Please bring Zhuge Liang down from the altar - A review of the "Collected Works of Zhuge Liang"

Author: Gao Enyuan / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features:
Chapter 3: Critiquing Yang Yang's Advice to Zhuge Liang
Yang Yang was a subordinate of Zhuge Liang, and the Collected Works of Zhuge Liang contains a passage where Yang Yang said:
"Governance has its proper structure; the higher and lower must not interfere with each other. Let me use a household as an analogy for Your Excellency. Suppose someone assigns their slaves to farming, maids to cooking, chickens to crowing at dawn, dogs to barking at thieves, oxen to carrying heavy loads, and horses to traveling long distances. Private affairs are not neglected, and all needs are met. The master can then relax, eat and drink, and be content. But suddenly, they demand to personally perform all these tasks, entrusting nothing to others, exhausting their physical strength on trivial matters, and becoming weary both in body and mind, ultimately achieving nothing. Is it because their wisdom is inferior to that of slaves, maids, chickens, or dogs? It is because they have lost the way of a master. Therefore, the ancients called those who sat to deliberate policies the 'Three Dukes,' and those who acted and implemented policies were the scholar-officials. For example, Bing Ji did not inquire about a man who died on the roadside but worried about a cow's heatstroke. Chen Ping refused to know the details of grain and money matters, saying they had their own stewards. He truly understood the proper boundaries of his role. Now, Your Excellency governs, yet you personally review accounts and documents, sweating all day—does this not tire you?"
According to Romance of the Three Kingdoms: "Zhuge Liang wept and said, 'I know this, but I bear the weight of the late Emperor’s trust in me. I fear others will not be as dedicated as I am.'"
Critique: Look! Is Zhuge Liang a great talent or not? Can he handle great affairs or not? By this time, Zhuge Liang was already at Zhaozhuang Yuan, facing Sima Yi in battle, yet he still personally engaged in trivial matters. Did he still have the energy to devise strategies to defeat the enemy? He didn’t even trust his subordinates to do their jobs—could he trust anyone else? Could he rely on anyone to help him? Was Zhuge Liang’s heart too narrow? Where was his "wisdom"? It was people like this who led the army into battle against a formidable foe in the mountains and rivers—could anyone expect him to win?
"'Zhuge Liang wept,' why did Zhuge Liang weep? People weep when their hearts are wounded, but who wounded Zhuge Liang’s heart? What could have wounded it? No one wounded Zhuge Liang’s heart—unless it was Zhuge Liang himself. He placed himself in the midst of trivial matters, sweating all day, weary in body and mind, truly derailing the great cause! By the time he reached Zhaozhuang Yuan, was it not too late to regret? How could he not be heartbroken? How could he not weep? It seemed he had realized that Zhaozhuang Yuan was his end! No hope, no light—his life of military campaigns was about to end in failure! The merciless reality, the merciless Zhaozhuang Yuan, lay before him—how could he not be heartbroken? How could he not weep? Yet he was forced to listen to a subordinate, a mere slave, enumerate and advise him like this. A man like him, stubborn and self-willed throughout his life, who dared to say such things to him? He "knew very well," but he could not act, leading to this day! How could he not be heartbroken? How could he not weep?
"'A true man does not shed tears lightly,' but Zhuge Liang, who often compared himself to Guan Zhong and Yue Yi, had ever wept like Guan or Yue? Zhuge Liang sent Sima Yi a woman’s headdress and plain robes, comparing him to a woman—had he ever seen Sima Yi weep? Yet Zhuge Liang wept while writing the Memorial of the Master Leaving the Capital, wept while reading it, wept after executing Ma Su for failing the late Emperor, wept after accepting the charge of guardianship in Baidicheng, feigned grief for Zhou Yu but wept sincerely, wept when Zhao Yun died, wept when Zhang Bao died, wept in the grand tent before his subordinates—Zhuge Liang was truly a woman! P7-8