"If you are incompetent, go and get it yourself." What is Liu Bei's real intention in saying these words to Zhuge Liang?

Zhuge Liang's trip from Chengdu to Yong 'an to accept Liu Bei's last wish to entrust an orphan is an important event in the political history of the Three Kingdoms and a well-known story of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou. Volume 35 of Zhuge Liang Biography records this as follows:

In the spring of the third year of Zhangwu, the late Lord An was seriously ill and called Liang in Chengdu. Later, Liang said, "You are only ten times as talented as Cao Pi, and you will be able to secure the world and achieve great things in the end. If the heir can supplement it, supplement it; If you are incompetent, you can take it yourself. " Bright tears said, "I dare to use my strength to serve Loyalty Festival and then die!" " The late master also wrote a letter to the late master, which said, "If you work with the prime minister, you will be as good as your father."

This incident is also recorded in Chang Qu's Records of Huayang Country (Volume 6) and Liu's records, but the monthly record of time is more clear:

In the spring of the third year, in the first month, the Prime Minister called to shine in Chengdu and was ill in Yong 'an. In February, at dawn in Yong 'an, the late Lord said, "If you are ten times as good as Cao Pi, you will be able to secure the world and achieve great things in the end. If the heir can supplement it, supplement it; If you are incompetent, you can take it yourself. " Bright tears said to him: "I dare to do my best for loyalty, and I will die!" " The late Lord also told the prince, "When you are engaged to the Prime Minister, you should be like a father. "

It can be seen from the above two paragraphs that the dialogue between Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang has exactly the same literal meaning. The similarities between Chen Shou and Changqu are as follows. First, as historians, their style of study is very rigorous. Second, both of them are Shu scholars. Third, they lived in an era close to the Shu-Han era. Chen Shou came from the Western Jin Dynasty, and Chang Qu came from the transition period of the Western Jin Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Chen Shou was also an official of Shu and Han Dynasties. Fourthly, in the present words, these two men are historians of the Western Jin Dynasty and the Eastern Jin Dynasty, who mainly describe historical events and historical figures. They all have good conditions when describing historical facts, and they can make use of the advantages of official documents and archives. In a word, the description of historical events is exactly the same, so we can draw a good conclusion that the above two paragraphs of Historical Records can be said to be conclusive and credible.

Sculpture scene of Tuogu Baidicheng

Historical records since then, such as Zi Tongzhi Jian written by Sima Guang in Song Dynasty, Hao Jing's Continued Han Shu, Xiao Chang's Continued Han Shu, and Zheng Qiao's Tongzhi, etc. In the description of this historical event, the words of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are just "You deserve it" and "You deserve it" in Hao Jing's Hanshu. Even if there is a word difference, their meanings are not much different. The high consistency of these historical records also confirms the above conclusion from another side.

However, what we are most concerned about is the words "those who are incapable can take them themselves" mentioned in Liu Bei's will. What does that mean? Everyone has a different understanding of these eight words. I think "save yourself" means that Zhuge Liang can handle it properly. If necessary, Zhuge Liang can choose to depose Liu Chan and choose Liu Bei's other children as the monarch. This is by no means an intention for Zhuge Liang to depose Liu Chan himself as emperor. 1In May, 995, Shaanxi People's Publishing House published Annotation and Translation of the History of the Three Kingdoms, in which the above comments were written in the annotation and translation of this historical article. However, due to the style, it is impossible to explain it in depth. The following year, the author wrote a paper on the sentence "you can take it yourself" in Liu Bei's will, further expounding his views. It was published in the Essays on the History of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties compiled by the Historical Society of China, and published by Hubei People's Publishing House in June 5438+0996+00. Unfortunately, this book is rarely printed, and it is difficult for readers to find and consult it now.

The paintings of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang

Since the publication of the above works, the author has continued to collect more comprehensive data and explore the theme in depth. This article is written to solve this important and interesting historical and cultural mystery and get closer to the historical truth.

Let's make an investigation from Chen Shou's comments. For the eight words in Liu Bei's will "incompetent, you can keep them for yourself", the most common recognition of later generations is that if Liu Chan is incompetent, Zhuge Liang can replace him and become emperor himself. This understanding mostly comes from Luo Guanzhong's works. In the eighty-fifth chapter of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong changed "if you are incompetent, you can take it yourself" to "if you are an heir, you can make it up; If he is incompetent, you can be the master of Chengdu. This sentence is no different from a vernacular saying, that is, if Liu Chan is incompetent, Zhuge Liang will become emperor himself. When Luo Guanzhong wrote The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he mostly quoted the records in Chen Shou's The History of the Three Kingdoms. Generally, when the original text is easy to understand, he will choose to keep the original text unchanged; If there are obscure original texts, Luo Guanzhong will write them according to his own ideas. Luo Guanzhong thought that the meaning of "you can keep it for yourself" was obscure, so he changed it directly to "self-reliance as the master of Chengdu". And "Stand on your own feet as the master of Chengdu" means "You can be the emperor instead of Liu Chan yourself".

