Chengong information

Chen Gong was an official at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was upright, strong and resourceful. Compared with the national famous scholars, Qingzhou yellow turban insurrectionary and Yanzhou prickly official Liu Dai died. Chen Gong and others advocated that Cao Cao should take over as Yanzhou animal husbandry. Cao Cao led his troops eastward into Tao Qian, leaving Chen Gong to guard the East County. Gong and Zhang Miao rebelled and welcomed Lu Bu into Yanzhou. After the defeat of Lu Bu, Chen Gong herded Liu Bei in Xuzhou with Lu Bu, and persuaded Lu Bu to attack Xuzhou. Chen Gong urged Lu Bu to marry Yuan Shu and form a harmonious relationship to resist Cao Cao. Unfortunately, Lu Bu didn't have a plan and didn't adopt his plan, which was destroyed by Chen Deng and his son. The alliance failed as a result. After the defeat, Lu Bu was captured by Cao Cao and died unyielding. In the romance, Chen Gong was the county magistrate of Zhongmou, who caught Cao Cao who failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo. Because of his ambition, he abandoned his official position and went with Cao Cao. Seeing Cao Cao's cruelty and indiscriminate killing of Lv Boshe's family, he abandoned them and swore to them. Later, he helped Lu Bu to crusade against Cao Cao and designed to defeat Cao Cao many times. Because Lu Bu didn't listen to him, he was finally defeated by Cao Cao. Cao Cao was released because he wanted to save himself, and Chen Gong was killed because he refused to surrender.

In the colorful character spectrum of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Gong is a character who comes and goes in a hurry. From the first volume "Cao Mengde Murdered Dong Zhuo" to the fourth volume "Bai Men Guan Cao Cao Chopped Lu Bu", his appearances were not too many, just like a meteor, which suddenly crossed in the deep sky and suddenly fell. However, the impression he left on readers was quite vivid and profound. How did Luo Guanzhong portray this character? What kind of creative intention and aesthetic significance does he have? Let's explore.

one

Why does Chen Gong occupy a place in the minds of hundreds of millions of readers on the artistic stage described in the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where heroes come forth in large numbers, counselors are like clouds, and warriors are like rain? After reading all the descriptions about him in the romance novels, people are most impressed by the following three points:

First, he deeply understands the important principle. This is first manifested in the famous story of "catching and releasing Cao".

Cao Caomou stabbed Dong Zhuo in vain and fled back to his hometown. When Dong Zhuo heard this, he immediately hanged a big reward: "If you catch a person, you will be rewarded with 1,200 pieces of silver to seal Wan Huhou." At this time, Cao Cao was caught by the gatekeeper in zhongmou county. As a county magistrate, Chen Gong recognized Cao Cao at a glance. But he knew that Cao Cao had been valued by Dong Zhuo, and there must be something wrong with the plot to assassinate Dong Zhuo, so he quietly led Cao Cao to the backyard for questioning. When Cao Cao declared passionately that he wanted to kill Dong Zhuo, and when he returned to China, he wanted to "send an imperial edict to the four seas, so that all the governors in the world would rise up and fight against Dong Zhuo", he could not help but be awed, and immediately "untied the shackles, helped him to sit at the table, drank and worshipped, saying,' Gong is a loyal minister in the world!' "So, he resolutely gave up the opportunity to take credit for Dong Zhuo, gave up the county magistrate position, and left with Cao Cao overnight. At this time, Chen Gong was definitely determined to follow Cao Cao's idea of "eliminating pesticides for the country".

However, after only three days, Chen Gong's view of Cao Cao took a 180 degree turn. That was after he and Cao Cao lived in Lv Boshe's house. At first, Cao Cao killed a family of eight in Lv Boshe because he was seriously suspected. Chen Gong just sighed: "Meng De was full of heart and killed a good man by mistake!" Later, on the way to escape, Cao Cao deliberately killed Lv Boshe in order to kill the grass. Chen Gong severely accused Cao Cao: "It is a great injustice to kill while knowing it!" However, Cao Cao brazenly declared: "I would rather let the world fail me than teach the world to fail me!" " "This kind of naked declaration of extreme egoism is chilling, which naturally makes Chen Gong wake up from the desire to serve the country and protect the people. At this point, the impression that Cao Cao once left in Chen Gong's mind as a "loyal man" has vanished, but a ferocious face appeared in front of him. Chen Gong immediately decided that he was a "cruel and heartless man"!

