Those who are familiar with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" may not be unfamiliar with the story of Guan Yu's "Thousands of Miles Riding Alone" and "Passing Five Levels and Killing Six Generals". This story does happen in history, but there is a lot of fiction.

The "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Guan Yu" written by Chen Shou of the Western Jin Dynasty recorded: "He Yu killed Yan Liang, and Cao Gong knew that he would go, and he was rewarded." Yu did his best, bowed to the book and said goodbye, and Ben was the first lord of Yuan Jun. Left and right wanted to chase him, Cao Gong said: 'Each of them is his master, don't chase it'. ”

It can be seen that although Guan Yunchang has thousands of miles to find Liu Bei, because Cao Mengde is magnanimous and fulfills his loyalty and righteousness, not only did he not send troops to chase him, but he also did not set up many checkpoints to block him.

Although Guan Yu's trip is far away, it is also smooth and smooth sailing, there is no battle on both sides, and Cao Jun has no casualties, the so-called "passing five passes and killing six generals" is just a story made up by novelist Luo Guanzhong in order to describe Guan Yunchang's bravery (in fact, as early as Luo Guanzhong, some stories of the Three Kingdoms have been formed, including the famous joke of "passing five passes and killing six generals").

But many times, history is more exciting than fiction.

In the history of the Three Kingdoms, there is really such a story that can be called "a thousand miles to ride alone", but the protagonist will make many people unbelievable, he is used by later generations as "there is no general in Shu, Liao Hua is a pioneer" metaphor for the lack of outstanding talents, and the "incompetent person" with incompetent people - Liao Hua.

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Liao Hua, whose real name is Chun, has been a wealthy family in southern China for generations, not a thief who makes a living by looting as stated in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (see Chapter 27 of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"). The time when he joined Liu Bei's camp is unknown, but from the beginning when he served as the chief bookkeeper under Guan Yu's account, Liao Hua was proficient in literature and ink, otherwise he would not be able to be in charge of the clerk.

It is enough to see that he is both civil and military, not a martial artist.

In 219 AD, Guan Yu, the general of Shu Han, was negligent and lacked vigilance against the Soochow group, which led to Jingzhou being attacked by the famous Soochow general Lü Meng.

Soon, Guan Yu was defeated and killed, and Liao Hua, who was under Guan Yu, was defeated and captured, and had to surrender to Sun Quan.

The specific reason for Liao Hua's surrender is unknown, but many scholars believe that he is likely to be worried about his mother being harmed. In an ancient society that valued filial piety, it is understandable that they chose to surrender in order to protect their elders, and they will not be criticized too much by public opinion.

But although Liao Hua surrendered, he had a heart of "being in Wu Ying's heart and being in Han", thinking about escape day and night, hoping to leave the enemy camp as soon as possible and return to Liu Bei.

After two years of thinking, he finally came up with a clever plan. He cleverly deceived Sun Quan's subordinates by deceiving death. And took this opportunity to take his old mother to the west day and night in 221 AD, trekking through mountains and rivers, crossing one checkpoint after another, and finally arrived at Zigui, where he met Liu Bei who was on the Eastern Expedition at that time, and completed this legendary story.

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When Liu Bei saw Liao Hua return to the camp, he was naturally overjoyed, and immediately appointed Liao Hua as the Taishou of Yidu. Soon, the Shu Han army reached the Xiā Pavilion in Yidao County, and Liao Hua then served as the other governor and confronted the Eastern Wu army led by Lu Xun. However, Liu Bei's mistake in using troops led to a fiasco in the Battle of Yiling, and Liao Hua had to retreat to the land of Bashu with the army.

Compared with Guan Yu's "Thousands of Miles to Ride Alone", Liao Hua's "Thousands of Miles to Ride Alone" also shows the "spirit of loyalty and righteousness" advocated by ancient rulers, and also shows more of the "filial piety" that has always been praised in traditional Chinese culture.

However, the former has been highly sought after by later generations and is regarded as the embodiment of loyalty, and has long had a wide range of beliefs among the people, becoming a "gold medal idol" in the minds of the people.

