Chapter 34 Chapter Six

Cao Cao was a controversial figure during his lifetime. This kind of controversy had already begun in his early years. As he stepped onto the political stage, he laid out and brought out all aspects of human nature to the fullest, and all kinds of praises, criticisms, criticisms and reputations came one after another. .Generally speaking, after a person dies, the coffin can often be settled, but Cao Cao is not. Chen Shou, the author of "Three Kingdoms", was the first to comment on Cao Cao. His narration and comments are more objective and comprehensive, and it is also a credible text that we know the true face of Cao Cao today.Since then, poet Lu Ji, Tang Taizong Li Shimin, historian Sima Guang, writer Su Shi and others have all left comments about Cao Cao, with praise and criticism, which are fairly flat.But there is always a trend that, as it goes to future generations, its elements of derogation will be more than those of praise.By the time of Su Shi, the affirmation of Cao Cao was quite limited, but the derogation was very severe: "Cao Cao is a vicious thief, especially a ghostly hero."

In the Southern Song Dynasty, the evaluation of Cao Cao dropped to the lowest point, which may be related to the political situation at that time.The Jin people who occupied the north inherited the Northern Song Dynasty and respected Cao Wei as the orthodox; while the Southern Song Dynasty, which was on the left side of the Anjiang River, was similar to the Shu Kingdom in the remote Yizhou, so they regarded the Shu Han as the orthodox.Therefore, it is inevitable to attack Cao Cao.Zhu Xi denounced Cao Cao as a "usurper" and couldn't understand his words and deeds; Lu You wrote in a poem: "The fate of the state is to rejuvenate the Han, and the heart of heaven is against Cao."

During the Ming Dynasty, literati represented by Zhang Pu praised and criticized Cao Cao.What is praised is his literary achievements and versatility, and what is derogated is his political achievements, basically inheriting the old theory of "usurping and stealing" in the Southern Song Dynasty. As far as the Qing Dynasty, Wang Fuzhi, Zhu Qian and others could evaluate Cao Cao objectively, and there were many who rejected them completely. The most prominent representative was Emperor Qianlong. The emperor's "usurping" behavior by ordering the princes. Different evaluations of Cao Cao in history are often based on different angles and positions. Most of them are based on orthodox concepts and loyalty, traitors, good and evil, and are commented out of practical political needs, forming a vertical "blueprint" , unknowingly affects future generations.

The most far-reaching comments are still widely popular literary works such as novels, dramas, rap and so on.Based on the evaluation viewpoints of orthodox literati and rulers of past dynasties, folk artists use their own imaginations, and through artistic processing, they even make a legendary story of the Three Kingdoms into ghosts and ghosts beyond recognition.In the Tang Dynasty, the stories of the Three Kingdoms evolved into a kind of "city people's novels", "or making fun of Zhang Feihu, or laughing at Deng Aiqi"; "Cao" tends to: "When talking about the affairs of the Three Kingdoms, when Liu Xuande was defeated, he frowned frequently, and some people burst into tears; when he heard Cao Cao's defeat, he was happy to sing happily"; and as soon as the "three-point fact, seven-point fiction" came out, Cao Cao completely He was stereotyped as a treacherous and brutal villain, and became the number one villain in the world in ancient and modern times.Easy to understand, vivid, twists and turns, it has conquered generations of readers with its unique artistic charm. From a certain point of view, it is the novel that makes the history book "Three Kingdoms" withdraw from the vast "market" of the people, causing people's indifference and forgetting about it.

Drama flourished in the Yuan Dynasty, and Cao Cao gradually changed from the oral speech of commentators to the tangible and tangible image on the stage.The entertainers ridiculed Cao Cao's failures, castigated his cruelty, and exposed his treachery through dramatic means, pushing the complex Cao Cao with flesh and blood to the extreme and turning him into a single, flat image of treacherous ministers.Apart from being treacherous, he no longer has any other thoughts or actions, and he has simply become the ugliest villain in the world who combines treachery, cruelty, and misdeeds throughout the ages.The dramas about Cao Cao, such as "Catch and Release Cao", "Huarong Road", "Yellow Crane Tower", "Forcing the Palace", "Warning Wancheng", etc., do not have any merits of praising him, but are all attacks and criticisms. Cao Cao, who was swaying on it, was always winking and making infinite ugly gestures, which was ridiculous and annoying.Even the new Peking opera "Cao Cao and Yang Xiu", which is a great success today, can hardly break free from the stereotypes and influences of the predecessors.Yang Xiu can often guess Cao Cao's thoughts. Although he has made him unhappy many times, the real cause of Yang Xiu's death is that he had a close relationship with Cao Zhi. He was on the wrong "team" in the struggle between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi for the crown prince. Cao Cao worried about him. Continuing to help Cao Zhi leave future troubles behind, this was the murderous intent.In the final analysis, Yang Xiu is a victim of political struggle. As long as it doesn't affect Cao Wei's country, Cao Cao can't wait for his talents to be outstanding and surpass himself.However, the drama "Cao Cao and Yang Xiu" attributed Yang Xiu's death to Cao Cao's "avoidance of talents", and used "talent only" to decorate the facade, but in his bones he could not tolerate any real talents who surpassed himself.