Liu Bei

Of course, Luo Guanzhong didn't invent it. In the Story of the Three Kingdoms, which appeared before the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei's last words were described as: "A Dou is young, unbearable to be king, neutral, not neutral, and the strategist is on his own." It can be seen that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a replica of the story of the Three Kingdoms. However, due to the great influence of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, this statement spread among the general audience. In some translations of the History of the Three Kingdoms published today, the view that "you can choose your own position" or "you can choose your own position" has been continued. If anyone disagrees with this, they will be made difficult by all kinds of difficulties.

However, whether this understanding is accurate is debatable. Let's start with Chen Shou's comments. Chen Shou, who first recorded this historical event, did not directly explain and explain the meaning of "if he is incompetent, he can keep it for himself", but his indirect comments provided us with a space to investigate the truth. He said in the prequel at the end of the 32nd volume of Review of Yue:

Comment on Chen Shou's Biography of the Three Kingdoms.

At the end of "writing Yue", Liu Lu, Volume 6 of Huayang Guozhi, often quoted Chen Shou's comments:

Chen Zi did not entrust Zhuge Liang with his death, but thought that "the monarch and the minister are the most public, and the ancient and modern tracks are also prosperous."

Chen Shou entrusted orphans to Liu Bei, which can be summed up in four words, namely "the whole country entrusted orphans". The word "Tuo" is easy to understand now, but at that time, according to the authoritative definition of Xu Shen, a linguist in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was an irregular vulgar word. At that time, the standardized traditional Chinese characters were "tuo" or "ni" Shuowen Jiezi interprets the word "entrust" as "send", that is, entrust the text to others. As for the word "arc", the interpretation of Shuo Wen Jie Zi is "fatherless", that is, a person whose father died, which is a general meaning. Strictly speaking, there are two kinds of views: First, Mencius said that "a teenager without a father is lonely" refers to a person who lost his father in his childhood. First, it is said in the Book of Rites Deep Clothes that "those who have no father under the age of 30 are called orphans", which means those who have lost their father before the age of 30. When Liu Bei died, Liu Chan was only seventeen years old, far from thirty years old. According to the Book of Rites, he can be called a "loner".

What deserves special attention is the cultural origin of the word "entrust an orphan". This word comes from a Taibo in the Confucian classic The Analects:

Zeng Zi said, "You can entrust an orphan with six feet, and you can send a hundred miles of life. You can't take away the big festival-what about being a gentleman?" Gentleman also! "

The "six-foot orphan" here refers to young people who are not tall. Ceng Zi, a direct disciple of Confucius, lived in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Today, one foot is about 23cm, and six feet is about 1 m3, which is the height of a normal teenager. The so-called "Hundred Li" refers to a small country in Fiona Fang in the pre-Qin period, which is about 100 Li. The vernacular translation of this passage is as follows:

Ceng Zi said: "You can entrust the young orphan to him, or you can entrust him with the lifeblood of the country. He will never waver or change his mind at the important moment when it is necessary to embody moral integrity. Is this a gentleman? Gentlemen, of course! "

We can see that Ceng Zi is praising those who can "entrust orphans" and "entrust the country". "Loneliness" and "country" are important at any time. Since they can be entrusted to him, it shows that he is a real gentleman. No matter when there is any big change, he will have noble character and his heart will never waver. In fact, the combination of Ceng Zi's "entrusting orphans" and "entrusting the country" means "entrusting the whole country to orphans". Chen Shou's "Trusting the Orphan" seems to have quoted the allusions of the ancients and the importance of this matter, so that Zhuge Liang's noble character can be reflected.

Zhuge Liang stills of Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Since Chen Shou intends to show that Zhuge Liang is a noble gentleman who can't be taken away at a major festival through the summary of "the whole country entrusts orphans", his understanding of the meaning of "can take it for himself" can never be "can replace Liu Chan by himself". Because you abandoned all the orphans entrusted by others and usurped the country entrusted by others, can you still be regarded as a gentleman who can't seize the festival? The answer is of course no.

However, the deep meaning of the above-mentioned "national orphan care" is only a general exploration. In the Han and Wei Dynasties, Confucian scholars added new cultural connotations to the interpretation of the above sentences in The Analects. The Analects of Confucius written by Cao Yao brings together the explanations of the statements of the Analects of Confucius by scholars from various schools since the Han Dynasty, and at the same time expresses their own opinions. For the sentence "six-foot orphan", he quoted Kong Anguo, a famous Confucian doctor and the eleventh grandson of Confucius during the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, saying that it refers to the "young king", that is, the young king; Kong Anguo's "sending a life of a hundred miles" refers to "your life", that is, exercising your life on his behalf. As for the "big festival", Yanhe himself interprets it as "consolidating the foundation and stabilizing the country", that is, protecting the family and stabilizing the country.

