As a historical figure, Guan Yu's Biography is only more than 900 words in the official history "Three Kingdoms", and the evaluation is not high. But thousands of years later, Guan Yu was able to overwhelm the crowd and was promoted to the god of the entire Chinese nation to "protect the country and protect the people". "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Guan Yu" begins with a description of Guan Yu as "an outlaw who went to Zhuo County", and "outlaw" is generally believed to be a murder case, so there are many folk legends in Guan Yu's hometown of Jiezhou, Shanxi. Guan Yu met Liu Bei and Zhang Fei in Zhuozhou, when Liu Bei was recruiting people in the township to fight against the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei served as their military generals. Liu Bei was appointed as the minister of Pingyuan (now Pingyuan County, Shandong) because of his meritorious service in quelling the chaos, and appointed Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as the Sima of other departments. But Guan and Zhang followed Liu Bei, and their attitude was always very respectful. In the difficult years of displacement in the future, they did not avoid hardships and dangers, and consistently followed Liu Bei. Later, after attacking and killing Xuzhou Assassin Shi Che Guan, Liu Bei sent Guan Yu as the main general to defend Xia Picheng (now east of Pi County, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu), and concurrently served as the Taishou, while he himself took refuge in Xiaopei (now Pi County, Jiangsu), which shows Liu Bei's trust in Guan Yu.
Shanxi Yuncheng Jiezhou was built in the Ming Dynasty Guandi Temple Jieyi Garden Wooden Workshop
In the first year of Jian'an (196 AD), Cao Cao moved Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to Xuxian County (now Xuchangdong, Henan), and began to "coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes", and then Tuntian accumulated valleys to accumulate military resources. In the fifth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao killed Dong Cheng and began the eastward expedition against Lü Bu. Liu Bei was weak and had to defect to Yuan Shao. Cao Cao captured Guan Yu in Xiapi, brought him back to Xuchang, worshiped him as a partial general, and treated him very politely. In Yuan and Cao's famous "Battle of Guandu", Cao Cao ordered Zhang Liao and Guan Yu to go into battle as the vanguard. Guan Yu rushed into the Yuan army's formation, stabbed Yan Liang to death, and returned to Cao's camp by the saddle, while no one in the Yuan Shao's array could stop Guan Yu, so he relieved the siege of the white horse. Cao Cao immediately sealed Guan Yu as the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion. Cao Cao valued Guan Yu very much, and sent Zhang Liao to ask Guan Yu, Guan Yu sighed: "I do know that Cao Gong treats me well, but I am deeply favored by General Liu, and I vow to die together, and I must not turn my back on my old master." After all, I won't stay here for long, I will only leave here after I have made meritorious contributions to Cao Gong's kindness. After Zhang Liao told Cao Cao, Cao Cao greatly admired Guan Yu's righteous deeds. Guan Yu sealed all the rewards in the past, left a book to say goodbye, and defected to Liu Bei.
Hanshou Pavilion Marquis
"Hanshou" is the place name, and "Tinghou" is the name of the knight. The Han system is divided into several grades, the great ones eat the county, and the small ones eat the township and the pavilion. In the later period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the titles of county marquis, township marquis, and pavilion marquis were added.
After Guan Yu defected to Liu Bei, he followed Liu Bei to Liu Biao. After Liu Biao's death, Cao Cao settled in Jingzhou in the south, and before Liu Bei crossed the Yangtze River from Fancheng to the south, he sent Guan Yu hundreds of ships to meet Jiangling (now Jingzhou City, Hubei). Liu Bei set Yizhou (most of present-day southwest China) in the west, and entrusted Guan Yu with full authority for the affairs of Jingzhou. In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219 AD), Liu Bei ascended the throne of Hanzhong, worshiped Guan Yu as the former general, and faked the festival. In this year, Guan Yu led the crowd to attack Cao Ren in Fancheng, Cao Cao sent Yu Ban to the rescue, but the Han water soared, Yu Ban led the seven armies to sink into the water, and Yu Ban also surrendered to Guan Yu, and Guan Yu killed the general Pang De.
Guan Yu's Northern Expedition was a great shock, so Cao Cao proposed to move the capital from Xudu (now Xuchang City, Henan) to avoid its sharpness. However, Sima Yi and Jiang Ji thought that Guan Yu's ambition would not be what Sun Quan wanted, and they could send an envoy to persuade Sun Quan to attack Guan Yu behind his back, and Cao Cao agreed with this proposal. After Guan Yu sent troops to the Northern Expedition, Mi Fang and Fu Shiren were afraid of Guan Yu's punishment because they were often in arrears in supplying military funds. So Sun Quan privately sent someone to contact the two people, and it happened that Cao Cao sent Xu Huang to rescue Cao Ren at that time. Guan Yu was unable to defeat Xu Huang, so he had to lead his army back, and at that time Sun Quan had already occupied Jiangling, and Guan Yu's troops were scattered. In the winter of December, Sun Quan sent his troops to meet Guan Yu and behead Guan Yu and his son Guan Ping in Linfang.
According to legend, the Baling Bridge in Xuchang, Henan Province is the place where Guan Gong picked up his robe to bid farewell to Cao Cao
The evaluation of Guan Yu in later generations has had a tortuous process of "positive and negative". "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei" commented: "Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are both called the enemies of ten thousand people and are the tigers of the world. Yu reported to Cao Gong, Feiyi explained Yan Yan, and had the style of a countryman. Ran Yu is rigid and self-conscious, violent and ungraceful, defeating with shortness, and rational numbers are often also. In the biographies of "Book of Wei" and "Book of Wu", praise words such as Guan Yu's "Brave Champion Three Armies" have repeatedly appeared. Wang Wushan of the Qing Dynasty inscribed the couplet of Guan Wang Temple in Sunjiadian, Linzi, Shandong: "The historian proposed to say 'Jin', which is wrong!" Regard the people of Wu and Wei as nothing; Later generations will be revered as emperors, dare? On the righteousness of "Spring and Autumn", it is still Hanchen. Liang Zhuotao's inscription on the Emperor Guan of Changsha Guangfu Nunnery said: "In his life, he swore to kill the country for Emperor Zhaolie, although he was arrogant and brave; Today's competition with King Wenxuan is the sign of heroes and sages. "Clearly put forward the refutation of Chen Shouding's comments. When it was time to compile the "Siku Quanshu", Emperor Qianlong changed the nickname of "Marquis of Zhuang Miao" given to Guan Yu by Liu Chan to "Marquis of Loyalty and Righteousness", severely criticized Chen Shou for being unfair in his history, and added his own understanding to the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms".
Chen Shou
Chen Shou (233-297 AD) was a historian of the Western Jin Dynasty and a native of Anhan, Brazil (now Nanchong, Sichuan). He began writing the Romance of the Three Kingdoms at the age of forty-eight, which took him 10 years to complete.