The Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong of the Ming Dynasty is one of the four great works of China, and is not only well known for its adaptations into many anime, games and drama programs in contemporary times, but even Nurhaci, the founder of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, claims that he learned many war strategies from it.
However, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not a canonical history, and many modern people should agree that even if the so-called canonical history is read, it only needs to be regarded as a reference and does not have to be fully accepted. The most important thing when reading history is to be able to hone the ability to judge and speculate on world events, so as to correct their own untimely concepts or mentalities in a timely manner.
Although history is a past tense that cannot be changed, it can inspire us to write down the present tense that will help the future development and create the future tense that is expected to be realized.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is wonderful, but after all, the Three Kingdoms era is more than a thousand years away from Luo Guanzhong, and we are six or seven hundred years away from Luo Guanzhong, so we still have a lot of space to re-examine the history of the Three Kingdoms and think about different issues related to "Three Kingdoms Literature".
There are many ways to understand the situation in the Three Kingdoms era, but following the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", starting from the "Yellow Turban Rebellion" at the end of the Han Dynasty, may be the best way to understand the context of the development of the Three Kingdoms. Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion was a revolution initiated by the Taiping Taoist Advocates, there are inevitably some elements of mysticism, such as the ritual of painting spells, exhorting people to repent, and curing people's diseases; therefore, it is probably credible to describe the "Yellow Turban Rebellion" and the "Taiping Rebellion of heaven" in the late Qing Dynasty, which is based on religion.
However, it is not necessary to say that such insurrections are purely the blind agitation of the peasants, so it is difficult to achieve in the end, and it may not be the case. In fact, just over a decade before the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Han Dynasty had two party disasters, and the so-called Qing school (that is, Confucian idealists) that were suppressed at that time were blacklisted by the imperial court authorities, so many intellectuals had to start living a secluded life, and when the "Yellow Turban Uprising" triggered a wave, they were likely to join the revolutionary ranks of "the sky is dead and the yellow sky is standing".
However, the leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Zhang Jiao, later fell ill and died (probably infected with the epidemic), and the successor did not have his star charm, coupled with the fact that the imperial court let some Confucian bureaucrats with a rather leadership temperament take the lead in quelling the chaos, so the rebellion was suppressed.
So, why didn't the Yellow Turban Rebellion succeed? The bad luck of the rebels and the loss of their leaders may be one, but the Confucian knowledge bureaucracy is still inclined to support the Han Dynasty, which is also an important factor.
Why would the Confucian intellectual bureaucracy be so "reluctant" to turn its back on the Han Dynasty?
There is a very important factor naturally Confucian education of students to emphasize the "way of the king", for the people and the subjects think that they do their best to assist the king, the achievement of the imperial industry is the duty of Confucianism, in this case, the "blood of the emperor's family" will naturally become an important force for the stability of the empire, and the "foreign relatives and ministers' family" will also be guaranteed accordingly, after all, as long as the emperor's family is still there, the privileges of the minister's family will also be guaranteed. In this way, it is natural for monarchs and subjects to cooperate for the common good, and even the more peripheral Confucian bureaucrats who have the opportunity to take power do not dare to leave easily.
After all, confucianism naturally became a religion of "managers" after it became "Orthodox" during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and "Confucian managers" had to be in "large government agencies" to exert their administrative and deliberative talents. If it is easy to "depose" an unsuitable monarch, and only one person can become a "new emperor," if the remaining "Confucian managers" cannot be pleased with the new emperor, their personal future will remain uncertain. In this case, even if the monarch is not suitable for office, as long as it does not hinder the operation of the government too much, most "Confucian managers" will still choose to continue to rule with the king. At this time, some people intend to "usurp" the emperor's family property, but instead they will become a felony of the Confucian intellectual masses, and they should jointly condemn it.
On the other hand, the relationship between the emperor who sits on the throne because of his bloodline and the "eunuch clique" is already easy to form a "mutually dependent" relationship, so neither for the Confucians of the Qing or Turbid schools, they do not want the "eunuch clique" to be too powerful. However, the empresses of the Eastern Han Dynasty were mostly elected by the "foreign relatives and Confucian cliques," and if the emperor hoped that the imperial family could have greater power, he would naturally prefer the "eunuch clique" to seek cooperation.
