Companies have groups of companies, families have groups of families, and those of us who write articles also have our own groups, but where there are groups, there will always be quarrels, which is also a common thing. However, a recent noise in the author group has aroused my interest. One of the authors questioned the other authors' "criticism of Liangshan Po's good men as law-abiding thieves", and he felt that if Liangshan Po's good men were not called heroes, then no one was more qualified.
However, it was quickly countered by several other authors, who gave a series of examples to show that liangshan Pohaohan did not do anything but to kill people and set fires, and stabbed knives in the back, where to call what loyalty and benevolence.
Since this is very interesting, "Water Margin" is one of the four classical masterpieces in China, and ordinary people are very familiar with it, not to mention these authors and teachers, and it is impossible to do things that are not understood but blindly understood. In fact, for a work such as "Water Margin", which belongs to the heroic legend, the conclusions on both sides are correct, that is, they are a group of heroes and good men, and they are also a group of thieves who kill people and set fires and advocate violence.
Isn't that a contradiction? Yes, it is very contradictory, this is because the reason why a good novel is excellent is that it will use a series of contradictions and irrationalities to expose the reality of feudal society, when we struggle with whether Liang Shanpo 108 will be a good man or a violent person, we may wish to think about it, in what context, violent elements will be revered as heroes and good men?
Of course, before discussing this issue, let's first take a look at how violent the liangshan good guys we thought were when we were children, after all, many people only stay on books and movies and TV series praising the 108 generals. "Water Margin" was originally named "The Legend of the Heroes of jianghu" by Shi Nai'an, and later renamed "Water Margin" at the suggestion of student Luo Guanzhong. Although it is not denied that the title of "Water Margin" is indeed much smarter than "The Legend of jianghu heroes", in terms of interpreting the content of the whole book, the four words of "jianghu hero" are the most appropriate and accurate.
And first of all, there is the word "jianghu".
Jianghu, what is Jianghu? Many people may answer Jin Yong's "where there are people, there are rivers and lakes", which is certainly not a satisfactory answer. In fact, the reason why the jianghu is called the jianghu is because in Chinese history, for a long time, the main places of activity of thieves and bandits were "rivers" and "lakes".
This is very easy to understand, in the era of farming, they are more afraid of the water thieves living on the rivers and lakes than the mountain thieves hiding in the jungle, whether they are ordinary people or the officers and soldiers of the government who hunt down traitors. Because even the most powerful mountain thief, as long as you have a large number of people, as long as you are willing to exert your strength, you are not afraid, and you can eliminate it. But once you get to the water, when you get to someone's boat, when you encounter a water thief, it is really called heaven and earth.
Just as the so-called black whirlwind (Li Kui) three-plate axe is invincible in the world, as long as you get on the boat, it is not the little white rabbit in the hands of the white stripe (Zhang Shun) in the waves, and if you want to pinch it, you will pinch it. Coupled with the abundance of aquatic products in the rivers and lakes, there is no problem with self-sufficiency, which has led to the "rivers and lakes" gathering three religions and nine streams over time, bandits, that is, wandering outside the mainstream society, and at the same time forming a lawless circle.
And "Water Margin" originally told the story of such a group of people, most of them are illiterate, have no king's law, and are even more homeless. For example, Zhu Wu, Yang Chun, and Chen Da, who blocked the road and robbed money in Shaohua Mountain; Li Zhong and Zhou Tong, who did illegal work in Taohua Mountain; Zhang Heng and Zhang Shun, who monopolized the aquatic products market in the Xunyang River; and Wang Lun, Song Wan, and Du Qian, who robbed their homes in Liangshan, and other elders of Liangshan Kaishan.
Don't you think that these people are doing a good job by dominating one side, is this telling Zhu Wu to herd sheep and AskIng Li Zhong to farm, or telling Zhang Shun to go fishing and Du Qian to raise pigs? Obviously not, they don't produce, they don't cultivate the land and livestock, and they have to feed a bunch of little brothers, so what they do is actually the fish and meat township, bullying the people, and plucking the hair of geese.
