Three Kingdoms
The title of the era that appeared after the Eastern Han Dynasty was named after the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu. The Three Kingdoms began with the Wei Dynasty replacing the Han Dynasty in 220 years, and finally the Jin Dynasty replaced the Wei Dynasty in 265 years. However, historians often regard the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising in 184 as the upper limit of the Three Kingdoms, and the Jin Dynasty's destruction of Wu in 280 as the lower limit of the Three Kingdoms.
The formation of the situation of the Three Kingdoms
In the sixth year of Zhongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (189), Emperor Ling died, and Liu Bian succeeded him as the Young Emperor. He Jin, brother of the ruling Empress Dowager He, contacted Yuan Shao, one of the eight captains of Xiyuan, and killed Jian Shuo, the eunuch who commanded the eight captains. Yuan Shao, He Jin and others conspired to kill all the eunuchs and summoned Dong Zhuo, the governor of the state, to Luoyang for reinforcements. When the eunuchs killed He Jin and Yuan Shao killed all the eunuchs, Dong Zhuo led his troops into Luoyang and took over the government. He deposed the young emperor and established Liu Xie as emperor, namely Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty. Dong Zhuo's tyranny aroused opposition from Eastern Han courtiers and local pastors, leading to a large-scale civil war.
After Dong Zhuo entered Luo, Yuan Shao left for Jizhou. Qiao Mao, the prefect of Dongjun, pretended to be the Three Dukes of the Eastern Han Dynasty and asked the prefectures and counties to raise troops to attack Dong Zhuo. The prefectures and counties in Guandong responded one after another. They divided the key points of the garrison, elected Yuan Shao as the leader of the alliance, and attacked Dong Zhuo. In the first year of Chuping (190), Dong Zhuo avoided the military front from Guandong and took Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty hostage to move westward to Chang'an. The Kwantung Allied Forces were originally a rabble, cheating and subjugating each other, and soon fell apart. In the third year of Chuping, there was a mutiny in Chang'an, Dong Zhuo was killed, and chaos continued in Guanzhong.
After fierce melee, by the first year of Jian'an (196), many separatist regions were formed across the country: Yuan Shao occupied the three prefectures of Hebei, Qing, and Bing, Cao Cao occupied the two prefectures of Yan and Henan, Han Sui, and Ma Teng occupied Liangzhou, Gongsun Zan occupied Youzhou, Gongsundu occupied Liaodong, Tao Qian, Liu Bei, and Lu Bu successively occupied Xuzhou, Yuan Shu occupied the Huainan part of Yangzhou, Liu Biao occupied Jingzhou, Liu Zhang occupied Yizhou, Sun Ce occupied the Jiangdong part of Yangzhou, and Shi Xie Occupied Jiaozhou. In addition, Zhang Lu used a Taoist organizational form to secure the Hanzhong area and set up sacrificial wine to govern the people. Among these separatists, the most powerful and active ones were Yuan Shao and Cao Cao (see Emperor Wu of Wei Cao Cao).
After Dong Zhuo entered Luo, Cao Cao fled to Chenliu (now southeast of Kaifeng, Henan), gathered troops to resist, and became a branch of the Kwantung Allied Forces. He lured 300,000 Yellow Turban troops to surrender in Jibei (now south of Changqing, Shandong), selected their elites and organized them into Qingzhou soldiers; he also successively recruited some powerful landlords to arm themselves. In the first year of Jian'an, he moved Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to Xu County (today's east of Xuchang, Henan Province), and gained the power to hold the emperor hostage in order to disobey his ministers; he also cultivated fields and accumulated grain to accumulate military supplies. In the fifth year of Jian'an, the armies of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought in the Battle of Guandu. Cao Cao defeated the strong with the weak and annihilated the main force of Yuan's army. He also took advantage of the contradiction between Yuan Shao's two sons to capture Yuan's Yecheng, and successively occupied the four prefectures of Qing, Ji, You, and Bing. land, unified the Central Plains region. In the twelfth year of Jian'an, Cao's army came out of Lulongsai (now northwest of Zunhua, Hebei) and defeated the Wuhuan who invaded the north.
In the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Cao's army went south and captured Jingzhou where Liu Biao's son Liu Cong was based. Liu Bei, relying on Jingzhou, fled south. Lu Su in Jiangdong was ordered by Sun Quan to meet with Liu Bei to discuss countermeasures. Zhuge Liang was ordered by Liu Bei to form an alliance with Sun Quan in Chaisang (now southwest of Jiujiang, Jiangxi) to resist Cao's army. The combined forces of Sun and Liu defeated the larger forces with less, and defeated Cao Jun's navy in Chibi (generally believed to be northwest of Puqi, Hubei Province, on the south bank of the Yangtze River), forcing Cao Jun to retreat to the Central Plains. This was the Battle of Chibi that led to the formation of the Three Kingdoms. After Cao Cao returned to the north, he used troops in Guanzhong and Longxi to expand the unified scope to the entire north.
