preface
As one of the four famous works in China, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has been widely loved by everyone for hundreds of years, and as a famous Politician, Writer and Thinker in China, Chairman Mao's love for the characters of the Three Kingdoms is even better than ordinary people, and he has repeatedly evaluated the historical figures in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in public and private.
According to statistics, the number of figures who have been carefully evaluated by Chairman Mao is more than 30.
Pictured: Chairman Mao is flipping through classical masterpieces
Chairman Mao commented that the characters of the Three Kingdoms have two outstanding characteristics:
On the one hand, Chairman Mao's comments are almost at your fingertips, improvised, and while hitting the key issues of history, you can also play freely, and it can be said that the history of the Three Kingdoms has been "lived"; on the other hand, Chairman Mao's discussion of the Three Kingdoms is also based on the past to talk about the present, closely integrating with the actual situation of New China, from shallow to deep, meticulous, and it can be said that the history of the Three Kingdoms has been "lived".
Chairman Mao once said: "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is worth reading at least three times
When he was a teenager, Mao Zedong loved to read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. As early as 1936, chairman Mao once introduced in an interview with the American journalist Snow: "When I was a teenager, my favorite thing to read was the legendary novels of ancient China, especially about the peasant movement, I had read books such as "Yue Zhuan", "Water Margin", "Sui and Tang Dynasties", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Journey to the West". ”
In 1938, when Chairman Mao was speaking at the Kang Da, he once mentioned an interesting thing: "When I first went to Jinggangshan, one day I wanted to go to the homes of local local tycoons to see if there was a book called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". ”
Pictured: Chairman Mao speaks at the Kang Da in 1938
Chairman Mao in the Jinggangshan period learned a lot of war knowledge and military knowledge in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but he never hid this.
After the Gutian Conference, Chairman Mao, in order to make it clear that agitation and propaganda were greater than orders were assigned, he told everyone the story of Huang Zhong's great defeat of Xiahou Yuan in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms": "Originally, Huang Zhong, a veteran general who was weak and sick, was theoretically difficult to defeat Xiahou Yuan, but Zhuge Liang deliberately used the 'Radical General Method' to summon Huang Zhong's courage, so Huang Zhong immediately said: 'Don't behead Xiahou Yuan under the horse, and raise your head to see him." In the end, Huang Zhong did indeed kill Xiahou Yuan. ”
After the founding of New China, Chairman Mao often carried a large number of ancient books on the special train, and the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was a must-have book. Chairman Mao not only read the original text of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but even read the comic strip about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In 1959, Chairman Mao saw that the Beijing Evening News was serializing an article entitled "On the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (III)," so he immediately instructed his secretary: "Ask the secretary to look for the (i) and (ii) of the article on his behalf. ”
Pictured: A comic strip about Romance of the Three Kingdoms
During Chairman Mao's visit to Moscow in November 1957, one night Hu Qiaomu, Guo Moruo, and others all had dinner with Chairman Mao, and chatted about the Three Kingdoms in small talk. Chairman Mao said, "Let's talk about the Three Kingdoms worrying about the ancients." Then he and Guo Moruo talked about the history of the Three Kingdoms, talking about many battles such as the Battle of Guandu and the Battle of Chibi, and the more they talked, the happier they became. At this time, Chairman Mao suddenly asked the interpreter Li Yueran:
"Tell me, cao cao and zhuge liang, who is more powerful?"
Li Yueran naturally couldn't say why, and Chairman Mao took over: "Although Zhuge Liang used his soldiers to be resourceful, Cao Cao was not simple, but now when he sings opera, he always turns him into a big white face, which is really unjust." Then Chairman Mao's words turned:
When fighting wars in ancient times, there were no atomic bombs and rockets, that is, the swords and guns of cold weapons were fought, and the dead people would not be less.
When Emperor Huan of Han was in power, how many people were there in the Eastern Han Dynasty? ”、
The learned Guo Moruo casually replied, "There are about fifty-six million people (Book of Jin, Geographical Chronicle). ”
Pictured: Chairman Mao and Guo Moruo
Chairman Mao asked again, "How many people are left in the Three Kingdoms period?" ”
Guo Moruo replied: "According to historical records, at that time, the Yellow River Basin 'hukou plummeted, and there was no one in ten', and the total number of households in the three countries was about six or seven million. ”
After comparing the data, Chairman Mao sighed: "Wang Cang's poem "Seven Sorrows" once lamented: 'When you go out, you can't see anything, and white bones cover the plains.'"
How many people died in World War I and World War II, and how many people died in the Three Kingdoms? Compared with the atomic bomb and Guan Yunchang's large knife, which kills more people?
