Comparing the official history and the romance, the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" takes Cao Cao as orthodox; although the "Zizhi Tongjian" does not recognize Cao Wei as orthodox, it still uses Cao Wei's year name to record the year, while "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" adopts the position of respecting Liu and belittling Cao, how is this formed?
Chen Shou was angry with Cao Cao
It should be said that the tradition of respecting Liu and degrading Cao is not only the result of the spread of the people of the Three Kingdoms.
A short-lived and weak dynasty incapable of shaping a unified historical memory. When Chen Shou wrote "Three Kingdoms", he was already angry with Cao Cao. First, he himself had little affection for Cao Cao, and second, the political environment at the time did not want him to portray Cao Cao too positively. The throne of the Sima family was taken from the hands of the Cao family, so Cao Wei must have legitimacy, and the Sima family has legitimacy, so it should be positive for Cao Cao in general, but if Cao Cao is too good, it seems that the Sima family's seizure of power is unreasonable, so don't make him too glorious and correct.
The most obvious point is that "Three Kingdoms" wrote about Cao Cao's birth, but it didn't write any miracles.
There is a routine in the official history to write the birth of the founding emperor.
"Historical Records" and "Book of Han" wrote that Liu Bang was born, saying that his mother "dreamed and met God", Liu Bang looked different, especially on his left leg, there were no more than seventy-two black moles, and I don't know who counted them.
"Old Tang Book" wrote that Li Shimin was born, saying that at the door of the delivery room, two dragons appeared and flew away after playing for three days.
"History of the Song Dynasty" wrote that Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, was born, saying that the house was full of red light at that time, and the fragrance was fragrant, and Zhao Kuangyin was born golden, which has to be said to have a basis, that is, neonatal jaundice is particularly serious, anyway, it is unusual.
Even if it is Sun Quan, in the history books written by the Dongwu people themselves, there are records of how their Sun family's ancestral tomb shines. There is also Sun Quan's mother who dreamed that the moon fell into her stomach, and then gave birth to Sun Ce, and later dreamed that the sun fell into her stomach, which gave birth to Sun Quan.
But "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" writes about Cao Cao, there is nothing, he is often born in peace, and there is a sentence that leads people to reverie, Cao Cao's father Cao Song, "I can't judge his birth from the end".
Writing this way may be a real record, but it is obviously not a routine for shaping correct historical memory.
Also, at the end of "Emperor Wu Ji", there is a comment on Cao Cao, praising Cao Cao's talent, and concluding that "only his clarity is the best".
The most hateful thing is the word "only it", as if to say that Cao Cao's success is because of the most clever strategy, which is neither popular nor has anything to do with the destiny of heaven.
Nor is this the normal way to portray a great emperor. In fact, most of the official histories don't like to exaggerate the talents of great emperors, and the more correct narrative mode is: the great founding king's destiny belongs to the people, and all kinds of talents are willing to be used by him. If he relies too much on his personal talents, he is not considered a merit, and the king of the dead country is talented. At the beginning of "Zizhi Tongjian", Sima Guang made a discussion on what is a gentleman and what is a villain, Sima Guang's definition of "villain" is different from the general understanding, emphasizing that there is talent but no virtue, in fact, the meaning is closer to "traitor", Sima Guang also said that villains are "loved by people", so to speak, the so-called villain, is like Yi Zhongtian's "lovely traitorous male".
Smearing Cao Cao was essentially allowed to a certain extent after the Sima family took power. Cao Cao is indeed more brutal, and he has done a lot of things that are not bound by etiquette and ethics, and he has offended all aspects. If you want to say bad things about Cao Cao, you don't have to worry about the lack of black materials.
There is also a particularly unfavorable thing for Cao Cao: when Cao Cao was young, he was a little child-like, and sometimes he was more idealistic and innocent than ordinary people. Therefore, when Cao Cao was young, he often trusted others too much, and was stabbed in the back by the person he trusted the most several times. But Cao Cao in his later years was moody, very suspicious, and would kill people as soon as he was suspicious.
