1. Question: Should Zhuge Liang's historical position really be that high?
As a historical figure, people often judge his position according to his historical achievements. Zhuge Liang has made great achievements in internal affairs, diplomacy and military affairs. But after he trained a bad king, he went to Qishan five times without success and helped Liu Chan. These two things have been criticized. On the whole, it seems that Zhuge Liang's historical achievements should be on an equal footing with Cao Cao and Sima Yi at most, but in fact Zhuge Liang is respected far more than Cao Cao and Sima Yi, which is actually problematic.
Throughout history, Zhuge Liang's historical position has gone through three major upgrading processes, and Zhuge Liang's historical position has been upgraded, and Zhuge Liang has been successfully upgraded from a man to a god.
Second, Zhuge Liang's upgrade process
1, the first upgrade-local hegemony becomes orthodox
Zhuge Liang's first promotion appeared in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which was embodied in the book Hanshu Chunqiu. At the beginning of Hanshu Jin Chunqiu, Xi Chishi said that "Jin Yi Yue Wei Han Ji cannot be tried by Wei Hou". He believes that Jin is the successor of the Han dynasty, which was established by Liu Bei, the imperial clan of the Han dynasty, in the name of inheriting the Han dynasty. Naturally, Shu Han should be orthodox rather than Cao Wei. He gave up using the year number of Shu Han in other history books to confirm that Shu Han religion was orthodox. With the Shu Han becoming orthodox from the local separatist forces, Zhuge Liang's position, who assisted Liu Bei, was naturally promoted. Zhou Su was named as a "villain" in the Book of Hanshu Chunqiu, Volume I, On Differing Zhuge. In essence, Zhuge Liang is also assisting the separatist forces, because Liu Bei is the "supreme ruler of the Han Dynasty" and Zhuge Liang is a "gentleman" because he wants to "make the Han Dynasty perish and rise again". In the later description of Zhuge Liang, he worships Zhuge Liang very much, and the story of "seven escapes from Meng Huo" is in his memory.
In order to make his point of view accepted, Xi Chishao tried to reconcile the contradiction between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi. He pointed Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition at Cao Wei, with Zhang He, Guo Huai and others as the representatives. He used this substitution to cover up the contradiction between Zhuge and Sima, which was of great help to the popularization of his views.
Although there were not many people who shared the same views with Xi Chishao in this period, his views laid the foundation for Zhuge Liang's future promotion.
2. The second upgrade-the singing of literati
With the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, China re-entered the situation of unification. Because the founders of Sui and Tang Dynasties boarded Dabao as courtiers, similar to Wei and Jin Dynasties, few people mentioned Xi Zhi's view that "Shu Han is orthodox". Did Emperor Taizong personally write two biographies about Xuan Di and Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty?
However, the good times did not last long. The Anshi Rebellion made the Tang Dynasty in a nominal state, which was quite similar to the situation in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The broad masses of people hope that people like Liu Bei's imperial clan will come out to help orthodoxy. However, Wang Yong Li Lin's rebellion made people give up this fantasy and pursue the kind of virtuous minister who is loyal to the monarch, loves the people and does his best. Zhuge Liang is such an image: from the beginning of following Liu Bei, he wholeheartedly helped Liu Bei calm down the world; After entering Sichuan, the basic system was established, which made Israel compete with Wei and Wu. After Liu Bei died, he devoted himself to assisting the young master. In order to realize Liu Beixing's wish to return to the Han Dynasty, he cut the Central Plains five times and finally died in Wuzhangyuan. The expectations of the broad masses of the people for such a virtuous minister unconsciously raised Zhuge Liang's position, which is reflected in Tang poetry. For example, Du Fu's Shu Xiang and Yong Bei are enough to prove people's admiration for Zhuge Liang at this time.
The chorus of literati in the Tang Dynasty made Zhuge Liang's image higher and more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, which provided the mass basis for Zhuge Liang's third promotion.
3, the third upgrade-mortals become gods.
The third upgrade is the last step of Zhuge Liang's upgrade, which changed Zhuge Liang from a mortal to a god. The credit for this upgrade should be attributed to the development of scripts and novels.
The Song Dynasty was weak in national strength and was bullied by foreigners for a long time. The small court in the Southern Song Dynasty was selfish, and the Yuan Dynasty was superior to foreign countries. At that time, when the distinction between China people and foreigners was quite strong, people were more eager for Zhuge Liang-style talents. Therefore, Zhuge Liang, as a person loved by the masses, was gradually shaped into a character who was "smarter and closer to the demon" in his books and novels. From the Yuan Zaju San Fen to Roche's Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhuge Liang's image gradually became full, from a mortal to a divine man who could predict the Oracle and exorcise ghosts.
Third, the social basis for upgrading.
Zhuge Liang's promotion is not accidental, but has its social foundation. This is mainly a political factor.
In the history of the dynasty, when it developed to a certain extent, the power of the dynasty often weakened, and there were courtiers' rebellion, peasant uprising, foreign invasion and so on. At this time, in order to maintain the legitimacy of the dynasty, people often regard Shu Han as orthodox. At this time, whenever Shu Han is regarded as orthodox, it will be accompanied by Zhuge Liang's upgrade. Dynasty alternation is the political basis of Zhuge Liang's promotion. At the same time, with the decline of the dynasty and the increase of incompetent and corrupt officials, people will expect those virtuous ministers who are honest and honest, loyal to the monarch, compassionate to the people and devoted themselves to it. It is with this social foundation that Zhuge Liang's upgrade will be realized again and again. In addition, the needs of the ruling class are also very important. Sima Yi's contribution was no less than Liang's, but in the end, he usurped the throne, which did not conform to feudal etiquette. The ruling class naturally does not want to see such people widely praised, so there is no publicity. Zhuge Liang's loyalty to his master can be said to be dedication, which meets the requirements of the ruling class. The ruling class just needs such subordinates, so they will also vigorously promote Zhuge Liang, so that later Kong Ming was regarded as a god by everyone, which is also the reason.
Fourth, summary.
The change of any historical figure's evaluation is inseparable from his social background. Today, we think it is wrong to praise Zhuge and belittle Cao Cao, but how many people have thought about social concepts when praising or belittling Cao Cao? I hope it helps you.