Cao Cao cooks wine and talks about heroes, what is Liu Bei afraid of? "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is very different from real history

According to the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms· Emperor Wudi", in the first year of Jian'an, Liu Bei was defeated by Lü Bu and defected to Cao Cao. Cheng Yu suggested that Cao Cao kill Liu Bei, but Cao Cao did not accept it, but provided support to Liu Bei and asked him to go to Xiaopei to garrison and defend himself against Lu Bu.

In the third year of Jian'an, Liu Bei was defeated by Lü Bu again, and then Cao Cao launched a general attack on Lü Bu and finally eliminated Lü Bu. Xuzhou also became Cao Cao's territory, and Xiao Pei lost his military value, and Cao Cao asked Liu Bei to follow him to Xu County. Later, there was Cao Cao's famous saying: "The heroes of the world are only the king and the ear." "We're just heroes.

In what context is this phrase being made?

The meta-miscellaneous drama is simply funny

Let's talk about the folk Three Kingdoms warm-up first. There is a miscellaneous drama called "Mang Zhang Fei Havoc in the Pomegranate Garden".

It is said that Cao Cao hated Liu Bei for disobeying the command and wanted to kill Liu Bei, so he invited Liu Bei to drink in the Ningcui Building of the Pomegranate Garden, and secretly ambushed the knife and axe hand, wanting to take Liu Bei's life.

Liu Bei came alone, and it was Yang Xiu who was in charge of pouring the wine. Cao Cao wanted to get Liu Bei drunk, so he asked Yang Xiu to pour himself half a cup and fill it for Liu Bei. But Yang Xiu was looking for Liu Bei in his heart, so he only poured eight points full for Liu Bei, poured it full for Cao Cao, and then fooled Cao Cao to toast.

So he entered the link on heroes, Liu Bei gave an example of who was a hero, and Cao Cao commented on whether Liu Bei was right. Liu Bei is right, then Liu Bei drinks three glasses of wine, and Cao Cao is punished to drink three glasses of cold water, and if Liu Bei is not right, Liu Bei drinks water Cao Cao drinks. So Liu Bei said that Lu Bu was a hero, and that Xiang Yu was a hero, but Cao Cao easily refuted them, and as a result, Cao Cao kept drinking, and Liu Bei drank water easily.

When Cao Cao was about to get drunk, he finally woke up, why am I drinking it when I plan to get Liu Bei drunk today? So he ordered Yang Xiu to be beaten out, and forced Liu Bei to ask, don't give an example, just say which of us is the hero. Liu Bei continued to flicker and not answer the question directly, making Cao Cao so angry that he slapped the table and roared, Liu Bei covered his ears and said, "I'm afraid of thunder." "Cao Cao continued to go berserk, saying that I was going to trap you upstairs to death! Liu Bei was very calm, saying that it would be good if my brother was here, I couldn't go out alone, I was drunk, so I would sleep for a while.

At this time, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei arrived, and the ambush set up by Cao Cao was useless, and Zhang Fei rushed upstairs. So Zhang Fei began to sing, boasting about his brother's exploits and scolding Cao Cao's bad deeds. After singing coolly, Liu Guanzhang went home to sleep, leaving Cao Cao to sigh: "Use your heart and laugh at others." ”

Yuan miscellaneous dramas are always so good at giving people simple happiness.

What interpretations have been made in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Then, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and history are compared step by step.

