Who were the ancient celebrities who were very smart when they were young?

From child prodigy to celebrity

"Book of the Later Han·Biography" calls Kong Rong "a gifted young man." According to the "Rong Family Biography", there were seven Kong Rong brothers, and he ranked sixth. When he was four years old, every time his brothers ate pears together, they would always take the bigger ones, but he would always pick the smaller ones. The adults in the family asked him why, and he replied: "My son, I should choose the younger one." For this, he was praised by the Kong family. When he was ten years old, Kong Rong came to the capital Luoyang with his father. At that time, Henan Yin Li Ying was very famous. However, he "does not accept guests rashly", which means that celebrities and members of his family are not allowed to receive him. But Kong Rong was still a child, but he wanted to see Li Ying. He said to the gatekeeper of Li Mansion: "I am a descendant of Li Juntong's family. Please inform me." After Li Ying invited him in, he asked him: "Gao Ming (call him Gao Ming)" "Is there any kindness between ancestors, fathers, and servants?" Kong Rong replied: "Yes. The ancestor Confucius and your ancestor Li Laojun share the same virtues and are close friends, so they have been with you for generations." After hearing this, everyone was amazed that he was so smart at such a young age and was a "strange child" (Shishuo Xinyu·Yu Shi cited "Rongbie Zhuan"). Li Ying also praised him as "certainly a great weapon in the future."

Three years later, his father died, and Kong Rong stayed at home in mourning. At this time, he was studious, diligent in reading, and knowledgeable, and gradually became more important in the state. During the Huanling period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the troubles caused by the party's imprisonment were repeated. The eunuchs controlled the government, blocked their opinions, attacked dissidents, and hunted down and killed upright people in both the government and the public. At that time, Zhang Jian of Shanyang was resented by Hou Lan, the eunuch leader, and was forced to flee. Because Zhang Jian had an old relationship with Kong Rong's brother Kong Bao, he fled to Kong's house. It happened that Kong Bao was out and only 16-year-old Kong Rong was at home. When Zhang Jian saw that he was young, he didn't trust him at first. Kong Rong said, "Although my brother is away, can't I do something for you?" So he hid Zhang Jian at home. Unexpectedly, the matter was leaked, and Kong Rong and his brother Kong Bao were arrested and imprisoned. The two brothers fought to death. The county and county could not resolve the matter, so they had to petition their superiors to handle it. As a result, the superiors issued an edict to investigate Kong Bao's crime, and Kong Rong became famous. . At that time, Tao Qiuhong of Pingyuan and Bian Rang of Chen Liu were both handsome for a while. Kong Rong was as famous as them and became a famous person at that time.

Although Kong Rong was the "Queen of the Great Sages" and became a famous figure in the turbulent era, he also had great ambitions, saying that he would help people in crisis and help the Han Dynasty, but he lacked political insight. With Kuang Ji, a great talent. During his tenure as Prime Minister of Beihai, his main political achievements were in establishing schools, demonstrating Confucianism, recommending virtuous people, and hanging people to ask questions. As for using troops to fight, this great celebrity made a fool of himself. He was besieged many times by the Yellow Turban rebels and Yuan Shao's troops in Beihai, so that he "could not protect the four borders and abandoned the county" ("Three Kingdoms·Cui Yan Biography" annotated "Jiuzhou Spring and Autumn"). Once he was trapped by the Yellow Turban Army in Duchang, but he was able to escape thanks to Liu Bei sending troops to rescue him. Once again in the first year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao's son Yuan Tan led his troops to surround Kong Rong in Qingzhou. For several months, there were only about a hundred or so guards left in the city. The situation was critical, but Kong Rong "sit back and forth, reading and discussing." Self-confidence” (ibid.). As a result, "the city was destroyed and everyone perished". He only escaped with his own body, and his wife, children and children were all made prisoners. On the one hand, due to his excessive self-esteem and unrealistic opinions, and on the other hand, because he was not qualified for the job, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, when the powerful were fighting and the heroes were separatist, although Kong Rong "unwilled to work as an ordinary county governor" (ibid.) , but in the end he has achieved nothing, and at best he can only be a celebrity.

Recommend the virtuous and induce the underachievers

On the one hand, Kong Rong was talented and arrogant, thinking that "no great man at that time could match him" ("Jiuzhou Spring and Autumn"), on the other hand, he was also quite knowledgeable. The wise man. He is tolerant of people, and if anyone points out his shortcomings to his face, he will praise that person's merits behind his back. If he knows someone else's talent but does not recommend it, he will consider it his own fault. Others who are even a little bit good will not be praised. All were treated with courtesy by him. Because of this, during his official career, he "recommended wise men and received many awards." While in Beihai, he successively recommended Peng Qiu, Wang Xiu, Bing Yuan and others, and also asked the court to establish "Zheng Gongxiang" in his hometown of Gaomi for Zheng Xuan, a famous scholar at that time.

