Chapter 15 (15) What the eyes see

When Zhuge Liang came out of the mountain at the age of 26, he had three choices in front of him: one was to choose the powerful Cao Cao, the other was to choose Sun Quan, who dominated one side, and the third was to choose Liu Biao, who supported the army to protect himself.At this time, Liu Bei was living under the fence, helpless, and it seemed difficult to be among Zhuge Liang's choices. However, in fact, Zhuge Liang chose Liu Bei who had no place to stand.So why didn't Zhuge Liang vote for Cao Cao and Sun Quan, but only valued Liu Bei?Please pay attention to it - what you can see with your eyes.

Zhuge Liang is the most acclaimed and legendary historical figure in ancient my country. He is almost the perfect idol of "self-cultivation, family harmony, state governance, and world peace" in Chinese ideals.In the twelfth year of Jian'an, the twenty-sixth Zhuge Liang ended his years of seclusion and walked out of the mountains.Just as Liu Bei is a mystery, Zhuge Liang is also a mystery.He seems to be a talent specially prepared by the heavens for Liu Bei, and he seems to have been waiting for Liu Bei's call. Among the many people who can serve him, Zhuge Liang chose Liu Bei without hesitation. This is something that many people throughout the ages cannot understand. one question.Why did Zhuge Liang have a soft spot for Liu Bei?What did he see in Liu Bei?What kind of person is Zhuge Liang?Professor Yi Zhongtian from Xiamen University is a guest on "Hundreds of Lectures", telling you about the ins and outs of Zhuge Liang's coming out of the mountain. The "Wisdom Eye Seeing" is being broadcast, so stay tuned!

One of the problems we want to solve in this episode is, among the many heroes at that time, why did Zhuge Liang take a fancy to Liu Bei at a glance?This time we will talk a little bit about what kind of person Zhuge Liang was, especially what he was like in his youth.From Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms", we know that Zhuge Liang was a young genius. Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms" has such a description of Zhuge Liang. Before writing "Three Kingdoms", Chen Shou compiled a collection of essays for Zhuge Liang. He put Zhuge Liang's When the anthology was handed over to the emperor, he wrote a table called "Shang Zhuge Liang Collection Table". In this table, Chen Shou described Zhuge Liang like this:

"Liang Shao has a talent out of the crowd, a weapon of a hero, eight feet in length, and a very majestic appearance, which is different from the people of the time." Zhuge Liang was a young genius, and also a handsome guy. He was 1.84 meters tall and had a great appearance. Not only was he tall, but people thought he was special at the time.We don't know much about his life experience. We only know that he was an orphan who grew up with his uncle Zhuge Xuan. After Zhuge Xuan came to Jingzhou, Zhuge Liang also came to Jingzhou and lived in Longzhong.After Zhuge Liang arrived in Longzhong, he lived a life of farming and studying. The so-called farming and studying life is farming while studying. Later, Zhuge Liang described it in his "Teacher List":

"The minister is a commoner, and he cultivated in Nanyang. Gouquan lived in troubled times, and did not seek to be heard and known to the princes." Then this sentence, Gou Quansheng, don't ask for Wenda, is probably a bit of a cliché, so if you don't ask for Wenda, why did you come out of the mountain in the end? "Plowing in Nanyang" seems to be true, but there are two possibilities for this matter. One is to make a living by farming, but according to Zhuge Liang's family background, he is not an ordinary farmer. Another possibility is that participating in agricultural production was also a kind of elegant interest and an elegant thing at that time. Later we looked at Ji Kang, who was a blacksmith. Do you think he is a blacksmith?He is not, in today's terms, he is playing cool.Of course, we don’t know whether Zhuge Liang is making a living or being elegant, but I can be sure of one thing, no matter what the reason is, Zhuge Liang must be very serious when farming, because Zhuge Liang has a great advantage. What I admire most about him is that he is meticulous in doing things, which is worth learning from.Moreover, after he became the prime minister, he had to do everything by himself, and he did everything by himself. I suspect this is a habit he developed when he was farming in Longzhong.But on the other hand, Zhuge Liang was very sloppy in reading. The saying in "Three Kingdoms" is "to observe the general plan", that is to say, Zhuge Liang's friends read very seriously, carefully scrutinizing every word, and Zhuge Liang took it to read it. It is equivalent to what Tao Yuanming said later, "good reading, don't seek deep understanding".This is actually knowing how to read. In general, it means being able to grasp the essence, and not seeking deep understanding means being good at grasping the key points. This is called being able to read, and in my opinion, as long as a person is not a scholar, reading should be like what Zhuge Liang and Tao Yuanming said Look at the general idea like that, don't ask for a deep understanding, don't stick to words, don't pick up those small and small problems, just like a person who wants to win the world doesn't care about the gains and losses of a city or a pool. Zhuge Liang is such a generous person.

