Du Fu has a famous poem "Shu Xiang", and the couplet is especially famous: "If you fail to conquer, you are dead, and the hero will cry from now on", which tells the tragedy of Zhuge Liang's success. However, it seems that Zhuge Liang's real tragedy is not here. Zhuge Liang in history and Zhuge Liang in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms have merged into one, and there is no need to distinguish them in people's minds. Literature is history, and history is literature. The distinction between literature and history seems to have been firmly rooted in the hearts of China people. In short, whether Zhuge Liang is a historical figure or a literary image, the conclusion that Zhuge Liang is a model of virtue seems to be inconclusive throughout the ages. As a moral personality, he does have undeniable points. However, as a politician, whether he is successful or not is a debatable question.
Zhuge Liang's greatest tragedy is that there is no successor. There is a folk saying in China that "there is no general in Shu, and Liao Hua is the pioneer", which can be said to have exhausted the bleak situation behind Zhuge Liang. Looking back on that year, Zhuge Liang went out of Qishan six times, with lofty aspirations and his subordinates like clouds. Although he didn't achieve the expected goal, his situation was still fascinating. However, it was during this period that the problem of talent shortage began to be exposed, indicating the omen of the demise of Shu. In the later period of the Three Kingdoms, the "Five Tigers and Generals" had passed away one after another. By the time Liao Hua came out, Zhuge Liang's West Shu was already a spent force, and there were no generals who could get it. Zhuge Liang followed Liu Bei all his life, which can be said to be obedient. However, from the decision of Longzhong in 207 to the death of Wuzhangyuan in 234, he sought for 27 years, but he did not find or cultivate a successor. This is a huge mistake. It was not until the night of his death that he lamented that he had studied art books all his life, and no one taught him, so he took the next best thing and passed it on to Jiang Wei. However, Jiang Weiqi's virtue is commendable, but his talent is far less than Zhuge Liang's. Although there is a prime minister's heart, there is no talent for a prime minister. In addition, it is said from time to time that the building is going to collapse and it is difficult to support it. Several northern expeditions failed. As for the final attempt to save West Shu, it is really puzzling.
In fact, Liao Hua is not a mediocre general. Compared with Jiang Wei, he is more pragmatic. He has a clear understanding of Jiang Wei's repeated ineffective attacks. He said: "Soldiers will set themselves on fire if they don't fight. This is what Jiang Wei said! If you have to fight often because you can't defeat the enemy with wisdom and strength, how can you be unbeaten? " Liao Hua's judgment not only pointed out Jiang Wei's weakness, but also reflected Zhuge Liang's shortcomings. Zhuge Liang's retreat is not pragmatic, which has long been shown in many places. On his deathbed, Liu Bei specially told him that Ma Su was "an exaggeration, but he was just a Sue who got along with others.
As a result, the street pavilion fell, a crusade fell through, and Ma Su lost his life. But when Zhuge Liang "shed tears", he only blamed himself for improper employment. Why should he deeply reflect on his own character? In Longzhong, it was so vast when it was "divided into three parts". However, how desolate it is when it is surrounded by no one to look after it! When he visited Wuzhangyuan in autumn, he felt that the cool wind was biting and he was dying, and he unconsciously lamented that "the days are so long and so extreme". Did he think of this?
For Zhuge Liang, historical evaluation and moral evaluation are often very different. Ho Choi commented in Dian Lun: "When Kyushu was in full swing and heroes struggled, Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei fell in love, and fish and water were like metaphors. We can't compete with Cao Shi for the world, abandon Jingzhou, retreat into Bashu, lure Liu Zhang, meet and defend the poor and rugged land, and arrogate borders. Can only say that he is like Zhao Tuo in a corner of the Han Dynasty. How can it be compared with Xiao He and Cao Can, the prime ministers of the early Han Dynasty? " Du Fu said: "The two dynasties helped the elderly and made achievements." He showed unreserved praise and sympathy to Zhuge Liang. However, when we evaluate everything from a moral point of view, where can we see history? In fact, behind this evaluation standard, there is a profound tragedy.
