Zhuge Liang is a well-written figure in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In a sense, reading The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is mainly about Zhuge Liang. Before and after he came out of the mountain, his works were described briefly. As Zhuge Liang is a pivotal figure in Liu Bei Group, Luo Guanzhong made careful arrangements for his appearance. First of all, the author said through the mouth of Mr. Shui Jing, "Who are Long Fu and Feng Xiao?" He just smiled and said, "All right! Good! " This constitutes a strong suspense, so that readers want to see this person. Then he wrote Xu Shu's powerful recommendation, which made readers have his place in their hearts. However, the author did not rush to let Zhuge Liang appear immediately, but used a lot of pen and ink to describe in detail the tortuous process of Liu Bei's pious visit to the thatched cottage. It was not until the eighth volume "Ding Sanfen Reveals the Cottage" that Zhuge Liang officially appeared. The word "Three Kingdoms" has never been used in previous works. Only with the emergence of Zhuge Liang, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was officially titled.
Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang met for the first time, and after a brief greeting on the thatched cottage, they talked about the general trend of the world. Zhuge Liang cut to the chase and announced his well-thought-out plan, that is, the famous "Longzhong Dui", which has only 3 10 words in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and only 350 words in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Its main spirit is:
Let Cao Cao dominate the north for one day, and let Sun Quan occupy the land in the south, and the general can occupy the people and peace. Take Jingzhou as the foundation first, and then take Xichuan as the foundation, thus becoming a foothold, and then you can map the Central Plains.
This is his decision based on a correct analysis of the friendship between the enemy and the enemy at that time. When Zhuge Liang argued with Confucianism, he used medical methods to describe Liu Bei's situation at that time: "Husband is extremely ill, so it is appropriate to drink it in porridge and use it for medicine;" When the zang-fu organs are reconciled, the body temporarily returns, but the child supplements it with meat and treats it with strong medicine, the root of the disease is uprooted and people are born. "When Zhuge Liang came out of the mountain, Liu Bei was in a very difficult situation:" The army was defeated by Runan, leaving only Liu Biao with less than 1,000 soldiers, leaving only Guan, Zhang and Zhao Yun to fight. " As Zhuge Liang said in "The Teacher's Table", "I was ordered by the defeated army and was ordered by the crisis. "In sharp contrast to Liu Bei's strength, Cao Cao" has millions of people, relying on the emperor to establish princes "and Sun Quan" has been in Jiangdong for three generations, and the country is in danger and attached to the people ",both of which are temporarily unattainable objects, so he advocates temporarily avoiding the strong enemy, taking Jingzhou and Yizhou, establishing his own inheritance, and then Xu Tu Central Plains will unify the whole country. This decision was in line with the reality of political and military struggle at that time. Later, Zhuge Liang summarized it as a strategic policy of "rejecting Cao Cao in the north and Sun Quan in the east". In order to carry out this strategic policy, before Battle of Red Cliffs, he entered Wu Dong alone and formed an alliance with Wu Dong after a tortuous and complicated struggle. Later, Guan Yu destroyed this alliance. Liu Bei didn't listen to Zhuge Liang's advice, rose up to attack Wu, was burned to death by Lu Xun, and retreated to Baidi City to die. After Liu Bei's death, Shu was badly weakened, and Zhuge Liang propped up this difficult situation alone. He "captured Meng Huo seven times" and stabilized the south; "Six QiShan, northern expedition cao wei. Zhuge Liang is such a person who gives full play to his intelligence in all kinds of sharp, complicated and arduous struggles.
In order to show Zhuge Liang's cleverness, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms wrote some foil characters from different angles.
Pang Tong is mainly written in Liu Bei Group. Feng Chu, this Pang Tong, is as famous as Wolong. As the saying goes, "two people get one, and the world can be safe." Pang Tong suggested to Liu Bei to forge ahead and take part in the marching command directly, which shows his knowledge and talent. But he didn't listen to Zhuge Liang's advice, and he was shot to death by an arrow on Phoenix Slope.
