The author said that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the complete works of China's political skills, and it is a master of intrigue, intrigue and conspiracy, which means that it shows various forms of China's political skills. The political, military, diplomatic, interpersonal and other fields presented in the book highlight the word "fraud", and all political skills are fraud. The history books only say "the War of the Spring and Autumn Period", not "the War of the Three Kingdoms". The long-term dispute between Wei, Shu and Wu is not a decisive battle between the just side and the unjust side. The author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms holds that Liu Bei represents the orthodox imperial power of Liu Han Dynasty, so he also thinks that he represents the just side, and that Liu Bei is a "public figure in the world" without seeing his selfish side, so he greatly beautifies Liu Bei's side. But in the beautification, Liu Bei's various tricks are also exposed.

If the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is read as a military book, its cunning is understandable. Because Sun Tzu has long said, "Soldiers are cunning." Cao Cao once commented on this definition, saying, "Soldiers are often invisible, and bullying is the way." It has become an axiom that everything is fair in the war since Sun Tzu. In the life-and-death battlefield, as long as we can achieve our goal, we will do whatever it takes, especially disguise and deception. However, from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, China's deception entered politics from the military, and then extended to all fields of interpersonal relationships. There are deceivers everywhere, deceivers, cunning words, intrigue on the battlefield, but full of deceptive feelings and gestures in daily life. It is not surprising that the word "paradox" has entered the military field and even the political field. Strangely, the "paradox" in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms entered marriage (for example, Mrs. Sun Sun Shangxiang became a bargaining chip for Sun Quan and Liu Bei), an affair (for example, the story of Diusim became a trap for Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu), and an affair between children (for example, Lu Bu used his daughter as a tool to trade with Yuan Shao). From a height point of view, Romance of the Three Kingdoms reached the peak of the palace, from a depth point of view, reached the deepest part of human nature, from a breadth point of view, reached everyone's plan, you can not do without it.

Deception is actually deception and disguise. Therefore, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms shows a rule, who is the most skilled, who has the highest success rate. Wei, Shu and Wu are ostensibly a contest of strength, but actually a contest of deception, that is, deception and disguise. As far as personal strength is concerned, Lyu3 bu4 is the strongest, and Liu, Guan and together can't beat him. However, he was a big loser and was defeated by Cao Cao and Liu Bei. I saw through Liu Bei's disguise (false friend) before he died, but it was too late. On the strength of the group, Cao Ying defeated Liu Bei Group and Sun Quan Group. However, Battle of Red Cliffs and Cao Cao were beaten out of the water and fled in a hurry, almost dying. Cao Cao lost not to strength, but to deception. He didn't see through so many tricks of Liu and Sun Lianjun, and he was constantly fooled. Pang Tong's stratagem, Huang Gai's stratagem, Zhou Yu's "deviant stratagem" (using Jiang Gan to destroy the generals of the water army), and so on, all caught him. Although Cao Cao was also "cunning", he was taken in by a more "cunning" person. It can be seen that the cleverness of deception lies in the fact that there are mountains outside the mountains, and the strong are stronger.

In fact, Cao Cao's deception is not as good as Liu Bei's, which was fully revealed in the plot of "Cooking Wine on Heroes". Cao Cao was completely unaware of Liu Bei's reloading. This story shows that Liu Bei's disguise is extraordinary, which can help us understand why he succeeded in establishing Shu State. Might as well revisit it.

