The story of Kong Rong let the pear be familiar to everyone in our country, and when each of us is young, we will hear teachers or parents tell this story. It is also for this reason that in the impression of most of us, Kong Rong is a child who knows how to give way to his brother. But Kong Rong who lives in this story has always been a child who accompanied us in childhood, but the real Kong Rong will grow up, how much do you know about Kong Rong in history?
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms were divided, and Cao Cao was the hegemon of one side, and Kong Rong was about to be executed because he had offended Cao Cao. Before dying, Kong Rong begged Cao Cao to spare his son, and the 9-year-old son calmly said a sentence, and later these 8 words have been passed down and become famous sentences for thousands of years.
Let the pear when you are young, and fight for sin when you are young
We know Kong Rong, and we all start from the story of Kong Rong's pear. And this story is not fictional, Kong Rong did know how to courteously and honor his elders since he was a child, and this is not a unique feature of Kong Rong, their family style is like this. Kong Rong was a descendant of Confucius, and his father was an official during the Eastern Han Dynasty, but when Kong Rong was 13 years old, his father died and there was no protection in the family.
When we were children, we only remembered Kong Rong's name, and my brother was just an "unnamed supporting character". Kong Rong's older brother was named Kong Bao, and Kong Bao had a good friend named Zhang Jian, who was a famous scholar in the Eastern Han Dynasty. For some reason, Zhang Jian was targeted by an official at the time, and the official issued a secret order to arrest Zhang Jian. Zhang Jian went to the Kong family to avoid arrest, but his good friend Kong Zhen was not at home, and Kong Rong was only 16 years old at the time.
Zhang Jian thought that Kong Rong was still young and did not understand things, so he did not tell him about his difficulties, nor was he embarrassed to stay in the Kong family. And Kong Rong is not ignorant, he is very intelligent and takes the initiative to leave Zhang Jian in his home. Later, when the matter was revealed, Kong Rong and his brother Kong Bao were arrested for harboring "fugitives", but before they were convicted, Kong Rong preemptively confessed guilt, saying that the matter had nothing to do with his brother.
Bearing the blame is not an insignificant little thing like letting Pear, Kong Zhen naturally can't let his brother bear it for himself, he said that Zhang Jian is his friend, because he came because of himself, and has nothing to do with his brother. The two competed to bear the responsibility, and the official could not decide the case, so he asked their mother about the specific situation, and the mother also competed for responsibility, saying that the affairs of the family should be borne by the adults, so the blame lies with themselves and has nothing to do with the son.
Because of this situation, the magistrate had no way to decide, but to play the matter, and finally according to the will of the imperial court, Kong Bao was convicted, and Kong Rong and his mother were not guilty. And after this incident, Kong Rong's reputation spread. Kong Rong has always been a very positive image in our stories, and he himself does abide by filial piety and righteousness, and he is just and righteous, but Kong Rong also has some shortcomings, and some of the things he does are difficult to distinguish between right and wrong, and praise and criticism are difficult to say.
Is it justification or stubbornness?
One of the characteristics of Kong Rong's personality is that he is just and upright, because he has a good study, he has been promoted, assisting Lord Situ, and has a job of secretly investigating corrupt officials. At that time, the eunuchs were heavy courtiers who did not dare to easily offend, but Kong Rong still reported the crimes of the eunuchs' relatives after discovering them, and when faced with the rebuke of the superiors, he did not flinch, and objectively stated the crimes of the people who were reported.
Kong Rong is a bit too "rigid", and sometimes it will seem a little "not flexible". At that time, an official was promoted, Kong Rong was sent by his superiors to congratulate, when the doorman in the official's home was not informed enough, Kong Rong angrily took back the name post and turned his head and left, and after returning, he took the initiative to confess his guilt because he did not complete the task, and almost brought himself the disaster of killing. His actions disgraced the promoted general, who was about to order Kong Rong's assassination, but was persuaded by others.