”
Chairman Mao let out a deep sigh, and then continued to Guo Moruo: "Now many of us are afraid of war, in fact, this is not surprising, because war is a thing that harms the common people, and war also brings famine, plague, looting... It should be prevented, it is naturally good not to fight; but it is not okay to be afraid, this is not ok, the more you are afraid, the more it will fall on your head,
We must focus on opposing war, but do not fear it, which is called dialectics
。 Finally, Chairman Mao said a summative sentence: "The books "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" are worth reading at least three times." ”
Chairman Mao Personally "Overturned the Case" for Cao Cao
Among the figures of the Three Kingdoms, Chairman Mao had the greatest respect for Cao Cao.
In Chairman Mao's view, Cao Cao was one of the few tyrants in ancient China who combined politics, military, and literature, so he often talked about Cao Cao in public and gave him a high evaluation.
As early as November 1952, Chairman Mao inspected Anyang, Henan Province, and visited the former site of Yin Ruins. During this inspection, Chairman Mao said to the staff around him: "Zhanghe was once a place where Cao Cao trained troops. Cao Cao was a remarkable figure who had carried out large-scale expansion work here, implemented the Tun tian system here, gradually accumulated strength, and finally unified the north, laying a firm foundation for the later unification of the whole country by the Western Jin Dynasty. ”
Pictured: Cao Cao in the 1994 CCTV version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In hundreds of years of historical commentary, Cao Cao has always been portrayed as a "traitorous courtier", while Chairman Mao opposed the belittling of Cao Cao and challenged the traditional concept of treating Cao Cao as a traitor. On April 10, 1957, when Chairman Mao talked with the head of the People's Daily, he commented on Cao Cao as follows:
"History has said that Cao Cao was a traitor, but don't believe those interpretations. In fact, Cao Cao was not bad, and Cao Cao represented the progressive side at that time, while the traditional Han Dynasty was the declining side. ”
In August 1958, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held an enlarged meeting of the Politburo in Beidaihe, at which Chairman Mao told the district directors of the major cooperation zones: "It is good for us to be with the laborers. The feelings between us and the workers will change profoundly, thus affecting tens of millions of cadres. Cao Cao once scolded Emperor Xian of Han for being 'born in the deep palace and growing up in the hands of women', which was basically correct. Chairman Mao quoted Cao Cao to tell everyone that once leading cadres cannot be separated from the masses, they can be described as typical examples of borrowing from the past to discuss the present and apply what they have learned.
Photo: "Langtaosha Beidaihe" (summer 1954)
Of course, Chairman Mao himself was a romantic writer, and Chairman Mao once wrote in his poem "Langtaosha Beidaihe":
In the past, wei Wu waved his whip, and there was a posthumous chapter on the east side of jieshi. The autumn wind is now again, changing the human world.
In a few words, Chairman Mao made the image of Cao Cao, a great writer, military man, and statesman, jump on the paper. Chairman Mao was very fond of Cao Cao's poetry, and he once commented:
"I still like Cao Cao's poems, the words are majestic and passionate, and they are real men."
Pictured: Cao Cao's "Turtle Although Shou"
Chairman Mao even learned the method of health maintenance from Cao Cao's poems. In August 1961, when Hu Qiaomu was recuperating from illness, Chairman Mao recommended To hu Qiaomu Cao's poem "Turtle Although Shou" was introduced
"Cao Cao has clouds: 'The period of surplus and contraction is not only in heaven; the blessing of Nourishing Yi can be eternal.'" This poem should be read carefully. ”
In 1963, Chairman Mao recommended this poem to Lin Biao, who was recuperating from illness: "Cao Cao's "Turtle Although Shou" is about the way of immortality, which is very good, I hope that you can find a reading to enhance your confidence." ”
Proceeding from the above many understandings, Chairman Mao advocated "overturning the case" for Cao Cao. At a meeting in Zhengzhou in 1958, Chairman Mao first spoke: "It is not right to regard Cao Cao as a bad person. A few days later, Chairman Mao summoned Ke Qingshi, Li Jingquan, and others in Wuhan to discuss the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Chairman Mao commented: "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms wrote Cao Cao as a traitor, while the Romance of the Three Kingdoms wrote Cao Cao as a historical figure. However, due to the greater influence of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the fact that the old plays are now based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao is a white-faced traitor on the stage. But now we have to overturn the case for Cao Cao,
Our party is a party that stresses the truth, and as long as it is a wrong case or an unjust case, it must be overturned, and to say that Cao Cao is a traitor is an 'unjust, false and wrongly decided case' created by feudal orthodoxy, so we must turn this case over.
Pictured: Cao Cao's face after Mao Zedong's reversal of the case (selected from the Peking Opera "Heroes of the Crowd"), with a little more red between his eyebrows
After hearing Chairman Mao's call, Guo Moruo and other historians agreed one after another and wrote a large number of articles. In 1959, Chairman Mao once again stressed at a meeting:
"Cao Cao had been scolded for more than a thousand years before, and now it was time to restore his reputation."