Outside Liu Bei Group, Zhou Yu of Sun Wu and Sima Yi of Cao Wei were mainly written. Battle of Red Cliffs is a war mainly described in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Zhuge Liang is a key figure in this war. After entering, after "debating Confucianism" and "enlightening Zhou Yu", the Sun-Liu alliance was initially formed to jointly fight against Cao. Behind the scenes of the Sun-Liu Alliance, the work arranged the subtle struggle between Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang. Zhou Yu saw that Zhuge Liang, who was resourceful, assisted Liu Bei, which was extremely unfavorable to Sun Quan. So, he tried to kill him again and again to avoid future trouble. Although Zhou Yu is smart and capable, he seems narrow-minded, short-sighted, jealous of talents and regardless of the overall situation. In the face of Zhou Yu's frame-up, Zhuge Liang was reasonable, beneficial and restrained, and put Sun and Liu's alliance first, regardless of personal grievances, which made Zhou Yu's frame-up fail many times and the contradiction was not made public. Battle of Red Cliffs's frontal command is Zhou Yu, while Zhuge Liang is the one who manipulates and grasps the main branch. Battle of Red Cliffs was on fire, and Zhuge Liang took the opportunity to occupy the nine counties of Jingxiang. After Cao Cao's defeat, he retreated to the north and the situation was initially stable. Zhuge Liang took the initiative to attack Zhou Yu, tit-for-tat, playing along, making Zhou Yu passive and helpless everywhere, and finally "accompanying his wife to fold the soldiers." On my deathbed, I sighed, "I was born in, why was I born in Ming?"
In Zhuge Liang's later period, his works also wrote Sima Yi, one of his opponents, from Cao Wei. Sima Yi is far more sophisticated, knowledgeable and resourceful than Zhou Yu. Zhuge Liang has long realized that Sima Yi, who has "foresight", will be "a disaster in the middle of Shu" after a long time. Cao Rui appointed Sima Yi as the prefect of Yongzhou and Liangzhou military forces, which once made Zhuge Liang "scared". Later, he used double agents to make Cao Rui withdraw Sima Yi, and he took the example of Liu Chan, the late ruler, in the Northern Expedition. Although Sima Yi is more knowledgeable than Zhou Yu, he is slightly inferior to Zhuge Liang in commanding operations. He can anticipate some of Zhuge Liang's schemes and take precautions in advance. When Zhuge Liang took advantage of the situation and became more innovative, he was exhausted. Zhuge Liang is not only good at making careful arrangements in advance according to specific circumstances, but also good at facing unexpected situations, improvising and calmly facing the enemy. Ma Su disobeyed Zhuge Liang's instructions and lost the street pavilion, which made Sima Yi's 150,000 troops quickly approach Xicheng. This is that Zhuge Liang has no generals around him, only a group of civil servants and 2500 soldiers. If you hit Xicheng, you will be outnumbered and vulnerable; If you abandon the city and flee, it is difficult to escape because of the rush of time. In such a critical situation, Zhuge Liang calmly set an "empty city plan" and finally scared off the 150 thousand army led by Sima Yi. At that time, both sides mastered each other's characteristics. Sima Yi knew that Zhuge Liang was "cautious all his life and never took risks", and Zhuge Liang took advantage of Sima Yi's consistent estimation, only occasionally taking risks when he had to, which coincides with the truth that "what is empty is true" in Sun Tzu's Art of War. Afterwards, Sima Yi had to admit that "I am not as good as Kong Ming".
Guan Yu is a typical good general described in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The author mainly describes this character from two aspects: "courage" and "loyalty".
In the article "Chop Hua Xiong with Warm Wine", the author wrote Guan Yu's bravery in only 300 words. Later, he beheaded Yan Liang, overthrew Wen Chou and defeated six generals after five passes, which was even more invincible. "Single Knife Club" vividly shows his indomitable spirit.
However, the focus of his works is his loyalty. There are many descriptions in this respect, especially the time when I got along with Cao Cao. In the fifth volume "Zhang Liao's Discussion on Guan Yunchang", it is written for the first time that he is trapped and in trouble. Cao Cao sent Zhang Liao to surrender, but Guan Yu was determined not to surrender. He righteously said, "I died of loyalty, and I am happy to laugh for the world"! When Zhang Liao said that he swore an oath, took Liu Bei's letter, helped the Han family fail, and fought the brave, he was moved. But in view of these three articles, he proposed three covenants, all of which are indispensable. As a result, Cao Cao agreed to his request and asked him to stay temporarily. During Cao Cao's camp, Cao Cao was kind and polite to him. Three-day banquet, five-day banquet When you get on the horse, you get off the horse and you get a silver medal. You are an official with a title, and you seduce him with fame and fortune. However, Guan Yu was unmoved. As soon as he learned of Liu Bei's whereabouts, he beheaded him and took him away. After he left, even Cao Cao praised him as a "true righteous man".
