Du Fu, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, praised history, and his poem Red Cliff is unique and well-known:
A broken iron halberd sank into the sand and disappeared, only to find that it was the remnant of Battle of Red Cliffs after grinding and washing. If the east wind is not convenient for Zhou Yu, I'm afraid the outcome will be Cao Cao's victory and Er Qiao's detention in Tongquetai.
"Er Qiao" is two beautiful women in Wu Dong with unusual identities. Da Qiao is Sun Ce's wife and Xiao Qiao is Zhou Yu's wife. The meaning of this poem is that if the east wind hadn't started to burn Cao Bing in one fell swoop in those days, there would have been two more beautiful women on the bronze sparrow terrace full of spring scenery, and Soochow would have ceased to exist. Luo Guanzhong, a novelist at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, had a deep understanding of Samadhi and got the essence of poetry. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he invented three touching storylines.
Back to the thirty-fourth time, "Mrs. Cai listened to the secret language through the screen and pranced over Tanxi", and wrote that Cao Cao was "above the Zhanghe River" and "built a bronze sparrow terrace" in order to "make two flying bridges and fly".
Back to the forty-fourth chapter, "Zhuge Liang tricked Zhou Yu, and Sun Quan made up his mind to defeat Cao Cao", it was written that Cao Cao led the army south, Zhuge Liang reached an alliance with Sun Liu in Soochow, and * * * defeated Cao Bing, while the civil servants in Soochow wanted to surrender, and the military commanders wanted to fight, so it was difficult to decide. Zhuge Liang challenged Zhou Yu on the grounds that Cao Cao wanted to seize the Bronze Pagoda of the Second Bridge, and recited Cao Zhi's Ode to the Bronze Pagoda in time: "Take the Second Bridge in the southeast and have fun with it." Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu flew into a rage and vowed to fight Cao Cao. In fact, the "second bridge" in Fu refers to the above-mentioned "two flying bridges", and the ancient word "Qiao" is "bridge", which was deliberately misinterpreted by Zhuge Liang.
The forty-eighth time "Banqueting the Yangtze River and Cao Cao's Poems, Locking Warships for the Northern Army" wrote that Cao Cao was drunk and said to the generals: "I am fifty-four years old this year. If I win Jiangnan, I will be happy. I used to be very close to Joe, and I know that both their daughters have national colors. Only to be married by Sun Quan and Zhou Yu. Today, I built a new bronze sparrow terrace on the Zhanghe River. If I win Jiangnan, I will marry Er Qiao and put it on the terrace to entertain my old age. I hope this is enough! "
These three plots echo each other. The first plot paves the way for the latter two plots. The second plot highlights Zhuge Liang's resourcefulness and wisdom, and reflects Zhou Yu's narrow mind in anger. The latter plot not only supplements the first two plots, promotes the development of the story, but also deliberately exposes Cao Cao's lust for women.
In fact, all three plots are false. According to historical records, Battle of Red Cliffs took place in the 13th year of Jian 'an, Tongquetai was built in the last three years, and Cao Zhi's Ode to Tongquetai was published in the last five years. The sentences "Embrace Er Qiao in the Southeast" were originally not included in Fu, but were invented by the author. Obviously, Tongquetai has nothing to do with Battle of Red Cliffs. However, Luo Guanzhong wrote this story vividly, which is amazing. Although there is no historical basis, it is a real artistic creation. This is due to Mutu's poem Red Cliff. Therefore, after the forty-eighth novel, the author wrote Cao Cao's oath to seize "Er Qiao". He quoted this poem, which confirmed the previous plot, gave people a more real feeling, and also predicted the endgame of Cao Cao's 800,000 troops. This is a brilliant idea!
It is true that Luo Guanzhong is a generous, imaginative and fictional artistic genius. However, without the inspiration of Du Mu's unique and humorous epic poem, he would never have written such a reasonable and fascinating story. Of course, Du Mu, who lived in the 9th century A.D., never imagined that he had made such a contribution to the creation of The Romance of Three Kingdoms more than 500 years after his death.