At this time, Chen Gong wanted to kill Cao Cao with a sword, but on second thought, "I came with him for my country. I didn't give up if I killed him improperly." So he left Cao Cao and left (Volume 1: Cao Cao Arises to Attack Dong Zhuo). From then on, Chen Gong made a clean break with Cao Cao and stood on the opposite side of Cao Cao morally and unequivocally.

This tortuous plot not only exposed Cao Cao's treacherous face for the first time, but also made Chen Gong show his integrity of caring for the country and distinguishing between good and evil from the very beginning.

Secondly, he is quite resourceful. Since he defected to Lu Bu, he has become the main counselor of Lu Bu, and has given many good ideas for Lu Bu. For example, when Lu Bu and Cao Cao first met outside Puyang and defeated Cao Jun, he promptly reminded Lu Bu: "Xizhai is an important place. What can we do if Cao Cao attacks it? " Lu Bu said disapprovingly, "After losing for a while today, how dare you come?" He immediately stressed: "Cao Cao is a good soldier, so we must prevent him from taking it by surprise." Sure enough, Cao Cao personally led the way that night, "caught off guard." Thanks to Chen Gong's words, Lu Bu rescued Xizhai in time and defeated Jun again (Volume 3, Battle of Lu Puyang). However, what is even more exciting is "Burning Puyang". This time, he suggested that Lu Bu let Shi Tian, the rich man in the city, write a fake surrender book and pretend to offer the city in the middle of the night to induce Cao Cao to lead his troops into the city. As a result, Cao Jun encountered "four fires falling from the sky", which were burned to pieces and divided; Cao Cao himself "burned his mustache" and almost became a prisoner. It's really embarrassing (Volume 3, Tao San let Xuzhou)! Later, when Zhang Song taunted Cao Cao face to face, he compared "when Lu Bu was the enemy of Puyang" to "the day when Wancheng fought Zhang Xiu, the day when Chibi met Zhou Lang, the day when Huarong Road met Guanjiang, and the day when he cut his beard and abandoned his robe in Tongguan", which was regarded as one of the greatest humiliations of Cao Cao's life. It can be seen that Chen Gong's plan left a deep impression on people.

Unfortunately, Lu Bu is a foolhardy and headstrong guy. He believed his wife's words more than the soldiers' and refused to accept Chen Gong's correct opinions many times. You see:

-Cao Cao returned to Yanzhou from Xuzhou. Chen Gong suggested setting an ambush on Taishan Road and inviting Cao Jun. Lu Bu refused: "I have ulterior motives in Puyang, don't you know!" (Lu Hou Wen's Battle of Puyang, Volume 3)

2 on Chen Gong (turn)

2 On Chen Gong

-Cao Bing just arrived in Puyang, and Chen Gong advocated attacking it while it was far away, but Lyu3 bu4 insisted on "I will capture it when it sticks to the stockade" on his own. (same as above)

-Cao Cao recaptured Yanzhou and then attacked Puyang. Chen Gong thought, "We can't go to war, we can wait until the generals get together." Lu Bu boasted, "My hero, who dares to approach!" Forced to fight, the result was defeated by Cao Cao's six generals and lost Puyang ("Cao Cao Ding Tao broke Lu Bu", Volume 3).

-Lyu3 bu4 trapped in the next Pi, Chen Gong advised him to lead the troops out of the city, and the people guarding the city formed a corner. Lu Bu praised him to his face: "The public character is excellent." But when I got home, I heard my wife Yan say, "Do I have to be a general's wife if something happens?" Immediately put Chen Gong's plan behind him (Volume 4 "White Door Shut and Cao Cao Cut Lu Bu") ...

There is no need to give another example. Chen Gong is unfortunate. Nine times out of ten, his plan is in vain. For a psychological counselor, what could be sadder than this?

