Comparing Liu Bei and Cao Cao, the biggest question is: how to compare? Can't let Liu Bei compare poetry with Cao Cao, right? This is clearly a "pull-off frame". And both of them have achieved such a big career, which proves that the two are the same time.
Cao Cao himself said: Today's heroes are only me and Liu Bei. The subtext is that although there are many heroes of the Three Kingdoms, after comparing a circle, Liu Bei and I are the most cattle, which is the two big ceilings of the Three Kingdoms. Therefore, the author believes that comparing Liu Bei and Cao Cao, we cannot engage in dualistic opposition and forcibly demarcate high and low right and wrong.
That is to say, if Cao Cao is in the environment in which Liu Bei is located, he is not necessarily better than Liu Bei, and vice versa. This is actually: environmental determinism. In a nutshell, Cao Cao and Liu Bei are two extreme characters.
Cao Cao is a typical example of "first-mover advantage" and can also be understood as "winning at the starting line". Liu Bei is a typical example of "latecomer advantage", which can also be understood as "following and running". This doomed Cao Cao not to be afraid of mistakes, because there were mines at home. Liu Bei could not make a mistake, because his family was poor.
Neither of them liked to read when they were young, and Cao Cao set up eagles and running dogs every day, and fooled around with Yuan Shao, but it did not prevent him from embarking on a career path, and he became a close brother of the emperor very early, one of the "Eight Lieutenants of The West Garden". Liu Bei "likes dogs and horses, music, and beautiful clothes", but he can only be a "black boss" in Zhuo County.
After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Cao Cao belonged to the imperial court lineage, and was officially given the title of "Knight Lieutenant" and commanded a cavalry force. Liu Bei belonged to the local armed forces, took Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and a wave of other small brothers, and followed his teacher Lu Zhi to fight.
When He Jin was killed and Dong Zhuo rebelled, Cao Cao, because his family had mines, quickly recruited men and horses, and entered the circle of "Eighteen Road Princes". Liu Bei was miserable, humiliated by the postmaster, and in a fit of anger, he beat the postmaster and began to bump into all kinds of big luck. In the circle of "EighteenTh Road Princes", Liu Bei was not qualified to enter at all.
That is to say, in the main history, Liu Bei did not participate in the Battle of the Eighteenth Route Princes against Dong Zhuo. It should be noted that this circle of eighteen princes directly laid the pattern of the Three Kingdoms. Cao Cao and Sun Jian (Yuan Shu) were among them, where was Liu Bei at the moment? There is no way to verify it.
It is only known that when Cao Cao was defeated by Dong Zhuo's general Xu Rong in the Battle of Bishui, he directly became Yuan Shao's younger brother and was funded. After Liu Bei defeated Gao Tang and climbed out of the pile of dead people, he went to his old classmate Gongsun Zhan as a younger brother.
This was Cao Cao's first and last time as someone else's little brother. For Liu Bei, it is a wave of little brother career - of course, because Liu Bei later succeeded, it is called "sojourn", the so-called reader steals books, can it be considered stealing?
After that, Cao Cao took the Han XianDi and became the invisible emperor, and Liu Bei won Xuzhou like a big luck - this was the closest time the two were. Liu Bei finally obtained the admission qualification for the Three Kingdoms hegemony and became a prince with territory and tax burden.
Unfortunately, a Zhang Fei was drunk, Xuzhou was snatched away by Lü Bu, and Liu Bei's years of struggle were wiped out. At the same time, this is also the first time that Zhang Sanye has entered the main history due to specific events, earlier than Guan Yu - although it is difficult to see, but after all, Zhang Fei has made trouble, and is no longer standing behind Liu Bei as a background cloth with Guan Yu as before.
So how did the two become enemies? It all became a mystery. It can only be said that it must rely on one battle after another. Unfortunately, Liu Bei was not yet a "Xuzhou Mu" (prince, competitor) at that time, and he was not eligible to be recorded, let alone the two of them!
In short, since Cao Cao took control of Emperor Xian of Han, the gap between the two has become wider and wider. Liu Bei began to be abused by Cao Cao in various ways, until in his later years, during the Battle of Hanzhong, he finally defeated Cao Cao and achieved a status of equal rank with Cao Cao. In other words, Liu Bei spent his whole life chasing cao Cao.
So, can you say that Cao Cao must be stronger than Liu Bei? The gap can only be explored from the characteristics and specific examples of the two people. Such as the distinction between adulterous males and males. Among them, the author most admires Chairman Mao, and there are roughly two points in the comparison and evaluation of the two, especially the second one, which can be called to the point.
One: what you see is slightly inferior
So-called: who is the hero of the world? Cao Liu! For this poem, I don't need to introduce it too much, most people also know that it was written by Chairman Mao and his old man, and the poem was called "Nanxiangzi Dengjingkou Beigulou Youhuai".
Obviously, the old man also recognized Cao Cao and Liu Bei, who were the "two big ceilings" of the Three Kingdoms. Therefore, the comparison and comments of the old man on Cao Cao and Liu Bei cannot be simply understood as who is superior and who is inferior, but a "dialectical relationship".
