Three Kingdoms Talk | you don't know about Wang Yue (2) Yingjie under the fence

Leaving the dangerous capital of Chang'an, Wang Cang and his brother Wang Kai embarked on a journey to Jingzhou to join Liu Biao. Jingzhou is the stage for Wang Cang to show his talents, and it is also his sad place. So, why did Wang Cang fail to start a wonderful life with a smooth life after turning to such a person who had a lot of ties with his own family?

Not valued by Liu Biao, there are only two opportunities to perform

Liu Biao is Wang Cang's compatriot, but also a student of Wang Cang's grandfather, from a reasonable point of view, Liu Biao should take good care of Wang Cang. However, I am afraid that Wang Yue himself will be surprised, because Liu Biao, the uncle, does not seem to be "cold" to himself, let alone entrusted with heavy responsibilities.

In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it is said that "the table sleeps in the appearance of Cantonese and is weak and weak, not very heavy", the general meaning of this sentence is that Liu Biao saw that Wang Yueqi was not proud, his body was also very thin, and his words and deeds were informal, so he did not pay much attention to this teenager. Seeing this, the author has some doubts, many historical materials have given Liu Biao a high evaluation of "loving the people and raising a soldier", how did he get to Wang Yue here, Liu Biao did not have this kind of demeanor? In the author's opinion, perhaps, we Liu Biao, a fellow villager, are afraid of spiritual purity, as a clan, a celebrity and one of the best handsome men in the world at that time, he is probably not very absolute in terms of "loving the people and raising soldiers". In general, when working for Liu Biao, Wang Yue did not get many opportunities to perform. However, such a situation did not discourage Wang Yue, and in order to show his ability, he seized every opportunity as much as possible. For example, the three articles "Three Auxiliary Treatises", "Yuan Tanshu for Liu Jingzhou", and "For Liu Jingzhou and Yuan Shangshu" have allowed the world to see the level of Wang Cang.

In 198 AD, under the command of Huan Jie, Changsha Taishou Zhang Xian gathered the soldiers and horses of the three counties of Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang to launch a rebellion. Before the counter-rebellion, Wang Yue wrote the "Three Auxiliary Theories" under Liu Biao's arrangement. In this article, Wang Cang not only found the justice of "going to the rampage" for this counterinsurgency work, but also put pressure on Zhang Xian from many angles such as Liu Biao's personal ability and virtue, the strength of soldiers and horses, and the failure of such strong enemies as Sun Jian and Yuan Shu to defeat Liu Biao. By the way, the Tang Dynasty physician Gan Bozong pointed out in his "Record of Famous Doctors" that this Changsha Taishou Zhang Xian was Zhang Zhongjing, who wrote the great work "On Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases" and was revered by posterity as "Medical Saint", but this statement was not widely recognized by historians because of the lack of circumstantial evidence. In 202, the brothers Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang clashed after the death of their father Yuan Shao, and in order to persuade Him, Liu Biao asked Wang Cang to write two letters at the same time, "For Liu Jingzhou to Advise Yuan Tanshu" and "For Liu Jingzhou and Yuan Shangshu". In the letter, Wang Yue not only played the emotional card in a very literary language, pointing out that the brothers' infighting was a serious strategic mistake, but also stressed that the brothers should make it their first priority to work together against Cao Cao.

Judging from these three articles, there is still a big gap between ordinary literati and Wang Cang, because ordinary literati often do not have the vision of strategists. Of course, in the author's opinion, it is precisely because of Wang Cang's ability in strategy that he did not have a good life when working for Liu Biao.

Because of his appearance, he failed to become Liu's son-in-law

Why doesn't Liu Biao like Wang Cang? In the author's opinion, the reason is probably very simple, that is, Wang Cang's generation of literature has a serious "congenital deficiency", in such a period of great attention to appearance, Wang Cang's ordinary and even some ugly appearance makes him unable to get better development opportunities. On the contrary, if Wang Yue's appearance is more handsome, he can not only be reused by Liu Biao, but may even become the other party's dragon-riding son-in-law.

Pei Songzhi's notes in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms quote Zhang Hua's "Naturalist" once had this description: When he heard that Wang Cang and Wang Kai's brothers were coming to Jingzhou to surrender to him, Liu Biao was very happy, and he wanted to marry his daughter to Wang Yue. It is normal for Liu Biao to have such a thought, after all, the Shanyang Wang clan is a rich family, and he is a student of Wang Cang's grandfather, if he recruits Wang Cang as a son-in-law, it is to be pro-superior, and Wang Cang was already very famous at that time. However, when Liu Biao saw Wang Cang, his enthusiasm immediately disappeared by more than half, because in Liu Biao's view, Wang Cang, a young man, wanted to be headless, had no appearance, and was still very casual when talking and doing things. What to do? Just when Liu Biao was worried, Wang Kai entered his sight. Although Wang Kai is not famous, after all, he is still a member of the Wang family, especially importantly, Wang Kai is a personable handsome man. Therefore, after thinking about it again, Liu Biao made the decision to marry his daughter to Wang Kai. By the way, although Wang Kai did not achieve much, his grandson Wang Bi became a generation of scribes and philosophers, and was one of the representative figures and founders of Wei and Jin metaphysics, and his "gui no matter" had a great influence on the Song Ming theory of Theory, a branch of the Confucian philosophical system.