In addition to farming and reading, Zhuge Liang also has two hobbies, one is to hug his knees and shout, and the other is to chant for Liang's father. What is "Chang Xiao"?I guess the long whistle is a kind of channeling technique, that is, the breath is lifted up from the pubic region in one breath and sent out from the throat; what about "Liang Fu's chant"?Liang Fuyin was originally a kind of funeral song, and the song sung at funerals is relatively sad.Then we can imagine that when Zhuge Liang was in Longzhong, an eight-foot-long young man in his twenties was sitting on a stone between the mountains and forests, with his hands hugging his knees, looking at the forest, and yelling Chang Xiao, what kind of state is that?I think Zhuge Liang's Xiao Xiao and his songs reflect his broad compassion for life and society, his generosity and desolation, and it reflects Zhuge Liang's deep concern for the world and life.This is a typical national scholar, and he is a unparalleled national scholar. What are the characteristics of a national scholar?When I was talking about "Characters of the Han Dynasty", I said: Taking the world as his own responsibility, Zhuge Liang is a person who takes the world as his own responsibility, a person with ideals, ambitions, and ambitions.

Zhuge Liang is a peerless national scholar.When he lived in seclusion in Longzhong, he read books, made friends, and watched the changes in the world quietly. After ten years of hard work, Zhuge Liang has become a young talent with great ambition, profound knowledge and unique insights.In Zhuge Liang's clasping knees and howling, Mr. Yi Zhongtian read Zhuge Liang's feelings of compassion and compassion. Zhuge Liang, who is full of knowledge, will not stay in Longzhong with peace of mind. He must find his own use.But can great things be achieved with just a passion for it?Does Zhuge Liang, who compares himself to Guan Zhong and Le Yi, have the ability and conditions to achieve his career?

Zhuge Liang is also capable, and his subsequent rule of the world is a manifestation of his ability.So does he have the conditions?Have. First, Zhuge Liang has a good background.Zhuge Liang was an official from his ancestors, and his grandfather was a big official. His father and uncle also served as local officials, so he is from a family of officials and eunuchs, and he knows a little about official affairs. He also has some connections here. Second, Zhuge Liang has a network of relationships.Zhuge Liang's mother-in-law is the daughter of Cai Xi, the largest wealthy family in Xiangyang area. Cai Xi has two daughters and a son. A man of momentary weight.That is to say, the chief executive of the Jingzhou area is the uncle of Zhuge Liang's wife, and the important official in Jingzhou area is the uncle of Zhuge Liang's wife, so this network is very impressive.And there is another story about Zhuge Liang’s father-in-law, Huang Chengyan, who admired Zhuge Liang very much. One day he went to Zhuge Liang and told him, my child, I have a daughter who is ugly but very talented. Would you like to marry her?Zhuge Liang said he was willing, and Huang Chengyan immediately went home and put his daughter in the car and sent him to Zhuge Liang's house.There are different opinions on this matter. One way of saying is that Huang Chengyan’s daughter is not ugly. Huang Chengyan’s saying that there are ugly girls in the family is a humble word. For Chinese, for example, if the son is called Gouzi, the daughter is called ugly girl. You can’t take it seriously. There is a dog in my family, saying that your son is a dog, you can’t take it seriously; another way of saying is to test Zhuge Liang, to see if you value talent and virtue or color, Zhuge Liang has passed the test, value virtue and talent, or marry A beautiful girl went back.But I think Huang Chengyan's daughter is probably ugly, why?This is what Huang Chengyan said. He said: "If you have an ugly girl with a yellow head and black hair, you can match it", 12 characters. If it was a modest word, he would not be so specific. Huang-haired girl, dark-skinned, he does not The second evidence is that this matter was spread as a joke in the Jingzhou and Xiangyang areas at that time. In the end, the common people made up two folk proverbs, which are called "Don't choose a wife for Kong Ming, and you will get A Chengchou." If you want to pick a wife, don’t learn from Zhuge Liang. The ugly girl in Huang Acheng’s family who couldn’t get married was married back by him, so she seems to be an ugly girl.