According to "Mao Zedong's Reading Life", just after this poem was written, the old man gave such a judgment, he said: "Although Liu Bei is slightly inferior to what Cao Cao saw, Liu Bei is a person who can use people, can unite people, and eventually become a big thing." ”
This is the first gap between Liu Bei and Cao Cao, liu bei "sees slightly inferior." Then the old man gave a reason why Liu Bei could become a big thing, "will use people, can unite people", which means that Liu Bei's advantages have made up for that short board.
Is this a dialectical relationship? Not only did they acknowledge the gap, but they were able to find "commonality" in the gap (Cao Cao and Liu Bei both achieved great things).
So why is it said that Liu Bei is "slightly inferior to what he sees"? Later, the old man further elaborated: "When things come out, you can't catch them at a glance, slow down." Unfortunately, the old man did not give specific examples. But when the author saw this, he immediately remembered one thing about Liu Bei, what happened? Liu Bei into the river!
When Liu Zhang invited Liu Bei into Sichuan, Liu Bei hesitated. Pang Tong hurriedly persuaded: There is no hesitation, we must take Xichuan.
Liu Bei said: Your words are not right, Cao Cao is violent, I will be kind, Cao Cao is anxious, I will slow down, Cao Cao is cunning, I will be sincere... Anyway, everything was the opposite of Cao Cao, and only then did it have the current situation. And now, you are grabbing Yizhou, this kind of unkind and unjust thing, only a scum like Cao Cao can do it, I don't do it!
As a result, Liu Bei was refuted by Pang Tong. In short, just a meaning, can not be so conformist, you must know that the change is general, which trick to fight the world? No reason! It was Pang Tong's words that completely persuaded Liu Bei to enter Sichuan, which led to the later "Shu Han" world.
Now that we use the matter of Liu Bei entering Sichuan, compared with Cao Cao's robbery of Emperor Xian of Han, do we suddenly understand what is called "what we see is slightly inferior"? It should be noted that Cao Cao's coercion of Tianzi to order the princes and Liu Bei to enter the river is the most critical node for the two to eventually succeed - Cao Cao is robbery, Liu Bei is hesitant, "slow down".
Fortunately, Liu Bei would employ people and be able to honor Corporal Xian (unity people), so he finally seized this opportunity with the help of Pang Tong!
Second, it is impossible to distinguish between primary and secondary contradictions
According to "The Reading Life of Mao Zedong in His Later Years", the old man was quite sorry for Liu Bei's insistence on launching the Battle of Yiling in his later years, and expounded it from different angles.
For example, from Guan Yu's point of view, the old man believes that this is the failure of Liu Beiren. Instead of being able to carry out the "East Alliance with Sun Wu and the North Resisting Cao Cao", Guan Yu was also the "saboteur" of this grand strategy, thus leading to the defeat and killing of soldiers and the loss of Jingzhou, which led to Liu Bei's Battle of Yiling.
Of course, it was more analyzed from Liu Bei's point of view, believing that he did not listen to Zhao Yun's advice, "the national thief is Cao Cao and not Sun Quanye", insisting on launching the Battle of Yiling, "the reason for this is that Liu Bei did not distinguish between the relationship between the main contradiction and the secondary contradiction, and did not grasp the main contradiction in the strategy... Cao Liu is the main contradiction, and Sun Liu is the secondary contradiction. Sun Liu's contradiction is a contradiction within the united front."
Here there is another dialectical relationship, the previous also said that Liu Bei "will employ people", but here is the failure to employ people (Guan Yu), how can this be explained?
The author's view is very simple, the so-called employment of people, can be regarded as a probability problem. For example, eight times out of ten use is right, which is the top of the sky, where is the hundred percent? Only God can't be wrong, because even if it is wrong, it is called the "law of nature."
After clarifying this dialectical relationship, we will continue to talk about this shortcoming of Liu Bei. We all know that there is a well-accepted evaluation of Cao Cao, that is, "resourcefulness and good judgment". In fact, to put it bluntly, Cao Cao grasped the main contradiction very tightly. For example, he was vigilant against the Door Valve Clan, and several times issued the "Order for Meritocracy" to promote "meritocracy", which was used to hedge against the Door Valve Clan.
Because, those who are familiar with the history of the Three Kingdoms (not the Romance of the Three Kingdoms) are well aware that the so-called three-legged standing, in a broad sense, is the contradiction between the "three warlords" and the "gate valve clan". As a result, the representative of the Gate Valve Clan, sima shi, won the final victory.
Therefore, since Cao Cao captured Emperor Xiandi of Han, he actually made more mistakes than Liu Bei, such as after conquering Zhang Lu, he did not take advantage of the situation to attack Liu Bei. But Cao Cao never happened, such as Liu Bei's Battle of Yiling, this kind of fiasco that almost destroyed the country, which was the power to grasp the main contradiction.
Looking at Liu Bei, because he could not distinguish between the main contradiction and the secondary contradiction, after the defeat of Yiling, Shu Han was in fact equivalent to withdrawing from the "Three Kingdoms Struggle for Hegemony" after the defeat of Yiling. Even if Zhuge Liang was so desperate in the later stage, he could not change this general trend.
Therefore, these two articles can be said to be a sharp point, telling Liu Bei and Cao Cao, where the gap is, and there is no way to remedy it. Therefore, Liu Bei was slightly inferior to Cao Cao, and he was "inferior" here...