What kind of person was Zhou Yu during the Three Kingdoms period, and how did later generations evaluate him?

What kind of person is Zhou Yu? In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Luo Guanzhong portrays Zhou Yu as a narrow-minded, petty and ruthless character. Before his death, he said "How can he be bright when he is born in Yu" is enough to illustrate his character. , the narrow-minded Zhou Yu described in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a supporting role image deliberately created by Luo Guanzhong to set off Zhuge Liang. It is an artistic treatment and should not be taken seriously. Of course, "Three Qi Zhou Yu" has no historical basis. Zhou Yu finally died of illness while on an expedition. en route. However, what Chen Shou portrayed in "Three Kingdoms" is closer to the characters in history. In fact, since Zhou Yu was able to help Sun Quan unify Jiangdong, it is enough to illustrate his military talent and character. This can also be understood from the subject matter of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". After all, the novel has to depict most of the parts. Zhou Yu had been friends with Sun Ce since childhood. When Sun Ce first rose to prominence, Zhou Yu followed him to sweep Jiangdong and sent money, food and supplies to help Sun Ce achieve great things. Yuan Shu admired Zhou Yu's talents and wanted to hire Zhou Yu as a general, but Zhou Yu refused because it was difficult for Yuan Shu to achieve great things. Later, he managed to formally defect to Sun Ce, and fought with Sun Ce in both north and south. He made great contributions to the Jiangdong foundation and was deeply trusted by Sun Ce. After Sun Ce was assassinated, Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao worked together to assist Sun Quan and take charge of military and political affairs. After Cao Cao eliminated Yuan Shao, he forced Sun Quan to send his son as a hostage. Zhou Yu had lofty ambitions and discouraged Sun Quan from sending hostages. During the Battle of Chibi, he fought hard against Cao Cao, foresaw the disadvantages of Cao's army and the advantages of our army, and commanded the entire army to defeat Cao's army in Chibi and Wulin. This was the most classic battle in the history of the Three Kingdoms in which a small number defeated a large number. Later, he successfully captured Nanjun, a strategic location in Jingzhou, but Cao Ren was defeated. After the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu suggested to Sun Quan that he send troops to capture Shu, eliminate Zhang Lu, annex Liu Zhang, and divide the world with Cao Cao. Zhou Yu died in Baling while making military preparations in Jiangling at the age of thirty-six. Looking at the official history, we can find that Zhou Yu in this biography has no flaws and is indeed a perfect person. A hero should be "a hero who is clever and shows off his talents, and a hero who is bolder than others" (Liu Shao's "Characters"), plus a high moral character. In addition to meeting the three points mentioned above, Zhou Yu is perfect from another perspective. It can be said that he is a virtuous, talented, graceful and energetic person. Let’s talk about virtue first: His ability in recommending virtuous people is comparable to Uncle Bao; his ability to protect the country through integrity is comparable to Lin Xiangru; his humility and loyalty to the emperor are unparalleled; his magnanimous character is worthy of the generals’ sincerity. The second time to talk about talents: He weakly conquered and made great contributions to the founding of Soochow; Chibi turned the tide and made the first contribution; later he took the risk to open up Jingzhou for Soochow. Not to mention his great achievements, just talk about the evaluation of him at that time, he Zhou Yu's versatile talents in civil and military affairs have attracted much attention in the eyes of the people of the time. He is "a brilliant and outstanding talent", "a talent of Wang Zuo", "a beautiful young man", "a civil and military strategy, a hero of ten thousand people". These are the people of the time who regarded Zhou Yu's talents evaluation, and the people who said these words were all top-notch figures at the time. Zhou Yu's talent has been recognized and there is no need to make any more fuss. Let’s talk about demeanor: Zhou Yu is a well-known Confucian general who is elegant and noble. The veteran Cheng Pu was dissatisfied with Zhou Yu because he was young but his status was higher than his own. He insulted him many times in person, but Zhou Yu didn't care about him. Cheng Pu was finally impressed by Zhou Yu's talent and moral character and was so moved that he said: "Befriend Zhou Gongjin." "If you drink wine, you will get drunk without realizing it." He became a good friend. Moreover, Zhou Yu was proficient in music and had a high sense of grace. Even when he was drunk, he could hear the fallacies in the music. Therefore, historical records recorded folk songs such as: "If the music is wrong, Zhou Lang will take care of it." ." Compared with those rough warriors, he is an elegant and outstanding person. Just saying "I remember Gong Jin's time" already makes people fascinated by his appearance. Finally, let’s talk about his vitality. Zhou Yu not only has virtue, talent, and grace, but he also has a unique kind of vitality, a heroic spirit that is enterprising, confident, and heroic. He is humble and courteous to his own people, but he shows contempt and fearless heroism towards enemies and challenges: when Liu Bei and Zhou Yu met before the battle of Chibi, when Liu Bei said that his troops were too few, Zhou Lang "is self-sufficient." The answer of "fuck you and seek death" is so powerful, and Liu Bei's delay is so despicable in comparison. Zhou Yu's strategies all reveal this preemptive, determined and courageous temperament. This is the most enviable "genius".

But there is an essential difference between Zhou Yu's heroism and the arrogance of Guan Yu and others, because his self-confidence is based on reasonable analysis and planning. Compared with Guan Yu and others' senseless arrogance, they only get ruined. Because of this, Zhou Yu is successful. His temperament is similar to that of Sun Ce, but Sun Ce is frivolous and bloodthirsty, but Zhou Yu is calm and elegant. Just like some people say that his temperament is a combination of Sun Ce and Zhuge Liang. In Zhou Yu, he is just as strong and soft. Just the right combination. Such a man of strength and softness, with impeccable character and admirable civil and military talents. In addition, God gave him a special preference for his handsome appearance. He is both beautiful and graceful both inside and outside. If he cannot be called perfect, who can? Is it worthy? Therefore, Professor Qian Wenzhong of Fudan University said that Zhou Yu was a man who was proud in officialdom, battlefield, and love affairs. He was the object of admiration for Chinese men and even Asian men. There is no better way to describe Zhou Yu than in one sentence. He lives up to his name: Zhou Yu is just like his name, a piece of flawless jade.