In-depth Chinese Course 2017 Part 2·Water Margin Course Yang Zhi (Qingxin Youyuan)
Submitted by: Qingxin Youyuan
Email: 444710321@qq.com
1. Text Interpretation
Is Yang Zhi a hero or a mediocre person?
At first glance, Yang Zhi is a heroic man with both wisdom and courage.
Yang Zhi’s main deeds are as follows:
When he was in Liangshan, he fought against Lin Chong and refused to enter Liangshan.
Er sold a knife in Tokyo and killed a cow. Er was exiled to the army.
Three martial arts competitions in Beijing won the appreciation of Liang Zhongshu.
Fourthly, the birth plan was robbed.
The fifth is to capture the Erlong Mountain Luocao with Cao Zheng and Lu Zhishen.
Yang Zhi won the recognition of others because of his martial arts.
He tied with Lin Chong, which made Wang Lun appreciate him and won the conditions for entering Liangshan.
Yang Zhi killed Niu Er and surrendered bravely, which earned him the respect of Tokyo people. Because of this, he did not suffer a loss for killing people. Instead, he was sent to Daming Mansion with better conditions, which gave him a chance to rise again.
In Daming Mansion, he fought with Zhou Jin and Suo Chao successively, defeated Zhou Jin and drew with Suo Chao, winning the appreciation and reuse of Liang Taishu and the unanimous approval of the generals of Daming Mansion.
On the way to Erlong Mountain, he fought with Lu Zhishen. The two were equally matched and won the respect of Lu Zhishen. In the end, the two formed an alliance and captured Erlong Mountain together.
In short, Yang Zhi is very brave and has strong martial arts skills, which has won him the respect and status he deserves.
In addition to being brave, Yang Zhi also has a wise side.
Yang Zhi's wisdom is reflected in the following aspects:
After losing Hua Shi Gang, in order to avoid the emperor's wrath and punishment, he chose to escape and wait for the world's amnesty before returning to Beijing. A hero does not suffer immediate losses, which somewhat reflects his intelligence.
In order to restore his lost official position, he spent money to seek reinstatement, which shows that he also knows the rules of officialdom and is not a simple-minded person.
In Liangshan, Wang Lun repeatedly invited him to join the family. He didn't want to ruin his family and taint his parents' remains, so he just found a reason, saying that he wanted to return to Tokyo to reward his relatives, and politely declined Wang Lun's invitation. He also lies very wisely.
After killing Niu Er, he had twenty spines of his staff broken off. Although the beating was not particularly severe, he paid the doctor a few plasters for the sores and applied them on the sores. Compared with Lin Chong who suffered from a stick sore on the road without seeking any plaster, Yang Zhi was undoubtedly much smarter.
When he arrived at Daming Mansion in Beijing, Yang Zhi was appreciated by Liang Zhongshu, so he became more careful and attentive to his orders. Liang Zhongshu was even more happy and deliberately promoted him. Finally, through a martial arts competition, Yang Zhi won the unanimous recognition of the generals of Daming Palace. With his wisdom and courage, Yang Zhi was appointed as the governor by Liang Zhongshu. He rose again and had a bright future.
After Yang Zhi was appreciated by Liang Zhongshu, Liang Zhongshu gave Yang Zhi the important task of escorting the birthday card. Yang Zhi did not agree immediately. He first asked Liang Zhongshu how to manage it. When Liang Zhongshu told him that he would go on the road under the banner of "congratulating the Grand Master on his birthday", he immediately refused and asked other heroes and fine people to go. Liang Zhongshu was surprised and asked the reason, and Yang Zhicai revealed the strategy of dressing up as a merchant to escort him, which won Liang Zhongshu's praise. Before departure, Liang Zhongshu asked Manager Liang Yu Hou to go with Yang Zhi, but Yang Zhi refused again because he was worried that Manager Liang would argue with him on the way. It was not until Liang Zhongshu promised that all three of them would obey Yang Zhi's orders that Yang Zhi was willing to accept the order and voluntarily appointed a collar. Yang Zhi, in order to escort the birthday plan, put a lot of thought into it, and the ideas he came up with were also very shrewd.
