The Three Brothers in Taoyuan is the first story in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Speaking of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, people always think of their early years in the peach orchard behind Zhang Fei Village in Zhuo County. I wish to be born in the same year, the same month and the same day, and I only wish to die in the same year, the same month and the same day. People have been telling this story, and people have imitated it again and again by burning incense and forming a bond of friendship. Liang Qichao said in an article: "Today, our country's heroes are everywhere, and they are worshiped by Taoyuan every day..." ("On the relationship between novels and mass governance") Some guilds in the Qing Dynasty, such as the Triads, etc. , during their rather solemn initiation ceremony, they would not forget to insert peach branches to symbolize that they were sworn brothers in the peach garden. ?
So, was there ever such a thing as Taoyuan sworn friendship in the history of the Three Kingdoms? How did it come about?
Historically, the relationship between Liu, Guan, and Zhang was indeed very good. Same as usual. "Three Kingdoms: Biography of Guan Yu" records that Guan Yu fled to Zhuo County. Liu Bei was gathering his disciples in the countryside, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei joined his disciples. Later, Liu Bei became the prime minister of Pingyuan, and he appointed Yu and Fei as commanders of other departments, and divided the divisions. Liu Bei and the two "sleeped in the same bed, and they were like brothers." Guan Yu often sat in a crowd of people and waited on him all day long. Later, Xuzhou fell and Guan Yu was captured. Cao Cao sent people to persuade him to surrender. Guan Yu also said: "I have received great kindness from General Liu, and I swear to death by force. I cannot recite it." "The Biography of Zhang Fei" " also records: "Zhang Fei... Shao and Guan Yu both took over the throne. Yu was several years older, and brother Fei took care of him."
Judging from Guan Yu's sentence "swear to death", it seems that they There was some kind of vow back then, but the history books only said that they were "like brothers" and did not say that they were sworn brothers.
Perhaps based on the imagination of the three "Enruo brothers", the folk legend of Taoyuan sworn brotherhood came into existence, and the people of the Yuan Dynasty wrote the story into "Three Kingdoms" and "Three Kingdoms" and "Three Kingdoms" based on folklore. Drama. It is generally believed that "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was written at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Prior to this, "Three Kingdoms Pinghua", one of the "Five Kinds of Quanxiang Pinghua" published during the Zhizhi period of the Yuan Dynasty (1321-1323), although it only had 80,000 words, it had begun to have the main outline of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Among them is the section "Taoyuan Betrothal". First, Guan Yu killed the county magistrate who was greedy for money, fond of bribes, and cruelly harmed the people, and fled to Zhuo County. Zhang Fei saw that he had an extraordinary appearance and a high-spirited conversation, so he invited him to the hotel. *drink. It happened that Liu Bei also entered the hotel after selling his shoes. After a few glasses of wine, the three of them hit it off and invited them to the peach garden behind Zhang Fei Village. They ordered each year to "slaughter a white horse to sacrifice to the sky and a black cow to sacrifice to the earth." , "Walking together, sitting together and sleeping together, we swear to be brothers." This is very similar to the description in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". According to Fu Xihua's "Complete Catalog of Yuan Dynasty Zaju", there are more than forty Yuan people's Zaju based on the story of the Three Kingdoms. Almost all the main characters of the Three Kingdoms have been put on the drama stage, which also played an important role in the writing of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". played an important role. There is also a special play "Liu Guan and Zhang Taoyuan Three Brothers". The plot is different from "Pinghua". It tells that Guan Yu killed Zhou Yin who took advantage of the chaos and planned to become king, fled to Fan Yang in Zhuo County, and one day arrived at Zhang Fei's house. The butcher's shop bought meat to drink with, but Zhang Fei held down the butcher's knife with a huge boulder. Guan Yu moved the boulder, which greatly impressed Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei visited the inn and first worshiped Guan Yu as his brother, and then met Liu Bei. Seeing that he was handsome, wealthy, and a descendant of an emperor, he and Guan Yu worshiped Bei as his brother, and the three of them married. Go to the peach garden outside the city, kill cattle and horses, offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, swear to live and die, and support the Han Dynasty together. The story of friendship in Taoyuan also has shadows of real life. During the Three Kingdoms period, there was a custom of killing white horses to form alliances. In the seventh year of Jian'an (202), Cao Cao captured Nanpi and killed Yuan Tan. Yuan Xi's generals Jiao Chu and Zhang Nan betrayed Yuan Xiang Cao. When they rebelled, they swore to kill the White Horse Alliance. This matter is found in "Three Kingdoms·Yuan Shao Biography". But this is just an oath, not a sworn brotherhood. Later, many leaders of peasant uprisings used this form when they swore sworn brothers. For example, the Red Turban Uprising of Liu Fushun and others in the Yuan Dynasty, "History of the Yuan Dynasty: The Chronicles of Emperor Shun" describes the situation of their sworn friendship as "killing the white horse and the black ox, swearing to heaven and earth, and wanting to join forces to cause chaos." ?
"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" writes about the sworn alliance in Taoyuan, which may be based on folklore, absorbing the deeds of peasant uprisings, and may also be related to the author's own experience. Luo Guanzhong, the author of "The Romance", lived around 1330-1400 according to Lu Xun's research. There are many details about his life. Some say he is from Taiyuan (now Taiyuan, Shanxi), some say he is from Dongyuan (now Dongping, Shandong), and some say he is from Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang). All I know is that he was born in troubled times and had rich experiences. There are two other points worth noting: first, the Ming Dynasty Wangqi's "Bad History Collection" said that he was "the one who aspires to be the king"; the second is the "Water Margin One Hundred and Eight Generals Picture Inscription and Postscript" painted by Xu Weiren and Xu Xi of the Qing Dynasty, which said that he had collaborated with the Yuan Dynasty Zhang Shicheng, one of the leaders of the late peasant uprising, was related to him. He currently has the drama "The Meeting of Dragons and Tigers of Zhao Taizu". In addition to "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", his novels also include "The Poems of the King of Xiao Qin", "The Chronicles of the Sui and Tang Dynasties", "The Romance of the End of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties", and "The Story of Sansui Pingyao". , and participated in the writing of "Water Margin". These novels and operas are all based on heroic deeds in troubled times, which must be related to his experience and ambition. A large number of descriptions in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", first of all, the description of the friendship in Taoyuan, should also be related to his experience.
From the artistic conception of the whole book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", writing about the three sworn brothers in Taoyuan not only introduces the three main heroes of the book, but also reveals the theme of loyalty that will be expressed in many aspects in the book. This may also be one of the reasons why the author writes about the sworn friendship in Taoyuan at the beginning of "The Romance".