Title picture: Stills from the movie "Man Jianghong".
Reading Yu Qian is the loyal soul of reading the countryman; Reading Yuan Chonghuan is to read to love and sex. And every child should read Yue Fei more from an early age.
Using history as a mirror can tell you what you gain and lose, but using people as a mirror will you know how to cultivate and grow. Yue Fei is like a mirror.
He was born in an ordinary family, studied martial arts from primary school, and was determined to serve the country loyally, from a farmer's child to a famous general of the anti-gold resistance, he joined the army four times, the more frustrated he became, the more courageous, and the four Northern Expeditions were like a bamboo. When he was less than 20 years old, he captured and killed enemy generals many times. When he was 23 years old, he was already a deputy marshal, a cadre under Zong Ze, and in the process of fighting the Jin Army, he achieved a great victory in thirteen battles.
In the end, Jin Jun sighed: It is easy to shake the mountain, and it is difficult to shake the Yue family's army!
His life was full of ups and downs, but he was never humble or vulgar, because he had a backbone and a backbone.
After reading Yue Fei, you can understand why, thousands of years later, why there are still countless people who respect him, and why we still need people with this kind of personality charm. Today, I recommend a new work about Yue Fei -
If history could repeat itself,
Is Yue Fei still willing to be Yue Fei?
Back in 2019, I tried to write about Yue Fei.
After reading through all the information books I could find on the market, and even going to the Yuewang Temple in Hangzhou, I still didn't feel able to write.
Because, in order to write a historical figure well, the collection and intensive reading of historical materials is only the first step. More importantly, in this process, the writer must continue to get close to the characters and feel the characters, until they get into the hearts of the characters and completely communicate with the characters, so as to write a biography of the characters with real emotions and smooth logic.
However, in 2019, when I tried to imagine myself as Yue Fei and transferred his magnificent life of less than 40 years to myself, what I felt was not the understanding and resonance of Yue Fei, but the grievances and resentment that rushed to the sky: "I" Yue Fei killed the enemy and the country, stained the territory with blood, and did not hesitate to give everything for the interests of the country and the people, and finally ended up with a "unwarranted" eternal injustice?!
And the traitors who persecuted "me" and the traitors who betrayed the country to protect their lives all got what they wanted - Zhao Gou lived to be eighty-one years old, the longest-lived emperor of the entire Song Dynasty, and in the more than 20 years since he abdicated as the emperor, he enjoyed perhaps the most luxurious and extravagant rich life in the world at that time; Qin Hui leaned towards the government and the opposition after the collegial discussion in Shaoxing, and monopolized the power for 18 years; Zhang Jun was worshipped as a Taishi, and after his death, he deserved to enjoy the Gaozong Temple......
During their lifetimes, none of them had ever paid the price for persecuting "me" Yue Fei.
At that time, I was completely defeated by this violent reversal of good and evil and the injustice of the present world - the heroes who served the country loyally were framed to death, but the people who brought disaster to the country and the people enjoyed the glory and wealth and died rightly!
So, what is the meaning of being an upright, brave, for the country and the people, and for the world?!
Yue Fei's life is too wrong! What a loss! It's not worth it!
I don't want to be Yue Fei!
I even have deep doubts: If history can repeat itself, will Yue Fei still be willing to be Yue Fei?!
This was the most real cry and question that burst out in my heart when I studied Yue Fei's historical materials at that time.
Under such a resistant mentality, of course, the real Yue Fei could not be written.
After skipping Yue Fei and not writing, soon after, I ran into the mountain of Fan Zhongyan again.
In terms of personality height, mind realm, and career achievements, Fan Zhongyan is an almost perfect existence.
This once again made me, as an ordinary man, feel a strong sense of trepidation and unreality when substituting for the characters, and I couldn't write like writing about Yue Fei.
But you can't jump over every mountain.
So, I decided to grit my teeth and stumble, pondering, questioning, and exploring in the pile of old papers, stumbling to climb the majestic mountain called "Fan Zhongyan". In the process of mobilizing the energy of my whole body to constantly catch up, get closer to and figure out the characters, I don't know how many times, I feel that my internal organs are swelled by Fan Wenzhenggong's life realm and lofty ambitions, as if they are about to explode.
After nearly a year of arduous trekking, I finally laid a cornerstone of understanding for writing about Fan Zhongyan: in this world, there are people like Fan Zhongyan who have overcome most of the weaknesses of human nature because of their extremely lofty ideals and beliefs—their names are "sages" or "national scholars".
After Fan Zhongyan's short story was completed, I realized that the time had come to rewrite Yue Fei.
Because in essence, Yue Fei and Fan Zhongyan are the same kind of people: forgetting themselves for the country, worrying first and then being happy.
In the past, after I replaced Yue Fei, the reason why I was immersed in the injustices of the sky-high and couldn't let go, and even gave birth to the question "If history can be repeated, will Yue Fei still be Yue Fei?" was because at that time, I was completely a hero and a great man who saved the belly of the world with the heart of an ordinary man and a layman, and was still measuring Yue Fei's life gains and losses with the pattern of "paying so much, what benefits to him and what he has gained".
I'm really ashamed.
From the very beginning, Yue Fei chose a path to transcend himself as "driving away the enemy captives and recovering the rivers and mountains"!
High-ranking officials, wealth, health, and a smooth life, these things that all living beings are striving for are not Yue Fei's ambitions, if Yue Fei's ultimate pursuit is these, and follow Gaozong to be a surrender faction, isn't everything at your fingertips?
His original intention of serving the country loyally is not for himself, but for the benefit of the country and the people.
If history could repeat itself, would Yue Fei still be willing to be Yue Fei?
The answer is that if history repeats itself, Yue Fei will no longer be Yue Fei who kills the enemy and serves the country, then he will not be able to become Yue Fei.
At the last moment of his life, he may regret that he did not meet Mingjun and failed to realize his lifelong ambition of recovering rivers and mountains, but he will never regret and question his life choice to serve the country loyally.
The more I read Yue Fei, the more I can deeply feel: Yue Fei's biggest "weakness" is that he can never ignore the suffering of the country and the people, he is a real hero and a national soldier.
Before writing about Yue Fei, my life pursuit was very simple: to do what I loved, and try to make a living from it, so that I could live my life as freely as possible. After writing Yue Fei, I can't help but ask myself: In this only one life, can I be like Yue Fei, jump out of my ego at some moments, and do something for the country, the nation or others, even if it is to contribute a little bit of strength.
So, looking back at the sigh I made in 2019: what is the meaning of being an upright, brave, for the country and the people, and for the world?
The answer is that this spirit will be passed down from generation to generation, inspiring countless future generations to embark on the path of self-transcendence.
Encourage you.