The famous literary scholar Jin Shengsi in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties once said: The old man does not look at the Three Kingdoms, and the young man does not look at the Water Margin. Among them, "less do not look at the water margin" means that children will learn badly after reading it, but most people do not follow the ancient precepts. On the contrary, among the four famous works in China, when I was a child, I was first exposed to either "Journey to the West" or "Water Margin".
The villain book tells everyone that there is a "Water Margin" book, children look at the single chapter story is not a big problem, if the system has seen more than half of the "Water Margin", whether it is 70 times or 100 times, or 120 times, followed by a lot of doubts, always feel that something is wrong. If you think about it carefully, should this book be listed as a banned book? For this question, Zeng Guofan directly called the insider.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, "Water Margin" was banned to varying degrees, because in the eyes of feudal rulers, "Water Margin" existed like a flood beast. During the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing army often lost to the Taiping army. Zeng Guofan, the commander of the Xiang Army, suffered many crushing defeats under Shi Dakai, and even tried to commit suicide twice.
In this regard, Zeng Guofan once said indignantly: "The art of war and tactics are rare in the grass, and the results of the thieves' tricks are based on, there should be two or three cunning thieves, who have taken and defeated the military information in the history of the officials and the wilderness, imitated and acted, and often worked, so the treasure is the secret that is not passed on, and its materials are especially many in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "The Legend of the Water Margin". ”
Another famous general of the Xiang Army, Hu Linyi, said even more emphatically: "A "Water Margin" teaches the powerful and unsuccessful people in the world. ”
It turned out that in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War, Yang Xiuqing, Xiao Chaogui and other generals were mostly illiterate, and naturally could not understand the "Art of War of Sun Tzu" or "Wu Zi" and other military books. Therefore, they often put "Water Margin" next to it, as a textbook for marching and fighting, building troops and building governments, and Shi Dakai liked to watch "Water Margin" since he was a child. In the eyes of many people, treating the novel as a soldier's book is simply nonsense, and it will definitely lose the battle, but history proves that "Water Margin" can really be used as a textbook for war and rebellion.
As we all know, the author of "Water Margin" is Shi Nai'an, who personally experienced the peasant war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and had a close relationship with Zhang Shicheng, and his apprentice Luo Guanzhong had been a colleague of Zhang Shicheng and had long been aware of military affairs. Unlike the authors of commentaries such as "Speaking of Tang", "Speaking of Yue", and "Yang Jiajun", Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong really understood the military and really knew how to rebel, and it was not a problem to regard "Water Margin" as a military primary textbook.
Zhu Yuanzhang started with a rebellion, and the establishment of the Ming Dynasty Meritorious Group was nothing more than a successful Liangshan 108 general. When rebelling against tyranny, the rebels uphold the concept of "rebellion is justified", and once the rebels have laid down the country and ascended to the throne, they must guard against others rebelling, but instead began to publicize "rebellion is guilty".
During the reign of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, "Water Margin" had just been written, and it was not widely circulated, and Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, who implemented the literal prison, did not ban this book. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the Ming Dynasty was in the ascending stage, the national strength and people's livelihood developed very well, social contradictions were not so intense, the moral legitimacy of the Ming Dynasty rule was relatively sufficient, the spread of the Water Margin was not interfered with by the government on a large scale, and even some scholars and doctors highly respected this strange book, from Jiajing to Chongzhen for more than a hundred years, the Water Margin was published 31 times.
During the Chongzhen period, the social background changed, the Ming rulers faced the same crisis as the Mongol rulers at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty was full of flames, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others revolted, and Li Qingshan of Shandong gathered in liangshan to rebel, and the Ming Dynasty was in danger, at this time, "Water Margin" became the most inappropriate book in the eyes of the rulers.