But Guan Yu is short-sighted in politics and pays too much attention to personal grievances. Because of his bravery, he developed a sense of complacency; Because of his unusual relationship with Liu Bei, his headstrong personality has developed greatly. Ma Chao was appointed as a peaceful general, but he refused to accept it regardless of the situation and wanted to compete with Ma Chao in Sichuan. His decision-making is rash and impulsive, and he likes not to blow a big stick, which breeds blind thoughts of underestimating his enemy. He insulted Sun Quan's proposal of marriage, undermined Zhuge Liang's strategic policy of "uniting Wu against Cao", and finally lost Jingzhou, defeated Maicheng, and was captured and died. Shu suffered heavy losses.
Guan Yu has not only made great contributions to Liu Bei for decades, but also caused huge and irreparable losses to Liu Bei's career. He is such a complicated role.
Cao Cao is a complex multi-faceted model.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms really focuses on the great talent of Cao Cao. Since he was a teenager, he has been bold, alert and good at politics. He has the ambition to clean up the remnants and defilements and bring peace and stability to the country. After the failure of stabbing Zhuo, he returned to his hometown, evacuated his wealth, recruited volunteers, rectified the governors of seventeen towns and crusaded against Dong Zhuo. After winning Zhuo's defeat, he knew that Yuan Shao and others were unfaithful and could not achieve great things, so he led the army to Yangzhou and decided to open up the situation himself. In the process of suppressing the Yellow turban insurrectionary uprising in Shandong, he surrendered more than 300,000 insurgents, nicknamed "Qingzhou soldier", which made him stand firm, and later his authority became heavier and heavier. He also adopted the advice of Gou Jian, a counselor, and continued to enter the DPRK to assist the son of heaven under the banner of raising volunteers to help the Han family. Since then, he has mastered the power of the imperial court and established a powerful armed force. Being a vassal by the emperor, he became an important figure in Wei, China and the world. Lu Bu was eliminated, two yuan was broken, and Liu Biao was set for 30 years. Finally, the group was tied and the north was unified. In these decades of political and military struggles, he showed outstanding military and political talents.
He is good at using troops, and often wins by surprise, defeating the strong with the weak. He knows that if he wants to be the overlord and unify the world, he must win the hearts of the people first, and he can't kill one person and lose the heart of the world. Cheng Yu also appreciates his talent in Wang Ba. Guan Yu left without saying a word, but Cao Cao refused to chase him. Here, the author wrote a note in fine print: "This is the benefit of Cao Gong's life, not killing Xuande or chasing Guan Gong. So it can be seen that Cao Cao has a generous and benevolent heart and can be the Lord of the Central Plains. " He also knows how to be good at people's duties, and he knows how to pull out wizards. Therefore, a lot of talents gathered around him, forming a prosperous situation of "writers have counselors and martial arts have fierce generals". After 30 years of military service, although the great cause of reunification was not completed in the end, Sima Qian undoubtedly laid the foundation for unifying the whole country. After Cao Cao's death, the author quoted Chen Shou's praise: "I can be described as an extraordinary person, an unparalleled outstanding figure." Luo Guanzhong fully described Cao Cao's heroism and great achievements.
Beiding Zhongyuan is the peak of Cao Cao's heroic career and the turning point of Cao Cao's personality change. The Central Plains was pacified. If he wants to realize his ambition, he has to point the finger at Liu Bei and Sun Quan. When Cao Cao dealt with Er Yuan, he seemed weak, Er Yuan was decadent, but Cao Cao was full of vitality. Now, the situation is reversed. It seems that Cao Cao's strength is very strong, but his anger is disappearing. His opponents, Liu Bei and Sun Quan, have great ambitions to unify the world, and they are both energetic governors. When Cao Cao competed with Liu Bei and Sun Quan, he ran into a wall everywhere. At this time, Cao was full of pride. In front of energetic opponents, he just made the mistake of being proud and underestimating his enemy. When he was writing a poem, he said smugly, "Today, he has millions of great teachers, and they are more effective to all the people. Why worry about being unsuccessful! " He laughed at Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang as "the power of ants can shake the weight of Mount Tai". Obviously, the advantage of a millionaire has become a big burden on his mind. He didn't realize many unfavorable factors. He is proud and paralyzed.
Politically, Cao Cao made a serious strategic mistake. When he arrived in Jingzhou, Liu Bei was defeated and Sun Quan watched. He should have divided Sun and Liu, each attacking his own, but he relied on his own strength and ignored his usual strategy. Xun Xiu reminded Sun Quan to "hunt in Jiangxia" only after sending a message, which was far behind Lu Su and Zhuge Liang.
