List of fictitious stories in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
he following is a chronologically arranged list of fictitious stories in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Although the novel is a romanticised retelling of the history of the late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period, due to its widespread popularity, many people falsely believe it to a real account of the events that happened during that era. Some historians have also used the novel as a source to study the history of the late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period, regardless of factual basis. The authoritative source for the history of the Three Kingdoms is Records of Three Kingdoms, a historical text written by Chen Shou, which includes annotations by Pei Songzhi from other historical texts such as Weilue and Jiangbiao Zhuan (江表傳). Other historical sources covering the history of that period include the Book of the Later Han and the Book of Jin. Since Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a historical novel, many stories in it are either fictitious or based on folktales and historical incidents that happened in other periods of Chinese history. What follows is an incomplete list of the better known fictitious stories in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, each with accompanying text that explains the differences between the story and historical accounts.
Oath of the Peach Garden
The story follows three protagonists, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who take an oath of brotherhood in a place known as the Peach Garden, believed to be in present-day Zhuozhou, Hebei.[1]
There is no mention of the three men becoming sworn brothers in Records of Three Kingdoms. In Guan Yu's biography, their relationship was simply described to be "as close as brothers", to the point of "sharing the same bed".
Zhang Fei thrashes the imperial inspector
An inspector was sent to survey Liu Bei's county when the latter had assumed office as a minor county-level magistrate after helping to suppress the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The inspector hinted to Liu Bei that he wanted bribes, but Liu did not understand what the inspector meant. Later, even after his assistant explained to him, Liu Bei still refused to give bribes. The inspector was unable to find any fault with Liu Bei's administration so he attempted to force the locals to file a complaint against Liu.[3] Zhang Fei was furious when he heard about it and he barged into the county office, dragged the inspector out, tied him to a post and gave him a severe thrashing. Liu Bei showed up and stopped Zhang Fei. When Guan Yu suggested to kill the inspector and seek their fortune elsewhere, Liu Bei refused and he resigned, returning his official seal to the inspector before leaving.
Liu Bei's biography in Records of Three Kingdoms mentioned that Liu Bei was the one responsible for beating up the inspector. Apparently, the inspector refused to see Liu Bei and claimed that he was ill, but Liu broke into the inspector's room and dragged him out, tied him to a tree and flogged him more than 100 times
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