The sentence "Adulterous male of the chaotic world, capable of ruling the world", this sentence seems to have become Cao Cao's conclusive conclusion, especially the section "Mistakenly Killing Lü Bohao" in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is the biggest excuse for Cao Cao's "adultery".
However, in history, the Lü Bohao family, as Luo Guanzhong said in the novel, was just killing pigs for entertainment, but was misunderstood by Cao Cao and was exterminated by the family? Regarding this section, the history books have always recorded differently, and more historians have bluntly said: Just killing pigs? In fact, he wanted to kill Cao Cao! The death of Lü Bohao's family is not unjust!
I. The Western Jin Dynasty King Shen's "Book of Wei": Lü Bohao's family died unjustly!
In the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the most authoritative historical book that records the history of the Three Kingdoms, there is no record of Lü Bohao, and we look through the history books and find that the earliest record of Lü Bohao is in the "Book of Wei" by the Western Jin Dynasty historian Wang Shen.
The Book of Wei records that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very different, saying that the truth about Cao Cao's killing of Lü Bohao's family is: "Taizu rode the deceased into the old man Lü Bohao from a number; in the absence of Bo Hao, his son and his guests robbed Taizu, took horses and objects, and Taizu killed several people with his blade." ”
The vernacular translation is: Cao Cao passed by Lü Bohao's house, Bo Hao was not there, his son and his disciples wanted to rob Cao Cao's horses and belongings, and Cao Cao killed several people in a row in order to defend himself.
Look, what the editor's title says is not false, right? According to this historical record, not only did Lü Bohao's family die unjustly, but Cao Cao was not as suspicious and cruel as stated in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and after discovering that he had killed a good person by mistake, he also killed Lü Bohao.
Wang Shen was in the same era as Chen Shou, the author of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but he was older than Chen Shou, and the book of Wei was written earlier than the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so is Wang Shen's record really credible?
A lot of people don't think so. Wang Shen, a native of Jinyang, Shanxi, only entered the career after his parents died at an early age and was recruited as a subordinate by the general Cao Shuang.
So who is Cao Shuang? Cao Cao's adopted son Cao Zhen's son, Cao Cao's grandson! As a vassal of the Western Jin Dynasty, Wang Shen was directly promoted by the grandson of the people, and as a historian, he had Sima Qian's spirit of governing history and was just and upright. Dare to speak out about the dynasty?
The answer may be no. The Wang Shen recorded in history is not only not just and righteous, but even a villain who sells the lord and seeks glory. After Cao Zhen's death, Wang Shen was favored by Cao Xian, who was bullied and humiliated by Sima Zhao too much and wanted to kill him, so Wang Shen ran to Sima Zhao to report the news, and Cao Xian was killed, but Wang Shen was therefore given the title of Marquis of Anping and had two thousand households.
Wang Shen's personality is not to say that compared with Sima Qian, even ordinary people are inferior, belonging to the category of being nailed to the column of shame, no wonder later historians commented on Wang Shen and his "Book of Wei": "Most of them are timely and secretive, and they are not recorded as Chen Shouzhi." ”
Second, Guo Zhen's "Wei Jin Shiyu": Cao Cao was too suspicious!
If Wang Shen's record of Lü Bohao is doubtful, are there any other records to be found? Also, Pei Songzhi's "Notes on the Three Kingdoms" quotes a passage, which is the "Wei and Jin Dynasty Language" written by the Western Jin Dynasty historian Guo Yan.
The Wei jin shiyu records: "Taizu passed the Bo luxury. Bo luxury travel, the five sons are there, ready to be the guest officiation. Taizu thought that he had betrayed his life, suspected himself, and killed eight people in the night with his sword. ”
The vernacular saying is: Cao Cao passed through Lü Bohao's house, Bo Hao was not there, the five sons treated Cao Cao well, Cao Cao was uncertain because of the assassination of Dong Zhuo, and felt that all these people were plotting against him, so he killed eight people and left overnight.
Although Guo Yan did not directly judge, we can also read from the semantics that he believed that Lü Bohao's family of eight was unjustly killed by Cao Cao. So is Guo Yan's "Wei Jin Shiyu" credible?
The answer is no. The only clear thing about Guo's death is that he was also a historian of the Western Jin Dynasty, and earlier than Chen Shou, because Chen Shou's Romance of the Three Kingdoms had quoted the Wei and Jin Dynasty. However, Guo Yan's attitude towards history was not affirmed by the Dafang Family, and Pei Songzhidu directly scolded him:
"However, the Wei and Jin dynasty languages were promulgated, and there were no palace merchants at all, and they were the most despicable, so they were quite popular in the world because of the strange things from time to time." Look at the "despicable", Pei Songzhi said that this product is to know how to attract attention, so the work can be circulated so widely!
Therefore, I can suddenly understand why Chen Shou's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" does not remember the "Lü Bohao" section: the relevant records of the previous classics are too different, and they can't fully believe it. Chen Shouyi patted his head, yes, I don't write!
Third, the ghost under Cao Cao's sword, why did he add Lü Bohao himself?
Although the above two records are not the same, but what is different is Cao Cao's motive for killing, it is said that Cao Cao only killed Bo Hao's family, Bo Hao was not at home, so why did this story become like in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms": After Cao Cao killed Bo Hao's whole family by mistake, he was full of guilt, and after meeting Bo Hao on the road, he killed the killer and let his family reunite underground?
This has to mention the Eastern Jin Dynasty historian Sun Sheng and his "Miscellaneous Sayings of Similarities and Differences". Sun Sheng's "Miscellaneous Sayings of Differences and Differences" also recorded Lü Bohao's affairs, and was quoted by Pei Songzhi in the "Notes on the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", saying:
Taizu heard the sound of his eating utensils, thought he was trying to kill himself, and killed him at night. And the miserable saying, 'I'd rather bear the burden than the others bear me!' 'Go ahead. ”
Do you see that the last sentence is familiar? This is the predecessor of "I'd rather teach the people of the world than teach the people of the world to bear me"! Sun Sheng not only won the letter from Guo Feng's "Wei jin shiyu" record, but also added inner drama (sadness) and monologue to Cao Cao! Pei Song's anger scolded him:
"The record of history is more polished, so as mentioned in the previous article, there are non-real people, and the later authors have changed their business, and it is not easy to be far away from the untruthfulness! Fan Sun Sheng made books, mostly used zuo shi to facilitate the old smell, so that it is not one, oh! What will the future scholars be trusted? ”
In short, it is oh to feed you this Sun Sheng, adding so much drama, how to win the trust of later scholars?
Then Sun Sheng's words, a person who added drama, fell into the eyes of the novelist Luo Guanzhong, who opened his mind a little and added the second half, and it became: After Cao Cao left, he found that Bo Luxury was selling wine and buying meat and returning it, and he did not do two things endlessly, killed Bo Luxury, and then looked up at the sky and said: "I would rather teach me to bear the people of the world, not to teach the people of the world to bear me"!
What do you think? Is the case solved? Sorting out several records, are you like xiaobian, deciding to win the consensus of the first two views: Cao Cao really killed several members of Lü Bohao's family, but did not kill BoHao?
As for the motive for the killing, Xiaobian did not dare to speculate, otherwise he would have to bother the princes to hold Down Cao Cao's coffin board for me! Friends, what do you think is the truth?