Cao Cao thinks he has money, and he doesn't care about talents as much as before. Long before Battle of Red Cliffs, he killed Kong Rong who tried to dissuade him. In Battle of Red Cliffs, he killed Cai Mao and Zhang Yun by mistake, and Liu Fu by drunkenness. He still wants to promote talents, but he has a poor eye for talents. He hired a mediocre man like Jiang Gan, and he found enemy agents like Xu Shu, Pang Tong, Kan Ze and Huang Gai. He is becoming more and more self-righteous and pretentious. He regards others as "children" and "village men", but he has only wisdom and talent. Battle of Red Cliffs, Xun Xiu reminded him of fire attack, but he didn't agree. Until Huang Gai braved the wind and waves, he still laughed in the wind. I don't know what it means. The subjective reason for Chibi's defeat was that he shot himself and fled to Nanjun, but he cried out to Guo Fengxiao, actually blaming all the counselors for not making suggestions.
After Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao changed from a hero who cultivated the world to a ruler who stayed in the north, gradually losing his enterprising spirit, and his will gradually declined, and finally he went to decay. He "doesn't care about the world, drinks every day, and there is nothing less. State affairs are discussed in the Prime Minister's office." He rejected Sima Yi's suggestion and gave up the opportunity to take Xichuan. He also said: "If the people are not satisfied with their sufferings, they will grow up and look back at Shu." His hedonic thoughts are increasing day by day, and his courage and perseverance are fading. At this time, he made more mistakes in strategy. When Liu Bei won Xichuan, Sun Quan wanted to seize the opportunity to recapture Jingzhou. At this time, Sun and Liu Congming were about to break up. Cao Cao could have made a fortune, but on a whim, he led 400 thousand troops south to the Yangtze River to attract Sun Quan's army and give Liu Bei a gap to take Sichuan. Finally, Fan Cheng was saved, but Sun Quan took Jingzhou.
Cao Cao's talent promotion was originally based on Wang Ba's ambition, but the ambitions of Cao Cao and Wang Ba were exhausted in the later period. What kind of talents are not as important to him as before. The most interesting thing was meeting Zhang Song. Cao Cao saw that Zhang Song's characters were obscene, and he didn't like five points; Smell it again, I'm leaving. Teach some men, Zhang Song giggled a few words, and then told him to get on the horse and cut his own throat. Thanks to Xun's dissuasion, the order was changed to "disorderly stick shooting". We still remember that during the crusade against Dong Zhuo, Er Yuan tried to "kill Guan Yu with one stick" because of his low status. It was Cao Cao who tried his best to mediate, and Guan Yu was able to cut Hua Xiong with warm wine. Unexpectedly, it was the same Cao Cao, and Zhang Song, who was sent to the land of abundance, was "beaten" just because Zhang Song was "ugly and rude". People who don't love morality will be tamed. Almost all of Cao Cao's major strategies and strategic mistakes in his later period were opposed in advance, but he remained stubborn. Xun, also Cao Cao's right-hand counselor, made great contributions to help Cao Cao pacify the heroes and unify the northern neutrality, but he disagreed with his self-styled Duke Wei of Qi, was suspected by Cao Cao and died by taking poison. There is no end to Mende, and Liu Hou will never come again. These two poems tell the remarkable changes in the relationship between Cao Cao and the wise men.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms not only describes Cao Cao's great talent and its ups and downs, but also focuses on the "treacherous" side of his character.
As soon as Cao Cao appeared, the author described the details of "pretending to be crazy and selling stupidity, pretending to be in power", showing the starting point of Cao Cao's character development. It is undoubtedly a bad quality for such a thing to happen to a child. But at that time, at a young age, being able to come up with such tricks and dare to do such rude things showed the wisdom and courage of ordinary people. It is this kind of moral inferiority combined with extraordinary courage that has become the basis of Cao Cao's character development.
Through Runan Xu Shao, the works give Cao Cao an evaluation of "Zi can rule the world and be a traitor in troubled times", which is both a "capable minister" and a "traitor". It is from these two aspects that the author describes the complex and multifaceted typical image of Cao Cao.