Third, he would rather die than surrender. After the total collapse of the Lyu3 bu4 Group, both Chen Gong and Lyu3 bu4 became prisoners. Facing the winner, Cao Cao, Lu Bu was afraid of death and repeatedly demanded to surrender: Chen Gong was fearless and indomitable. Cao Cao asked him in a condescending tone, "How are you?" He immediately replied in a tit-for-tat manner: "Your intention is wrong, I give up." Cao Cao tried to soften him with the life and death of his mother and wife, but he remained unmoved and "stepped down" and "stretched his neck and was punished". His firmness in moral integrity and awe-inspiring righteousness moved "everyone to tears" (Volume 4 "White Gate Guan Cao Cao Chops Lu Bu"). At the end of the novel, the image of an honest, strong and generous "loyal" man has been firmly engraved in the reader's heart.

two

It should be noted that the above plot contains a lot of fictional elements, which is quite different from the deeds of Chen Gong in history. ? First of all, although there was an incident of "catching and releasing Cao Cao" in history, it was not done by Chen Gong, and the cause and process of the incident were also different from those written in the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms. According to the reflection? Shu Wei? "Wu Di Ji" cloud:

(Dong) Zhuo Biao is a captain and wants to find something. Mao changed his name to the East.

It is clear here that Cao Cao avoided Dong Zhuo's recommendation because he didn't want to be in cahoots with Dong Zhuo, so he quietly went back to his hometown and did something else without trying to stab Dong Zhuo. "Romance" fictionalized a paragraph in which he volunteered to assassinate Dong Zhuo, so as to show the boldness and agility of this treacherous man and highlight his "male" side.

Reflection? Shu Wei? "Emperor Wu Ji" also records that Cao Cao Dong was released to China shortly after his arrest:

Going through the customs, crossing Zhongmou, was suspected by Tingchang and held the county seat. In the city or stealing it, please get rid of it.

Pei Songzhi's annotation quoted Guo's to illustrate this point more specifically:

Zhong was suspected to be dead, but was detained in the county seat. "Poetry" was also written by Zhuo Shu; However, Gongsun Cao knows that he is Mao, and the world is in chaos. It is inappropriate to arrest heroes all over the world because of the release of ghost.

Here, it is not Zhongmu county magistrate who plays a key role in Cao Cao's release, but the unsung hero who has a discerning eye for heroes. Neither the county magistrate nor Gong Cao has anything to do with Chen Gong, because Chen Gong has never held these two positions.

In addition, before Zhongmou was arrested, Cao Cao killed Lv Boshe's family (because he was not at home, he didn't kill Lv Boshe). For the reason of Cao Cao's murder, Zhu Peilie gave three explanations, none of which involved Chen Gong. To sum up, Catch and Release Cao Cao has nothing to do with Chen Gong from beginning to end.

The acquaintance between Chen Gong and Cao Cao in history is not dramatic. Reflection? Shu Wei? "Lu Bu Zhuan" notes "Dian lue" cloud:

Chen Gongzi is a public station, and Dongjun people are also there. Integrity, less contact with domestic celebrities. The chaos in the world began with Mao. ...

This tells us that when Cao Cao sneaked back to his hometown in the sixth year of Zhong Ping (189), Chen Gong didn't go with him at all; It was not until the second year of Chuping (19 1) that Cao Cao was appointed as the prefect of Dong Jun County, and Chen Gong became his subordinate.

Chen Gong and Cao Cao had a good relationship at first. In the third year of Chuping (192), Liu Dai, the secretariat of Yanzhou, was killed by Qingzhou Yellow Scarf Army, and Bao Xinying, the minister of northern Hebei, led Cao Cao to graze in Yanzhou, which made Cao Cao have a relatively stable base and greatly enhanced his strength. This is an important starting point for Cao Cao's career. In this matter, Chen Gong played a great role. Emperor Wu Ji refers to the cloud of Shiyu:

(Liu) After Dai's death, Chen Gong called Taizu: "The country has no owner now, and the king's life is cut off. Please say that in the country, the Ming government has sought Mu Zhi, with which it can take over the world. This is also a matter for the overlord. " The palace said: "Do not drive, rule China, and say:" Today, the country is divided and there is no owner; Cao, a gifted scholar all his life, would rather be a stranger if he welcomed the pastoral country. " Baoxin and others also call it nature.

3 on Chen Gong (turn)

Here, Chen Gong not only actively suggested that Cao Cao should seize Yanzhou and establish a "overlord's business", but also enthusiastically persuaded Yanzhou officials to meet Cao Cao and call him a "talent". At this time, he can be said to be loyal to Cao Cao and admire him.