In the 16th year of Jian'an, Liu Bei led his troops into Yizhou and gradually occupied the original territory of Liu Zhang (son of Liu Yan). In the twenty-fourth year, Liu Bei captured Hanzhong from Cao's army. Guan Yu, who was defending Jingzhou, also launched an attack on Cao's army. However, Sun Quan sent troops to attack Guan Yu, occupy most of Jingzhou, and maintain a stalemate with Liu Bei's army across the Three Gorges.
In the first month of the first year of Yankang of the Han Dynasty (220), Cao Cao died; in October, his son Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor (ie Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei), the country was named Wei, and the capital was Luoyang. It was founded at the beginning of Huangchu. In 221, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu (i.e. Liu Bei, Emperor Zhaolie of the Han Dynasty). His country was named Han, and the world was called Shu, also known as Shu Han. Jianyuan Zhangwu. Sun Quan accepted the title of Wei in 221 and was called King of Wu in Wuchang. In 222, the Shu army came out of the gorge to stalemate with the Wu army in Yiling (now Yidu, Hubei). In the battle at Xiaoting, they were defeated by Wu general Lu Xun and returned to Shu. In 229, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor in Wuchang (namely Sun Quan, the Great Emperor of Wu), and later moved the capital to Jianye (see Jiankang) to establish the Kingdom of Wu. Shortly after the Battle of Xiaoting, Shu and Wu restored their alliance and fought against Cao Wei. Although there were still wars between the north and the south, sometimes on a relatively large scale, generally speaking, the forces were generally balanced, and the tripartite power had been maintained for more than forty years.
The territory of the Three Kingdoms generally includes Wei in the north, Shu in the southwest, and Wu in the southeast. Wei established the prefectures of Si, Yu, Yan, Qing, Xu, Liang, Yong, Ji, You, Bing, Jing, and Yang. Among them, Liangzhou led Wuji Xiaowei to protect the Western Region; Youzhou reached Liaodong; the southern states were roughly connected to Shu and Wu respectively based on the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River. Shu established Yizhou, from the Qinling Mountains to Nanzhong (south of the Dadu River in present-day Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, so named because it was south of Ba and Shu). Wu has three states: Yang, Jing and Jiao. Among the household registrations of the Three Kingdoms, Wei has more than 660,000 households and a population of more than 4.4 million; Shu has 280,000 households, a population of 940,000, 40,000 officials, and more than 100,000 soldiers; Wu has 520,000 households There are more than 2.3 million people, more than 30,000 officials, and 230,000 soldiers.
Wei The aristocratic families in the society of the Wei and Han Dynasties were called the gentry in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and they had great influence. Most famous scholars came from this class, or stood on the side of this class politically.
Due to his background as a eunuch, Cao Cao was generally not respected by celebrities and did not have the political advantage to defeat separatists who came from a wealthy family. Cao Cao killed the celebrities who ridiculed him and made concessions, which aroused fierce resistance from the scholar-bureaucrats in Yanzhou, and his power was almost destroyed. Yuan Shao, a representative figure of a large family in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was far more powerful and influential than Cao Cao. In his appeal against Cao Cao, he once insulted Cao Cao as "a castrate and an ugly man." During the Battle of Guandu, many of Cao Cao's civil and military officials conspired with Yuan Shao. In order to defeat his powerful opponents, Cao Cao had to hire people from outside, that is, to recruit capable talents from lower social classes. Later, he repeatedly issued edicts of "elevating talents only" and promoted those who disdained famous religions but had the skills to govern the country and use military force. However, Cao Cao's real criterion for selecting officials is not "meriting merit", but "governing the country with virtue, and rewarding merit with merit." Not only did Cao Cao never generally deny the moral standards emphasized by the wealthy families, but he also attached great importance to the pursuit of celebrities. There are many famous people in its curtains. Before the Guandu War, Xuzhou was in chaos. He sent famous scholars Chen Qun, He Kui and others to slaughter the counties in an attempt to stabilize the situation. After Cao Cao captured Yecheng, he immediately recruited famous scholars from Yuan Shao's original jurisdiction. After conquering Jingzhou, he also tried his best to recruit local scholars and scholars who had fled from the north. The older Cao Zao got, the more he thought about prudence and virtue.
A few months after Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi adopted the method of nine-rank officials suggested by Chen Qun and chose virtuous and knowledgeable officials to serve as governors of his county before he could claim the throne for the Han Dynasty. Zhongzheng. Responsible for visiting scholars with the same origin as him who are scattered abroad, and evaluate them as ninth grade, which serves as the basis for the appointment of officials by the Ministry of Personnel. This is the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng System. During the reign of King Fang of Qi in Wei State, the state of Zhongzheng was added. When the nine-grade Zhongzheng system was first implemented, the power to determine the character of scholars was in the hands of the government. Zhongzheng chose public opinion and evaluated the grades according to the merits of talents. This somewhat changed the situation in the late Eastern Han Dynasty in which celebrities were discriminating and manipulating elections, which was beneficial to the situation. The stability of the regime. However, in the years of the development of the gentry class and the turbulent changes in the dynasties, this system could not stay aloof from the gentry forces and political situation for a long time and adhere to its established principles. Instead, the Zhongzheng system became a tool to consolidate the power of the gentry.