When Kong Rong was a doctor in Taizhong, the house was crowded with guests every day. He said with emotion: "The seats are always full of guests and the wine in the bottle is never empty. I have no worries."

Kong Rong's " The style of "loving to induce and benefiting the underachievers" was unswerving. When he was serving as the Shaofu in his later years, he also tried his best to recommend Sheng Xiaozhang, a famous figure in Wu State, to Cao Cao. In "On Shengxiao Zhangshu", he expressed great sympathy for his old friends who were "trapped in the Sun family" and "lonely and miserable", and lamented that "the knowledge in the sea is completely scattered." I hope that Cao Cao can lend a helping hand to the wise men and have the feeling of "crying for a close friend in his dying years" (Xie Ao's "Thoughts of Crying at Xitai"). In the first year of Jian'an, Kong Rong met Mi Heng, who was twenty years younger than him. Mi Heng was also an upright and upright man. He relied on his talent and arrogance, and hated evil as much as his enemies. He was only friendly with Kong Rong and Yang Xiu, who had similar personalities to him. Kong Rong also appreciated Mi Heng's virtue and talent very much and wrote a letter to Cao Cao praising him. "Charity is pure and bright, talent is outstanding. ... Loyalty and uprightness, ambition is as good as frost and snow" ("Recommended Ni Heng Biao"). But such a young and talented Jian'an writer finally met his death prematurely because of his arrogant personality and his incompatibility with the world. Mi Heng's death undoubtedly foreshadowed the fate of Kong Rong.

Lose talk, uprightness and death

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the current situation was turbulent, social thoughts were gradually emancipating, and Confucianism could no longer fully regulate people's behavioral norms. Although Kong Rong was a descendant of a saint and had practiced Confucianism since childhood, due to the influence of the atmosphere of the times and his upright and indulgent character, it was only natural that his speech and behavior were often out of line. Kong Rong often went out in casual clothes without wearing official uniforms or headscarves. In Kong Rong's heart, the so-called filial piety is not enough. He even said: "What kind of relationship should a father have with his son? In terms of its original meaning, it is actually lust. Does the son also ridicule his mother? For example, sending things to his mother. "What comes out of the bottle is separation." Who would have thought that such deviant remarks would come from the mouth of a descendant of Confucius? When we consider that the rulers of the Han Dynasty at that time advocated "ruling the world with filial piety", and nonsense stories such as Wang Xiang Wo Bing and Guo Ju Burian are constantly seen in official history, then we have to admire Kong Rong's courage.

Kong Rong was one of the more upright representatives of the gentry at that time. He was upright and upright and proud throughout his life. When he first entered the official career in his early years, he first showed his talents and corrected corrupt officials. "Chen has never said anything about evil." When Dong Zhuo manipulated the court to depose Li Li, he often disobeyed Zhuo's orders. As a result, Huben Zhonglang was moved to Zuo as Yilang. Later in Xuchang, Kong Rong often made comments or wrote articles attacking and ridiculing Cao Cao's measures. Because Taiwei Yang Biao was related by marriage to Yuan Shu, Cao Cao became angry with Biao and planned to kill him. After Kong Rong knew about it, he hurriedly went to see Cao Cao without bothering to wear court clothes, and persuaded him not to kill innocent people, so as not to lose the hearts of the world. He also claimed: "If you kill Yang Biao, I, Kong Rong, will pick up my clothes and go home tomorrow, and will never be an official again." ("Three Kingdoms·Cui Yan Biography" annotated "Xu Hanshu") Because of Kong Rong's After arguing with reason, Yang Biao was spared death. In the ninth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao captured Yecheng, and his son Cao Pi took Yuan Shao's daughter-in-law Zhen as his wife. When Kong Rong found out, he wrote to Cao Cao: "King Wu defeated Zhou and gave his sister to Duke Zhou." Cao Cao did not understand that this was for them. The father and son ridiculed and asked what classics this matter came from. Kong Rong replied: "It is natural to judge it today." At that time, there were many years of military use, coupled with famine, there was a shortage of military rations. Cao Cao ordered a ban on alcohol, and Kong Rong made another series of actions. The book objects. Cao Cao had long been jealous of Kong Rong's repeated obstruction of him, just because the situation in the north was still unstable at that time, and Kong Rong's reputation was too great to do anything to him. By the thirteenth year of Jian'an, the situation in the north had been decided. On the eve of implementing his great cause of unification, Cao Cao began to attack Kong Rong in order to eliminate internal interference. He instructed the Prime Minister's army to plan wine sacrifices, Lu Cui falsely accused Kong Rong of "desiring to plan (plan) evil", and he had "dissolute talk" with Mi Heng. The crime was Kong Rong's previous remarks about the relationship between parents and children. In this way, in August of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Kong Rong was abandoned and his wife and children were killed at the same time.