For Zhou Yu, he is just a foil figure in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, an artistic image deliberately created by the author to better praise Zhuge Liang as a positive figure. Zhou Yu was regarded by the author as the ending of being grieved alive by Kong Ming, which seemed illogical, unexpected, savored and plausible. In the relevant storylines in the book, we can vaguely see some of his talents and courage, but what we see more is his narrow-minded "stingy". This laid the groundwork for his ending.
Zhou Yu's "meanness" mainly runs through many plots around Battle of Red Cliffs and "borrowing Jingzhou" and "taking Jingzhou" after the war, which is manifested in the contradiction between Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang. In The Romance of Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang is the embodiment of wisdom. In order to highlight his wisdom, stability and generosity, Luo Guanzhong portrayed Zhou Yu's impatience and "meanness" everywhere. Long before Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao's army was under siege, trying to destroy Liu Bei, Sun Quan and other military forces occupying the south. Liu Bei knew that he was no match for Cao Cao. When he sent Zhuge Liang to Wu Dong as a lobbyist and mobilized Sun Quan to unite against Cao Cao, Zhou Yu's first contact with Zhuge Liang showed this point. In chapter 44 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in the section "Sun Quan is determined to break Cao Cao", Zhou Yu returned to Chaisang from Poyang Lake and told Sun about the relationship between "war" and "surrender", thinking that Sun Quan's doubts had been exhausted. But when Zhou Yu asked about Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang said that Sun Quan was "unstable" and Zhou Yu "returned to see Sun Quan", which proved that Zhuge Liang's guess was correct, so Zhou Yu gave birth to a bright heart and initially showed his meanness. Then Zhou Yu made a plan to let Zhuge Liang "gather in Tieshan at night to get rid of Zhuge Liang", hoping to get rid of Zhuge Liang by Cao Cao's hand. When Zhuge Liang exposed Zhou Yu's strategy to Lu Su, he challenged him with such words: "Our water war, foot war, horse war and car war are all wonderful, so why worry about poor performance?" Not as good as the Duke of Jiangdong and Zhou Lang. " Zhou Yu was furious and wanted to "lead 10 thousand horses to Jutieshan to cut off the food supply route." In order to counter Zhuge Liang's words, he ignored his position and responsibility and wanted to gamble with others to win or lose. When Lu Su once again stated Zhuge Liang's views on this matter to Zhou Yu, Zhou Yu even shook his head and said, "This man is ten times more knowledgeable than me. If he does not get rid of it today, it will be a disaster for our country. " This move not only shows the meanness of Zhou Yu's intolerance for talents, but also exposes Zhou Yu's impatience in times of trouble. In Battle of Red Cliffs's nervous preparation, Zhou Yu still couldn't let go of his jealousy and framed Zhuge Liang. This is mainly manifested in the two plots of "borrowing the arrow from the grass boat" and "borrowing the east wind". There is no actual fact in history, which is completely fictional by the author. First, Zhou Yu asked Zhuge Liang to make 10,000 arrows in 10 days. At the same time, he "divided the craftsmen and taught them to delay deliberately, and everything they gave was incomplete, in an attempt to get rid of Zhuge Liang by Cao Cao's hand again. But I didn't expect Zhuge Liang to easily "borrow" 10 thousand arrows from Cao Cao in just three days, which broke Zhou Yu's plan. If this plan fails, Zhou Yu should learn a lesson and fight Cao with Zhuge Liang. However, when Zhuge Liang went to visit the sick Zhou Yu and told him the cause, he volunteered to build an altar to worship Dongfeng. Zhou Yu's "meanness" towards other people's talents broke out again.
