You should read the preface to the novel

"The people, and only the people, are the driving force for creating world history." This is an unbreakable Marxist truth. However, the exploiting classes always try their best to distort the facts and describe history as being created by a small number of "heroic" figures of the exploiting class. The same is true for the author of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The two artistic images that the work focuses on - Liu Bei and Cao Cao - are two opposing figures within the ruling class. As Liu Bei told Pang Tong: "If you act with haste, I will be lenient; if you act with violence, I will be benevolent; if you act with violence, I will be benevolent; "To be cunning, I am to be loyal: always the opposite of Cao" (Chapter 60) The author is using a strong political tendency of "supporting Liu and opposing Cao" to describe the two completely opposite performances of Cao and Liu in the same incident. Descriptions fill the book. However, whether it is praise or criticism, whether it is a positive character or a negative character, the author promotes a "heroic" view of history.

"The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" describes Liu Bei as an ideal ruler and a representative of "kingly law" and "benevolent government". The nature of his feudal ruling class is concealed by a large number of false claims. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" denies the great role of the Yellow Turban Uprising in promoting historical development, but the feudal rulers who brutally suppressed the Yellow Turban Uprising and launched counterattacks against the peasants are touted as the creators of history. When Tao Qian gave Xuzhou to Liu Bei but Liu Bei refused, the author arranged this plot: "The next day, the people of Xuzhou crowded in front of the house and cried and worshiped, saying: 'If Liu Shijun does not take over this county, we will not be able to live in peace. '" (Chapter 12) When Liu Bei's army defeated Cao's army at Bowangpo and "returned to Xinye", the author arranged this plot: "The people of Xinye looked at the dust and worshiped the road, saying: 'I All the things that belong to him will enable you to gain the power of wise men! '" (Chapter 39) In this reversal of history, the feudal ruler Liu Bei became the savior. In order to show how Liu Bei was supported by the people, a plot was written in which the hunter Liu An killed his wife and sacrificed his flesh. When Liu Bei defeated Xuzhou, the people "all fought for food and drink". The hunter Liu An "wanted to find game for food, but could not get it for a while, so he killed his wife to eat it" (Chapter 19). This unreal flattery of the landlord class aggravates the hypocrisy of Liu Bei's image. Lu Xun pointed out in "A Brief History of Chinese Novels": "It seems to be fake in order to show Liu Bei's greatness." This is the most accurate criticism. As the opposite of Liu Bei, Cao Cao is a very prominent figure in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Historically, Cao Cao was a famous politician, strategist and poet. During the divided and chaotic Three Kingdoms period, he played a considerable role in unifying northern my country. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" does not affirm these roles and denies him as a traitor in troubled times who destroyed "orthodoxy" and violated "discipline", which reflects the author's Confucian political views. "This is not the real way to observe Cao Cao" (Lu Xun: "Wei and Jin Dynasties" The relationship between style and articles, medicine and wine"). However, the image of Cao Cao in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" reflects the cruel and cunning characteristics of the feudal ruling class, which has profound typical significance.

Cao Cao was also the sworn enemy of the peasant uprising and the executioner who suppressed the Yellow Turban Rebel Army. During the melee between the powerful and powerful, he expanded his power step by step, and finally achieved the status and power of "holding the emperor to order the princes". Cao Cao's philosophy of life is "I would rather teach me to betray the world than teach the world to betray me." This is the concentration and summary of the exploiting class's philosophy of life. Cao Cao has the extreme characteristic of benefiting himself at the expense of others, and has endless greed and desire for power. Cao Cao embodies all the bad qualities of the feudal ruling class. For this representative figure of the feudal landlord class, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" highlights him through rich specific details and descriptions of psychological activities. He has many complex character traits. As a strong and victor among the group of heroes, in the era of sudden changes, Cao Cao was able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each group, understand the various contradictions in the development process of events, and was good at discovering and using talents. The villain Cao Cao did not He is written as a simple, easy-to-see villain. In him, cunning and cruelty are particularly profoundly expressed.

The ruling class of the Ming and Qing Dynasties named him the "Great Emperor" several times, built temples for him everywhere, and enjoyed the same grand sacrificial ceremonies as Confucius. This clearly shows how the description of "loyalty" and "righteousness" advocated by Guan Yu is very suitable for the needs of feudal rulers.

In order to advocate working for the feudal masters, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" also created a series of so-called "loyal ministers" images, such as Dong Cheng, Wang Zifu, Ji Ping, etc., who in order to be loyal to the Han and Xiandi, killed " The national thief Cao Cao "had no regrets even though he destroyed nine tribes" (Chapter 23). Later, when the incident was revealed, "the whole family" was killed by Cao Cao. The author praises these people to the fullest, saying that they "sacrificially sacrificed their lives to serve the saints", "have different names for thousands of years", are "loyal to the ages", and "swear to the death to answer the king's kindness". Praise these people as role models that will last forever. In addition, when writing about characters such as Jiang Wei, the feudal "filial piety" was advocated, and when writing about characters such as Mrs. Sun, the feudal "fraternity" was advocated. It can be seen from this that the characters created in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" run through the author's social and political views. Through these images, the author promotes feudal "benevolent government", "heroic" historical view, idealistic transcendentalism and feudal morality. Therefore, we must first understand the ideological essence of these artistic images.