Although Kong Rong's death was largely caused by himself, it was also related to Cao Cao's jealousy of talents and abilities. Today, those who reverse the case for Cao Cao all praise him for loving, seeking, and using talents, but at the same time, they also ignore the other side of Cao Cao who is sometimes narrow-minded, jealous of talents, and stifles talents.

Aren't Cao Cao's killings of Kong Rong, Yang Xiu, Cui Yan, Hua Tuo, and the murder of Ni Heng with a borrowed sword the most obvious examples?

Articles about "Excellent Physical Qi" and "Mixed with Ridicule"

Kong Rong was not only a famous scholar, but also a writer. He was listed by Cao Pi as one of the "Seven Sons of Jian'an" (see "Classics and Essays"). After his death, Cao Pi collected 25 posthumous articles for him. However, these limited writings were scattered and lost in later generations, and most of them were only circulated in fragments. Among them, only eight poems remain. Judging from his handed down works, his prose is better than poetry. Cao Pi said in "Dian Lun·Wen": "Kong Rong's body and spirit were superb and surpassed others. However, he could not hold on to his arguments, and his reasoning was too numerous to explain, and he mixed it with ridicule. What he was good at was praised by others." While giving him a high evaluation, he also pointed out his shortcomings. The characteristic of Kong Rong's prose is the sharp and humorous writing style. This can be seen in the aforementioned letter of Kong Rong mocking Cao Cao and his son. His two articles "Nan Cao Gongbiao's Prohibition Book" are also highly satirical. The first part lists ancient philosophers, kings, sages, civil servants and generals who achieved great success and established meritorious deeds due to wine, and came to the conclusion that "from this point of view, how can wine fail in politics?" The second chapter is full of satire and ridicule. Cao Cao said that wine can destroy a country and must be banned. Kong Rong retorted and said: There are also women who have lost the world. Why can't they prohibit marriage? At the end of the day, he simply revealed Cao Cao's old background: "I doubt but cherish the grain, not to take the death of the king as a warning." Kong Rong used strong words in the article. It is unreasonable to oppose the prohibition of alcohol. It can only be used to show his ups and downs of character and temperament. His sharp writing style may be the reason why Cao Pi criticized him for "too much reason to explain, but mixed it with ridicule".

In addition to the above characteristics, Kong Rong's prose also has a profound and euphemistic style, such as the famous "On Sheng Xiao Zhang Shu" mentioned above. Generally speaking, his prose pays attention to the beauty of rhetoric and the symmetry of words, and has a strong parallel flavor. This is what distinguishes Kong Rong from other writers at the same time. At the same time, people pointed out that his articles were "sublime in body and spirit" and "written straight and straight, and the words were moved by spirit" (Liu Shipei's "Lecture Notes on the History of Medieval Literature"), which also reflected the unique trend of literary creation in the Jian'an period.

Compared with prose, Kong Rong's poetry is inferior. The second poem of his "Miscellaneous Poems" expresses the grief of the death of his young son. It is sad and moving, and it can be regarded as a better work of lyric poetry at that time.

Among Kong Rong's poems, the more valuable one is his "Death Poem", which sadly and angrily reveals the social reality of "slanderous evil harms justice, and floating clouds obscure the day", because he was killed Most of the crimes were based on the thoughtful consideration of Xi Liu, Lu Cui and others. In feudal society, all upright and arrogant people who do not obey the powerful will probably inevitably suffer the unfortunate fate of being wronged and killed. "There are many things to worry about in life, but everything will be settled after a long sleep." Although this tone is pessimistic and desperate, it is Kong Rong's final accusation against the dark reality.

Kong Rong was a writer in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and one of the "Seven Sons of Jian'an". He was a famous Confucian at that time and had considerable achievements in Confucianism and literature. He was highly respected and admired by the world. Kong Rong let Li's The story is even more widely known. Later he was killed by Cao Cao. Today, let's taste this Hongru's behavior and the reasons why he was killed.