Drama is widely spread, and since its birth, it has had strong vitality and a broad folk market.Especially in ancient rural areas, drama has almost become the only form of entertainment for farmers. Until today, traditional drama still has a fixed audience.Hundreds of years of stylized performances and feudal moral preaching in dramas have made Cao Cao's treacherous and brutal ugly image deeply rooted in the hearts of the general public and cannot be changed. If you compare Cao Cao with the highly respected figures of the Three Kingdoms Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and others, there are actually many outstanding features beyond them.In terms of talent, learning, and knowledge, Liu Bei is far inferior to Cao Cao, and he is a typical mediocrity; in terms of bad intentions, the two of them are on par. The dream of the emperor; in terms of morality and conduct, that is, in terms of maintaining orthodoxy, it has ridiculed Liu Bei's hypocrisy of throwing Adou in anger and the violence before the Yiling battle.However, he has always played the great image of a gentleman in history. The reason may be that he can climb the dragon and attach himself to the phoenix, and he got a hat of "Uncle Emperor" to wear on his head.If you compare Cao Cao with Zhuge Liang, they both have their own advantages: they are both outstanding political soldiers and military strategists. From the perspective of personal morality, Zhuge Liang is higher than Cao Cao; in terms of personal achievements and contributions to the interests of the people and economic and cultural development. In other words, Zhuge Liang is not as good as Cao Cao.And Guan Yu is even more incomparable with Cao Cao. He was Cao Cao's defeated general and was his prisoner. Apart from his personal bravery and a story of "sit in his arms", he can't find any more to boast about. at.

However, the fate behind them was completely different, and the two sides were pushed to the two extremes of positive and negative.One side is the incarnation of justice, nobility, and stalwart, and the other side is the representative of evil, despicable, and villainous people.Traditional Chinese culture believes that the universe should be in a harmonious state. If something goes wrong, such as war, division, disaster, etc., it must be caused by bad people.During the split of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the biggest villain who could not escape the blame was Cao Cao.Then, in the long river of history, it became worse and worse, and even completely out of shape, becoming a typical example of treachery and evil.From this point of view, Cao Cao is really a bit wronged and useless, so it is no wonder that some people in modern times complained about him and overturned the case.It seems that Cao Cao is destined to always bear a heavy "black pot": since the moment he was born, he has carried a lifetime of "black pot" because of his unclear eunuch background; He thought he could get relief, but he was vilified by others, and he was burdened with other inexplicable "black pots" that he could never imagine.

If we talk about Cao Cao's contribution to history, it should be divided into two different levels, before and after his death.We have already mentioned it before we were alive, and the "merits" behind him are that they acted as "props" for the feudal rulers to come and go when they were called, and played the role of vigilant against the world and rectifying morality.In a society that replaces law with propriety and governs the country with morality, the ruler needs the appearance of such a white-faced Cao Cao, and the common people also recognize and accept him. This seems to be related to the historical background and cultural soil of our nation.

Starting from safeguarding their own interests and rule, the feudal emperors naturally denigrated Cao Cao, who "coerced the emperor to order the princes"; Citing scriptures and classics to criticize; and folk artists created a number of derogatory works of different genres with the theme of orthodox literati. "Writing conveys Tao" is a long-standing tradition in China. Literature and art have been tools and appendages of politics since ancient times, and have never been truly independent.Therefore, there has never been noumenalized literature and art in ancient China, let alone true intellectuals with independent personalities in the strict sense.

Cao Cao once changed history with his personal struggle of Wenzhiwugong, and later history also made a "powerful" response to this-changing his image and status.If we take Cao Cao as the main body from another perspective, this can be regarded as a continuation of his changing history during his lifetime. With the fearless spirit of "If I don't go to hell, who will go to hell", he was reprimanded and scolded as a treacherous and vicious person. Incarnation, through the unique way of distorting oneself, uglifying oneself, and "sacrificing oneself", continues to change the soil of Chinese history and culture in a potential and tortuous way.

The tradition of praising and criticizing historical figures at will and treating them as tools for my use has continued to this day. During the "Cultural Revolution" period, historical figures were used as political "megaphones", and they were labeled as good people and bad people. Good people are infinitely praised, while bad people are "knocked down to the ground and set another foot." Today, commercial value is used as the standard. They "joke" about historical figures in an indiscriminate manner, making it difficult to tell the truth from the false.Literary and artistic works are inseparable from imagination and fiction, but they must always be based on reality, and artistic creation and artistic processing should not violate the premise of reality. It is particularly important to grasp certain standards and principles, and correctly handle the relationship between reality and fiction. In fact, it has become a unique psychological thinking mode of the Chinese people to measure and evaluate a certain character with moral concepts, and push them to a certain extreme, so that they can be masked, made up, and props. China's political system, economic system, and mode of thinking "complement each other" and are inseparable. Only by evaluating Cao Cao objectively, calmly, comprehensively and fairly can he return to his true colors.This is also a scientific and rational attitude we should take to understand history and face the future. To some extent, it marks the civilization and maturity of the entire nation.