3 On Chen Gong

So, how did Chen Gong leave Cao Cao and run to Lu Bu's men? Of course not because he saw through Cao Cao's treacherous face. At that time, Cao Cao was famous all over the world for his active crusade against Dong Zhuo, and he had not usurped the emperor as a vassal, so there was no word "usurping the inverse". What's more, the world is in chaos, and the talents with both wisdom and courage are their own masters. Generally, they don't think like this. The actual situation is: in the first year of Xingping (194), Cao Cao killed the former Jiujiang satrap Bianrang's family. "(Bianrang) made Su Youcai famous because the literati in Yanzhou were afraid, and Chen Gong was honest and heroic, and he doubted himself." (History as a Mirror, Volume 61) That is to say, Chen Gong, who was "upright and upright", was dissatisfied with Cao Cao because he killed celebrities at will. At this moment, Cao Cao sent troops to Xuzhou to attack Tao Qian for the second time, and sent Chen Gong to Dongjun. Chen Gong took the opportunity to unite Zhang Miao's satrap Liu Chen, and * * * welcomed Lu Bu as Yanzhou Pastoral. For a time, "all counties should be", Cao Cao's territory was only Juancheng, Dong 'e and Fan, and the situation suddenly deteriorated. Chen Gong this skill, really annoyed cao cao.

Looking at the relationship between Chen Gong and Cao Cao, although he was not the savior of Cao Cao, he did make great contributions to Cao Cao. As for Cao Cao, he also attached great importance to Chen Gong at first, and even Lu Bu's wife said that "Cao Zhi used to treat Taiwan Province like a son" ("The reflection? Shu Wei? "Lu Bu Biography" quoted "Wei's Spring and Autumn Annals"); After Chen Gong's death, "Mao treated his family as thick as before." ("reflection? Shu Wei? As for Chen Gong's parting ways with Cao Cao, both of them gave up their loyalty, and it is not good to completely blame Cao Caoen for biting off the hand that feeds them.

Secondly, during the four and a half years (198) from the summer of the first year of Xingping when Chen Gong voted for Lu Bu to the three years of Jian 'an when Cao Cao destroyed Lu Bu, the relationship between Chen Gong and Lu Bu was not so close, which could not be completely attributed to Lu Bu. Indeed, Lu Bu is a capricious, unjust person, and "suspicious but not seeking" ("the reflection? Shu Wei? "Lu Bu Zhuan"), under his command, no counselor has ever established a fish-water relationship between Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang. However, Chen Gong has his own problems. According to the heroic story quoted in the biography of Lu Bu, in June of the first year of Jian 'an (196), Lu Bu attacked Hao Meng at night and was killed by Gao Shun and Cao Xing. Afterwards, Cao Xing revealed to Lu Bu that Hao Meng was instigated by Yuan Shu and "Chen Gong was an accomplice". At that time, "I sat in the palace, my face was red, and people felt something." It seems that he is really involved in this matter. Although "General Bu Gong Yi, don't ask", I won't be very comfortable with Chen Gong from now on. At the same time, Chen Gong and another general of Lu Bu, Seibel, have been at odds. In this case, when Lyu3 bu4 was in trouble, he could not readily adopt Chen Gong's several coup, but hesitated. Although Lyu3 bu4 himself bears the main responsibility, there is a reason after all-because he dare not entrust his wife to Chen Gong. Therefore, we don't have to regard Chen Gong as the devotion and loyalty to Lyu3 bu4, and we don't have to scold Lyu3 bu4 for being too sorry for Chen Gong.

Once again, after Chen Gong was captured, he really didn't look like a wimp like Lu Bu, but looked at himself freely and just wanted to die quickly. This is not because he insisted on the principle of justice and never bowed to evil forces (in fact, between Lu Bu and Cao Cao, it was just a scuffle between warlords, and Lu Bu was really not much better than Cao Cao, and Chen Gong never put forward a political platform such as "serving the country and settling down" to Lu Bu); But because he knew that he was sorry for Cao Cao, and because he didn't want to flatter Cao Cao any more, he said bluntly, "Please come out and kill him to show the military law." (A brief introduction to Lu Bu's biography) Compared with Lu Bu, who just wants to drag out an ignoble existence, this attitude is indeed a bit manly.

