Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first novel of China in ancient times, and it is a classic of historical romance novels. This novel describes the contradictions and struggles between the political and military groups of Wei, Shu and Wu Sanda, headed by Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan in the 3rd century. On the broad social and historical background, it showed the sharp, complex and distinctive political and military conflicts of that era, which had a far-reaching impact on future generations in political and military strategy. Before The Romance of Three Kingdoms appeared, China's novels were generally short and pithy, and some even had only a few dozen words. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is China's first novel. We should pay attention to how China's novels developed from short stories to long stories. It turned out that storytelling was popular in the Song Dynasty, and storytelling became a profession. Storytellers like to use stories of ancient characters as themes, and Chen Shou's The History of the Three Kingdoms is the best material for telling stories. Some scattered stories of the Three Kingdoms have also been circulated among the people. In addition, the storyteller takes a long time to draw materials, the content is getting richer and richer, and the characters are getting fuller and fuller. Finally, many independent stories gradually combined and grew into a masterpiece. These isolated stories have been passed down from mouth to mouth in the society for a long time, and finally they were processed into a book, which became China's first novel. This is a great collective creation. It is different from the novel written by a single author in form, which deserves our attention. This novel originated from outstanding talents, followed by The Journey to the West, a ghost story novel, and Water Margin, another historical novel. Romance of the Three Kingdoms has a certain enlightening effect on later novels. The origin of historical literature, the literary value of this masterpiece itself and its influence on later generations are all worthy of our in-depth discussion. Romance of the Three Kingdoms was very popular in ancient China. Song and Yuan dynasties came to the stage, and Jin and Yuan dynasties performed more than 30 kinds of Three Kingdoms operas. From Yuan Dynasty to Zhinian, the Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms published by Yu's family in Xin 'an came out. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Luo Guanzhong synthesized folklore, drama and scripts, combined with historical materials such as the History of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou and Pei Songzhi's notes, and based on his personal understanding of social life, he created the well-known Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The earliest existing edition was published in Jiajing period of Ming Dynasty, commonly known as "Jiajing Edition", with a total of 24 volumes. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Mao Zonggang, the father and son of Maureen, collated historical events, added or deleted words, and revised them into "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" 120, which has been passed down to this day. 1330- 1400, Luo Guanzhong was a popular novelist in Ming dynasty. His native place is Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, and Qiantang, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, which is uncertain. According to legend, Luo Guanzhong was a screen guest of Zhang Shicheng, a peasant uprising army at the end of Yuan Dynasty. In addition to the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he also wrote popular novels such as Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties and plays such as Meet the Dragon and Tiger of Zhao Taizu. Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes the history of nearly a hundred years from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Western Jin Dynasty. The book reflects the political and military struggle, the infiltration and transformation of various social contradictions in the Three Kingdoms period, summarizes the historical changes of this era and shapes a group of heroes. In grasping the history of the Three Kingdoms, the author showed an obvious tendency to support Liu and oppose Cao, focusing on the description of Liu Bei Group, praising the main figures of Liu Bei Group and trying to expose and lash Cao Cao. Today, we should dialectically understand the author's tendency to support Liu and oppose Cao. Respecting Liu and opposing Cao is the main tendency of folklore in Luo Guanzhong era, which implies people's hope for the rejuvenation of the Han nationality. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has created nearly 200 characters, among which Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Liu Bei and others are the most successful. Zhuge Liang is the incarnation of the "saint" in the author's mind. He has the lofty spirit of "devoting all his efforts to death" and the ambition of helping people rebuild a peaceful and prosperous world in modern times. In addition, the author endowed him with the peculiar ability of giving orders and calculating skillfully. Cao Cao is a treacherous man. His life creed is "I would rather teach the world to fail me". He is a political careerist and schemer, so don't confuse him with the real Cao Cao in history. Guan Yu is "brave and resolute" and "righteous as a mountain". But his loyalty is based on personal grudges, not the national justice. Liu Bei was portrayed by the author as a model of benevolence and righteousness, a corporal who valued virtue, and a man who knew people well and did his duty well. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes wars, big and small, with grand ideas and various techniques, which let us clearly see the bloody war scenes. Among them, the description of the battle of Guandu and Battle of Red Cliffs is ups and downs, ups and downs, and it is thrilling to read. The book is not vulgar, concise and lively, full of momentum and lively. Romance of the Three Kingdoms has brought the upsurge of China's historical novel creation, and its series of characters are well-known in China. There are many versions of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, mainly including: Ming Hongzhi version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with simple words and simple content; Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a commentary added or deleted by Mao Zonggang in Qing Dynasty, was written in the early years of Kangxi, and it is the most widely circulated book in the society. People's Literature Publishing House reprinted many times. Romance of the Three Kingdoms focuses on the political and military struggle between ruling groups. With the contradiction between Shu Han and Wei as the main clue, the plot of the book is unfolded, and a large number of princes and heroes in politics, military affairs and diplomacy are created. The main figures are Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao and Guan Yu. Zhuge Liang is an extremely important figure in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He is the embodiment of wisdom. It is a household name among the people, and it is well known to women and children. There is a saying: "Three cobblers make a Zhuge Liang", which shows his far-reaching influence. Since Zhuge Liang was a rookie, he immediately became the core figure in the Shuhan-Liubei Group. Liu Bei once said that getting Zhuge Liang "like a duck to water" not only obeyed him, but also paid almost all military events. After Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang actually became the highest decision-maker of Shu. In order to repay Liu Bei's kindness in taking care of the thatched cottage, Zhuge Liang really did his best to die. . In Zhuge Liang, there are many politicians' virtues and superhuman wisdom. His wisdom and resourcefulness are even more talked about by people. Like Bowangpo fighting, grass boats borrow arrows. Not only that, he can improvise, for example, Zhuge Liang is China people's favorite figure by using the phrase "empty city plan". Through complicated primary struggles, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms reveals the political struggles within the palace relocation, between groups, and between different forces within the same group, as well as the military struggles aimed at greed and hegemony, and reproduces the turbulent reality in the Three Kingdoms period. The book describes hundreds of wars, large and small, which is characterized by paying attention to expressing people's subjective initiative and the use of strategies and tactics. Battle of Red Cliffs is a wonderful war described in this book. In Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang and others correctly analyzed the situation of the enemy and ourselves, and through a series of step-by-step and planned actions, they gave full play to their own advantages, and at the same time skillfully and correctly determined and applied tactics such as fire attack, and finally defeated the strong enemy with the weak. On Cao Cao's side, relying on strength, he was supercilious, arrogant, representative, blindly underestimating the enemy, making repeated mistakes in decision-making and command, gradually losing his advantages and finally failing miserably. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms also describes different groups and factions within the feudal ruling class. In order to realize their own self-interest, they tried their best to engage in intrigue and intrigue, extensively used their strategic forces, and carried out fierce and complicated political and military struggles. This point runs through the book. In order to recapture Jingzhou from Liu Bei, Sun Quan did not hesitate to use his sister as bait, and used the trick of "pulling relations" in an attempt to make Liu Bei "earn South Xu" ... imprisoned in prison, but made people beg Jingzhou to smoke Liu Bei ". After this plan was discovered, he lied that "the country was too sick" and tricked Mrs. Sun into taking Liu Bei's youngest son, Adou, back to Soochow in an attempt to exchange Adou for Jingzhou. After Guan Yu died in Jingzhou, the alliance between Sun and Liu broke down. Sun Quan was afraid of Liu Bei's revenge, so he sent envoys to send a letter to Cao Cao. In the letter, Sun Quan flattered Cao Cao and said, "I knew that my destiny had come to you, and I gained the upper hand. I sent my general to destroy Liu Bei and the two rivers, and I immediately led a group to surrender. " Sun Quan's attempt to persuade Cao Cao to abolish the Han Dynasty and call himself emperor was twofold: first, he could arouse Liu Bei and other forces supporting the Han Dynasty to rise up against Cao Cao; The second is to divert Liu Bei's attention from Soochow's capture of Jingzhou and the killing of Guan Yu, with very sinister intentions. No wonder Cao Cao said, "Does this boy want to roast me on the stove?" However, Liu Bei, who takes the world by benevolence and righteousness, is also good at playing tricks. When Lu Bu was captured by Cao Cao, Cao Cao asked Liu Bei what to do with it. Liu Bei helped to meditate, and then reminded Cao Cao, "Have you seen Ding Jianyang and Dong Zhuo?" Lu Bu was defeated by Liu and was immediately killed. Cao Cao pretended to hear thunder when he was cooking wine about heroes, lost his virginity to cover up his gaffes, and even fooled a generation of treacherous Cao Cao. Zhao Zilong attacked Changbanpo, struggling to save the young master Adou. Liu Bei threw Adou to the ground in front of Zhao Zilong, just as the folk fable said: "Liu Bei threw Adou-bought people's hearts." Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not only an earlier historical novel, but also represents the highest achievement of ancient historical novels. The novel uses simple classical Chinese, which is vivid, fluent, elegant and popular; Brush strokes are full of changes, contrasts, redundancies, twists and turns, and swaying. The structure is magnificent, and the events of about a hundred years and many characters with complicated clues are organized completely and closely, and the narrative is orderly, echoing, interrelated, interlocking and advancing layer by layer. The artistic achievement of The Romance of Three Kingdoms is more important in the description of war and characterization. Novels are best at describing wars and can write the characteristics of each war. Pay attention to describing the application of different strategies and tactics under specific conditions, and guide the subjective initiative of combat, instead of spending the main pen and ink on the simple strength and martial arts contest. For example, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and the Battle of Yiling. The writing of each war also changes with the characteristics of the war. While writing about the war, other activities are also written as the prelude, aftermath or auxiliary means of the war, which makes the exciting and thrilling war seem relaxed and slow. Such as the cooperation between Battle of Red Cliffs's former grandson and Liu, the contradiction between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, the temptation of Cao Cao, and the in-depth preparation of Sun Liu's allied forces to lure the enemy. In the aspect of characterization, the novel pays special attention to putting the characters in the sharp contradiction of real struggle and expressing their ideological character through their words and deeds or the surrounding environment. Such as Cao Cao's treachery, every move seems to hide intrigue; Zhang Fei has nothing but innocence and recklessness. Zhuge Liang has a well-thought-out plan, and he is always comfortable and leisurely in the face of things. Famous articles such as Guan Yu's "Killing Hua Xiong with Warm Wine", "Killing Six Generals after Passing Five Customs", Zhang Fei's "A Great Bridge in Changban", "Zhao Yun Riding Alone to Save the Young Master", Zhuge Liang's "Rescuing Meng Huo Seven times" and "Scaring Sima Yi with an Empty City Plan" are widely circulated. Although The Romance of the Three Kingdoms takes history as its theme, it is not a history book after all, but a literary work. Because of artistic processing, there are many fictions. The artistic achievements of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms are various. 1. It successfully created many characters. There are more than 400 people in the book, among which the main characters are typical artists with distinctive personalities and vivid images. All kinds of roles have their own * * *; People of the same kind have their own personalities. When describing the characters, the author is good at grasping the basic characteristics, highlighting one aspect, exaggerating, and using the methods of comparison and contrast to make the characters vivid and vivid. This is a basic principle of the author's characterization. The best explanation for applying this principle in novels is what people have always called "three unique skills", that is, Cao Cao's "technique of treacherous men"-treacherous men; Guan Yu's "absolute righteousness"-"righteousness is as heavy as a mountain"; Kong Ming's "unique wisdom"-extraordinary wit. The methods of portraying characters in novels mainly include: putting characters in thrilling military and political struggles and shaping them in sharp and complicated contradictions and conflicts. For the main characters, their complex personalities are often expressed through a series of storylines and characters' language. 2. It is good at describing war. This book * * * has written more than forty wars, showing thrilling war scenes. Among them, the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Battle of Red Cliffs and the Battle of Yiling are the most prominent. For several key battles that determine the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms, the author always focuses on describing and writing all aspects of the war, such as the strategies and tactics of both sides, the comparison of forces, and the transformation of status. , colorful, ever-changing, unique, fully embodies the complexity and diversity of war; It not only writes about the fierceness, tension and adventure of the war, but also does not seem miserable. Generally, they are in a high-spirited style, and some of them are calm, quiet and relaxed. Its structure is magnificent and exquisite. The time is as long as a hundred years, with hundreds of characters, complicated events and complicated clues. Description should not only conform to the basic facts, but also pay attention to the coherence of artistic plots. So it is very difficult to arrange the structure. However, the author can write methodically and clearly, and each chapter can be independent, and the book is a complete artistic whole. This is mainly due to the author's grand and rigorous conception. He organized the story of the whole book with Shu Han as the center and the contradiction and struggle of the three countries as the main line, which was both tortuous and coherent. There is a master and a slave, and the master and the slave work closely together. 4. The language is concise and fluent. This language seems to be semi-written today, but it was close to the vernacular at that time; Writing novels in this language is a pioneering work, which is an obvious progress compared with the rough and mixed language of some novels in the past. The biggest shortcoming of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in art is its fixed characters and lack of development and change. This may be influenced by the stereotyped characters in folklore and the limitations of historical materials. Second, imagination and exaggeration are sometimes unreasonable. Mr. Lu Xun said: "I want to show Liu Bei's long and thick, but he looks like a fake. He looks like a demon." This criticism is to the point. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the most accomplished and influential work in ancient historical novels. It is widely circulated, with infinite charm, and has immeasurable far-reaching influence in the history of China literature and people's life.