In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Zhang Fei's brave and reckless character is extremely exaggerated, making people mistakenly think that Zhang Fei is just a fierce general and a reckless man, but they don't know that Zhang Fei also has an elegant side. The folks in Zhang Fei's hometown all said that Zhang Fei was a calligrapher and painter, and also said that Zhang Fei was good at painting beauties and ladies.
Ancient military commanders were mostly good at martial arts and were usually called warriors and were classified as rough men. Zhang Fei was also a military general, extremely brave. Although he had a rough side, he was not a rude man. He is rough but subtle. In the Brazilian war, he outsmarted Wakou Pass and defeated Zhang A. This is an example. Entering Sichuan to capture Jiangzhou (today's Chongqing City) in order to capture Yan Yan, the governor of Bajun, so that he could release him without fear before execution was not a sign of a rough man. Chen Shou, the author of "Three Kingdoms", also praised Zhang Feiyi's interpretation of Yan Yan as "having the style of a national scholar". Zhang Fei also likes to make friends with literati. He can write and draw. He is the first calligrapher and painter among ancient military commanders.
Zhang Fei's calligraphy was good, and the "Zhang Fei's Lima Inscription" on the cliff of Bashimeng Mountain in Qu County in eastern Sichuan is his authentic work.
Bazhenmeng Mountain is located seven miles northeast of Qu County and is an important military location in eastern Sichuan. According to historical records, when Zhang Fei was guarding Brazil, Wei general Zhang A led an army from Hanzhong to attack, and they resisted Zhang Fei at Danqu, Mengtou, and Dangshi in the Basheng Mountain area for more than fifty days. Zhang Fei led more than 10,000 elite soldiers to intercept Army A and engage in battle. The mountain road was narrow, and Army A's front and rear were unable to rescue each other, forcing Zhang A to abandon his horse and flee along the mountain path, with only about ten people accompanying him, and returned to Nanzheng. After this battle, the Brazilian region (today's eastern Sichuan Basin area) became stable, and Liu Bei was able to establish a foothold in Yili. This is a crucial battle related to the safety and survival of Shu.
After Zhang Fei defeated Zhang A, he held a banquet to celebrate his victory. Taking advantage of the drunkenness, he used a spear to chisel two lines of official script on the stone wall: "General Han Fei, the first A of the great thief was in Bahuumeng. "Establish *** inscription."
This inscription reflects Zhang Fei's joy in defeating Zhang A. It was not easy for him to achieve this victory. The key was to use the favorable terrain to cut off the Wei army's contact, and then lead his elite troops to annihilate the opponent's main force, leaving Zhang A unable to save him and he was defeated.
Today, the stone inscriptions are still there, but they have been repaired and re-engraved many times, but the strength of the fonts can still be seen. Yang Fa, a famous calligrapher during the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns of the Qing Dynasty, had a banner in his works called "Zhang Fei broke Zhang A's inscription". According to research, it is purely a Han stele style, and it must be Linyuan inscription (the original inscription was found around the Ming Dynasty) ), only some characters are slightly different. "Baxu Meng" is written as "Dangqu", and "Li*** Ming" is written as "Li*** Stone". I don't know if this is the original engraving. But the general content of the inscription is consistent.
Zhang Fei knew how to paint. According to the Qing Dynasty's "Painting Records of Past Dynasties": "Zhang Fei, a native of Zhuozhou, is good at painting beauties." Today, Zhuozhou people say that the "Nuwa Mending the Sky" on the north wall of Zhuozhou Drum Tower is It was painted by Zhang Fei, and the murals in Wanfo Pavilion in Fangshu Village near Zhang Fei's hometown were also painted by Zhang Fei. Zhuozhou people told tourists: "This is absolutely credible."
The folks in Zhang Fei's hometown all said that Zhang Fei was indeed a calligrapher and painter, and that there was a reason why Zhang Fei was good at painting beauties. It turned out that Zhang Fei had a strong temperament and bad temper when he was a child. His father hired several teachers for him, but they all got angry with him. His uncle specially recommended a gentleman named Wang Yangnian to teach him. Mr. Wang served as a general in the imperial court and had both civil and military talents. In view of the failure of the imperial court, he abandoned his official position and returned to his hometown to make a living by teaching. Zhang Fei admired this gentleman very much and practiced literature and martial arts under his guidance. He developed good martial arts skills at the age of thirteen. At the same time, he understood a lot of truths through reading. He became more and more dissatisfied with the world and determined to bring peace to the world and save the people. Mr. Wang was worried that Zhang Fei would cause trouble, so he came up with a way: teach Zhang Fei to practice calligraphy and draw beauties to help melt his strong character. After three years, Zhang Fei's calligraphy and painting have indeed improved greatly, especially his unique calligraphy, which has been highly praised by the villagers.
After former "Yangtze River Daily" reporter Gong Xueru was transferred to "People's China" magazine, he went to Zhuozhou to visit the hometowns of Liu Bei and Zhang Fei. He heard the above stories told by the locals, which were later included in his book "Exploring the Relics of the Three Kingdoms" "The book (published by Xiyuan Publishing House in January 1995).
Gong gave this book to Editor-in-Chief Chen of the Yangtze River Daily. Mr. Chen and the author were friends of the same class in the Fudan News Department. He knew that I was studying the Three Kingdoms, so he forwarded it to me, so that I could get some information about Zhang Fei's calligraphy and painting practice when he was young. Some materials provide some understanding of Zhang Fei's calligraphy and painting skills.
Predecessors have also mentioned that Zhang Fei is good at calligraphy and painting. Ji Xiaolan in the Qing Dynasty also wrote a poem praising him:
After a hundred battles with generosity, Marquis Huan's writings must have been sparse;
Who knows that the script on the couch is inscribed on the cliff. The chariot and cavalry general wrote in his own hand.
Because "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" extremely exaggerates Zhang Fei's brave and reckless character, people mistakenly think that Zhang Fei is just a fierce general and a reckless man, but they don't know that Zhang Fei also has an elegant side. As a military general, it is very valuable to have a literary mind and be able to calligraphy and painting.