The second style feature of the novel is the combination of martial arts novels and historical novels, specifically romanticizing historical events and historical figures. In this work, the author no longer takes history as the background of the story or increases the realism of the story as in the past, but directly pushes history and historical figures as the performance objects to the foreground. A series of major historical events, such as the literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty, the restoration of heaven and earth, the suppression of Wu Sangui rebellion, the recovery of Taiwan Province Province, the counterattack against Luo Cha's aggression, and the signing of the Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar Chu, almost constitute the whole plot backbone of this novel. Kangxi, Chen Jinnan and other historical figures are the most important figures in the novel after the protagonist. This novel has a broad background, many scenes and many characters. From the brothel selling jokes to the palace hall of Jinma Yutang, from the bustling Jiangnan gang to the fortress of jaxa, to the extreme north of the frozen snow area, from the intrigue of officialdom to the mysterious and solemn ceremony of Jianghu gang, the works almost describe the human feelings of all classes and corners in China at that time, which is a vivid social history in the early Qing Dynasty, although it is a passage. This work matures the language expression laid by Jin Yong's first novel, The Book of Sword, The Record of Enqiu, to its peak through the trilogy of "Shooting Carvings". The author explores the three language treasures of modern Chinese, Ming and Qing vernacular and ancient classical Chinese, takes what they need, melts them into one furnace and creates their own style. Its accuracy, elegance, implication, vividness and fluency are worthy of being a model of China's literary language.
As for Wei Xiaobao, he was born in a street smoke alley. He has no knowledge, culture or martial arts. He is only good at flattery, opportunism and have it both ways, but he is successful in my career. Even reached the envy of intellectuals and citizens-married seven wives as beautiful as flowers and pure as jade. But those so-called heroes can't display their ambitions and want to rely on him to complete their careers. Here, it contains profound historical implications. On the one hand, the novel reveals the essence of the court from Wei Xiaobao's perspective: a huge and luxurious brothel. Here, there are evil deals and the most insidious tricks, as well as the most lewd shady. Everything revolves around various desires. There is no real feeling between people, only the calculation of mutual interests.
From the empress dowager to the emperor, to eunuchs and ladies-in-waiting, the structural relationship with pimps, turtles and prostitutes in brothels is strikingly similar. This argument is undoubtedly the result of the author's own imagination and analysis of history. Zhang Yizhi, the spokesperson of Wu Zetian, also described this in the TV series "Ci of Daming Palace" which appeared in the 1990s. This metaphor is the strongest challenge and insult to the so-called loftiness, dignity and superiority of feudal nobles. Because, in fact, there are many people who have achieved extraordinary success, such as Wei Xiaobao and Zhang Yizhi. There are hooligans who call themselves emperors, and eunuchs who act arbitrarily. Not to mention all kinds of people who are comfortable with power in society. On the one hand, Wei Xiaobao is a typical representative of hooligans and the worst hooligan in China civil society.
Vagrants generally include bandits, hooligans, beggars, prostitutes, charlatans, soldiers of fortune, salt owls and private dealers, as well as a large number of Jianghu artists, Jianghu knights, wandering monks, rappers and opera artists. As a kind of vagrants, hooligans are a minority, but they are the most concentrated and prominent embodiment of the dark side of vagrants' character, thought and behavior. If the group character, thoughts and behaviors of vagrants have a bright side, it is an abstract way to stress faithfulness, value loyalty, and help the weak. This is the only place worthy of praise in Wei Xiaobao. As Mr. Jin Yong wrote in the postscript: "However, many people who read my novels are boys and girls, so we should remind these naive children that Wei Xiaobao attaches importance to loyalty, which is a good moral character. As for other behaviors, don't follow suit. "
Wang Xuetai described the character of vagrants in "Vagrant Culture and China Society": "Vagrants are different from the' four people' who have left the mainstream society and lost their role (note: taxis, agriculture, industry and commerce in traditional society). Many vagrants have no wives and children, no responsibilities as husbands and fathers, and no supervision from relatives and friends, so they don't have to care about face and feel ashamed. They are a rootless group, drifting with the ups and downs of the times; They have no status and lost the respect of society. Therefore, they oppose the existing social order, and they don't have to consider the provisions made by the role status on people ... They value the immediate interests and don't pay much attention to the consequences of being far away from reality. They have little education, so they have no habit of decorating.