In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, political corruption made the people miserable. On the one hand, the Eastern Han Dynasty was hit by students of peasant uprising, and at the same time it was seriously endangered by eunuchs and warlords. In this situation, Cao Cao took an active part in the struggle against eunuchs and warlords. When the ministers of the Qing Dynasty all hid their faces and wept bitterly, Cao Cao stepped forward and nodded yes, willing to stab Dong Zhuo to death in the Prime Minister's office. After Ci Zhuo failed, he killed the Lv Boshe family on the way to escape. These two things seem contradictory. However, our study of Cao Cao's objective environment and subjective purpose is unified in the multifaceted image of Cao Cao. Cao Cao is also a man of great fame and ambition. Later, when a bronze banquet was held in Quetai, he recalled his early activities and claimed that he "wholeheartedly contributed to the national thief and would write an epitaph after his death, saying,' The tomb of Cao Hou, the general of the West, was taken by the Han Dynasty and did not disgrace his ancestors'." This is a grand confession of his personal ambition. When the Han court still has considerable appeal, he must attach it to this skin in order to win fame. Therefore, on the one hand, he suppressed the peasant uprising, on the other hand, he crusaded against thieves and ministers. When the people suppressed the peasant uprising, Cao Cao's personal goals were consistent with the interests of the imperial court; When he seeks personal gain from Dong Zhuo, he is in line with the interests of the people. Luo Guanzhong had both loyalty to the monarch and love for the people, so he took a praising attitude towards Cao Cao. Therefore, the assassination of Jing Dongzhuo became a heroic act in the author's works. However, Cao Cao is also an extreme egoist. Stabbing is for personal achievements, so saving his life is the first priority. So he planned to escape before the assassination and killed Lv Boshe's family by mistake on the way. Selfish and cruel, Cao Cao, in order to avoid being retaliated by Lv Boshe, simply wiped out the grass to avoid future trouble, and even personally killed Lv Boshe. To assassinate in the name, to sacrifice a knife for one's life, and to kill Lv Boshe for the name for one's life. Cao Cao, who assassinated Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao, who crucified Lv Boshe, were thus unified in Cao Cao's character.
The work used more space to describe Cao Cao's cruelty. For example, in order to avenge his father, he had a bloodbath in Xuzhou. "Wherever he goes, chickens and dogs stay, there are no trees in the mountains, and there are no pedestrians in the road." But at the same time, the work also describes some virtues of Cao Cao's "being close to the people". "Abusing the people" and "loving the people" can also be unified in Cao Cao's character.
People in troubled times, suffering from war, yearn for a stable life, and the opposition between people's hearts often plays a great role in the victory or defeat of the group. If Cao Cao wants to win over the king, he must win the hearts of the people. In the process of attacking Yuan Shao, he called for "eliminating pesticides for the people", and there were many "compassionate" attacks. After the Battle of Guandu, some literati greeted Julian Waghann with a pot of paste, telling the story of "Yuan Benchu regaining the people" and praising Cao Cao for "hanging the people and beheading the crimes". Yuan Yuan abused the people and failed, but he sympathized with them and won. This is a living education for Cao Cao. Cao Cao was overjoyed at the words of his elders and immediately ordered the three armed forces not to kill chickens and dogs. Here, loving the people and harming the people seem to be extremely contradictory, but both serve his fundamental purpose. This information was revealed in a magnificent conversation with his subordinates after Cang Ting's victory. At that time, Cao Cao was advised to attack Yuan Shao urgently. "Cao Cao said:' Jizhou is extremely rich in grain and grass, and it can't be contested if it is organically matched. Seeing that today's crops are all in the fields, the work can't be done and the people's industry is wasted. It's never too late to treat Qiu Cheng. "People say,' If you show sympathy for its people, you will miss something important.' Cao Cao said: "The people are the foundation of the country, and this is the security of the country. What's the use of wasting people and getting an empty city? " This dialogue shows Cao Cao's true sympathy for the people. First, the so-called people are the foundation of the country, which is the basis of his own achievements, and war is the basis for his realization; Secondly, he refused to join the army. The first reason is that the situation was not very favorable at that time, and Jizhou was "desperate", so he refused to "waste the people's industry". If the invasion is sure to win, in his view, wasting people's industry is also a waste. It is based on this calculation that in Cao Cao's complex and multifaceted character, loving the people and harming the people come together. Cao Cao's heart is attached to Jizhou people, which is the reasonable development of Cao Cao's killing Xuzhou people.
This is the attitude towards Wang Ren, and so is the attitude towards subordinates. Everything is to establish his personal achievements. As mentioned above, Cao Cao is a business sage. In order to establish his own career in Wang Ba, he tried his best to recruit talents from all sides. If Finn finds someone preventing him from doing this, he will not hesitate to persecute him. Xun was also the main counselor of Cao Cao, and made many contributions to him. Even Cao Cao himself said that he was "my ovary". But he just advised Cao Cao not to call himself Wang Wei, but he was persecuted by Cao Cao and died. He also killed the counselor who had done more meritorious service for him. He killed Xu You by the hand of Chu Xu; Kill Huang Zu's Mi Heng who abused him; Killed Yang Xiu, one level above him, on charges of "chicken gang". Shang Xian and Evil Sage came together again in Cao Cao's character.
Through this discussion, it can be explained that Cao Cao is not only the wise master of feudal society, but also a typical image of fraud, cruelty and extreme egoism.