Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as an excellent historical novel reflecting the political life of feudal society, involves a rather complicated concept of "loyalty" and shows loyalty in many places. For the first time, the novel begins with "The Night Banquet in Taoyuan" and arranges the appearances of the main positive characters Liu, Guan and Zhang. They met by chance and adored each other. On the basis of political ideals, they became half-brothers. "Taoyuan Jieyi" became the beginning of the book, which determined the relationship between the characters and the focus of the book. In many chapters of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the theme of "righteousness" has also been used many times. For example, Hard-working Royal Family Ma Teng Ju Yi (back to 10), Gathering Righteousness of Officials in Huichu Town (back to 28), Guan Yunchang Yi Fang Cao (back to 50), Zhang Yiyi Fang Yan Yan (back to 63), Zhuge Dan Yi Qiu Si Mazhao (back to1650). The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has also created many heroic images of loyalty and righteousness, among which Guan Yu's image of loyalty and righteousness is deeply loved and revered by the people, respected and deified by the feudal ruling class, and even rulers of all ethnic groups regard him as the embodiment of loyalty and courage and respect him as a god in the sky. First, the formation of Guan Yu's loyal image 1. The prototype of Guan Yu's image of loyalty and righteousness has appeared in folk art and has been continuously improved in many works in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Zhang Lei's Ming Dow Magazine in the Song Dynasty said: "The capital has a rich family, few people specialize in wealth, and rogues try their best to lure them. And this son is good at making movies. Every time Guan Yu was beheaded, he burst into tears and asked the messenger to slow down. " It can be seen that "Guan Gong died for loyalty" in folk art shadow play is touching. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Drama of the Three Kingdoms in the Yuan Dynasty all mentioned Guan Yu's loyalty, including gathering righteousness in the ancient city, traveling alone for thousands of miles, and making friends with Liu Taoyuan. There are contents of "Peach Blossom" and "Giving Money to Seal Gold" in the Yuan Magazine "The Story of the Three Kingdoms". 2. The image of Guan Yu's loyalty was further shaped in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There is no record of "Liu, Guan and Zhang became sworn friends in Taoyuan" in Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms. But in the Yuan Dynasty's zaju, the story of "making love in Taoyuan" was invented. However, the love story in zaju only stays on the basis of "sharing weal and woe" and "heroes know heroes and meet each other late", and the ideological level is not high. In the sworn vows of Liu, Guan and Zhang Taoyuan in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is pointed out that "although their surnames are different, they are brothers, working together to help the poor and serve the country in peace and prosperity ..." This fully shows that their sworn relationship not only has the same ideological basis, but also has a clear political purpose, which meets the requirements of the times. Here, the image of Guan Yu's loyalty and righteousness has been shaped to be more popular with the people. Second, the connotation and characteristics of Guan Yu's loyalty. Loyalty and righteousness is a very important group of thoughts in China's ideological and cultural tradition. It is the foundation of people's standing and acting in feudal society for thousands of years and the norm of ideological and moral behavior. The two concepts of loyalty and righteousness have general connotation and specific connotation. Generally speaking, loyalty means doing your best to others, such as "being unfaithful to others"; Righteousness refers to rationality, such as "faithfulness to righteousness". In a specific sense, loyalty refers to doing one's best to the king and absolutely obeying him; Righteousness means being loyal to others, especially friends, and not changing your mind. Guan Yu in Romance of the Three Kingdoms is an outstanding figure who is famous for his heavy righteousness. Righteousness is his most outstanding virtue, which was called "absolute righteousness" by Mao Zonggang in Qing Dynasty. How should we know Guan Yu's benevolence and righteousness? Robert Rhulman, an American sinologist, believes that Guan Yu's meaning "actually has many meanings, which are easily intertwined and become an inextricable knot". "Although the official biographer explained it, this hero still showed the complexity of life." (The traditional hero in China's popular novels and plays) His views have some truth. The formation of Guan Yu has gone through a long process of centuries, thus gaining lasting vitality. In him, he integrated the traditional moral concept and spirit unique to our nation, and embodied the unique aesthetic consciousness of the ancients. Guan Yu's loyalty is mainly reflected in two aspects: one is to highlight the meaning of Taoyuan; The second is to emphasize the cultivation of personal moral quality. Guan Yu abides by the meaning of Taoyuan, which is mainly reflected in the book through his contradictory relationship with Liu Bei and Cao Cao. This is the content of "Guan Yu descended to Cao" and "Juyi Ancient City". It did happen in history that Guan Yu surrendered to Cao Cao. The biography of Guan Yu in the Three Kingdoms records: "In the fifth year of Jian 'an, Cao Gong marched eastward, and the first owner returned to Yuan Shao, and Cao Gong's bird feather returned", indicating that Guan Yu had been captured alive by Cao Cao. In the Story of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu's surrender to Cao has a specific plot. First Guan Yu was trapped in an isolated mountain, and then Zhang Liao surrendered. "Guan Yu studied under the kind words since he was a child, and he was familiar with Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was once virtuous and virtuous ... Cao Gong loved it." Guan Yu put forward three conditions, such as surrender to Han and not surrender to Cao. This means that he was not defeated, not captured alive, but alive for the time being. But after all, a hero like Guan Yu surrendered voluntarily, and his reasons for surrender were not clear and convincing. So in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it evolved into Guan Yu's real surrender for righteousness: Zhang Liao first said that Guan Yu immediately refused to surrender for righteousness: "Although I am a Jedi now, I feel like I am dead" and "I died for loyalty", with a very clear attitude. Zhang Liao, on the other hand, seized Guan Yu's "profound loyalty" and put forward three major injustices caused by Guan Yu's death: First, "when Liu Shijun and his brother became sworn brothers, they vowed to live and die together", and now if they want to die, they must recite the oath of that year; Second, "the second lady died with nothing to depend on today" and "my brother bears a heavy burden for you to rely on"; The third is "I don't think I will let you help save people in the Han Dynasty". In this way, it is a great injustice for Liu Bei to die unsatisfied. Only by not dying can we realize the Taoyuan oath with Liu Bei, which is the great righteousness. Otherwise, he can only surrender. But Guan Yu is a hero. How could he surrender easily? Therefore, Guan Yu confidently put forward three conditions: "surrender to Han and not to Cao"; Support two sisters-in-law; "But knowing where Liu Huangshu is going, no matter how far Wan Li is, it is easy to resign. "In short, this is a conditional surrender.