Cao Cao took Liu Bei to meet Emperor Han Xian, who checked the "clan genealogy" and got a complete lineage table from Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan to Liu Bei, confirming Liu Bei's identity as the emperor's uncle. - It's a no-brainer. The forged lineage table of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" also caused a problem, folk literature is more fond of the number "eighteen", saying that Liu Sheng to Liu Bei is eighteen, but Liu Bei is five generations shorter than Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. Of course, it cannot be said that the title of "Uncle Liu Huang" is wrong, "Etiquette · Hajj Ceremony" cloud, the Son of Heaven said "Uncle Xiaobang with the same surname", whether it is an imperial uncle has nothing to do with seniority. There are also folk nonsense and Confucian classics.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" said that Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was very happy and also wanted to use Liu Bei to deal with Cao Cao, and worshiped Liu Bei as the general of Zuo and the marquis of Yicheng Pavilion. - This is also made up, Liu Bei has these two positions, and these two positions have indeed greatly improved Liu Bei's status. General Zuo is a heavy general with a golden seal and purple ribbon, and this is the highest official position that Liu Bei held before he became the king of Hanzhong. But this was Cao Cao who came for Liu Bei, not Emperor Han Xian who took the initiative to seal it.

Next, Emperor Han Xian and Cao Cao hunted together, Emperor Han Xian missed the deer, and Cao Cao shot the deer to death with the emperor's golden arrow - "Qin lost its deer, and the world chased it", fighting for the world is "chasing the deer", the metaphor of this story is naturally that the deer of the Han Dynasty is Cao Cao's. The ministers mistakenly thought that the deer was shot by the emperor, and congratulated one after another, Cao Cao accepted it before the Son of Heaven, seeing this scene, Guan Yu wanted to kill Cao Cao, Liu Bei was afraid of accidentally injuring Emperor Han Xian, so he stopped Guan Yu. ——This plot is evolved from a story in "Shu Ji". The difference is that "Shu Ji" only said that Cao Cao and Liu Bei were hunting, and everyone was separated, Guan Yu felt that this was an opportunity to assassinate Cao Cao, and Liu Bei felt that Cao Cao was a loyal minister at that time, so he did not agree. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty did not appear in the whole story.

Then, Liu Bei was involved in the so-called "Cloth and Belt Edict" incident.

I always say that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" wants to scandalize Cao Cao in many places, but in fact, for today's readers, it may have a beautifying effect. But on the issue of the edict, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" successfully achieved the goal of ugliness.

Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was very angry when he went back, wrote a blood edict, sewed it in the belt, summoned his uncle Dong Cheng into the palace, and gave him the belt. After Dong Cheng left the palace, he found the blood edict in the belt of his clothes, and when he saw the grievance that Emperor Han Xian said, Dong Cheng cried bitterly and began to organize an anti-Cao Cao team. gathered a group of people, among which the more important one was Xiliang Taishou Ma Teng, and Ma Teng recommended Liu Bei, and Liu Bei naturally joined.

In this large section, Ma Teng is a character who is hard-pulled into the novel, and it has nothing to do with it. And the character of Dong Cheng is basically not next to the historical prototype.

Regarding Dong Cheng, two points of information are provided in the historical materials:

The first is the Biography of Dong Zhuo ·in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, which says that he is a person under Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu, that is, he is a small warlord in Xiliang.

The second is what Pei Songzhi said in his note (probably based on "Shu Zhi"), he is the nephew of Empress Dowager Dong, the grandmother of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty.

This involves a question that has not been solved, whether Dong Zhuo is a relative of the Empress Dowager Dong, if so, then these two pieces of information are not contradictory, they can be true.

What is certain is that Dong Cheng's way of acting is a typical style of Xiliang warlords.

He protected Emperor Han Xian from Chang'an to the east, and when the situation was at its most critical, he saw Emperor Han Xian's queen holding a few silk horses in her hands, and wanted to snatch them, so he sent his men to kill the queen's attendants, and blood splattered on the queen. Dong Cheng is such a ruthless person.

After Emperor Han Xian arrived in Luoyang, a group of Xiliang warlords fought for power, and Dong Cheng saw that the situation was unfavorable, so he sent a message to Cao Cao, you come, I will cooperate with you. Therefore, Cao Cao was able to coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and Dong Cheng was still a key figure.