Zhuge Liang statue

That is to say, according to their explanation, Ceng Zi's "trusting orphans" and "dying" here are not aimed at the trust between ordinary people, but the trust between the monarch who owns the country and the saint recognized by the monarch. Although He failed politically because he joined the Cao Shuang Group and was killed by Sima Yi, his book The Analects of Confucius became the main work of studying the Analects after its publication, which was not only popular at that time, but also spread to future generations. The Analects of Confucius is the most basic classic of Confucianism. Chen Shou came from Qiaozhoumen, a great Confucian in the middle of Shu, and his Confucian cultivation was very profound. His explanation to Kong Anguo, a famous scholar in the Western Han Dynasty, is certainly no stranger. After he entered the Jin Dynasty, he would definitely pay attention to the Analects of Confucius, which is hard to see in Shu Han. Therefore, the deep meaning of his sentence "the whole country entrusts orphans" can not stay in the general sense, but should be added with the new cultural interpretation given by Han, Wei, Han and Confucianism. In this way, the passage of Ceng Zi quoted above should be translated into the following vernacular, which is more accurate and fluent:

Ceng Zi said, "You can entrust him to assist the young monarch, or you can entrust him to carry out the monarch's decrees on his behalf. When he faced the important moment of defending the country and stabilizing the country, he did not waver and did not change his original intention-is this a gentleman? Of course, people like gentlemen! "

It is not difficult to see that in the logical level of this passage, the fundamental reason why he can be entrusted to assist the young monarch and to execute the monarch's decrees on his behalf is that he can still adhere to the basic principles of "defending the country" and "stabilizing the country" when facing major tests. In other words, "two possibilities" are the means, and "defending the country" and "stabilizing the country" are the fundamental purposes. In this case, once Zhuge Liang replaced it, the name of the "country" changed, and Liu's "country" changed its owner, so the basic purpose of "helping the poor and helping the needy" was completely shattered. This is a stronger disproof: Chen Shou's own understanding of the sentence "You can keep it for yourself" can never be "You can replace Liu Chan yourself".

Marquis temple

Obviously, the profound and rich cultural connotation lies in the word "national orphan care". There is a popular view in later generations that Liu Bei added "You can replace Liu Chan yourself" after saying "the whole country trusts orphans", which is playing with "the intrigues of the empire": he has doubts about Zhuge Liang, and the purpose of saying this is to force Zhuge Liang into a corner, so that Zhuge Liang can't help but be loyal and do his best when assisting Liu Chan. The comment on writing of Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty contained in Pian Pi Tong Jian is such a view. However, people who hold this view can't give a reasonable explanation for Chen Shou's next compliment to Liu Bei. The so-called "heart without T" is expressed in vernacular Chinese, that is, there is no other thought in my heart.

Liu Bei deliberately told such a lie to force the other side to be loyal. Obviously, he has another idea, and it is another idea after he doubted Zhuge Liang's loyalty and tried his best. Can you still call it "no second thoughts"? At least in Chen Shou's mind, this view is absolutely untenable. In particular, it must be pointed out that if Chen Shou really understands that Liu Bei is playing with the "emperor's mind", he should point it out directly, whether from the fine tradition of taking straight books from historians or from the consideration of personal interests, and there is no need to hide it. Because when he wrote the History of the Three Kingdoms, the foundation of the Western Jin Dynasty was laid by Sima Yi, the grandfather of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Sima Yi was able to lay the foundation of Wei State in the Western Jin Dynasty and successfully realize his political ambitions, precisely because he made full use of his position as an assistant minister in Wei Wendi and Wei Mingdi Dynasties, and because Cao Fang, the successor of Wei Mingdi, was only eight years old when he died.

Wuzhangyuan Zhuge Liang Temple

According to the records in Volume III of the History of the Three Kingdoms of Ming Dynasty, as far as Sima Yi is concerned, Wei Mingdi's words and deeds before his death can also be regarded as "unfaithful". But it goes without saying that the "national trust", which is also "unfaithful", was a stable country in Shu and Han dynasties, but it changed hands in Cao and Wei dynasties. It can be seen that the more Chen Shou praises Liu Bei's "taking care of the overall situation" here, the greater the risk of insinuating and satirizing the ill-gotten gains of the Western Jin Dynasty. On the contrary, if he says that Liu Bei is playing with the emperor's mind and is not sincere to Zhuge Liang, it will play a role in excusing Sima Yi and be of practical benefit to him, right? However, Chen Shou did not do so. Under such a severe political background, Chen Shou's comments are based on emotion and rationality, and we can't doubt its objectivity and accuracy. As for Kangxi, who advocated a high degree of monarchical centralization, it is understandable that he mocked this historical event, largely because of realistic political considerations, rather than the objective evaluation of history by real historians, but this is absolutely insufficient.

In a word, Chen Shou, as the handwriting of the Three Kingdoms, as the earliest person who recorded Liu Bei's will in the history books, and as an official who once served in the Han Shu regime, has made his own evaluation, which shows his understanding of the meaning of "you can take it yourself". Of course, his understanding and authority are beyond doubt.

Reference: Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Reference: History of the Three Kingdoms