In order to maintain a fixed source of troops, Cao Wei established the scholar family system. Scholar families had special household registrations, and their men served as soldiers or performed specific corvee services for generations. The status of the scholar's family was lower than that of the common people, the scholar fled, and his wife lost her official position and became a slave. There are more than 100,000 scholar families in Jizhou.
Cao Cao's power continued to grow, and his economic strength mainly came from farming. In the first year of Jian'an, Cao Cao defeated the Yellow Turbans in Runan and Yingchuan, captured a large number of laborers and cattle farming tools, and opened up a farming area near Xuchang. Then, many counties and counties appointed farm officials and recruited exiles to work in the fields. Tuntian districts are generally located in easy-to-cultivate or strategic locations, forming their own system and not belonging to counties or counties. Farmers were tenants of the state and paid land rent to the state in the amount of forty-six cents (for those who used official oxen) or half (for those who did not use official oxen), but they did not bear additional corvee labor. Some of the fields were cultivated by sergeants and were called military villages. The production of farmers is guaranteed by the government, and their labor productivity is higher than that of farmers in counties and counties. Farmers can meet the needs of military rations in the short term. During the reign of King Fang of Qi, the sergeants' fielding from Shouchun to Luoyang achieved great results (see Cao Wei's fielding).
After Cao Cao entered Jizhou, he enacted a rent regulation and levied a land rent of four liters per mu of land from landowners (including homesteaders and landlords). Each household will receive two pieces of silk and two pounds of cotton. Household adjustment replaced the heavy poll tax in the Han Dynasty, which was good for farmers and also helped powerful families to shelter their tenants. Cao Cao ordered to increase the punishment for powerful mergers, but it was actually difficult to stop the powerful mergers by powerful families.
With the unification of the north and the implementation of the farmland system and rent modulation, the social order in the north became stable and production gradually recovered. The government repaired roads and built water conservancy projects to facilitate transportation and tanker transportation. In the restored iron smelting industry, the use of hydraulic blasting for smelting and casting was promoted, and the silk weaving industry also flourished. Commodity exchange gradually improved, and coins were issued again during the reign of Emperor Wei Ming. Luoyang and Yecheng are becoming increasingly prosperous. Wei State maintained relatively frequent exchanges with Yamatai State in Japan. There were also envoys and businessmen from the countries in the Western Regions.
In terms of culture, literature, philosophy and science and technology have all made important achievements. Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Zhi and his son are all famous poets; there are also the so-called Seven Sons of Jian'an represented by Wang Can and Chen Lin. Sancao and the Seventh Son of Jian'an formed the "Jian'an style" in poetry creation and left many famous poems. The talented female poet Cai Yan (Wen Ji) has "Poems of Sorrow and Indignation" handed down to the world, and the famous Yuefu narrative poem "The Peacock Flies Southeast" was also composed during the Jian'an period. The emergence of metaphysics represented by He Yan and Wang Bi is an outstanding achievement of philosophical thought. Zhang Zhongjing, known as the "Sage of Medicine" in later generations, wrote "Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Miscellaneous Diseases" (analyzed by later generations as "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" and "Jinbian Synopsis"), which laid the foundation of the Chinese medical system. Hua Tuo was good at surgery and pioneered the use of Ma Fei Powder as an anesthetic for surgery. Mathematician Liu Hui made significant contributions to the calculation of pi. Ma Jun made many mechanical inventions, including water-lifting tools that turned over. In terms of religion, Taoism became slightly silent due to the failure of the Yellow Turban Uprising and Zhang Lu Baozhi, while Buddhism continued to spread. There is a Buddhist temple in Luoyang, and monks from the Western Regions come to teach the Dharma and translate scriptures. Zhu Shixing, a native of Yingchuan, went to Khotan to seek Buddhist scriptures. He was the first Han monk to travel westward to seek Buddhist scriptures.
Not long after the founding of the Wei State, the regime began to become corrupt. During the reign of King Fang of Qi, a power struggle broke out between Cao Shuang, the auxiliary clan member, and Sima Yi, the Taiwei. Cao Shuang reused celebrities such as He Yan, Deng Yang, Li Sheng, Bi Gui, Ding Yi, etc., changed the court code, and excluded Sima Yi. The Sima family has been a prominent family since the Eastern Han Dynasty. Sima Yi himself was rich in strategy and had many military exploits.