So if Huang Chengyan's daughter is really ugly, then there is a problem, what is the problem, why is Zhuge Liang willing?As we said before, Zhuge Liang is a handsome guy who is eight feet tall, has a great appearance, and has talent and good looks. Why did he marry an ugly girl?There are also various explanations. The first explanation is that Zhuge Liang is high-minded, he values ​​virtue and talent rather than appearance, and does not judge people by appearance. This is an explanation; the second explanation, on the contrary, says that Zhuge Liang values ​​Huang Chengyan's network because In our northern dialect, Liu Biao, the chief executive of the Jingzhou area, is a brother-in-law. If you want to enter politics, it is extremely beneficial for you to have such a relationship.So what is the reason?We can't invite Mr. Zhuge to ask questions now, and there is no clear record in history. I don't dare to jump to conclusions out of the ancients. I ask the audience friends in front of the TV to judge for themselves.

The third condition is that Zhuge Liang has a small circle, which we might as well call the Jingxiang Scholars Group.That is to say, many celebrities gathered in the Xiangyang area of ​​Jingzhou at that time. The older generation included Sima Hui and Pang Degong, and the younger ones included Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Shi Tao, and Meng Jian. They are very optimistic about Zhuge Liang, and even gave him a nickname, Mr. Wolong, and when they think the time is right, they will launch Zhuge Liang grandly.We know that Liu Bei knew Zhuge Liang, and it was the Jingxiang Scholars Group who introduced him to Liu Bei. Xu Shu, Sima Hui, Pang Degong, etc. all did publicity and promotion work, so Zhuge Liang's conditions for entering politics are very good.