This is Chen Gong in history, a man with brains and personality, a man who has some connections with and obvious differences from Chen Gong in the romance.

three

Luo Guanzhong, an outstanding master of historical novels, carefully wrote the popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms according to the theme of "Longing for National Unity and Singing for Loyalty and Righteousness Heroes" (see my book Longing for National Unity and Singing for Loyalty and Righteousness Heroes, Ningxia Social Sciences 1986 1 issue). In shaping the image of Chen Gong, Luo Guanzhong also showed his profound artistic skills, which better reflected his creative intention.

4 on Chen Gong (turn)

As long as Chen Gong, a historical figure, is compared with Chen Gong, a literary image, we can see that Luo Guanzhong has made ingenious artistic transformation and processing on the basis of fully possessing relevant historical materials of Chen Gong. He adopted the artistic technique of replacing trees with flowers, and put the dramatic plot of "catching Cao Cao" on Chen Gong's head. This small, even unnoticed change has received the artistic effect of killing many birds with one stone. It not only simplifies the relationship between characters, but also makes the relationship between characters relatively concentrated; And as pointed out earlier, this conspiracy exposed the treacherous face of Cao Cao, a complex figure, for the first time. Because of this small but successful change, Cao Cao's arrest and release in zhongmou county is no longer an accident in his stormy life; Chen Gong turned his back on Cao Cao and defected to Lu Bu, which was not only an impulsive move, but an inevitable result of his personality conflict with Cao Cao. Since then, Chen Gong has become a reference for the development of Cao Cao's character and an active factor in the political and military struggle between Cao Cao and Lu Bu. Through the whole process of acquaintance-separation-struggle between Chen Gong and Cao Cao, people will gradually deepen their understanding of Cao Cao's image. In this way, Chen Gong became a powerful foil to Cao Cao's complex character.

4 On Chen Gong

However, Luo Guanzhong did not only describe Chen Gong as a foil to Cao Cao. If we only regard Chen Gong as a foil figure of Cao Cao, it is difficult to explain why he left a deep impression on readers. It should be said that although Chen Gong is only a minor figure in romance novels, he is also an artistic image with certain aesthetic and cognitive value.

When Luo Guanzhong created the image of Chen Gong, he kept most of the words and deeds of Chen Gong, a historical figure, which made readers feel that the literary image of Chen Gong was generally like a historical figure. However, literary creation is not a simple copy of life phenomenon, and literary image should not be equated with its historical prototype, but should be pinned on the author's aesthetic ideal, that is, not so "like" its historical prototype. That's what Luo Guanzhong did when he wrote The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Well-known artistic images such as Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Liu Bei, Zhou Yu, Lu Su, etc. are similar to the historical prototype in Romance, but also different or even quite different from its historical prototype. It is this dialectical unity of "similarity" and "difference" that makes a large number of characters in Romance have both a heavy sense of history and high artistic value. As far as the image of Chen Gong is concerned, Luo Guanzhong has mainly made two artistic processes.

On the one hand, let the image of Chen Gong bring lofty colors.

In the second part of this article, I said that the separation and struggle between Chen Gong and Cao Cao in history was not due to the differences in political goals and moral concepts, and he himself did not show much noble character. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong wrote Chen Gong as a man with lofty aspirations and a deep understanding of righteousness through artistic treatment of the plot of "catching and releasing Cao Cao". In order to protect the country and people and get rid of violence and filth, he is willing to give up his wealth. In this way, Chen Gong, a literary image, has the character tone of "loyal man" from the very beginning, which has been sublimated compared with Chen Gong, a historical figure, and stood on the same horizon with many "loyal and righteous" heroes who enthusiastically eulogized their feelings. On the tone of loyalty, Luo Guanzhong highlighted Chen Gong's "strong" personality. When the situation was critical, faced with Cao Cao's lure and surrender, Lu Bu's thought was shaken, but he cursed Cao Cao as a "thief who deceives the monarch" and "hit the cover with one arrow", which made Cao Cao gnash his teeth (Volume 4, Lu Bu's defeat was a success). Even after being captured, he reprimanded Cao Cao as a "sycophant and treacherous person" with awe-inspiring righteousness and announced: "I will abandon your sinister intentions." Show the spirit of death. Thus, Chen Gong's death became a heroic act of "loyal ministers" sacrificing their lives for righteousness, and became a stirring note in the heroic ode to "loyalty and righteousness" in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

On the other hand, Luo Guanzhong makes Chen Gong's character tragic. This is embodied in his relationship with Lu Bu.

