Why do you worship Guan Yu?

Guan Yu was once captured by Cao Cao and worked for Liu Bei when he started his business. With Cao Cao's ingenious plan, Yan Liang's head was taken among the people, and the "Baimawei" was solved, and he was named "Hanshou Pavilion Hou". Later, Guan Yu returned to Liu Bei and attacked Fancheng, the state of Wei, in the Battle of Jingzhou. Because of a rare flood in this area, Guan Yu relied on Wei as the army, but he wiped out many advantages of the other water army, and Pound was beheaded. Later, because he was proud of underestimating his enemy, he relaxed his vigilance and gave Soochow the opportunity to occupy Jingzhou without bloodshed. He lost Maicheng himself and was captured and killed. After Shu, the king was called "Mihou".

If you look at this story recorded in the history books, you don't know how many generals are close to him and far beyond. Unexpectedly, Guan Yu could surpass Confucius (especially among the people) and become a "warrior saint" above the "saint". Zhao Yi, a historian of the Qing Dynasty, also found it strange. In the article "Guan" in Volume 35 of "Examination of Jade Cong", he said: "God enjoys blood food, which has been ups and downs for a long time, but it also has luck, which is unexpected. When a mortal dies, he becomes a god. In the first few hundred years, his spirit was brilliant, but after a long time, he gradually replaced it. The Three Kingdoms, the Six Dynasties, the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty did not worship Miao Zhuang of Duguan ... ".

Before the Song Dynasty, Guan Yu was basically an unknown general. Although he was hunted down by Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, he was only one of the generals who were hunted down, and at most he was as famous as Wargo.

The knighthood and king of Guan Yu began in the Song Dynasty. Among the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there were three officials who were most enthusiastic about sealing Guan Yu. In a short period of 265,438+0 years, he pursued Guan Yu four times, from Hou, Jun and Wang. Zhao Gou, the first emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, also claimed that Guan Yu could "destroy the front part of the traitor and save the drowning of Li Yuan", and Zhao Yijun of Ming Shenzong named Guan Yu as "the Great Demon of the Three Realms, as far away as Guandi in Megatronus", and the title of Emperor Han Xian finally came to an end.

When several things are different or even completely opposite, we need to find out the difference between them; Similarly, when several things are the same or similar, we need to find out the * * * between them to explain why they are the same. Why do Evonne, Zhao Gou and Zhu Yijun think of the national seal and the special seal that has always sealed the title of Guan Yu? As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. I don't think it is accidental that such a thing happened.

Let me briefly talk about the lives of these three emperors. People who know a little about the history of China must be familiar with these three emperors, because they are all very "famous" emperors, and their fame is not much better than that of Hanwu in Qin Huang and Song Zu in Tang Zong. Evonne masterminded the shame of Jingkang, Zhao Gou killed Yue Fei in order to find a peaceful corner, and Zhu Yijun was even worse. With such a "brilliant" resume, they can't leave a place in history. The above things make people feel that they are all idiots who have no ability and integrity, but they are not. If you carefully observe their lives, you will find that all three of them are actually very smart people, even prodigies or geniuses.

When Evonne was a prince, he was recognized as having both ability and political integrity, not to mention calligraphy. Zhao Gou once went to Xu Jinguo as a hostage, but he escaped in time in the process of making peace with Xu Jinguo, avoiding the bad luck of his father and brother. After that, I enjoyed myself in Hangzhou for decades, and passed it on to my adopted son for more than ten years before I died happily, which was much better than starving to death after King Zhao Wuling abdicated. Zhu Yijun is even more striking. When he was six years old, he saw his father Mu Zong riding a horse in the palace. He said, "Father, you are the master of the whole world, riding a horse alone like this. What if the horse slips and kicks you? " It's vague and incisive. Oh, my God! He is simply a political wizard. /kloc-after he ascended the throne at the age of 0/0, he studied hard for ten years under the personal guidance of Zhang and others, during which he was criticized by Zhang for his poor handwriting. Zhang believes that the emperor's handwriting should be correct, not too addicted to it, and should focus on the major events of the national economy and people's livelihood. After Zhang's death, this man showed great talent in the first two years of leading the country, and once made friends politically. But after this enthusiasm passed, he indulged in debauchery and turned a blind eye to national affairs.

We can draw the conclusion that these three people are extremely clever people. They were well educated and read widely when they were young. However, due to personality reasons, after they became emperors, they were all addicted to wine, wine and dogs, unwilling to pay attention to political affairs, regardless of the lives of the people. Another very important phenomenon is that although they did not care about the state affairs, they all mastered the political power well during their administration, and did not let the power stand aside, threatening their position. Just because of this, it is difficult to label them as idiots. Guan Yu was really deposed as a "warrior saint" in the Qing Dynasty. The Qing dynasty was also the most thorough dynasty to implement the policy of stupidity and weakness. Before the Qing Dynasty, although Guan Yu's status was getting higher and higher, it was Jiang Shang who mentioned "warrior sage".

Jiang Shang is basically a man without any power. I can't imagine how strong an old man of eighty or ninety can be. ) He is a clever man. Taking Jiang Shang as a warrior shows that in ancient times, the Han people's understanding of "martial arts" was "both wisdom and courage", and the word "wisdom" took the lead. Guan Yu is different from Jiang Shang in charm, achievement and ingenuity. But why did the rulers after the Qing Dynasty completely abolish Jiang Shang and establish Guan Yu?

