New Age Artists

Chapter 266: Three Levels, Choices in Romance (23)

The first layer is the heroes.

The second layer is the gates and institutions.

The third layer is ordinary people and economic level.

Heroes shine the brightest, are the most powerful, and are the center of the historical stage.

If Cao Cao had not been so lustful, so immoral, and had not committed massacres.

If he had unified the country long ago, the Wei Dynasty would not have been tampered with.

If Cao Cao fights in the Battle of Red Cliffs, he should be cautious and develop steadily after taking Jingzhou.

Instead of issuing a declaration of war, he adopted a conciliatory strategy to disintegrate the power of the Sun Wu clans.

For the aristocratic family, they have more choices than the Sun family. If they stabilize themselves, the situation will be different.

If Sun Quan had not made up his mind and did not have the courage to fight, the outcome would have been different.

If Liu Bei had not had the ideal of restoring the Han Dynasty, and had remained true to his original aspirations in his forties, the situation might have been different.

Heroes determined the course of ancient history.

But heroes are only temporary, while families and institutions last for centuries.

Before the development of productivity, the cost of papermaking was greatly reduced, the imperial examination system emerged, and Huang Chao killed many people.

The existence of aristocratic families is an unavoidable phenomenon in ancient history.

The surrender of Jingzhou was driven by the interests of local powerful families.

Sun Quan was always trembling with fear when he took over the throne, and was full of insecurity from beginning to end.

Regarding the proposal of surrender, Zhang Zhao, a member of Sun Ce's team, advocated surrender.

Zhou Yu, who quickly rose to power after Sun Ce's death, gained prestige far exceeding that of Sun Quan after the Battle of Chibi.

The same goes for Cao and Liu, who were full of dependence on and vigilance against the aristocratic families.

He could suppress it when he was alive, but he suffered backlash from the aristocratic family after his death.

The Cao family was even uprooted by Sima Yi.

Institutions are systems and can also make decisions for a long time.

Problems like the aristocratic families continued until the imperial examination system was popularized in the Sui and Tang dynasties, when they were not curbed.

Many times, the struggles between powerful people and wars are over food, land, and population.

Internal governance is more of a struggle for institutional and system building.

Personal preferences, psychological activities, etc. are not very important.

If one studies history and the struggles of powerful people, one only considers personal preferences and psychological activities, rather than thinking from the perspective of institutions and systems.

So, no matter how famous this person is, he is 100% unreliable.

It is emotional output and novel writing, but it is not historical research.

Gao Hua is a representative.

The third level is ordinary people and economic level.

Ordinary people in ancient times were not very important and were weak individually.

But he who wins the hearts of the people will win the world, and this is not a lie.

Those who know how to use this power can often achieve unparalleled great things.

Gain powerful support from it and determine the longer-term direction of history.

If Cao Cao had won some support from the people and was not so anthropomorphic and massacred people, ordinary people would not have immediately fled with their families when they heard his name, thus making things difficult for themselves.

Economic level.

It is another perspective for later generations to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Battle of Chibi.

A key point in Sun Wu’s victory in the Battle of Chibi was the shift of the agricultural center to the south.

With the improvement of agricultural level and the development of the south, the south gradually became the economic, military and political center of ancient times.

Whoever controls the Central Plains may not necessarily control the world.

Shen Santong's version of "Red Cliff" focuses on the heroic level.

Not much effort will be put into portraying the families, institutions, ordinary people and economic levels, but they are there.

If a TV series only portrays heroes, it’s fine, but in a movie, it will seem like it’s floating in the air.

Only by being down-to-earth can the characters have a foothold, texture, and strength.

Of course, these are overall things that he considers as a director.

As for actors, they just need to be good heroes. Shen Santong continued, "The Battle of Red Cliffs is described in ten chapters in Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

"From Chapter 40, where Madam Cai proposed to offer Jingzhou and Zhuge Liang burned Xinye, to Chapter 050, where Zhuge Liang made a wise plan at Huarong and Guan Yu released Cao Cao out of righteousness."

"The Battle of Red Cliff in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very exciting."

"There are the counter-espionage schemes, the self-torture schemes, and the false surrender schemes planned by Zhou Yu and Huang Gai, and there is Pang Tong's chain of schemes."

"There are Zhuge Liang's three angers against Zhou Yu, borrowing arrows from a straw boat, and borrowing the east wind."

