Chapter 117 Section 11 Bright Boys

In another diary entry, Mei recorded a situation where Zheng Chenggong deliberately showed off his martial arts in front of him: "So he got on his horse and asked me to follow. When we came to a flat place by the sea, one of his attendants took three short sticks about two feet high, each with a small ring at the top, and on the small ring A piece of red paper the size of a silver coin was pasted as an archery target. Three sticks were placed in a row by the sea, ten rods apart from each other. So Guo Xingye stuck three arrows behind his belt and rode to a distance of about fifty to sixty rods. , and then galloped as fast as the horse could, drew one arrow and hit the target of the first stick, the second hit the second, the third hit the third...all the way He kept running at the same speed, neither stopped nor slowed down."

"After riding and shooting twice in a row, he dismounted, walked to my side, and asked me: Did you see clearly? Can I also ride and shoot in the same way? I declined and said, no, because I have never held a bow and arrow, we are practicing Shooting guns; but we have similar entertainments among us nobles..." Through the vivid records of the Dutch, we can find that Zheng Chenggong has obvious bile character characteristics, outgoing, active, and impatient.He speaks frankly, shows his sharpness, has a flamboyant style, and is arrogant. Perhaps the Dutchman's pen inevitably carries the emotional tendency of the enemy's preconceived ideas.However, Chinese records also verified Zheng Chenggong's personality.When Chinese historians comment on Zheng Chenggong, they often have such words: "Yingmai is more than decisive, but not open-minded and magnificent. He is prone to impulsive anger when encountering problems in his life", "lost in irritating criticism", "easy to act with emotion, and happy to gain exclusive merit." .Through these evaluations, we can know for sure that in the eyes of Chinese historians, Zheng Chenggong is "immature", "impatient", "impulsive", and "unsteady".

Indeed, there are many historical facts to support these conclusions.For example, he hates evil too much, enforces the law too strictly, and cannot forgive his subordinates for minor faults, and often gets into a rage because of trivial things.From the second year of Yongli in Nanming (AD) to the fifteenth year of Yongli in Nanming (1661 AD), during the thirteen years, there were seventy-five generals whose names could be tested by him, and many generals could not stand him. The harsh punishment and severe law of the Qing Dynasty, they defected to the Qing people one after another. Shi Lang, who later recovered Taiwan for the Qing army, was one of them.

Zheng Chenggong's personality does not quite fit the traditional Chinese image of a hero.In our eyes, a real hero should be rich in the city, unfathomable, with no expression of emotion or anger. While regretting Zheng Chenggong's imperfection, what I value is the other side of this so-called character weakness.Zheng Chenggong has a valuable character quality that Chinese people seriously lack: youthfulness. Western culture views "juvenile" with a positive and appreciative attitude, which means vitality and creativity.Westerners believe that young people must be allowed to go out into the world by themselves, even if they do some irresponsible things, it doesn't matter, because this is the privilege of teenagers.

The Chinese have a deep-rooted fear of youthful vitality.People before the age of 30, in the eyes of the Chinese, have "unsettled blood", and belong to "no hair on the mouth, and can't do things well".You have to be in your forties or fifties, when your anger gradually subsides and your blood is gone, so that people can feel safe and reliable, and then they can be leaders and do great things.In traditional society, "young and mature" is the highest compliment for a person. "Sophisticated", "honest", "old and hot", "an old horse knows the way", "old man", "old clam produces pearls", in Chinese dictionaries, almost all words related to "old" are commendatory.

"Book of Rites·Qu Li" says that filial piety means "not climbing high, not approaching deep", "parents are here, not traveling far away", an important purpose of traditional Chinese family education is to cancel a child's adventurous impulse and the outside world. curiosity.In this way, a person will certainly not have his own opinions, thoughts and personality, and of course he will not have any rebellious psychology.Only in this way can the enthusiasm, anger, and edges and corners of each generation of newly grown people be worn away, and they can be brought into the unchanging life track, so as to maintain the ultra-stable life structure that has not changed for thousands of years.

Therefore, Chinese culture lacks vigor. "Innocence", "warmth" and "idealism" are the lack of color in Chinese culture.Chinese culture is based on yellowed old paper, deep red sandalwood, and maroon-colored clothes embroidered with flowers that lack individuality. Only Zheng Chenggong, the son of a pirate who was born in a foreign country, always has a bright "juvenile nature" burning in his character.Therefore, when the Qing army went south, he made a completely different choice from his father.