The problem is that most of the people who are familiar with the gullible and frank young Cao Cao have passed away before Cao Cao, and after Cao Cao's death, those who can write down their impressions of Cao Cao must have more contact with Cao Cao in his later years. Therefore, Cao Cao's suspicious image is naturally much more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people than Cao Cao's credulous image.
Liu Bei's image
And Liu Bei is different.
First, Liu Bei has a talent for likability, that is, all kinds of people, etc., many of them just chat with him, and they don't make much sense, so they like him.
Second, Liu Bei is indeed more benevolent. Of course, in the midst of a brutal political struggle, it is impossible to say that you have not done a single dirty thing. However, the most important point is that Liu Bei has never slaughtered the city.
Cao Cao often slaughtered the city, Sun Quan also slaughtered the city, and Liu Bei did not have a record of slaughtering the city. At that time, if there was a culture of attacking each other, it was unlikely that it would not have been recorded, so it should not have been true.
Put yourself in your shoes: As a small common man, how do you high-level struggle, did you use any despicable and shameless means, and what did it matter to me? At that time, the warlords were all murderous without blinking, and I lived in this city, and Liu Bei did not slaughter the city when he came, this is the living Bodhisattva.
This is the mass foundation and factual basis for Liu Bei to be constantly beautified.
Third, Cao Cao did not object to people saying good things about Liu Bei.
Cao Cao himself admires Liu Bei more, but he is the kind of person who has a strong sense of psychological superiority, in this case, he is not taboo for people to say that Liu Bei is good.
Fourth, there are many people who hate Cao Cao, and Liu Bei is Cao Cao's opponent who is recognized by public opinion and recognized by Cao Cao. So in order to discredit Cao Cao, some people have to praise Liu Bei.
There is a particularly interesting example, there was a man named Zhang Fu in the Jin Dynasty, who wrote an article saying:
The world saw that Emperor Wei Wu had Middle Earth, and it was not said that he was victorious over Liu Xuande, and the rest was victorious against Xuande. The world thought that Xuande was attacked by Lu Bu, and Emperor Wu left, and raised an army to the east, but was overthrown by Lu Xun. Xuande was also based on Xuzhou, the situation was not compatible, in Jingzhou, Uncle Jing and his son could not use their tactics, and moved to Wei, and their men rode on foot, less than thousands, and were taken by Emperor Wu's public, and if Emperor Wu was killed by Lu Bu's north, the urgency of the fire was also; it was overturned by Lu Xun, and Emperor Wu was trapped by Zhang Xiu, so he fled and lost his two sons...... ("The Merits of Baume & Mercier")
The gist is: Some people think that Cao Cao can occupy the Central Plains, so he is better than Liu Bei, but I don't think so. Some people say that Liu Bei has lost many battles, but in my opinion, Cao Cao's defeats, one, two, three, should be blackened and bolded. He reported the defeat that Liu Bei had fought, and then reported the defeat of Cao Cao, and then asked, do you say, is Cao Cao more miserable?
Liu Beiquan knows this argument, and he will probably feel uncomfortable listening to it, are we worse than rotten?
So most of the historical materials that we can read today that are beneficial to Liu Bei were left by people on Cao Wei's territory.
It is precisely because of such a social atmosphere that when Chen Shou wrote "Three Kingdoms", he certainly wanted to respect Cao Cao as orthodox, and it was not impossible to praise Liu Bei.
In the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", Cao Cao is called "Emperor Wu Ji", the original record of Emperor Wu of Wei State, Cao Cao did not become an emperor but was treated as an emperor; But the whole "Biography of the First Lord", all the way down from the first lord and the first lord, the voice is earnest, which is implied with deep affection. This is compared with Sun Quan's "Biography of Lord Wu", the difference is particularly obvious, as soon as it comes up, "Sun Quan's character Zhongmou" is called by his name, and then it is only called "Quan", without any respect.
