But romance and legend cannot constitute official history after all. At an international symposium on Guan Yu held not long ago, a paper entitled Guan Yu in Official History and Guan Yu in Romance by Yin Yungong, director and researcher of the Institute of Journalism and Communication of China Academy of Social Sciences, caused controversy. He showed a completely different image of Guan Yu from the Romance.
Guan Yu's martial arts is not weak, but is it really superior and unparalleled?
According to legend, Guan Yu's martial arts are superb and unparalleled, which is also the main reason why he is regarded as a "warrior saint". Throughout the twenty-four history, famous soldiers came forth in large numbers, and only Guan Yu was called the emperor and revered as a god. Is Guan Yu's martial arts really as superb as the legend, enough to be called a "saint" and a "god"?
Mr. Yin introduced that Chen Shou, the author of The Three Kingdoms, listed Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun as one volume, and commented: "Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are all enemies, and they are all tiger ministers in the world." This shows that Guan Yu really has "ten thousand enemies."
However, through textual research, Mr. Yin found that there were many generals at the same level during the Three Kingdoms period, and even the level was second to none. For example, when Cao Cao's general Pound was fighting Guan Yu, he once shot a feather in the forehead. Pound often rides a white horse to the battlefield. Guan Yu's men called him General White Horse, and they were all afraid of him. Guan Yu's martial arts is high, but he was captured twice; Especially incredible is that the battle-hardened Guan Yu was defeated by Maicheng and calculated by Ma Zhong, a little-known teenager in Wu Dong. Mr. Yin thinks that the author exaggerated Guan Yu's ability in the romance. Guan Yu's martial arts is not weak, but it is not to the point where no one can beat him.
Guan Yu is not a bad woman. He once compared beauty with Cao Cao.
In legends and romance novels, Guan Yu is mostly said to be a great hero and a gentleman who is not close to women. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms mentions that Cao Cao once gave Guan Yu ten beautiful women, but he was not tempted and sent them all to serve Mrs. Gan and Mrs. Mi. However, according to Mr Yin's research, Guan Yu not only likes beautiful women, but also once competed with Cao Cao for beautiful women.
There is a historical fact in the annals of the Three Kingdoms: Cao Cao and Liu Bei led troops to besiege Lu Bu, and Lu Bu sent Qin out of the city to ask the Governor of Hanoi for help. Guan Yu heard that Qin's wife was outstanding in appearance and still stayed in Xiapi City, so he repeatedly asked Cao * * not to have children and asked him for a wife. "That is to say, his wife didn't have a son. If you attack the city, please give him Qin's wife.
Cao Cao agreed to his request, but Cao Cao didn't seem to care too much. When he reached the besieged city, Guan Yu repeatedly asked Cao Cao. Unexpectedly, Cao Mengde saw Guan Yu's eagerness and doubted Du Fu's unusual beauty. After the fall of the city, Cao Cao personally summoned Du Fu. It was really beautiful, so he kept it for his own use. Guan Yu hated Cao Cao for this, and wanted to kill Cao Cao while Liu Bei and Cao Cao were hunting together, but Liu Bei stopped him.
Mr. Yin thinks that the beauty that Cao Cao gave Guan Yu is false; It is true that Cao Cao and Guan Yu are fighting for beautiful women. Although Guan Yu has not been judged as a lecherous by this historical fact, at least it can be seen that people have been praising Guan Yu for not being good at women for a long time, which is nonsense.
Guan Yu is not loyal and righteous, and his quality is questionable.
Everyone thinks that Guan Yu is brave and chivalrous, and there are stories that have been passed down as beautiful talks, such as "three things in Tuntushan" and "six generals in five customs". Mr. Yin believes that all these are caused by Luo Guanzhong's distortion of historical facts and exaggeration and beautification of Guan Yu in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Teacher Yin quoted the historical facts of the Battle of Guandu in the History of the Three Kingdoms for analysis. In the fifth year of Jian 'an, Cao Caodong recruited Liu Bei. After Liu Bei failed, he defected to Yuan Shao. After Guan Yu was captured, Cao Cao treated him very well and intended to keep him. Guan Yu said, "I know very well that Tsao Gong is kind to me, but I was sworn to death by General Liu's kindness and I can't carry it back. Finally, I quit. I want to do something to repay Cao Gong. " He knows that Cao Cao is very kind to him, but he has already owed Liu Bei a lot, and he will pay back to his death and cannot betray him. But I will never live up to Cao Cao's kindness and will repay Cao Cao immediately.
At the beginning of Guandu War, Cao Cao appointed Zhang Liao and Guan Yu as pioneers and led the army to solve the siege of the White Horse. Guan Yu beheaded the head of Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang and dedicated it to Cao Cao. Because Cao Cao and Guan Yu had a tacit gentleman's agreement in advance, Cao Cao knew that Guan Yu was going to be "the yellow crane will never come to the soil again", that is, Guan Yu was named the pavilion of Han Shou and rewarded him, but Guan Yu went to Yuan Shao's army and defected to Liu Bei. Cao Cao's men tried to kill Guan Yu, but Cao Cao stopped them.
Mr. Yin quoted Pei Songzhi's comment on this matter: "Cao Gong is grateful for his ambition because he knows not to stay. If you don't send it later, it will become its meaning. Since it is not Wang Ba's degree, how is it possible? Hugh beauty of Shigong. " In other words, although Cao Cao knew Guan Yu would not stay, he still admired him in his heart. Guan Yu escaped, but Cao Cao didn't send someone to chase him, so Guan Yu wouldn't violate brotherhood. It was Cao Cao who made Guan Yu's integrity. If there is no king's bearing, who can do this? This is indeed the virtue of Cao Cao.
However, in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong over-beautified Guan Yu, fabricated a series of well-known stories based on this historical fact, tried his best to describe Guan Yu's loyalty and chivalry, and mercilessly vilified Cao Cao.
Mr. Yin believes that it was the battle of Guandu that exposed Guan Yu's unfaithfulness and injustice: Liu Bei and Cao Cao were incompatible enemies. Why did Guan Yu accept the kindness of Cao Cao when he was captured? Guan Yu clearly knew that Liu Bei had defected to Yuan Shao. Instead of helping Liu Bei and Yuan Shao defeat Cao Cao, he helped Liu Bei's enemies to slay Liu Bei's good friend Yan Liang and rescue Cao Jun's white horse. Perhaps Guan Yu did this to achieve a psychological balance, so he temporarily ignored Liu Bei's great kindness.
Mr. Yin thinks, "It seems that Guan Yu should be a man with a deep heart, good at dealing with interpersonal relationships, and friends and enemies can be kind to him. Maybe this is because he is popular in both black and white. "
Where did Guan Gong's image of folk worship come from?
How to explain the phenomenon of "Guan Yu worship"? It was pointed out that Guan Yu was named by the Qing Emperor as "SHEN WOO, a loyal and righteous man, who protected the people with kindness and sincerely comforted Guan Shengdi", which was the strategy and means for the rulers to win over and soften their resistance at that time.
Secondly, Guan Yu's alienation phenomenon. Guan Gong, seen in Guandi Temple, was reshaped and combined according to the psychological needs and ideals of future generations. This Guan Gong shoulders the hope and sustenance of real people, especially as a special bond and family certification for overseas Chinese communities to maintain social ties and public life. "It can be seen that Guan Yu in the official history is not as tall and perfect as Guan Yu worshipped by people. It is an idol that comes from reality and is greatly surreal with the development of history, and constantly transforms according to psychological and social needs. "