Zhuge Liang enthusiastically advocated "set high aspirations" and "cultivate sentiment", emphasized "aim high" and "the spirit of people with lofty aspirations", and warned young people not to "rest on their laurels, cling to their feelings silently, and always stay dormant in the vulgar", playing with things and losing their ambition and doing nothing. He himself is practicing such a life requirement. He is loyal to his career and has no personal power ambition. In order to realize the great cause of reunification, he worked hard, worked hard, devoted himself to it, and died.
Unfortunately, he didn't die.
For historical figures, due to different standpoints and angles, the evaluation of later generations is high or low, good or bad, and good or evil. But for thousands of years, people's evaluation of Zhuge Liang has been positive, perhaps to some extent, but the basic position is the same praise, respect and thousand thoughts.
However, since the 20th century, this phenomenon has undergone great changes, especially in recent years, with the influence of the wind of historical certainty caused by post-modern deconstruction, the evaluation of historical figures has become increasingly diversified, and there has been a tendency to rewrite history. The evaluation of Zhuge Liang began to criticize and re-evaluate the reasons why he did not complete the great cause of reunification in the end. While pulling him off the altar, there are also some unfair evaluations called overcorrection. The appearance of this phenomenon is of course beneficial to the diversity of history and culture. However, the deviation from traditional ideas has made many people look at history with suspicion. People have begun to shake their long-term history education and doubt the brushwork of historians in the Spring and Autumn Period, which leads to the other extreme, that is, complete distrust of historical things, which is also harmful to the cultural accumulation of the whole Chinese nation. I want to say that the truth we need now should be the historical truth, not just the cultural truth. The truth of history is rational analysis, not the truth caused by emotion. We can judge a thing and a person by personal likes and dislikes. You can also joke, joke and brag about history, but this is just a cultural phenomenon, not real history.
I don't like to scrutinize words repeatedly in order to study historical classics. But now some people only quote a few words. For example, when you see that "everything is fine in politics, salt depends on light", you falsely accuse him of monopolizing power and having ambitions, and then you doubt his dedication (a sentence in a historical classic leads to a long subjective assumption). Zhuge created Lu Su's Wuzhong Dui to weaken Longzhong Dui. Among the three countries, there were more than ten who analyzed the situation at that time, but which one can compare with Longzhong, including Wuzhong!
The Biography of Zhuge Liang written by A Jin Minister Chen Shou (whose father was killed by Zhuge) is also a positive praise for Zhuge, but why do those self-proclaimed pedants throughout the ages repeatedly belittle people's idols?
Of course, history is pale. If we only look at history, the vigorous Three Kingdoms period may be as unfamiliar as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Fortunately, a Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which combines the annals of the Three Kingdoms, storytelling and legends, has been artistically treated. Otherwise, I wouldn't like the Three Kingdoms, let alone type these words to write this article.
In fact, Yi Zhongtian's evaluation of Zhuge Liang mainly followed the "conclusion" of many historians, that is, Zhuge Liang was a great politician, not an outstanding strategist. Of course, he totally denied the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the myth of Zhuge Liang circulated among the people, and even regarded the "trick up his sleeve" as a joke, denying Zhuge Liang's wisdom and thinking that it was a folk fabrication.
Is Zhuge Liang a strategist or a politician? This is indeed a debatable topic. Personally, I think Zhuge Liang is a great strategist and strategist first, and then an outstanding politician. The reasons are as follows: First, as a strategist in troubled times and a fruitful "strategist", we must have a unique, keen and abnormal strategic vision. This is enough for us to appreciate Zhuge Liang's unprecedented strategic vision from Longzhong Dui. Secondly, Liu Bei is a man who has suffered many defeats and wars. Although there are Liu, Guan, Zhang and Zhao, it still does not help. Until Zhuge Liang came out of the mountain and turned Gan Kun into the overlord, and then divided the world into three parts. Among them, Zhuge Liang's military ability is the most important factor of his success. Finally, Zhuge Liang's political talent is actually far less than his military talent. In the later governance of Shu, if Zhuge Liang didn't "do what he knows he can't do" and didn't want to continue the war, but enjoyed it with the people to adapt it to the times, then Shu could not have been consuming strength in the war and eventually failed. "Since ancient times, soldiers are not good at fighting, and those who govern Shu should think deeply."
So Zhuge Liang is a great strategist and strategist first, and a better politician second.
Then, why do the intellectuals in China always belittle Zhuge Liang's military talents? There are mainly the following reasons:
1. Throughout history, Zhuge Liang's romance and common people have been highly esteemed and even deified. This is an intellectual in China, and it is absolutely not allowed, because the intellectuals in China are the most conceited, and they usually have the problem of giving up others. What they can't do, let alone others. What Zhuge Liang can do is simply a miracle in mythology. Those so-called "intellectuals". So, are there super smart people in the world? The answer is certainly yes: in fact, according to the "28 Law" of Napoleon Hill, a successful American scholar, many so-called outstanding "intellectuals" really belong to the top 20%. However, if the 28-28 Law is divided into 28 points, and the 28-28 Law is further divided into 28 points, then there will be very few outstanding people who are truly outstanding, and how many people are truly fascinated in history? Why are you jealous of such a great man? Can you improve your value by denying those great people?
Second, since history, intellectuals in China like to go with the flow, join in the fun, like fame and fortune, and few people can really keep their true colors. Few people can really stand loneliness and really make unremitting efforts for learning and seeking knowledge. Therefore, there are very few intellectuals who have really made great achievements in China, and many of them stay on the surface. According to Einstein, "they all like to drill a hole in the thinnest part of the board." But indulging in the so-called "achievements" and enjoying the so-called "due treatment" is really the sorrow of China intellectuals. This is indeed the sorrow of intellectuals. Most intellectuals in reality belong to this category. Of course, there are real scholars, but there are too few, and Zhuge Liang's style of reading extensively and traveling around the world to understand the world is even more harmful to those scholars.
Third, Zhuge Liang's "ignorance of the times": In the eyes of many intellectuals, in that era, since Cao Cao had destroyed the North, it was up to Cao Cao to unify and transform the world. Zhuge Liang has too many things to do. Why should he work for a wandering Liu Bei? In the eyes of many intellectuals today, since the United States is the "most powerful" country in the world, it is both democratic and free. How good is it for the United States to unify the earth? Therefore, in the process of the United States launching wars of aggression again and again under the guise of "freedom and democracy", China has so many so-called elites "applauding", but thinks that those nations that resist the aggressors are too "stupid"; Therefore, they like to be worms that go with the flow;
Fourth, according to the idea of biological evolution, future generations should be smarter than their predecessors. Therefore, in the eyes of many intellectuals, Zhuge Liang should be less clever and more stupid than them. But many people will never understand that biological evolution is real. However, intelligence is not equal to wisdom, and true great wisdom is even more difficult to achieve. First, we must have the desire to keep learning, and second, we must really read a lot and understand all kinds of ideas in the world. Only then can we talk about creating new correct thinking and leading the world and the trend of the times. How many people can really do this for flashy, bloated and grandiose intellectuals?
Frankly speaking, I don't think Zhuge Liang is a perfect person who is deified. As the preface says, there are mistakes and mistakes, which are also the places that future generations should learn from. But on the whole, Zhuge Liang is indeed one of the most outstanding militarists, strategists and politicians in the history of China. There is no doubt about it. Future generations can comment on Zhuge Liang, but they should be objective and fair and learn the way to success.