Three Kingdoms Talk| you don't know about Wang Cang (1) a handsome talent from a famous family

In the previous column, we made some rough interpretations of Liu Biao and Kong Rong, the two Jining compatriots, and in the following time, the author introduced a Jining person who had a major impact in the Three Kingdoms period - the Eastern Han Dynasty literary scholar, the head of the Seven Sons of Jian'an, and the Wei King.

Born into a rich family, there are two people in the family who are ranked as three dukes

Wang Yue was born in the Shanyang Wang clan, and at that time, this was a famous local family, and there were two high-ranking officials of the third duke rank. According to the Later Han Dynasty Book of Wang Gong (a personal biography of Wang Gong, Wang Cang's great-grandfather), before Wang Gong, the Shanyang Wang clan was already "a hao clan".

Wang Yue's great-grandfather Wang Gong (Zi Bozong) was a famous courtier during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and was appointed Sikong in September 129 (the fourth year of The Fourth Year of Emperor Yongjian of Han Shun), and in December 136 he was appointed as the head of the Three Dukes. During his tenure as an official, Wang Gong accumulated a good reputation for himself because he was upright, morally high, and did not favor favoritism. During his tenure as the Assassin of Qingzhou, he impeached many high-ranking magistrates, and after serving as the Third Duke, he had a resolute struggle with eunuchs. Wang Cang's grandfather Wang Chang also took the position of Three Dukes during his tenure as an official. Because of the strict law enforcement, in 168 AD, Wang Chang was appointed sikong by the Han Ling Emperor, but unfortunately, after only a few months of service, he was dismissed from his post because of local floods. Although Wang Cang's father, Wang Qian, only achieved the great general History, the great general at that time was He Jin. Wang Hong, the eldest son of Wang Kai' brother Wang Kai, became a lieutenant colonel, and the second son, Wang Bi, was even more remarkable, although this Wang Bi died young at the age of 23, but he was a famous scribe and philosopher in the Three Kingdoms period, and one of the founders of Wei and Jin metaphysics.

Of course, the influence of the Shanyang Wang clan was not limited to the Eastern Han Dynasty, and even now, the influence of this family is still highly recognized by the academic community. After hundreds of experts from Zhonghua Bookstore, Tsinghua University, Chinese University, and Shandong Normal University, the "Shandong Cultural Family Research Book Series" was published in 2014 by selecting 28 cultural families that are representative of Shandong in politics, economy, society or literature, art, education, ideology, and imperial examinations, etc. After 4 years of research and compilation, the "Gaoping Wang Family" mentioned in this series is the branch to which Wang Yue belongs.

As we have pointed out many times in previous columns, in ancient times, if a person had an extraordinary family background, he would play a very important role in personal development. However, the reason why a family is called a "famous family" or a "hao family" is not only because it has its own network in the political arena, but more importantly, such a family often means that it can provide a better learning and growth environment for future generations. For example, the reason why Wang Cang was able to get the attention of the Cao Wei Group later was not only because of his family background, but more because under the influence of his father and the family of the clan, Wang Cang's ability was well cultivated. Of course, then again, there are also many famous disciples who do not learn or even pay attention to personal moral cultivation, for example, although Yuan Shu was born in a famous family like Yuan Clan in Runan, he was a person with a blind eye and extravagant greed.

Rarely talented, he has been donated by the literary scholar Cai Yong

Wang Cang is worthy of being born in a famous and powerful family, and when he was young, he attracted the attention of all parties with his full talent. So, what was his talent at the time? This can be seen from Cai Yong's attitude.

In 190 AD, Dong Zhuo coerced Emperor Xian of Han, officials, and people to move the capital to Chang'an, and among the vast migration teams was Wang Yue, who was only 13 years old at the time, and it was also in this year that Wang Cang became acquainted with Cai Yong, who was then the general of Zuo Zhonglang. The author also introduced in the previous column that Cai Yong was not only the father of Cai Wenji, one of the four talented women in ancient China, but also a famous writer, calligrapher and a generation of great Confucians at that time, and had a very high status in the hearts of the world's scholars. However, it is such a "cultural superstar" who will be warmly sought after everywhere he goes, and when he sees Wang Cang, he is surprised one after another, and he believes that this teenager is a wizard. Getting the high praise of Cai Yong can prove Wang Yue's talent, and one of the things Cai Yong did later was like giving Wang Yue a free "advertisement", so that this famous teenager was "fired" again.

Although Dong Zhuo did a lot of perverse deeds during his reign, chang'an was shrouded in a layer of terror, but such an atmosphere still could not stop the enthusiasm of the dignitaries and Cai Yong to make friends. How popular is Cai Yong? According to the records in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the road in front of Cai Yong's house was often blocked by the cars and horses of visitors, and the living room of Cai Yong's family was even more crowded. If you think about it, who wouldn't want to make friends with a university like Cai Yong, who was one of the top universities at the time? Of course, Wang Cang also belongs to this group that wants to make friends and ask for advice.