Jianghu is a place made up of thieves without law, and if you want to survive here, you can only see who has a hard fist and who is more fierce. So you must not think that the good people of Liangshan are just ordinary "robbing money and not hurting their lives", in order to survive they actually do everything. For example, in order to avenge Song Jiang, Li Kui cut off Huang Wenbing's thigh flesh piece by piece, and then cut open his chest to take out his heart and liver, and what was even more cruel was that these were just the dishes of the liangshan leaders, who while enjoying the pleasure of revenge, laughed and shaved human flesh alive, while also eating human flesh to point out the Jiangshan, what a horror this scene can be described.
The rest of the examples are not cited, compared to "Journey to the West" where the monster was rescued by the bodhisattva and left alive, "Water Margin" is full of violent worship everywhere. At this point, even the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which is based on the theme of war, is out of reach, and Quentin, who is known as the representative director of violent aesthetics, stands in front of Shi Nai'an, and his violent depiction is just a little brother.
Therefore, when Zhou Zuoren criticized "Water Margin", he said that it was a "book of killing", and he felt that the characters' outlook on life in this book was pathological and unhealthy. In fact, as long as people who are familiar with Water Margin should have no disapproval. But if this is the case, why will Liangshan Po 108 be called a hero? In the fish and meat village, they seek wealth and kill people, and they are deeply known by the people, so how can they win the name of a good man and a hero? Even the praises of the ages.
This is the second part: Heroes.
We must understand, why do the good men of Liangshan advocate violence? One of the most crucial words is called countering violence with violence, and behind the response to violence is the lack of law. During the feudal period in China, the combination of criminal law and civil law was a major feature, and there was almost no light punishment in the official government at that time, and indiscriminate torture became the norm. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a kind of criminal law called "killing the mighty stick", but all new people who were imprisoned had to receive a hundred killing sticks first, with the intention of killing your sharp qi and making it obedient.
Not only that, killing the stick has also become a common means of bribery for cell bosses, in "Water Margin", Song Jiang and Lin Chong both paid "regular money" to escape this hundred killing sticks. But if ordinary people are imprisoned for an incident, they can only send half a life. What's more, because the Northern Song Dynasty had a "prison space" system, local officials could use it to make a peaceful move, so they often secretly killed prisoners, tortured prisoners to death, and paved their own career paths with tired white bones. In the History of the Song Dynasty, there are:
The state and county officials were also adulterous, resulting in many deaths in prison.
It can be seen that the ruling class of the Northern Song Dynasty at that time knew about this situation, but did not stop it. Among the people who originally went to Liangshan, except for a few who were designed to lure Liangshan, the vast majority of them had to flee to Liangshan because they had committed a lawsuit, which also showed the lack of social law at that time, and even if it was justified, the Great Song Law, which had fairness and justice, was actually just another form of violence.
Therefore, when the common people find that the law cannot protect themselves, they have to use violence, and when their own violence is insufficient, those who have fallen into the grass and have completely ignored the government and the law have become the spokesmen for rebellion against the rule and the judicial violence. Not only that, the people themselves have to pay various taxes, which is actually a kind of "protection fee" paid to the Court of the Great Song Dynasty, and now that the money has been paid, it is not yet protected, and under consideration, the people are more willing to give the money to the thieves to seek stability, and even help themselves to fight violence with violence and seek fairness.
In this regard, Water Margin also has a lot of ink on the good men of Liangshan, such as "Lu Ti's jurisdiction to punch the town of Kansai", and then to "Wu Song Happy Forest Drunken Beating Jiang Men Shen", all of which belong to "a roar when the road is uneven", so another kind of justice that is detached from the law and subject to moral constraints has been formed, and such people are called "heroes".
At this point, the problem is solved, why Liangshan Po 108 will obviously be a violent gang, fighting and robbing houses, but can still be called a hero and a good man. Of course, it is not because Shi Nai'an wrote this as some authors say, because he advocated violence and advocated "lawlessness", which was essentially to satirize the lack of law in feudal society and wrap his own ruling violence with "divine kingship".
In other words, the reason why Shi Nai'an did his best to describe how the good men of Liangshan used torture while eating human flesh alive, the more he was a recollection of the laws of feudal society. Because of these indiscriminate violence, countless thieves who killed countless people were finally recruited. At the same time, it also reveals that the laws of feudal society are essentially to protect the interests of the aristocratic class, because when you are strong enough, all laws will be useless before you, and all evil deeds can be forgiven.
Instead of the good man of Liangshan breaking the law and committing the same crime as the common people.