Of course, in the future, in order to have more influence in the court, Dong Cheng and Cao Cao also had contradictions. Dong Cheng wanted to deal with Cao Cao, but his strength was insufficient, and Dong Cheng said something like this when he pulled the alliance: "At the beginning, Guo Yan only had a few hundred soldiers and defeated tens of thousands of Li Dao, as long as you and I are of the same mind, what are you afraid of?" This is based on Guo Yan's self-comparison, and said: "The gate of Xilu Buwei, the beard is Chu and then high, and now I and Zi are also." "I think about how Lü Buwei developed and controlled Qin Shihuang's father Chu, we also have to take this road. What does Lü Buwei think of Qin Shi Huang's father, the four-character idiom "strange goods can live", that is, Dong Cheng also regarded Emperor Han Xian as a "strange goods", which is by no means what loyal ministers would say.

Therefore, Dong Cheng is just a Xiliang warlord who competes with Cao Cao for power, and he is by no means a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Xian of Han issued a secret edict to get rid of Cao Cao, which was probably just a lie he fabricated.

This was the fourth year of Jian'an, when the common interests between Cao Cao and Emperor Xian of Han far outweighed the differences. Those who were truly loyal to the Han Dynasty and worried that Cao Cao wanted to change the dynasty were the people who launched a coup d'état against Cao Cao in the 21st year of Jian'an. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" portrays Dong Cheng as a loyal minister, how he brought the edict out of the palace from under Cao Cao's nose, how he organized a rebellion to plan the assassination of Cao Cao, and how heroic the final sacrifice ...... "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is written too well, but the result is that the actions of people who are really loyal to the Han Dynasty in the later period are difficult to leave a deep impression, and even wonder: Why can you endure for so many years and act now? In fact, many years after Cao Cao took Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to Xu County, Cao Cao gave people the impression that he was indeed a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty.

The classic scene of cooking wine on heroes

came back and said Liu Bei.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" says that after Liu Bei joined Dong Cheng's Assassin Alliance, he began to grow vegetables, wanting to keep his light and raise his mind. This is mentioned in a historical source that is generally not credible.

At this time, Cao Cao sent someone to invite Liu Bei, saying that when he saw that the plums were ripe, he remembered the past when he looked at the plums to quench his thirst, so he asked Liu Bei to drink, which came to the famous green plum cooking wine on heroes.

The wine is half-drunk, suddenly cloudy and indifferent, and the shower is coming. From the distance of the person to the sky outside the dragon hanging, and Xuande by the railing to watch it.

Cao said: "Do you know the changes of the dragon?" ”

Xuande said: "I don't know the details. ”

Cao said: "The dragon can be big and small, and it can be promoted and hidden; The big one is the clouds and the mist, the small one is hidden in the form, the rising is flying in the universe, and the hidden is lurking in the waves. Fang is deep in this spring, the dragon changes when the time comes, and the Jews have the ambition to cross the seas. Dragons are things, comparable to the heroes of the world. Xuande has been in all directions for a long time, and he must know the heroes of the world. Please try to put it mildly. ”

Xuande said: "Prepare for the naked eye to know the hero? ”

Cao said: "Hugh is too humble. ”

Xuande said: "Be prepared for grace and protection, and you will be in the court." The heroes of the world are unknown. ”

Cao said: "I don't know his face, but I also hear his name." ”

Xuande said: "Huainan Yuan Shu, the soldiers are well prepared, can he be a hero?" ”

Cao Xiao said: "The dry bones in the grave, I will capture them sooner or later." ”

Xuande said: "Yuan Shao of Hebei, the third prince of the fourth world, and many old officials. Now the tiger is in the land of Jizhou, and there are many capable subordinates, who can be heroes? ”

Cao laughed and said: "Yuan Shao is very timid and scheming; Do big things and spare yourself, forget your life when you see small profits, and you are not a hero. ”

Xuande said: "There is a person named Bajun, Weizhen Kyushu: Liu Jingsheng can be a hero? ”

Cao said: "Liu Biao is in name only, and he is not a hero. ”

Xuande said: "There is a person with strong blood, the leader of Jiangdong: Sun Bofu is a hero." ”