In this case, the reputation of the eunuch clique in the Confucian intellectual circle was naturally not too good, and in this case, the emperor who was not willing to be held hostage by the ministers was often closer to the eunuch clique.
However, this kind of mutual confrontation between the powerful people has been going on for a long time, the imperial structure is inevitably damaged, and when the Yellow Turban Army revolts, the heroes who appear on the scene inevitably have their own plans, and they cannot work together and work together.
However, how to deal with the "disintegrating" Han Empire in the end? Do you want to restore, rebuild, or start another one? Most people seem to be able to choose between "war" and "peace", taking one step at a time, and failing to make more plans for the future of the world.
On the other hand, as analyzed earlier, due to the influence of Confucianism, "preserving the Liu family royal family" has still become one of the important strategies for many people. Because of this, Cao Cao, who began to emerge in the Yingchuan area due to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, did not dare to claim the title of emperor even though he later had strong political and military strength, and he also married his daughter to Emperor Xian and became a foreign relative of the Han Dynasty.
From this point of view, Cao Cao was indeed quite jealous of the influence of the Confucian literati circle. On the other hand, because Cao Cao's father Cao Song was the adopted son of the eunuch Cao Teng, his family's relationship with the eunuch clique was also very close. This makes his identity particularly contradictory and complicated. To some extent, he seems to be involved with all the forces, but he cannot get the real recognition and trust of any of the forces.
Why did Zhuge Liang not turn to Cao Cao and Sun Quan, but chose Liu Bei instead?
This may be what Zhuge Liang told Liu Bei in "Longzhong Pair": "Cao Cao is weaker than Yuan Shao, and his name is small and widowed. However, if you can do it, you can take the weak as the strong, not only in heaven, but also in the world. Now that he has a million people, he has commanded the princes of the Son of Heaven, and this sincerity must not be contested. Compared with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao's origin is actually very bad, he can defeat Yuan Shao who is born well by not only occupying the heavens, but also his planning ability is also very strong, so he can become the hegemon of one side, and now that the Son of Heaven is in his hands, it is really not appropriate to contend with him."
Of course, the above statement comes from the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" compiled by Chen Shou, and later cited in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and is known to people. Regardless of the veracity of this passage, it seems to point out the situation before the Battle of Chibi - Cao Cao had both ambition and strength, but he was not pleased by the Confucians and celebrities of the "Qing School".
To put it simply, although Cao Cao was eager to get the support of the Confucian scribe circle, his many deeds made the scribe circle unable to trust him, so many people were reluctant to belong to him.
This sentence can also be seen as Zhuge Liang's intention to Liu Bei: although Cao Cao was in power for a while, he did not want and would not serve Cao Cao.
So, what about Sun Quan? In "Longzhong Pair". Zhuge Liang said this:
"Sun Quan owns Jiangdong, has been in the past three generations, the country is dangerous and the people are attached, and the meritocracy can be used for it, which can be used for help and cannot be tried."
Here, Zhuge Liang's meaning is also very clear, the Sun family has been operating in Jiangdong for a period of time, cultivating and appointing many talented talents, the people's hearts are attached and the terrain is dangerous, so this place can be used as foreign aid, but it is not an area that can be sought. ”
In this passage, Zhuge Liang's meaning is more ambiguous... According to Jiangdong, Sun Quan seems to be a wise lord, so why does Zhuge Liang not turn to him?
On this point, perhaps we can refer to the beginning and end of the Sun family's business in Jiangdong and then make a judgment.
In the "Longzhong Pair", Zhuge Liang said that "Sun Quan owns Jiangdong and has been in the third generation", and the so-called "third generation" should refer to the Sun family's operation in the Jiangdong area from Sun Quan's father Sun Jian. Although Sun Jian claimed to have helped Wu destroy Chu in the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period and worshiped the general with the art of war, and was a descendant of "Sun Wu", the author of the "Art of War of Sun Tzu", many descendants doubted the authenticity of this statement.
However, Sun Jian did have a lot of military courage since he was a teenager, and because of his meritorious service against the pirates, he was appointed as a "false lieutenant" by the local Taishou, acting as a county lieutenant, responsible for public security, and later assisted the imperial court and quelled riots in many places.