Once, when Cai Yong was chatting with his friends in the living room, the next person suddenly said that there was a child outside who called himself "Wang Yue" and asked to see him. Hearing that Wang Yue was coming, Cai Yong violently stirred, regardless of whether his shoes were down, and hurriedly left his seat to greet him. This is also the origin of the idiom "upside down". The guests were curious to see Cai Yong so hurriedly going out to meet a guest in person, and they were even more shocked when they saw a short, young teenager come in. Perhaps to dispel everyone's doubts, or to solemnly introduce Wang Cang, Cai Yong seriously introduced Wang Cang to the guests: "This is Wang Cang, the grandson of Prince Sikong (Wang Chang), who is a wizard, and he is very ashamed to say, I am not as good as him. The books and articles I have collected over the years should be given to him! "We all know that the more noble the ancients are, the more they know how to be modest and cautious, but it is rare to elevate Wang Yue like Cai Yong, which can also be seen that Cai Yong attaches great importance to Wang Cang. By the way, Cai Yong quickly fulfilled his promise to give books to Wang Cang.

Cai Yong was probably the first private bibliophile to be documented, and it is said that the scale of his collection was close to that of the royal collection, including a large number of rare classics, and even Cao Cao was very envious. After saying that he wanted to donate books to Wang Yue, Cai Yong immediately arranged for someone to send all the more than 6,000 books in his family's collection to Wang Cang's house, because the main type of books at that time was still bamboo and wood Jane, and these books were loaded in several trucks before they were loaded.

Ambition is difficult to reward, go to Jingzhou to join his hometown Liu Biao

In 193, at the age of 17, Wang Yue was first requisitioned by Situ Mansion and later appointed as a Waiter of the Yellow Gate. For many people, to be able to get such a position as the Yellow Gate Attendant at such a young age means that the future of the great future is officially opened, because holding this position not only means that you can get a salary of six hundred stones, but also because this position needs to accompany the emperor at all times.

Although there were two official positions waiting for him to sit down, Wang Yue did not report, because he could not be happy in any way, and the chaotic situation in Chang'an City made this young man's heart very unsteady. I believe that everyone can also understand that the world in 193 AD did not stop - Yuan Shao and the Black Mountain Army fought fiercely, Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou Tao Qian, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan fought hard to compete for Qingzhou, yuan Shu established his position in Huainan... After thinking about it again and again, Wang Cang made a decision that surprised ordinary people very much, and he actually asked his brother Wang Kai to leave Chang'an and go to Jingzhou to join Liu Biao. The young Wang Yue could see the chaotic form of the world, and from this point of view, he still had a very political vision, so why did he regard Jingzhou as his next stop? In my opinion, I am afraid that there are the following four reasons:

First, Jingzhou is relatively stable. From the time When Dong Zhuo entered the capital to control the imperial court to the time when Wang Cang left Chang'an, the world was already in a state of smoke, and the main battlefield for the princes of all sides to attack each other was in the north, and Jingzhou was not the "main battlefield" at that time, and the impact of war and famine was much smaller than that of northern prefectures and counties, so many ordinary people fled to Jingzhou at that time. Survival is the most basic need of people, and it is completely understandable that Wang Cang and his brother chose to go to Jingzhou to avoid various man-made disasters and natural disasters.

Second, it has a special relationship with Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao. We have pointed out many times in the previous column that Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao and Wang Yue are fellow villagers. In 190 AD, after Wang Rui of Jingzhou was killed by Sun Jian, Dong Zhuo, out of consideration for the purpose of winning people's hearts, arranged for Liu Biao to succeed Him to the position of Jingzhou Assassin. By October 192, Dong Zhuobu had Li Dai and Guo Feng in control of the imperial court, and under Li Dai's arrangement, the great calligrapher Zhong Xuan was ordered to come to Jingzhou and appoint Liu Biao as the pastor of Jingzhou. At this time, Liu Biao had already achieved effective control over the Jingzhou area, and Wang Cang and Wang Kai chose to go to defect at this time, which was a good choice. After all, it is a son of the Hao clan from the same village, and he Liu Biao will still take care of some more or less.

Third, Liu Biao treated the scholars kindly. Even if he didn't have such an identity as a fellow villager, Wang Cang had a bottom in his heart when he went to surrender. Liu Biao had a warm temperament, ranked among the "Eight Juns", and was implicated in the disaster of the party in his early years because of his participation in the Tai student movement, and this life experience determined that he had always been kind to the scholar group.

Fourth, Liu Biao was a student of Wang Cang's grandfather Wang Chang. From the perspective of human feelings, the teacher's grandson came to trust, he will definitely treat it well, not to mention Liu Biao, even if it is replaced by ordinary people, they know what to do.

Text/Song Yankun