Since then, Cao Cao has been restored to his historical reputation by Chairman Mao, and Cao Cao on the Peking Opera stage has since added a red dot to the center of his eyebrows, indicating that Cao Cao is a good person.
Pictured: A Collection of Cao Cao's Treatises, compiled in 1959 for Cao Cao's overturned articles, published by Sanlian Bookstore in 1960
However, Chairman Mao was not entirely sure of Cao Cao, believing that Cao Cao had two main character shortcomings:
First, sometimes things are indecisive and easy to miss good opportunities.
In the spring of 1966, when Chairman Mao was in Hangzhou, he said: "After Cao Cao beat Zhang Lu, he should fight Sichuan." Both Sima Yi and Liu Ye suggested that he take Sichuan, but Cao Cao did not want to go, and regretted it after a few weeks. ”
Two
Cao Cao could not be strict with himself.
In the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Emperor Wu once said that Cao Cao "ordered the generals to go out on a campaign, those who lost the army to atone for their crimes, and those who lost were exempted from official titles." After reading this, Chairman Mao commented among the secretaries: "The defeat of Chibi will be the crime of whom", which shows that Chairman Mao believes that Cao Cao cannot strictly demand himself, but he is harshly responsible to his subordinates.
Chairman Mao commented on Liu Bei: He likes to be emotional and cannot distinguish between primary and secondary relations
Chairman Mao can be said to have some views on Liu Bei, who was highly regarded by Luo Guanzhong, the author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Chairman Mao did not often mention Liu Bei's advantages, because many historians had commented on them for thousands of years; but Chairman Mao often took Liu Bei's shortcomings as a warning, and in Chairman Mao's view, Liu Bei had the following two fatal shortcomings:
Pictured: Guan Yu was captured by Eastern Wu soldiers after carelessly losing Jingzhou
First, Liu Bei is very fond of emotional things.
In March 1949, chairman Mao was on his way from Xibaipo to Beiping, passing through Liu Bei's hometown of Zhuozhou, and he said to the guards around him: "This was once the place where Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei married, and Liu Bei's ambitions were very great. However, he was only shallow in learning, liked to be emotional, emotional in many big issues, in order to avenge the revenge of the Second Emperor Guan Yu, despite the persuasion of Zhuge Liang and other courtiers, he forcibly sent troops to attack Eastern Wu, and as a result, he was beaten by Eastern Wu, and he felt that he had no face to return to Chengdu, and he refused to return to Chengdu in the nearby White Emperor City, and later died in the White Emperor City. ”
Pictured: The burning camp in the film and television drama of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
Second, Liu Bei was unable to distinguish between the main and minor contradictions in the country, which led to the ultimate failure.
After the Anhui Incident in 1941, Chairman Mao used Liu Bei's example to point out that different attitudes should be adopted towards the Kuomintang members in various parts. Chairman Mao said: "During the Three Kingdoms period, Guan Yu carelessly lost Jingzhou, Liu Bei led the Shu army to attack Eastern Wu, but was burned by Lu Xun for seven hundred miles, and returned home in a big defeat, and the fundamental reason for Liu Bei's failure was that he failed to handle the main and secondary contradictions in the country and failed to grasp the key points in the strategy. The contradiction between Cao Cao and Liu Bei is the main contradiction, while the contradiction between Sun Quan and Liu Bei is a secondary contradiction, and the contradiction between Sun Liu is a secondary contradiction within the united front. Liu Bei did not understand this, so when he first sent people to guard Jingzhou, he sent Guan Yu, a military general who did not carry out the joint Wu resistance against Cao, to garrison Jingzhou. ”
Chairman Mao commented on Zhuge Liang: Bow down and do your best, and after death, you have already died
During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang was a famous politician and military figure in the Shu Han Dynasty, and among the figures of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang was one of the Three Kingdoms figures that Chairman Mao often mentioned, and was also highly respected by Chairman Mao. As early as when he was studying in Hunan, the young Mao Zedong praised Zhuge Liang as a "man who did things".
Since then, Chairman Mao has repeatedly advocated that people learn from Zhuge Liang's spirit of "bowing down and exhausting oneself, and then dying."
He himself once said: "I will bow down to the best of my ability, and I will die later." ”
Pictured: Chairman Mao is reading in the Juxiang Bookstore
After the founding of New China, in his daily life, Chairman Mao often told the story of Zhuge Liang to the vast number of cadres and masses, hoping that everyone would attach importance to studying historical and cultural knowledge. In 1958, Chairman Mao met with a county party secretary from Nanyang in Zhengzhou, Henan, and he praised him on the spot: "Your Nanyang is a place where Crouching Tigers and Dragons are hidden, there is a Wollongong in Nanyang, and I heard that Zhuge Liang lived in seclusion there." Zhuge Liang is a capable man. When they parted, Chairman Mao said to the secretary of the Nanyang County CPC Committee:
"I send you two sentences: first, we must learn a little historical knowledge; second, we must care about the people's lives."
