Why is The Romance of the Three Kingdoms the worst of the four classical novels?

China has a history of 5,000 years, but the history that China people are most familiar with is not the history of the unified dynasty, but the history of the Three Kingdoms in the split stage, thanks to the popularity of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is regarded as one of the four classical novels in China. However, because it is a historical novel with many key historical plots, it is difficult for Luo Guanzhong to tamper with or process it, which leads many readers to think that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has been written later. This is also the main reason why netizens think Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the worst of the four classical novels.

The first half of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very exciting, and readers are familiar with the plots such as three vows in Taoyuan, three visits to the thatched cottage, going through five customs to kill six generals, seven captures of Meng Huo, borrowing an arrow from a straw boat, and an empty city plan. In order to make this book look good, the author deified Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu Han. The whole book is written from the perspective of justice in Shu and Han dynasties. Cao Cao and Sun Quan became foil and villain, which became an obstacle to Liu Bei's recovery. Black and white is clear about good and evil, so that readers can see it clearly. When Guan Yu was defeated and killed in Jingzhou World War I, Liu Bei was defeated in Yiling War and finally died in Baidicheng, I found this book more and more boring. Fortunately, Zhuge Liang propped up the skeleton of the second half of the book.

In the second half, there was less and less pen and ink about Cao Wei and Sun Wu's regime. Zhao Yun, the only surviving general among the Five Tigers of Shu-Han regime, has less and less appearances. The wonderful story is mainly limited to the tactical confrontation between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, and the death of Zhuge Liang is even more boring. Finally, I wrote that Sima Jia usurped power, which made readers lose their patience in reading. As far as the writing style of the novel is concerned, because the Shu-Han regime is the main line, the back is more and more ugly, and there are not many places to make the finishing point, which is naturally a pain point in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

On the other hand, Luo Guanzhong followed the most basic historical facts. If Luo Guanzhong changed the fate of Shu Han's early death at the end in order to make the novel more prominent, I believe it will not be accepted by most readers, and even the most basic historical facts will be abandoned. These people say that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the worst of the four novels, and they basically don't know the basic knowledge of history, just to look good. I think Luo Guanzhong wrote the history of China in the form of novels so beautifully, which can be said to be a rare talent in history and made great contributions to the popularization of China's traditional history and culture.