Will Liu Biao give up the idea of recruiting the other party as a son-in-law just because Wang Yue is not a handsome man? If you change to someone else, you may choose the talented Wang Yue as your son-in-law, rather than choosing Wang Kai, who only has looks but is not outstanding. However, in the author's opinion, for Liu Biao, one of the most handsome men in the Three Kingdoms period, it would be strange if he did not choose Wang Kai as his son-in-law. Why? In the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Shou put Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, two handsome men, together to evaluate, he said: "Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, Xian has a mighty appearance, an instrumental view, and is well-known in the world. The table crosses Hannan, Shao Ying Yang Heshuo, but all are wide on the outside and jealous on the inside, there is no decision, there is talent but cannot be used, it is good to hear but cannot be accepted, it is abolished and lied, and it is not unfortunate to be revered, as for the heirs tossing and turning, the society is overturned, and it is not unfortunate. Because the younger son Yuan Shang was handsome, Yuan Shao could choose him as his successor, so why couldn't Liu Biao give up his plan to make wang Cang his son-in-law because of his ugly appearance?

Moreover, Wang Yue was not the only one in the Three Kingdoms period who lost his "love" because of his ugly appearance, and another famous example was Ding Yi. Cao Cao once wanted to marry his daughter (Princess Qinghe) to Ding Yi, the son of Ding Chong, a lieutenant of the Si Li School, but when Cao Cao asked his son Cao Pi for advice, Cao Pi, although affirming Ding Yi's talent, objected because Ding Yi's eyes were problematic. Therefore, Cao Cao had to abandon the idea of recruiting Ding Yi as a son-in-law, and at cao Pi's suggestion, he married his daughter to Xiahou Mao, the son of Xiahou Mao. Look, even an ugly man like Cao Cao cares about his son-in-law's appearance, not to mention a handsome guy like Liu Biao?

Liu Chun was urged to surrender, and cao cao promoted him to reuse

In 208, Liu Biao fell ill and died, and his second son Liu Chun became the nominal supreme leader of Jingzhou. However, Jingzhou Mu's seat was not easy to sit on, because at this time, Jingzhou was facing internal and external troubles, internal people's hearts were restless, and there was Cao Cao who sharpened his sword on the outside. So, how does Liu Chun make a choice? At the strong suggestion of Ku Yue, Han Song, Fu Xun, and Wang Yue, Liu Chun chose to surrender to Cao Cao.

Regarding the matter of persuading Liu Chun to surrender to Cao Cao, although the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms left more ink to Fu Xun, only the five words "Yue Persuasion Table Zi Qun" were used for the role of Wang Yue, but I personally think that he should have played an important role, because after Liu Chun surrendered, Wang Cang was appointed as the Marquis of Guannei and given the title of Marquis of Guannei. Here, by the way, among the seven sons of Jian'an, Wang Cang was the only one who had a knighthood.

After Jingzhou became Cao Cao's possession, Wang Cang finally bid farewell to the depressed time and got more opportunities to show his talents. By the time the Kingdom of Wei was established in 213, Wang Cang, along with Qia, Wei Qi, and Du Xian, was appointed as the King of Wei's attendant. Everyone also knows that in such a war-torn period at that time, many ceremonial systems had been abandoned, and Wang Yue's first important task after being appointed as a servant was to restore and improve these extremely important systems. Among them, one of the most recognized tasks in later generations is that Wang Yue almost single-handedly restored the jade pendant. Friends who often watch costume dramas know that many characters, especially important people, will wear a (group) jade pendant around the waist, but what may not be clear to everyone is that the jade pendant is not a simple jewelry, but symbolizes the identity and status of the wearer. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and the jade pendant style and wearing system disappeared, and thanks to Wang Yue's extensive knowledge, the jade pendant system was restored. So, what is the significance of Wang Cang's restoration of the jade pendant system? To put it simply, the influence lasted at least until the Tang Dynasty.

Cao Cao attached great importance to Wang Cang, because according to the records in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, even when he went out to play, Cao Cao often let Wang Cang accompany him in a car. Moreover, the author also believes that Wang Yue should also be very talented in military terms, because Cao Cao took Wang Cang with him when he conquered Sun Quan in the south in 216 AD. After all, fighting a war is not a garden to watch flowers, and Cao Cao is not a person who pays attention to pomp and circumstance, if Wang Cang has no ability in military strategy, Cao Cao should not take him with him on the expedition.

Text/Song Yankun