In addition, Chairman Mao often greatly appreciated Zhuge Liang's ingenuity. In 1962, when Chairman Mao went to Nanjing and talked with Kong Congzhou, then president of the Nanjing Artillery Engineering and Technology College, he talked about Zhuge Liang's weapons reform: "Because the archery error at that time was relatively large, there was a crossbow machine later. Zhuge improved the crossbow machine and invented the 'repeater crossbow', which could fire 10 arrows in a row at a time, and the durability and accuracy were improved. When Zhuge Liang conquered the southern barbarian region, he used this weapon, but Meng Yu later invited three thousand vine armor troops, so that Zhuge Liang's crossbow arrows were useless. After careful investigation, Zhuge Liang found that the vine armor was soaked in oil, so he finally burned the vine armor army with a fire meter. ”
Pictured: Zhuge Liang's Seven Captures of Meng's Mural
Chairman Mao also fully affirmed Zhuge Liang's policy toward minorities at that time, believing that under the conditions and ideas at that time, Zhuge Liang's "peace policy" was invaluable.
Chairman Mao once said that Zhuge Liang was very good at handling ethnic relations, that his ethnic policy was very successful, and that it was loved and supported by the minority nationalities.
Of course, Zhuge Liang also made mistakes in his life, and Chairman Mao did not protect them. In 1948, Chairman Mao once said to the guards around him:
"I am not Shakyamuni, I am not Zhuge Liang, and no one is perfect
。 Even Zhuge Liang, there are times when he uses the wrong Guan Yu and Ma Mo. When the guards curiously asked about the story of Ma Chen's loss of the street kiosk, Chairman Mao said: "This is the consequence of Zhuge Liang's improper employment." ”
Chairman Mao on Sima Yi: Neither Chiang Kai-shek nor Hu Zongnan could match him
In Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sima Yi was described by Luo Guanzhong as a traitor who had a deep city government and slaughtered the Cao royal family, so for a long time, Chairman Mao's view of Sima Yi failed to break through the shackles of traditional culture. In 1916, in a letter to his classmate Xiao Zisheng, the young Mao Zedong put Yang Du and others who supported Yuan Shikai's claim to the title of emperor on a par with Sima Yi, Wang Mang, and others, believing that they were all negative examples of history.
However, with the increase of age and the continuous enrichment of life experience, Chairman Mao's view of Sima Yi also gradually changed, believing that Sima Yi was as resourceful as Zhuge Liang and was a very remarkable person.
Pictured: Chairman Mao on his march after evacuating Yan'an in 1947
In 1947, Hu Zongnan's troops launched a "key offensive" against the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Liberated Area, and Chairman Mao withdrew from Yan'an in May. One day, while on the road, Chairman Mao suddenly received a telegram from Chen Geng saying that 20,000 enemy troops had been annihilated and 25 counties had been liberated in the southern Jin Dynasty battlefield, so Chairman Mao couldn't help but hum a small song from "The Empty City Plan." When Chairman Mao sang that "I sent people to inquire and inquire about Sima leading the troops to the west," Zhou Enlai interjected: "Chairman, is this 'Sima' in front of us now not going west?" Chairman Mao replied humorously after listening: "Liu Jie? He also deserves to be Sima Yi? ”
Pictured: Sima Yi in the film and television drama of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
Ren Bishi said from the side:
"The 'Sima Yi' in front of us is Chiang Kai-shek, Hu Zongnan."
Chairman Mao shook his head:
"Now there is no Sima Yi in front of us, only Sima Shi."
It turned out that Sima Shi was the eldest son of Sima Yi, and although he was highly skilled, he was self-conscious and his strategic vision was not as good as Sima Yi's. Since neither Hu Zongnan nor Chiang Kai-shek was comparable to Sima Yi, it can be seen from this that in Chairman Mao's mind, his evaluation of Sima Yi was quite high.
Pictured: In the sketch "The Dawn is Ahead", Chairman Mao is with Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi
Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages,
Chairman Mao believed that Sima Yi's main shortcoming was that he was too suspicious.
When talking about the story of the "empty city plan", he once said: "Sima Yi is a person with a very heavy heart of doubt, Zhuge Liang obviously has no troops to defend the city, and Zhao Zilong cannot rush back for a while, Zhuge Liang fully grasped Sima Yi's psychological weakness and laid down the 'empty city plan'. The story of the 'empty city plan' can well inspire our ability to apply strategy and tactics in a concrete way. ”