In episode 93: "Jiang Boyue surrendered to Kong Ming, and the marquis of Wuxiang cursed Wang Lang to die", Luo Guanzhong described the whole process like this.
In order to resist the Shu army led by Zhuge Liang, Wei Mingdi and Cao Rui appointed Cao Zhen as viceroy and Stuart Wang Lang as strategist. At this time, Wang Lang was 76 years old. The day before the war, Wang Lang asked to talk to Zhuge Liang before the war: "I will come out myself and dare to teach Zhuge Liang to surrender in one word, and he will retreat without fighting." Guo Huai expressed great doubts about this: "What kind of person is Zhuge Liang? Can you be persuaded? "
The next day, the Wei and Shu armies lined up in front of Qishan, and Wei Jun's spies rushed to the front and shouted to the Shu army, "Counselor, please go back to the viceroy." Guan Xing and Zhang Bao, the Shu army, came out from left to right, surrounded by a four-wheeled vehicle. Fan with a black silk scarf and a plain soap tapestry, Zhuge Liang sat in the vehicle and slowly came to the front.
Wang Lang rode out, first reprimanding Zhuge Liang as an unknown teacher, "going against nature and human feelings", and then boasting to Wei Dajia: "Today I am a great Wei, with a million armor and more than a thousand people. How can the fluorescence of rotten grass be compared with the bright moon in the sky? " Don't forget to advise Zhuge Liang to submit to Wei. "If you defect and surrender politely, you are still a marquis."
Zhuge Liang fired several shots, and Wang Lang was criticized to pieces. He first called Wang Lang "the great yuan minister of the Han Dynasty", which touched a sore spot for Wang Lang, then dismissed his generous remarks as "rude words", and then pursued them. "I know what you did. I live on the coast of the East China Sea. At the beginning, I promoted Xiaolian to be an official, I helped Kuangjun, and Han An Liu Xing. When did I help the rebels and plot to usurp the throne? "
At this time, Wang Lang has lost his mind and has no strength to fight back. He angrily and incoherently called Zhuge Aliang a "village man". Zhuge Liang didn't give the king a chance to breathe. "White-headed man, white beard old thief! How dare a dog with a broken spine bark in front of our army! I have never seen such a brazen person. "
Under Zhuge Liang's rapid-fire attack, Wang Lang was finally full of anger, let out a cry and died under his horse.
Later generations also wrote a poem, praising Zhuge Liang for cursing Wang Lang to death: "The Western Qin Dynasty has many soldiers and horses, and talents are against ten thousand people. Shake your tongue lightly and scold the old fox to death. "
So, is Wang Lang really a "cheeky" person in history? Did Zhuge Liang really scold him to death?
Wang Lang, whose real name is jing xing, is from Donghai County. During the reign of Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty, Wang Lang was already a famous figure. He studied under Taiwei Yang Ci and was honored as a doctor because he was familiar with Confucian classics. Later, he became the magistrate of Peng's county. After Yang Ci's death, Wang Lang resigned and mourned for him.
In A.D. 190, Wang Lang was appointed as the prefect of Huiji by Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty.
In A.D. 194, Sun Ce led an army to attack Huiji. Yu Fan, a subordinate of Wang Lang, advised him to stay away temporarily and not to throw eggs at stones. However, Wang Lang believed that he should perform his duties as a court official, so he confronted Sun Ce in Guling.
Sun Ce failed in several attacks, and later adopted Sun Jing's plan and defeated Wang Lang. Wang Lang had to surrender to Sun Ce in order to save his people. Sun Ce heard that Wang had read many poems and admired them for a long time, so he sent Zhang Zhao, an etiquette, to persuade Wang Lang to work for him. But Wang Lang resolutely refused to accept it. Sun Ce cherished Wang Lang's talent and didn't want to kill him.
In AD 196, Cao Cao recruited Wang Lang in the name of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty. After several years of tossing and turning, Wang Lang came to Xudu and was appointed as an admonition doctor. From then on, after three generations of Cao Wei, Wang Lang served as a military wine festival in Cao Cao's period, and successively served as satrap, Shaofu, Fengchang and Dali in Wei County. When he was in Dali, "forgiveness is the most important thing, and sin is the least, so he is famous for governing prisons."
After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi abolished Han as emperor and promoted Wang Lang as Shu Ren, which was praised by Cao Pi as: "These three men are great men, and it is almost impossible for future generations to continue!"
In 227 AD, Cao Rui acceded to the throne, and Wang Lang was transferred to Stuart, who was appointed as Lanling Hou. In the second year, Wang Lang died in Xudu, nearly eighty years old. Thus, Wang Lang's death was a natural death, and he was not scolded by Zhuge Liang at all.
Although Wang Lang's fame is far less than that of Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, he has achieved fruitful results, mainly in the following aspects.
First, be sympathetic to people's feelings and emphasize lighter punishment.
During the period of Cao Pi, Wang Lang, as an ancient scholar, repeatedly suggested that the emperor should show sympathy to the people, reduce their corvee burden and let them concentrate on agricultural production. This will not only enable people to live and work in peace and contentment, but also increase the income of the country. At the same time, officials are also advised to "be careful of prisons" and not to kill innocent people indiscriminately, let alone ignore human lives.
Second, advocate thrift and oppose extravagance and waste.
Wei Wendi likes hunting and writing poems, and North Korean officials also wrote letters many times, but they were all punished by Cao Pi, or killed or deposed. In this case, Wang Lang still bluntly remonstrated with Cao Pi and advised him to "be cautious and stick to the doctrine". Because of Wang Lang's esteem, xelloss didn't embarrass him, but turned a deaf ear to his advice and went his own way.
Cao Rui and Wei Mingdi like to build large-scale projects and recruit talents, but their ability to govern the country is not good enough. Wang Lang also advised him many times to "work hard and prepare for glory". It is unnecessary to build palaces and waste people's money. Similarly, Cao Rui ignored Wang Lang's advice and went its own way.
Third, there are a lot of talents and a collection of classics.
Wang Lang was first appointed as a doctor by Emperor Han Ling because he was familiar with the classics. Later, after worshipping Taiwei Yang Ci as a teacher, his talent was further improved. Wang Lang is a well-read and prolific writer, with 34 volumes of collected works such as Zhouyi Biography, Chunqiu Biography and Filial Piety Biography. He was a famous Confucian scholar in Cao Wei period.
Chen Shou praised Wang Lang in the "History of the Three Kingdoms" and thought that he was "elegant, gentle and harmless. Although I am poor, I don't know what to do, but I have a sense of old age. It is very meaningful to divide more and cut less. " In Wei Shu, he was rated as "elegant, strict, generous, dignified and diligent".
It can be seen that Wang Lang in history is by no means a "brazen man" as Zhuge Liang said, but a man with profound knowledge, complete honesty and "handsome for a while".