When is Taoyuan Sanjieyi?

Sworn brothers

Anecdotal anecdote:

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, North Korea's political corruption, coupled with years of famine, made people's lives very difficult. Liu Bei intends to save the people, and Zhang Fei and Guan Yu are willing to work together with Liu Bei for a thousand times. The three of them hit it off and chose Zhangfeizhuang as the Peach Blossom Garden. At this time, the peach blossoms are in full bloom and the scenery is beautiful. Zhang Fei prepared a green cow and a white horse as sacrifices, burned incense and prayed, and took the oath. Three people recognized their brother by their age. Liu Bei became the eldest brother, Guan Yu the second and Zhang Fei the third. This is the famous "taoyuan sworn" in the romance of the three kingdoms.

Are there three outstanding men in Taoyuan in history?

When Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are mentioned, people will always associate them with the Taoyuan that flourished after Zhang Feizhuang in Zhuo Jun County in their early years. They prepared black cows and white horses, sacrificed to heaven and earth, burned incense and worshipped again, and became half-brothers. They don't want to be born on the same day in the same year, they just want to die on the same day in the same year. So, in the history of the Three Kingdoms, is there any matter of Taoyuan becoming sworn?

The relationship between Liu, Guan and Zhang is really extraordinary in history. Guan Yu Biography of the Three Kingdoms records that Guan Yu ran to Zhuo Jun in desperation, Liu Bei was an apprentice in the village, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei voted for him. Later, Liu Bei was a plain, and Yu Hefei was another Sima, divided into different parts. Liu Bei and the two of them "sleep in the same bed and are brothers." Guan Yu often sits in the crowd and stands all day. Later, Xuzhou fell, Guan Yu was captured, and Cao Cao sent people to surrender. Guan Yu also said, "I was sworn to death by General Liu, and I can't recite it." "Biography of Zhang Fei" also records: "Zhang Fei ... and Guan Yu is young, and how old he is, Brother Fei will take care of him."

Judging from Guan Yu's "mutually assured destruction", it seems that they made some vows in those years, but the history books only say "brothers", not sworn brothers.

It may be based on the fact that the three men are "favored brothers", which led to the legend of loyalty and righteousness in Taoyuan being circulated among the people, while the Yuan people wrote the story into the stories of the Three Kingdoms and zaju according to folklore. It is generally believed that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. Prior to this, Pinghua of the Three Kingdoms, one of the five kinds of all-round Pinghua published from Yuan Dynasty to Zhi Zhi (132 1323), although only 80,000 words, initially had the main outline of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. One of them is "Make a Wish in Taoyuan". First, Guan Yu killed the county magistrate who was greedy for money and bribes and harmed the people, and fled to Zhuo Jun. Seeing his unconventional appearance and funny talk, Zhang Fei invited him to the hotel for a drink. Just after Liu Bei sold shoes, he also entered the hotel. After drinking a few glasses of wine, the three of them hit it off immediately, so they invited each other to Zhangfeizhuang Houtaoyuan, and every year, they "killed the white horse to worship the sky and the black cow to worship the ground" and "sat and slept together and swore to be brothers". This is similar to the description in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. According to Fu Xihua's Catalogue of Complete Works of Zaju in Yuan Dynasty, there were more than 40 kinds of Zaju with the story of the Three Kingdoms as the theme in Yuan Dynasty, and almost all the main characters of the Three Kingdoms were put on the stage of drama, which also played an important role in the book. There is also a special play "Liu Tao Jie Yi", whose plot is different from Pinghua. According to records, Guan Yu killed Zhou Yin, who was king in the chaos, and then fled to Fanyang, Zhuo Jun. One day, he went to Zhang Fei's butcher's shop to buy meat and drink, but Zhang Fei held down the butcher's knife with a thousand pounds of stone in advance. Guan Yu moved huge stones, which made Zhang Fei admire. Zhang Fei visited the inn. He first worshipped Guan Yu as his brother, and then met Liu Bei. Seeing that he was handsome, rich and a descendant of the emperor, he and Guan Yu became brothers, and the three of them went to Taoyuan outside the city to kill cattle and horses and sacrifice to heaven and earth, vowing to share life and death and help the Han family.

The story of loyalty in Taoyuan also has the shadow of real life. During the Three Kingdoms period, there was a custom of killing white horses as allies. In the seventh year of Jian 'an (202), Cao Cao attacked Nanpi and killed Yuan Tan. Yuan Ji touched the Ministry and turned his back on Cao. They vowed to kill the white horse during the uprising, which was found in the reflection of Yuan Shaozhuan. But this is just an oath, not a sworn brother. Later, many leaders of the peasant uprising used this form when they became sworn brothers. For example, in the Red Scarf Uprising of Liu Fushun and others in the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Shiji described their sworn relationship as "killing white horses and black cows, swearing with heaven and earth, and wanting to make a joint insurrection". ?

Romance of the Three Kingdoms may be based on folklore and absorb the deeds of peasant uprising, or it may be related to the author's own experience. According to Lu Xun's research, Luo Guanzhong, the author of Romance, lived at 1330- 1400. His life story is countless. Some people say that he is from Taiyuan (now Taiyuan, Shanxi), some people say that he is from Dongyuan (now Dongping, Shandong), and some people say that he is from Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang). I only know that he was born in troubled times and has rich experience. There are two points worthy of attention: First, Qi's Historical Records said that he was an "ambitious king"; second, wei ren and the inscription in "A Hundred Scenes of the Water Margin" said that he was related to Zhang Shicheng, one of the leaders of the peasant uprising at the end of Yuan Dynasty. He has a drama "Zhao Kuangyin Dragon and Tiger Club". Besides The Romance of The Three Kingdoms, his novels include The Thorn, The Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, The Romance of Tang and Five Dynasties and The Biography of Three Sui Dynasties by Xiao Qin Wang, and he participated in the compilation of The Water Margin. These novels and operas are all based on heroic deeds in troubled times, which should be related to his experience and ambition. A lot of descriptions in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, first describing the loyalty of Taoyuan, should also be related to his experience.

As far as the artistic conception of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is concerned, writing three vows in Taoyuan not only leads to the three main protagonists in the book, but also reveals the theme of loyalty and righteousness in the book in many ways, which may be one reason why the author wrote the vows in Taoyuan at the beginning of the Romance.