Chapter 8 Cao Family Tradition
The late Han Dynasty was characterized by both natural and man-made disasters. Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Shi Changshi rebelled, Dong Zhuo came to Beijing, the princes attacked Dong, and Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor.
Twenty years of war have produced heroes and revealed capable ministers and generals, but they have also trampled the lives of more ordinary people into the mud.
People in Jingzhou have seen or heard about selling children, turf to satisfy hunger, locust plagues, and even "human cannibalism" over the years, but what Cheng Yu did...
"Cheng Zhongde is so cruel and ruthless?" Liu Bei was surprised.
"No wonder when he was in Xuchang, others commented that Cheng Yu had a surly personality and was isolated from many people, yet he was such a villain!" Guan Yu shook his head with disdain.
"I am so loyal to Cao Mengde." Kong Ming also shook his head and sighed.
Even if Cao Cao conquers the world, what can Cheng Yu gain? Even if he ranks as the third prince, Cheng Yu's hometown will always remember this shameless butcher who used his father's flesh and blood to feed the army.
Four hundred years later, Xiang Yu committed suicide because he refused to cross the river because he had no face to see his elders in Jiangdong!
"Then why do future generations want to discredit Big Brother?" Zhang Fei was very unconvinced.
Liu Bei took it indifferently: "It can't be true if it's false, and it can't be true if it's true. Even if the descendants are separated from us by 1,700 years, they can still know that this is just a rumor."
Such a broad-mindedness made Huang Zhong think, "He is indeed Liu Jingzhou."
Only Zhang Fei was still aggrieved, and he planned to go back and find two storytellers to arrange jokes for Cao Mengde! Doesn't he like widowed mothers? Give him five... no, eight or ten!
[Cheng Yu is certainly not the only one who is selectively blind to Cao Cao in the novel. A quick glance through them shows a few typical ones.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that Cao Cao attacked Lu Bu in October, massacred Pengcheng, and captured Pengcheng's Prime Minister Hou Xie. I didn’t write this paragraph directly in the novel, so I skipped it.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao rebelled against Cao Cao. Cao Cao besieged Yongqiu for several months. After breaking the city, he massacred Yongqiu and beheaded Zhang Chao and his entire family. The massacre was hidden in the novel, and the cause of Zhang Chao's death was changed to self-immolation.
The Book of the Later Han Dynasty records that in the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao was killed in a trap and surrendered 80,000 soldiers. The novel changed the 80,000 to be beheaded in battle.
The Book of the Later Han Dynasty clearly records that Cao Cao massacred the city of Ye and occupied the women of the Yuan family. The novel was changed to strictly prohibit disturbing the people and the Yuan family after breaking the city of Ye. This was clearly to take care of Cao Cao's face. After all, Yuan Shao's daughter-in-law Zhen Mi was kidnapped when the city was broken. She later became the wife of Emperor Wen of Wei. The biological mother of Emperor Ming.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records many times that Cao Cao had a military order "Those who surrender after being surrounded will not be pardoned." This military order was completely hidden in the novel.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms also records many times that the corvee under Cao Cao was heavy and the people were miserable and even directly revolted. It was also hidden directly in the novel.
The various embellishments in the novel led the audience to realize that Cao Cao's evil deeds were just that, so some people said that this was his true temperament, and even turned around and criticized Liu Bei for being a crybaby, a hypocritical benevolence, and a hypocrite, which is extremely ridiculous.
"Brother loves to cry?" Zhang Fei's ears tingled.
"This is probably just a rumor from future generations." Guan Yu laughed: "I remember that the last time my eldest brother cried was because Tian Guorang was bidding farewell. He cried and said that we wished we could achieve something big together. I remember that this was the only time that my eldest brother cried. I definitely don't think he loves to cry. "
"Fortunately, Tian Guorang ran fast. Later, we defeated Lu Bu in Xiaopei and met Cao Cao. We fled here and there. If Tian Guorang was still there, his body might not be able to withstand the wind and rain." Zhang Fei said quietly.