In the second year of Jingchu (238), he led his army to pacify Gongsun Yuan and brought Liaodong into the territory of Wei. In the tenth year of Zhengshi (i.e., the first year of Jiaping, 249), they took advantage of the opportunity of Cao Shuang to go out to Luoyang City to pay a visit to Gaopingling Mausoleum, and launched a coup. They forced Cao Shuang to surrender, executed Cao Shuang and his party members, and took over the government. This is known as the Gaopingling Incident in history. Later, Sima Yi and his sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao successively suppressed Wang Ling (the third year of Jiaping, 25i), Guanqiu Jian (the second year of Zhengyuan, 255), and Zhuge Dan (the second year of Ganlu, 257) who started from Huainan. Military rebellions and resistance from other courtiers consolidated Sima's rule. A group of famous metaphysicians represented by the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest held a passive resistance attitude towards the Sima clan. Among them, Ji Kang was killed by the Sima clan on the charges of not destroying Mingjiao and trying to help Guanqiu Jian to cause chaos. Most of them gradually submitted to the Sima clan in the Wei and early Western Jin Dynasty.
After all the resistance forces were eliminated, the Sima family took advantage of the opportunity to make meritorious deeds and sent troops to destroy Shu in the fourth year of Wei Jingyuan (263). Two years later, Sima Yan replaced Wei as Jin in the name of accepting abdication. The Five Emperors of the Wei Kingdom lasted forty-six years.
The year before Shu Dong Zhuo entered Luo (the fifth year of Zhongping, 188), Liu Yan, a member of the Han clan, served as the shepherd of Yizhou. Yan died and was succeeded by Zizhang. Liu Yan and Liu Mi successively suppressed the resistance of Yizhou's powerful forces. In the 16th year of Jian'an, Liu Zhang invited Liu Bei, who was temporarily stationed in Jingzhou, to enter Shu and attack Zhang Lu who was defending Hanzhong. In the 19th year of Jian'an, Liu Bei occupied Yizhou; in the 24th year, he stationed in Hanzhong and called himself the King of Hanzhong. That year, Guan Yu, who stayed in Jingzhou, was attacked and killed by Sun Quan's army. After Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor in 221, in order to compete for the lost Jingzhou, he left the Xiaxia the following year and fought the Battle of Yiling with the Wu army. He was defeated and retreated to Shu, where he died of illness. His son Liu Chan succeeded him.
When Liu Bei was in Xinye, he invited Zhuge Liang, who was living in Longzhong, to assist him. Zhuge Liang saw clearly that with Cao Cao in the north and Sun Quan in the east, the situation in Jingzhou was unsustainable, so he strategically encouraged Liu Bei to enter Yizhou in order to protect himself. Liu Bei died and Zhuge Liang assisted Liu Chan. A small country with weak people is in a difficult situation. Some ethnic minorities in what is now western Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, collectively known as Southwest Yi at the time, broke out in rebellions one after another. The powerful Yong Kai of Yizhou County (now east of Jinning County, Yunnan Province) was the prefect and wanted to be attached to Wu. Zhu Bao, the governor of Zangke, and Gao Dingyuan, king of Yue Yi, both responded to Yong Kai, and the turmoil in Nanzhong expanded. In the third year of Jianxing (225), Zhuge Liang led his army to the south. The army was divided into three groups. Zhuge Liang's army defeated Yuexi in the west, and Ma Zhong's army in the east defeated Zangke. Then they and Li Hui's troops in the middle group attacked Yizhou County. At this time, Meng Huo had taken over the county on behalf of Yong Kai. Zhuge Liang defeated Meng Huo and followed Ma Di's suggestion of "attacking the heart first" when he went out to the army. He captured Meng Huo seven times and finally made Meng Huo return to his heart and Nanzhong was pacified. Zhuge Liang moved the Yi people Qu Shuai to Chengdu as an official, organized the Nanzhong Qingqiang into the army, and allowed the surname to attract the Yi people to make troops; he used Nanzhong's cattle and horse specialties to enrich Shu's military resources. The secluded state of the southwestern barbarian areas has since changed.
The South-China War ended, and the alliance between Shu and Wu also achieved successful results. In the fifth year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang led his army to Hanzhong and launched a fierce battle with Wei for Guanlong. Zhuge Liang was eager for war when he was exhausted in Yizhou. On the one hand, he tried to use the Northern Expedition to consolidate his orthodox status of "reviving the Han Dynasty and returning the old capital"; on the other hand, he used offense as defense to survive. In the sixth year of Jianxing's reign, Zhuge Liang ordered Zhao Yun to occupy Jigu (today's north of Baocheng, Shaanxi) as suspicious troops, and he led the main force from the northwest to attack Qishan (today's northeast of Li County, Gansu). The forward Ma Di was defeated at Jieting (now southeast of Zhuanglang, Gansu Province), and the Shu army withdrew. In the next three years, Zhuge Liang sent out troops many times, but with no results due to lack of military supplies. In the twelfth year of Jianxing's reign, the Northern Expedition was launched again, and they marched to Wuzhangyuan south of the Wei River (southwest of today's Meixian County, Shaanxi Province). One of the soldiers died of illness, and the Shu army withdrew, and the Northern Expedition came to a halt.