The relationship between Chen Gong and Lu Bu is very complicated in history: Lu Bu greatly failed Chen Gong, and Chen Gong also greatly failed Lu Bu. Luo Guanzhong reformed and purified this relationship. He abandoned the historical data that Chen Gong and Hao Meng conspired to betray Lu Bu (because it damaged Chen Gong's "loyalty" image), and focused on describing Chen Gong's loyalty to Lu Bu. In this way, Chen Gong became a sympathetic figure. He advised Lu Bu, who was half-hearted and headstrong and often refused to adopt it. He earnestly reminded Lu Bu: "Chen Gang and his son are afraid of harm when they face the general, so they must plan ahead." On the contrary, Lu Bu was furious with him: "If you spread rumors and slander, you will harm Zhong Liang. Who will do it? " ? If I don't look at the old days, I will cut your generation! "(Volume 4, Xiahou? Facts have proved that his plan is correct time and time again, and his doubts are well-founded, but it also shows how ungrateful Lu Bu is to him again and again! ? More importantly, Lyu3 bu4 has never been a man with lofty ideals, never intended to unify the world and save the country and the people, but was eager to pursue personal prosperity and enjoyment. Such a snob will never be a wise boss of Kaiji. Following such a role, how can Chen Gong realize his ambition of saving the country and the people? What is the bright future?

5 on Chen Gong (turn)

In such a miserable situation, Chen Gong's heart is full of anguish and endless regret, but he has no determination to find another way out-"If you want to abandon it, you are afraid that everyone will laugh." Here, the concept of "loyalty", which refers to the rise and fall of the world and the sufferings of ordinary people, has become a narrow and ignorant "loyalty" and a small "righteousness" that doesn't ask indiscriminately, which has seriously bound his hands and feet and caused his tragic character. In fact, in that era of great turmoil, "not only the monarch chooses the minister, but also the minister chooses the monarch", and "a good minister chooses the master to work, and a good bird chooses the wood to live" has become the consensus of many wise people. Zhuge Liang, Lu Su, Guo Jia and other outstanding figures all had the experience of "choosing the Lord and doing it". Chen Gong knew nothing about this, and stubbornly loyal to Lyu3 bu4, but he could neither control Lyu3 bu4 nor change Lyu3 bu4, so he had to sigh and watch the collapse of Lyu3 bu4 Group, and he himself had to die with Lyu3 bu4 involuntarily. This is too clear: on the one hand, it is the yearning and pursuit of ideals, on the other hand, it is obvious that ideals cannot be realized, talents cannot make the best use of them, and opportunities cannot be chosen. How can tragedy not happen? The tragedy reached its climax when his blood was spilled on the White Gate Tower. Luo Guanzhong wrote here, can't help but compose a poem:

What a strong husband!

Not from the stone theory, empty negative column.

The assistant manager is really admirable, and it's sad to say goodbye.

When White Gate dies, who will be like a bus stop!

In this poem, there are both sincere praise and deep regret. In another poem, this feeling of regret is even more vivid:

When the father admonishes the overlord, the son gouges out his eyes and meets Fucha.

The death of the White Gate Tower under the public platform is very embarrassing.

Yes, when future generations read The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, they could not help sighing for the tragic ending of Chen Gong. It should be said that this is the main reason why Chen Gong's image can leave a deep impression on people.

In a word, the combination of sublime color and tragic color makes Chen Gong's artistic image present a kind of classical beauty, leaving readers a fuller and more vivid impression than the historical figure Chen Gong. This is probably the charm of art?

Of course, the description of Chen Gong in Romance is not very personalized. In addition to the wonderful description of the White Gate Tower like a focal plane, the novel rarely shows Chen Gong's inner waves positively. But what is commendable is that Luo Guanzhong can portray such a little guy as Chen Gong so vividly in a very short space that people can clearly remember him among thousands of characters in The Romance.