"There was also Cao Cao who fell into a trap and killed Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, and was defeated and fled to Huarong and begged Guan Yu for a way out. Just watching the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it seems that Cao Cao was alone against all the counselors of the Sun and Liu coalition forces."

"However, in official history, most of these contents are fictional and do not exist."

Shen Santong gave an example: "In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Jiang Gan stole the book on the eve of the war."

"The novel says that Jiang Gan was a counselor under Cao Cao and had a very good relationship with Zhou Yu since childhood."

"On the eve of the battle, Cao Cao was wary of Zhou Yu. Jiang Gan wanted to gain merit, so he offered himself to Cao Cao as a lobbyist to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender."

"As a result, Zhou Yu knew his intentions early on and set up a plan to have him bring back false news to Cao Cao, causing Cao Cao to angrily execute the two naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun."

"This was a counter-espionage tactic, and Jiang Gan was eventually killed by Cao Cao."

“That’s not the case at all historically.”

"Historically, Jiang Gan was Cao Cao's aide at the time. Because he had some connections with Zhou Yu, Cao Cao sent him to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender, but he was unsuccessful in the end."

"That's all. The book theft is totally unfounded."

"And according to the records in the Jiang Biao Biography, Jiang Gan was well-mannered and famous for his eloquence, unique between the Jiang and Huai regions."

"Such a gentleman would never do something as shady as stealing books, and would never fall into a trap without knowing it."

"The fiction of the book theft is a great vilification of Jiang Gan. Jiang Gan is a clown in this plot. He thinks he is smart but is actually stupid, making him a laughing stock for all eternity."

"Cao Cao is also a villain, headstrong, impulsive and irritable."

“We don’t adopt this plot.”

Director Chen seemed to be thinking about something. This could be turned into his knowledge point.

The other actors suddenly realized that Jiang Gan’s theft of the book was fake.

Increased knowledge.

Because it is a historical blockbuster, Shen Santong explained the romance and history clearly before sorting out the script.

Shen Santong first gave a lecture to express his ideas clearly.

It will be compiled into a book later. The actors’ academic performance is average, or even poor.

The same goes for Director Chen, who needs a process of concentrated learning.

Shen Santong continued, "It's the straw boat borrowing arrows that everyone knows about."

"In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was Zhuge Liang who borrowed arrows from a straw boat, which fully demonstrated his calmness and resourcefulness."

"On the contrary, Zhou Yu is portrayed as a petty-minded person who is jealous of talented people."

"In fact, the straw boat borrowing arrows had nothing to do with Zhuge Liang."

"There are two versions in history, both of which are related to Sun Quan."

"However, from the perspective of the characters, the highlight of borrowing arrows from straw boats still goes to Wu Hou, but Zhou Yu does not appear in a negative image."

"There is also the story of borrowing the east wind to elevate Zhuge Liang to an inhuman height, which actually did not exist in history."

"The so-called east wind was the accurate judgment of the climate by Zhou Yu, the commander-in-chief of the Battle of Chibi, and Huang Gai, the general of the Eastern Wu."

"At that time, the Chinese were already quite skilled in using 'sails' to observe wind direction. In addition, as local people in Dongwu, they had a deep understanding of the local climate, so they were able to use the east wind."

"This shining point, in accordance with history, is left to Grand Commander Zhou Yu."

"There was no such thing as Zhou Yu beating Huang Gai. Huang Gai asked for permission to pretend to surrender."

"According to history, Zhou Yu was a true hero with a broad mind, courage, wisdom and a bright and clear mind."

Shen Santong finished summarizing the novel: "Although Cao Cao was defeated in the Battle of Red Cliff and fled to Huarong Road, he did not meet Guan Yu, nor did he beg Guan Yu to spare his life."

"Letting Cao Cao go, in my opinion, actually tarnishes the image of Guan Yu."

"We don't adopt it either. It's too fake. A life-and-death struggle doesn't allow for personal feelings."

"There are a few more points that are easier to mix up."

"Sun Quan was persuaded by Zhuge Liang and three others. It was Cao Cao's camp that was burned at Red Cliff, not Red Cliff. The idea of ​​the iron chain ship was Cao Cao's own idea, not Pang Tong's."

Shen Santong concluded: "In general, there are many falsehoods in the novels, and we mostly follow history."

(End of this chapter)