After Zhuge Liang's death, the Shu Kingdom was succeeded by Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, Dong Yun and others, and they just followed the rules. After the first year of Jingyao (258), eunuchs took over power and became politically corrupt. General Jiang Wei's northern expedition was in vain. In the sixth year of Jingyao, the Wei army attacked Shu in three directions. Jiang Wei resisted Wei Zhonghui's army at Jiange, while Wei and Deng Ai left Yinping (today's west of Wenxian County, Gansu Province) with a light army and went south along the dangerous road, destroying Shu in the winter of that year. The second emperor of the Shu Kingdom lived for forty-three years.
During the Huangzhong Uprising before the Wu and Han Dynasties, Sun Jian followed Zhu Jun of Kuaiji to the Central Plains to suppress the Yellow Turbans, and later moved to the Jiangnan counties of Liangzhou and Jingzhou. During the Dong Zhuo Rebellion, Sun Jian participated in the Kwantung Allied Forces that attacked Dong Zhuo. He was affiliated with Yuan Shu and was active in Huainan. After Sun Jian died, his descendants Ce led the troops and began to develop towards Jiangdong in about the first year of Xingping (194). With the help of Zhou Yu and others, he expelled Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou who was temporarily stationed in Qu'a, and forced Wang Lang, the prefect of Kuaiji, to surrender. After offering the imperial capital in the first year of Jian'an, Sun Ce rejected Yuan Shu and joined forces with Cao Cao, and was named Marquis of Wu. In the fourth year of Jian'an, Sun Ce defeated Liu Xun, the governor of Lujiang, Yuan Shu, annexed his tribe, and obtained the land of Yuzhang County. In the fifth year of Jian'an, Sun Ce died, and Ce's younger brother, Sun Quan, took over the throne. In the 13th year of Jian'an, Sun Quan left Wu Tu to govern the capital (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu). Planning the Battle of Chibi, his power reached Jingzhou; in the fifteenth year, he recruited the Shizu brothers to protect Lingnan and captured the southeastern half of the wall. In the 16th year of Jian'an, Sun Quan Tu governed Moling. The following year, Moling was renamed Jianye. In the 24th year of Jian'an, Sun Quan defeated Guan Yu and occupied the entire territory of Jingzhou. Three years later (222), they won another victory in the Battle of Yiling, which limited the possibility of Shu's development out of the Xiaxia. Sun Quan's remaining difficulties were, firstly, to deal with Shanyue's unrest, and secondly, to resist Cao Wei's pressure in the Chaohu area of ??Huainan.
The Shanyue people scattered in the counties and mountainous areas of the southeastern prefectures resisted separatist rule, and even allied with Cao Wei in the north to oppose the expansion of Sun Quan's forces into the southern interior.
Sun Quan fought many wars with Shanyue and won many times. In the third year of Jiahe (234), Zhugege led his army to attack Shanyue in Danyang. After three years of siege, 100,000 people from Shanyue came out and surrendered. Among them, 40,000 men were able to make up the troops, and the rest became Make a household. During the decades of Sun Wu's rule, the Shanyue people generally integrated with the Han people. In the historical records of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, there are only occasional records about Shanyue.
Sun Quan’s main military activities were in Huainan. After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao's army repeatedly attacked the Hefei area, with both sides winning and losing. Most residents in the north of the Yangtze River crossed the river, and several counties along the river became empty areas. After Zhuge Liang's death and the cessation of the Wei-Shu war, Wei strengthened its attack on Wu in Huainan. In addition to setting up garrisons along the river and placing beacons everywhere, the Wu army also built Ruxu docks at the south entrance of Chaohu Lake for tight defense. The Wei army's navy was limited and it was difficult for the attack to be effective, so Wei and Wu remained in power for a long time.
During Sun Quan’s rule, Jiangdong’s economy developed significantly. People from the north came to the south, the mountains went up and people settled in the plains, and the labor force increased. There were tuntian districts on both sides of the Yangtze River, among which Piling tuntian district (today’s Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and Wuxi areas in Jiangsu) was the largest. Agricultural production in Kuaiji County is relatively developed. The East Zhejiang Canal and the Jiangnan Canal, which were built successively in the past dynasties, played a major role in navigation during the reign of Sun Wu. The section of the Jiangnan Canal from Yunyang to Jingkou (today's Danyang to Zhenjiang in Jiangsu) flows through the mountains and is inconvenient for navigation and has not been repaired in Wu. Pogangdu was opened to the west of Yunyang, connecting the Qinhuai River and the Jiangnan Canal, making it a convenient waterway from Sanwu to Jianye. The silk weaving industry began to rise in Jiangnan, but the weaving technology was not yet advanced, so Shu brocade became an important input material. Copper and iron smelting inherited the scale and development pattern of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the celadon industry also matured based on the manufacturing of glazed pottery in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Due to the needs of river and sea transportation, the shipbuilding industry is very prosperous. Sea-going ships often sail north to Liaodong and south to countries in the South China Sea. In the second year of Huanglong (2.30), a fleet of ten thousand people arrived at Yizhou, now Taiwan Province. This is the earliest record of contact between the mainland and Taiwan. Zhu Ying, the envoy of the State of Wu, and Kangtai traveled across the sea to Linyi (in today's southern Vietnam), Funan ( in present-day Cambodia) countries. Qin merchants and Linyi envoys also arrived in Jianye.
