Chapter 7 Separation and Combination - The Unification Complex of Chinese People

In the winter of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands of troops finally made preparations for the decisive battle on the north bank of the Yangtze River. It's really warmer in the south, and it's already November and I can't feel the biting cold in the north.It was the fifteenth day of the night, the weather was clear and the wind was calm.After all, Cao Cao was a poet, and he was so exhilarated that he ordered the three armies to buy wine and set them up on the big ship.The sky is getting late, the moon is on Dongshan, and it is as bright as the day.The area around the Yangtze River is like Heng Su Lian.Sitting on the bow of the boat, Cao Cao saw picturesque rivers and mountains, thousands of miles of boats and boats, a large army lined up, spears and halberds like a forest, he was happy in his heart, and ordered to fetch a big cup.Holding a cup full of wine, Heng Leng wrote a poem: "Sing to wine, how much life is like, like the dew in the morning, the past days are full of bitterness..."

After every song, the three armies Fudishan called for peace.Under the full moon, Cao Cao's cloak fluttered in the wind, and he looked up to the sky and laughed wildly, which startled waterfowl to sing and dance in the night sky reddened by the candlelight. Looking at the Jiangnan on the opposite bank, Cao Cao's hazy drunken eyes suddenly became murderous.He drank the wine in his cup, threw it to the other side with all his strength, and recited the last two lines: "Duke Zhou vomits and feeds, and the world returns to its heart!" His thoughts flew to the whole world that he thought about day and night.

"The world is home to one's heart - the world is to one's heart -" This night, Cao Cao's majestic voice echoed for a long time across the river. Nineteen years later, Shu Han Jianxing five years.Both Cao Cao and Liu Bei have passed away for many years. Chengdu Prime Minister's Mansion.The lifeless night was torn apart by the watchman's cold watchman. Zhuge Liang swiped his brush under the lamp: "...now the south has been set, the soldiers are full, and the three armies will be rewarded, and the central plains will be set in the north..." It's late at night, and a lamp is like a bean.Zhuge Liang felt that his eyes were a little sore and dim. The years are not forgiving, and he was already forty-seven years old before he knew it.He was dizzy for a while, put down the pen, closed his eyes with a wry smile, and rubbed his temples.

After a long time, he continued to write at his desk: "...to revive the Han Dynasty and return to the old capital, so this minister reported to the late emperor and was loyal to His Majesty's duty." He is writing the "Teacher List" of the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei for the young Liu Chan.For decades, he has never forgotten the tear-filled eyes of the former master when he listened to him pointing out the country in the simple hut.I was only twenty-seven years old at the time.He felt his blood boil again, as if he was young again. Zhuge Liang raised his head, his melancholy but excited gaze seemed to penetrate the heavy dark clouds, cross the numerous Shu roads, and cast his eyes on the vast land of Heluo.

The first year of Wu Shenfeng.Cao Wei has changed several emperors, and Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han has died in Wuzhangyuan for eighteen years. Sun Quan, the seventy-one-year-old Emperor Wu, suddenly suffered a stroke, the corners of his mouth were crooked, and he was speechless. Looking at the concubine and prince who was kneeling beside him and crying into a ball, he remembered the last words of his brother Sun Ce many years ago before his death: "If you want to fight for the world, you are not as good as me, but you can use talents to protect Jiangdong. I am not as good as you .” Thinking of this, he struggled to get up and looked at the ten-year-old prince.Sun Liang was crying like hell, his childish face was covered with snot.Sun Quan wanted to sigh for the future of Soochow. He seemed to see the gate of Jianye opening to the north amidst the falling banners.

But he could no longer make a sound, and fell down heavily.A drop of cold, turbid old tears slowly fell. Regardless of Wei, Shu, or Wu, none of them is satisfied with one side. They never thought that the three-pointer would be the fixed trend of the world-in their view, splitting the land and dividing the territory is just a temporary pattern of accumulating strength to prepare for the next game. The world in everyone's mind is the land of China that is complete and powerful. This is not only the understanding of people in the Three Kingdoms period, but it has been a matter of course for dynasties since Qin Shihuang mixed up with the Six Kingdoms.

Compared with the Charlemagne Empire, which annexed the Western European continent six hundred years later, it has a larger area, more diverse topography, and more reasons for division in the land of China: the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, and the Shushan Mountains are all natural dangers, which are simply natural borders. . In 843 A.D., with only one treaty of Verdun, the three grandsons of Charlemagne gently divided up the Charlemagne Empire, which was far less vast than the Qin and Han dynasties, thus laying the foundation for the three kingdoms of France, Germany, and Italy—thereafter The territory of the past has not really been restored.