Kong Rong was later promoted to an official position twice, but after the promotion, because he was not in line with his superiors, he "resigned" on the pretext of illness. Later, by chance, he became the Tiger Ben Zhonglang General. At that time, the power of the Eastern Han Dynasty was held by Dong Zhuo, and Kong Rong repeatedly had verbal disputes with Dong Zhuo, and his speech was fierce. Later, Dong Zhuo was secretly transferred to the Beihai State as the Minister of State, although it was the Minister of State, but the situation in the Beihai State at that time was very dangerous, and the Yellow Turban Army was very rampant.
However, Dong Zhuo's abacus did not start, and Kong Rong did not die in a foreign land after arriving in the Beihai Kingdom, but gained a lot of prestige in the Beihai Kingdom. Later, Yuan Shao's Cao Cao's power rose, and the Eastern Han Dynasty was in danger, but Kong Rong was bent on calming the national difficulties and was unwilling to defect to any of the forces. Even when some aides persuaded Kong Rong to unite with either side of Cao Yuan, Kong Rong directly killed this staff member.
Of course, Kong Rong's wish to stabilize the world has not been realized, he has the talent to learn, but he does not have the ability to save the country in the chaotic world. Later, Yuan Tan led his army to attack the North Sea Kingdom, and the Han army was gradually defeated, and at that time, the city was already in flames, but Kong Rong was still studying at home. It was not until the city fell completely that he fled to Shandong overnight, and his wife and son were captured by the Yuan army.
Cao Cao and Kong Rong's festival
Cao Cao gradually gained the upper hand in the competition with Yuan Shao, and once attacked The city of Yicheng, and most of Yuan Shao's family members were captured. Cao Pi, on the other hand, had a crush on a female relative of the Yuan family, zhen, who was the daughter-in-law of the Yuan family, but Cao Pi forcibly married her. After Kong Rong learned of this incident, he made a verbal sarcasm against Cao Cao, and not in person, he wrote a letter to mock Cao Cao.
Later, because of frequent famines and wars, Cao Cao went to the table to request a ban on alcohol, but Kong Rong did not agree to the prohibition of alcohol, and he wrote to Cao Cao many times to "debate" the matter. However, Kong Rong did not have a good feeling for Cao Cao, and he would not completely discuss the matter, and there were many "insults and slow words" in the letters written to Cao Cao.
Because Kong Rong saw Cao Cao's ambitions and knew that sooner or later he would overthrow the Eastern Han regime, when he spoke to Cao Cao, it was impossible to be kind and angry, and he always had a gun and a stick, and the Ming Dynasty was sarcastic, and the number of times he angered Cao Cao was innumerable, and Cao Cao became more and more jealous of Kong Rong. Although Cao Cao could not directly kill Kong Rong, he instructed some of his ministers to impeach Kong Rong for many crimes such as "wanting to commit misconduct", so that Kong Rong was sentenced to death and his whole family was involved.
Kong Rong was 56 years old, and before he died, he finally let go of his former pride and begged Cao Cao to spare his son. His two sons, one at the time, one was 9 years old and the other was 8 years old. Hearing Kong Rong's intercession and facing the impending death, the 9-year-old eldest son was very calm and only said one sentence: "Do you see that there is a complete egg under the nest?" And this sentence later became a famous sentence throughout the ages: "Under the nest, there is a complete egg."
epilogue:
The story of Kong Rong makes pears very familiar to us since childhood, and Kong Rong is also a very positive character in our impression. But real people are complex, not simply good or bad can be defined, to understand the historical figure, you need to fully understand what he has done, rather than through one thing to interpret him one-sidedly.
Kong Rong, as one of the seven sons of Jian'an, is indisputable, and his filial piety and righteousness to his mother and brother are also true. But we can't ignore the shortcomings in his personality, he is too arrogant and arrogant, stubborn and does not know how to change, and does not have an accurate understanding of himself, has a lofty ambition but does not have the ability to correspond to it, and in the absence of ability, he also has to operate with Cao everywhere, and finally brings the disaster of killing for the whole family.
References: Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Romance of the Three Kingdoms