The development of the economy and the increase in interactions with the outside world promoted the improvement of Jiangnan culture, and a number of well-known Confucian scholars and literary and historical figures emerged, such as Yu Fan, Lu Ji, and Wei Zhao. Buddhism began to spread in the south of the Yangtze River. The lay scholar Zhiqian came from Luoyang to the south, and Kang Senghui, a monk from the Western Regions who had lived in Tianzhu, came north from Jiaozhi later. They had great influence in Jiankang's translation of scriptures and teachings. Taoism continues to spread among the people in the south.
The princes of Sun Wu will follow the Sun family in the war with private soldiers. Sun Wu often gives state tenants to the meritorious officials. The meritorious officials often have the salary of several counties, thus gradually forming the hereditary military leadership of the Wu State military generals. system. At the same time, there also appeared in the south of the Yangtze River large families like Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang in Wu County who owned a large amount of land and servants, each had their own family tradition, and held high positions for generations. Together with the hereditary generals who led the army, they were the main pillars of Sun Wu's regime.
After the death of Sun Quan (252), the State of Wu became increasingly weak, while the State of Wei became increasingly powerful after the Sima clan eliminated three military rebellions in the Huainan region. Since the Sima clan made it a national policy to destroy Shu first and then take over Wu, and after destroying Shu (263) and replacing Wei (265), they were busy customizing the new dynasty, so the Wu regime was temporarily extended. In the fifth year of Jin Taishi (269), Yang Hu ordered Wang Jun to prepare a navy in Yizhou and planned a military strategy to attack Wu. In the winter of the fifth year of Xianning (279), the Jin army sent troops to attack Wu from the north of the Yangtze River, from Jiangling to Jianye, and used the Yizhou navy as a surprise force to go out of the gorge and follow the river. In March of the first year of Taikang (280) After capturing Jianye, Sun Hao, the Emperor of Wu, surrendered and the Kingdom of Wu was destroyed. The four emperors of the Wu Kingdom lived in the fifty-second year of Emperor Wu's reign. The national division that emerged after the first year of Chuping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (190) has returned to national unity after the partial unification and stalemate of the three regions of Wei, Shu and Wu.
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is the first chapter-length novel in ancient China and a classic of historical romance novels. The novel describes the contradictions and struggles between the three political and military groups of Wei, Shu, and Wu headed by Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan in the third century AD. In the broad social and historical background, it shows the sharp, complex and distinctive political and military conflicts of that era, which had a profound impact on later generations in terms of political and military strategies.
Before the appearance of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", all kinds of Chinese novels were generally short in length, and some even only had dozens of words. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is China's first full-length novel. We must pay attention to how Chinese novels develop from short stories to full-length novels. It turns out that storytelling was popular in the Song Dynasty, and storytelling became a profession. Storytellers liked to use stories of ancient figures as themes to stage stories. The numerous characters and events in Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms" were the best material for stage stories. Some sporadic fragments of the Three Kingdoms story had originally been circulated among the people. With the storytellers' long-term use of materials, the content became richer and richer, and the characters became more and more full-fledged. Finally, many independent stories were gradually combined into a long masterpiece. These isolated stories were passed down orally in society for a long time, and finally were processed and compiled into a book, becoming China's first novel. This is an amazing collective creation. It is different in form from a novel written by a single author, and deserves our attention. This kind of novel originated from an outstanding author, and later there were the novel "Journey to the West" about gods and demons and another historical novel "Water Margin". The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is believed to have a certain inspiration for later novels. The origin of historical literature, the literary value of this masterpiece itself, and its impact on later generations are all worthy of our in-depth discussion.
The story of the Three Kingdoms was quite popular among ancient Chinese people.
It was put on the stage in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and more than 30 kinds of Three Kingdoms plays were performed in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties. During the Zhizhi period of the Yuan Dynasty, "Quanxiang Three Kingdoms Zhi Ping Hua" published by the Yu family of Xin'an appeared. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Luo Guanzhong synthesized folk legends, operas and scripts, combined with historical materials from Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms" and Pei Songzhi's notes, and based on his personal understanding of social life, he created "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The earliest extant edition is from the Jiajing year of the Ming Dynasty. The printed version is commonly known as the "Jiajing version" and has 24 volumes. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang's father and son reviewed the official historical events, added and deleted text, and revised it into the 120-chapter version of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that is popular today.
