[Zhuge Three Kingdoms Calligraphers] Zhang Fei – The rough-looking man distorted by novels was actually an excellent calligrapher
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Our first impression of Zhang Fei comes from the novel \"Romance of the Three Kingdoms\": \"He was eight feet tall, with a leopard-like head and piercing eyes, a tiger’s beard, a voice like thunder, and a momentum like that of a charging horse.\" With a roar from Changban Bridge, the image of a fierce and brutish warrior was etched in the public’s minds, stubborn and unchangeable. But is that really the case? Was Zhang Fei truly just a brute, brave but lacking in strategy? Let’s take a look at Zhang Fei’s performance in some battles; perhaps the answer will become clear then. Seizing Ba Commandery: At that time, Zhang Fei led his troops to Hanchuan. Yan Yan, the governor of Ba Commandery, held his ground and refused to fight; several attacks were repelled by a barrage of arrows. So Zhang Fei ordered his troops to dismount; the infantry sat down on the ground. He sent Yan Yan into battle, but that didn’t work either. Then he ordered his soldiers to shout insults from below the city walls, yet that also proved ineffective. Zhang Fei ordered his soldiers to scatter and cut down bushes and grass in order to find a path. Then he had a fake Zhang Fei create confusion while he led his troops in an ambush, capturing Yan Yan and seizing Ba City. In the end, Yan Yan was rehabilitated, becoming a tale celebrated through the ages
As can be seen from these two battles, Zhang Fei was not a reckless man with only bravery but no strategy; rather, he was a wise general who combined bravery with wisdom and showed carefulness even in his rough demeanor. Not only that, but various evidence suggests that Zhang Fei was also skilled in painting and calligraphy. The earliest records of Zhang Fei’s calligraphy can be found in \"Tao Jian Lu\" by Tao Hongying of the Liang dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. He wrote, “When Zhang Fei was first appointed Marquis of Xinting, he declared that he would forge iron from Chishan to create a sword.” It is inscribed: The Marquis of Xinting was a great general of Shu. He was later killed by Fan Jiang, who put this sword into Wu. ”This “Inscription on the Sword of Marquis Xinting” is a calligraphy work by Zhang Fei. Back then, painting and calligraphy were often inseparable. Zhang Fei not only had excellent calligraphy skills but was also good at painting, especially preferring to paint beauties. According to \"Hua Sui Yuan Quan\" compiled by Zhuo Erchang during the Ming Dynasty, \"Zhang Fei... enjoyed painting beauties and was skilled in cursive script.\" ”Authentic calligraphy works by Zhang Fei still exist to this day; unfortunately, no authentic paintings by Zhang Fei have been found yet, which is a small regret in history.
Here’s a question: why are an inscription and an rubbing different?
Volume 28 of \"Records of Famous Scenic Spots in Shu\" states that in Qu County of Shunqing Prefecture (which was Dangqu County during the Three Kingdoms period), there is a mountain named Bameng. At the foot of this mountain lies a stone on which is inscribed: \"General Zhang Fei of the Han dynasty led 10,000 elite soldiers to defeat the rebel leader Zhang He; he then stood on this stone and had it inscribed with these words.\" ”Two lines of large clerical script characters. These inscriptions refer to the incident in which Zhang Fei defeated a larger enemy force, forcing the renowned general Zhang He to flee in defeat. It is said that Zhang Fei was extremely happy at the time, and in his triumph, he wrote these words on stone instead of paper. The author of \"Records of Famous Scenic Spots in Shu\" is Cao Xuequan, a literature expert from the Ming dynasty who once served as an official in Sichuan. He held both cultural and political positions at that time, so his accounts can be considered reliable. In the work \"Gao Ben San Guo Zhi Zhu Bu\" written by Zhao Yiqing during the Qing dynasty, quotes from \"Fang Yu Ji Yao\" state that at the foot of Bameng Mountain, there is a stone inscription stating that Zhang Fei, a general of the Han dynasty, led 10,000 elite soldiers to defeat the rebel leader Zhang He; he then erected a stone tablet there as a memorial. It was written in Zhang Fei’s own hand.”
Zhang Fei’s cursive script in the legends of Langzhong, Sichuan
A somewhat different Zhang Fei – the painting style has changed rather quickly
When it comes to calligraphy, Zhang Fei is centuries ahead of me