Out of Ding Feng, Xu Sheng two will go to kill it. It can be seen that Zhou Yu's "stingy"-the heart that wants to kill them all is getting worse and worse. As the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces, facing the siege of hundreds of thousands of Cao Cao's troops, he even ignored the enemy's strength and we were weak, and needed to urgently mobilize all his strength, envy the sages and blindly murder the loyal ministers and sages, which is incredible. In the later period of Battle of Red Cliffs's defeat, Sun and Liu groups fought head-to-head around the ownership of Jingzhou, romanticizing the story of "Sanyu", further demonstrating Zhou Yu's meanness. Chapter 51 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, "Kongming is in Zhou Gongjin", was shot by Cao Jun when Zhou Yu recovered Nanjun. The doctor said, "This arrow is poisonous and cannot be treated urgently. If you are angry, your sore will recur. " According to common sense, Zhou Yu should know the importance of being the main military commander and should follow the doctor's advice completely. No matter how much misfortune you encounter, you should keep calm and protect your health calmly in the face of great adversity, so as to stabilize the mood of the soldiers of the three armed forces and win the final victory of the war. But just as Wu Jun defeated Cao Jun and Zhou Yuling led the troops to recover the Confederate army, the Confederate army was unexpectedly attacked by Zhuge Liang. Zhou Yu was furious and forgot the doctor's instructions, which once again showed Zhou Yu's narrow-mindedness-"stingy" Later, the scouts reported that Jingzhou Xiangyang was occupied by Zhuge Liang's strategy, and Zhou Yu was even more angry and shouted, and the golden sore cracked. This is Zhuge Liang's plan of "borrowing Jingzhou", which is really "taking". It is really irritating, but the gains and losses of one city and one pool in the war can never explain the victory or defeat of the whole war. Although Jingzhou, Nanjun and Xiangyang were occupied by Liu Bei, they did not damage the power of Wu, and although they were occupied, they still had the name of "borrowing" and had conditions. Therefore, it is unnecessary and impossible for Zhou Yuyuan to be angry about this, but it should be resolved through political and diplomatic means. In Chapter 54 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhou Yu "took Jingzhou" and encouraged Sun Quan to murder Liu Bei by marrying his sister, and then took Jingzhou. But he didn't want this plan to be seen through by Zhuge Liang again, so he played along and let Liu Bei marry the sister of Wuhou. At the end of the year, Xuande and his wife left Soochow after many twists and turns according to Kong Ming's plan. Zhou Yu personally led the troops in pursuit, but they were pursued by Yun Chang, Huang Zhong and Wei Yan. "When I got off the boat in a hurry, the shore sergeant shouted in unison,' Zhou Lang's brilliant plan is to protect the world, but he will lose his troops if he stays with his wife!' Yu was furious: "You go ashore again and fight to the death! "Huang Gai and Han Dang stood in the way. Yu thought, "I can't plan how I will face the Duke of Wu! Give a cry and the golden sore will crack. "Jin Chuang again, Zhou Lang" stingy "again! Then, in the 56th chapter of Kongming Sanqi Zhou Gongjin, it is written that Zhou Yu led his troops to attack Xichuan on the grounds that Zhuge Liang proposed to return to Jingzhou after Xichuan, and wanted to kill Liu Bei when he left the city to join the army. But he didn't want to be seen through by Zhuge Liang, and sent Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Wei Yan and Huang Zhong to surround Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu immediately shouted again, and the arrow wound up and landed under the horse. After being rescued by the left and right, Zhou Yu heard the legend of the sergeant: "Liu Bei and Kong Ming are drinking and having fun at the top of the mountain." I hate gnashing my teeth. At this time, the novel wrote: "(Zhou Yu) sighed and asked the left and right to take a pen and paper to write a book for Wu Houguo." People gather in heaven:' I am not loyal to my country, and I am doomed. Your kindness to the marquis of Wu will accomplish great things. "When you have finished, you are stupid. I woke up slowly, looked up at the sky and sighed at the sun:' If you were born in, how can you understand!' He cried a few times and died at the age of 36. "Zhou Yu, a generation of talents ended their lives prematurely because of meanness! In addition to these important plots, in the whole Romance of the Three Kingdoms, whenever Zhou Yu is involved, Luo Guanzhong firmly grasps his writing purpose and highlights Zhou Yu's "meanness". For example, in the whole process of dealing with Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu's narrow-mindedness and jealousy set off Zhuge Liang's vision and overall situation everywhere. Through the description of these plots, Luo Guanzhong created the image of Zhou Yu with more courage than measurement-meanness.