Luo Guanzhong lived between 1330 and 1400. His name was Huhai Sanren, and he was a popular novelist in the Ming Dynasty. His birthplace is said to be Taiyuan in present-day Shanxi, and Qiantang in present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang, but it cannot be confirmed. According to legend, Luo Guanzhong once served as the secret agent of Zhang Shicheng, a peasant uprising army in the late Yuan Dynasty. In addition to "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms", he also wrote popular novels such as "The Chronicles of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" and dramas such as "The Legend of Zhao Taizu, Dragon and Tiger".
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" describes the historical events of nearly a hundred years from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty. The whole book reflects the political and military struggles of the Three Kingdoms era, reflects the penetration and transformation of various social contradictions in the Three Kingdoms era, summarizes the great historical changes of this era, and creates a group of powerful heroes. In terms of grasping the history of the Three Kingdoms, the author showed an obvious tendency to support Liu and oppose Cao. He took the Liu Bei Group as the center of the description, praised the main figures of the Liu Bei Group, and tried his best to expose and criticize Cao Cao. Today we should have a dialectical understanding of the author's tendency to support Liu and oppose Cao. Respecting Liu and rebelling against Cao was the main trend in folklore, which during Luo Guanzhong's time implied the people's hope for the rejuvenation of the Han nation.
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" depicts nearly 200 characters, among whom Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Liu Bei and others are the most successful. Zhuge Liang is the incarnation of a "virtuous prime minister" in the author's mind. He has the noble character of "devoting his whole life to the end of his life" and his ambition to help the people in modern times and recreate a peaceful and prosperous age. The author also endows him with the magical ability to control the wind and rain and make miraculous calculations. Cao Cao was a treacherous hero. His creed in life was "I would rather teach me to betray the people of the world than teach the people of the world to betray me." He was both talented and strategic, but also cruel and treacherous. He was a political careerist and conspirator. This is different from the real Cao Cao in history. Not to be confused with. Guan Yu is "mighty and resolute" and "righteous as heavy as a mountain". But his loyalty is based on personal grievances, not the great justice of the country and the nation. Liu Bei is portrayed by the author as a model of a benevolent king who loves people and things, values ??virtuous people, and knows people well.
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" describes wars, large and small, with grand ideas and diverse techniques, allowing us to clearly see war scenes of swords, light and blood. Among them, the descriptions of battles such as the Battle of Guandu and the Battle of Chibi are ups and downs, making it thrilling to read.
The text of the book is not very profound, the language is not very vulgar, it is concise and lively, full of momentum, and lively.
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has brought about an upsurge in the creation of historical novels in my country. The series of characters it created have become household names in our country, and are known to everyone.
There are many versions of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", mainly including: "The Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms" printed by Hongzhi of the Ming Dynasty, with simple words and simple content; In 2000, this book was most widely circulated in society. It has been reprinted and published many times by People's Literature Publishing House.
Outline
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" takes the political and military struggles between the ruling groups as its content; it uses the contradiction between Shu and Wei as the main clue to develop the plot of the book, shaping a A large number of princes, generals and outstanding figures in politics, military and diplomacy. The main characters are Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao and Guan Yu.
Zhuge Liang is an extremely important figure in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". He is wisdom personified. It is a household name among the people, and is known to all women and children. There is a saying: "Three cobblers make one Zhuge Liang", which shows the depth and breadth of his influence. Since Zhuge Liang first emerged, he immediately became the core figure in the Shu Han-Liu Bei Group. Liu Bei once said that Zhuge Liang was "like a fish in water". Not only did he obey his words, but he also took care of almost all major military affairs. After Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang actually became the top decision-maker of Shu. In order to repay Liu Bei's kindness for visiting the thatched cottage three times, Zhuge Liang truly "dedicated himself to death." Zhuge Liang embodies many statesman's virtues and superhuman wisdom. His resourcefulness is even more popular among people. Like Bowangpo using troops, straw boats borrowing arrows. Not only that, he can also adapt to changes, such as the use of the "empty city strategy". In short, Zhuge Liang is a figure loved by everyone in China.
The whole book "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", through the intricate pre-selection struggles, reveals the political struggles within the palace, between groups, and between different forces of the same group, using power and machine as means to benefit the people. The military struggle for desire and hegemony reproduces the turbulent reality of the Three Kingdoms period. The book describes hundreds of wars, large and small. The description is characterized by focusing on expressing people's subjective initiative and the use of strategies and tactics. The Battle of Chibi is an excellent battle described in the book.
In the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang and others correctly analyzed the situation between the enemy and ourselves, and used a series of step-by-step and planned actions such as counter-intentional tactics, serial tactics, and bitter meat tactics to combine their own advantages. Give full play to it, and at the same time cleverly and correctly determine and use tactics such as fire attacks, and finally defeat the powerful enemy with the weak.