The story took place in the third year of Jian 'an (AD 198). According to Xiao Pei, Liu Bei went to Cao Ying because of Lu Bu's attack and was appointed as the secretariat of Yuzhou by Cao Cao. In October of the same year, he followed Cao, captured and killed Lu Bu alive, and was promoted to General Zuo after returning to Xuchang. He "has Cao Cao in his heart and Han in his heart", participated in the plot of Dong Cheng, the brother-in-law of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty and the general riding chariots, and signed the secret imperial edict written by the emperor in blood, telling Dong Cheng to "be careful and never reveal it". While participating in such a major anti-Cao political conspiracy, he pretended that nothing had happened. In order to fool Cao Cao's eyes and ears, he specially built a vegetable garden behind his apartment, watering and fertilizing it every day, sweating all over, and taking care of nothing, which made Guan Yu and Zhang Fei impatient. However, Cao Cao was not alert to his pretence. One day he was in the vegetable garden, and Cao Cao sent someone to invite him to the mansion. When they met, Cao Cao said, "You did great things at home." Liu Bei turned pale with fear. Cao took Liu to the back garden and said, "It's not easy for you to learn to grow vegetables." Sure enough, you didn't see the deception of growing vegetables. Then, they made wine and talked. When the wine was half full, suddenly there was a flash of lightning. When they saw black clouds like dragons, Cao Cao talked about dragons: "Dragons are bigger than today's heroes." So he asked Liu Bei, "Who is the hero today?" Then, Liu Bei's answer was full of sophistry. First, he said humbly, "I am ignorant, I am humble." When Cao Cao insisted on him, he pretended to be confused and said, "Yuan Shu, Huainan, have enough food and grass." Cao Cao retorted that Yuan Shu was just "I will catch him with my former glory sooner or later". Liu Bei immediately changed his mind and pretended to be confused: "Yuan Shao of Hebei Province, now Jizhou ..." Cao retorted: "Yuan Shao is brave on the surface, but timid in fact, determined to do great things, but he cherishes his life and forgets righteousness at the sight of profit." Hearing this, Liu Bei pretended to be deaf for the third time and spoke a series of names such as "Liu Biao, Liu Zhang, Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu". Later, Cao Cao said that these were just "mediocre people, what's the point?" Liu Bei asked seriously, "Who is the hero?" When Cao Cao said, "Only the monarch, fuck your ears", he was so scared that he couldn't even hold the chopsticks in his hand and fell to the ground. At this time, Cao Cao couldn't see Liu Bei's paradox and asked, "Are men afraid of thunder?" Liu Bei should immediately use sophistry: "Confucius was moved by thunder" and finally escaped.

Liu Bei's last sentence was branded as a "sage of Confucius", which is the key to Liu Bei's deception and understanding. It has been said in front of the text that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the complete works of China's political science, including Confucianism, magic, Taoism, Yin and Yang, sophistry and so on, while Liu Bei plays Confucianism as a saint, that is, he plays "Ren Jun" and is full of "benevolence", but he seeks the self-interest of himself and the group. Lu Xun wrote Confucianism and Diaphragm on 1934, revealing that Confucianism is the political art of some literati and the ruling art of emperors. He quoted Yu Que's Preface to Sending Fan Li to Xiangyang Poetry in the Song Dynasty: ... Although Heaven is evil, Confucianism is profound and far-reaching, and it is always superior, that is, hypocritical and self-interested, but it is praised by "Ren Jun" and "Ren Chen". Mr. Lu Xun said:

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, we can see Liu Bei's "righteousness" towards Liu Zhang, just as Zhuangzi said.