Therefore, there are those who belittle Liu Bei, but Liu Bei has always had no shortage of positive comments. Then when it came to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, some people wanted to raise Liu Bei to orthodoxy. Because the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Liu Bei's Shu Han have similarities, they are both legitimately bloodlined, but they have lost the traditional core of the Central Plains. Later, the Southern Song Dynasty was the same, so when Zhu Xi told people about "Zizhi Tongjian", he also changed to the era name of Shu Han, instead of using the era name of Cao Wei like Sima Guang.
In short, the popularity of Liu Bei, or the entire Liu Bei camp, far surpassed Cao Cao very early.
Liu Bei was regarded as the representative of the King of Benevolence and Virtue.
Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang
Then Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are the representatives of the fierce generals. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, praising the bravery of the generals, they liked to say "Guan Zhang's bravery", you were as fierce as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Although Guan Yu and Zhang Fei have no deeds in "Three Kingdoms", their popularity is incomparable to Cao Wei's generals. This is called word of mouth.
Zhuge Liang is not to mention, a representative of loyal ministers and good ministers. In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Chen Shou praised Zhuge Liang for his firepower being fierce enough, just because he said that the use of soldiers may not be Zhuge Liang's strength, I don't know how much criticism he has received.
In this situation where Liu Bei's group won in popularity, the Song Dynasty was basically finalized. Su Dongpo quoted such an article:
The children in Tu Lane are inferior, and their families are tired of hardship, and they are tired of money, so that they can sit together and hear ancient sayings. When it comes to the affairs of the Three Kingdoms, when he hears that Liu Xuande is defeated, there are those who are sobbing when he hears that Cao Cao is defeated, and he sings happily. I think I know the gentleman and the villain, and I will not cut it for a hundred years. ("Dongpo Zhilin")
There is a bear child at home, and the parents are annoyed, so they give him two dollars and let him listen to the story. Telling the story of the Three Kingdoms, when I heard that Liu Bei was defeated, the child frowned and cried, and when I heard that Cao Cao was defeated, I was very happy. It can be seen that the gentleman is a villain, and how many generations later, people still remember.
This description is obviously not an isolated example, but reflects a social atmosphere. There may be controversy about the evaluation of Liu Bei and Cao Cao by literati doctors, but the people just like Liu Bei.
In the Yuan Dynasty, there were many works on the theme of the Three Kingdoms. What you can still read today is a "Quanxiang Three Kingdoms Zhiping Words", and many miscellaneous dramas.
The so-called "plain talk" is generally understood to be the base book used by the storyteller, who only speaks but does not sing, or even tells the story with commentary. and later commentaries, it is in the same vein.
As for the miscellaneous plays, they were performed on the stage. A play cannot fully express the history of the Three Kingdoms, and can only act out a certain story of the Three Kingdoms, and the result is that the repertoire about Liu Bei Group accounts for the vast majority of the Three Kingdoms opera. Among the Yuan miscellaneous dramas, there are 21 complete Three Kingdoms operas, of which 18 are mainly based on Liu Bei's group, and Cao Cao can only appear as a foil or villain. The remaining three, one about Lu Bu and Diao Chan, one about Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao, and one about "Drunk Homesick Wang Cang Denglou", which belongs to the original plot with a big brain.
In addition, there are dozens of miscellaneous dramas with the theme of the Three Kingdoms that are incomplete or lost but still exist, and Liu Bei Group is absolutely dominant.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is generally said to be a work of the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, which is the folk literary tradition that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" had to face when it was born.
Therefore, if you watched "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and you didn't take it very seriously, you didn't pay attention to the things in those words, and then you watched "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" directly, you feel that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" really belittles Cao Cao and elevates Liu Bei. But if you read these folk literature and then watch "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", you will feel that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is quite restrained, and it is a bit like wanting to correct Cao Cao's name.
• (This article is the author's personal opinion and does not represent the position of this newspaper)
Liu Bo
Editor-in-charge: Chen Bin