The latter's deeds are not only little known, but also named by later generations as "no general in Shu, Liao Hua as a pioneer", becoming synonymous with useless people. Such a huge contrast is really embarrassing.

Historically, Liao Hua was not incompetent. After Liu Bei's death, Liao Hua became Zhuge Liang's army. Later, he was the governor of Guangwu, and moved slightly to the right car to ride the general, fake the festival, led and merged the state assassin history, and sealed the township marquis.

In 238 AD, Liao Hua attacked the Wei State Shoushan Qiang Hou Tang (xù

The garrison camp, the Wei general Guo Huai sent the Guangwei county Taishou Wang Yun (yū

), Nan'an County Taishou Youyi led troops to rescue. Faced with the unfavorable situation of the two armies, Liao Hua took advantage of the weakness of the Wei army's division of troops, seized the opportunity to break through each one, and shot Wang Yun and won the victory.

It can be seen in this battle that Liao Hua is quite good at using soldiers, and he is by no means a straw bag. Since then, Liao Hua has accompanied Jiang Wei on many northern expeditions, although they all ended in failure, but Liao Hua has always done his best to preserve the vitality of the Shu Han army in an unfavorable strategic situation.

In 262, Jiang Wei prepared to go on another northern expedition, at which time Shu Han had entered a period of imminent destruction. In the face of such a situation, Liao Hua dissuaded Jiang Wei, "'If the soldiers are not killed, they will be **", and the name of Boyo is also. Wisdom is not the enemy, but the strength is less than Kou, and the use is insatiable, how can it stand? The poem 'not self-first, not self-second', today's things are also. ”

Jiang Wei was asked to give up the Northern Expedition under the pattern of strong enemies and weak me, so as not to suffer the fate of overturning. But Jiang Wei didn't listen to good advice and insisted on marching into the army, but was defeated by Deng Ai. It can be seen that Liao Hua has a strategic vision and is a rare good general.

In the second year, Deng Ai and Zhong Hui launched a strategic general attack on Shu Han, preparing to eliminate it in one fell swoop. Liao Hua and Jiang Wei tried their best to resist, but to no avail, and Shu Han was eventually destroyed by the Wei state.

In 264, Liao Hua prepared to go to Luoyang, but unfortunately died of illness on the way. Shu Han's qi is exhausted, no matter how powerful Liao Hua is, he can't turn the tide, but he fought until the last moment, worthy of the loyal man of Shu Han. It is really unfair that future generations will belittle him in this way.

In fact, in the eyes of historians at the time, Liao Hua was commendable.

Chen Shou pointed out in "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" that Liao Hua was "known as Guolie".

And "Huayang National Chronicles" even recorded: "The people of the time said: There are Wang (Ping) and Ju (Fu) in the front, and Zhang (Yi) and Liao (Hua) in the back." It shows that Liao Hua's status among the Shu Han generals at that time was very high. It is by no means "there is no general in Shu, and Liao has become a pioneer".

As for Guan Yu, he was infinitely deified in later generations, and many things made out of nothing were added to him, becoming an important deity in Chinese folk beliefs. But "Guan Yu of History" and "Guan Gong of Faith" have never been the same thing, and there is a huge difference between the two.

It can be seen from this that many of the so-called heroes in Chinese history were processed and hyped up by later generations for a certain need, and their deeds are often very different from real history. And a pillar of the country like Liao Hua, who is both civil and military, loyal and courageous, has been blackened by later generations, so that it gives people the impression of being incompetent.

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There is a question: Jingzhou City was broken, Liao Hua and other Shuzhong generals surrendered to Eastern Wu, so, was every general's family taken captive to Wu by Eastern Wu? Like Liao Hua's mother and so on.

Liao Hua cheated to death, and returned to Shu with his mother, so where did his wife (and maybe concubine) and children go? Is it still in Wu Land? Wu Guo knew that Liao Hua had escaped with his mother, what would he do to his other family members? What will the rest of his family think of him?

In this regard, there is no trace of history.