The larger empires in history roared past the earth like a revolving lantern, leaving only the unmanageable ruins in the setting sun behind them for future generations to mourn.Countries, large and small, grew out of the ruins, growing, aging and perishing one after another like mushrooms after rain, and changing their bodies like jellyfish one after another. Only China, after thousands of years of ups and downs, is still standing on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean with the majestic posture of the Qin and Han Dynasties. Many people are thinking about why China has been able to avoid the fate of disintegration for thousands of years, like the great empires before it, at the same time, and after it.

Although the reason can be found from the natural environment: large-scale river disasters and frequent famines force people on this land to unite and make overall plans to deal with natural disasters that cannot be solved locally. But there must be something else. After reading the Three Kingdoms, the people of this country are most familiar with the era when even old women in the country can say that they are ugly and ugly. The popularization of historical knowledge of the Three Kingdoms is of course the result of the circulation of Luo Guanzhong's popular novels.Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Lu Bu, Xu Zhu, Cao Cao, Kong Ming, Zhou Yu... every hero, hero, and wise man seems to be within reach, standing beside him alive.The most attractive thing about the Three Kingdoms is that it can make people passionate, and the reason for the passionate blood is the heroism of the heroes who raise their swords and leap on horses.

But many people didn't think about it, the efforts of all the heroes in the Three Kingdoms are all for the same ending. The Qinglong Yanyue Saber, Fang Tian's Halberd, Zhangba Snake Spear, Qinghong Sword, Kongming Crossbow...the cold-gleaming blades, the sound of gold and iron, are actually all pointing in the same direction.Chitu, Delu, Jueying, Jingfan, Zilin... all the horses are galloping on the same road full of smoke and dust, and the road is also walking slowly. Creaking wooden cows and flowing horses.Chain tricks, bitter tricks, empty city tricks, anti-indirect tricks...every trick has the same result.