On the other hand, Cao Cao relied on his strong military strength, was arrogant and arrogant, blindly underestimated the enemy, made repeated mistakes in decision-making and command, gradually lost his advantage, and finally suffered a disastrous defeat.
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" also describes the different groups and factions within the feudal ruling class. In order to achieve their own selfish interests, they engaged in intrigues, intrigues, conspiracy, and extensive use of strategy and power to conduct fierce and complex politics. , military struggle. This runs through the whole book.
In order to take back Jingzhou from Liu Bei, Sun Quan did not hesitate to use his own sister as bait and use the trick of "recruiting relatives" in an attempt to "earn Liu Bei to Nanxu..." He was imprisoned in prison, but he made people go. Challenge Jingzhou and beat Liu Bei." After this plan was discovered, he lied that "Guotai was seriously ill" and deceived Mrs. Sun to take Liu Bei's youngest son Adou back to Soochow in an attempt to exchange Adou as a hostage in Jingzhou. After Guan Yu lost Jingzhou and died, the alliance between Sun and Liu broke down. Sun Quan was afraid that Liu Bei would retaliate, so he sent an envoy to deliver a letter to Cao Cao. Sun Quan flattered Cao Cao in the letter and said: "My minister Sun Quan has known for a long time that the destiny of the king has been returned to the king. I am looking forward to it." As soon as he has ascended the throne, he will send his generals to destroy Liu Bei and wipe out the two rivers. I will lead my troops to accept the land and surrender." Sun Quan had two intentions in persuading Cao Cao to depose the Han Dynasty and proclaim himself emperor. First, it could cause Liu Bei and other forces supporting the Han Dynasty to rally against Cao Cao. ; The second is to divert Liu Bei's attention from Soochow's capture of Jingzhou and the killing of Guan Yu, with very sinister intentions. No wonder Cao Cao said: "Does this kid want to put me on the stove to grill?" But Liu Bei, who conquered the world with benevolence and righteousness, was also very good at strategizing. When Lu Bu was captured by Cao Cao, Cao Cao asked Liu Bei how to deal with it, and Liu Bei helped meditate. Then he reminded Cao Cao: "Have you not seen what happened to Ding Jianyang and Dong Zhuo?" As a result, Lu Bu, who could only be defeated by the combined efforts of Liu, Guan, and Zhang, died immediately. When Cao Cao was drinking and talking about heroes, he pretended to hear thunder and lose chopsticks to cover up his gaffe, and actually managed to hide it from Cao Cao, a generation of traitors. Zhao Zilong fought against Changbanpo and struggled to save his young master Adou, but Liu Bei actually threw Adou to the ground in front of Zhao Zilong. As the folk saying afterward said: "Liu Bei threw Adou - to win people's hearts."
Appreciation and Analysis
p>"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is not only an earlier historical novel, but also represents the highest achievement of ancient historical novels. The novel uses simple classical Chinese, which is bright and smooth, and is both elegant and popular. The writing style is rich in changes, contrasting, redundant, twists and turns, and swaying. It also uses a magnificent structure to completely and tightly organize the complicated events and numerous characters over the past century or so. The narrative is methodical, echoes back and forth, is related to each other, closely linked, and advances layer by layer.
The artistic achievements of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are more important in its description of war and characterization. Novels are best at describing wars and can write out the characteristics of each war. Pay attention to describing the use of different strategies and tactics under specific conditions, and guide the display of subjective initiative in combat, instead of spending the main text on pure strength and martial arts competition. Such as the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Chibi, the Battle of Yiling, etc. The writing method of each war also changes with the characteristics of the war. While writing about the war, other activities are also written as the prelude, aftermath, or auxiliary means of the war. , making the tense, intense and thrilling war appear to be tense and relaxed, alternately fast and slow. For example, before the Battle of Chibi, it describes the cooperation between the Sun and Liu families, the conflicts between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, Cao Cao's temptation, the preparations of the Sun and Liu coalition forces to lure the enemy in, etc. In terms of character creation, the novel pays special attention to putting the characters in the first place. In the sharp contradictions of real struggle, their thoughts and characters are expressed through their words and deeds or the surrounding environment. For example, Cao Cao is treacherous, and every move seems to be hiding a conspiracy; Zhang Fei is outspoken, but also naive and reckless; Zhuge Liang is clever and clever, and he can always deal with things easily and calmly. The famous Guan Yu "warmed the wine and killed Hua Xiong", "passed five passes and killed six generals", Zhang Fei "shocked the Changban Bridge", "Zhao Yun rode alone to save the young master", Zhuge Liang "captured Meng Huo seven times", and "empty city plan to scare" "Retire Sima Yi" and other chapters are widely circulated.
This article refers to the Three Kingdoms period in China. For other meanings of the name of this article, see "Three Kingdoms (disambiguation)".