On the way to escort the birthday party, Yang Zhi worked even harder. Five or seven days before leaving Damingfu, Yang Zhi was walking on the safe plain road, "get up at the fifth watch, go early when it's cool, and rest when it's hot in the middle of the day." After entering the mountainous area, Yang Zhi "got up when Chenpai was up, and then rested when Shenshi". The two Yuhou didn't understand, so Yang Zhi explained, "The road we drove the day before yesterday must be on a good road, but now we are in an awkward place. If we don't rush there in the next day, who would dare to walk in the middle of the night?" This was very reasonable. He made strict demands on the soldiers along the way, not allowing them to get up early or leave early. When they got to the road, they were also beaten all the way, and they were not allowed to rest in a cool place to avoid missing the journey. When they arrived at Huangnigang, Yang Zhi first did not allow everyone to rest to avoid encountering others. Robbers; when someone was selling wine, Yang Zhi reprimanded everyone, "I don't know that the business on the road is difficult, and how many heroes have been drugged by Mongolian and Chinese medicine." It wasn't until he saw that the merchant selling dates across the street was okay after drinking that Yang Zhi agreed Everyone bought wine; when everyone bought the wine, they invited Yang Zhi to have a scoop. Yang Zhi refused to eat it at first to ensure his safety. It was not until he saw that everyone was okay after eating that he reluctantly ate half of the scoop. Although he was still robbed of his birth date in the end, it at least showed that Yang Zhi was also cautious and resourceful.
But upon in-depth analysis, you will find that Yang Zhi is actually a very mediocre person.
Confucius said: "The benevolent do not worry, the wise do not be confused, and the brave do not fear." Using this standard to measure Yang Zhi, Yang Zhi can only get a bad review.
Among the heroes of Liangshan, Yang Zhi is considered a martial arts master, but he has no great achievements. Compared with Lin Chong, Lu Zhishen, Wu Song and others, his life was also so dull.
What we can remember is not only his martial arts prowess and wit, but also his many disasters. But I didn't see how he rose up strongly. Why? Because he has little cleverness but no great wisdom; he has the courage of an ordinary man but no great responsibility.
After losing Hua Shi Gang, his choice was to run away rather than face it bravely. It turned out that this was a natural disaster, not a man-made disaster, and it was not entirely his responsibility. But his escape seemed entirely his own responsibility. He is absconding out of fear of crime! He just wanted to protect himself wisely, but he didn't dare to come forward. He does not have a big responsibility and his structure is too small.
The knife selling incident also shows Yang Zhi's "unwiseness". Facing the famous villain Niu Er in Tokyo, everyone was afraid to avoid him. Why didn't Yang Zhi avoid him? Isn't it stupid to show off your sword to a gangster? In fact, this is his subconscious self-showing off. Just because he only wants to sell knives, and he sells precious knives. In his mind, the sword is an unparalleled treasure. The knife in his mind is actually his incarnation, his family's origin, his reputation, his status, and his ability! He sells knives to show off his uniqueness. Even though he is down and out, he still has a sword in his hand. Facing Niu Er, he did not run away, but also tried his best to demonstrate the characteristics of the sword to him. Why didn't he run away and avoid Niu Er? It's because subconsciously, he feels that small people like Niu Er are not worth mentioning.
Subconsciously, he looks down on small people at the lower level. Therefore, he was filled with righteous indignation towards Lin Chong who fell into the grass; he didn't care about the provocative Niu Er; he just ate and left when it came to Cao Zheng who opened the hotel, and didn't take these country people to heart at all.
He is conceited. He is proud of his extraordinary family background, his martial arts skills, and his superior knowledge. Because of his extraordinary family background, he refuses to let go of grass; because of his strong martial arts skills, he refuses to give in; because of his superior knowledge, he looks down on others. As a result, he fell on his own ego.
He was conceited, but he could not afford greater responsibilities. After losing the Hua Shi Gang, he ran away and did not dare to return to Beijing. After losing the Birthday Plan, he ran away again and did not dare to return to Liang Zhongshu. He always thinks that he is a good person, but he never reflects on his character flaws. He can only be a person who goes smoothly, but lacks the determination and spirit to rise up in the face of adversity.
He is careful, but so careless that he cannot see other people's thoughts. Although he was the only one to escort the birthday party, this was actually a shared responsibility among the fifteen of them. His caution was only used to guard against the enemy's plot, and he did not take into account the psychology of his subordinates at all. Although the soldiers repeatedly gave him suggestions and complaints, he refused to listen to them at all. He just beat and scolded them, arousing everyone's dissatisfaction. If he could care about them, discuss things with them, and form a shared destiny with them, maybe the ending would not be like this.