Since the Northern Song Dynasty, commentaries have long been popular in the city, and military books such as "Sun Tzu's Art of War" are military secrets monopolized by the imperial court, and private study of the art of war will be questioned. Even if the "Art of War of Sun Tzu" is transmitted to the people, it is equivalent to the Book of Heaven in the eyes of the illiterate. In the peasant wars of the past, the vast majority of peasant leaders did not understand the art of war, and the imperial court suppressed them effortlessly.
However, after watching "Water Margin", the people learned the art of war unconsciously. If there is a rebellion, these illiterate villagers can use their strategies to make the officers suffer.
In this regard, the Qing Dynasty scholar Liu Luan in his book "Five Stones": "The Water Margin novel is contained in the curse, Zhang Xianzhong's cunning, and the Japanese people say that the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" books ambush and attack Xian. In his opinion, the reason why Zhang Xianzhong was able to sweep the world was because when he was marching and fighting, he often found someone to tell him about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Water Margin.
In the peasant wars at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xianzhong was not the only leader who liked the "Water Margin", and many rebel leaders used the personal name or title of "Water Margin", such as Zhang Rujin's mixed name Yan Qing, Xu Zhu's mixed name Lei Heng, and Wang Zhongxiao's mixed name Song Jiang. In combat, it is even more able to integrate the strategies in "Water Margin".
In one battle, the peasant army took advantage of the heavy snow falling from the sky to raid the Ming army camp and captured the commander of the Ming army. The commander of the Ming army was very curious about this, and once asked the peasant army: "You are illiterate and do not understand the art of war, how do you know when to use this day?" The general of the peasant army replied: "We don't know the art of war, but we only know that Song Gongming earned so chao'er at night." Out of hatred for the Water Margin, during the Ming Chongzhen period, the imperial court began to vigorously prohibit the dissemination of the Water Margin.
In 1642, the Li Qingshan Rebellion broke out in Shandong, and Li Qingshan's rebel army occupied the Liangshan area under the influence of the Water Margin. After Li Qingshan was suppressed, Chongzhen immediately ordered that "all those who collect the "Water Margin" in the house and the original version are quickly burned, and are not allowed to hide." At the same time, he also ordered people to measure Liangshan and nationalize it, so as to prevent anyone from following song jiang's example and launching an uprising in Liangshan.
After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, it inherited the policy of the Chongzhen Emperor to prohibit the dissemination of the Water Margin, and the Great Qing Law even directly named the Water Margin in the law. During the reign of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government banned the Water Margin a total of 23 times, but it still could not stop the popularity of the Water Margin. After all, "Water Margin" is really too good-looking, too attractive, and many places are hand-held, and it is impossible to destroy them all.
The feudal literati saw that "Water Margin" was difficult to prohibit, so they wrote novels to attack "Water Margin", such as Jin Sheng sighed and slashed 20 times "Water Margin" only 70 times, and added a section of "Lu Junyi's Nightmare", so that the Liangshan rebels were all killed by the officials and army, becoming the most popular book in the Qing Dynasty in the past 300 years.
Subsequently, the literati Yu Wanchun wrote a book called "Dang Kou Zhi", in which none of the 108 good men had a good ending. This book was widely circulated and had great influence, and the generals of the Taiping Army who loved "Water Margin" regarded it as a flood beast, and as long as they attacked a place, they would burn the "Dangkouzhi" to the ground.
The charm of "Water Margin" is indelible to the feudal literati, and only the ruthless feudal regime will fear a novel. If the regime is well governed, the country is safe and the people are happy, and if the people rebel, they will not rebel.
Although the whole "Water Margin" is not lacking in rebellion, and even "very violent", the author feels that ordinary people look at the happiness and vengeance of good men, chivalry, and do not care too much about the ugliness of human nature; the literati look at the arrangement and depiction of character stories, and there are themes to discuss; those in power look at the results and the author's intentions, and it is not necessary to regard "Water Margin" as a banned book, what do you think?
Article reference: "Water Margin" "Guanhuatang Water Margin"