The Late Qing Dynasty in the eyes of Liu E, the author of Travel Notes of Lao Can: It is already a political endgame.

In fact, in the novel "Self-narration", Liu E has another explanation for the word "old disabled". "soliloquy" said: "if the chess game is disabled, we will be old. Do you want to stop crying? " Therefore, according to my understanding, the so-called "old disability" means nothing more than "old disability".

The hero's name in Liu E's novel Travel Notes of Lao Can is Lao Can. Why is it called Lao Can? For the first time in the novel, it is explained like this: this man was honored as "Lao Can" in the name of "Can" because he admired the story of the lazy and disabled monk in the Tang Dynasty. In fact, in the novel "Self-narration", Liu E has another explanation for the word "old disabled". "soliloquy" said: "if the chess game is disabled, we will be old. Do you want to stop crying? " Therefore, according to my understanding, the so-called "old disability" means nothing more than "old disability"; Liu E expressed his sense of life experience and sadness about the present situation with Travel Notes of Lao Can. In fact, Liu E was only 40 years old at that time, not too old. When he said he was "getting old", he probably meant "getting old before you get old".

In Liu E's eyes, the political situation at that time was already an endgame, and there was nothing to do. The nightmare of Lao Can in the first episode of Travel Notes of Lao Can is an obvious political metaphor, which well expresses Liu E's perception of the current situation.

In my dream, Lao Canhe and De Huisheng (note that the names of Wen and De are very meaningful) are waiting for the sunrise in the pavilion by the sea. They didn't do it because of the clouds, but they saw a sailboat with a telescope. "In that huge wave, it was very dangerous." This sailboat was obviously a metaphor for China at that time. "The ship owner is sitting on the steering tower, and four people downstairs are responsible for steering. Six masts before and after, hanging six old sails; There are two new masts, a brand-new sail and a semi-new sail. " In this passage, the four-wheel rudder probably refers to the minister of military affairs, the six old masts refer to the six old masts, and the two new masts are two new ones (foreign affairs department and business department). "Although this ship is 234 feet long, there are many damaged places: there is a piece in the east, about 30 feet long, which has been damaged and the waves are directly poured in; Next to it, or to the east, there is another piece, about ten feet long, which is gradually immersed in water waves; In the rest, there are no scars. " The so-called 234 zhangs, is 234 provinces and governors. Dongsanzhang is the three northeastern provinces; Shandong is an outpost in the east. This passage is obviously about China, which is about to be carved up by the great powers.

Although the ship will sink, everyone on board is busy with their own business: "Those eight sails are carefully managed there, but everyone is managing their own sails, as if they were on eight ships, which are irrelevant." Sailors just run around in the men's and women's teams on board and don't know what to do. If you look closely with a telescope, you will know that he is there looking for dry food brought by their men and women and stripping off the clothes they are wearing. "Of course, the old disabled people are very angry: seeing that the ship is about to sink, those officials are either confused or robbing the people of their wealth. On the boat, they started killing people and threw the bodies into the sea. After the murder, the sailboat continued to sail to the deep sea.

In order to prevent a boatman from being destroyed by several drivers for no reason, Wenbo initially put forward a plan: driving a fishing boat, catching up with a sailboat, killing the helmsman and replacing him with a new helmsman (that is, carrying out a revolution). The old man has a sympathetic understanding of the driver. He thinks there is nothing wrong with the driver. There are two reasons why the ship is in a mess. First of all, they will only live a quiet life. If it is calm, his driving situation is also wonderful, but today is a big wind and waves, so it is all wool. Second, they are not prepared for the policy. Usually, when the weather is fine, they follow the old road and have the sun, the moon and the stars to see, so they can't go wrong too much. On cloudy days, the sun, moon and stars are all covered by clouds, so there is no support. It's not that they don't want to do good deeds, but that they don't know the southeast and northwest, so it's getting worse and worse. The old man's plan is: give them a compass and they will go when they have the direction; Then tell the shipowner the difference between driving in stormy weather and not driving in stormy weather. If they had followed the master's advice, wouldn't they have landed on the other side at once?

When the old man and the disabled caught up with the sailboat, the revolutionaries on board were giving a speech there, demanding that the helmsman be killed. Revolutionaries use revolution as an excuse to collect money, and then stand in a safe place and encourage others to bleed. The old man and others jumped on the boat and gave the steering wheel and the time limit meter to the people on board. The helmsman doesn't know how to use these new objects. "Inferior sailors" accused them of using a foreign steering wheel. They must be traitors sent by foreign devils! The hero who just incited the revolution also shouted there: "This is a traitor who sells ships! Kill it! Kill quickly! " The owner's uncle was a little more reasonable and asked the three men to leave quickly so as not to cause public outrage. After the three returned to the ship, the people on the ship were still in the Yu Nu, and the fishing boat was smashed by the waves.

Obviously, Lao Can's nightmare is a political metaphor. The ship is about to capsize, but the people on board don't know the direction, and they refuse foreign advanced instruments and even regard the prophet as a traitor. Come to think of it, isn't it a hopeless mess?