Cao said: "Sun Ce is not a hero in the name of his father. ”

Xuande said: "Yizhou Liu Jiyu, can he be a hero?" ”

Cao said: "Although Liu Zhang is a clan, he is the dog ear of the household, what is the hero? ”

Xuande said: "What are the generations such as Zhang Xiu, Zhang Lu, Han Sui and others? ”

Cao clapped and laughed: "Such a villain, why bother!" ”

Xuande said: "Outside of this, I don't know." ”

Cao said: "The husband is a hero, with great ambitions, good plans, the opportunity to contain the universe, and the ambition to swallow heaven and earth." ”

Xuande said: "Who can deserve it? ”

Cao pointed to Xuande, and then pointed to himself: "Today's heroes, only make you and Cao Er!" ”

When Xuande heard this, he was taken aback, and the spoon in his hand fell to the ground unconsciously.

It was the time when the rain was approaching, and the thunder was loud. Xuan De calmly bowed his head and said: "The power of a shock is even here." ”

Cao laughed and said: "My husband is also afraid of thunder? ”

Xuande said: "The saint will change with thunder and wind, and he is not afraid? "I have heard the words and lightly covered them up.

without doubting Xuande.

This section is proud, poetic, and full of murderous intentions, and it is one of the most cleverly handled chapters of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

First of all, in terms of the structure of the whole book, such a paragraph is needed here.

Because of reading "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", what the average reader can't stand is that there are too many characters, the clues are too chaotic, and he will beat you for a while, and you will beat him for a while.

Gather it here, through Liu Bei and Cao Cao on heroes, Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Sun Ce, Liu Zhang...... Talked to everyone. Liu Bei introduced everyone's advantages, and then asked, "Can you be a hero?" Cao Cao pointed out everyone's flaws, and then decided: "Non-heroes also." This is tantamount to summarizing all the characters who have appeared before, and laying the groundwork for the characters who will appear later.

Secondly, the situation of boiling wine in the green plum on a thunderstorm day is well set.

Green is love, Mei is the matchmaker, "Lang rides a bamboo horse, goes around the bed to make green plums", "Leaning on the door to look back, but sniffing the green plums" are all topics related to love. Between Cao Cao and Liu Bei, it is also the feeling of falling in love and killing each other all the way. Cao Cao talked about the past of Wangmei quenching his thirst, and what he threw at Liu Bei was probably Wangmei's thirst-quenching eyes.

The dragon hanging on the horizon, the thunder in the ears, and the scene of dialogue with the characters are completely blended.

Third, this dialogue has just the right amount of depth and inspiring power to understand the hero.

"Wisdom shows the hero, and courage is called the hero", the hero is originally a concept with no moral connotation, but it is obviously a kind of superiority in internal endowment. The understanding of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is exactly like this, so through the mouths of Liu Bei and Cao Cao, the relationship between heroes and success was discussed.

Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Sun Ce, and Liu Zhang seemed to be successful at the time, but Cao Cao denied their heroic qualifications, because they were only successful because of external resources rather than internal endowments, so this success was destined to be only temporary. Liu Bei's perception is actually exactly the same as Cao Cao's, because although he falsely praises these people as heroes, he only praises their external resources, and does not say a word about their endowments or actually does not have a high evaluation (such as the intriguing sentence "blood and qi Fanggang" when talking about Sun Ce). In other words, the verbal expressions of the two people are opposite, and the inner judgment is a kind of sympathy between the "heroes".

If the intrinsic endowment is good enough, even if it fails temporarily, the future can be expected. Before evaluating the "hero", Cao Cao first talked about the characteristics of the "dragon", saying that the dragon is "small and hidden", "hidden is hidden in the waves", this is the description of Liu Bei, who looked quite down-and-out at the time, "Today's heroes, only the king and the ear", this final judgment was actually said at the beginning of the dialogue.