When the "Yellow Turban Rebellion" broke out, Sun Jian was instrumental in his efforts to help suppress it, and won the reputation of a "famous general" for several "prescient" suggestions, and later became famous for successfully recovering Luoyang and driving Dong Zhuo to Chang'an. Although Sun Jian was not a descendant of Sun Wu, he seemed to be quite interested in the "Art of War of Sun Tzu" and was familiar with the "Way of Using Soldiers".
However, although Sun Jian made great contributions to the imperial court, the Kwantung Coalition army began to stir up fire within, and Sun Jian was also shot by Liu Biao's general Huang Zu in the south of Xiangyang when he attacked Liu Biao in Jingzhou, and finally Chinese New Year's Eve seven years old. After Sun Jian's death, the seventeen-year-old eldest son, Sun Ce, crossed the river to live in Jiangdu and made friends with heroes, including Zhou Yu, a Shu person who was the same age as him.
Because of Zhou Yu's persuasion, Sun Ce moved his family to Shucheng (in present-day Anhui), gathered the people of Jiangsu and Huaijian, and gradually formed a political clique, and later, he took back a part of his father's old department from Yuan Shu and moved to Jiangdu to further open up the political arena of the Sun family. However, although Sun Ce was as strong as Sun Jian and was a constant victor on the battlefield, he also formed a grudge with people because of this, and he liked to go out on patrol alone, and finally failed to dodge the dark gun, and died at the age of twenty-six.
When the nineteen-year-old Sun Quan took over the family business from his brother, he was quite cautious and not only tried his best to retain the important generals who had befriended Sun Ce before his death, but also deliberately sought talent, so he recruited several famous scholars, such as Lu Su, Zhuge Jin, and Lü Meng, so that Jiangdong became a region that Zhuge Liang said was "foreign aid and no plot".
Judging from this account, Zhuge Liang's commentary on Sun Wu's regime in "Longzhong Pair" is not only "review" but also "consultation"—he believes that Liu Bei, who has no base, should not "Xiao wants" to take Jiangdong, but can cooperate with it.
Of course, here Zhuge Liang actually showed his heart to Liu Bei, although Sun Quan was the Lord of Ming, he had no intention of defecting to Eastern Wu, why was this?
Perhaps we can understand the situation of Sun Wu again, so that We can understand why Zhuge Liang is willing to offer advice to Liu Bei and promote cooperation between Liu Bei and Sun Quan, but he is not willing to develop in Eastern Wu.
As mentioned earlier, the Sun family has always been quite courteous to talents, so there have always been many sayings that Zhuge Liang did not want to go to Eastern Wu, because there were many talents there, and it was difficult for him to emerge. Of course, this is probably one of the reasons, but there is also a view that is also worth referencing, that is, Zhuge Liang really wanted to "restore" or at least "rebuild" the Han Empire, while Sun Wu's regime believed that "the Han Room cannot be revived and Cao Cao cannot be eliminated" because of Lu Su's advice to Sun Quan.
Here we can see what Lu Su and Zhuge Liang have in common, although they both believe that Cao Cao's power is too great to remove, but they are also reluctant to serve Cao Cao.
However, Lu Su believed that the "Han Empire" had become a thing of the past, and Sun Quan should "go to the extreme of the Yangtze River" and "build the cause of the Emperor Gao", but Zhuge Liang believed that "Liu Bei" was "after the Liu family" and "faith and righteousness were in the four seas, the hero of the overview, and the thirst for wisdom", as long as the strategy was appropriate, there was hope for the revival of the Han Empire.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang did not casually offer advice to Liu Bei, and before he met Liu Bei, he had actually thought of a countermeasure for Liu Bei to "revive" the Han Empire and asked Liu Bei to evaluate. As long as Liu Bei agreed to this strategy, he was willing to go out of the mountains to serve Liu Bei.
Of course, as posterity, we all know that although Zhuge Liang's plan was initially considered a success, it later failed. After the "Battle of Chibi", as Zhuge Liang expected, the trend of "three divisions of the world" was formed, but why did Zhuge Liang ultimately fail to assist Liu Bei in successfully reviving the Han Empire?