He is actually a character with a twisted personality. On the one hand, he is arrogant and conceited, on the other hand, he is cautious. This is actually a dual personality formed in the power structure. Compared with his superiors, he is naturally a small person, but because he comes from a noble family and does not want to ruin his innocent family background, he has to behave with his tail between his legs in front of his superiors, which makes him develop a cautious character; however, in front of the lower class people, he He also relied on his background and status, always thinking that he was superior to others, and disdained to associate with grass bandits and soldiers, let alone become confidant friends with them. As a result, he was unable to get promoted and had no choice but to take a lower job. In the end, he fell into the grass and became a bandit.
Yang Zhi came from a wealthy family and had never experienced hardship since he was a child. Perhaps this led to his lack of understanding of the hardships of life and lack of preparation, so he chose to run away whenever he encountered major difficulties. Lack of enough sympathy for the lower classes of society. He looked down on his fellow soldiers and did not sympathize with their situation. Instead, he whipped and scolded them, so they rebelled against him everywhere. This also paved the way for his failure in Huangnigang.
There are three turning points in Yang Zhi’s life. One was the loss of Hua Shi Gang, who fled in fear of crime, resulting in the loss of his official position. The second is to kill Niu Er, resulting in being exiled from the army. The third is to fall into the birth chart, resulting in being forced to fall into the grass. The common reason for all three is his arrogance and intolerance. Sha Niu Er wins sympathy and respect, further strengthening his ego. And his arrogance is because his structure is too small, he is too self-centered, and he does not have the heart to accommodate more people.
Yang Zhi has no great benevolence or responsibility, and has never taken the initiative to do anything chivalrous and righteous. He killed Niu Er not out of righteousness, but because he was forced to do so. Not only did he not act chivalrously, but he also did things like eating and drinking for free. This was why he and Cao Zheng fought. Just because Cao Zheng was Lin Chong's apprentice and he happened to know Lin Chong, he and Cao Zheng turned enemies into friends.
Therefore, it can be said that Yang Zhi’s ambition is a small ambition and his wisdom is a small wisdom.
He never forgets that he is his wife and son, living up to his ancestors' innocence. He has no mind for the world and no concern for the people. Liang Zhongshu treated him well and appreciated him, so he loyally worked for Liang Zhongshu, regardless of the fact that the property Liang Zhongshu asked him to escort was ill-gotten gains; it was unkind and unjust to only work for his master and not care about the people.
When the Hua Shi Gang was lost, and the Birthday Gang was robbed, he just walked away, "being unfaithful for others", which is disloyalty and unbelief.
Escorting the birthday party was obviously a team matter, but Yang Zhi only regarded it as his own business, treating all the soldiers as slaves and tools, making himself a loner. ; The right way has many helpers, but the wrong way has few helpers. Yang Zhi did not understand this truth. This is unwise and unwise.
After losing the birthday steel, you dare not take responsibility and leave, and you do not dare to go back and explain the situation to your superiors to take advantage of the crime. This is not what a brave man does; absconding once is not right, but absconding a second time is not right. Not being ashamed of one's own mistakes, but instead telling others about one's bad luck, is typical shameless ignorance.
Yang Zhi's martial arts skills are comparable to those of Lin Chong, Lu Zhishen and Wu Song. However, he always felt that his life was not exciting enough. He is tolerant, but not as good as Lin Chong; he is kind, but not as good as Lu Zhishen; he is careful, but not as good as Wu Song. He was good at everything, but perfect at none. So this created his mediocrity. The fundamental thing is that he only has a little wisdom and courage, but no big responsibility, and lacks some strength and thickness of life.
Therefore, Yang Zhi is only wise and courageous on the surface. A deeper analysis shows that he is neither benevolent, wise, nor brave. His failure is doomed, and his mediocrity is his own conscious or unconscious self-choice. It is true that character determines destiny. With this in mind, can we not be more vigilant?
2. Teaching Design
In the first lesson, we will have an overall grasp of Yang Zhi’s life and character.
1 What kind of person do you think Yang Zhi is?
2 List Yang Zhi’s main experiences.
3 Yang Zhi had several major setbacks. How did he face them?
4Is Yang Zhi a hero? Compare Wu Song and Lu Zhishen, and make a brief analysis.
In the second lesson, we will look at Yang Zhi’s character from the fact that he lost his birth date.
1. How did Yang Zhi get the opportunity to escort the birthday card?
2After Yang Zhi got this opportunity, how did he arrange it?
3 Why did Yang Zhi fail despite being so smart?
4. What did Yang Zhi do after the failure? How did everyone do it?