Liu Zhang is a herdsman in Yizhou and a vassal in Sichuan. Faced with the double pressure of Cao Cao and Zhang Lu and his cowardice, he had long wanted to rely on the strength of his brother Liu Bei. When his subordinate doctor Zhang Song failed to intercede with Cao Cao in the north, he was given a grand reception by Liu Bei in the south. Out of gratitude, Zhang Song presented a map of Central Sichuan and invited Liu Bei to "go west" and take the title of surprisingly. He and two close friends, such as Fa Zheng and Meng Da, may be insiders. When Liu Bei heard of Zhang Song's plan, he said, "Liu and Liu Bei are of the same clan. If he attacks it, he will be reviled by the whole world. " I still have the meaning of kindred in my mouth, but my heart is extremely happy. I am also extremely grateful to Zhang Song, who made a promise to Zhang Song: "The green hills are not old, but the green waters remain forever. If you succeed in the future, there will be a reward. " After Zhang Song took refuge in Liu Bei and returned to Sichuan, he implemented his own plan, and persuaded Liu Zhang to ask Liu Bei for help, saying, "Liu Huangshu, a native of Jingzhou, is a kindhearted and generous man with the demeanor of an elder. When Battle of Red Cliffs and Cao Cao heard this, they were terrified, not to mention Zhang Lu. Why not send envoys to make them foreign aid, but refuse Cao Cao and Zhang Lu? " Liu Zhang is honest, and Zhang Song was taken in as soon as he said it. He quickly agreed and said, "I've been thinking about it for a long time." Zhang Jian and Zhang Wei were sent to Jingzhou to invite soldiers into Shu. Liu Zhang's aides, Huang Quan and Chloe Wang, saw the seriousness of the situation at a glance and tried their best to obstruct it, especially Chloe Wang, who flatly tore off Liu Bei's mask: "... Liu Bei's entry into Sichuan is a threat. What's more, Liu Beishi's fierceness was first Cao Cao, and then he thought of killing people; After Sun Quan, take Jingzhou. How can encore get along with such a state of mind? " Wang Lei is telling the truth, Liu Bei is saying "righteousness", but his heart is "skill". But Liu Zhang didn't listen, and still believed in the truth of Liu Bei's blood relationship, refuting Wang Lei: "Liu Bei is my blood relationship, and he is willing to take my inheritance?" He immediately lived in Jingzhou, and then took his letters with him. The words in the letter are sincere, and I fully believe that Liu Bei is a "true man of benevolence and righteousness": ... I heard that "we share weal and woe" and, of course, friends. What is a clan? Now that Zhang Lu is in the north, dispatch troops may invade Zhang's territory at any time, which is very unsafe. ..... If you think of the feeling of the same clan, think of the righteousness of all brothers, arise and divide the bandits today. You will always be a lip and a tooth, and you will be rewarded. "Since then, Liu Bei led the army into Sichuan step by step. At the beginning, Liu Bei also wore a mask of benevolence and righteousness. At the moment of the showdown, he turned his back on people, borrowed money, borrowed food and borrowed a horse, and attacked: "I worked hard to defend the enemy for you. Why save money to reward now? " With an excuse, he adopted Pang Tong's plan and began to plot against Chengdu. Later, because of Zhang Song's exposure, he broke with Liu Zhang, and then marched in a big way to capture the government town that matched Chengdu. The so-called "brotherhood" is also buried in the bloody rain. At the celebration dinner, Pang Tong and Liu Bei were drunk and spoke their minds after drinking. The two of them had this conversation:

Liu Bei was drunk, and Gu Pang Tong said, "Is it an honor to have this meeting today?" Pang Tong said, "It is not benevolent to attack the Republic of China for pleasure." Liu Bei said, "I heard that the King of Wu attacked Zhou in the past and enjoyed himself like a hero. Isn't this the soldier of the benevolent? What you said is unreasonable, so please leave quickly. " (back to the sixty-second)

Pang Tong is telling the truth, cutting people's country is not a teacher of righteousness; It is not a benevolent move to take advantage of the opportunity to celebrate and have fun, just hitting a sore spot for Liu Bei. Liu Bei was full of benevolence and righteousness, but he ate Liu Zhang and betrayed the benevolence and righteousness of his relatives. This heartless betrayal has just been exposed by his own strategist, which can't stand it. In addition to comparing himself to the teacher of righteousness who was attacked by featuring the king to comfort himself, he also turned against his gentle and honest temper and drove Pang Tong out of the banquet. According to what Laozi said in the Tao Te Ching, soldiers are ominous. If you have to fight and win, you should not celebrate happily, but face it sadly in the form of a funeral. This is a teacher of righteousness, Liu Bei is not like this. As soon as he laid the strategic position of the government, he hosted a banquet for the army and got drunk. Pang Tong accidentally tore off the mask of Liu Bei's "benevolence and righteousness" after drinking, which made Liu Bei react strongly.

Throughout the process of western conquest of Liu Zhang, we can see that this is what Zhuangzi said: "Those who donate righteousness are few, but those who benefit righteousness are many". Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness is also dominated by the name of benevolence and righteousness. The word "insincerity" mentioned by Zhuangzi is very appropriate for Liu Bei. Liu Zhang regards hypocrisy as sincerity, and Liu Bei's Jiu Jitsu and Shu Ren did just that. It is said that Cao Cao is an unkind and unjust "thief", but where is the benevolence and righteousness of Liu Bei's Western Expedition? It is too heavy to say that "the world is a thief", but it is not too much to say that his righteousness is just a trick, a trick to cover up his ambition. We say that The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a complete political art book, which includes both rigid and explicit Cao Cao-style spells and flexible and hypocritical Liu Bei-style Confucianism.