As one of the four classical masterpieces, "Water Margin" is a household name in China. However, although the fame is great, I am afraid that I have not even read one-tenth of the original work, which makes many people show their "level" and show their differences, and grandiose analysis to find a lot of unique insights. Over time, the "conspiracy theory" that penetrated the way of thick black was born. With the rise of the Internet, more and more people are participating in it, and even many smart people who haven't even watched all the TV series have followed suit, making conspiracy theories more and more intense.
One of the most typical events is the famous episode in the book - Chao Gai's death. Many people firmly believe that Shi Wengong is behind the blame because they support or advocate conspiracy theories, and the real ** is actually Song Jiang, who has always been different from Chao Gai's position.
I don't like Song Jiang either, but I still think it's shameful to be "unwarranted", and you can't deduct any basin from him because of personal likes and dislikes. Although conspiracy theorists have given a lot of so-called evidence that seems reasonable, according to the description of the original work of "Water Margin", it can actually be seen that Chao Gai was killed by Shi Wengong, there is no doubt about it.
Proponents of conspiracy theories have a hundred reasons to say that Chao Gai's death was behind Song Jiang. But this group is also a mixed bag, and there are a lot of people who are indiscriminate, and a lot of the so-called evidence looks like a joke. So, to get rid of the fakes that don't stand up to scrutiny at all, I have sifted through the four that seem quite convincing among the many so-called pieces of evidence:
First of all, although Song Jiang is the second master, more than half of the people in Liangshan have a stronger sense of belonging to him, even Liu Tang and San Ruan, who have shared hardships with Chao Gai, have great admiration for Song Jiang, which makes Chao Gai's position awkward, that is to say, the contradiction between Chao Gai and Song Jiang has been fighting for power for a long time.
Secondly, fundamentally speaking, Chao Gai and Song Jiang have different concepts and ambitions, especially for Zhao'an, which is almost incompatible, so Song Jiang wants to successfully complete Zhao'an, Chao Gai is the biggest stumbling block.
Third, in addition to the three words "Shi Wengong" engraved on the arrow in the original book, it is not pointed out that Shi Wengong released the cold arrow, even if Shi Wengong was captured alive in the end, he was not interrogated and asked to confess, so this is a very superficial planting.
In the end, Chao Gai did not pass on the throne to Song Jiang on his deathbed, nor did he say that the person who killed Shi Wengong would take over, but said, "Which one catches and shoots me", which is an allusion to Chao Gai's insight into everything, so his real idea is who killed Song Jiang, and this can take his place.
Seriously, the four reasons sound reasonable and well-founded, and if I hadn't read the original book by heart, I'm afraid I would have been convinced, which once again shows that there are great gods among the many sensationalists, and their mastery of the study of "Water Margin" is far stronger than that of ordinary readers. It's a pity that what is fake is fake after all, no matter how reasonable it looks, the so-called interpretation without substantive evidence is a paper tiger after all, at least in my opinion, these four points of argument simply cannot stand scrutiny.
I hate the darkness of conspiracy theories, and I am even more indignant at the misguided children brought about by wrong voices, so according to the four doubts about Chao Gai's death summarized above, I rely on the original book to fight back one by one.
First of all, the first point, is there really a contradiction between Chao Gai and Song Jiang? On the surface, it may be so, after all, Song Jiang was in the limelight after going up the mountain, Duan Jingzhu, a big clever, actually claimed to be dedicated to Song Jiang after stealing the Yezhao Jade Lion, where did this put Chao Gai? In addition, because Song Jiang made clear the idea of recruiting An, many generals also had their hearts set on Song Jiang, and more than half of the leaders of Liangshan were brought up by Song Jiang, so Chao Gai, as a big boss, had a tendency to be hollowed out, and it was inevitable that there was a lot of dissatisfaction in his heart, all of which seemed reasonable.
But sometimes we can't think too subjectively, because in this regard, understanding the character of Chao Gai in this way makes people look down on and look down on people. After "outwitting the birth gang", Bai Sheng soon leaked out of the horse's feet, and was deceived into confession, Chao Gai and others were exposed, thanks to Song Jiang's timely report, Chao Gai, Wu Yong and other seven people evacuated in advance, so that they were able to save their lives, from this point of view, it is not an exaggeration to say that Song Jiang has a life-saving grace for Chao Gai. This made the group of heroes rescue Song Jiang from Jiangzhou, Chao Gai proposed to give way.
Many people said that this was just a temptation by Chao Gai, and he knew that Song Jiang cherished his feathers and would not take over, so this move was just to show his mind to the leaders, and it was a move to buy people's hearts. In fact, this kind of thinking is typical of the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain. Aside from those neutrals who have a similar relationship with the two, we just mentioned a few leaders who can be regarded as Chao Gai's henchmen, such as Liu Tang and San Ruan are not opposed to Chao Gai's abdication, in these rivers and lakes reckless hearts, it is the principle of life to repay kindness, Chao Gai does this just shows that he is a frank hero, so since Chao Gai is a hero, there is no reason to be a brother to stop him, which is clearly mentioned by Liu Tang and others after Chao Gai's death, when Lin Chong supported Song Jiang. Because in the eyes of these frank men, the so-called power and status are far inferior to the righteousness between brothers.