We have witnessed Kong Rong’s intelligence and wit: when he was ten years old, Kong Rong followed his father to Luoyang to meet Li Yuanli, a famous scholar and official. He was very knowledgeable and many scholars wanted to visit him. However, there were too many people to attend, so Li Yuanli decided to only receive relatives and friends. Kong Rong came to the gate of Li Mansion and told the gatekeeper that he and his father were relatives of the owner of Li Mansion. The gatekeeper took them to their master. Of course Li Yuanli wanted to know if he was related to them. Kong Rong explained generously: My ancestor Confucius once asked your ancestor Laozi (Laozi's original name was Li Er) for etiquette. Your ancestor was the teacher of my ancestor, so we should be family friends. Li Yuanli and his guests listened to Kong Rong's reasoning and were full of praise for his intelligence and wit. However, one of the guests, Chen Wei, said sarcastically: "You are young, so being older may not be better." Kong Rong immediately retorted: "Then I think you must have been great when you were young." Chen Wei was refuted by him and was ashamed. His face was red and he was speechless for a long time.

This reflects Kong Rong's intelligence and wit from one aspect, but it also reflects from another aspect that Kong Rong is more sarcastic and sarcastic, which is his character.

Generally speaking, smart people have the weakness of overestimating themselves and looking down on others, especially the inability to listen to contrary opinions. If you cannot overcome this weakness, intelligence may become a self-inflicted sword. At the same time, a smart person is destined to be critical of the world he lives in. This is the best evidence that character determines destiny. Kong Rong is such a smart person and never hides his intelligence.

Kong Rong relied on his own intelligence to speak arrogantly and without restraint. He would say whatever came to his mind and never take into account the feelings of the other party, even if the other party was Cao Cao, who had all the power in the world. After Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, he rewarded Yuan Shao's daughter-in-law Zhen (the protagonist of Luo Shen Fu) to Cao Pi. Kong Rong wrote a personal letter to Cao Cao, saying, "In the past, King Wu defeated Zhou and gave King Zhou's beloved concubine Daji to his younger brother Zhou Gong. This time, Cao Gong followed King Wu and gave the Zhen family to his son. He was quite generous and gratifying. Congratulations!" Cao Cao thought he was saying good things and was very happy. When he returned to Xuchang, he asked where Kong Rongdian came from. But Kong Rong replied slowly: "Ah, I came up with it. I analyze that King Wu was wise and kind and could not bear to kill the beauty. Giving Daji to his brothers could satisfy his compassion and care for his compatriots. Isn't it the best of both worlds? Really?" Only then did Cao Cao realize that Kong Rong was laughing at their father and son, and he secretly held a grudge in his heart.

Kong Rong had a common problem among scholars, that is, he has high ambitions but low abilities. He thinks he is extremely talented and wants to do big things, but he cannot do big things and he does not do small things. All of them were frivolous scholars who could only drink, write poems, and talk eloquently, but they could not and did not want to do practical things: "Being in the North Sea, he was supported by his intelligence, and his talent was so great that no hero at that time could match it." He has great ambitions, and wants to raise an army and make contributions to the virtuous people. He has established a colony in Haidai. He is not willing to live like a county guard, serving as an official, and just attending meetings. However, his appointments are based on curiosity. Disrespecting talents. As for those who study ancient times, they are mistaken for being respectful. Although the etiquette is prepared, it is not relevant for discussing state affairs. Therefore, although he had high ambitions and looked down upon his colleagues for their mediocrity, his approach was even more unrealistic. Although he had some achievements in culture, he was not good in economics and military, and even later Nowhere to stay. Politically, they are even more confused, unable to see the key to complex problems, and unable to cure cunning lower-level officials. He was very disorganized in his work. Sometimes he relaxed his management, and sometimes he "killed five postal supervisors in one go."

The people recommended by Kong Rong were also as wild and arrogant and extremely sarcastic as he was. For example, Mi Heng, whom he recommended, read a lot and was extremely arrogant. Kong Rong recommended Ni Heng to Cao Cao, saying that he had both political integrity and talent: "Such character is chaste and bright, and he has outstanding talents. What he sees with his eyes, he often recites with his mouth, and what he hears with his ears, he never forgets it in his heart; his nature is in harmony with Tao, and he thinks If there is a god... he is loyal and upright, his ambition is frosty and snowy; he is frightened when he sees good, and he hates evil as much as he hates; he resists wherever he sits, and he is a fish of great integrity, and there is nothing he can do to defeat a hundred birds of prey; When Heng establishes a dynasty, he will surely have great achievements. He will be able to argue with his words and be full of energy; he will be able to solve doubts and solve problems, and he will be able to face the enemy with ease. "However, Ni Heng was frivolous and rude when he first saw Cao Cao, and took Xun Yu, Xun You, Guo Jia, Zhang Liao, and others into consideration. Xu Huang and other civil and military officials made disparaging remarks and even called him a slave. This was also a way for the literati at that time to vent their dissatisfaction with Cao Cao's autocratic power. Can Cao Cao not be angry? Cao Cao suppressed his anger and asked Ni Heng to be the drummer in his tent. However, Mi Heng was naked and beat drums and scolded Cao Cao. Cao Cao hated Mi Heng very much and finally used the help of Liu Biao. Liu Biao also used the hands of Huang Zu, a warrior, to kill Mi Heng. But Cao Cao was also very angry with Kong Rong, and suspected that Kong Rong's intention in recommending Ni Heng was to insult himself. This further aggravated Cao Cao's determination to "get rid of him quickly".