Black face, white face, red face, yellow face, painted face... each face has two same big characters written on it: Unite. It is this conscious and unconscious longing for the unification of the world that firmly holds our ancient country together and cannot be separated. Because this complex has already penetrated deeply into our hearts and will never be erased. The source of this complex is our great culture. Chinese culture has a prominent feature: it always considers the overall situation, wholeness, and perfection. Almost every school of philosophers tries to explain that there is an ultimate and highest essence that encompasses everything in the world. They believe that everything in the world is originally a seamless whole.It is this concept that oriental words such as "Tao", "Yin Yang", "Tai Chi" and "Wuji" are meant to explain. The most direct one simply said: "one". The role of this "one" in the world is extremely important: Confucianism says that "one can be consistent"; Taoism says that "the sky is clear when it is one, and the earth is peaceful when it is one";Based on this concept, the Chinese people always talk about "the world", and the ultimate goal is also to "level the world". According to the frost and dew ("Doctrine of the Mean")"—— As long as human beings can reach all places, they are all within the scope of "under heaven".As long as it is "the world", it must be unified.Cars on the same track, books on the same text, and people on the same king are the concrete measures of unification and the goal of struggle. With the growth of human beings, this kind of thought gradually merged countless ancient clans: "In ancient times, there were all nations ("Xunzi Fuguo")", "In ancient times, the world was scattered and there was no one able to do it ("Historical Records")", to During the Warring States period, there were only a dozen countries left. It is precisely this set of theories combined with the iron fist of the Qin Emperor, Han Dynasty and Wu. In the process of expanding the territory, it just rightly combined the limits that power and culture can influence, and the development limits that my country's geographical conditions can allow, thus forming the This "world". As long as we are satisfied with "the whole world is one family", as long as our imagination cannot go beyond the ocean, our land is a closed continent, even though everyone is proudly boasting how vast China is.In the past tens of millions of years, deserts, high mountains, oceans, tropical jungles, and the extreme arctic cold have actually secretly drawn a circle, enclosing the yellow-skinned people who multiplied on the yellow land. People's abilities are always growing slowly.When Qin Shihuang's convoy began his inspection of the world with long dust and smoke, and when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty crossed the Great Wall to attack the Xiongnu, the exploration of living space by human beings in this land was close to what they could do in the next two thousand years. reached the limit. Just when he touched the maximum limit of manpower in this era of cold weapons, the wise Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty chose Dong Zhongshu's theory of great unification as a national policy among all kinds of memorial countermeasures (or, this theory could no longer be suppressed and chose Hanwu) , on all the lands under his control, he stamped the "Mandate of Heaven" heavily, and made all the people pin their desire and awe for perfection on his world—— Since then, the concept of "Tianxia" has been culturally implemented to the upper and lower sides of the Great Wall, and "Tianxia" has a relatively fixed territory.It's as if a flower was folded when it was in full bloom, and fixed with a setting agent, so that it will always maintain the most beautiful appearance. The unified culture has just played the role of setting agent. China is more fortunate than other empires in that it has such a firm set agent, and its solidification begins to play a role when the empire's body is stretched to almost its maximum. Chinese people like to use deer as a metaphor for the world, and they call fighting for the world the Central Plains.Then, when the deer has grown to the maximum that nature allows it to grow and appears in front of the hunter, everyone can no longer be satisfied with a leg, a head, or a trunk of the deer. It's this whole deer that's whole and romping. This "world" has since become an absolutely indivisible holy land. This kind of concept has been passed down from generation to generation, and people have become unable and afraid to think about whether they can live a more comfortable life after breaking the world into pieces.Don't say that ceding the land and betraying the country will be fiercely criticized by the world for thousands of years. Even if you can't survive and sell a few pieces of ancestral land, you will be regarded as an unfilial and prodigal son, and you will not be able to hold your head up for a lifetime. Every regime that makes a difference, no matter how pitifully small the territory it can control, is always gnashing its teeth and sharpening its sword, staring at the eternal "world". Even if someone has no ambitions and wants to live a small life without contention in a side of water and soil, the ambitious hero has long regarded his small world as prey. Although in theory, the benevolent and pedantic Confucianism has a beautiful dream: as long as the internal affairs are repaired and "virtuous governance prevails", the barbarians from all directions will naturally follow suit until they join your country, and real "peace in the world" can be achieved without bloodshed. .This is the thought of "Wangzheng" which is the most characteristic of peaceful reunification in China. "When Gou governs as a king, all the people in the four seas raise their heads and hope to be the king ("Mencius")", "From west to east, from south to north, there is no disobedience ()", here the "four seas", "the world "It has become a virtual cultural concept that can be expanded infinitely.In the past thousands of years, this theory has been hanging high in the air, admired by thousands of people, but also ridiculed.Maybe it will play an increasingly important role in the construction of the global village in the future, but for thousands of years, our wise monarchs secretly laughed in their hearts. They knew in their hearts that the world depends on fighting and killing. What is obtained in the battle must also be guarded by blood and fire. Generations of Chinese people have passed on the "world" left by their ancestors in blood and fire. After Chinese culture carefully designed a protection plan to prevent the disintegration of "the world", it also tightly closed the door. Mysterious kingdoms outside the "Tianxia" only appear in legendary unofficial histories to excite idle people's fantasies; thousands of miles of tribute from a small barbaric country are nothing more than auspicious signs of national strength—outside of the "Tianxia" where cultural influence has not fully penetrated, It really has become a dispensable thing that can't inspire ambition. So generations of heroes fought desperately for the leading role behind the gate and on the stage built by Qin Huang and Han Wu.For more than two thousand years, no one would want to open the gate, nor would anyone want to see if the outside of the gate has become flat enough to walk on—of course, no one would dismantle the stage and divide it into a dormitory . Until the gate was slammed open by menacing uninvited guests from outside the "world". The Three Kingdoms is the most lively and the best-watched play on this stage: it has so many evenly matched opponents, so many intrigues, so many vicissitudes, and so long a period of time. Men experience the thrill and hardship of marching toward unity— There is one that is not as confusing as the Wuhu and Sixteen Kingdoms, and not as straightforward and clear as the struggle for hegemony between Chu and Han. A three-point world for future generations to plan their own road to unification in their imagination. "Three", what a magical number! "Tao begets one, one begets two, two begets three..." On that day more than two thousand years ago, the wise old man counted lazily with his skinny fingers. When he reached three, he stopped and let out a long breath, enough : "Three Lives and All Things".This simple number can completely include everything in the world.Thousands of years of bravery, stamina, hypocrisy, cunning, wisdom, conspiracy... have been brought into full play in the Three Kingdoms. The three giant feet firmly supported our heavy earth. Dim the shadows of swords and swords, and the sound of drums and horns in the distance. In the teahouse, the waiters with handkerchiefs on their shoulders and large steaming copper pots in their hands shouted loudly and greeted back and forth among the crowded Eight Immortals tables, sweating profusely. The table was full of tea guests of all kinds, chatting, eating melon seeds, playing with birds, betting on crickets, shaking their heads alone with their eyes closed, beating their knees with their fingers, and humming. dripping water. "Pa--" there was a sound of waking wood.Immediately, it seemed that everyone's vocal cords were cut at the same time, and the silence was solemn.Some people swallowed melon seeds and forgot to bite them down, sticking them between their teeth. All eyes are on one place: On the desk, the old gentleman with a pockmarked face straightened his long gown and sat down.He scanned the surrounding area with white and black eyes, and said proudly: "Today, I will talk about "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". It is said: The world must be divided for a long time-" Having said this, he cleared his throat, and the pockmarks were bright red. The noisy teahouse suddenly seemed to be filled with a thick layer of smoke, and someone called Ma Ming Jin Tie clang faintly... The tea in the cup was slightly turbulent, like waves. It’s another wake-up call: "For a long time, we must unite!"