So we have another question, since he has such good conditions for a political career, why doesn't he stay out of the mountain? During the Three Kingdoms period, the Zhuge family produced a large number of talents, and the most dazzling star was Zhuge Liang.From this point of view, Zhuge Liang not only has lofty ambitions, but also has a background and network of connections to achieve great things, but one thing is puzzling. Since Zhuge Liang is so qualified and capable, why does he not come out?What exactly is Zhuge Liang looking at? This is to find out Zhuge Liang's ambitions. It is said that when Zhuge Liang was chatting with his young friends Shi Tao, Xu Shu, and Meng Jian, he said something like this. He said that if you are in politics, you can at least be a county. First of all, it is an official at the county level. What about you?Zhuge Liang smiled and didn't speak, just laughed and didn't answer, in fact, he already had the answer. What does "Three Kingdoms" say about him? "Every time I compare myself to Guan Zhong and Le Yi", who is Guan Zhong, what is his name, what is Le Yi, a famous general, Zhuge Liang's goal is very clear, to be a general, to be a prime minister, to make great achievements, and to be astounding.So his ambition is very big. With such a big ambition, he must choose a good boss for himself.Because we know that in such a turbulent era, a person with ambition and achievements can have three choices. The first is to fight the country by himself like Cao Cao; the second is to help others fight the country like Zhou Yu; The other is that like those hermits, I stay at home with no one to help.Zhuge Liang obviously chose to be a virtuous minister, a famous general, and a minister who can rule the world, so he must choose a good boss for himself. So Zhuge Liang looked around, so many companies, so many enterprises, so many bosses, which one to choose?The most convenient is Liu Biao. Cao Cao and Sun Quan are also recruiting talents. Liu Bei has not yet become popular at this time. He decided not to choose, why?Liu Biao is too bad, Cao Cao is too strong, and Sun Quan has too little space.We’ll talk about Liu Biao’s job later, but here’s a word, that is, when the Central Plains was in turmoil, many talents from the Central Plains went to Jingzhou, and Liu Biao couldn’t use any of them, so Zhuge Liang, who couldn’t use people at all, quickly passed him; As for Cao Cao, Cao Cao is too strong, Cao Cao has a lot of talents, and he is a first-class talent, which position will Zhuge Liang take after he passes by; then Sun Quan, Sun Quan can't do it either, Sun Quan has two important ministers, one civil and one military. Zhao, a Zhou Yu, has an extraordinary relationship with the Sun family. It is called being promoted to worship his mother, that is, both Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu have enjoyed the treatment of being promoted to worship their mother. What does it mean to be promoted to worship their mother?It was Sun Quan or Sun Ce, to be precise, Sun Ce, and went to Sun Ce's house to invite them to visit Sun Ce's mother in the back hall, and married him as a godson. Therefore, if Zhuge Liang came to Jiangdong, his status would definitely be lower than Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu, and even Lu Su Under the circumstances, this is what Zhuge Liang is unwilling to do. Because Zhuge Liang's goal is very clear, that is, when I come to this boss, if I want to use it, I will be used by him;So Sun Quan's place is obviously too small.So for him, what is the best choice?It is a hero who can achieve hegemony or empire in the future. It is best to be able to become an emperor, that is, to be an emperor in the future. If you take a step back, you can’t become an emperor and become a hegemony. Is an alternate emperor.That is to say, this person must have ambitions and conditions, but the ambitions are not obvious, or even not clear, and his conditions are immature and lacking, so I, Zhuge Liang, are needed to help him.In other words, Zhuge Liang also asked himself to have the space and possibility to show his talents after he joined this group. He has to do things.So please think about it, who is eligible for this?There is only one person, and he is Liu Bei. Zhuge Liang, who has great ambitions, pays close attention to the current situation and the current situation.After some comparisons, he decided not to choose Cao Cao, who has political advantages, nor Sun Quan, who has a literary and military strategy, and finally locked his target on Liu Bei.Zhuge Liang's move has become the biggest mystery he can't understand, because at this time Liu Bei is still under the fence and attached to Liu Biao. Why does such a weak person attract Zhuge Liang's attention? What kind of Liu Bei is he? people?What special charm does he have? I think Liu Bei is very qualified as an alternate emperor. First, he has the distinction of an emperor, that is, he has the possibility of becoming an emperor. Where is the possibility?Two points, first, origin, Liu Bei is from the Liu family, from the emperor's family. Of course, his blood relationship is very weak, and he can't even make it clear, but everyone still recognizes him after he showed this sign , and lined up in detail, today's emperor still has to call him uncle, called Uncle Liu Huang, he is the emperor's uncle, then if the emperor is said to be useless, changing his uncle is more important than changing someone with a foreign surname. It's still more convenient and reasonable, this is one.The second point is that Liu Bei has a good image, with his ears hanging down his shoulders, his hands over his knees, and the appearance of an emperor. Unlike Cao Cao, Sun Quan's image is also good. Among these three people, Cao Cao has the worst image, which is why Cao Cao dared not say it in the end. One of the reasons for the emperor is a secondary reason, but it is also a reason. Of course we advocate not judging people by their appearance today, but the ancients did not see it that way. The ancients judged people by their appearance, and they were very particular about image.Cao Cao's image is not good, he doesn't look like a king, he doesn't look like an emperor, this is not good, Liu Bei looks like him, and so does Sun Quan. Second, Liu Bei has the ambition of an emperor, that is, he wants to be an emperor.What are the names of Liu Bei's two sons?One is Liu Feng and the other is Liu Chan. Together they are "Feng Chan". What is Feng Chan?Fengchan is a ceremony for the virtuous emperors to pay homage to Mount Tai in ancient China. There are two conditions, or three conditions. First, the subject of this sacrifice can only be the emperor. A virtuous king, you are not qualified if you have no virtue. The third is that the sacrifice must be