Kong Rong advocated flashiness and casualness in dealing with people, and liked to live a bohemian and unruly life. His gentry style was very serious. During the Three Kingdoms period, due to years of war, the people were displaced, most of the fields were barren, and people's lives were insecure. In order to save food, Cao Cao once issued a ban on alcohol because wine is made of food.

But Kong Rong loved drinking very much, so he wrote a personal letter to Cao Cao, specifically talking about the benefits of drinking, saying: "There are stars of wine flags in the sky, and counties with wine springs on the earth. People have the virtue of drinking wine, so Yao did not drink for a thousand minutes." , there is no way to become a saint. Moreover, Jie and Zhou destroyed the country with lust, and marriage is now prohibited." What he means is: "There is a 'wine flag' star in the sky, and there is a 'Jiuquan' county under the ground, and there are a lot of people called 'wine'. "De', Emperor Yao's Qian Zhong' is called a saint. Moreover, Xia Jie and King Zhou of Shang perished because of women, so why don't you also ban marriage?" Cao Cao was afraid of Kong Rong's reputation as a talented scholar, and suppressed his anger. , did not kill him immediately. Xi Lu, the imperial censor, came out to report to the court: Kong Rong should be removed from his official position according to the law. But he didn't care. "Although he lost his position at home, his door was crowded with guests, and he loved wine. He often sighed and said: "The seats are always full of guests, and the wine in the bottle is never empty, so I have no worries."" Drinking is prohibited over there. After being punished, he gathered people to drink and have fun every day. How could Cao Cao not be angry with him?

Kong Rong was loyal to the Han Dynasty. In response to Cao Cao's strategy of "serving the emperor and obeying the princes", he advocated " "Respect the emperor, expand the power of the monarch, and weaken the power of the princes." This clearly means that Cao Cao must return power to Han Xiandi! Cao Cao could no longer tolerate Kong Rong, a political enemy who did not understand current affairs. In the end, he found many unfounded charges and killed him. Kong Rong The charges for being killed were as follows: "1. When I was in Beihai County, I saw the chaos in the world, so I gathered a team and wanted to seize the Liu family's world and become the emperor myself. (This is completely unfounded). 2. Slandering the "imperial court" against Sun Quan's envoys. 3. In the court, he does not observe etiquette and often walks into the palace without wearing a hat. 4. Show off to each other with Ni Heng. 5. Unfilial piety. "For these reasons, Kong Rong was put to death. It's really "if you want to inflict a crime, there is no excuse." As for the real cause of his death, Kong Rong expressed it very clearly in his "Death Poem": "Too many words make you want to die" Things failed. The leakage of the utensil is bitter and not dense. The river collapses at the end of the ant hole. The mountain is destroyed by the ape's cave. A trickling stream flows from the river to the Han Dynasty. The skylight leads to the underworld. Slanderous evil harms justice. Floating clouds obscure the day. There is no loyalty in words. The prosperity is unreal. People have two or three hearts. An energy becomes one. Three people become city tigers. Dip degumming paint. Survival is a lot to worry about. After a long sleep, everything will be done. "

It is sad for a cultural man who is proud of his talents and cares about the world to live in troubled times. After his death, Cao Pi offered rewards to the whole country for Kong Rong's articles, and those who submitted them were "rewarded with gold and silk". In the article "Classics", Cao Pi also listed Kong Rong as the first of the "Seven Sons of Jian'an". If Kong Rong were alive today, he would be a good commentator, praising and criticizing current affairs every day, like a so-called mirror in our lives. Using copper as a mirror can help you straighten your clothes; using history as a mirror can help you know the rise and fall; using people as a mirror can help you understand gains and losses. But ambitious politicians may hate mirrors that are too transparent, because the shortcomings reflected in them are most clear.