Liu Bei didn't say anything, but stabbed Zhang Fei with his sharp eyes: "Third brother, you don't want to think about why Lu Bu can turn his back on guests!"
Kong Ming and Zhao Zilong were still immersed in transcribing, but Kong Ming’s eyes lit up as they were transcribing: “Look at this, there was someone who compiled the history specifically for us.”
That’s not an ordinary treatment for studying history! I just don’t know what my position is in this history book? How will future generations evaluate it?
Huang Zhong was the only one in the hall who looked confused. As a warrior, he only became Liu Biao's lieutenant general in Jingzhou when he was forty years old. He wandered outside the core of power. After twenty years of mediocrity, he made up his mind to sell his old bones. I was new to Liu Jingzhou, but I didn’t expect to see so many things in just two days.
But he understood the events in the light curtain one by one, and listened to the master's meaning. This was being narrated by his descendants more than a thousand years in the future. Then... an unrealistic wish appeared in Huang Zhong's heart. .
"Then this Cao Ah Man later became Emperor Wen of Wei? How shameless!" Zhang Fei didn't see the look in his elder brother's eyes that wanted to kill someone, but turned his attention to a new aspect.
"This Emperor Wen of Wei may be Cao Aman's son..." Guan Yu had a different opinion.
"Everyone knows that Cao Cao likes married women! Isn't that how his eldest son died!" Zhang Fei said plausibly: "Breaking down the city and plundering, this is Yuan Shao's daughter-in-law, isn't this what Cao Cao is interested in? ”
Guan Yu was speechless and reminded: "Cao Ah Man and Yuan Shao are friends of the same generation. It would be inconsistent with etiquette to invade someone's daughter-in-law."
"Do you think Cao Cao cares about this? But you are right, second brother, but it wouldn't be surprising if Emperor Wen of Wei is his son. Both father and son like married women. Is this the tradition of their Cao family?" Zhang Fei laughed.
There was silence in the hall for a while. Zhang Fei said it vulgarly, but it seemed to be true.
"Cao Cao is really a human massacre." Zhao Zilong sighed while copying. Human massacre was first used to refer to Bai Qi, because Bai Qi killed 400,000 soldiers in one battle. Although Cao Cao was not as good as Bai Qi in massacre, Cao Cao massacred the city. Much more, so no one else has any objection to this title.
【After talking about the true face of Cao Cao in history, let's talk about today's topic: When did Cao lose the world?
It's still a novel, because we only look at the surface, and Sima Yi is also half a protagonist in the later period, so everyone feels like Cao's emperor was doing well, eating hot pot and singing songs, and was suddenly robbed by Sima!
If we talk about it in a general sentence, Cao Wei was destroyed by Sima on the surface, but actually by internal fighting.
If Sun Wu could not unify because the host was weak and the guest was strong, then the problem of Cao Wei was that two tigers were fighting.
The most blatant expression of the power struggle within Cao Wei can be seen in Cao Zhi's "Seven-step Poem", which also gave birth to the famous allusion: We are of the same root, why are we so anxious to fight each other. 】
"Why are we so anxious to fight each other?" Liu Bei said that he had a lot in common. In the early years, when Cao Cao was still a Han minister, he wanted to kill him countless times.
Who would have thought that Cao Cao's own son would fight more fiercely later? This is really... Liu Bei picked up the tea on the table and drank it all in one gulp, refreshing!
[There are two traditional groups within Cao Wei.
The Ruying aristocratic group represented by counselors such as Guo Jia and Xun.
The Qiaopei military group centered on generals such as Xiahou Cao.
In the early days of Cao Cao's vassal power, he spent much more time fighting than doing politics, so at that time, the military power was in the hands of the Qiaopei group.
But after the Battle of Chibi in the later period, Cao Wei's territory had been basically determined, military operations were reduced, and Cao Cao's old age led to the issue of establishing a crown prince being put on the agenda, and the friction between the two groups became more and more frequent.
The two groups officially fought a real fire because in 219 AD, a person named Wei Feng launched a rebellion: I surrender to Han! ]
Liu Bei: ? ? ? ?
Meng Xin is on the road and asks for care