A few days ago, when there was nothing to do, I took out Yao Xueyu's "Li Zicheng" and reread it.
This is a prestigious historical novel that once had a huge and widespread impact. However, over the years, many readers and critics have said that this novel is not well written, such as the deliberate elevation of the peasant uprising, the modern language of the characters and so on - I read the first three volumes of this book 30 years ago, I think it is still quite good, at least the story is very good, so that I was young and did not understand history at that time to read it, and feel empathy with it, sing and cry. As a historical novel, the main historical facts are clear and accurate, and the character portrayal is also vivid and vivid, which is stronger than many historical novels and historical dramas now.
However, at that time, I was a very unconfident person. Since everyone says it's not good, I don't dare to say that I look good, I don't dare to say that I like it - doesn't it seem that my level of appreciation is too poor, too independent thinking, and only superstitious about the official statement?
However, I still like this novel in my heart, so at the end of the last century, after the five volumes of "Li Zicheng" came out, I bought a full set of novels (because I had an old version of the third volume, I did not buy another) novel, which became one of the classic novels in my bookcase, and I would often re-read it in my spare time, and every time I reread it, I would have new feelings and understandings.
In the past few days, I have read that Li Zichengbing came to beijing, and Chongzhen was trapped in an isolated city, struggling helplessly in every way, and finally committing suicide in despair. Faced with an irreparable situation and a situation in which people's hearts are scattered, Chongzhen is extremely angry and unwilling. He felt that he was a good emperor, and for seventeen years, he had worked diligently and never slackened his government in the slightest. He was so good and capable, he actually suffered the tragic pain of the subjugation of the country, in addition to the bad fate, except for the bad country left by his father and brother, it was all the subordinates who misled the country -- he felt particularly aggrieved and angry. For example, originally, after Li Zicheng's army entered Shanxi, some people suggested that the emperor go to Nanjing, but many ministers opposed it, but the result was not successful; Li Zicheng attacked Jiayuguan, some people suggested going to Tianjin and taking the sea route to Nanjing, or some people opposed the failure. Empress Zhou was in the deep palace, and they all understood the situation and tried to mention it to him, but he severely stopped her -- she would never allow the harem to interfere in politics. At this time, he regretted it, regretted how he did not leave Beijing earlier, but everything was irretrievable. Until his death, he was still angry, it was all the fault of the ministers, it was their obstruction, so that he had no way out, only to die and be martyred.
This description is not only shaped by the author, but also by the real history. Chongzhen did not think that he had the slightest fault until his death, and all of them were wrong by the people. The novel truly and vividly portrays Chongzhen's personality psychology, and also writes a profound human nature.
As a reader, I can see that Chongzhen is not a puppet of great power, he was emperor for 17 years, basically "deciding from the heart". As long as he makes up his mind, how many people still oppose it? Basically, it is what you want to do, and you can kill whoever you want. During Chongzhen's 17-year reign, he successively changed 14 Bingbu Shangshu, and these Bingbu Shangshu were either imprisoned or directly killed by himself, or killed by his opponents Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, or the Qing army outside Guanwai, or they committed suicide in defeat, and almost none of them died well.
Chongzhen was mean and suspicious of his subordinates, and his diligence could not offset the serious mistakes of employing people and government, and he was actually not wronged at all when he became the king of the subjugated country. But he himself doesn't think so, this is Chongzhen's problem, and it is also the human nature that can be seen everywhere around us--we are all used to prevarication. When I was hospitalized, a drip nurse gave me three injections, and they said that my blood vessels were not good. As a patient, I dare not squeak, the heart said why don't you say that your needle technology is not high? As a teacher, I often hear teachers complain that the students in my class do not perform well because the students are not good and the class is not good. I am the director of teaching, don't worry about the teachers being unhappy, usually say to them directly, don't you all feel that you are a good teacher? What kind of class is a good teacher, what students can teach well, good class good students themselves are good, but also use you to teach ah...
"Li Zicheng" has many wonderful chapters and touching passages. For example, Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng, the people in the city were starved to death, and finally Kaifeng was flooded, the novel focuses on the Xiucai Zhang Cunren family, they are not poor people, even if they are well-off families, but in this disaster, the whole family died tragically, none of them survived, this tragedy is particularly moving and profound.
It is to treat the protagonist Li Zicheng, who the author appreciates and likes, and the novel from the third volume, exposes many of his weaknesses and does not blindly praise. For example, li zicheng killed Li Yan on the way out of Beijing, which was his serious mistake. I have read other literary and historical works, and most of them blame The Bull Venus, believing that he was jealous of Li Yan and encouraged and indulged Li Zicheng to self-destruct the Great Wall. But "Li Zicheng" is not covering up for him, directly blaming the main responsibility on Li Zicheng's suspicions, niu Jinxing's problem is just that there is no strong advice (in fact, the advice is not useful, Li Zicheng was already an emperor at that time, and he did not want to kill anyone to kill whom).
Re-reading "Li Zicheng", I finally dare to say that I like it, it is really beautiful, it is worth our repeated reading. Yes, I have no doubt that it still deserves the praise and accolades it receives, and is one of the finest historical novels of our time.......