Using today's various sociological theories, it can certainly be pointed out that this understanding of "heroes" seems profound but is actually shallow, because many studies tend to believe that personal factors are not so important, and that it is the structural dilemma of society that makes it difficult for people with lower starting points to change their destiny. After all, as someone brilliantly pointed out: one of the practical functions of modern sociology is to help you who are not happy to blame society in a reasonable, well-founded, systematic and in-depth way, rather than looking for reasons from yourself.

However, it is conceivable that many readers of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", whose lives are not satisfactory and not so profound, can get inspiration from this kind of discourse, believing that they are like Liu Bei, with inherent superiority, and can also "spit out clouds and fog" and "soar between the universe" in the future.

Ome is boiled with wine, and it is also the most mellow chicken soup.

Fourth, of course, this scene really portrays the two characters of Cao Cao and Liu Bei into three-dimensional and vivid shapes.

Cao Cao is hearty and masculine, but secretly observes Liu Bei, this is yang and yin; Liu Bei is low-key and feminine, but in pretending to be stupid, there is a heroic spirit that cannot be hidden, and there is yang in yin. So the answer between the two people is like Tai Chi Pisces, with a taste of yin and yang circulating endlessly. Until Cao Cao said: "Today's heroes, only the king and the ear!" "There was a thunderstorm, but the air seemed to condense in an instant, and the dramatic tension was really like a bow of a thousand jun, which could not be triggered. Then Liu Bei quoted a sentence from the Analects, which easily eliminated this huge sense of oppression.

Real History: What Liu Bei was afraid of

Looking at historical records, the dialogue between Cao Cao and Liu Bei at that time was not so complicated, but there was another mystery.

Liu Bei went to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was very good to Liu Bei, and one day, Cao Cao suddenly said to Liu Bei intentionally or unintentionally:

Cao Gong calmly said to the first master: "Today's heroes, only the king and Cao'er." The primordial disciples are not enough. "The main party eats first, and the dagger is lost. ("Romance of the Three Kingdoms· Biography of the First Lord")

didn't list a lot of names, who is not a hero, Cao Cao directly named it: it was Yuan Shao.

So Liu Bei was so frightened that the tableware fell to the ground.

So what Liu Bei was afraid of was not necessarily that Cao Cao said that he was a hero, but that Cao Cao actually said that Yuan Shao was not a hero.

The relationship between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, Liu Bei naturally knows, Cao Cao's road to power is inseparable from Yuan Shao's help along the way. It can even be said that Cao Cao is the force fostered by Yuan Shao.

Even after Cao Cao greeted Emperor Han Xian, Emperor Han Xian made Cao Cao a general, Cao Cao heard that Yuan Shao was unhappy, so he hurriedly gave up this title to Yuan Shao and behaved very deferentially. When Cao Cao said these words to Liu Bei, Yuan Shao had already eliminated Gongsun Zan and occupied the four states of Jizhou, Youzhou, Qingzhou, and Bingzhou, just like the sun in the sky, and was the most powerful force in the Central Plains.

But this will Cao Cao actually said that Yuan Shao is not worth mentioning.

Obviously, Cao Cao was planning to break with Yuan Shao.

At this time, Yuan Shao's strength seemed to be much stronger than Cao Cao's, so Liu Bei probably felt that Cao Cao was looking for death, praising himself as a hero, and wanting to bring himself to the funeral.

Of course, we can't assert what Liu Bei's mental activities were, but Liu Bei's actions are very clear.

Cao Cao's side is dangerous, and Dong Cheng and these people have no value for cooperation, so hurry up.

At the end of the fourth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei led the army to Xuzhou to crusade against Yuan Shu, who was poor in the twilight of the day, and then Liu Bei occupied Xuzhou and announced that he would unite with Yuan Shao.

Cao Cao really wanted to deal with Yuan Shao, the two good brothers back then, and now the two most powerful forces in the Northern Central Plains, are about to face off at the peak.

This is the real historical background of Cao Cao's theory of heroes.

• (This article is the author's personal opinion and does not represent the position of this newspaper)

Liu Bo

Editor-in-charge: Chen Bin