Chao Gai's henchmen are still like this, not to mention those brothers who were born and died with Song Jiang, imagine if Chao Gai is not sincere, just pretending, what if Song Jiang can't shirk it, accept it? Isn't that a recipe for stealing chickens and rice? Therefore, if Chao Gai really had the intention of testing Song Jiang, he would not have made such a decision. Since he dares to let it, it must be out of his heart. And through the various portrayals of Chao Gai in the book, we can see that he is a free-spirited and open-minded person, and there are not so many twists and turns in his stomach.
Therefore, Chao Gai and Song Jiang are on the same page because of the competition for power, which is absurd in itself.
Let's talk about the second article, Song Jiang is bent on recruiting An, which is well known, but is Chao Gai against Zhao'an? I don't think so. Song Jiang defeated the official army several times, and when he subdued the generals of the unified army, he mentioned the matter of recruiting an in the future, which Song Jiang mentioned in public, and did not avoid anyone, Chao Gai could not have heard the rumors, but he did not express his position.
But we have to be clear that not expressing it does not mean that it is opposed, looking at Chao Gai's rough "lines", combined with his character, Chao Gai's biggest idea about Zhao'an is probably no idea. Instead of trying to plan for the future, it is better to keep drinking and eating meat with his brothers like this, which means that in Chao Gai's opinion, there is no need to put these things on the agenda for the time being before everything is put on the table.
So suppose that one day, the future of Liangshan needs to be put on the agenda, is it difficult to convince Chao Gai with Song Jiang and Wu Yongzhi? Some people may say that if it weren't for Song Jiang digging the foot of the wall, how could Wu Yong stand on his side. In fact, we need to make a clear question, that is, Zhao'an is not a one-time stand, but the best plan for everyone to measure according to their own needs, it is true that Liangshan has a lot of people who don't understand this, such as Li Kui, he only knows that he follows Song Jiang no matter right or wrong, but Wu Yong is by no means this kind of person, his mind and wisdom are not inferior to Song Jiang, and he will not be swayed by others. And as long as you analyze it a little, you will actually understand that Zhao'an is the only way out for Liangshan, and they have no possibility of overthrowing the Song Dynasty at all, and everything they do is nothing more than "want to be an official, kill people and set fire to Zhao'an". Therefore, in this regard, Wu Yong and Song Jiang coincide, but this is not the same as betraying Chao Gai, this is ideals, prospects and net worth, and everyone does have the right to choose.
As far as Chao Gai is concerned, it is true that he is more "big", but he is by no means stupid, he can figure out the stakes of Zhao'an or not, but he didn't want to face it before, so once he has to make a choice, not to mention the combination of Song Jiang and Wu's double sword, even if he calms down himself, he can actually figure it out. In other words, Chao Gai is not an opposition to Zhao'an, so the argument that Song Jiang has become a stumbling block because of his position is even more untenable.
The third point is interesting because it's a paradox of stealing concepts. There is indeed no description of the process of Shi Wengong's arrow shooting Chao Gai in the book, but the name engraved on the arrow appears as evidence, how can it be reversed into a false accusation?
This shows that the emergence of conspiracy theories itself is based on the fact that the conspiracy is true, that is to say, first take the baseless hypothetical conspiracy as a real event, and then look at it the other way around, then the evidence becomes a false accusation, which is very obvious to confuse the public, secretly change the concept and reverse black and white, but the confusion is too great, so it is easy to substitute unknown people into it, and over time it will become a Wolong and Phoenix Chick who shouts for conspiracy theories.
The operation method of the fourth point and the third point is actually the same, looking at things under the premise of conspiracy, so they came up with a relatively thick answer, especially those who were successful ** smart, follow this line of thought to analyze, and then come up with such an answer, and still complacent, somewhat sad.
According to the situation described in the book, Chao Gai was injured by an arrow and fell into a coma soon after being rescued, until he returned to the light before his death, and he never looked at the arrow that shot him from beginning to end, or he didn't know that the arrow was named at all, so how could he shout the slogan "Kill Shi Wengong's successor"?
And if Chao Gai thinks it's Song Jiang, why did he say these words to Song Jiang? Could it be that if he thinks that if Song Jiang can't understand it, others will understand it? This is a complete fallacy. The reason why Chao Gai went against his wishes before his death and did not directly pass on the throne to Song Jiang was more because of his unwillingness and resentment that he was killed by an arrow. For a person who has returned to the light, it is too difficult to ask him to think calmly and plan for the future.
In fact, it doesn't need to be so cumbersome to refute conspiracy theories, the book clearly explains that Shi Wengong was haunted by Chao Gai's ghost when he finally broke through, if he didn't shoot Chao Gai's **, how could Chao Gai seek revenge on him? Could it be that the dignified "King Tota" is really so stupid that he didn't know his enemies when he was alive and still doesn't know when he dies?
The promotion of classical literature is worth advocating, but it is better not to spread too dark subjective emotions, so as not to stain oneself and mislead others.