Some behaviors that are not tolerated by public opinion and despised by common morality are often considered wrong. In order to achieve immediate goals, there are few fixed concepts of right and wrong; Some scholars and even ordinary people have to hide their thoughts and personalities, which are unnecessary for vagrants ... but show the dark side of China's cultural tradition naked. "Rogue embodies the most corrosive and destructive side of tramp to society in terms of thought and personality characteristics. Its outstanding performance is strong rebellion, anti-sociality and uncertainty of value scale, as Mr. Lu Xun said when talking about intellectuals, "there is no special exercise." They take the interests of individuals and small groups as the core, and all theories, slogans and even moral slogans are just the cloak of profit, from "using money" to abusing power for personal gain and usurping the throne, or cheating in the name of grandiose, or extorting by naked despicable means, without asking the purpose or resorting to any means, and obliterating all moral conscience and sense of shame.
It can be said that these are in line with Wei Xiaobao's rogue character. Street culture and vagrant culture complement each other. Wei Xiaobao is a combination of street culture and vagrant culture. As a representative of pursuing the same social and political status in street culture, he despised the feudal monarch. This kind of market psychology was reflected in Deng Mu's "Boya Qinjundao" in the Yuan Dynasty: "A man who calls himself a gentleman must have four eyes and two beaks, scales and feathers, and his appearance is the same as that of others, but his wife can also be."
Wei Xiaobao always called Empress Dowager Cixi "the procuress" or "the old prostitute". Treat Princess Channing and small infanta, including the wife of the leader who pursues Shenlong religion, all have this kind of psychology at work. In other words, he did not love these specific people, but conquered the inferiority complex of ordinary citizens and challenged and conquered the whole deified world of power and authority that he could not reach. His attitude towards Shuang'er, who is also a poor man, is still different. Of course, although the majesty and sacredness of feudal emperors were swept away in the market culture, they could not completely get rid of feudal concepts after all.
Therefore, some of Wei Xiaobao's codes of conduct, including loyalty, respect and worship of power, are based on his favorite storytelling since childhood. These storytelling stories are either careless heroic stories, stories of blind loyalty or vendetta, or stories of praising emperors and princes. At the same time, his rogue nature makes him not care too much about the lives of others. The key is his own interests. The only time he shed tears was the role of friendship, such as thinking that Kangxi was dead and when Wu and Longping were killed. The rest are basically cheating, or sighing that they can't get women, get money, and at worst, they can't stand being bullied by others. In his eyes, everything around him is calculated as a commodity one by one. Do whatever it takes to get what you want. Tears on her face are more traces of hypocrisy and deception.
In this regard, Mr. Kong once commented: "In fact, these women only have quantitative significance to Wei Xiaobao. Love is something I don't know. Wei Xiaobao grew up in a brothel with the most concentrated street culture in China. His precocity made him lose the function of love forever. He is a little eunuch in the palace, but in the palace of love, he is an unfortunate eunuch.
His philosophy of doing things is the philosophy of brothel, and he has always regarded women as the standard of' bitch'. For a beautiful woman, he thinks of possession, rhetoric, cheating and unscrupulous means. He never thought about emotional factors such as love, respect and knowing each other. His love for these women is essentially a kind of common people's love for private property in China. Therefore, even if the woman he likes doesn't like him and loves someone else, Wei Xiaobao is not sad, just racking her brains to trick him back like a businessman who loses money. Wei Xiaobao is the least sad person in the world. "
Wei Xiaobao and the Duke of Lushan are endless topics. More than half a century ago, Mr. Wang made a famous comment on The True Story of Ah Q ... Here, if we apply it to Duke Lushan, it is, "We will burst into laughter when we first watch it; The second time, it was not a smile at all; The third time, I despised Wei Xiaobao; The fourth time, contempt turned into sympathy; The fifth time, sympathy turned into considerate tears; Sixth time, Wei Xiaobao or Wei Xiaobao; The seventh time, Wei Xiaobao came at himself ... The eighth time, one; The ninth time, I became your relatives; For the tenth time, expand to your neighbors; Eleven times, extended to the whole country; Twelve times, even to foreigners' land; Thirteen times, you thought it was a mirror; Fourteen times, maybe an alarm. "No matter how many times I read it, there is no denying that it is a great book.