course, Sun Quan, as a party tyrant at that time, actually had no fundamental connection with the Han Dynasty.
But his ally Shu state is different, Liu Bei, as a descendant of the Han Dynasty, and wu guo on the same position, naturally by the Sui and Tang dynasties of the people to believe that Liu Bei is the orthodox of the Three Kingdoms, and this idea is constantly fermenting with the changes of the times.
Second, the Song Dynasty people's cognition of the historical figures of the Three Kingdoms has two outstanding characteristics, the first is the formation of the phenomenon of "respecting Liu and degrading Cao", and the second is the people's pursuit of the image of Guan Yu and other military generals
1. The formation of the phenomenon of "respecting Liu and degrading Cao" in the context of the times
Time comes to the Northern Song Dynasty, now let's talk about the theme of this article: how did the people of the Northern Song Dynasty have a sense of the historical figures of the Three Kingdoms period? Before talking about this issue, we still have to combine the background of the era of the Northern Song Dynasty, which is located after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and belongs to another unified era after the division of the regime.
As the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin was actually disgraceful in the process of ascending to the throne, and it was only when the Later Zhou monarchs trusted him greatly that he launched a mutiny to sit in the position of emperor.
But as far as the ancient society was concerned, this was also contrary to the word loyalty and righteousness, so for him it was natural to hope that the people would forget this fact. As one of the most widely circulated stories in civil society, the story of the Three Kingdoms period is very similar to the experience of Zhao Kuangyin, which is also the regime obtained after seeking power and usurping the throne, so in such a background of dynastic politics, the people's historical cognition of the Three Kingdoms period has gradually formed a situation of "respecting Liu and degrading Cao".
For the formation of such a situation, the most intuitive embodiment is reflected in people's cognition of Zhuge Liang, a historical figure. In the Northern Song Dynasty, basically everyone thought that Zhuge Liang was the embodiment of loyalty, and his image of a loyal subject who "bowed down to death and died" was also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and Zhuge Liang's figure could often be seen in the poetry works of this period, and most of them were also praise for his quality.
2. Warlord: The plot is diluted and the ability is exaggerated
But for the people of the Northern Song Dynasty, the popular class did not have a deep discussion of the deep spiritual world, so the praise of these literati for the monarchs of the Three Kingdoms period did not resonate with the people, and the people were more interested in some generals in the Three Kingdoms period. For example, Guan Yu is not only the embodiment of loyalty in the folk, but also the representative of Xiao Yong and good war, and his martial courage is constantly being amplified in folk tales, just like the story of WenJiu chopping Huaxiong and riding alone for thousands of miles is basically fabricated.
There are many people who may not believe it, but it is true, and it is recorded in the Zizhi Tongjian that in the Battle of Guandu, Zhonghuaxiong did not even meet guan Yu, let alone fight, and in this battle Guan Yu only killed Yan Liang.
In addition, after Guan Yu captured Xia Pi, he repeatedly asked Cao Cao to give him the wife of an enemy general, but this historical plot was constantly being diluted by people during the Northern Song Dynasty, and Guan Yu became a decent gentleman who was not close to a woman.
Secondly, the Five Tiger Generals who are well known to people are not as powerful as everyone knows, taking Zhao Yun as an example, in fact, he was just a second-rate general in Liu Bei's military camp at that time, although he also had some skills, but he was far from being superior in martial arts, with the degree of one enemy and one hundred enemies. In fact, such a situation also appeared in many military generals during the Three Kingdoms period, why there is such a phenomenon, in fact, it is also because of the Northern Song Dynasty folk "heavy martial" tendency.
Third, the Song Dynasty's military was weak, and the official government promoted the idea of "emphasizing literature over martial arts" and suppressing the warriors for a long time, but instead prompted the people to gradually form a "heavy martial" trend and fight for the warriors
1. Long-term ideological repression produces inevitable results
I believe that many people see that this is all a look of ignorance, during the Northern Song Dynasty, did not always circulate the "heavy literature and light force" of the government atmosphere, so how can we talk about "heavy force"? In fact, for the Northern Song Dynasty's tendency to "heavy martial arts" is historically well-founded, the most intuitive point is that many of the martial arts novels in later generations are set in the Northern Song Dynasty, such as "Water Margin" is one of the more representative ones.
Secondly, many of the stories in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in the Ming Dynasty are based on small folk stories left over from history, and most of these small stories are from the Northern Song Dynasty, and these small stories no longer describe the clever calculations of the courtiers in planning compared to the previous dynasties, but are biased towards the military generals' ability to fight on the battlefield.
Of course, the folk "Shang Wu" plot does not represent the imperial court's reverence for those who learn martial arts, on the contrary, there is also the phenomenon of "wen does not change weapons" that pervades the court.
Therefore, under this kind of serious oppression of military generals, it is inevitable that the people will appear "Shang Wu" plot, after all, as far as everything is concerned, it is always the opposite of things, excessively squeezing the people's thoughts, inhibiting the living space of the military generals, and the people will naturally let him appear in another form.
2. The plot of "Shigetake" is placed in the story of the Three Kingdoms
Therefore, during the Northern Song Dynasty, people's cognition of the characters of the Three Kingdoms period basically had the shadow of being able to fight good battles, taking Cao Cao as an example, according to the records in the main history: In addition to the military field, Cao Cao also had a very high attainment in culture, which can be said to be proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, otherwise how could he cultivate a son like Cao Pi.
However, during the Northern Song Dynasty, such a description of Cao Cao's political and cultural aspects was basically rarely seen or heard, basically more in the military command ability on the battlefield, and the image of a generation of tyrants was also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
In addition to Cao Cao, the other two monarchs of the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Bei and Sun Quan, also existed in the folk in the form of a tyrant in the chaotic world. Even in Su Shi's poems, Sun Quan is a majestic general who is described as a mighty and brave man, and this is not the only one who feels that this is the case.
The image of Sun Quan's military general can be seen from many verses in the "All Song Ci". In contrast, Liu Bei was weaker, and in the Northern Song Dynasty, the people also thought that the influence of the monarch did not show too much martial style, mainly because Liu Bei had many generals under him, and his description was relatively small.
It is still easy to find that in addition to the above-mentioned three kingdoms period of military strength in the Northern Song Dynasty was obviously exaggerated, many of these monarchs in folk tales and poems were also obviously martial generals, which is actually derived from the "heavy martial" plot that broke out under the suppression of the long-term "heavy literature and light martial arts" environment.
epilogue:
The social environment and the background of the times have created differences in people's understanding of history. According to the above, we can also clearly feel that the northern Song Dynasty people's cognition of the characters of the Three Kingdoms period showed a trend of "military generalization", and most of the generals were also labeled as brave and good at war, and even some of them were constantly exaggerated and had a certain deviation from historical facts.
Of course, these cognitive differences are mainly due to the long-term suppression of folk martial arts practitioners during the Northern Song Dynasty, and under the long-term ideological suppression, people can only find another way out and pin these feelings on folk stories, which is also the main reason for the formation of folk "heavy martial arts" tendencies during the Northern Song Dynasty.