Today's Three Kingdoms idiom story is found in the twenty-eighth time of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which occurred during Guan Yu's "five levels and six generals", and the relevant characters are Guan Yu and Zhou Cang. The original text is as follows: (Zhou Cang) saw Guan Gong and was surprised: "This Guan General also!" Hurriedly dismounted, prostrated himself and said, "Zhou Cang visits the shrine." Guan Gong said, "Where did the strong man know Guan Moulai?" Cang Yue: "When I used to follow the Yellow Turban Zhang Bao, I used to know and respect my face; I hated the thief party and was not allowed to follow him." I was lucky enough to see you today. May the general not abandon himself, take it as a pawn, and sooner or later carry the stirrup with the stirrup, and die willingly! Seeing that his intentions were very sincere, he said, "If Ru follows me, what will ru's men accompany?" Cang yue: "Those who are willing to obey will obey; those who do not want to obey, they can listen to it." So everyone said, "May it be obeyed." Guan Gongnai dismounted and asked the second sister-in-law in front of the car.
Lady Gan said: "Uncle left Xu Du and traveled alone on the road to this place, how many hardships he has experienced, and he has not wanted to be accompanied by troops and horses." Former Liao Hua wants to be similar, but the uncle is not, now why only allow the people of Zhou Cang? My generation of daughters is shallow, and my uncle is self-conscious. Gong Yue: "The sister-in-law's words are also." Then Zhou Cangyue said: "Non-Guan is widowed, and Lady Nai'er does not follow." Wait and go back to the mountains, and when I find my brother, I will come to him. Zhou Cangdun first admonished: "Cang is a reckless husband, lost his life as a thief, and now that he meets the general, if he sees the light of day again, he will not bear to miss it!" If it is inconvenient for everyone to follow, you can make them go with Pei Yuanshao. Cang walked alone and followed the general, although he did not quit! Guan Gong then sued his second sister-in-law with this remark. Mrs. Gan said: "It does not matter if one or two people follow each other." ”
According to the plot development of the novel, Guan Yu passed through the five levels and slashed the six generals, passing near Woniu Mountain, and met pei Yuanshao, an old general of the Yellow Turban. According to Pei Yuanshao's introduction, there was also a Yellow Turban remnant Zhou Cang on Woniu Mountain who fell into the grass again. While the two were talking, Zhou Cang led his troops to the front, saw Guan Yu and dismounted in defeat, and insisted on following Guan Yu. Guan Yu first agreed, and then asked the two sisters-in-law for their opinions. Who knew that Lady Gan asked Guan Yu why she didn't want Liao Hua before, but this time she wanted Zhou Cang. Guan Yu nodded and said yes, so he rejected Zhou Cang again. Zhou Cang's attitude was resolute, and he finally persuaded Guan Yu again. With the consent of the two sisters-in-law, Zhou Cang handed over his men to Pei Yuanshao and followed Guan Yu alone.
The idiom to be introduced in this article is the "whip with stirrups" in Zhou Cang's mouth, which means to be willing to follow left and right because of admiration. This is also an idiom pioneered by Luo Guanzhong, the author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The plot of Guan Yu's "passing through five levels and cutting six generals" in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is very exciting, but the whole story is a historical truth except for the ending of Guan Yu's return to Liu Bei's side, the rest of the plot is fictionalized by the author of the novel. First of all, Guan Yu did not leave Cao Cao with Liu Bei's wife with her, and Lady Gan was not captured in Xuzhou with Guan Yu. On the way back, Guan Yu was not chased and killed by the guards along the way, but returned to Liu Bei's side safely. In real history, Guan Yu did not pass through the five passes, but directly from the Guandu front to Yuan Shao's army to reunite with Liu Bei. I have talked about this in previous articles and will not repeat it here.
The Zhou Cang mentioned in the novel is also a fictional character and is not found in the historical records. The appearance of this character was first in the Three Kingdoms dialect book "Three Kingdoms Zhiping Dialect" in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the book, Zhou Cang is neither a remnant of the Yellow Turban nor a general of Guan Yu, but a small role in Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition army, who was in charge of wooden cattle and horses, and also had a contest with Sima Yi. As for Pei Yuanshao, he is also a fictional character by the author of the novel, not a historical figure.
After talking about the origin of the whole story in the novel, let's make a simple analysis of the plot of this story. The author of the novel is very interesting about the design of this plot. Familiar with the author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is clear that during Guan Yu's "five levels and six generals", he encountered a total of three remnants of the Yellow Turban, namely Liao Hua, Pei Yuanshao and Zhou Cang. Among these three people, Pei Yuanshao and Zhou Cang both clearly proposed to follow Guan Yu, and although Liao Hua did not explicitly say that he wanted to follow Guan Yu, it can be seen from Lady Gan's statement that Liao Hua also had the intention of following.
If this was the case, why did Guan Yu only agree to Zhou Cang and reject Liao Hua and Pei Yuanshao? To answer this question, we may wish to look at the design and positioning of the novel's authors for the characters Of Liao Hua and Pei Yuanshao. As far as Pei Yuanshao was concerned, this question was easy to answer, because his role was actually limited to the ghost of Zhao Yun who later became Zhao Yun's gun and was used to highlight Zhao Yun's high martial arts. Guan Yu rejected Pei Yuanshao in order to pave the way for the later murder of Pei Yuanshao.
As for why Guan Yu refused Liao Hua, it was indeed doubtful. Although Liao Hua is not the main character in the novel, he is very stunning as soon as he appears, not only killing Du Yuan, but also saving Guan Yu's two sisters-in-law, whose credit is far greater than That of Zhou Cang. However, the author of the novel not only did not let him follow Guan Yu, but even made him disappear from the twenty-eighth time. It was not until the sixtieth time when Liu Bei entered Shu that there was a sudden trace of Liao Hua in the book. It can only be said that the author of the novel lacked an overall conception when designing the character of Liao Hua. If the author puts the credit for killing Du Yuan and saving Guan Yu on Zhou Cang, this plot is much more reasonable.
Reference books: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the Three Kingdoms