A person's growth is inseparable from his idol. The so-called "carving mandarin ducks is not a good kind of emu", but "painting tigers is not a good kind of dog" One worships Jiang Shang, who is famous for his "wisdom", since childhood. Even if he can't be a wise man, most of them won't be too ignorant. However, people's wisdom is not conducive to rule, especially in the Qing Dynasty, which ruled many Han people and few Manchu people.

Therefore, obscurantism became the basic national policy of the Qing Dynasty. Replacing idols worshipped by the whole people and shifting people's worship of idols from Jiang Shang, who is famous for his wisdom, to Guan Yu, who is famous for his loyalty and courage, is an important part of his policy of being ignorant of the people.

King Wen is regarded as a teacher. In their relationship, the minister is smart and wise, and the monarch is obedient to him. Guan Yu is only loyal to Liu Bei, and whether Liu Bei is right or not, Guan Yu always keeps his word. Taking Jiang Shang as an idol, I hope to become a wise man one day, have a lot of knowledge, and teach the emperor as the way to be wise; Taking Guan Yu as an idol will regard the emperor as sacred and inviolable, and take pride in carrying out the emperor's orders to the letter.

If people are as self-righteous as Jiang Shang, treat the emperor as a human being, or even despise the authority of the emperor and let him push the cart for them, because they think the emperor is talented, this trend will prevail. How can the emperor sleep? In the absence of powerful foreign enemies, the fewer people like Jiang Shang, the better for the emperor.

If people like Guan Yu don't have the ability to learn, but only know that they are loyal to the emperor, such people will often make mistakes and it is not very convenient to use, but it is much safer for the emperor. So there were many mediocre talents in the Qing Dynasty, and occasionally the so-called talents were based on slaves. Few people can be called "gentlemen".

"Who wants to be smart and strict, who wants to be stupid. Wisdom is unpredictable, and strictness cannot be made. So, all the scholars were appointed and obeyed, and the husband was not stupid? " The general is smart and dignified, and the soldiers are ignorant, so the soldiers will be desperate to obey orders, and such an army will be easy to command. The rulers of the Qing dynasty knew this truth well, so they vigorously promoted Guan Yu among the people. Whether the emperor wrote an inscription for him, knighted him or worshipped him in the palace, it was a means to call on the people to worship Guan Yu, but the emperor himself never believed these propaganda.

In the nearly 300 years of the Qing Dynasty, Guan Yu enjoyed the same status as Master Guanyin, even worse. Even in the palace, Guan Yu is the god of the gods. Ironically, although the Qing court did not hesitate to use all means to convince the people of Guan Yu, Guan Yu was completely put into another book within the ruling class. For example, the imperial examination used Guan Yu's allusions, and his papers will inevitably be put into another book; If the legend of Guan Yu is mixed, the official documents written to the court will also be reprimanded by the emperor. Even the "Four Ku Encyclopedia" set for the ambitious Qianlong (this set of garbage that wastes people's money to satisfy Qianlong's abnormal vanity is said not to accept books) will never collect records related to Guan Yu (except the history book "The History of the Three Kingdoms"). What do these things mean? The rulers of the Qing dynasty knew Guan Yu's quality very well, hoping to be stupid.

Manchu rulers in Qing Dynasty achieved great success in this respect. Most people in China are domesticated as sheep, and men are as smart as teenagers when they are young. When he grew up, the seven-foot man became a "duck with a long neck". At this time, the once powerful Han nationality has become one of the weakest and easiest to rule in the world. (If not, how could Ying Zheng bully me, China, thousands of people? Tigers enter the flock. Although there are many sheep, it only increases the appetite of tigers. Although there are objective factors for the advanced weapons of the British, if in the Qin, Han, Tang and Song Dynasties, even if the British and foreigners were armed with weapons from the1900s, could they conquer China with thousands of people? ) In China, a one-sided pattern was formed, and the Manchu people's rule over China was very stable, even unprecedented in the history of China. The main reason for the demise of the Qing Dynasty was foreign invasion. ) One of the main reasons for this pattern is that the rulers value Jiang Shang more than Guan Yu, and the people value Guan Yu more than Jiang Shang.

Although Guan Yu has been idolized in China for hundreds of years, a successful organizational structure is often like the Qing government, where the upper level despises Guan Yu and the lower level values Guan Yu. If a group worships Guan Yu from top to bottom, the result is basically disastrous. In the most famous heaven and earth society, they regarded Guan Yu as a god. When opening the incense hall, the portrait of "Master Guan" should be hung high in the middle of the loyalty hall, and everyone should follow Guan Yu's example. So it can only be played by the Manchu emperor who used Guan Yu as a tool. As for the later Boxer Rebellion, not to mention, its organization was chaotic and its actions were retarded, which was amazing.

Although it was not Guan Yu's original intention, it is an indisputable fact that his image became an effective tool for ethnic minorities to rule the Han people thousands of years after his death. Of course, we shouldn't classify him as a traitor, but people living in China today, especially Han people with a certain cultural accomplishment, should have a correct understanding of Guan Yu: he was just an ordinary failed general who lived 1800 years ago. If we want to worship, we can also worship Jiang Shang, Yue Fei, Li Mu, Li Jing and other real heroes with both ability and political integrity. They represent the highest morality, strength and blood of our Han nationality.