done on Mount Tai.That is, worshiping the sky on the top of Mount Tai is called "Feng", and offering sacrifices to the ground at the foot of Mount Tai is called "Zen".That means he wants to be emperor. The third point is that Liu Bei has the art of emperor.Liu Bei claims to be a distant descendant of Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty. I just said that the blood relationship is not clear now, but this person is indeed very similar to Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty. Like music, dogs, horses and women, this one is the same.Where is the difference?The difference is that Liu Bang likes to swear, he just swears, Liu Bei doesn't swear, Liu Bei has never seen his swearing records, that is to say, Liu Bei is kinder than Liu Bang, at least he seems to be kinder than Liu Bang, so he is very popular.It is said that when he served as Prime Minister of Pingyuan, one of his subordinates looked down on him. Why should this guy be my leader? He bribed an assassin to murder Liu Bei. After the assassin came, Liu Bei received this again according to the way he received talents. Assassin, drink with him, eat with him, and play with him. After the game, the assassin says that I am here to kill you, but I think you are such a good person, so I will not kill you. I tell you that someone is going to kill you. your.Why didn't this assassin kill him?It is because the assassins saw that Liu Bei performed really well in such a turbulent era. According to historical records, one of Liu Bei was defending the place at that time, and when someone else came to him, he defended this place. The second was to help the poor, and the third was everything. He treats those scholars equally regardless of their high status or low status. As long as the other party is a scholar and a talent, Liu Bei will definitely eat and talk with him at the same table after he comes. The fourth point is that Liu Bei has the blessing of an emperor.Liu Bei is a blessed person. Among the Big Three of the Three Kingdoms, both he and Sun Quan are considered blessed.The most fortunate is Sun Quan, who took over a ready-made foundation when he was eighteen years old. His father, Sun Jian, and his elder brother, Sun Ce, have already helped him bring down the world, leaving behind a group of loyal assistants, Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu are both very loyal, and Sun Quan basically doesn't need to be on the front line in the whole process of competing for the throne. Naturally, someone will help him fight, and the luck is the best.Liu Bei is also considered lucky, why do you say he is blessed?As soon as he came out of the mountain, he got Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. We know that no matter in ancient wars or modern enterprises, the most important thing is talents, and talents are rare, why are talents so rare?Because of a best talent, we require him to be both loyal and competent, but what is the problem facing the bosses?Loyal ones can’t do it, capable ones can’t be loyal, it’s hard to find loyal and capable ones, this Liu Bei came here as soon as he debuted, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are really loyal and capable, don’t you think it’s a blessing? But his fate was very bumpy, and his road was very tortuous. After fighting for so many years, he still has no base, still does not have his own team, still cannot succeed, and still has to rely on others.It is said that once he drank with Liu Biao, and then he went to the bathroom halfway, and cried when he came back. Liu Biao said why are you crying?Liu Bei said, just now when I went to the bathroom, I looked down and found that my two thighs had grown fat. I have been riding a horse for a long time, and I can only have muscles on my legs, not fat. I just remembered that I have achieved nothing at such an old age, so I feel sad from the bottom of my heart.Indeed, in the twelfth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei will be forty-six years old. You must know that the ancients are different from us now. We are now 46 years old, and the ancients will be called old men at the age of thirty-six. Liu Bei feels that he is really I can't see the bright future, and I can't finish walking the twists and turns. We know that there are two reasons why Liu Bei has struggled for so long and has not been able to become a climate.First, let’s say that he has a heroic ambition, a heroic spirit, a heroic soul, and a heroic righteousness, but what is he lacking—a place for a hero, that is, he lacks a place to use his talents, which is what he lacks. Article one.Second, he has the distinction of an emperor, the ambition of an emperor, the skills of an emperor, and the blessing of an emperor. Why didn't he become an emperor—he lacked a road to success.He has not found the correct political line for his development for so many years, and these two things began to exist at this time, because Zhuge Liang came, it was Zhuge Liang who gave him a place to use, and it was Zhuge Liang who pointed out the road to success for him. So it was Liu Bei's great fortune that Zhuge Liang came to Liu Bei's side, and it was Cao Cao's great misfortune.Of course, we can't exaggerate the role of individuals. The development of the situation later was also caused by many reasons, not Zhuge Liang alone, but it cannot be denied that in that era, the appearance of such a character did have immeasurable significance. This is Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang at that time, that is to say, what does Liu Bei look like?Like a developing private enterprise, it has a little capital, a little experience, and a little product, but it can't find the main product and marketing route, and it lacks a CEO.Zhuge Liang is like a capable professional manager. He is the general manager for others. He has no property of his own, and he does not start a company. He needs to find a good company.So when these two people met later, they hit it off like a fish in water, and this made their encounter between a monarch and a minister, a good story that has been passed down through the ages.But there is a problem here, that is, who are they looking for?According to "Three Kingdoms" and "Three Kingdoms", Liu Bei visited the thatched cottage three times, but according to "Wei Lue" and "Nine Provinces Spring and Autumn", Zhuge Liang came to the door on his own initiative, so we have to ask: Did Liu Bei visit the thatched cottage three times, or Zhuge Liang came to recommend himself?If it was Liu Bei who visited the thatched cottage three times, then did Liu Bei visit the thatched cottage three times before seeing him, or did he visit three times and see him three times?Please see the next episode - Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage.