"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the first Chapter Hui novel in the history of Chinese literature, and it is also the pioneering work of classical historical novels, and it is also known as one of the "Four Classical Masterpieces". Since its completion, it has been warmly sought after by people, whether it is a literati or a pawn of a peddler, they all love this book, and even in ancient times, it had the reputation of "the first talent book".
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" describes the magnificent world trend in the hundred years from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty, from the conquest of the deer to the establishment of the Three Kingdoms to the return of the three families to the Jin Dynasty, one after another wonderful Three Kingdoms stories, which are still enjoyed by people to this day. Although the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was written by Luo Guanzhong based on Chen Shou's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and Pei Songzhi's annotations, as well as some folk tales and legends, it also proves from the side that Luo Guanzhong is indeed a man with a strategy, otherwise it would be impossible to write the story of the Three Kingdoms so eloquently.
There is a more interesting problem is that Luo Guanzhong wrote so cattle in the Three Kingdoms, and the characters in the book discussed the great momentum of the world, but why did he choose Zhang Shicheng instead of Zhu Yuanzhang when it was his turn? According to Luo Guanzhong's understanding of the general situation in the world at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, if he wanted to choose a Ming Lord to be loyal, he would definitely choose the person who was most likely to seize the world to be loyal, so why did he choose Zhang Shicheng instead of Zhu Yuanzhang? Couldn't he see that Zhang Shicheng was not a man who could achieve great things? In fact, this really can't be blamed on Luo Guanzhong's poor vision, although he wrote cattle in the novel, but the reality is different from the novel after all, he can't be like Liu Bei, all the way to the princes to the past.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei, because he has the aura of "emperor uncle", whether he has turned to Cao Cao, Yuan Shao or Liu Biao, will not only not be rejected, but will also be warmly welcomed. Even though those princes knew that Liu Bei had once defected to others, in order to win the reputation of a corporal of Li Xian, Liu Bei who came to surrender was still not rejected. Moreover, Liu Bei has his own "uncle" aura, and has always paid attention to benevolence and righteousness, even if these princes know that Liu Bei is temporarily coming to vote, he will leave at the first opportunity, and he will still accept Liu Bei.
In ancient history, except for Liu Bei, who was able to mix among the various princes, few others were able to achieve this. Generally speaking, after the ancient strategists chose a lord to be loyal, they were basically tied together, one glory and one loss, and few opportunities were obtained from the beginning. Under the influence of the ancient idea of "loyal subjects do not do things and two masters", it is still very rare for people like Liu Bei and Wei Zheng (who have successively defected to Yuan Baobao, Li Mi, Dou Jiande, Li Jiancheng, etc.) who have changed several owners before and after.
Luo Guanzhong spent his youth in Hangzhou, where he met many like-minded miscellaneous writers and developed a strong interest in literature. However, with the chaos in the world at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Luo Guanzhong also moved the idea of "having the ambition to be the king" and was ready to choose a faction as the object of his allegiance, so as to realize his ambition of "the cause of the hegemony of the king".
After some deliberation, Luo Guanzhong chose Zhang Shicheng as the object of his allegiance. The reason for choosing Zhang Shicheng was actually very simple, because Zhang Shicheng's power at that time was far stronger than several other rebel armies, and he had more hope of completing the great cause of unifying the world. After Luo Guanzhong defected to Zhang Shicheng, he also received a certain degree of reuse, and also offered advice to help Zhang Shicheng defeat the attack of Kang Maocai under Zhu Yuanzhang.
However, as Luo Guanzhong deeply understood Zhang Shicheng, he found himself more and more as if he had turned to the wrong object, and this Zhang Shicheng was not the material for the world at all. Because Zhang Shicheng surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty in the seventeenth year of Zhizheng, he exposed his hedonistic character, and later after rebelling again in the twenty-third year of Zhizheng, he insisted on becoming king despite the opposition of Luo Guanzhong.
At this time, Luo Guanzhong was completely dead to Zhang Shicheng, because Zhang Shicheng did not have the qualifications to dominate the world at all, although his power at this time was still very large, but it was only a matter of time before he was defeated. However, Luo Guanzhong had already boarded Zhang Shicheng's thief ship, and it was not a simple thing to want to go down, so he had to use the excuse to return to his hometown in Taiyuan, and soon after he found an opportunity to completely break away from Zhang Shicheng's camp.
So, after Luo Guanzhong left Zhang Shicheng, why didn't he go to Zhu Yuanzhang? From Luo Guanzhong's point of view, he could definitely find that Zhu Yuanzhang was the one who could achieve hegemony, so why didn't he assist Zhu Yuanzhang? Because at this time, even if Luo Guanzhong went to find Zhu Yuanzhang, he could not catch up, and at this time, Zhu Yuanzhang already had Liu Ji, Zhu Sheng, Li Shanchang and other people around him, and there was no position for Luo Guanzhong. Moreover, Luo Guanzhong had previously assisted Zhang Shicheng in defeating Kang Maocai under Zhu Yuanzhang, and at this time, going to Zhu Yuanzhang again could only be boring to himself.
After Luo Guanzhong's ideal of "king with ambitions" was shattered, the path of the imperial examination was also completely cut off, because he had been an enemy of Zhu Yuanzhang, so naturally he could not participate in Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming Dynasty imperial examination. Since then, he has devoted all his energy to writing books and written many popular classic works, such as "Sui and Tang Dynasties Chronicles", "History of the Five Dynasties of the Tang Dynasty", "Water Margin", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and so on. These novels, without exception, are all historical themes, which may have a lot to do with Luo Guanzhong's early experience of "King Youzhitu".