Secondly, in terms of military ability, Zhou Yu is "heroic", but he is always slightly inferior to Kong Ming.
First of all, the author highlighted Cao Cao's military command ability through his invincible battles with warlords such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Zhang Xiu and Lu Bu. Then through the unfolding of Battle of Red Cliffs's plot, Zhou Yu's coup was rendered, and even a coup was set up. In the end, 30,000 soldiers and horses defeated Cao Cao's 830,000 troops and set up a China.
In ancient times, the classic war case of winning more with less shows that Zhou Yu's command ability is stronger than Cao Cao's; In the process of organizing and preparing for Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu's tricks fooled Cao Cao many times, but they were all from Zhuge Liang. After the war, Zhou Yu was repeatedly defeated by Ge Liang until he was angry with Zhuge Liang, which further showed that Zhuge Liang's military talent greatly exceeded Zhou Yu's. Zhou Yu, who is superior to Cao Cao, sets off Zhuge Liang, who is superior to others.
Thirdly, in terms of personality characteristics, Luo Guanzhong's descriptions of Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang are consistent. He wrote Zhou Yu as a narrow-minded, impulsive, short-sighted and inconsiderate figure. This is mainly reflected in two aspects: first, narrow-minded, jealous of talent. Romance of the Three Kingdoms returns from chapter 43 to chapter 48, focusing on Battle of Red Cliffs's pre-war preparations. In order to establish and consolidate the alliance between Sun and Liu, Zhuge Liang, as the representative of Liu Bei, got involved with Zhou Yu. Luo Guanzhong used a lot of pen and ink to describe Zhou Yu's jealousy during this period, and described that Zhou Yu tried to kill Zhuge Liang many times on the grounds that Zhuge Liang's intelligence was higher than his own, which would be unfavorable to Wu Dong in the future. Although Zhuge Liang saw through and resolved Zhou Yu's stratagems, such as gathering iron mountains to cut off grain, making 1O arrows within a time limit, and honey trap, he always put the overall situation first, forbeared Zhou Yu again and again, consolidated the Sun-Liu alliance with the generosity of an elder, and created the prerequisite for winning Battle of Red Cliffs in the end. Luo Guanzhong skillfully used Zhou Yu's "stingy" to set off Zhuge Liang's kind, generous and far-sighted image. Second, impulse and impulse. In the Chibi War, whether to fight or not to fight, that is, to fight against Cao Cao or surrender to Cao Cao, has not been finally decided. In order to strengthen Zhou Yu's determination to confront Cao Cao, Zhuge Liang grasped Zhou Yu's psychological characteristics and tried to irritate Zhou Yu with Cao Cao's words of "Er Qiao". Sure enough, Zhou Yu flew into a rage and said on the spot, "I hope Kong Ming will help us break cao thief." No matter what the truth is, Zhou Yu was aroused by Zhuge Liang's words, which not only exposed Zhou Yu's "impulsive and impatient" character, but also showed that Zhou Yu's determination to resist Cao was entirely out of self-interest (fearing that his wife would be taken away). Later, in the section where Jutieshan cut off grain, Zhou Yu was so angry that he wanted to lead the troops himself because of Zhuge Liang's remarks that "Jiangdong generation can't fight with water". Especially after Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhuge Liang finally died of anger, which illustrates this point. Luo Guanzhong used Zhou Yu's stingy character to show Zhuge Liang's mature, steady, confident, far-sighted and generous character.
In a word, Luo Guanzhong portrayed Zhou Yu as a narrow-minded, impatient and inconsiderate figure through characterization, in order to set off Zhuge Liang as a positive figure. In The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong's artistic treatment of Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang did have an obvious effect, that is, he left an impression on readers: Zhou Yu's narrow-mindedness would inevitably lead to his jealousy and short-sightedness. Without Zhuge Liang's magnanimity, foresight and overall situation, and always taking the consolidation of Sun-Liu alliance as the top priority at that time, Sun-Liu alliance would probably break down.